Stormrider (26 page)

Land thunder.

The shivering rumble of the seemingly firm ground beneath their buttocks.

The wolves froze in their exuberance, standing brace-legged against the tossing movement of the ground. Starwalker nickered and half reared in his agitation, dancing counterpoint to the suddenly unsteady footing.
 

Stormrider stayed where she was. Should she rise, the ground movement would dump her immediately. There was no point. There was nowhere to go anyway.

Raptor stayed where he was as well, the sudden chill of fear well hidden behind a rigid mask of unconcern.

Hart appeared no different than he had from the outset; the picture of serenity.

Stormrider decided, as the warm sands shook and rolled sprawling her ungracefully across convulsing sand shifting alarmingly downhill, that the answer to that was he no doubt really could project himself elsewhere if things declined rapidly.

The combined expression of confused disorientation and suppressed anger on Raptor’s face caused her to believe the bounty hunter shared her view. He lunged for her as the ground heaved, catching her wrist as the sand rose in a crested wave, threatening to fold back upon her. He dragged her across his lap out of the path of the suffocating, hissing sand wave.

One more sharp lurch sent Littlefoot tumbling into the sand like a cuffed cub and it was over. Eerie silence descended.

Then with a soft fizz and a whisper, the waves returned to the shore. The gentle rhythm resumed. The village stood unharmed. Nothing was changed.

Strongheart was all over Stormrider’s thoughts. Questioning, probing, reassuring, himself confused, but needing the contact. Littlefoot and One Eye were part of the background noise. No doubt Raptor was experiencing much the same with Starwalker though being only one, the pony would not be such a racket alone despite all the head-tossing and sand-pawing going on.

It was Hart who looked around with a smile as silence metamorphosed into normalcy. “Nashira is . . . unsettled.”

If that comment was meant as reassurance, it failed miserably with all of them, but Raptor, as usual, was blunt.

“Hela take you!” Raptor snapped. “You knew that shake was coming and you just let us sit here on the sand talking to you about old times and your ancestors!”

“I sensed the movement in the ground, yes,” Hart returned with a nod, “but it was slight and there was nothing you could have done but what we all did—wait for it to pass.”

“This happens often here?” Stormrider was a little more circumspect, observing the villagers rapidly getting back to their normal pastimes.

“Here is where the heart of Nashira beats strongest,” Hart admitted. “It has never been dangerous. And it is that from which the Kadlu have taken their name—the thunder in the ground beneath their feet. Thunder Goddess. She claims them as her children.”

“And yet she is concerned with an amulet.”

“Nashira has welcomed you both back to a purpose beyond your personal commitments. It is time those people upon this world began to unite before all is destroyed by outside forces. The Disir cannot openly direct the unification. We are viewed too much as gods. Our words would be taken as commandments. But you. You are of Nashira. You are of two different peoples. You fight the external forces of destruction, even if only for your own ends. It is a beginning.”

Another voice. This one cold and sharp, “You say too much Hart.”

Stormrider jerked around, freeing herself from Raptor’s grasp, to see another being standing on the beach, long blue robes trailing in the sand. Another with the eerie presence that made him appear like the world could be viewed through him.

“He doesn’t say
enough
,” Stormrider repudiated the newcomer, boldly meeting his obsidian eyes without a blink, to the exclusion of those who stood behind him.

Grey Wanderer, Song Dog and Bear Dreamer. The last being shaman-warrior to The People, the same who persisted in his claim to Stormrider. To match his power to hers. The look in his eye told her he would still take her forcibly to wife given the opportunity.

Stormrider sighed, focusing past the Disir, her proud gaze meeting that of Grey Wanderer. “I’m glad you are here. Your people will need a strong man to lead them home when they can travel.”

Abruptly, his words sharp enough to prick, Grey Wanderer said, “This is not why I have come.”

Stormrider stared into the piercing black eyes of the old leader, feeling more discomfort than when she had met the Disir’s. She did not ask the question he expected of her. She did not ask why.

