her instruments 02 - rose point (5 page)

“All right, good,” Reese said. “I’m going with you.”

“Boss, are you sure—“

“I’m going with them,” she said to Sascha. “I’ve been rescuing him for most of a year, dammit, I’m not going to stop now.”

“Of course you can come, Captain,” the Kesh said. “The party’s assembling outside.”

Reese jogged after him, expecting dangerous-looking men and women with sparrows and palmers. She’d never seen Alliance riot-gear, but she had seen Fleet in the middle of a fight, so she was familiar with at least some of the high-tech toys. To find the search party throwing saddles onto the backs of horses—“You have got to be joking. You’re going to
ride
after them? Don’t you people have something that can fly?”

“Not over the kind of terrain the raiders are heading for,” the Kesh said. “Do you, Captain?”

“If you could give us the signal we’re supposed to look for--” Reese began.

“…and then what?” Sascha said behind her. “We hover over it and drop out of the cargo hold in our Fleet-issued parachutes?” When she whipped around to look at him, he said, “Boss, we can’t park in those hills. The
Earthrise
might be small by cargo-running standards, but she’s still big enough to need a proper landing field. And if we follow you, they’re going to know we’re chasing them. They might run into some cave somewhere. Do you really want to chase Hirianthial into a cave system? With our luck?”

Reese grimaced. “No. But I don’t know how to ride a horse—“

“Don’t worry, Captain,” the Kesh said. “We’ll teach you on the way. But there’s no time to lose.”

“Right,” she said, pained. “Fine. Take me to the horse.”

The horse in question was brown with black legs and a white nose, and Reese thought it might be as tall as a cargo bin but she could have been underestimating the distance between the ground and the saddle.

“Take hold of the horn,” the Aera said—the same one from the lab, Reese thought. “That’s the thing at the front of the saddle that’s sticking up.”

“Right,” Reese said, and reached up for it.

“I’m going to grab your waist, all right? Hang on—“

Reese started to agree and then the saddle lunged for her face. She smacked her cheek into the horse’s neck, made an inarticulate noise, and felt the Aera manhandling her foot into something, then walking around the front of the horse to do it again with the other leg. “There. Now sit up? Good.” The Aera came to her and handed her two leather straps. “These are the reins. They tell the horse which direction to go. Leave them loose and she’ll go straight. Pull on the right, she’ll go that way. Pull on the left, she’ll go that way. Haul them back and she’ll stop. Smack her sides with your heels to get her started. That’s all you need to get going, the rest is just details. Don’t worry about her, she’s placid. She’ll follow the rest of us as long as you don’t do anything strange. And her name is Believer.”

“Believer,” Reese repeated, trying not to be nervous. The ground was a very long way away, and the thing between her and it was
moving
, was breathing, was unpredictable and alive.

“That’s right,” the Aera said with a smile. “You’ll get used to it. You might even like it.” She touched the back of a knuckle to her brow. “Good luck. Howl if you need anything.”

“Right,” Reese said, clutching the reins. As the rest of the hunting party finished their last-minute preparations, Sascha joined her, standing at her leg.

“Here,” he said, handing a telegem up to her. “I took it with me in case we needed it. I’ve set it to local mode, so you should have enough power for several days. Call the ship regularly, okay? They’ll be able to track you with it. Maybe if you end up someplace with a big enough field we can come get you. Cut off all this running around after all.”

Reese stared at the telegem. “I had that in a locked panel on the bridge.”

Sascha chuckled. “Boss, more things work on the ship than used to, but most of it is still broken. Including the locks.”

She eyed him, then sighed and took it, careful not to disturb the animal under her. Fortunately it didn’t seem inclined to move much. “Thanks, arii. I’m glad you thought of it. You sure about staying? You could come with us.”

“I’ll stay,” he said, his golden eyes serious. “I’m going to sit down with Saul and get a better read on this situation, then head back to the ship and tell them what’s going on.”

“Right,” Reese said.

“Good luck, Boss,” he said, resting a hand on her leg. “And don’t worry. He’ll be okay.”

“He’d better be,” Reese said. “Or I’ll kill him right after I kill the Kesh.”

“Move out!” a voice called from in front of her, and the horse lifted its head.

“Guess that’s my cue,” Reese said. Sascha backed away to a safe distance, and Reese took a deep breath, then pressed her heels into the horse’s side.

