by Cindy Dees
Sha’Li stared. A ring of shocked white glistened in her eye sockets.
Raina was inexplicably irritated. “Look around you. They have pointed ears, and brightly colored skin, and funny accents, yet they get respect. Why not you? So you have scales”—she glanced down cautiously—“and really big claws. Do you not have a heart? Does not blood flow through your veins? Do you not have thoughts and feelings? You’re not any different from the rest of us.”
“But stupid your kind call my kind—”
“—and stubborn and lazy,” Raina added sharply. “I suppose that’s why you’re such a skilled countertracker and can throw alchemy with unerring accuracy. Why you work so hard making and breaking camp and carry twice the weight of any of the rest of us. And it’s why we all trust you and travel with you.”
The lizardman girl stared at Raina for a long moment. “Ignorant human. Ways of the world you know not.” Sha’Li scowled but not with the vehemence of before.
The lizardman girl touched her right cheek unconsciously, and Raina wondered again at the gesture. What was its significance?
* * *
Sha’Li surreptitiously studied the human healer. Did the girl mean what she’d said earlier? That lizardmen had the same sensibilities and should earn the same respect as humans? Of course, she knew that to be true, but did any other humans agree with Raina?
Cicero mentioned to Sha’Li after dinner that he’d spotted a little stream a few hundred feet from their camp if she’d like to go dunk herself. The thought of being underwater, of rehydrating her horrifically dry, itchy skin, of recovering to full strength in the healing embrace of water, was too much to resist. With a nod of grudging thanks to the kindari, she slipped out of camp and headed for the stream.
Normally, her kind spent a third or more of every day underwater, which helped them maintain optimal health. She didn’t even want to think about how long it had been since she’d gone for a swim or even a simple soak.
She stripped out of her garments and slipped into the tiny rivulet. It was barely deep enough to cover her and freezing cold, but she would take it. The water tasted fresh and sulphurous on her tongue. Spring fed, then. Using the gills on her neck for the first time in days, she breathed in great, cooling lungfuls of water and practically gurgled aloud with joy.
The stream was not large enough to do much more than wave her hands back and forth in it and kick her feet a little. It was not a proper swim, but even the tiniest swish of water across her skin made her shiver in delight.
Cicero had muttered to her on her way out that he would come get her in time for the last watch. She had hours to rest and rejuvenate herself between now and then.
The time passed all too quickly. Something sharp poked her shoulder, and she woke from the most refreshing rest she’d had in weeks. Cicero’s wavy form was visible above the surface of the water in the faint light of a new moon. He sheathed his sword as she sat up and shooed him away so she could dress in privacy. He rolled his eyes and departed for his bedroll. She would stand watch the rest of the night until dawn.
She made her way back into camp with a smile on her face … not that the pinkskins would know it. They were terrible at seeing the facial expressions of her kind. Someone had rigged a small tent of green leaves over the fire. It diffused both smoke and glow from the fire to make it hard to spot.
The others formed a tight circle around the fire, greedily absorbing its meager warmth. She moved off into the forest and had barely found a comfortable tree to lean upon when she became aware of something moving in the wood.
Whatever it was moved fast, part of the night itself. She used her outstanding night vision to search for the creature as she raced silently toward the campfire. She burst out of the trees and was in time to see two bolts of magical energy strike Rosana and Raina.
The noise of it—mayhap the muttered incants or else the crackle of magic striking flesh—roused Cicero, who was probably just dropping off to sleep anyway. He gave a shout and leaped to his feet. A shadowed figure cleared the trees on the far side of the clearing and struck Cicero on the back of the head with the butt of a long sword. The kindari dropped like a rock.
“Get up!” Sha’Li shouted to the others. “Under attack we are!”
She ran forward, seeking the shadow, but the attacker had already darted back into the trees and disappeared from sight.
Eben and Kendrick roused, and Eben gained his feet first. A flash magic in the shadows followed by a disturbance in the air aimed at the jann’s back announced the position of a caster in the shadows. The spell struck Eben but dissipated harmlessly in a shimmer against some sort of magical shield surrounding the jann. The magic briefly shone like sunlight shining off a lake and then disappeared. Ahh. An elemental shield.
