A Warrior's Path (The Castes and the OutCastes) (59 page)

“
He named you his brother?” the old one asked, suspiciously.

“Choke must have told you what happened
on the Flats,” Rukh said.

“He spoke of it.  And now, after centuries of slaughter, you consider the Baels to be your brothers?” the old one jeered.

“No,” Rukh said.  While a lie might have smoothed his way with the Baels, he suspected they would have detected it.  Besides, the truth might serve far better. “But I came to believe in Dirge’s vision.  He spoke of a world at peace, and I wish I could have seen it come to pass.”  Rukh’s words caused a stir amongst the Baels.  He took it as a good sign.  Other than the old one, a few of the others didn’t seem quite as hostile.  He still gazed at Rukh with suspicion and distrust.  “I don’t think of the Baels as my brothers, but I wish I could.  I wish I had a reason to,” Rukh added.

“It is a start,” Choke said.  “The SarpanKum would have been overjoyed to hear this.”  He turned to the old one.  “Leave it be,
Li-Chant.”

“The SarpanKum was a Bael of vision and wisdom,” the old
one said, “but how can we trust this man?  He is Human.  They hate us.  They have always hated us.”

“Trust begins as Li-Dirge taught, with a dropped weapon,” Rukh said, letting his
sheathed sword slip from his hand.

A
nother stir, and this time, even Li-Chant appeared impressed.  The old Bael nodded.  “So be it.  Your life is yours,” Chant said.  “But what happens next?”

Rukh had a thousand questions, first and foremost
: why were the Baels hiding down here? And it was clear they were hiding given the ragged and grimy state of their fur and clothing.  And where were the rest of their kind?  Did no more than this bare dozen here still live?

Q
uestions would have to wait.  Something more pressing took precedence.

“What happens next is we have to run,” Rukh said, bending to retrieve his sword.  “A
couple nests of Ur-Fels and a claw of Tigons along with what sounds like two traps of Braids are on my tail.  They’ll be here any minute.”  Rukh listened and heard the unmistakable sound of pursuit.  “Make that seconds.”

“The Ur-Fels are still loyal to us,” Li-Choke said, stepping out into the passageway, followed by the other Baels, who arranged themselves behind him, their tridents and whips at the ready.

Rukh was about to follow, but Li-Chant held him back.  “Leave this to us.  If the Ur-Fels see you, there will be no reasoning with them.”

Rukh
reluctantly agreed.  He wasn’t sure what the Baels had in mind, but he had to trust them.

After
the old Bael left, taking his torch with him, the chamber was enclosed in darkness and Rukh was left to ponder his next move.  One thing was for sure: there was no way he was going to wait inside this cave like a lamb waiting for the slaughter.  Rukh Blended and edged outside, sliding behind the Baels.  He drifted deeper into the passage, stopping once he was hidden in the darkness, well beyond the light of torches held by the Baels.

The Chimeras
who had been pursuing him finally arrived.  They stumbled to a confused halt when faced by the Baels.

“Your time past,” a Tigon said, thrusting to the front.  “The Queen kill you.”

Li-Chant laughed in his face.  He barked several commands, gesturing with his trident.  The Ur-Fels ceased their growling and listened.  Their attention infuriated the Tigons, who began laying into the dog-like Chims with sword and claw.  It was the signal to set off a melee with the Baels and the Ur-Fels against the Tigons and the Braids.

Rukh could have helped, but Chant’s words held him back. 
If he were seen, the Baels would lose the Ur-Fels as allies.

The battle was evenly matched, and it ended
just as quickly as it began, with a final Tigon dying upon the prongs of Choke’s trident.  All the Ur-Fels and Braids were also dead as were several Baels.  Rukh counted six of them still standing.  The youngest of their number was amongst those who had fallen, and so was Li-Chant.

The passage echoed
like the quiet after a storm.

Li-Choke shuddered when he
saw Chant’s body lying face up, an horrific, bloody rent tearing open his chest.

