Stormrider (24 page)

Stormrider patted each wolf in turn, nearly buried in their enthusiastic affections. The answer to her own questions brought up a myriad of problems she was not prepared to deal with and she set it aside.

For now nothing would change.

For now there was only The Amulet, the wolves, and her
 

fear for all the people if it brought absolute power to such a man as Jarrel.

She tussled with the wolves for a while. Then, overcome with laughter and exhaustion, she found sleep on the soft, warm sands, the wolves scattered companionably around her.

* * *

Raptor found them like that, Starwalker trotting at his heels in the manner of a large, friendly dog. Like so many fur rugs casually cast upon the sands, the wolves slept in a semi-circle around Stormrider. The fur rugs roused, however, at his approach. Stormrider did not.

Strongheart rose, watched Raptor a little warily, acknowledged him, then shook his coat, flinging sand in a blinding shower in all directions. Littlefoot was up on her elbows and One Eye remained prone in the sand, chin on Stormrider’s thigh, one golden eye and one milky white one fixed unwaveringly on the bounty hunter’s approach.

Still Stormrider did not rouse.

Apprehension hurried his footsteps and, sensing Raptor’s unrest, Starwalker strode briskly at his side, head bobbing in agitation, ears swiveling, twitching, sweeping like radar.

Anxiously Raptor burst through the half circle of wolves fearing Stormrider had been downed by the unnamed illness which had struck so many others of The People. He reached for her to check for fever but his hand never touched her forehead. Stormrider’s hand whipped up quick as a snake, wrapping itself firmly around his wrist and the next thing Raptor was conscious of was flying through the air and landing somewhat awkwardly, but softly on his back in a sand bed.

Half awake, reflexes taking over where mental functions failed momentarily at being dragged from a deep sleep, Stormrider effectively put off the threat, flipping Raptor beyond her, then rolled to her knees, flinging One Eye from her, hand reaching automatically for the knife she kept in her moccasin top. Her hand found only bare, gritty flesh. She almost moaned her frustration, then heard Raptor grunt.

That grunt was familiar and it penetrated even to her unconscious, and then he came at her. He rolled into her, utilizing his greater weight to advantage. Her breath left her in a rush as she was ground into the sand, Raptor attempting to pin her arms with his hands and subdue her legs with his body at the same time.

She slid a knee up, found her leverage and dropped a shoulder in the soft sand to lend force to the coming blow.

It never followed through. Raptor turned a hip absorbing the blow Intended for his nether parts and followed the subtle movement of her shoulder, forcing it deeper into the silken sand.

Still, the very texture of it, the satin smoothness, gave her the out she sought. Foot braced against his knee, she pressed hard and short, sliding from beneath him, abruptly relaxing and hesitating the millisecond which had, in the past, cost other Janissaries their lives, and focused on Raptor Simic collecting himself in the sand.

Well done.
Strongheart to Stormrider, observing from the sidelines with interest.

“Curse you bounty hunter,” Stormrider muttered under her breath, rolling back to sit in the sand, drawing her moccasins closer to herself, feeling the firm lump of the steel blade in the top of the leather wrap where it was sheathed.

“Hela take you,” Raptor responded glumly, rolling from his belly into a sitting position beside her. “I thought you were ill and sought to help, and this is the thanks I get.”

“I’m not sick. I was sleeping. I was up all night with Kadlu’s healers.” She paused, focusing more directly on Raptor. “Where were you all night?”

“Looking for a way out of this place, which, by the way, there is none.”

Stormrider yawned. Her head still buzzed from lack of sleep and her sudden awakening. “Did you try asking the Ancient Ones to open a doorway?”

That would have been the easiest way.
Strongheart agreed with Stormrider, shook himself again and with a puppyish invitation to play directed at his two wolf companions, bounded off across the broad expanse of sand.

One Eye and Littlefoot followed.

“There was no one around to ask.”

Stormrider grinned into the distance where the wolves frolicked like cubs, leaping at one another, nipping, diving into the gentle waves of the sea, breast deep, then retiring before an oncoming wave.

I could have advised you of the same.
Starwalker nudged Raptor with the comment.
But you seemed so intent on searching for the doorway yourself. If you had given it any thought you would have found the answer within for yourself. Now you play obtuse with Stormrider. It is not very attractive.

“Obtuse? Where did a desert pony learn a word like obtuse?” The question was directed toward Starwalker and Stormrider almost equally.

Stormrider chuckled, the sound as pleasing to Raptor’s ears as cool waters playing over a rocky stream bed.

Starwalker responded.
The words are not mine. They are yours. When we touch minds my thoughts are transformed by your mind into words you are comfortable with. That is when words are necessary. Thoughts can also be only pictures or impressions or even feelings.

“Has he told you he gleaned his vocabulary from you, bounty hunter?” She asked with a broad smile, which lit up her entire face and put the glint of the morning sun in her eyes.
 

“He claimed I was being unattractively obtuse with you.”

“Ah.”

“Ah? That’s all? What’s that supposed to mean?”

A shrug from Stormrider. “Just ah.” She paused. “You were being obtuse you know. The truth, bounty hunter. You are Nashiran.” She eyed him closely, gauging his reaction. “Now why is it that no one knows that except you and me?”

“My past is my past just as yours is yours. I remember your being pretty sensitive on the subject of how much I knew about you when I came here.”

“Not quite the same since you had access to every intimate detail of my life. Admitting you’re of Nashiran descent is a little broader ground.”

“My past is an intimate detail. A vulnerability.”

“You’re ashamed of your lineage? Your people?”

Raptor stiffened, golden-brown fox-eyes meeting hers squarely. “No. Not ashamed; they merely disgust me.”

