Blood Rebellion (Blood Destiny #7) (9 page)

"Lissa, slow down," Garde put his hands on my shoulders. "The universe's troubles aren't all yours. We need to stand up and take responsibility for ourselves. We got us into this mess; we have to get ourselves out."

"I just feel responsible," I said, rubbing my forehead to ease the tension.

"Lissa, if you hadn't done what you did when you did it, imagine where we'd be right now. I don't think we could have beaten back what showed up on our doorstep, do you?"

I didn't answer—we both knew the answer was no. Garde's hand moved to the back of my neck and he massaged it gently, beneath my hair, which I'd left loose. "Thank you for dinner," his breath fanned my temple as he leaned down to kiss my nape. "Go home, Lissa, and get some rest. You look tired."

Reemagar folded us back to Le-Ath Veronis and I thanked him before he went toward his suite. "Connegar was going to come looking for you earlier," he turned back before I went inside my suite. "I asked him if I could come instead. He allowed it."

"Thanks. I appreciate what you did for me, tonight." He smiled gently, so I told him goodnight and opened the door of my suite. Drew was waiting on me when I walked inside.

* * *

"There's our girl," Dragon said, greeting me. He and Crane were waiting at the breakfast table when Drake and Drew herded me to the dining room the following morning.

"Hey, Dragon. What's up?" I went to give him a peck on the cheek. Well, I was fooling around with his boys and all. Didn't that make us in-laws or something?

"Belen has given permission for all the former Falchani and their mates, if they so desire, to join the army on Falchan right now. There's a problem and the Falchani need our help. Don't worry," he held up a hand when I started to tell him I was busier than a ping pong ball in a tornado, "it's temporary and we can fold you back to this moment in time if you're worried you might miss a boring meeting." Dragon grinned at me. I didn't see him grin often, actually. He must really be looking forward to this. "Belen said you were welcome to go if you wanted. I just thought you might like to spend some time on Falchan. Look at it as a sort of honeymoon."

"Uh-huh," I nodded. "Can I have breakfast, first?"

"Why? There's breakfast waiting in the cooking tents on Falchan."

"Tents?" I think my eyebrows must have risen alarmingly, because I was folded away before I could say no.

* * *

Dragon wasn't lying (as Saa Thalarr, he couldn't). There were cooking tents, all right, and Falchani warriors were lined up to get breakfast in front of a long, makeshift serving table. It was late summer there—I learned that much by
Looking.
After staring down at myself, I found I was now dressed in black leathers, just like everybody else. Dragon was making sure I fit in as well as I could. I think every Falchani who had joined the Saa Thalarr was there with me—Dragon, Crane, Drake, Drew, Dragon Taylor, Crane Trevor, Pheran Tiger, Caylon Black, Veykan, Turtle and Rik. Devin had come along, too, I saw. I knew where she'd be sleeping.

"Did you get a chance to say no?" Devin sidled up to me, watching both Dragon and Crane. Stoicism aside, they were happy to be treading the soil of Falchan again.

"That answer would be no," I muttered. We both spoke the Falchani language; no need to arouse anyone's suspicions. At least my leathers were sleeveless, just like the others, and laced up the front. Devin's did, too—the guys just left theirs open—no doubt to show off multiple tattoos and sculpted abs.

"Is this your company?" Someone walked up to Dragon as we stood in line for breakfast.

"Yes, Lord Marshall," Dragon inclined his head slightly to the warrior. He had a long braid down his back, just as Dragon did and wore his vest open like the other males. His chest tattoo was a snarling wolf and smaller wolves wound around his arms, chasing one another.

"Stop by the Warlord's tent after breakfast and we'll record the names," the Lord Marshall commanded.

"Yes, Lord Marshall," Dragon dipped his head a second time as the Lord Marshall strode away.

"That's Lord Marshall Wolf," Drake turned and grinned at me.

"Nooo," I said. "Really?" Drake and Drew were ahead of me in line, which was fine. Devin was standing with me, letting hers go ahead of her, too. I guess rank had its privileges. Former Warlords and Generals got to go first. I could understand that.

