" This is your idea of a path?" Sarraya said in surprise.
It was late morning, and the four of them were on the edge of the vast chasm of the Great Canyon. Tarrin and Sarraya looked down at what Denai had called a safe pathway down to the valley floor… which amounted to little less than an angled irregularity in the rock that formed a very steep ridge that descended to the valley floor so very far below. The ridge was wind-eaten, and extended out from the chasm wall by no more than four fingers. It was a toehold, nothing more, a toehold at about a fifty degree angle that plunged into the shaded canyon.
"Compared to the rest of the canyon walls, Sarraya, this is as close to a pathway as you will get," Denai said defensively. "We've used it before."
"How can there be so many Selani when all of them are insane!" Sarraya said hotly, throwing up her hands and drifting out into the vast gulf. Drifting out of reach.
Tarrin didn't have his mind on that at the moment. He was still trying to figure out Denai. The Selani girl had slept close to him last night, and her presence had begun to wear on him in strange ways. She didn't seem to be willing to give over on the idea of trying to draw him out, almost feeling as if she were trying to tame a wild animal. He didn't want her attention or her company, but the Selani seemed totally oblivious to that fact. She had some kind of agenda in mind, and she was going to carry through with it. She wasn't afraid of him anymore, and she'd already begun to take some very shocking liberties with him. That morning, he'd been awakened when she reached down and picked him up while he was sleeping in cat form. That nearly startled him into shapeshifting, but he stopped himself at the last minute. She hadn't been trying to hurt him, she only picked him up, carried him a few paces, and then set him down by the rekindled fire. And he had the feeling that she did it on purpose. Not to put him by the fire, but to see what would happen if she picked him up. And since he hadn't reacted violently, it made her even more bold with him. Her actions irritated him, but for the life of him, he couldn't even bring himself to even pretend to warn her off. She wasn't afraid of him, and it felt foolish trying to intimidate someone who had no fear of him. It would have been the same as if he'd tried to intimidate Allia or Keritanima; those two would have just laughed at him. Since Var was not granted the same tenuous liberty, he didn't want to appear to be weak or impotent while the male Selani was within view. So he simply endured the attention she showered on him, doing his best to ignore her.
"There are handholds all the way down," Denai continued. "It takes a while, but as long as you're careful, it's pretty safe."
"I take it there's a similar ridge like this on the other side?" Tarrin asked Sarraya.
"I'd assume so," she replied. "The magic that made this canyon split the earth. The other half of this formation has to be in the wall on the other side."
"That's how we climb out," Denai affirmed. "But that one's not as well formed as this one. We have to go up the wall a ways to reach it."
"In other words, we have to climb out," Tarrin grunted.
"Going up is much easier than going down," Var said. "Going down lends itself to greater mistakes, since you tend to lean out to see where you're putting your feet."
"Well, you absolutely are not going to climb down like this," Sarraya said hotly. "I'll conjure up a rope so you can tie yourselves together. Denai goes first, then Var, then Tarrin."
"Why tie together?" Denai asked.
"Because if either of you slip, Tarrin can keep you from becoming the next meal for the vultures," Sarraya said to her crossly.
"What happens if he slips?"
"Tarrin doesn't slip," Sarraya laughed in her face. "Why do you think he has those big, nasty claws? They do more than rip chunks out of things."
After Sarraya made the rope, they tied themselves together, and then began. Tarrin wasn't afraid of heights, not in the slightest, but it did take a little self-motivation to push his body over that edge. The thought of that much empty air underneath him was more than a little disconcerting, even for someone with no fear of heights. But once he got onto the ridge, felt his foot claws bite into the stone, he knew that he'd be just fine. There were indeed handholds, pits and ridges in the wind-worn stone that made the descent relatively easy for him. Var and Denai seemed to have no trouble either, moving along at a pace that didn't irritate the more agile Were-cat with its slowness.
Or it would have been easy in ideal conditions. The wind seemed to be trapped inside the canyon, so once they descended a few hundred spans, they encountered strange crosswinds that seemed to be generated by the canyon's topography. The wind suddenly made what had been an easy descent much more challenging. It bit and pulled on him, and all three of them began to choose their hand and footholds much more carefully, moving more slowly than before. Sarraya, who had been hovering near them as they made their way along the treacherous ridge, found the buffetting winds too much, and managed to make something of a wobbly landing on Tarrin's head. She anchored herself down in his hair and kept watch over them, prepared to use her magic in case something went terribly wrong.
Tarrin kept an eye on the other two. Both Var and Denai were in very good shape, but this kind of activity was something to which they were not accustomed. The strain of the descent began to show on both of them around noontime, as both of them began to sweat. Denai seemed more tired than Var, so Tarrin called for them to take a short break when all three of them found good foot and hand holds that would allow them to rest while clinging to the side of the canyon wall, while the winds tried to push them off.
It was only a longspan of distance, but the dangerous nature of their path made the going very slow, and the sun was well past noontime in the sky by the time that the ground below seemed relatively close. They managed to climb beneath the buffetting winds, and again found a respectable pace in which to move.
As they descended deeper into the canyon, Tarrin felt the curious changes. The air took on humidity, and the shade provided by the towering walls kept the air below cool, almost enjoyable. The shade also kept the canyon floor in a pleasantly dim light, not the blasting brilliance of the desert sun, but enough sunlight reached the canyon floor during the midday hours to keep the many plants that carpeted the canyon floor flourishing.
Denai, who had gone first, put her feet on the canyon floor in the midafternoon. Her arms were trembling, and she was breathing hard, and the very first thing she did was drop to her backside on the moist, grassy canyon floor, then splay out on her back and do nothing but rest. Var had to step over her, then he too flopped down onto the soft earth and tried to recover from the strenuous descent. Tarrin dropped down the last ten spans, then proceeded to untie the rope holding them together.
"By the Holy Mother's grace, don't you ever get tired?" Denai complained in a breathless voice as Tarrin stepped over them both and surveyed the twenty spans of terrain they'd have to cross.
"It takes more than that to tire me, Denai. I'm not human," he replied calmly. The canyon floor was not flat. It was irregular, with scruffy little hills that undulated all the way across the canyon floor. The ground close to the walls was littered with rocks of all shapes and sizes, broken off from the walls to plummet to the ground below. The ground was indeed ground, a life-supporting soil that was rich and moist, supporting actual grass.
Looking out over the area, he realized that it was like stepping into another part of the world. The canyon floor was primarily lush grassland, but there were many trees of different varieties here and there through the grass. Some grew together in groves and stands, and to the north there were enough to be called a forest. He realized that these plants were the plants that had grown here before the desert claimed the land, that the seeds had fallen into this vast chasm and found sanctuary from the blight that consumed the land above. There were even streams, and a few ponds within his view, from which several large reptilian beasts drank sedately. But there were more than reptiles. He recognized a flock of deer by those huge chisa, drinking their fill. This place was a refuge for the descendants of the animals that had called these plains home before the desert claimed them, and now they shared their habitat with the animals that had somehow managed to migrate down into the canyon's micro-ecosystem. It looked like the grasslands of western Sulasia, in a way, the strip of grassy plains that buffered the vast forest of the West from the Sea of Storms.
But there was much more to this place than what he saw. The scents of the place were powerful, almost overwhelming, triggering his Cat nature much more sharply than they had been awakened in a long time. The smells of grass and trees, of mice and moles and chipmunks, even squirrels, piqued his hunter's impulses. The smell of deer and elk, of wolves and wildcats, they were familiar smells to him, mingled in with the odd scents of chisa and kajat and inu and umuni. The canyon floor teemed with life, life from both the desert and the land of the past. He could hear much more than he could smell, from the faint baying of a wolfpack to the grunting sounds of the deer at that pond some longspan away from them. He could hear the fluttering of wings of the birds that managed to brave the buffeting winds and reach the lush paradise hidden beneath the floor of the parched desert above. The canyon floor awakened his animal side completely, and for a moment he had to just stand there and take it all in, allow his Cat self to revel in the sense of home that this place incited within him, before putting it aside and thinking about how to quickly leave it behind.
