Wolves of Nakesht
Makajia heard the peace bells jingling and sprang to her feet. "Chimquar!" she cried joyously, then paused to ascertain the direction and raced off. Her skirts swirled around her legs, scarcely hampering her stride. "Chimquar!"
A slow, shy smile tickled the corners of Hazier's mouth. He glanced at Meadusea, who sat across from him, then leaned and picked up a silver bracelet set with turquoise stones, which Makajia had dropped. The girl had been polishing and adding the last touches to her handiwork.
"You are fond of your mentor," Meadusea said.
Hazier watched Makajia running. He could barely see Chimquar. "When I was a child, I ran to him like that."
"Little flower," Katalla said sarcastically. She stood beneath the cottonwoods lining the stream bank, pulling a cream-colored shirt over her mail. She flicked her wet braids out and laced the cuffs tight. Then she picked up her brown tunic, stalking to Hazier and Meadusea.
"I did not understand Chekaya's words," Hazier said, shaking his head.
"You insist on that name." Meadusea grinned wryly.
"Chekaya," Hazier struggled silently with his common. "A swift cat — dog footed. Chekaya Tamures' powerful Chekaya."
"You can quit calling me that," Katalla said with asperity.
Hazier dropped his eyes, his mouth twisting petulantly.
"What goes here?" Chimquar drew rein near Hazier. Makajia slipped off behind Chimquar and took the reins close to its head like a squire for a knight. Meadusea had seen squires, pages, stable hands, and nomad boys hold or take a horse for warriors and nobles, but never before a non-Sharani girl.
Meadusea rose with Hazier. The youth clasped Chimquar's arms in brief greeting. Chimquar turned to Meadusea. "Kalur Aroana bai ew, Meadusea." Chimquar's soft accent mingled Sharani and Euzadi.
"Kalur Aroana widare ew, Chimquar."
Katalla stood mute and hostile behind Meadusea. Chimquar reminded herself of her promise to the Tamlys, refusing to be provoked, yet denying Katalla a proper greeting. The young Sharani was slender, promising more speed than strength.
Meadusea had shorn off her umber braids as a sign of her sorrow, tying a suede band around her head. She was the same height as Chimquar, large-boned and powerful where Chimquar was lean and long-muscled.
Chimquar ran her thumb and forefinger down her seamed, sun-battered face. A score of years on the Great Plains of Murshay'di had burned her darker than the Sharani, aged her face to match her years in a way that the long-lived Sharani did not. "You buried Tamlys?" she asked tersely. She walked past them, heading for the stream. Hazier walked beside her.
"We did." Katalla stalked after the Euzadis.
Makajia led Chimquar's horse beneath the trees, tethering it with her own.
"You're not a friendly one, are you?" Meadusea said, her words milder than true annoyance.
"I'm no village gossip!"
"I didn't suggest it," Meadusea said smoothly.
"We should return to Shaurone," Katalla broke in. "Tamlys is dead. Leave this quest to Anaria!" She halted, facing off in front of Meadusea.
"Go if you wish, Katalla. I will not."
Chimquar knelt by the stream, bringing up a drink in her cupped hands. Her insides rolled. They were looking for her.
"Tomyris is as dead as Tamlys!" Katalla sounded exasperated.
Four rough-edged words forced themselves from Chimquar. "Tomyris Danae is alive."
"I knew it!" Meadusea exclaimed. "I knew it!"
"Where is she?" Katalla demanded dryly, coming to stand above Chimquar.
"She doesn't want to be found." Chimquar stood, walking away.
"At least we could carry some word to her sister," Meadusea suggested.
"I am taking you to Anaria."
"Plainsmon!" Katalla snarled. "I don't like you — and I don't trust you. Meadusea's making a bloody fool of herself." Katalla's hand went suggestively to her sword.
"You'll be the bloody fool," Chimquar warned softly.
"No man is my equal!" Katalla flung back.
Chimquar stared silently at Katalla, struggling to rein in the temper she had spent years learning to control — it was still like a green broken horse. "Believe what you will. Time is short. Those men already track us, and Anaria is three days north." I'm keeping my promise, Tamlys.
"So close …" Meadusea breathed.
Chimquar turned toward the horses. How much more hostile would Katalla be if she knew Chimquar was Sharani? Chimquar felt her choices slipping out of her hands. Katalla would count it betrayal. So would most of her people. It might be best to send some word to Anaria with Meadusea, and then put as many leagues as possible between herself and her homeland.