Rukh
carefully stepped forward, passing by several Baels, who rumbled at him.  He kept his hands from his sword.  He didn’t want any trouble.  Not now when he might get all of them out this mess with their skin intact.  He stopped beside Choke.  “I can’t stay,” he said.  “I still have a mission.”

Choke nodded.

Rukh knew what he had to do, but questions still burned in his mind.  “What happened here?” he asked.

Choke
frowned. “You mean why are the Baels hiding in these dark caves like frightened mice?” he asked.  “Mother exterminated all the commanders at the Hunters Flats.  You saw what She did.  She intended the same here, but She couldn’t do it Herself, not without also killing Her breeders.  She is like a living hurricane.  If She had entered the caverns, She would have erased all life from the tunnels.  She cannot contain Her powers for the fine work needed to kill the Baels and leave the rest of Her Chimeras alive.”

“She commanded the other Chimera
s to kill you instead,” Rukh guessed.  “And you hid down here where they wouldn’t find you.”

Choke nodded.  “The Ur-Fels remained loyal to us.  They brought us food and water and did not reveal our location to the Tigons.  The Ur-Fels and the Tigons have always hated one another.”

“What will you do now?” Rukh asked.  “If my people are able to defeat the Chimeras, they will find you eventually.  They’ll kill all of you.”

Choke shrugged.  “We will have to avoid them then.”

“You could come with me,” Rukh suggested.  “I can Blend you and get you out of here.”

“Where would we go?”

“If the Queen doesn’t know you live, you could go anywhere.”

“And where in this world would the Baels be safe?” Choke asked, bitterly.  “The cities of men where we are rightfully
reviled?  Or the Wildness where Mother holds sway?”

“She doesn’t bother with the
Kesarins, the Shylows, very much.”

“The great cats have little love for us, either.”

“I spoke to one of them, a female named Aia.  She’s the daughter of one the leaders of their glarings.  Aia says she can ensure your safety.”

Rukh quickly explained about the Shylows, and the conversations he had with Aia
.  When she had first invaded the expedition’s camp, he had requested safe harbor for the Baels.  At the time, he hadn’t been sure why he had asked her for something so treasonous.  While he had come to believe the Baels had truly done their best to protect Humanity over the centuries since Hammer’s fall, he still wasn’t sure what the one-time Chimera commanders were to him.  Why should he protect them?  All his life, he’d been taught extinction was their just reward.  A part of him still believed that, even with what he now knew was probably the truth about their nature.

But, s
omething that night, the loneliness of it all maybe, had sparked him to change his opinion.  He wanted to see the Baels live.  If Suwraith came for Ashoka next spring, a few of her former commanders wouldn’t tip the balance one way or another.  And Rukh didn’t think they would be fighting alongside the other Chimeras of the Fan Lor Kum.  Not if Dirge had been telling the truth, which Rukh believed to be the case.  The Baels deserved life, not extermination, and Rukh wanted to help see it happen; even if doing so was considered wrong by everyone else, it
felt
right.  Besides which, he’d done enough killing today.

Aia
had come back with her answer during the time when Rukh had been scouting ahead all alone.

“She says the
Kesarins would allow the Baels entrance to the Flats and leave them undisturbed, so long as they kept to themselves,” Rukh told the remaining Baels.

Choke blinked, and he looked surprised.  “It is a generous offer,” he said.  “One I can scarce believe offered by a son of Humanity.”

“Will you come?” Rukh asked.  He hoped Choke would say ‘yes’.

“We will come,”
the Bael replied.

The others gathered around, and Li-Choke explained
Rukh’s offer.  The others murmured amongst themselves, sounding hopeful.

“We have to go,” Rukh said
, feeling a rush of pleasure and excitement over what he was about to do.  “We need to get to the southernmost entrance before the warriors finish off the Chims.  I don’t think I can get you past them otherwise, not if they’re blocking the way out.”