That was only the physical side of this strange land. The canyon floor was absolutely saturated with strands. They were everywhere, so numerous that their almost-visible lines almost tried to block the real world to his eyes. The feel of them caused tingles throughout his entire body, a buzzing that made his skin sensitive, almost seeking out more of the feeling, and he could feel those strands lean towards him. This region was as rich in magic as the Tower had been, a place so charged with magical energy that even the most green Novice could easily find a touch on the Weave. The only reason that he could think of as to why this was the case was the circumstances of the canyon's creation. Magic of the magnitude required to form the chasm must have left in its wake these strands, spun out of the presence of intense magical power. But one thought managed to hold itself to him through it all, a simple thought that stirred the sense of Sorcery in him, the part that had seen and heard and experienced the actions of a thousand years ago.
This was what the desert had once been.
"Amazing that something like this would be in the middle of the desert," Sarraya noted. "It looks like the grasslands of the Free Duchies."
"The canyon walls trap the humidity and keep the sun from killing the plants," Tarrin reasoned. "Since this is below the water table, this place isn't dry."
Those little hills were going to be a problem. They were just large enough to break up his view, and that meant that any number of large, carnivorous beasties could be hiding within the folds and dells they created. If he were a predator, that's how he would go about it in a place like this. Since there was no cover from trees, the cover provided by the land would have to be exploited to allow him to get close enough to chase down a meal. From the little he'd seen from kajat and inu, he knew that they were accomplished hunters, and they were much more clever than they looked. They'd have thought of that too. Any predator would have. After all, any predators that had not thought of that probably hadn't survived to reproduce.
He heard Var and Denai get up behind him, their breathing more normal now. He hadn't realized that the climb had been so difficult for them, but after so long as a Were-cat, he tended to overlook the frailty and weak stature of the other races.
"I've only been here once before, but it's still as if this is the first I've seen of this place," Denai said reverently. "It's so different from our lands."
"This is what the desert looked like before it was a desert," Sarraya told her. "We starting now, or do you want to wait until tomorrow to cross?" she asked Tarrin.
Tarrin turned his back to them, looking out over the cool grassland. Moving now would be a mistake. Denai and Var were exhausted, and they wouldn't be able to run the distance. And they would have to run. There were many herd animals, so that meant that there had to be many predators out there preying on them. The wolves and wildcats weren't that dangerous, but the inu and kajat were. The rolling hills gave them perfect cover, and even with Sarraya scouting, there was a good chance that they'd have to flee from something at least once. On the other hand, sitting in one place for a night also wasn't a good idea. Their scents would carry out, and it would lure in predators they'd prefer to avoid. The wall of the canyon had no caves, no holes, nowhere to hide and set up a suitable defensive position.
"We wait until the Selani feel like running," he said over his shoulder. "Then we move. We'll rest on the other side before going up."
"I'm ready," Denai said.
"No you're not," Tarrin replied. "We have to move fast. Both of you wouldn't get much more than a longspan before slowing. You need at least two hours of rest, and then we'll move."
"But-"
"Don't argue," Var cut in. "He's right. With so many animals to eat, there have to be many predators. We have to move quickly to avoid them, and we can't take any chances. Those hills out there hide them from us, so we can't risk strolling along."
Tarrin nodded in agreement, his opinion of Var increasing by a couple of degrees. "You two sit back down and rest. I'll keep watch while Sarraya scouts ahead a little to make sure there's nothing big we have to go around. I'm aiming for as straight a line as possible to the other side."
"Well, since I've been volunteered," Sarraya said acidly, "I may as well go."
"You rode down on my head, so I know you're not tired," Tarrin told her. "Not too far and nothing exotic, Sarraya. We'll need you when we get back up. You can get yourself eaten after we get back up to the desert."
Sarraya gave him a look, a look of surprise, then she grinned at him. "I'll do my best."
Sarraya faded from sight as she flitted away from them, and Tarrin watched and listened to her go. After she was out of his sensory range, he turned around and regarded the two Selani. They had sat back down against the wall of the canyon, and Var had taken off his shirt to shake some rocks out of it. Var was whip-lean and defined, the body of a gymnast, and his size was a deception as to how strong that Selani was. Tarrin had tasted his strength, and he knew the truth of it. Denai had her boots off, showing Var a rock that had been in it for a while, then they both laughed after Var said something about carrying the canyon along. The humor of it escaped him, but they were Selani, and Allia had shown him that the Selani's sense of humor was a little different than humankind. They could appreciate human humor, but some things struck them funny that humans just wouldn't understand.
Strange. He looked at them, and he didn't feel the same tension as he had just a few days before. Now, Var and Denai were simply there. Before, he had kept track of them at all times, kept his eyes and ears and nose on them, prevented them from sneaking up on him. But he realized that he didn't really think about them like that anymore, not even Var. He hadn't accepted the Selani as friends, but something inside him had discounted them as possible enemies. That seemed important to him somehow, a distinction he had never made before, with anyone. This wasn't a matter of tolerating them. This was a matter of not finding them to be dangerous, and since they were not dangerous, he simply didn't concern himself with them.
A shiver through the Weave caught his attention. It was a pulse of energy of some kind, a bit of magic travelling from one place to the other. It was a simple matter to sense the Weave, to feel that it had originated from the ground, and that traced it to some other part of the world. Its destination was the desert, a place about two hundred longspans to the northwest, a Conduit. A big Conduit. Nothing along the lines of the core Conduit that came out of the ground at the Tower, but this was a major Conduit, a major artery in the system of the Weave. He hadn't noticed that Conduit before, but he certainly noticed it now. And he was surprised that he could sense it from such an incredible distance.
He looked at the Selani again. Now Denai had her shirt off, bare from the waist up, but Selani didn't care much about nudity. More to the point, looking was not touching. A Selani wouldn't care showing you anything they had, but all those intimate places on a Selani's body had the same sensitivity and importance that they had on a human. Var could look at Denai's breasts all he wanted, but the instant he touched her, he would cross the line of modesty, and Denai would take offense. Among the Selani, giving or taking offense was a serious matter, and honor would be lost in the course of it. But Var wouldn't dream of doing such a thing. His sense of honor was highly refined, and he knew better.
They were so small. Why couldn't he get that thought out of his mind? Var and Denai were taller than the average human, nearly seven spans each, yet Denai only came up to his chest, and Var to his shoulders. Small and frail little things, quick to tire and easy to harm.
"I need a sweat tent," Denai complained, wiping at a smear of dirt on her shoulder. "I'm filthy."
Thank Fara'Nae that the Selani weren't human. The smell of unwashed humans was horrible, but Selani didn't carry that trait. A sweaty Selani smelled like spices, a little musky, like herbs ground into copper. At least their unwashed condition didn't offend his nose, much as it may offend themselves.
"There's a pond just over that hillock there," Tarrin pointed. "Go take a bath."
"Bath? What is that?"
"Take off all your clothes and get into the pond, then wash off," he replied. "The water may not be very warm, but it'll be a new experience for you."
Denai gave Var a roguish look. "Let's try it," she said with an eager smile.
"Go into water? It sounds unnatural," Var said dubiously. "Will it be very deep?"
"I have no idea," Tarrin said. "Just go slow and be careful."
"Well," he hedged.
But Denai would have none of that. She jumped up and grabbed him by the wrist, then dragged him to his feet. "Come on," she said brightly. "Or does the mighty Scout fear a little water?"
"He won't if the cunning obe goes first," he challenged.
"Done," she accepted with bright eyes.
Tarrin moved to the top of the hill to watch over the pair as they played. Denai seemed to be absolutely fearless, shedding her clothes and marching right into the small pond without hesitation. The water seemed cold, from her reaction to it, but she was quickly submerged to her waist and haraunging Var for not moving fast enough. The Scout shed his clothing and moved into the water tentatively, step by step, and it was obvious that the cold water didn't suit him. But Denai just laughed and splashed him with that cold water mercilessly.
Now he understood why he saw Denai as a child. She acted like one. She was a mature adult, but she still had the adventurous mindset of a teenager. In some ways, she was like Sarraya. They both shared that adventurous spirit, but Denai was utterly fearless, even beyond the scope of good sense, where Sarraya was much more careful. If Denai were human, she'd be the child in the village that got everyone else in trouble with her adventures and her goings-on, taking them where they weren't allowed to go and doing things that they'd been forbidden to do. Not in acts of defiance, but in the search for what was new and interesting, what hadn't been done before. And she had the charisma and natural charm to lead her cohorts down the path of disobedience, using her natural affable nature to charm her subjects into submission.