Eben whirled and took a swing with his mace at something behind him in the shadows. Metal slithered off metal armor and Sha’Li whipped out a throwing knife, cocking her arm back. If only she could see the attacker!
She glimpsed Eben, Kendrick, and Will charging through the trees as flashes and clear trails of magic marked their passage. The caster must be incredibly powerful to be spraying this much magic about. A faint, metallic odor began to tinge the air from all of it.
Eben ran close to her hiding place, his skin the stony gray color and texture of granite. It was a protective shell his kind were able to form around themselves for short periods of time. He paused, crouching behind a tree, and his right hand began to glow slightly as he called elemental magic to himself. But a bright burst of magic exploded around Eben and, just like that, the protection dissipated.
This caster was too good. If Eben could not protect himself from the withering volleys of magic, he would never be able to close to weapon range fast enough to take out the attacker. If only the caster were showing signs of running short on magical energy. But the rapid-fire magical attacks were not slowing one bit in frequency.
Another streak of disturbed air marked the flight of a magic spell. It struck Eben with a flash of bright light. She watched in dismay as the jann gave a surprised grunt. His mace fell from his fingers. Eben stood for a moment staring down in shock at a smoking hole in his tabard. His knees buckled.
Kendrick charged, shouting. She spotted the outline of the attacker just as Kendrick jumped at the fellow and unintentionally blocked her line of fire. Cursing, she darted forward to help the young noble.
He fared no better than his jann friend. The attacker must have recognized the quality of swordsman before him, because a particularly bright glow abruptly shone beyond Kendrick. A gently curving line of disturbed air, a quick flash of the spell hitting its target, and Kendrick froze in an awkward half lunge. Sha’Li cursed under her breath.
She spied Will creeping around a tree trunk looking for the attacker, who remained frustratingly hidden in the shadows. A glow flashed at Will, who barely managed to dive behind another tree in time. She slid along the edges of the clearing as well, seeking cover, but the forest floor was frustratingly clear. Perfect for casters, but not for a rogue like her.
Will dodged a flurry of magic attacks, leaping and diving and rolling for a good minute as the caster blasted spell after spell at him. Will sent a few back, but he had nowhere near the range or accuracy of his assailant. Then, without warning, a streak of magic flashed past Will’s guard and slashed across his chest. He grunted and went down on one knee. Showing no mercy, the attacker raced forward, closing the distance, and threw another spell at point-blank range at Will’s back, laying Will out flat.
The only effective way to stop a competent combat mage, besides putting up a wall of some kind, was to strike him with some sort of long-range attack, or to close right on top of him and strike him down fast, before he could turn and blast his attacker into dust.
Sha’Li flung a globe of acid with all her strength toward the source of the magic bolts and immediately reached for another precious globe. Her target half-turned, however, and with a broad grin in her direc
tion slugged down a liquid alchemical potion of his own. A shimmering shield of protection against alchemy surrounded him as quickly as her acid burned the previous one away.
“Nice throw!” the attacker called appreciatively.
“Kill him!” Kendrick shouted. Obviously, whatever magic confined his body in that strange, motionless pose did not extend to his vocal cords.
Sha’Li lurched, halting the release of her next alchemy globe by the barest of margins. That voice was familiar. She stared, shocked. “Kerryl? Kerryl Moonrunner? Is that you?”
“So much for going unrecognized,” the nature guardian replied wryly.
“You know this unclaimed whelp?” Kendrick demanded disbelievingly. “Was this all an elaborate trap you’ve been leading us into? Is he your partner in crime?”
“Not this night!” she snapped at him. “What business have you with us, Moonrunner?”
“Just doing my job. Protecting the forest from the dangers that lurk within it.”
“My friends these are,” she declared. “No danger do they pose to the forest. For them I vouch.”
“So noble you’ve become, young Sha’Li. You wear your Tribe mark well.”
“If ever I get it,” she grumbled.
“But you have it already,” he replied, tilting his head at her as if perplexed. She stalked forward into the circle of firelight.
