Legacy of the Blood (The Threshold Trilogy) (28 page)

“It must have had the most advanced case,” observed Than’os with
pity. “I fear it must be relieved of its suffering.”

“We cannot afford to lose any of our horses,” argued Adesina. “We
are pressed for time as it is, and we will be slowed down if we have to
redistribute our supplies to the other animals.”

“I am sorry, Adesina, but it must be done. It is dying slowly and
painfully, and we will lose it eventually anyway. This is the merciful thing to
do.”

It did not seem like there was any other reasonable choice. She
gave a frustrated nod and turned away to pack up her things.

“We need to redistribute supplies and begin traveling as soon as
possible.”

“I agree,” said Faryl, “but first, we need to begin treatments for
this parasite. It is unfortunate to lose one of our horses, but it would be
devastating to our mission if we lost our leader.”

Adesina was relieved to find that her headache was subsiding
considerably by midday. She watched with a mixture of fascination and disgust
as Faryl changed the dressings for each member of the party. Her own compress
had changed from a dark red to a speckled grey and white—the multitude of dead
parasites stuck firmly to the pulp of the crushed leaves.

“It is drawing them out. Good,” remarked Faryl.

Adesina was revolted by the idea that the tiny creatures had been
under her skin. Kendan looked equally squeamish, and the apothecary gave a
laugh.

“You Shimat certainly have weaker stomachs than I assumed.”

Neither Adesina nor Kendan replied, but they exchanged significant
looks. It was one thing to be faced with an enemy in battle, and it was
something else entirely to face nature’s most repugnant creatures.

The young queen left Faryl to her work, retaining as much dignity
as possible as she made her escape.

For the first time in more than 24 hours, Adesina was able to fall
asleep. She was so exhausted in both mind and body that she did not Dream. She
awoke rather groggy, but she was able to continue on their journey.

They were now on the seventh day in the desert, and they were
finally beginning to adjust to the heat. It was still incredibly uncomfortable,
but it no longer seemed unbearable. Their path was now more east than south,
and Maizah indicated that Basha had slowed her pace for some reason. They had
lost all of the time they had previously gained when they had to treat the
horses, but Adesina was confident that the situation would soon be remedied.

She was just starting to feel rather optimistic when she heard a
clamor from the rear of the party.

Adesina whirled around just in time to see a flurry of limbs and
supplies plunge down the ridge into a valley of sand. Both horse and rider
cried out in pain and fear as they fell.

“Kendan!”

The young queen jumped off Torith’s back and slid down the steep
slope, barely able to keep her footing as she did so. She automatically used
her
vyala
to steady herself, and the magic took an independent step
forward by lifting her off her feet and floating her down to safety.

Adesina went cold and she felt as though a vise were crushing her
heart.
Let go!
she thought frantically, and her
vyala
disappeared
abruptly.

Ravi appeared at her side. “Ma’eve! What is wrong?”

She shook her head and pointed to their companion as a
distraction. “Kendan is hurt.”

The Rashad remained firmly where he was. “You are my first
priority, and I know something is terribly wrong. I have never felt you panic
like that.”

“Mar’sal,” she called, ignoring her guardian, “come quickly.”

Adesina rushed over to where her former teacher lay sprawled in
the sand. He had lost consciousness, but his low moans let Adesina know that he
was still alive.

Kendan’s right arm was clearly broken—sitting in an abnormal angle
that caused Adesina to shudder. His right leg had a compound fracture, and his
blood seeped into the golden sand.

Mar’sal slid down the slope and sprinted over to the injured man.
He used his
vyala
to inspect Kendan’s wounds closely.

“It is a miracle he is not dead,” the L’avan soldier muttered to
himself. “He
would
be dead if this ground were any harder.”

“Can you heal him?” Adesina asked anxiously.

Mar’sal nodded and began immediately. He knit the bones together
and melded the skin. He stopped up the internal bleeding that was taking place
within Kendan’s skull.