He made that conclusion, and an actual affection for her suddenly appeared inside him. Denai was just too cute, both in appearance and personality. He couldn't help but like her. It had taken her a little time to shake off her fear of him-that he could incite fear in someone like Denai was a statement in and of itself-but now that she had, her true personality had emerged. And he found that he liked it. And he liked her. She may have made overtures to him, but it took seeing her at total ease, torturing Var, to understand what he felt.
Of course, he had no intention of telling her that he liked her. She was annoying enough as it was. To let her know that would make it worse.
Strange. Selani were another race, yet there were commonalities in their basic personalities that were similar to humans. Watching Var and Denai was much like watching a pair of human younglings playing in a pond, with Denai being the younger, more aggressive party, and Var the older, more reserved one, having to be baited into letting go by his more carefree companion. Then again, he had no idea what Var's real personality was like, because he was always very careful to remain as unthreatening as possible around Tarrin. Tarrin couldn't fault him for that, but now he was getting curious to know what Var was really like. Judging from watching him with Denai, he was a rather serious young man with a very firm sense of responsibility. But he wasn't above a little bit of fun now and again.
Tarrin had to chuckle ruefully. He kept thinking of Var and Denai as younglings, people much younger than him, when the truth was that he was only eighteen, while Denai was probably in her twenties, and Var was probably in his late thirties. Selani lived on average to be one hundred and fifty years old-some had lived as long as two hundred and fifty-so Allia told him, so those ages corrosponded to someone in her late teens for Denai, and someone in his mid twenties for Var. He was much younger than them, but his experiences and his trials had aged him mentally, made him feel much older than he really was. Not two years ago, he would have been in that pond with them, splashing and carrying on and acting foolish. Now it seemed very foolish to him, a waste of time and energy.
A lifetime ago.
Maybe Shiika's draining touch had aged him more than physically. Maybe it truly had aged him, in body and mind, giving him a mental state to match his unnaturally accelerated years. Or maybe it was just the Cat in him. The Cat wasn't above acting the fool in play, but that was for kittens, or when the Cat felt totally at ease. The rest of the time, it felt proper to act in a dignified manner.
Tarrin crossed his arms and watched as the play died down, and the business of cleaning off got under way. A scent on the wind caught his attention, a rocky, earthy smell that he knew was a kajat, and that turned him away from the Selani. It was faint, but the faint wind hadn't scattered it, and he could tell from the texture of it that it was moving in his direction. He couldn't see it yet, but the kajat was probably smart enough to stay off the hills, to not give away its position. He had little experience with kajat, but it was probably a good bet that Var and Denai's carrying on had made enough noise to attract the predator. He had had enough experience with them to know that they were so heavy that their steps made shivers in the ground, so he knelt down and put his sensitive paw on the ground, feeling for that telltale quivering. If he could feel it, then the kajat was close.
There it was. And another, and another. It was moving slowly and carefully; it was stalking, moving in for the attack. He couldn't tell direction, but a change in the wind made the scent much stronger, and he realized that the monster was approaching from along the canyon wall, and it was coming more or less right at him. He was between it and the pond, meaning that it would have to go through him to reach the Selani. That was a good thing. Var and Denai were still washing, and he let them go on without telling them. If they changed their patterns of behavior, the kajat may alter its path or plan, and Tarrin didn't want that. As it was, the Selani were safe, and that was really the only issue here.
He saw it. It was a huge kajat, so large that it peeked up and over a small hillock about five hundred spans from Tarrin's position. It looked right at him, and stared right back at it defiantly, his eyes erupting from within with their baleful greenish radiance as soon as it made eye contact. He'd been charged by a kajat twice before, so he already knew exactly what the animal was going to do. It had lost the element of surprise, but it was close enough to make a run at a meal. So it would abandon stealth and attack.
And that was exactly what it did. The reptile was about twice as big as the one that bit off his leg, much larger than the first one he encountered, and the entire land shook with each of its rapid footsteps as it quickly accelerated to a full run and came around the small hillock behind which it was hiding. Tarrin rose up to his full height and reached behind him, drawing his sword slowly, easily, as Var and Denai noticed the rippling of the water and concluded quickly that a kajat was on the move very close to them. They started scrambling out of the water, calling out in alarm, but Tarrin kept his eyes locked on the reptile as it charged right at him. He was curiously without fear, watching a monster that weighed more than a house bear down on him with a speed that was shocking, given the raw size of this monster. Tarrin simply stood his ground on the crest of that hill, and he waited for it to come to him.
It didn't disappoint him. With an ear-splitting bellow, it opened those massive jaws and showed him a virtual forest of pitted ivory teeth, then started up the hill. Tarrin crouched down and lowered his weapon, ears back, eyes watching the monster intently for the little signs that would tell him when it was going to lunge at him. The other two had done the same thing, lunged when they got close and turned its head sideways enough to catch its prey in those huge jaws. This one would do the same, he was sure of it, and he knew how to counter that move, counter it and turn it into a fatal mistake.
He saw its head shiver. That was it. Tarrin crouched down, then immediately vaulted straight up just as the monster lunged out at him, striking with that big head and those deadly jaws like a snake, trying to catch the little Were-cat between its jaws. But those jaws closed on empty air as Tarrin rose over them, and its momentum carried it under and past the Were-cat as he descended. He landed on its back, just past its neck, and whirled with his sword out the instant his feet came down on its scaly hide. The monster hadn't registered that Tarrin was on top of it, and it rose up its head and caught sight of the two Selani, who had retrieved their swords from their clothes and stood in defiant challenge to it. They knew that they couldn't outrun the monster, and there was nowhere to hide. So they preferred to fight. They would not give it an easy meal.
The monster came over the hill, bellowing in triumph as Var and Denai raised their swords-
– -and then it crashed to the ground, an impact so powerful it made the pond's surface jump from the shock of it, sliding down the hill on its belly and coming to a stop not thirty spans from the pond, its eyes open and glazed.
Var and Denai looked at it in confusion, then Var laughed as Tarrin stood up from behind the kajat's head. His sword was buried in the back of its neck. The blow had been precise and true, going right between the bones of the neck to sever the spinal nerve. It wasn't dead yet, but it could no longer move anything below its neck, so death was a matter of suffocation now, since the muscles that caused the lungs to fill with air were now paralyzed.
Tarrin wrenched his sword free of it as Var and Denai approached him. They looked a bit silly, standing there naked as the day they were born, dripping wet, and with swords in their hands, but they didn't seem to care. And in reality, he didn't either. He wiped the blood off the blade on the hide of the monster as Denai came up to where he was, a large grin on her face. "Wait til my tribe hears about this," she proclaimed. "You killed a kajat! That's a matter of tremendous honor!"
"It's easy, if you know what you're doing," Tarrin told her dismissively. "They all seem to make the same mistake."
"If it's alright with you, I'd like to take a couple of its teeth," Var said. "They make great trophies, and I can use them to demonstrate this one's size when I tell my tribe of this."
"It's yours," he grunted. "I don't want to eat it. Do whatever you want with it." He glanced at Denai, who had her head about halfway into the kajat's open mouth. "I wouldn't do that," he warned her.
"Why?"
"It's not dead yet, and if it really tried, it could probably close its mouth. You'll lose your head if you keep going."
Denai flinched back from it quickly, then laughed. "I should have realized that. How long?"
"Give it a few moments, then it'll be safe," he replied. "By the time you're dry and dressed, it'll be dead."
He stood by the dying giant as Var and Denai dressed, and he decided that it had been long enough. He stepped back and let them inspect the great beast, Var taking its four largest teeth and Denai taking the massive claw on one of its feet, a claw nearly as long as her forearm. "I think I could make something of these," Var said curiously, looking at the teeth. "A medallion or figure, a reminder of our time together."
"Whatever," Tarrin grunted. "Sarraya can Conjure you anything you need."
"I really need to learn how to do that," Denai laughed, holding the claw up to her sword, comparing them. "It must be very handy to make anything you want appear."
Tarrin ignored her. "We have to move. This thing is going to attract scavengers, and they may like their meat fresh."
"What about Sarraya?" Var asked.
"She can find me no matter where I am. She'll be fine."
They moved to a shallow valley about a longspan from the carcass, a valley abutted by the wall, a defensible position to await Sarraya's return. Var and Denai sat by the wall as Tarrin stood on the hilltop, watching out for any more surprises. They didn't wait for very long, for the Faerie appeared before him and landed lightly on his shoulder about an hour after they moved. "I saw the body. It looks like you had fun without me."
