Chronicles Of The Warlands - Warlord Part 11

myself under his shoulder, releasing him with my right hand.

Keir looked down as I took his left hand in mine, and lifted it, to entwine our fingers together, our hands

at the level of our chests. I happened to catch Joden looking at us intently from the crowd, but I ignored him and everyone else.

Keir lowered his head to bury his face in my hair. "Are you certain, Lara?"

"For our people. For us," I whispered fiercely.

"For us," was his soft reply.

But still, he could not let me go. So I smiled gently, and slipped from beneath his arm, from the safety of

his strength, turned and mounted Greatheart. I settled myself in the saddle, and faced the horizon.

"Keir, you should have said that she cannot ride." Keekai's voice rose behind me, and I stifled a laugh

that was more of a sob. I didn't look back as I urged my sleepy brown horse into a gallop. With a snort, Greatheart launched himself forward.

It took but a moment, then Keekai and the warrior-priests were beside me, galloping alongside, steering

me in the right direction. Which was just as well. I couldn't see anything through my tears.

"So," Keekai drew the word out. I looked across the brazier to see her bright blue eyes alight with curiosity.

We'd traveled for most of the day, leaving Keir and the army behind, alternating our pace between a walk and a trot. As exposed as the Plains made me feel, they weren't truly flat. But at a distance, the gradual rises and hollows were hidden to the eye. Still, the lack of trees, of something between me and the horizon, was unsettling.

We'd covered a great deal of distance, but Keekai had called a halt well before the sun had neared the horizon, much to the dismay of the warrior-priests.

We were seated in her tent, a brazier glowing between us. Keekai had two warriors who took care of her tent, gear, and meals-Regular warriors, and I was thankful for that. I'd had my fair share of being glared at by tattooed warrior-priests all day.

"So. We've heat and kavage, and bells at the flap. You know what the bells mean?" Keekai asked.

"That we wish to be private." Keekai's tent was smaller than Keir's, but it was comfortable. Certainly it was warm enough. I was sweating under my tunic. Keekai wasn't though. She had a blanket over her lap, and another over her shoulders.

"So. Why Iften?" Her face was intent and curious.

I hesitated for a moment, but Keir had said that she could be trusted. So I smiled at her. "We have a saying in Xy. 'You can kill a cat with cream'."

Keekai laughed.

Iften had ridden next to me the entire day, apparently taking his duties seriously. He'd constantly scanned the horizon for trouble, but never once bothered to speak to me.

Which was fine with me. I used the time to get a good look at his arm and fingers.

Sure enough, they were swollen, and had a lifeless, curled look about them. The skin was too pale, stretched thin over the puffy flesh. He was handling the reins, but I knew what was happening. He was us ing those leather bracers to try to splint the arm, never mind that one needed to set the bone. He was going to lose the use of the arm. By his own choice. I'd offered aid, but he'd rejected my healing skills, publicly and privately.

Still...

"It got Iften away from the army," I continued. "And it allows Keir to talk to his warriors without Iften's subtle talk against him. Iften has his own sense of honor, one that will not permit him to do anything other than see me safely to the Heart of the Plains."

"It also gave him a chance to spread his truths in the Heart, Lara." Keekai shrugged. "Only the skies can say if it was wise or not. And that troublemaker Gathering Storm still remained with Keir."

"Who?" I asked.

"The warrior-priest that was with Iften when I arrived," Keekai answered. "He is called Gathering Storm, and well named, since storms arise wherever he goes." Keekai got a sly grin on her face. "But well worth it to see Iften's smirk wiped away, eh?"

I laughed, and nodded my head in agreement. But then I leaned forward, to ask the question that had bothered me all day. "Keekai, are you Keir's mother?"

"Mother?" Keekai asked with a frown. "One who bears a child?" At my nod, she shrugged, the blanket sliding down her shoulder. Her eyes dropped down to the fabric, but not before I saw pain in her eyes. "How would I know? My teats were always dry at the birthing, and the babes given to another to suckle as soon as they popped out. He is of my tribe, that is certain." She pulled the blanket up around her. "This is important to you? To your people?"

I gave her a nod, still caught up in the differences between our worlds.

"How different we are," echoing my own thoughts, Keekai continued. "Yet we share the same skies." She shook her head, and set her mug aside. "We will talk, you and I, as we go. I have so many questions that I wish to ask, I don't even know where to start. But there is time. We will sleep on it." Her grin flashed. "Besides, Still Waters will have us up at the break of dawn." She stood and reached for my mug. "Best that we sleep together, you and I. Iften has his own honor, but let's not test it too far, eh?" She headed for the tent flap. "I've been told you Xyians have privacy about your bodies. I'll leave so that you may prepare for sleep."

I thanked her, and took advantage of her courtesy to strip down and climb into my bedding. I also stripped off the knife harness and tucked it deep into my satchel.

