On Fire's Wings - Christie Golden [148]
The advisor blanched. “Lord, she decimated our troops. Nearly half of them are dead, and all of the Arukani captives fled back to their Clans. The pass is blocked with stone that yet smokes. We cannot try again!”
“Not a full assault, no,” the Emperor agreed. He glanced down at the imprisoned ki-lyn. “But there are other ways to attack the Dancers. Aren’t there, my little friend, hmmm?”
The ki-lyn lowered its head and wept diamond tears.
Chapter Thirty-One
When she met with the khashims two days later, who were almost drunk with their victory, Kevla learned that the casualties on the Emperor’s side had been high, as high as perhaps ten or twelve thousand. Many of the dead, and some of the living from the Emperor’s army, had been Arukani who had been captured in raids and forced to fight. Their return to their families had been moving to behold, they told Kevla.
“I have no doubt,” she said. She hesitated, then told them, “The Dragon and I must leave you.”
“When?” demanded Terku.
“Tomorrow.”
“But we need you!” cried another khashim. She looked at her father and saw that his face was impassive, but his eyes sad. “We could not stand against the army without you. If the Emperor attacks again—”
“He won’t,” Kevla said with certainty. “He knows that I am here now, and I’m the one he’s after. You have learned how to work together. You stood side by side, clan by clan, to defeat a common foe. If you continue to rely on one another, there is nothing you will be unable to do.”
She smiled, sadly. “That was Jashemi’s dream, and that of at least one khashim here. You will be all right without us.” Before they could protest further, she stood. “Gather the clans. I would speak to them before I leave.”
It took a while, but at last everyone who had come to Mount Bari to stand against the Emperor was present. Kevla had insisted that everyone come, women and children as well as men of all castes. Standing beside her friend the Dragon, she looked out over the sea of upturned faces and was moved by what she saw.
“You have dared so much,” Kevla told them. “You have not shirked your duty, and you have paid a painful price for your continued freedom. You have accepted that there are things you did not know before, and have grown to look upon the Lorekeepers as true bearers of wisdom, not as madmen and women. You listened to me, a woman, and followed my counsel. You have learned that the Dragon is very real, and has a kinder heart than some of the laws you attribute to him would indicate.
“All of these things speak to the quality of the people you are. Arukani are passionate and proud. We will not be dominated by the will of outsiders. We will tend to our own, and when we see injuries and injustices, we will heal them. The Great Dragon helped us see the path, and now you have chosen to walk it. You don’t need us anymore.
“But there is one thing you need,” she continued. “One thing you must reconcile.”
She nodded to the Dragon. He raised his head, closed his eyes, and uttered a long, crooning call. Even though Kevla knew what to expect, the hairs on her arms lifted at the sound.
“It is time for you all to understand the beings that you have called…the kulis.”
A cry went up. Exhausted and injured as they were, they were not beyond fear. Kevla hoped they would give their eyes time to see, to comprehend, before they acted. She knew she was taking a great risk, but after all she had witnessed over the last several days, she believed her people could be trusted to do the right thing.
They came forth from their hiding places in the mountain. Some of them limped, their legs twisted or missing altogether. Some held withered arms close to their chests. Some had faces that were beautiful and whole; some had faces that were twisted and deformed. Some had eyes that stared vacantly into nothingness. They carried their smaller brethren; their clothing was nothing but scraps of cloth left behind on altars scattered throughout Arukan. They winced in the daylight,