They set off, and Rukh Blended
all of them.  The sound of conflict was dying off, and there were few Chimeras left to defend the caverns.  The Ashokans still searched, looking for any final enemies to slay.  Rukh avoided the squads of his fellow warriors even more carefully than he did the Chimeras.  The Murans and Rahails could sense his Blend better than Ur-Fels, Braids, or Tigons.  His shoulders were tight with tension the entire way.

Luck must have remained with him.  S
omehow, they made it unnoticed and unchallenged to the southern entrance; the one Rukh had entered hours before this night of blood and death.  It was light outside, early morning.  Rukh
had
been fighting and killing for hours.  The Baels crowded behind him, and he glanced at them, seeing their anxious expressions.  At least there was a chance he could save some lives today instead of only ending them.

Rukh pointed south along the banks of the Slave River.  “Head past the Tripwire, then cut east.  Aia says she’ll find you there and lead you to safety.”

Li-Choke took his hand, shaking it as a man might.  It was an unnatural and awkward gesture for the Bael.  “Thank you Rukh Shektan.  We owe you our lives.”  The other Baels murmured similar words.

“Just remember what I told you and get moving.  If anyone sees you out here, you’re dead,” Rukh
said.

Li-Choke
nodded and led his Baels away.

Rukh watched them swiftly march
off into the distance, feeling an unexpected kinship with the Baels.  They finally disappeared from view, and he breathed a sigh of relief.  The entrance to the caverns was still empty.  No one had seen the Baels leave or witnessed his role in their departure.  If they had, Marshall Tanhue wouldn’t have bothered with a tribunal back in Ashoka.  He’d have ordered Rukh killed right there on the spot.

But
Rukh figured his actions and the accompanying risk had been worth it.

As he had led the Baels through the caverns, it had become clear that t
he Ashokans had won a great victory here today.  Rukh felt like he had won one as well, though a different kind.  His life had been hard the past four or five weeks, but in the end, maybe he had found a way to redeem his pain. There had to be more to life than simply killing one’s enemies.  Maybe it had something to do with changing an enemy into a friend.  And maybe he could change the hearts of the Ashokans as well.  He hoped so.

He
turned away and re-entered the gloom of the tunnel.

Time to find out who was still alive.

*****

“
D
o you have a moment,” Jessira asked, closing the door to the House Library.

Jaresh was alone, reading a history or some such.  It was how he
typically spent his free time these days.  Jaresh wasn’t sulky or surly, but ever since Rukh had apparently spoken to him a few weeks back, warning his younger brother about his relationship with Mira, he had been distant.  And after that meeting, Jaresh had thrown himself into his work, with hardly ever a free moment.

W
hen Jessira did see him, there was always a hint of sadness to Jaresh’s eyes, and she knew why.  Jaresh was trying to keep himself busy so he wouldn’t have time to think about Mira.  He was dealing with heartbreak in the only way he knew how, but it left Jessira wondering what Mira was doing with
her
time.  How was Mira keeping herself busy so
she
wouldn’t have to think about Jaresh?  It was a shame.  Mira and Jaresh’s relationship wouldn’t have carried any stigma in Stronghold.

Jessira didn’t regret speaking up and telling Rukh her concerns about Mira and Jaresh, but she did regret the pain it was causing the two of them.  There was
something she could do which might help.  She doubted he would accept her offer, but she had to make it.

“What is it?” Jaresh asked.

“I need to confess something. 
I’m
the one who told Rukh about you and Mira.”

“You were?”
Jaresh scowled.  “I should have known,” he said, his face cast along bitter lines.  “You should have kept your mouth shut,” he snarled.

Jessira had expected him to be upset
, and she let his anger wash over her, holding tight to her patience.  Let him berate her.  As long as he heard her out, she didn’t care.  “And what would you have preferred?  For me to keep quiet so you and Mira could go about your merry way and end up named ghrinas?”