"That wasn't fun."
"It looks like you did it. Where were they?"
"Waist deep in a pond, splashing water at each other."
Sarraya laughed, then she hovered so she could look at him. "I'm impressed," she said seriously. "You protected them, Tarrin. That's pretty remarkable, coming from you."
"That wasn't protecting them," he said gruffly. "That thing was coming after me."
"Because you put yourself out where it would see you first, most likely," she said dismissively. "Rationalize it any way you want, Tarrin, but you can't hide the truth. You're protecting the Selani. I've seen you do it for days now, without making much of an issue of it."
Tarrin stared at her, but she just smiled at him. "You're losing your bite, you grumpy curmudgeon," she teased. "But as I recall, a long time ago, that's what you were trying to do. I think Triana would be proud of you."
Tarrin looked away from her, suddenly embarassed. And he had no idea why.
"Let's feed the masses, and then settle in. There are a lot of critters out there, and we'll be zigzagging quite a bit to avoid them. So we'd better leave at sunset. The most dangerous ones aren't nocturnal."
"Good plan," he said.
Tarrin hadn't thought of it, but he had to admit that it worked out perfectly.
Moving at night had been the perfect solution. With Tarrin scouting ahead and Sarraya leading the two Selani along the surprisingly dark canyon floor, they managed to traverse it without any major incidents. All the dangerous predators were sleeping, for they were cold-blooded, and couldn't operate after dark. The air was surprisingly warm, for the humidity there locked in the warmth radiating from the stone walls of the canyon, and the winds prevented the heat from radiating out. That kept the floor of the canyon very nice, like a summer night in Aldreth, and Tarrin found the journey across the floor to be almost pleasant.
The place was alot different at night. The towering walls blocked much of the sky, and that kept most of the light generated by the moons and Skybands out of the canyon itself. Tarrin's night-sighted eyes had no trouble seeing in the darkness, and the disappearance of the reptiles made the landscape seem almost like the grassy plains in the West. So much like them that it was easy to forget where he was, at least until he looked ahead of him and saw the longspan-high canyon wall approaching.
The reflection didn't really start until they got to the other side, and huddled by the wall to rest while Tarrin kept watch. Sarraya was right. Tarrin found that he liked Denai, and he could tolerate Var, and that had caused him to act in a protective manner. He was protecting them. Even though he still couldn't bring himself to be civil to Var, he would still act to protect him, and that confused the Were-cat. That was not his normal reaction. Usually he wouldn't care. But now it did matter to him that Var remained healthy, and he had no inkling as to why. Var meant nothing to him, but something inside him just wouldn't accept the idea of leaving the Selani in danger. Something human.
He had acted the same way before, with Sheba. He didn't care for Sheba, but he had prevented her from killing herself, even had healed her of her injuries. Out of impulse. Those impulses, long submerged under his ferality, were starting to reassert themselves, and that gave him a little hope for the future. They were human impulses, they were the remnants of his human morality trying to restore itself in his mind. He had swung about all the way he could towards the Cat, and now it seemed he was swinging back towards something of a center between his dual natures.
He was changing. He could admit that to himself. But what was causing it? The haunting of the eyeless face, had it literally frightened him into change? Had his proximity to Var and Denai, two strangers, begun to eat away at his suspicious nature? Or had the strength of his human side, so long dominated by the powerful instincts of the Cat, finally found a way to fight back against them?
Any of them could be the answer, but it left him in a bit of a quandry. He didn't like the idea of being moral. Killing people who got in his way was an expedient and efficient means of dealing with problems. The human in him didn't exactly approve of such behavior. Morality would cloud his world, and he didn't need any additional worries or confusion. It wasn't that he liked being monstrous, but in this dangerous game he was playing, getting hung up by an attack of moral consciousness could be a very bad thing. He was dealing with people who were utterly ruthless, willing to start wars and kill thousands to get what they wanted. He had to be capable of the same thing, or they would have an advantage over him. He welcomed the idea of not being so feral, but the idea that he would become a weak-hearted sop didn't rate highly with him. Mercy was for the weak, compassion was for the weak. They didn't fit in with his instinctual concept of the way things were.
More to the point, they didn't fit in with the Cat's concept of things. Triana and Jesmind both had told him, and he had told Jula, that it was the balance between human and Cat that mattered. Tarrin hadn't had that balance. His ferality had caused his Cat instincts to dominate his thinking. And as they had so long ago when he tried to abandon his human side, they had proved to be much more resilient and powerful than he realized. The human in him was proving that it was just as strong as the Cat, but in different ways.
He looked back at Var and Denai, who were both sleeping. He clearly identified both of his thoughts of them. The Human saw them as companions, even friends, and it sought to protect and nurture them. The Cat in him saw them as strangers, enemies-almost. Denai had even managed to worm her way into the Cat's good graces. It didn't particularly trust her, but it couldn't help liking her. It didn't want anything to do with them. They weren't his kind, they were weak, and they were a liability. It wanted to leave them behind.
It struck him as slightly odd. The Cat was a racist.
Not precisely a racist, he realized. It was a powerful creature, highly dignified, and with a strong sense of control. The weak submitted, the strong ruled. That was its law. Denai was no challenge to it, so it almost accepted her, as a submittant. But Var was another matter. The Cat saw Var as dangerous, a potential rival, and much as he had reacted to the Were-cat males he had met in Shoran's Fork, he reacted much the same way with Var. He realized that if the Cat clearly believed it was dominant, it would come to accept Var. It was why it had accepted Sarraya, Camara Tal, and Phandebrass. They all had submitted to him in one way or another, though in Camara Tal's case, it took quite a while.
Sometimes he overestimated that part of him. Sometimes it seemed more than primal, but time and time again he realized that the Cat in him was not smarter than it seemed. It was affected by his human intellect, but it still operated in basic, simple ways, and understanding those operations was the key to heading it off when it wanted to do something that the rest of him didn't want to do. It was and always would be an animal, no matter how long he lived or how smart he became. It would never change. Only its ability to affect his behavior would change.
And it was just that simple.
He was changing. He didn't know exactly what was causing it, and part of him resisted the idea, but like everything else that happened in his life, he merely accepted it. For him, it simply was. And that too was just that simple.
"Oh, my," Var breathed.
It was dawn, and the walls hid the sun from them to produce a steely gray light down at the bottom of the canyon. Var and Denai had just woke up, but Tarrin had stayed up all night to watch over the group, to use his keen senses to ensure no predators on the canyon floor found them. The two Selani were looking up the wall of the canyon, a longspan of sheer vertical rock standing between them and the top. The steep ridge of sorts that helped them get down wasn't there, because they were not exactly on the far side of it. Sarraya was out looking for it, and she would guide them to it when she came back.
"It looks much bigger like this," Denai agreed. "But we got down, we can get back up."
"It will take longer," Var said.
"We have all day," Denai shrugged. "Are you afraid of a little climb, Var?"
"Of course not," he replied immediately. "But you're dismissing how hard it's going to be."
"I know it won't be easy. They'll probably have to throw blankets over us wherever we collapse when we get to the top. But I'm looking forward to the challenge."
Sarraya came buzzing back, and she looked excited. "I found gold, Tarrin!" she said exuberantly. "A vein as thick as a man, and almost fifty spans long!"
"We're not here for gold, Sarraya," he grunted in reply. "Did you find the ridge?"
"Well, of course," she said with a pout. "But that's not as interesting as the gold."
"Gold is holy to the Selani," Tarrin told her. "If you want it, you'll have to discuss it with them."
"You don't have to put it that way," she said petulantly. "Come on, the ridge is about half a longspan this way."
After they reached the ridge, they again tied themselves together in preparation for the climb up. This time it would be a bit harder, because the ridge didn't start until about a hundred spans up the canyon's wall. They'd have to scale the bare rock up to the ridge, where it would help them get up the wall a little more safely. That scaling didn't look like it was going to be too hard, because the stone was ragged and full of hand and foot holds.
"I hope you two know how to climb," Tarrin told the Selani, as Sarraya settled in on top of his head, digging her legs into his hair as an anchor. He put his claws into the stone of the wall, and then immediately started up.
"We're leaving now?" Denai said quickly. "Aren't we going to get ready first?"
"If you're not ready by now, then you'll never be ready," Var told her as he started up after Tarrin.