Nothing happened.

She checked. The reins were loose in her hands, so that wasn’t it. She’d used her heels… what was she doing wrong? She tried again… nothing. Exasperated, she said to the ears in front of her, “Go, already!”

The Aera rode past, reached over and slapped the horse on the side. With a start it jerked forward and Reese grabbed the horn to keep from falling off.

“You need to be more assertive,” the Aera called. “She’s much bigger than you, Captain. A little tap isn’t going to impress her.”

Clutching the saddle horn, Reese called back, “I’ll keep that in mind.” As the horse bounced her on its back, she glanced up at the intimidating sky. The sun was already heading toward the horizon. How long would they have before it got too dark to search?

“Don’t get down,” the Aera said sometime later, before Reese even realized she was contemplating the attempt. When she looked up, the other woman finished, “We’re not stopping for a break, we’re stopping so they can find the trail again.”

“Oh,” Reese said weakly.

“Not doing too well, are you,” the Aera observed. “Why don’t I ride alongside you for a while?”

“Sure. You can catch me when I topple off this thing.” She was fairly sure that was a joke. At least, she was hoping it was. “I’m Reese Eddings. I’d shake your hand or cover your palm, but—“

“You’d fall off,” the other said, smiling. “I’m Ra’aila. Clan Flait, originally, now Clan Kerayle.”

“There are enough of you here for a new clan?” Reese asked.

“About twenty,” the Aera said. She shook her hood down to free her long ears and ran a hand along them. “We’re thinking in a few years we should be a respectable size.”

Reese tried not to shift her weight on the horse. She was pretty sure if she moved at all, either the horse would keep going, which would be punishing, or her legs and hips would fall off, which… might be a relief. She’d had no idea riding was so much work, but just staying on the animal as it clambered after the others, hour after hour—when it wasn’t running after them, bouncing her on its back—was a strain. “Flait. I’ve heard of Clan Flait.”

“Everyone’s heard of Clan Flait,” Ra’aila said with a chuckle. “They’re one of the most successful clans on Aren. Flait can’t lift a finger without making money or hoarding power. But some of us aren’t interested in being a junior member of a successful clan.” She drew in a breath through her long nose. “To be senior member of something new… now that’s interesting.”

“Even if you might fail?” Reese asked.

Ra’aila laughed. “Especially if you might fail. What else? Risk is interesting.” She glanced at Reese. “You should know, yes? Independent merchant captain? Lot of risk in that.”

“Tell me about it,” Reese muttered.

Ra’aila looked up. “Ah, they have the trail again.” She tapped her horse on the sides. “Try to relax into the saddle, alet. You are riding your mare as if she was some sort of machine. She’s not. Lean into her, move with her as she moves. Look at the trail ahead and anticipate her next act.”

“That advice assumes I know what a horse is going to do when faced with a change in the trail…!”

“You’ll learn,” the Aera said. She grinned, flashing all her sharp teeth. “Be one with the animal.”

Reese grumbled as the horse lurched forward, jerking her against the saddle horn. “Be one with the horse. Right. Do I look like I eat hay?” She glanced at the pricked ears in front of her. “You do eat hay, don’t you? All the stories say so.”

The horse, naturally, didn’t answer.

They continued climbing into the hills. Reese was grateful for the unpredictability of the terrain since it kept her from looking up and being unnerved by the size of the sky. But the further they went, the more she fretted over Hirianthial…and herself. If she fell off this animal and broke her neck, what would happen to her? And that was just the most extreme of the things that might happen. Fixating on scenarios kept her from noticing how much she hurt, and how badly she wanted off this thing’s back.

“You’re doing better,” Ra’aila said from behind her.

Startled, Reese looked over her shoulder. “What?”

“Riding. You look distracted, maybe it’s what’s letting you ride more naturally.” The Aera looked curious. “What’s got you so flat-eared?”

“How much farther will we have to go?” Reese asked. “I mean, how could they possibly be so far away?”

“They had at least an hour on us,” the Aera said, drawing abreast of her now that the path permitted it. “Possibly two. And unlike us, they know where they’re going. We’re having to track them to find them.”

“I thought you knew where the horse was, the one they stole.”

Ra’aila snorted. “Sure we do. That way.” She pointed. “But maybe you haven’t noticed, but we can’t exactly go in a straight line around here.”