"So, who's Warlord now?" I asked, as we inched our way toward the serving line.

"The Eagle Warlord," Drew said. "The Bear General is his second-in-command."

"Why are we here?" I asked. I was stumped, I admit, and I hadn't gone
Looking
for any info, yet.

"You see the mountain range north of here?" Drake asked. I looked, bending down a little to do so; the sides of the tent had been rolled up so we only had a roof over our heads for shade.

"Yeah."

"On the other side of that mountain range are the lands of the Reldani barbarians. They've organized recently, instead of raiding in bands as they normally do. They have a huge army waiting on the far side of the closest mountain, due north of here," Drake continued. "We're here to help convince them that attacking the Falchan side of the continent is a bad idea."

"Oooh," I nodded.

"They'll take any excuse to go whack people with swords," Devin laughed. "Just so you know, we have tents of our own and your blades are there, with everybody else's."

"I don't recall having blades," I said.

"You do, now. Dragon got Shadow to ask Glendes to make them for you. Shadow put protection jewels in the hilts. They're ready to go."

"I'm still trying to figure out why I'm here," I grumped.

"Come on, baby, it'll be fun," Drew was grinning again. "We'll move out tomorrow. Don't you want to be with us?" He was doing his best impression of a pout.

"Hey, don't mess up that handsome face with a pout," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "And I do want to be with you. You couldn't book us a nice hotel, somewhere?"

"You didn't leave the females at home?" A warrior elbowed his way past us, giving Devin and me a black look as he did so.

"Somebody needs an ass-whoopin'," I grumbled as soon as he was out of hearing. Devin snorted a laugh.

* * *

We went to register at the Warlord's tent later; there was a long line standing in front of us doing the same thing. "This is for the small companies and individuals coming from the hills and outlying villages," Drake whispered to me as we patiently waited our turn. The afternoon sun was hot as it bore down on us and my black leathers didn't help much with that. I wanted to fan myself, but it wasn't in the Stoic Falchani Warrior Manual to appear weak or uncomfortable. Therefore, I sweated and suffered in silence. The grass was dead and the ground was dry and dusty beneath our feet. It made me wonder when the last rain had come.

"Thirteen of you?" The captain at the table had already counted us as Dragon gave him our information. He said we were of the Wildcat tribe, whatever that meant.

Veykan's lending us his tribal affiliation;
Dragon Taylor gave me mental details.
If Dad used his, it might raise suspicions
. Well, I could see how that might be a problem. Former Warlords who'd been dead to these people for thousands of years didn't just pop in on a normal day.

"Are the females sufficiently trained?" The captain asked Dragon, squinting critically at Devin and me.

"I'll match either against anybody here," Dragon replied, signing his name on the register. "They deserve the black they wear."

That sounded like a challenge to me, but then I wasn't Falchani, so what did I know?

* * *

"You did
not
say anything about riding a horse." I was giving the horse the same look the horse was giving me—if horses are capable of incredulity. Drake stood at my shoulder, trying to convince me to get on.

"Haven't you ridden a horse before? I thought you were from Oklahoma."

"I am from Oklahoma and believe me when I say that not all people in Oklahoma are experts on riding horses."

"You don't think you can stay on?" Drew walked over, grinning as usual.

"I can stay on. I just don't know what shape my ass is gonna be in when I get off." I slapped Drew lightly on the arm. He and Drake had dressed me that morning, showing me how to strap on my new blades, which were beautiful—the workmanship was amazing. I almost hated to use them; I didn't want to mess them up. I also had throwing knives—three of them—in side sheaths. I'd never thrown knives and I always had my claws if I needed to slice something.

"We'll take care of your ass," Drake's hand was now on said ass. They'd seen to it the night before, too. "Now, get on your horse."

"Fine." I jumped onto the horse without using stirrups. Drake cleared his throat at my inappropriate antics. "Hey, you didn't say how you wanted it done." I stuck my feet in the stirrups and nudged the horse with my boots, as I'd seen the others do. He moved off. Drake and Drew climbed into their saddles and came after me.