"Chimquar." Hazier still walked beside her. "My mount pulled up lame."
"Free it," Chimquar said, obeying Euzadi custom. She halted, looking back at Meadusea. "You have Tamlys' horse?"
Meadusea nodded.
"I want it."
The three tall, deep-chested destriers lifted their heads at the warriors' approach. Round shields hung from their light cavalry saddles and twin javelins hung at the right sides. A wry, satisfied smile came on Chimquar's lips. Even a fool must see these hybrids are the finest steeds on this continent. She remembered the lush green of the northern valleys whereher people bred mares to unicorn stallions. Her memory conjured images of the small crofts and the temple where she and Anaria had spent many summers, learning the ways of the ha'taren there. Chimquar's smile deepened. It would be so good to see those valleys once more. Then abruptly she wrenched herself from those thoughts; she would never see those valleys again—not now.
Chimquar headed for a sorrel stallion, flaxen-maned, tethered apart from the others. "That one?"
"Yes," Meadusea answered. "Adoni."
The stallion put his ears back as Chimquar approached. She whispered to him in Sharani. His ears pricked up and he quivered. Chimquar ran her hand over him, speaking low to conceal her fluent use of the Sharani tongue. She loosed him and Adoni let her mount. She exulted at the smooth, easy power of the stallion as she swung him around. Her hand dropped to Tamlys' shield and she lifted it from the saddle, slipping her arm through the straps. It still felt right.She sent the stallion into a canter, then a full gallop, reined in and turned back.
Meadusea and Katalla came alongside. "You may have all of Tamlys' things," Meadusea said, "save her sword."
"Payment for his trouble?" Katalla said, sneering.
Meadusea gave the younger woman a severe glance, started to speak and Chimquar interrupted. "I didn't ask for anything save the horse — which I have need of. I don't ask for her sword." Chimquar idly rubbed the hilt of her sword. The gesture drew the Sharanis' eyes.
"A longsword." Meadusea was clearly surprised. "I've not seen a plainsmon with one."
"I'm not Euzadi born." Chimquar left them.
Hazier discarded his own saddle and shifted his saddlebags to Chimquar's mare. He looked up as his mentor joined him. "I'm ready." He said.
"Me, too!" Makajia tossed her head haughtily and swung into the saddle of her black filly.
Chimquar moved across the plains, hazier and Makajia behind her, the Sharanis last.
A large herd of long-horned bison and antelope moved away from the riders passing them down wind. A sleek, black-flecked shape stalked the edges of the herd, singling out a young antelope that had wandered too far from its fellows. It sprang suddenly. The antelope fled, bounding and turning. The hunting cat moved with it, never missing a turn, anticipating its prey's each move.
"There!" Hazier pointed. "Chekaya!"
Katalla saw the swift cat bring down its prey. "I no longer mind the name." Her voice was soft and without its usual harshness. "There is a sudden, swift beauty to the beast."
A long, low howl slid across the plains. It was answered from the east and west. Chekaya abandoned her fresh kill. The herds broke into a panicked run, which quickly became a stampede. The howling rose again, louder, higher pitched with an almost human wail rising with it. The very air seemed chilled. The horses danced nervously as Chimquar and her companions drew rein. Chimquar's eyes raked the land, knowing that true wolves could not panic Chekaya, knowing the strange sound she heard. Hazier's lips part in a word of dismay that went unspoken. Then the sorrel stallion, Adoni, struck the earth with his cloven forehooves, threatening to rear.
"Nakesht," Chimquar hissed. Then two outriders topped a distant rise. "And Bakran!" She pressed her knees to the stallion and galloped north. The open, bereft of a Euzadi wagon-ring was no place to battle the man-wolves of the Nakesht. The unlikely alliance of Bakran and the Nakesht puzzled Chimquar.
The Sharanis unsheathed their swords, galloping at Chimquar's heels. The difference between their steeds and the plainsbred horse sowed at once. Makajia's small size and lightweight compensated for the difference between her filly and the Sharani's, but her brother fell father and farther behind. Chimquar looked back at Makajia's shout, and saw a Nakesht wolf plunge out of the tall grasses. She gestured sharply for the Sharanis to go on, and swung back with one of the javelins to hand.
