Winter Be My Shield (31 page)

Sierra had another concern, one she hesitated to share even with Cam, now her only ally. Since they'd left Isidro behind she had no source of power other than the healing cuts and burns on Cam's chest. Rasten had no one to feed from, either — she could tell from the brief slips of his shields that his power was running low. He could take another sacrifice from among his own men if the situation demanded, but to do that too often would tempt mutiny. She knew he would be on the lookout for another warm body to bleed for power.

The thought was very much on her mind on the morning Rasten's trail led them to the doorstep of an isolated farmstead. The sight of it made Sierra feel sick to the pit of her stomach.

The house was ancient and run-down, almost buried beneath the drifting snow heaped against its walls. It was not abandoned, however. A flock of goats had run from the horses' path as they approached and a string of frozen fish dangled from the eaves. There was no smoke rising from the chimney, but the stove-wall that heated a Ricalani house was usually fired only twice a day.

As Ardamon led his men closer she saw the door was newly splintered and broken, but had been forced back into the frame and wedged closed. Ardamon's captain, Dreshavic, dismounted to knock on it with the hilt of his sword. For a long time there was no answer and Sierra began to fear the worst. No family would let one of their number be taken by Rasten and his men without putting up a fight. If he had been here, she doubted they would find anyone left alive.

While Ardamon and Mira conferred with their captain, Cam guided his horse over to Sierra. ‘Can you sense anything from inside?'

‘No. There's no one wounded in there, I'm sure of that.'

‘But is there anyone alive?'

She shrugged, helplessly. ‘I can't tell, not with all these people around …'

Mira slipped down from her saddle and led her horse up to the doorway. ‘Hello the house!' she called, her high, clear voice ringing through the cold air. ‘Mirasada of the Wolf gives you greetings! Is anyone there?'

For a long moment, there was silence. Sierra held her breath. Then with a groan of rusting hinges the door opened just enough for a man to peer out. A moment later it opened fully and he came a few cautious paces outside with a spear in one hand and a battered old shield on his arm. ‘It's the Wolf!' he called out to those inside. ‘Bright Sun be thanked, the Wolf warriors are here!'

 

The chamber was warm, but the woman who spoke was wrapped in a heavy fur. She was still in shock, Sierra thought.

‘He was here yesternight,' the woman said. ‘Him and all his men.'

There were six adults living here and eight children Sierra could see, the eldest a sturdy boy of about twelve. The children were still pale and frightened and stared in silence at the newcomers.

Ardamon had wanted Sierra to stay outside but Cam insisted that she join them in the main hall. She knew Rasten best, after all, and she might be able to explain what had happened here.

‘I was here on my own watching the children.' The children were lined up beside her on a bench, the nearest, a little girl of about three, huddling under her arm. The child carried the taint. Sierra could sense the power in her the moment she walked into the room, but it wasn't the sort she could draw upon for herself. It was a peculiar sensation to have a hint of power coiling around her but out of reach.

She carefully kept her attention on the woman. She was some years older than Sierra, her face lined and weathered, with a sprinkling of grey in her hair. ‘The others were out trapping, or bringing in the goats, and it was just me an' the little ones when they broke down the door and charged in. The men threw me on the floor and tied my hands behind my back before I even knew what was happening.' She raised a hand to brush a strand of hair back from her face and Sierra noted the fresh red welts encircling her wrist. ‘I thought it was the cursed Raiders at first, but once they hauled me up, I saw they were dressed too neat for that. Tems
tried to fight 'em,' she nodded to the eldest boy, ‘but they just knocked him down and one of them held him there at the point of a sword. I thought he was going to kill him, but one of the men said they ought to wait for Lord Rasten.'

‘You understood them?' Mira said with some surprise. ‘Were they speaking Ricalani, or do you know Mesentreian?'