Dragon arranged us in neat rows of four each, riding behind him. Crane, Caylon, Devin and Pheran Tiger rode in the first row, Turtle, Veykan, Dragon Taylor and Crane Trevor were in the second row and Rik, Drake, Drew and I came last. We were a smaller army somewhere in the middle of the Warlord's much larger one, and rising dust became a problem quickly. All of us had kerchiefs over our nose and mouth before long and the horses didn't like it much either, I could tell. My horse was a gelding, a bay, Drake informed me as we rode along.

"We'll be stopping to water the horses in a little while," he added. A wagon pulled by oxen rumbled along behind us, and much of their burden was water barrels. "We won't get to a river for two days, so we won't get baths, either. Just a wet cloth to wipe ourselves off at the end of the day."

"And you wanted to come," I shook my head in disbelief.

"Don't you want to know how your ancestors did things?" Drew chided.

"I think I could bend time a little, if I wanted to know that."

"Well, you're stuck here, now," Drake was grinning under his kerchief—I just knew it.

The horses were glad to get a drink at midday, as was I. I'd taken Kifirin's advice earlier—before breakfast, in fact, and turned to energy. I'd floated away, going here and there before coming back to Falchan and going off to the cooking tents. Devin drank the strong brew that Falchani called tea—I settled for water.

A thick layer of pale, brown dust covered all of us by the time we stopped for the night. I was wishing for a bath when I slid off my horse. My ride stood patiently while I learned how to groom him that night—he got cared for first and was eating while I brushed the dust off him and cleaned my tack. Crane came along and showed me how to check his hooves. I was stiff, too—just as I thought I'd be—but it could have been worse.

My grooming came next—I unbraided my hair and got as much dust out of it as I could with a brush and then wiped my face, arms and leathers off. I had two more sets of leathers in a small saddlebag that someone brought for me; they'd thought of everything, looked like. I also had underwear and several thin cotton tanks to wear under my leathers. I was grateful for the underwear and tanks—it kept the leather from sticking to important parts. After the horse was cared for and picketed, Drake and Drew showed me how to raise our small tent and that's where I sat to clean myself up. They did the same.

Dinner was simple—some sort of stew. Devin got vegetables and rice; there were a few vegetarians in the army, it seems. "We're going to spar after dinner," Dragon announced while we were eating. He lifted an eyebrow in my direction.
Joy
.

"Come on, baby, strap those blades back on," Drew hugged me inside our tent later. Honestly, I wanted to just flop down on my flat mattress and close my eyes for a while. I strapped on my blades.

"Come," Caylon Black was crooking his finger at me. Caylon wanted to take me on? He'd taught Dragon and Crane. I heaved a sigh and went toward him. I learned quickly where Dragon and Crane learned the tactics of rushing their opponent immediately—Caylon had taught them that. I was barely able to block his first blows.

Caylon was like a shredder, too, and we weren't playing around with wooden practice blades. Oh, no. This was the real thing and the metal rang out as we sparred. The others were standing there, watching Caylon push me around the little square he'd drawn out in the dust. I was going to have to wipe off again. For nearly half an hour, he whacked away at me. Eventually I wondered whether he was going to tire soon. I yawned.

"That's it," Caylon stepped back, holding his blades out to the side, indicating he was done.

"Thank goodness, I thought you were going to go all night," I said, lowering my blades. Now I was going to have to clean and oil them. I was already checking them over, making sure there weren't any nicks or scratches.

"It's not polite to yawn at your Sursee," Drake chuckled as he herded me toward our tent.

* * *

"We've never landed a blow either," Dragon hid his grin in a cup of tea. Devin wanted to elbow him but held off. Caylon was cleaning his blades around the campfire. Some of their neighbors had come to watch the bout and stayed to watch Dragon and Crane spar afterward. "It's the vampire in her, but Merrill says it's also the Queen in her."