“Tease me not,” she warned him. Had the mark appeared in the past few days when she could not see her reflection to know it? “Kendrick, see you a mark on my face? A moon-and-star symbol?”
“No.”
She glared at Moonrunner. “If a joke that was, funny it was not.”
“I’m serious. The mark is already upon your spirit. All that remains is for you to feel as if you have earned it. It will appear spontaneously upon your cheek. I do not jest: I sense it. You are Tribe of the Moon, now.”
Her jaw sagged.
“Release me!” Kendrick demanded.
Moonrunner glanced over at the angry youth. “Come away with me, Sha’Li. Wander the wood with me. Help me save these idiots from threats they cannot even begin to imagine. Be my apprentice.”
Her jaw dropped even farther. Kerryl Moonrunner himself was offering to train her? The scales on the back of her neck stood up of their own volition at that. The honor of it, the things he could teach her—
Moonrunner pulled out a dagger. “Give me a moment to kill these intruders and we will be on our way, you and me.”
“Stop!” Sha’Li cried. “Kill them you cannot. My friends these are!” She didn’t know who was more shocked at that, her or Moonrunner. Or mayhap Kendrick. He managed to look thunderstruck within his confinement spell.
“These are strangers!” Kerryl snapped. “Outsiders who do not belong here. They are not your friends.”
“Yes, they are.” She pointed down at Raina, prone on the ground. “Yelled at me just this afternoon that one did about how more respect from humans my race deserves.”
“She lied,” Moonrunner replied flatly.
Dismay ripped through Sha’Li. He could not kill her friends. That was not the way of the Tribe of the Moon. Its first tenet was to protect the innocent. Tenet number two was to defend the weak. Her companions looked extremely weak at the moment from where she stood—every one of them was incapacitated or worse.
“Surely you understand, Guardian Moonrunner. In Tribe of the Moon I desperately wish to be. And if right you are, I am Tribe. Let you kill them I cannot.”
The nature guardian frowned at her. He looked so completely calm and reasonable that, of a sudden, she saw madness in his gaze. He showed no anger. No doubt. No remorse whatsoever over his decision to kill the others. That was not normal, was it? Particularly when someone you knew to be decent and honorable was arguing passionately against you making the kill.
“Healers are those two,” she explained desperately. “Girls younger than me. And that one, the elf: purely as protector to the blond girl he acts. The jann over there his sister tries to find and rescue. Taken by slavers she was. And that one”—she jerked a thumb at Kendrick—“his friend helps. The boy you struck down: the disk of wood you gave me he wears, now. Bad people these are not.”
Moonrunner’s gaze remained unaffected. Implacable. His only response was to mutter, “I did see the Kithmar and their minions, yesterday. Those rakasha were running hard like they had somewhere important to be.”
“Please, Guardian, I beg you. Kill not these people. As a favor to me! Without me, no Band of Beasts would you have gotten. Owe me you do.”
Moonruner’s unblinking stare finally flickered. He pointed at Will. “That one I already know from when he was a boy. Forces greater than I have long had plans for him that I shall not interfere with. But the others die.”
She pressed the tiny opening as hard as she could, “The Tribe has ever been your friend, Kerryl Moonrunner. If murder these innocents you do, see to it I will that the Tribe of the Moon knows of your crime. Turn on you we will. After you we will come.”
The nature guardian guffawed. “It is the Tribe’s work I do, Sha’Li. They will thank me one day when they understand what I do. But I do owe you. As a favor to you, I give you their lives. All but one of them. Choose which one I shall take.”
She stared at him, appalled. He was unquestionably insane. “Choose I cannot—”
“Take me,” Kendrick demanded. “Kill me. Spare the others.”
Sha’Li’s head whipped around to stare at him. He was a spoiled rich boy. Son of a noble. Why would he volunteer himself to die?
“Why you?” Moonrunner challenged.
“It is my right to do so. I am a noble and these others are commoners. It is my duty to protect them. To sacrifice myself if called upon to do so in their behalf. Kill me, you crazy freak.”