‘I know little of the southern tongue, m'lady, but I understand it better.' She dropped her gaze to the floor as she went on. ‘Lord Rasten came in a few moments later and he just stood looking down at me, right where you are now, sir,' she said with a shy glance at Ardamon. ‘I begged him, I said do what you want with me, but don't harm the little ones. He slapped me across the face and told me to hold my tongue …' The woman raised a hand to her cheek but there was no bruise Sierra could see. With that wound in his shoulder he couldn't use his preferred hand, but Rasten could still do a lot of damage with his left. Rasten always hated it when a prisoner begged, but it seemed to her that he'd stayed his hand.

‘He just stood there for a moment, looking around. The children were crying and making an awful racket. He just stared at them like a cat watches a mouse and then he shakes himself and says I was no good to him and orders his men to leave. Well, they were near as stunned as I was. For a moment, none of them moved. He bellows at them to get out and mount up again, and they all just trooped out and left me here. Tems had to run down to the kitchen and find a knife to cut my hands free and by that time they were gone.'

‘And that's it?' Ardamon said. ‘They didn't take anything with them?'

‘Oh, they took some stores from the kitchen and a bit of cloth, and a couple of goats for meat we think, but that's all. My husbands and my sisters came back a few hours later and found us all barricaded in the furnace room with every weapon I could get my hands on.'

Ardamon turned to Sierra with a furious glare. ‘What in the hells was he playing at?'

‘Rasten was about Tems's age when Kell took him,' Sierra said. ‘Kell had a band of the king's warriors with him. They killed his fathers and Kell let his mothers and his older sister be passed around among the men, then he made Rasten watch while he cut their throats. There were some younger children, I think, and Kell had them shut away in a room on their own before they all rode away.

‘Rasten doesn't like to work with children. He wouldn't have touched them,' Sierra said to the pale and trembling woman. ‘And you probably reminded him of his mothers. It's just as well your menfolk were away. He'd have had no hesitation in taking one of them.'

Ardamon folded his arms across his chest. ‘Do you mean to tell me that raping, murdering monster has a conscience?'

‘Of a sort,' Sierra said. ‘Kell's the one without one.' Once again, everyone was staring at her. She knew there was no threat but her power responded to more base instincts and flared in response to her nerves. Fortunately, running as low as it was without anything to feed it, she could keep it contained beneath her skin.

The little girl sitting nearest the still-shaking woman tugged on her mother's sleeve and pointed at Sierra. ‘Look, Mama. She's got all lights around her.'

The woman blanched. Stammering an excuse, she gathered the little girl up in her arms and fled from the room.

One of the men who had been standing with his hands folded behind his back took a step towards Sierra, glowering and with his hand hovering over the hilt of his belt-knife. ‘I'd like you to leave now, miss.'

Cam settled a hand on Sierra's shoulder. ‘Now wait just a moment,' he began.

‘Cam, no, it's alright,' Sierra murmured. ‘I'll go.'

He held her where she was for a moment longer. ‘Do you think there's anything else here we should know?'

‘No. They're safe enough. Rasten won't come back.' She pulled away from his hand and ducked back into the entrance hall and from there went down the ramp and outside.

As soon as she set foot down on the snow Sierra heard a cough off to her left. She turned to see the woman from inside peering around the corner of the house. With a wary glance at the men waiting some distance away she beckoned to Sierra and then backed away again, moving around the corner of the house and out of sight.

Curious, Sierra followed. The woman led her around to the back of the house. The household dogs had been tied up to keep them from harassing the horses and a pair of caribou had taken advantage of their absence to come down from the trees and pick over the snow for any feed
that had been set out for the goats. They watched the women warily, but did not flee.

The woman was still holding the little girl on her hip. ‘I didn't want to ask in front of the others,' the woman said. ‘You have the taint, don't you? Like
him
.'

‘Yes,' Sierra said. She took off her gloves and cupped her hands together to create a tiny globe of light. With Isidro as a willing test subject she'd finally learned how to make them without shocking a non-mage. She handed the ball to the little girl, who took it with a giggle of delight.

‘This is Ricca,' the woman said, hitching the girl to a more comfortable position. ‘I'm Marima.'

‘Sierra,' Sierra said, and reached out to smooth down a lock of the girl's coal-black hair.