The former Shimat grew quiet as he slipped into a peaceful sleep.

“I dare not do more,” admitted Mar’sal. “The brain is a delicate
organ, and I fear I do not have the necessary skill to heal him completely. He
will live, but we should ask Mistress Faryl to administer something to help him
manage the rest of the healing process.”

Adesina nodded and turned to call to the apothecary.

Faryl was already standing next to them, but her attention was on
the horse.

“He has a broken neck and two broken legs. Can you heal him as
well, Mar’sal?”

Adesina could see that Mar’sal was weary, but he agreed without
hesitation. “Of course, Mistress.”

The horse was soon on its feet again, but it appeared to labor as
it walked.

“There is still some pain,” explained Mar’sal, “but it will
recover by tomorrow.”

“Now we must decide what to do,” Faryl said. “How do we get back
up that ridge?”

“Ma’eve can use her
vyala
to transport all of us,” asserted
Ravi, staring at Adesina with challenging eyes. It was clear on his feline face
that he did not appreciate that she had figuratively pushed him to the side.

Mar’sal was too tired to take note of the nuances of the
conversation. “Oh, yes,” he said in a grateful tone. “That would be helpful,
Adesina. I do not think I can climb back to my horse.”

Faryl looked back and forth between the L’avan woman and her
Rashad companion with an uncomfortable expression on her face.

Please, Ravi, do not do this.

Why not, Ma’eve? You insist that nothing is wrong.

I…cannot…

His expression softened considerably.

You cannot, what?

“Mar’sal, are you able to walk?”

The young soldier looked startled by Adesina’s question. “Yes, of
course.”

“Then we shall put Kendan across the back of his horse and walk
alongside this ridge. It cannot last forever, and we will meet up with the rest
of the group at the soonest opportunity.”

Mar’sal’s brow creased in confusion, but he readily agreed. Orders
were shouted up to Than’os, and they continued on their previous course.

Adesina and Ravi walked at the head of their group, keeping an eye
on their counterparts. Faryl lended support to Mar’sal when he needed it, and
led Kendan’s horse by the reins.

Why are you shutting me out?

Adesina could sense the ache in Ravi’s heart, and she felt the
urge to throw her arms around his neck.

“I am sorry, old friend. I do not mean to push you away.”

“Then, do not,” he replied simply. “Tell me what has been happening.”

“I am afraid,” she whispered.

Ravi’s muzzle wrinkled in a feline expression of concern. “What is
making you afraid?”

Once again, Adesina shied from the truth. It was as if she was
making it more real by expressing it out loud.

When her words failed her, she tried something else. Something
new.

She opened her mind completely to Ravi, and she recalled every
detail regarding her
vyala
since the battle with the aekuor. She showed
him how her magic was taking control, and her struggle to overcome its power.
She showed him her fear of being lost in her
vyala
, and she knew that
Ravi could see that the possibility was all too real.

It took mere moments for Adesina to share days of relentless
terror and worry, but it seemed much longer. Ravi’s eyes grew wide, and Adesina
could see them shimmer with tears.

She had never seen him cry before.

“Oh, Ma’eve…you should have told me sooner.”

Adesina felt as though she had laid herself bare, and she tried to
cover it with bravado. “What difference does it make? Nothing can be done.”

The Rashad shook his head. “You do not know that. Even if that
were true, you should not carry such a burden alone.”

A trickling sensation fell down her cheeks, and Adesina hurried to
brush her tears away. “I could not…”

He understood what she was trying to say, and he shook his head
solemnly. “Why do you think I am here? Almost any sort of creature could have
been sent to protect you from physical danger. Yet you have a guardian that can
think and speak as you do. I was sent to you because you need a friend to
protect you from a much more pressing danger.”

“Idiocy?” she suggested with a half laugh.

“Isolation,” Ravi responded.

That gave Adesina pause.