The climb up was much more difficult than the climb down had been. It took them nearly an hour to reach the ridge, because Var and Denai kept getting stuck trying to find suitable holds for their hands and feet. Tarrin resisted the urge to just dislodge them from the wall and do all the climbing to the ridge, but he realized that they'd have an even harder time trying to transit from the rope to the wall than if they just climbed up themselves. So he was forced to stop and wait for them much more than he wanted. Once they got to the ridge, however things picked up. Just like on the other wall, this ridge was steep, narrow, and the rock above it was littered with pits and protrusions that served perfectly as holds. They ascended into the buffetting winds, which caused them to slow down again. The wind that day was particularly fierce, and it provided the day's only episode of excitement for them.
The wind was gusty and powerful, hitting at them with shocking suddenness, and once it caught Denai just as she was moving to another handhold, pulling herself up. Denai was the smallest and lightest of the three, and the wind had just enough force to pull her away from the wall. Tarrin looked down and behind him when he heard her gasp, saw her teetering with her toes on the edge of the very narrow ridge, windmilling with one arm to keep from slipping off as the other hand scrabbled on the wall to find something onto which to grab. Then the wind hit her again, and it pulled her feet off the ridge. She gave out a short cry as she fell off the ridge, tumbled down the vast gulf towards the ground, then stopped when the rope tying them together snapped taut. Var grunted and lost his breath when the rope suddenly yanked at his waist, but somehow he managed to hold on.
"Sorry about that!" Denai called up to them, and that nearly made Tarrin laugh. Not get me up! and not what just happened, not even a scream or frightened reaction, but sorry about that. Denai was almost so fearless she was crazy. Var gritted his teeth and clung to the rock as Denai climbed up the rope, then pulled herself back onto the ridge. "Alright, that was fun. Shall we go?"
"Are you two alright?" Tarrin asked.
"Just give me a minute," Var wheezed. Tarrin saw that he had broken out into an immediate sweat. That wasn't good. He stepped down to where Var was clinging to the rock and pushed his paw up and under the Selani's loose shirt, and felt blood around the rope. The rope had hurt him more than he was letting on. Reaching within, through the Cat and into the All, Tarrin effected healing on Var, accelerated his natural healing and imparted upon him the strength to recover from the episode.
"Sarraya, go check Denai. That maniac's probably got some broken ribs, but she wouldn't admit to it if she did."
"Sure thing," Sarraya replied, pulling herself out of his hair and flitting over to look over the Selani female.
"Feel better now?" Tarrin asked gruffly.
"Much, thank you," he replied easily. "I didn't realize that the rope drew blood."
"It did more than that. It broke one of your ribs," he answered in a neutral voice. The thought that he was right on top of Var in a dangerous position hadn't really occurred to him until just that moment, and he found himself climbing back up and out of the Selani's reach before he knew what he was doing. "Push the rope down so it's more on your waist," he said, covering up his actions. "How is it, Sarraya?"
"Just some scrapes and bruises," Sarraya called to him. "She doesn't have anything permanent. Give me a minute, and we can move on."
After waiting until Sarraya was again perched on his head, they started climbing again.
It took them all day to get up the wall. The wind tore at them for more than half of the climb, until they ascended past the barrier between the cool, moist air in the bottom of the canyon and the hot, dry air above it. He felt it distinctly against his skin as the parched air blew over him, as the wind died away-or more to the point, he climbed out of the area of windy instability. Once he got out of the wind, he found the climb to go much faster, and found himself slowing down or stopping when he felt the rope around his waist go taut, telling him that he was outpacing the Selani. They didn't stop for more than a moment to rest, because none of them wanted to be caught on the wall when the sun went down. That would be a fatal mistake, and they all knew it. Getting to the top before sundown was as much a survival issue as it was an end to the demanding climb.
Tarrin put his paw on the edge of the canyon wall about an hour before sunset, and then pulled himself up onto horizontal ground. Once he was safely on solid ground, he turned around and grabbed the rope in both paws, then pulled both the Selani off the ridge and hauled them up to the top. Var gave him only a wild look when he was pulled off the wall, but Denai gave out a delighted laugh. He pulled them up and over the edge of the canyon one by one, Var collapsing to his hands and knees and panting heavily as soon as he was clear. Denai may have sounded energetic with her laughter, but as soon as she was on solid ground, she flopped heavily onto her back and panted just as heavily as Var. Both of them were drenched with sweat, and both of them had dried blood on their delicate four-fingered hands.
Tarrin didn't feel like untying the rope. He sliced it off of him with a claw, then looked down at the pair calmly. The climb up was more strenuous than the climb down had been, and that coupled with the lack of sleep between going down and coming up had taken their toll on him. Now he was tired, but he wasn't about to show that particular weakness to those two. Sarraya picked herself out of his hair and moved to hover in front of him, her expression one of slight concern.
"Sarraya, keep watch on them while I go find a place to camp. We have to get a fire going before sunset, and I don't think camping right here is a good idea."
"You look tired, Tarrin," Sarraya protested. "You watch them, and I'll go find someplace suitable. After all, I didn't do any climbing."
He didn't feel much like arguing with her. "Go ahead, but make it fast. The first place you find will do. We don't have much time."
"Aye-aye, captain!" she said, throwing up a hand in salute like the sailors on the ships had done.
"Go," he said flatly.
She stuck her tongue out at him, then turned and buzzed off towards a rock spire that was about a longspan from the canyon.
She was nearly as bad as Denai.
"Well, it looks like I'll never settle my blood debt," Denai huffed. "Now I owe blood debt to you, Var. You stopped me when I fell."
"It's not important," Var panted in reply. "We wore the rope for mutual protection. That we had to use it isn't a matter of blood."
"So you say," she said stubbornly. "I feel I owe you blood debt. Do you want to fight about it once we recover?"
"You'll lose."
"Not this time I won't."
"And you'll dig yourself deeper with your loss."
"That's my problem, isn't it?"
Tarrin raised an eyebrow-and more to the point, he opened his nose. Tarrin's sense of smell was exceptionally acute, and he'd been around Selani long enough to understand how their scents related to their moods. Just like humans, Selani had specific textures in their scents that related to happiness, anger, fear, and other common emotions. Denai's scent carried a spicy texture to it that told him that she was starting to show interest in Var.
It was about time.
Tarrin realized that Denai had slipped on purpose. She did it to incur blood debt to Var, to give her a reason to stay with him. She couldn't settle her debt with Var until she finished settling it with Tarrin. It explained why she wasn't frightened or screaming when she fell. Anyone, even a Selani-even him -would have done more than give out that little cry when faced with falling so far that one would probably die of panic before hitting the ground. No wonder she wasn't hurt, or she wasn't all panicky after she reached the end of the rope. She had been ready for it.
He was right. Denai was crazy. She was totally fearless, probably too fearless for her own good. To risk her life just to give herself an excuse to catch herself a man! That was the craziest thing he'd ever seen!
She did more than risk her own life, she had put all three of them in danger!
The minute he realized that, he felt a surge of hostility towards the affable Selani girl, but it quickly died away. Were-cat females weren't exactly well known for their restraint. What Denai did wasn't much crazier as what Rahnee or Jesmind might do.
Jesmind. He wondered what she was doing, and if she was well. In a strange way, he still missed her, and missed her terribly. He wanted to kill her for abandoning him, but he still yearned for her in that peculiar way. Not just for her companionship, but for the sense of safety he had felt when he was around her.
But that was a cub's reaction to the big scary world, and he was too old for it now.
And he thought that the Selani were immune to acting like total idiots when it came to hormones. Denai was thinking with her glands, not her head. Then again, she was young. Allia certainly wouldn't be so foolish. If she wanted Var, she'd march right up to him and tell him in no uncertain terms exactly what her intentions were. It was Allia's way. But not every Selani was Allia. Just like humans, they were very different from one another, within certain cultural boundaries.
Tarrin tuned out their arguing long enough to not realize when they stopped. Sarraya came flitting back several moments later, a smile on her face. "There's a nice flat on the far side of that rock spire," she reported. "It's perfect for a campsite. I already conjured up all our camp gear, so it's waiting for you."
"Good. Get up," he called over his shoulder. "We have to be there by sunset, or we'll attract Sandmen."
They made it in plenty of time. Tarrin got the fire going as Var and Denai wearily went out and killed something to eat, then dragged themselves back. Tarrin watched as they broiled the catch, a fairly large umuni, on a stick Sarraya conjured up, and then took his portion and went to the far side of the fire. Var rolled himself up in his bedroll the instant he was done eating, and was asleep before he stopped moving.