Keekai returned within moments, and set about laying out her weapons within reach and preparing her pallet for sleep. Safe under my bedding and fur, I listened as her breathing slowed. It was only then that I could really think about what had happened this day; the anger of the warriors at the attempt to honor Marcus; the look on Iften's face when I asked for him as Guardian; the feel of Keir's arms around me, and the look in his eyes as I'd slid from his grasp.

Something crackled in the brazier and I shifted under the bedding and sighed. Keir would be about his business and come after me as fast as he could.

But oh, how I missed him. I missed his being there, his soft breathing, his warmth. Somehow Keekai's soft snores just weren't the same. And not just his physical presence in my bed. There were a hundred things I wanted to tell him or talk over with him. To laugh with him over Iften's reaction. To debate my choice of Guardian.

I yawned, thankful for the tiredness that washed over me. My bedding had been packed by Marcus, and I snuggled down, trying to convince myself that Keir's scent was still in the blankets, and the fur that lay on top of me. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift off to sleep. G.o.ddess, keep watch over Keir and keep him safe, wherever he is.

The next few days were filled with much the same routine. We'd break camp at the earliest that the horses could travel, and then journey until Keekai called a break at the nooning. Then we rode again until she called to make camp. With the riding that I'd done before with Keir, it was no trouble to stay in the saddle for so long. Iften stayed by my side, and Keekai never let me out of her sight. There was a definite lack of conversation, but I spent my time wondering at the land around us.

It seemed to spread out before us forever, with nothing but the flat gra.s.slands and the never ending sky. The gra.s.s was still afire, extending out in a thick carpet of reds, oranges, and golds. The sheer immensity of it took my breath away, and I found myself looking down into the gra.s.s below me just to keep my sense of balance.

As we rode, Keekai would sometimes move close and we would talk. But we were very conscious of our listeners, and so our topics were of Xy, and how we lived. Keekai was fascinated by stone tents, and city life.

But at night, each of us on our pallet, the brazier burning between us, she'd focus those bright blue eyes on me and ask deeper questions. "All I know of you is what is whispered on the winds," she said, her eyes bright. "What makes a city-dweller leave her lands to venture onto the Plains?"

So I told her, about the war and the tents of healing and Simus's wound and Keir. She listened intently, occasionally asking a question or two, but mostly listening, her eyes sparkling with her interest. She didn't criticize, or condemn, just listened. I talked about Anna the cook, and the kitchens under her control, of my Master Eln, and how he'd taught me everything I know. I even described the old cheesemaker and her cart in the market back in Water's Fall.

"Which reminds me." I dug around in my satchel. "I have a jar of joint cream here. It might help your hands."

"Eh?" Keekai leaned forward and reached across for the jar, settling back into her blankets as she looked at it carefully. "Some of your magic?"

I shook my head. "I don't have any magic, Keekai. Just herbs and knowledge of their uses."

Keekai sniffed at the contents, then looked at me with half-closed eyes. "So, you claim no magic?"

"None," I said firmly.

She grunted, dipped into the jar, and started to work the salve into her hands. We sat in silence for a mo ment, the flames in the brazier crackling. I looked up where there was a smoke hole cut in the tent, and saw the stars above us. It was late.

"I thank you." Keekai made as if to return the jar, but I gestured for her to keep it.

"I hope that it will help." I looked at her for a moment, then bit my lip.

She snorted, softly. "Do you wish for my token?"

"I might need it," I responded. "Keekai, why does Keir hate the warrior-priests so much?"

Keekai sighed. "That is a long tale, and not easily told." She yawned. "Still Waters will have us up at dawn yet again. But this time I will stop us at the nooning and tell him that a hunt is needed." She cackled. "They will hunt, and you and I will talk." She rose to give me privacy.

I shook my head at her. "What kind of name is that? And how can you tell them apart?"

She wrinkled her nose. "When they become warrior-priests, they take on a new name, not the one that the elements gave them, but a name to signal that they are warrior-priests." She snorted again, reminding me of Marcus. "They take them from the plants and animals or the elements. Still Waters, Gentle Breeze, pah. Why not Dead Deer, or Rutting Ehat?"

I laughed out loud at that, and she grinned back at me. "As to telling them apart, look at the tattoos around their left eyes. There the pattern always differs." She raised the flap of the tent. "Get into your bedding and close those eyes, Lara. The sun will be up before we wish it."

Still Waters had us up even before the sun rose.

I stood, holding Greatheart's reins, sipping kavage as the camp was broken. Keekai was talking to one of the warrior-priests, announcing her craving for fresh red meat.

I ignored it, and watched the sun rise. Truly rise, on a horizon as wide as my eyes could see, seeming almost to leap up into the sky.

No wonder these people worshiped the elements, and swore by the skies. It was such an enormous part of their lives, affecting everything that they did, every moment of the day. Living in a castle, in a city, I was not attuned to it the way they were. I watched in awe, and wondered. What would a storm be like? What would winter be like?