‘There's something else. Something I didn't tell the others. You saw it in her, didn't you? Well, he did, too. I thought he was going to take her. Isn't that what the likes of him do, take mages and turn them into slaves? I know that's what she is. She's not even old enough to be tested in the temple yet, but there's no doubt in my mind.'

‘She will be,' Sierra said. ‘She's still too young — she's got the spark, but it won't develop into real power for a good few years. Maybe not until her menses start.'

‘Will she … Will she be like him?'

‘No,' Sierra said. ‘She's not a Sympath and she won't be a Blood-Mage unless someone forces her onto that path.'

‘But is there anything I can do to stop it? What about a warding-stone? She throws a fit if I try to put one on her, but I could make her wear it if it would help …'

‘It won't. It won't do a thing and she'll never stop hating it,' Sierra said. ‘Do the priests know about her?'

‘Not yet. One of my husbands thinks we should give her to the priests to raise. He says maybe they'll be able to nip it in the bud …'

‘It won't help. Do you
want
to keep her?'

Marima squeezed the girl tighter. ‘I'll kill anyone who tries to take her from me!'

‘Then keep her away from the Children's Festival,' Sierra said. ‘Once she's in their record book, it'll be too late to hide her. Here, do you have a warding-stone with you?'

Marima reached hesitantly for the neck of her coat. ‘I … I started wearing one myself. I thought she must have got it from me, from
my
mother, you see? I thought maybe it would help …' She pulled the cord over her neck and handed it to Sierra.

The touch of it made her flinch, but Sierra steeled herself and wrapped her hands around the little plaque of jade. It couldn't do anything to her. The enchantment was a simple one, worked by rote by the priests who'd made it.

Sierra summoned the small amount of energy she had and shattered the enchantment within the stone. It made no noise, but the goats nearby startled and trotted away and the browsing caribou lifted their heads with a snort and wheeled to lope for the shelter of the trees.

As starved as she was, the effort left her momentarily dizzy and she had to steady herself against the wall of the house before she could hand it back. ‘When she's of age for the test, take her on a journey. Tell the local priests that you had her tested while you were away and give her that stone to wear as a decoy. Don't let any priests get a close look at it or they'll know it's broken. Keep her away from temples, too. Priests are often Sensitives and they'll be able to feel the power in her. When she gets older see if you can find a former priest to teach her how to meditate and focus her mind. It will help her control it. Some of them will go and report her to the nearest temple, but if you're careful you'll be able to find one who is sympathetic. There are a few of us around, very few. If any of them feel wrong to you, be prepared to drop everything and flee with her. And if a Blood-Mage does find her, she'll be better off if you give her to the snow rather than let him take her.'

Marima stared at her, wide-eyed and speechless. From the front of the house came the sound of boots tramping down the ramp and people talking. One set of boots seemed to be heading their way.

‘You should go now,' Sierra told Marima. ‘It's probably better if you're not seen talking to me.'

Marima slowly backed away and turned and fled just as Mira came around the corner of the house, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘What are you doing over here?'

‘Nothing,' Sierra said with a shrug.

‘That was the woman from inside, wasn't it? With her little girl? What were you doing with them?'

‘I told you, nothing,' Sierra said, pulling her gloves on again. ‘Should we be riding on? You can bet that Rasten is.'

‘Not until I hear the truth of this!' Mira demanded. ‘What do you want with these people?'

With that, Sierra's temper snapped. ‘What do
you
want with them?' she hissed. ‘Your clan is known throughout Ricalan for harassing folk who carry the taint. Rasten never harmed a child if he had a choice in the matter and that's more than can be said about your clan. I've heard the tales of children with the taint who are fostered with the ruling clans and never seen again. I'd trust him with the child long before I'd trust the likes of you.'

While Mira spluttered, Sierra turned her back on her and stalked towards the horses. Cam was waiting, holding her reins as well as his, and when she took them from him Sierra warned him away with a shake of her head. ‘You'd best keep your distance for a while,' she told him in an undertone. ‘I'm well and truly in Mira's bad books now, but there's no need for the stench to rub off on you as well.'