Tarrin stood up as Denai spat out a bone from the lizard, and then she gave out a squeak when he hauled her up off the ground by the back of her shirt. He pulled her up and turned her so she was looking him right in the eyes, her feet dangling two spans off the ground, and his expression was enough to make her very, very frightened.
"If you ever do something as stupid as you did today, I'll make sure your father finds what's left of you scattered over three day's run from here to the Cloud Spire. Do you understand me?"
"I didn't-"
" Do you understand me?" he hissed savagely, his ears laying back and his eyes igniting from within with that unholy greenish radiance that clearly marked his anger. Sarraya had described all the warning signs to Denai, and the expression of sudden terror on her face made it clear to him that she understood that one.
"I-yes," she said in a fearful voice. "I understand. Can I get down now?"
Tarrin dropped her roughly, causing her to fall to her backside with her teeth clicking.
"Now go to sleep," he commanded harshly, "before I decide to make you sleep in the dark."
She didn't say a word. She just scrambled to her bedroll beside Var and rolled herself up in it, then rolled over so her back was to him.
Tarrin snorted, then went back to his side of the fire. That had been sufficient. She knew better now, or at least she'd better. Tarrin did not make idle threats. If she continued to be stupid, then he would kill her, if only to protect the rest of them from her.
The camp was quiet for a long time. Sarraya kept looking at him curiously, and when Denai's breathing slowed into the deep pattern of sleep, she roused herself from her seat near the fire. "What was that all about?" Sarraya whispered, flitting over and landing on his shoulder.
Tarrin blew out his breath, then told her. That made Sarraya blanch slightly, then chuckle. "She's got guts."
"It was stupid," he snarled. "She could have killed all three of us with that stunt."
"But she didn't. I'm not surprised she'd do something like that. Denai's kinda fearless, if you haven't noticed."
"It's called a lack of common sense," he grunted. "I should make Var marry her, if only to let his good sense keep her from getting killed."
"Var likes her. He told me so."
"Denai's scent tells me everything I need to know about how she feels," Tarrin replied. "She's young, but she's an adult. She may be coming in season, but I'm not sure yet."
"What?"
"Selani are like Were-cats, Sarraya. They're only fertile a few rides every six months, and that affects their behavior. Allia explained it to me. You haven't been with us long enough to see Allia in season, but I have. She gets very cranky. Almost like a human woman."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"She gets cranky because she has no release. Denai does."
"Var," Sarraya giggled.
"Denai likes him, but if she's coming in season, it's going to make her militant." He scratched his nose. "She was toying with trying to catch his eye before, but now it seems that she's taking steps. And it's more than just a quick roll in the blankets. If that's all Denai wanted, it would be as easy as inviting him into a tent."
"Oh."
"Selani are pretty casual about things like that. They don't attach sex to relationships the way humans do. But Denai is young, so I'm not sure what she's after yet. Maybe she's fishing for Var, or maybe she just wants to play with him before satisfying the demands of being in season. I'm not sure. She's pretty erratic for a Selani."
"They'd be a good couple."
"If Denai doesn't get them both killed," Tarrin said sourly. "And us too, while she's at it."
"Give her a break, Tarrin. Weren't you ever like that when you were a kid?"
"Probably," he admitted. "I used to do all sorts of crazy things when I was a kid, but at least I didn't get others in trouble with me. I only had myself to blame if I messed up, and I was the only one who would pay for it."
"You, do crazy things? I can't believe that," she said with a totally insincere grin.
"Childhood is the time for insanity," he grunted. "The ones who are either lucky enough or smart enough survive to reach maturity."
Sarraya laughed. "I never looked at childhood as a process of natural selection before," she told him with a grin.
"Of course it is. Kids who do stupid things usually don't live long enough to reproduce, unless they're either very lucky or have very alert parents. Weakness and illness are the weeding out processes for animals. Blatant stupidity is the weeding out process for humans."
Sarraya laughed. "So, for humans, it's survival of the smartest?"
"Or the luckiest," he shrugged. "Maybe the richest."
"You look worn out, Tarrin. Why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep the fire going tonight. I feel kind of bad that you three worked so hard, when I did little more than ride along."
"I think that I'll do that," he said with a sudden yawn. "Goodnight, Sarraya." He twisted around a little and shapeshifted into his cat form, then curled up by the fire. He really was tired. More tired than he'd been in quite a while. He closed his eyes, and sleep claimed him almost immediately.
Denai had taken his threat seriously, because she was remarkably well behaved the next day. She kept giving Tarrin fearful looks as he instructed Sarraya in Sha'Kar as they travelled more or less due north. He had been serious. He liked Denai, but he wasn't about to let her wild nature put his life in jeopardy. Next thing he knew, she'd be bringing kajats to the campsite to try to impress Var, and fighting kajats on a daily basis was not on his list of fun things to do.
The campsite that night was one of quiet reservation. Denai was remarkably cowed, and went to sleep almost immediately after sunset. Var wasn't very comfortable being generally alone with Tarrin, so he went to sleep soon afterward, leaving Tarrin and Sarraya to enjoy the rest of the night in relative peace.
But like any youngster, Tarrin's ugly threats had only affected her for so long. As days stretched into rides, Denai slowly returned to her more fearless character, again teasing and challenging Var whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Their destination was the Cloud Spire. Not because Tarrin wanted to go to the Selani Gathering, but because both Var and Denai needed to contact their tribes, to let them know that they were alright. Tarrin could understand that, so he was willing to go on a small detour to get there. It was only about a day out of his way, and they'd saved more than that crossing the Great Canyon. Neither of their tribes would be at the Gathering when they arrived, but at least the two could wait there for them to arrive. Tarrin also wanted to go there because he had no intention of taking them along with him past Gathering. He liked Denai and he could tolerate Var, but to be honest about it, he had no reason to take them with him after that. Denai had guided him past the major obstacles in the region, and that was all she really needed to do. It was time to let them go back home. He'd feel a little better if he knew that those two were away from him, where his ability to draw in trouble didn't put them in jeopardy. Denai had had her adventure, and Var had got more than he had probably bargained for when he asked to come along. Both of them had their own lives, and it was time for them to go back to them.
The travel north had done more than allowed him to reach that conclusion. As they moved north, the power of the Conduit in that direction became more and more clear to him, and about a ride after leaving the canyon, he realized that what he was feeling wasn't a Conduit at all. It was something close to a Conduit, but it wasn't a part of the Weave. It was some kind of artifact or magical object, and judging from the power it emanated, it was incredibly powerful. Its power had something to do with drawing in the magical energy of the Weave and directing it, that was why it gave off a sensation much akin to a Conduit. Conduits were, after all, little more than major strands, where the magic of many strands joined and was directed back into the heart of the Weave. This object performed a similar function, but it didn't seem to do anything with the magic it channeled. It simply directed it. That confused him, really confused him, because he couldn't sense any kind of companion object that did anything with that power.
About two days after he made that realization, he finally figured out why he didn't feel anything. He had been wrong twice. The object was something of a focus, and it did sit on a major Conduit. What made it so curious was that the object was what was creating the Conduit. It was like a magnifying glass set before the sun, creating a beam of light hot enough to burn paper. The object sat on a minor Conduit and focused that power, and turned it into a major Conduit. It was both a Conduit and a magical device, and the blurring of their two magicks had given him conflicting sensations.
That piqued his curiosity. An object of that magical power was something not seen since the Breaking, and from the feel of it, no modern magician would have been capable of creating it. Its magic was too strong, and the sense of it was that it was exceedingly old, like his amulet. It, like his amulet, had somehow managed to survive the Breaking. He wondered what it was, and where it was.
The next morning, the morning before they sat out for their day's journey, he decided that whatever it was, it was worth checking out. It had a magical power that put it on a level with what he expected the Firestaff to be. There was an outside chance that it could actually be the Firestaff, hidden out here in what became the Desert of Swirling sands after it was last used, some five thousand years ago. That was a possibility that he absolutely could not risk ignoring. Whatever this object was, he had to see it, to discount it so he could move on. The Goddess had said that he had to go back to Suld to find the Firestaff, but maybe she had just said that to give him an excuse to go through the desert, to put him in a position where he could find the Firestaff on his own, without her help. Maybe the vision of the strange town with the exotic buildings was wrong. Maybe it had just been a common dream placed in the middle of the succession of foretelling images the Goddess had put in his head.