“How did you leave your home? You are not of The People. There are no societies here capable of swift intercontinental travel. Those few villages apart from The People don’t even know much about its existence except in myths from the viewpoint of The People anyway. As for the Kadlus, they are so naive I doubt they would be interested in it in any context. But then, I’m leaving out the Minzuh.”

“You ask too many questions,” Raptor grumped, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Stormrider met his gaze and saw pain in the depths of those bounty hunter eyes. She had pressed further than she had intended. “I’m sorry. But there was no one to hand me a sheaf of papers outlining every aspect of your life as you were privileged to have outlining mine. You have me at a disadvantage, but I should have respected your privacy nonetheless.”

Her green-eyed gaze shifted again to the wolves who continued to caper in the shallow waters. They crouched in the sand, hindquarters elevated, tails waving like flags, then tussled madly for a few moments, water and sand flying, before racing off down the beach, whirling, then thundering back.

A few feet away Starwalker lowered himself to the sand and rolled rapturously, all four long legs flailing the air.

Raptor shook his head and grinned as Starwalker grunted out his satisfaction, finally righting himself, tossing his head vigorously to free head and long mane of clinging sand.

“My people are the Minzhu and they know all about the
Jaiqi
,” Raptor volunteered uneasily. “They know about the technology needed for swift travel across our world, but not how to go about it, nor did they care to learn. They know about The People, but aren’t interested by them either. They are a dangerous, uncivilized people in the estimate of the Minzhu. What they didn’t know anything about when I was young, and undoubtedly still don’t . . . or won’t accept it if they do . . . are the chosen ones. People such as we who bond with the animals.”

“Ah.” Stormrider repeated her earlier comment.

“Ah? Again?”

“I am afraid to say more. I upset you the last time.”

Raptor didn’t comment. Didn’t point out that ‘ah’ was the sticking point the last time. He stared instead at the wolves. They continued to play up and down the length of the beach, never wandering too far from Stormrider. He watched and began to suspect there was something of a mating dance going on between Strongheart and Littlefoot. They touched noses then walked stiff-legged around one another before bounding off, Littlefoot in the lead, Strongheart in pursuit. One Eye continued in the game racing the length of the beach with the other pair, but further down, Raptor could see the large gray and white male separate himself from Strongheart and Littlefoot, strolling down the beach in solitude while Strongheart and Littlefoot continued their mad game of tag.

Raptor changed the subject. “The People. This illness. You said you were up all night with the healers. Is there improvement in the ones who were ill?”

Stormrider shook her head. “I don’t know. But I think the healers of Kadlu know what they’re dealing with. They seem to have it under control. Those who are ill appear to be resting.”

“You’ve fallen in love with your people,” Raptor observed, noting the concern in her voice as she spoke. “Nashira has taken you to her heart. I suspect you’ve taken her to yours.”

“They’re good people. Honest, strong, dependable.”

“All the good things,” Raptor agreed with just a faint touch of dry sarcasm.

That brought Stormrider’s head around, thick red-gold hair swirling about her shoulders in a blaze. “Yes.” The word was almost a hiss.

“And what about The Amulet now?” Raptor dropped the question abruptly, almost challenging.

Stormrider lifted her chin. “I will complete the mission I came to Nashira to complete. I am still a Janissary. This is the land of my birth but I still owe allegiance to the society of my upbringing. The strength I possess is mine because of them. The Janissaries gave me back my life. I do not back out of commitments.”

Raptor pursed his lips, feeling the roiling emotions within Stormrider as if they were his own, as if they were alive. “Perhaps this time you should? I will continue. I will finish it. It is what I will be paid for.”

“No,” a new voice echoed over their shoulders from behind them, resonant and alive. “Not this time. Her commitment is correct, the motivation misplaced. A suggestion—perhaps a partnership?”

Together Stormrider and Raptor turned. Somehow he had appeared soundlessly behind them. The being. The face from the stone carvings. The one Stormrider had seen her first time in the city. This was the same man yet he was different. He wore no flowing robes, but instead stood bare-foot upon the sand, ecru pants rolled up to mid-calf, pale blue shirt tucked neatly into pants. Hands were tucked casually into pockets and he smiled.

And Stormrider and Raptor both could have sworn his smile caused the sun to grow brighter.

Chapter 20

“By the blue moon . . . who or what are you?” Raptor snapped, fixed on the intruder while he gained his feet on the uneven sands in one swift movement.

The question was blunt, but not surprising. Stormrider had similar questions, for the being confronting them somehow did not seem quite real despite his bare toes and earthiness. At odd moments she felt she could see straight through him to the gentle convolutions of the sea beyond; that he floated, just skimming the sand with phantom feet, instead of standing solidly before them.

Still, she doubted he would’ve come had he nothing to say and so held her peace, stayed where she was, and waited.

Toes wriggling in the sand like those of an errant boy the being smiled that golden, benevolent, sweet smile again.

He directed his quiet words to Stormrider. “You do not share his urgent desire to know who or ‘what’ I am?” His voice was melodious, clear with every syllable crisp. “I am surprised, Stormrider. When we met before you seemed most determined to solve the mystery.”

“I have a pretty good idea, now, of
what
you are,” Stormrider returned without having risen from her place on the sand, fingers toying with the leather wraps of her moccasins. It was a sign of nervousness that she stopped abruptly.

“Ah.”

Raptor rolled his eyes begging the Goddess silently for patience.

“You could ask him where the doorway out is,” Stormrider said to Raptor with a small inclination of her head in the direction of their visitor.

Raptor shook his head in sharp denial, golden-brown eyes fixed on this being, the light of understanding bright behind those eyes.

“Too interested now. That will have to wait. That is,assuming he is, in truth, one of The Ancient Ones.”