“If you had a Pad,” Reese began.

“But we don’t.” At Reese’s mutinous look, the Aera said, “Do you?”

“Well, no,” Reese said. “Pads are expensive.”

“Ahhh,” Ra’aila said with a sage nod. “Of course. Not one of your priorities.”

Reese eyed her.

“You should mime your ears,” Ra’aila said, amused. “You make them so obvious. Here, that swept-back ear look.” The Aera demonstrated by putting her hands at her temples and then swiveling them with the fingers pointing back, and mock-scowled at Reese.

Surprised into a chuckle, Reese said, “Fine, yes. I got the message. You people came here to do what you wanted, and you didn’t have the money to do everything. Right?”

“Right,” Ra’aila said.

“I can’t help but think, though, that you really didn’t have a plan for anything,” Reese went on. “The Kesh has nothing to trade yet, despite you people evidently having operating expenses you haven’t compensated for. And you planned this division of labor thing so well that half of you gave up on it within five years.” She glanced at Ra’aila. “Don’t you think maybe you could use a little more thinking ahead, maybe?”

“You can do a lot of thinking ahead, Captain, and still be unprepared when the thing you haven’t predicted side-swipes you,” Ra’aila said. “Or do you honestly think we were expecting our own friends and family to sudden turn on us?”

Reese fingered the straps—reins—in her hand. “No. I don’t think anyone expects that.”

The Aera nodded. And added, “I don’t mean to be harsh. It’s just… been very bad here. I’m not making a joke when I say that no one expected this to happen. Had we all been working together as planned, we would have had something worth trading by now. We would have had more of the horses done. We would…” She trailed off, shrugged her shoulders. “We would have been different. Things would have been different. But they’re not.”

“So this happens often,” Reese said. “These people stealing from you, shooting you.”

“Not often, but… enough.”

Reese glanced at her. “And you
let
them? I mean, fine, you didn’t expect it. But now you know that it’s happening. And you’re going to let it keep happening?”

“They’re
family
,” Ra’aila repeated. “What would you have us do? Shoot them?”

“They started it…!”

“And we should finish it, is that it?” the Aera said.

“If the choice is between ‘let my sister shoot me,’ or ‘stop her,’ I would think the answer’s pretty clear,” Reese said.

“And do you have a sister, Captain?” Ra’aila asked.

Reese looked away. “No.”

“Well, then. Don’t be so quick to judge, ah?” When Reese didn’t reply, the Aera rode close enough to bump their horses together. Startled, Reese looked at her and found her with her hands at her temples again, flattened back.

She laughed, reluctantly. “All right, fine. Point conceded.” She shifted a little in the saddle, wincing. “But please tell me this gets easier.”

“I’m afraid it’ll get harder first.”

To Reese’s dismay, they rode until nightfall without finding the raiders or Hirianthial. When the party halted and began dismounting, she said to the person nearest her, “Is that it? We’re stopping?”

The Kesh answered her from her knee. “For the night, yes, Captain.”

She looked down at him. “Where did you come from?”

“The back of my mare,” he said with a smile: a tighter one than the ones he’d been using on her before all this began. “Can I help you down?”

“Ah...” Reese looked down the side of her horse, shifted experimentally and tried not to gasp. When she was sure of her voice, she said weakly, “I’m not sure I can. At all.”

His smile became a little more natural. “I didn’t think you’d be able to.” He held out his hands. “Come.”

With the Kesh’s help, Reese didn’t fall off the horse, though it was a near thing. She expected to be grateful to be on her own two feet again, but the moment her heels hit the ground her entire body howled protest. “Let me guess,” she said from between gritted teeth. “This is being saddle-sore.”

“You know about that?” His voice was surprised.

Her romance digests had been full of saddle-sore heroines, but she declined to mention it. “I’ve heard about it, yes.”

“If it doesn’t embarrass you to report,” he said, “where exactly does it hurt?”

“My hips,” Reese said. “And the insides of my knees. And my ankles.” She made a face. “And my back. And...”

“All of you,” he said, nodding. “We’ll see if we can pad your saddle to at least take care of your posterior. That should help with your hips and back.” With a smile. “Will you come eat with us? They’re digging the firepit now, and there should be coffee and stew soon. I’ll take care of your horse for you, if you wish.”