Even if that weren't the case, he found that he couldn't just pass by whatever this object was, not without looking at it and figuring out why it was out here.
They pulled in around noon for a meal and to cool off, finding a small den of sorts in the side of a rock spire. The region was pretty much well denuded of plant life, showing that a Selani tribe had passed through with their flocks in the last few days. The day was particularly hot, and even his Selani companions were starting to drag a little bit under the merciless sun. He had sat down and counted back through the months the night before, and he was shocked to realize that it was almost the dead of winter back home. It hadn't felt like so much time had passed. Yet out here, it was just one hot day after another, with very little to give him a sense that the seasons were passing aside from the rotation of the stars and the phases of the moons. Midwinter. Jenna was fourteen now, and if they were still in Ungardt, then she had to be freezing her shift off. If there was indeed a war in Sulasia, it had to have bogged down in the heavy snows common there this time of year. Allia and his friends were still safely in the Tower, waiting for him, and Keritanima was probably on the way there by now.
He saw no reason not to find out. He excused himself from the others and climbed up the rock spire, a particularly tall and wide one, and reached its flat top. He seated himself facing north, then took his amulet in his paw and formed an image of his sister in his mind. "Keritanima," he called.
"Tarrin?" she replied almost immediately. "Where have you been? I've been worrying about you!" She was speaking in Sha'Kar, the accented Sha'Kar that Tarrin had shed with his contact with the Sha'Kar woman.
"I'm alright, sister," he told her. "I'm still in the desert. Where are you right now?"
"About halfway to Suld," she replied. "The icebergs have been pretty bad for so early in the year, so I'm getting a little peeved. Miranda says hello."
"Hi, Miranda," he called. He knew that Miranda could hear her.
"What's with the dialect?" she asked.
"Kerri, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied. "Let's just say that I learned the proper pronunciations from someone that I know was right."
"I take it that it's something you don't want to talk about like this?"
"Exactly. How did things go before you left?"
"Pretty good, actually," she said with a brightness in her voice that told him she was smiling. "I managed to get the nobles to heel. Sashka is probably teaching them how to sit up and beg about now, I'd imagine. He made it pretty clear that the Consitution I gave him to go by would be the absolute law of the land, and the nobles aren't stupid enough to not believe him. They also know that I gave Sashka power of the military, so if they try anything funny, he'll crush them. I may have a heart, but Sashka is a Vendari. His idea of warfare tends to go along the lines of 'scorched earth.' The nobility won't cross him."
Tarrin smiled. "I'm glad things worked out pretty well. How are Zak, Binter, and Sisska?"
"Zak is fine. Binter and Sisska stayed in Wikuna."
"Why?"
"Sisska is pregnant," she replied calmly. "There was absolutely no way I was going to permit her to travel. I have a new Vendari bodyguard named Szath. He's pretty unimaginative and not very bright, but at least he gets along with Zak. I guess that's all that matters."
"Only one?"
"I thought the same at first, because of Sashka's nearly fanatical insistence that I be well protected. But I have Zak, who's turned out to be an equal to a Vendari in a fight. The fact that Szath is the biggest, strongest, toughest Vendari I've ever seen in my life may have something to do with only having one sent to replace Binter and Sisska."
"He's that big?"
Tarrin, he lookes like a mobile tree," she said in a sudden voice. "He's a salt-water Vendari, and they have brown scales. He's a head taller than Binter, and about half again as wide. He could probably knock down a house with his bare hands. He can't even fit through the door to my cabin, so he stands out in the hall. Nobody can get around him when he does, so the staterooms past mine are empty."
"Wow."
"Wow indeed. As soon as Sisska lays her eggs, they'll be coming back. Her clan will care for the eggs while they're here."
That surprised him, but it should not have. Vendari were related to reptiles, though they were warm-blooded. It was only logical that they were egg-layers. "How long will that be?"
"Sisska should be putting down her brood in about a month, and I'll have them on the fastest clipper in the fleet as soon as she feels ready to move. That'll probably be the day after."
"You going to be alright with this Szath?"
" He's a Vendari, Tarrin," Keritanima chuckled. "He may not be very bright, but his honor and devotion to duty are unswerving. I've already sworn him to secrecy about those things I don't want to spread, and he'll keep his word. He'll take those secrets to his grave. If he even remembers them, that is," she added with a rueful grunt. "How are you doing?"
"On schedule, more or less. I'm about two days from a place called Cloud Spire, and the Selani clans are gathering there for their yearly meeting."
"I didn't ask where you were, I asked how you were doing," she said archly.
"I'm alright, sister," he replied calmly. "I'm well and whole, at least right now."
"You're being evasive, Tarrin," she accused.
"I know. Things have happened to me here that I don't want spread around. They'll see it soon enough in a while."
"You won't even tell me?"
"I'd love to, sister, but unfortunately I have no idea how many other people I'm talking to at the moment."
"Alright, I get the point," she sighed. "I take it that it's going to apply to where you've been and what you've done?"
"More or less. I can tell you that I'm travelling with a pair of Selani, but I'll be leaving them behind once we reach the Cloud Spire. That's half the reason I'm going that way."
"What are they like?"
"Nothing like Allia," Tarrin chuckled. "Var is reserved, but he's a little stiff. That's because I still don't really like him, so he won't be himself around me. Denai is another matter."
"Uh oh," Keritnaima giggled. "I take it she's a handful?"
"Imagine Sarraya with no reservations."
Keritanima laughed. "She can't be that bad."
"She intentionally threw herself off a longspan-high cliff just to impress Var," he told her. "She's worse than Sarraya. She has absolutely no fear. Not of the desert, not of me, and not of just about anything. She's old enough to be an adult, but young enough to be stupid."
Keritanima was howling with laughter, and it took her a moment to get back under control. "Well then, I imagine that your nerves are pretty much well shot."
"Not really. I finally found a threat gruesome enough for her to believe. She's been pretty tame the last few days."
"Sounds like you like her."
"Why do you think that?"
"You have a soft spot for fearless little girls. Besides, if she's not afraid of you, if she's like you say she is, she probably flaunts the fact that she's not afraid of you in your face."
"She's done it a few times," he admitted. "Not lately, though. I frightened her pretty well after that stunt at the cliff."
"What's she like other than that?"
"She's a typical teenager. She talks too much, she's combative, competitive, devious, manipulative, and she thinks she knows everything."
"Sounds like a typical teen to me," Keritanima chuckled. "It's good to see that certain age qualities are universal across races. I guess it gives us all common ground."
"Maybe. Have you talked to Allia?"
"Yesterday. They're doing alright. Allia's getting a little restless, sitting in the Tower. Dolanna, Camara Tal, and Sevren are trying to find the traitor in the Tower, and Dar is getting a little aggravated with Allia, because she follows him everywhere he goes. Phandebrass hasn't come out of the library yet, and Triana is still here, training Jula."
"Did Allia tell you why Jula attacked the Keeper?"
"She did. It seemed that they were having a discussion, it turned into an argument, the Keeper tried to take Jula's amulet, and that set her off. From the sound of it, Jula and the Keeper never really got along, and it's alot worse now. Jula is a pariah in the Tower. None of the Sorcerers want anything to do with her, because she betrayed the order. There have been a few attempts to have the Council and the Keeper throw her out. None of them are crazy enough to attack Jula directly, though, so they have little choice but to try to go through Tower politics."
"I can imagine."
"It's more than that. It turns out that being a Were-cat makes Sorcery stronger. Jula's power has increased significantly since she got to the Tower. She's more than a match for anyone in the Tower. Add in those claws and her Were gifts, and she's nearly as dangerous as you."
"Huh. I didn't know that."
"Some of the Lorefinders are studying Jula to try to find out why," Keritanima told him. "So far, it's been a mystery."
"I can't think of why," he mused to himself, thinking about it. And he really couldn't. "That happened to me too?"
"They can't tell, because you got there after you were turned. They never got to see your power when you were human. Jula's abilities were well known before, so they have something to gauge her against now." There was a pause. "Jervis just came in, Tarrin, and he's carrying a sheaf of documents. I guess it's time to go to work."
"Work? I thought that you had someone doing that for you."