“You would try to take on the problems of the world by yourself,
and you would think nothing of destroying yourself in the process. You would
even convince yourself that it is for the best.” His voice was both
affectionate and annoyed, but then he went on in a more serious tone. “One of
my greatest purposes is to remind you that you are not alone.”

The young queen stopped walking and looked at Ravi. They had spent
the last six years in almost constant companionship. He had saved her life on
numerous occasions, he had given her comfort and council, he had stood by her
when she had felt most alone. She had grown to love him very dearly, and that
love seemed to grow exponentially as she gazed at her guardian now.

Adesina went down on one knee and wrapped her arms around the
large feline’s neck. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He nuzzled her fondly. “I am not sure how, but we will find a way
to overcome this together. We have faced impossible and frightening things
before, and we can do it again.”

***

It was after dark now. The moon was a pale sliver in the sky, but
it lent just enough light to aid the weary travelers.

Adesina and the others still rode at the bottom of the rocky
slope, searching for a path that would reunite the two groups. Maizah rode
along the sandy ridge, leading Faryl’s horse while Than’os guided the mounts
belonging to Mar’sal and Adesina.

Maizah’s dark eyes drank in the desert before them, but the
depthless orbs appeared to remain empty.

She looked empty.

Maizah was quite aware of how she seemed to others. Her parents
had trained her well, and she was able to maintain the void without any effort.
She existed only to serve—that was the first rule of survival as a slave.

The young woman noticed several strange fluctuations in Adesina’s
magic. She did not mean to pry, but she could not help noticing. Adesina was a
surging beacon of light to someone with Maizah’s skills. The Tracker could no
more ignore the L’avan queen than she could ignore the sun.

Maizah noticed the fluctuations, but she did nothing to indicate
her knowledge. It was not her place to volunteer information.

She glanced at the L’avan soldier riding to her left. Early on in
the journey he had attempted to converse with her. The Master had warned him
that she could not speak, but he tried all the same. The Master did not seem to
mind the fruitless effort, and so she had not either.

These L’avan were strange people. They did not seem to view her as
a slave. It did not make any sense to her. It was as if they refused to
acknowledge that a horse was a horse.

Maizah’s parents had once told her of a land across the sea, where
people like her were free to live their lives as they chose. Her parents had
been taken from that land as children, and they never lived to return. Their
deaths had been a lesson to teach Maizah that such dreams were futile and
dangerous.

She was a slave—nothing more.

Of course, the Master treated her differently as well. He was not
like the other Masters. There was a softness in his eyes that no other Master
possessed. He almost treated her like she was more than simply a slave.

Maizah shook away such thoughts.

Futile and dangerous.

Through her unusual tracking abilities, she could sense that
Adesina’s husband slowed to a stop, presumably for the night. Maizah could
track his aura quite easily now. It was a strange other-self sense that tickled
the back of her mind at all times. Each aura was unique, and Adesina’s
husband’s gave the sensation of sunlight in a forest. It was pleasant and
strangely comforting.

Maizah turned her gaze to the sky to estimate the time of evening.
They would probably travel for three or four more hours before stopping to
sleep. It was a pressing pace, but they all understood the need to catch up to
Adesina’s husband.

Than’os reined his horse to a stop and climbed out of the saddle.
“A moment, please, Maizah.”

He walked away a respectful distance to relieve himself, and the
Tracker turned her eyes on the party members walking below. Their pace was
slower, due to the injured and the lack of horses, but Maizah estimated that
the two levels would meet in about half a league.

A sudden cry sounded behind her and was muffled just as abruptly.

Maizah whipped around to look for Than’os, but he was nowhere to
be seen.

The moonlight was dim, but the sparse landscape of the desert held
nothing that would obscure his shape. He had simply disappeared.

The Tracker had not tuned her senses to Than’os’s aura, but she
could still do a broad sweep in search of him. She ranged outward, seeking any
sign of the missing L’avan, but she found nothing.