Moonrunner hesitated, and Kendrick launched into what could only be described as a creative tirade of insults questioning everything from Moonrunner’s parentage to his body odor.
But instead of infuriating the nature guardian into attacking, Kendrick’s invective made Moonrunner burst into merry laughter. “I like you, boy. I like your spirit. Enough to take you, I think. And you are skilled with a sword. Yes, you will do nicely.” He glanced over at Sha’Li. “We have a deal, then? I take him and you may have the rest. And my debt to you is repaid in full.”
She looked over at Kendrick doubtfully. He glared at her, battering at her with his words. “Take the deal, Sha’Li. I insist. It is the right thing to do. You and I both know it. I mean it. Do it.”
“All right!” she burst out. “Fine. Your deal I accept, Moonrunner.”
“I have one last request,” Kendrick announced.
The nature guardian paused in the act of reaching for him, whether simply surprised or acquiescing she could not tell.
Either way, Kendrick spoke quickly, with terrible urgency, directly to her. “Tell the others not to come after me. Understood? I am young and strong and will resurrect. Who knows? I may catch up with all of you, later. Tell Eben of the Kithmar slavers moving in the forest, but tell them to finish Will’s quest, first. Above all, they must finish the quest. You understand me, Sha’Li? Do not follow me.”
“Oh, I do not plan to kill you, boy,” Kerryl purred. “Oh no. I have better plans than that for you. Plans you will thank me for.”
She frowned, not understanding at all as Moonrunner swept forward and slapped an open hand on Kendrick’s chest. He incanted a spell too quietly for her to hear, and the human youth slumped, unconscious, within the magical restraints upon him.
Sha’Li said quickly, “Magic I do not have to heal the others. Let them die you cannot. Not our deal that was.”
Moonrunner reached into his waist pouch and tossed something small and glittering at her. She caught it with one hand as he growled, “Use that wisely and they will live.” With that, he grabbed the young noble’s sword, heaved Kendrick over his shoulder, and jogged off into the night.
Frantically
Sha’Li examined what he’d thrown her. A glass vial holding a potion of some kind. Please Lunimar, let it be a healing potion. She noticed the vial was color coded and silently thanked Brother Lizmorn for color-coding this one. Now how did it go? She swore under her breath, trying frantically to remember. Blue for life potions, black for spirit forms. Yellow to cure diseases. She could not remember what green stood for. This one bore a strip of white … straight healing. She ran over to Raina, rolled the girl over, and poured the clear liquid down the human’s throat, praying that it worked.
The healer coughed. Opened her eyes, disoriented. “What happened?”
“Attacked we were,” Sha’Li bit out. “Heal the others.”
Raina jumped to her feet and moved fast around the fire, healing everyone. Eben was the only one who’d been killed outright, but the healer lifed him as easily as she woke Rosana from Moonrunner’s sleep spell and roused Cicero from the unconsciousness caused by the blow to his head. Will was declared dying but not dead, and Raina dumped a bunch of healing into him last of all. He leaped to his feet like the others, wild-eyed and looking for an enemy to attack.
Chaos ensued as everyone demanded to know what had happened, bombarding her simultaneously with so many questions she could not answer any of them. But eventually she got a word in edgewise.
When she got to the part about Kendrick telling them not to go after him, though, the party fell totally silent. She finished delivering his message as close to exactly how he’d said it as she could.
After a long, heavy silence, Eben finally burst out, “That sounds just like him!”
Raina replied, “What will we do?”
Sha’Li was inclined to go after Kendrick. As annoying as he’d been and as often as she’d argued with him, she had to respect the way he’d insisted on being the one Moonrunner took. He didn’t have to do that, but he hadn’t hesitated. His heart was nobler than she’d given any human credit for.
Will and Raina reluctantly admitted to wanting to continue their quest for the sleeping-elf guy. Rosana was for giving chase to Moonrunner and rescuing Kendrick. But then, she was Heart. It made sense she would feel that way. Sha’Li was glad for the support. Cicero threw up his hands and said he’d do whatever the party decided. He was only along to keep Raina safe.