Hazier slowed. "No!" Chimquar shouted, and Hazier clapped his heels to his mare's sides. His mentor charged the wolf. The javelin left her hand in a smooth throw. The wolf stumbled and fell. Chimquar circled back, watching for more wolves. She felt the stallion tense to rear. A wolf erupted out of the grass before her. Adoni lashed out with his forelegs. Then a hard weight slammed into Chimquar. She struck blindly at the bulk of the snarling wolf carrying her from the saddle. They hit the earth together. It snapped for her throat, its teeth closing on the heavy thickness of the lion's man around her neck. Chimquar wrenched its jaws apart, threw herself and the wolf sidewise, twisting its head as her weight came down on the beast. Bone snapped. She released it. A man lay dead with a wide, golden slave collar around his neck: with his death the power of the collar had been broken and his true shape restored.
Wolves harried her stallion. Chimquar's dagger appeared in her hand as she got to her feet. A tearing pain ripped her left arm. The sudden weight of the wolf threw her off balance. She slashed at it. Her dagger glanced off the wide collar, sinking into its shoulder. She twisted the blade, jerking it free. Yowling, the wolf turned to rend the hand that held the blade. Chimquar's dagger plunged and ripped. The wolf no longer moved. She shifted the dagger to her left hand, fighting the pain in that limb. Chimquar drew her sword and stood, facing the wolves. They circled her warily while others bayed the stallion; she and Adoni had taken toll of them. One charged. She stepped aside; her Sharani longsword raked its ribs. A growl made her whirl; she swept her sword in a low arc. The second wolf dodged. Then the first one, ribs bleeding came about with its companion. Chimquar impaled one, kicked the other in the head, and free her sword before a third attacked. A javelin impaled the fourth.
"Aroana!" Meadusea came. She and her bucking mount fought in fierce unison, centaur-like. Her bright blade slew and none of the wolves breached her guard. She drew them from the stallion and Adoni broke for his new master. Chimquar caught the saddle and swung up. Meadusea saw her and turned, racing after their fleeing companions. The wolves regrouped to pursue when a high, eerie wail rose behind them. They melted into the grass, returning to their master.
Katalla rode rear guard to the youth and his sister — a sign to Chimquar that her prejudices did not usurp her ha'taren honor.
Chimquar fumbled with the saddlebags to free them, then dragged them across her lap, feeling inside for cloth to bind her arm. Her hand closed upon a horn, then the cloth.
"You're hurt." Meadusea dropped back to ride beside her.
"I've taken worse," Chimquar replied brusquely, working one-handed.
"Rein in. I'll help."
"No." Chimquar shrugged off her concern and finished. She reached into the saddlebag, bringing out Tamlys' horn. The Sharanis should have mounted guards on the outer perimeters of their encampment. She fingered the horn. Its call would carry a good distance on the open plains.
"They will be back?" Katalla asked as Meadusea and Chimquar reached her.
"Yes." Chimquar gazed at the northern horizon, her eyes hard and distant. "Their master with them — and Bakran." A Euzadi curse rolled off her tongue. Hazier glanced back. Makajia's color deepened. Neither offered to interpret for the Sharanis.
"Bakran?" A curious expression crossed Meadusea's broad strong-boned face.
Chimquar started to answer when Katalla interrupted savagely. "You know them?"
"I know them." Chimquar's words emerged taut. Her knees pressed the stallion's sides. She moved past Katalla and Hazier. "Let the horses breathe."
"You know them?" Katalla came alongside Chimquar.
"Bakran is my enemy," she answered harshly. "That is a tale I do not wish to tell." Bakran had burned too many villages — slain too many people… A fair-skinned face came to mind. Chimquar fought remembering, her face twisting.
"That isn't enough."
"Don't push me!" Dark, violent power blazed in Chimquar's eyes.
Katalla dropped her eyes, unable to meet that power, but she had recognized its nature. "You're part Sharani! A half-breed?"
"I said, I am not Euzadi born." Chimquar's voice softened strangely. "Now drop back beside Makajia."
Katalla frowned, but obeyed.
Chimquar felt tense and uneasy. If Katalla thought further she would realize there were no Sharani or half-Sharani males Chimquar's age. Only a flourishing slave trade had kept large numbers of males in Shaurone during the time when the Waejontori curse prevented the birth of sons to Sharani women. The numerous males in the household of Chimquar's ma'arams had not been Sharani. Chimquar hoped Katalla would not recall all aspects of the curse, which had ended several years before her birth.
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