Raptor allowed his gaze the freedom to wander between them, then swept to the impatient warrior with folded arms at Grey Wanderer’s side before glancing again at Hart and his newly arrived cohort before settling once more on the obviously annoyed leader of The People.

“You were led here?” Raptor asked of Grey Wanderer.

“We followed the trail of the
Jaiqi
and a trail opened before us.” A bitter, mistrusting glance from beneath Grey Wanderer’s ridged brow and the deepening of his reddish complexion were a sure sign of heightened irritation.

“It led you here, to the city,” Raptor prompted, “and all this doesn’t surprise you?”

Grey Wanderer’s black eyes narrowed in response lending his face a sinister expression. Wedge-shaped cheekbones seemed to strain at sparse flesh. His lips lifted slightly at the corners and his expression turned puzzled.

“There are tales of such places in our legends—places far from our homes in the forest. We are far from our homes now. Why should I be surprised to see it?”

Impeccable logic. Why indeed, Raptor decided, both fascinated and amused by Grey Wanderer’s open-minded acceptance in the face of his previous rigid adherence to the old ways of The People.

Song Dog hovered expectantly at Grey Wanderer’s elbow, reticent about joining in the exchange now that his fledgling leadership had been eclipsed by the older, more respected and experienced warrior.

“He still belongs to you?” Grey Wanderer asked the question of Stormrider with a stiff nod toward Raptor, all but ignoring his young protege, Song Dog, who had come to stand beside him.

“He is a man who belongs to no one,” Song Dog rose unexpectedly to Raptor’s defense. “He helped Stormrider when she was choking on the pain of the
Jaiqi
and he helped guide The People to safety when we escaped.” He gave Stormrider a hard look as if daring her to refute his words.

But Stormrider had no intention of denying the truth. “Song Dog speaks truly, but he leaves out his own acts of courage and strength. He was leader when The People needed one.”

Grey Wanderer puffed up at the praise of his young protege and turned to Raptor to face him squarely. “Then you no longer are under the yoke of blood debt.”

“No.”

“And you are well-healed and strong.”

“Yes.”

Stormrider could see immediately where this was leading even if Raptor could not. She didn’t raise her voice to challenge Grey Wanderer, but spoke firmly.

“There is much for The People to hear in this place, much to learn from the Disir. There is no time now for your rites of manhood. And you are guests. The ways of The People are not the ways of the Kadlu or the Disir. It would be disrespectful, what you consider now.”

Grey Wanderer stiffened at being told what was disrespectful by a woman. He glowered. But, Stormrider’s most recent exploits must have carried some weight because he did not turn on her, instead shifting uncomfortably beside the second Disir.

“There is nothing for them to hear or to learn here,” Zio, put in sharply. “Hart has already said too much. They must find their own way. We are not their shepherds though some like Hart prefer to think that we are.”

“It is the path we were given,” Hart said simply.

“It is not!” Zio exploded, anger animating his body, head jerking a sharp negative which caused long black hair to shimmer sable in the day’s brilliant light. “Already we have caused too much disruption bringing these people into sanctuary. The Kadlu are confused. The People are confused. The Disir talk too much and fight among themselves. This must stop!”

For the first time Hart’s face hardened, unbroken by his usual golden smile. Gaining his feet in a graceful sweep, he faced Zio of the sable hair and predator eyes as an equal. The clothing he wore which should have been incongruously ridiculous next to the flowing blue robes of his companion, were, instead, unexpectedly regal.

“The matter has been decided, Zio, your protest, yet again, is noted.” Cool words, delivered with icy clarity. “This world is at a pivotal point. Peoples are being left behind and exploited. Hope lies in change.”

“I will not be brushed off!” Zio exclaimed with affronted dignity. “For many years there has been balance. Now there will be discord, even war.”