My stomach tightened. It was all so new and frightening. I gazed out at the horizon, and wished for some nice, safe mountains to cut the openness. I felt so exposed....

"As frightening as a land where one is constantly surrounded by huge mountains of stone that restrict your sight and block the sun." Keir's words came back to me, and I smiled. Was he watching the sunrise? Or ha.s.sling his warriors to work faster so that he could follow us?

I had to chuckle, since both Keir and Marcus were probably driving everyone around them to work as fast as possible. G.o.ddess knew, Marcus would drive them hard.

I turned a bit, letting Greatheart shield me from the others, and tried the hidden blade. I'd used the privacy of Keekai's tent to strap it on. I jumped when it popped out and tried to clasp it tight in my hand. It would take practice to get it to work right. I pressed it back in as I heard someone come up behind me.

"Mount." It was Iften, leading his horse, his usual morning scowl on his face. I rolled my eyes, and then turned, but he must have seen my face. His lip curled, and he spit at my feet. A small piece of something brown hit my shoe.

I opened my mouth to protest, but he'd turned away, and my warrior-priest guards were moving into position. In the confusion, I reached down, scooped whatever it was, and tucked it into my satchel.

We'd see what the warrior-priests' 'magic' consisted of. We'd just see ...

Chapter 7.

"Blind hatred is a weakness."

I said nothing, just watched as Keekai reached from her pallet to add fuel to the brazier. The flames rose and made the light flicker and dance over the walls of her tent.

She'd called a halt before the nooning and ordered a hunt for fresh meat. The camp was guarded, and Iften was roaming the perimeter, keeping watch over me from a distance. Keekai had us warm in her tent, bells in the flap, and a pot of kavage between us. Her warriors were without, with instructions to make sure that no one came near. We were as private as we could be on the Plains.

It was just as well she'd ordered that we make camp early. We'd ridden into a fine mist of rain, and the damp and the cold had seeped into my bones. I could imagine what it did to Keekai's body.

"I do not know the truth of all that has been, and can only speak the truth that I know." Keekai looked at me from her nest of blankets. "You understand?"

I nodded, unwilling to interrupt.

"I am no Singer, but you must know of the past before I can say more." Keekai rubbed her knees beneath the covers. "Long ago, a Warlord claimed the first Warprize. Together, they united all the tribes of the Plains. They created the Council of Elders as the wisdom of the Plains, the Singers as the knowledge, the Theas as the spirit. The Warrior-priests were supposed to be its strength."

Keekai sighed deeply and her shoulders slumped under the blankets. "It worked well, for a time. But something happened. The warrior-priests began to claim to speak for the elements, to have magic that they alone wielded."

Keekai paused, adjusting her blankets, and I poured us both more kavage. She pulled her hands out and held the mug in her blanket-covered lap.

"Now, Keir has always had the strength of a warrior. But he also has a heart, a caring for his people. It hurts him to see people suffer, and it infuriates him to see one in pain and another stand by and do nothing."

"Is that what the warrior-priests do?"

Keekai nodded. "They only use their magic on those they decide are worthy." She fixed me with an intent stare, as if trying to find the right words. "With Keir, the reason for his anger," she hesitated, "there was a woman-"

My heart froze in my throat. My face must have reflected my feelings, for Keekai stopped and frowned. "No, not a binding. A young woman raised beside him, eh? Of his tribe. Do you understand?"

"Like a sister?"

Keekai looked puzzled. "I do not know this word." I explained, and her face cleared. "Yes, yes. One does not lie down with a member of one's tribe. We track the blood of all, to insure strength in the children." Keekai pulled the blankets off her shoulder to show me her tattoos. "We do not mate or bond with the tribes of the ones that made us."

"Yes." I relaxed. "I understand."

"So." Keekai adjusted her blankets again, pulling them up and over her shoulders. "There was a woman of his tribe, who was bearing her first. It did not go well, and the woman died. I think, in the end, she was given mercy.

"Keir was enraged, for a warrior-priest refused to use his magic to aid her." Keekai looked over my shoulder, staring into the past. "Marcus had him dragged off and restrained, lest he challenge every warrior-priest and die in trying to kill them all. Keir saw reason. Eventually. But he vowed to destroy them." Keekai stopped, and took a drink of kavage, then set the mug down. "Destroy them all." She shook her head. "His hatred blinds him to his danger. And yours."

"And Marcus?" I asked. "What did the warrior-priests do when he was injured?"

She grimaced. "I was not there, but this truth I know, that it only added fuel to Keir's rage. Keir commanded Marcus to live, and Marcus obeyed."

"What is Marcus's tribe, Keekai?"

"Marcus has no tribe, Lara." Keekai's eyes were filled with sorrow.

I sucked in my breath.

She nodded. "I did not think you truly understood what you did, choosing him as Guardian. Marcus is no longer of a tribe, no longer of the Plains."