" Sashka handles running the day-to-day operation of the kingdom, but he always sends the important issues to me through the priests. I've been getting a steady stream of documents since I left Wikuna. I've been managing the kingdom from my stateroom since we left. I make the decisions, and Sashka makes sure they're carried out. Anyway, I have to go now, Tarrin. Work calls. Don't be a stranger, alright? Try to contact both of us at least every few days. We worry about you."
"I'll try, sister. Go on and do your Queen thing. It's about time for us to move anyway."
"Do the Queen Thing," Keritanima chuckled. "I like the sound of it. Bye Tarrin. Safe journey."
"Be well, sister," he replied, then he let go of his amulet.
Well, that explained some things. He'd been wondering what happened to Jula, when Triana didn't contact him again. Triana was like that sometimes. If she didn't deem it important, she didn't pass it on. The problem was that she thought it trivial, where he did not. It sounded like things in the Tower were under control, and Keritanima would soon be there as well. All he needed to do now was get there himself.
He happened to glance up in time to see three winged figures pass overhead, high in the sky. Their form and shape reminded him instantly of Ariana, and he was positive that they were the same race. Aeradalla. Their large wings cutting the air, they soared high overhead, moving back towards the canyon some ten days behind. At least on foot. For them, it was probably a day's flight. Even running at full speed, he could never hope to keep up with them. They were the first Aeradalla he'd seen so far, and he wondered why. Var and Denai said that they were a common sight in this region. Perhaps the Gathering had upset them a little, and they all decided to stay at the top of the Cloud Spire instead of being seen by the gathered Selani.
If they were flying towards the canyon, he guessed that they were out for food. There was certainly enough of it down there. He was certain that their flight down through those winds would be challenging.
Sarraya flitted up and landed on the stone in front of him. "You look all happy. Talk to someone?"
"Kerri," he replied. "Look at that."
"I saw them," Sarraya said. "It looks silly for them to have wings like that. They must be cumbersome."
"Wings are wings."
"Really," Sarraya scoffed. "Different wings mean different flying styles. Those Aeradalla are slow and ungainly in the air. They can't hover, they can't change directions quickly, and it takes them forever to get up to speed. My wings are far superior."
"And your wings wouldn't be able to lift that much weight, even if you were their size," he told her pointedly. "Dragonfly wings are suited for little people."
"Since I'm not that size, that's not an issue, is it?"
"No, but you'll always have to live with the fact that they can fly much further than you, much faster than you. You can't glide, and those little bee's wings can't muster up much speed."
"You take all the fun out of being superior," Sarraya said sourly.
"As soon as you think you're superior, someone will come along and prove you're really an idiot," he said absently. His mother used to say that quite a bit.
"Hmph," Sarraya snorted, turning her nose up. "So, what did the fur-face have to say?"
"She's on the way to Suld," he told her. "She got everything settled at home. She'll probably be there in fifteen days or so."
"That's good. That devious snake should make things go more smoothly."
"You've never met Kerri."
"No, but I've heard what she's like from you. If she's not a devious snake, I'm really a Troll."
Tarrin actually laughed. "She's a Queen, Sarraya. She's supposed to be devious," he admitted.
"See?"
Tarrin smiled benignly at her. "I love her anyway, despite her faults. Just like I love you, despite your uncountable faults."
"Well!" Sarraya flared, putting her hands on her hips. "I didn't come up here to be insulted!"
"Probably not, but I'm pretty sure you came up here to insult me ."
"Tarrin! I wouldn't do such a thing! At least not planned, anyway." She gave him a mischievious grin. "You just bring out the worst in me, that's all."
"Right. And I haven't heard you practicing your insults when you think I'm asleep."
Sarraya's face turned a lovely shade of purple. That was what happened when red blood flushed blue skin. Sarraya was blushing furiously, and she could only look up at him with timid eyes. "A girl has to keep in form," she said with a sudden grin.
"Right," he said mildly. Then he looked away from her, towards the north. That sensation was still with him, with him all the time now. Whatever it was, he just had to see what it was, what it really did. It was driving him batty. "There's something we need to check out that way," he said, pointing. "It's a magical object, so strong that I felt it way back at the Great Canyon. I don't know what it is, but I think we'd better find out."
"You think it may be the Firestaff?"
He shook his head. "I seriously doubt it'd be that easy, Sarraya, but it is possible. This object is certainly strong enough to be the Firestaff. If it's not, it has to be some other ancient relic like the Firestaff, something with tremendous power."
"You know where it is?"
"Not yet. I just know it's north of here. I think as we get closer, I'll get a sense of its location."
"You said that you felt it back at the canyon?" Tarrin nodded in agreement. "Tarrin, how could you feel something so far away?"
"Because it's so strong," he said with a shrug. "That's the only thing I can think of."
"Possible, but you said that your power was growing, quite a while ago," she said. "You haven't even tried to use your power for days, yet it seems to be still growing."
"That was before I fought the Sha'Kar. Before I was changed."
"I don't think that makes a difference," she said, tapping her chin with a tiny finger. "You wouldn't have been able to sense something so far away after the Sha'Kar forced you to come into your full power. You're still developing your power, Tarrin. Maybe that's why you weren't able to use it."
"Maybe," he said. "The Weave has been feeling more and more, clear. Lately, anyway. I've been feeling strange little pulses in it. I haven't figured out what they are yet, but they're something I didn't notice before."
"Sorcery isn't like other abilities," Sarraya mused. "It's a natural ability, just like Druidic talent. Since your power was altered, maybe it's taking your body some time to adjust to it. I'll bet that inside another ride, you'll be able to use magic again," she said with a bright smile.
"We can hope so," Tarrin said absently. "I've come to discover lately that I don't need it as much as I thought, though. In a way, it's a good thing I lost my power. It gave me a chance to see what Druidic magic was like. If I still had my power, I probably would have never learned to Conjure so much as a strip of bark."
"Probably," Sarraya smiled. "It was certainly fun teaching you. You're a quick student."
"You know that Triana's going to kill both of us."
"Yeah, but what fun is it to get in trouble if you don't have company?" Sarraya said with an outrageous smile.
Tarrin laughed. "Have you told her yet?"
"No, but she knew," Sarraya sighed. "Triana's got ears everywhere. She's already promised any number of ugly things she's going to do to me for teaching you."
"It's not your fault," he protested. "I needed to know."
"True, but I get the feeling that Triana wanted to be the one to train you," she told him. "Triana's attached to you. I think she sees you as the son she could have had. Laren disappoints her anew every time they meet."
"He'd better hope he never meets me," Tarrin growled. "I don't like him."
"He's just like that, Tarrin. You get used to it."
"I won't."
"Then he'll avoid you."
"He'd better."
"Down boy," Sarraya teased. "Woop, it looks like our sleeping prince and princess are waking up," Sarraya said, looking down the rock spire. Tarrin leaned over and looked, and he saw the two Selani coming out of the nittle nook, stretching. Denai looked around, then closed in on Var and leaned over his back as he put on a boot. Tarrin couldn't hear what she said to him, but his reaction was immediate and certain. He whirled around and stood up, then looked around furtively. Then the two of them retreated back into the niche. Tarrin had no doubt that Denai had invited Var to a little competition of her own devising, one best contended when Tarrin and Sarraya were off somewhere else.
Sarraya laughed evilly. "Maybe I should go down there," she said. "If I time it right, I can catch them right as-"
"No you won't," Tarrin interrupted. "Leave them alone. I want them to be distracted when we reach the Cloud Spire."
Sarraya glanced at him. "I take it we're going to leave them behind?" Tarrin nodded. "Pity. I like them. Denai is fun, and Var tells funny jokes."
"We can't take them with us, Sarraya. This is their home. Best to leave them at the Gathering. I'm pretty sure we can make it the rest of the way without their help."
"They were helpful, though."
"I'll give them that."
"How long do you think we should wait?" Sarraya asked with a wicked little smile.
"Denai is young, but Var isn't. I'd say about an hour. She'll probably have worn him out by then."
Sarraya gave him a look, then laughed so hard she nearly fell off the spire. "Alright. We'll give them privacy. But it'll be fun to run them afterward. It'll give us an idea of how much stamina they have."
"You're wicked, Sarraya," Tarrin said with a little smile.
"I know. I have a good teacher," she said with a coy wink. "Now then, let's eat while we're waiting. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry."
"We have to be something," she shrugged as she bent to conjuring up lunch.
To: Title EoF