Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [159]
‘You’ve never heard of diplomacy, Makee? Did you even try to talk to their High Priestess?’
‘Try to talk?’ Makee spat. ‘I’m sorry, Nell, that you think I didn’t discuss matters thoroughly enough with their High Priestess. I was too busy being stalked, caged and locked in a burning citadel.’
‘Where Rosette saved your life! And you promptly try to drown her in a flood and send the temple guards to run her down.’
‘She’s fast enough, and her temple cat too.’ Makee leaned towards Nell. ‘She’ll survive.’
‘At what cost? She’s deaf now. Did you know that?’
‘She’ll heal.’
‘And Jarrod, the spell! What’s your game, Makee?’
‘You don’t know, do you?’
Nell crossed her arms under her breasts. ‘That would be why I’m asking.’
Makee looked over her shoulder. Not here, Nell. We’re being watched.
Nell stiffened. She sensed someone in the distance and hissed, Follow me. She knelt for an instant and sprang into the air, La Makee a wing’s length behind her. I know a more private place.
An’ Lawrence rode Cheetah, a black mare, sixteen hands high and full of the demons. A four-year-old daughter of his stallion, Diablai, he’d been training her in Los Loma, with mixed results. She had all her sire’s gusto but so far none of his good sense. She knew the Lupin was not far off; his form was hidden in the tree cover, but not his scent. She also was familiar enough with this particular one by now that her skittishness was uncalled for. An’ Lawrence stroked her neck, motioning Teg to back away. He ground his teeth. He’d have words with the lad when they camped for the night. It was easier to blame his proximity than any shortcomings of his mare’s.
He’s following your orders, Rowan, Scylla purred in his mind. Clearly he has something to communicate but you banned him from mind speech while scouting, remember?
There could be Corsanon priestesses about. They would hear.
With his mind shield ability?
Scylla, I can’t believe you defend him.
I tell the truth. And I like Teg. She ran ahead, leaping over a fallen log. They were heading south, skirting the foothills of the northern Prieta range, hoping to stay out of sight. He’d wanted Kreshkali to fly scout, but she’d had other plans. It would have been nice if she had let him in on them. ‘Whoa, girl.’ The mare’s head shot up and she braced her forelegs, snorting. He caught the Lupin taking off, a flash of black in the corner of his vision. ‘Where in demon’s dark woods are you going now?’
Get out of there, Father! The Corsanons are headed right for you!
He jerked his head skyward. Rosette?
Ride! Back to the hills!
It couldn’t be Rosette, could it? She was at the cottage, in a Dumarkian Woods far from this one. The mare crow-hopped and he was preoccupied with controlling her for a moment. Then he heard the thunder. It shook the ground like a wave crashing onto the shore. He squinted at the sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as far as the horizon. He cursed.
Rolling the mare back on her haunches, he turned westward and headed into the deeper cover of the forest. He signalled his lateral scouts and galloped to the troops, leading them in the new direction. Teg came sprinting up, still in wolf form, matching the speed of the mare as she tore across ground. An’ Lawrence steadied her with a single word and reached out towards Teg. The mare trumpeted.
‘Get up here,’ he yelled over the horse’s challenge.
Teg’s dark eyes lifted towards him and he leapt, morphing into his human form, and grasped the Sword Master’s forearm, swinging into the saddle behind him. The mare shrieked, bucking twice before she galloped on. He patted her neck. She’d take more work, but not bad for a green-broke mare, under the circumstances. What Teg thought of it, he didn’t know. The lad clung to him, shouting in his ear.
‘They were closer than we thought. Hundreds strong. Coming this way at the run.’ Teg’s breath came in panting rasps. ‘If we can hide while they pass, we’ll be behind them all.’
An’ Lawrence nodded. ‘Meet us on the other side of the rise. Get everyone out of sight.