“Balance was an illusion,” Hart responded, “there were the isolated and the oppressed and the exploiters. Ignorance flourished.” He turned to Stormrider. More softly. “Perhaps you were correct. Perhaps the sooner you leave the better it will be. You have your quest. You have come this far. You will do what you must,” he ended with a wan smile, only a hint of the golden shimmer of their earlier meeting.

The wolves clustered about Stormrider’s feet, indicating their preparedness to depart.

She looked down at them, then back to Hart.She felt their mind-touch, then came the realization.

“It was you who helped Strongheart, Littlefoot and One Eye when the
Jaiqi
breached the outer rooms of the city. I could not feel them because they were here, with you . . .”

Hart nodded, smile brightening slightly. “The land of the Kadlu and the Disir is an island. I have told you. It is here where the heart of Nashira beats strongest.”

“And it is here where the bond between the chosen and the animals is forged.” A statement of simple fact, no conjecture.

Hart hesitated. “It is a way . . . it benefits both.”

The bonds were forged long ago.
Strongheart said.
Then added, The Amulet will bring with it many answers. We bear special ties to the Disir, but it is unlike what we share with you, and it is time to go
.

Stormrider didn’t need the great silver wolf’s urgings. She had heard enough. “We’ll leave within the hour. I begin to think I do not wish to be so close to where the heart of Nashira beats the strongest.” She glanced from Zio, silent now in his anger, to the bounty hunter.

Raptor couldn’t suppress a grin. So, the Disir were not as saintly as Hart would have had them appear. Another strange new facet of Nashira. Even her gods could disagree. He saw Stormrider pivot on her heel and turn to walk back to the Kadlu village perched at seaside.

She was drawn up short by Grey Wanderer’s hand upon her arm. Tightly he held her. Shackles of human flesh pressed into her forearm. She could have been free of him in an instant, but she waited, showing respect and tolerance.

Black eyes sharp and piercing, he peered closely at her. “It is The Amulet you want—all you have done—it has always been The Amulet.”

Stormrider didn’t attempt to deny it. “It is what I was sent to Nashira to do. It is my duty to return it to Antaris. It is what I am pledged to do.”

The pressure of his hand did not lessen. “The Amulet lives here. It is of Nashira, even as you are. It has returned home as you have.”

“So I’ve been told,” Stormrider said dryly. “But there are those of Antaris who feel the same. It is a symbol of leadership so deeply ingrained that its absence could trigger a war.”

“Then they are foolish people indeed who would war over another soul,” Grey Wanderer retorted releasing his grip and turning his back on Stormrider. His next words were harsh and bluntly spoken without even a glance over his shoulder, “Song Dog goes with you.”

“He will not stop me from doing what I must,” Stormrider said gently, wondering at the same time why the ritual gesture made by Grey Wanderer of turning his back on her sent her into such inner turmoil.

“No,” Grey Wanderer agreed, “He will not. But he must try to understand. One day he will lead his people and this must all be in his memory. That the
Jaiqi
are real men and women (clearly that admission made Grey Wanderer distinctly uncomfortable) who must be fought; that there are many others on Nashira he must try to understand; that one who leaves The People and Nashira and returns must not necessarily be viewed as brother or sister. That too is a curse of the
Jaiqi
.”

His piece said, Grey Wanderer walked off down the lonely stretch of beach, Bear Dreamer, an unsettling, silent, presence, at his heels.

Stormrider sighed, straining at the knot which had formed in her throat and chest. “I couldn’t do anything differently if I wanted to,” she whispered, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Chapter 22

When they emerged from the caves which cut through the Dragonback mountains, the incredible brilliance of the day blasted Stormrider nearly blind until her eyes had the chance to adjust, and she was struck with awe by the clarity of the azure sky. It was different, somehow, from the sky she remembered canopying her original campsite.

And it was the perfect backdrop for the jagged silhouette of the mountains themselves. So steep and sharp they appeared capable of punching holes in the sky. And so moist; the mists rose in curling waves from the moss-covered earth. The breathtaking panorama, mountains, caves and the softly moving mists were breathtaking. Savage, hard and gentle.