Lioness Rampant (14 page)

“Feeling beautiful won't win a fight.” His eyes were the pale gray that told her nothing about how he felt.

“I hardly think I'll fight anyone here, unless it's you,” she snapped. “Why can't I wear impractical garments every now and then?”

“Suit yourself,” he shrugged. “I suppose you'll want earbobs next, and bracelets and other frippery. What comes then? A noble-born husband and court intrigues?”

“I'm female.” Embarrassed, she realized Coram, Thayet, and Buri were trying to slip away. “Why can't I wear a dress without you deciding I want to give up everything I am?”

“Our road is rough and cold and muddy. Maybe you realize now that a knight-errant's life isn't as glorious as you expected.” There was enough truth in this to hurt. He waved toward her gown. “Maybe this is the Lady Alanna you mean to show your prince when you go home.”

She walked out, knowing that if she spoke she would cry. Running into her room, she slammed the door behind her. She
did
question her life as a roving knight, but not for the reasons
he
had claimed.

Alanna tore off the dress and threw it into the corner, following it with her shift and stockings. Her breeches and shirt were half on when she did begin to cry. Within seconds her handkerchief was soaked.

“I hate him!” She punched the bed for emphasis. “I hate him! It isn't right that one person can hurt someone else this much!”

“You scare him.” Thayet closed the door behind her. “Just when he thinks he understands you, you do something new. He can't put you in a neat little box the way he does the rest of us.”

“I never asked to be something new to him!” Alanna wiped her eyes on her sleeve and finished buttoning her breeches. “I never asked to be
anything
to him! It just—happened.”

Thayet buttoned Alanna's shirt. “I have a feeling it ‘just happened' to Liam, too, and that's what frightens him. Our Dragon is the kind of man who likes to be in control of everything, particularly himself.”

Alanna stared at Thayet. Did this explain why Liam feared magic? “What's wrong with falling in love with me? And what does wearing a dress have to do with
any
of this, Thayet?”

The princess smiled. “Alanna, when you wore that dress, he saw the daughter of a noble house—a woman whose family tree reaches back to
The Book of Gold.
Liam is common-born.”

“If I don't care about that, why should he?”

“He's very proud.” Thayet dipped her handkerchief
in Alanna's water basin and wiped the knight's face. “Some women can cry and look beautiful,” she said dryly. “You and I can't.”

“I know,” Alanna sniffed. “I get red and blotchy. When George told me he was, well, interested, I cared about his being a commoner. I even said ‘like should marry like,' or something like that. George didn't care. But Liam—What difference can rank make to the Shang Dragon?”

There was a quiet rap on the door, and Liam came in.

“I was just leaving,” Thayet said. She winked at Alanna and went out, closing the door.

His face scarlet, Liam watched the floor as he spoke. “You shouldn't've taken the dress off. You look very pretty in it. I guess sometimes we get used to seeing a person a certain way.”

It was all the apology she would ever get from him, she knew. Alanna patted the bed beside her, and Liam sat. “I like dresses,” she explained. “If you come with us to Tortall, you'll see me wearing more of them. Just because I'm a knight doesn't mean I don't like pretty clothes.” She grinned at him. “I've even worn face paint, sometimes.”

When he looked startled, she explained, “You
know, lip rouge, and so on. I'm not ashamed of being female, Liam.”

Tentatively, he brushed Alanna's hair with his hands. “I didn't think you were. I never forget you're a woman, Lioness.” His first kiss was gentle, the second passionate. Alanna let him pull her into his arms, thinking,
We should talk some more about why he was angry. I don't think lovemaking will settle anything.
The Dragon was so determined, however, that once again she put her questions aside to be dealt with later.

An hour later, as they dressed for dinner, she asked, “Are there any Lionesses in Shang?”

Liam stretched, thinking. “Not for fifty years. The women prefer names they don't think are ‘flashy.' That means not many Lionesses or Dragons. My master in kick fighting was the Wildcat. She always said if the men wished to attract attention, that was their problem.”

“But mythic beasts are ‘flashy' by nature, I should think,” protested Alanna. “Or don't you let women get to those ranks?”

“Try to stop them!” he grinned. “Right now there's me, the Griffin—also a man—and Kylaia al Jmaa, the Unicorn. She's the most beautiful thing on
two feet, all silk and steel and lightning.” He tweaked her nose. “Satisfied?”

Their group had dinner in the room Thayet and Buri shared, not bored enough to go down to the common room yet. They were filled with a weird sense of mingled excitement and apprehension, but no one cared to talk about it. What could they do now? Wait until Chitral cleared?

Alanna didn't think she could wait that long. Though she didn't know why, she had a strong feeling that she had to get home.

They amused themselves the next morning by catching up on chores that went neglected while they were on the road. Alanna and Coram spent the hours after breakfast mending tack in the stables. Liam worked on his fighting gear as Thayet mended clothes and Buri cleaned the weapons. By lunchtime all of them were ready for diversion. They went to the common room to see who else was kept there by the storm.

Two companies of merchants were present: One bore spices to the valley north of Lumuhu and Chitral, the other furs and hand-woven goods south to Port Udayapur. They were joined by four locals—two shepherds, a blacksmith, and a guide—and a group of five Doi. The Doi were as interested in Alanna and
her friends as the knight was in them. They exchanged looks with Alanna throughout the meal.

“Liam,” Alanna whispered, trying not to seem obvious, “the Doi woman with the onyx in the middle of her brow—who is she?”

Liam nodded gravely to the Doi. They hid their eyes briefly, a sign the Dragon said meant respect. “A fortune-teller,” he answered. “The Doi give them as much honor as you'd give a priest. Each fortune-teller works differently. Some read tea leaves in a cup. Some tell your future from the stars. I had my future done once. It's interesting.”

She was surprised. “You don't like magic.”

Liam shook his head. “This isn't the same. No sparkly fire, nothing flying at you, or things changing. A Doi looks at something
real
.”

One of the Doi men came over, covering his eyes briefly to show his respect for Liam. “Dragonman, we are of the Rockmouse people.”

“I know the Rockmouse,” replied Liam.

“Our Lady-Who-Sees, Mi-chi, she knows time lies heavy, out of the wind. If you wish, she will tell your hands, all of you.”

“We will be honored.” Liam stood, telling the others softly, “It's an insult to say no.”

Thayet sat beside Mi-chi when the fortune-teller beckoned to her. “I read hands,” Mi-chi said. Her voice was deep, her eyes dark and mysterious. “It is said the hand you use to draw a bow or to stir a pot will reveal that part of you others can see. The less-used hand, that is your inner self.”

Thayet nodded. “I'm right-handed.”

Mi-chi took the princess's left hand, holding it palm up. No one spoke as she ran her fingers over the lines in Thayet's palm. Curious, Alanna probed with her Gift. The fortune-teller's magic was like Bazhir magic; it was drawn from the land rather than from a source inside the person who wielded it.

“What do you see?” Thayet wanted to know.

Mi-chi smiled at her. “You have lost your chains only, great lady. Follow your heart. It leads you to a mighty place. And forget your home. You will never return there.”

Thayet rose and walked over to the hearth, keeping her face away from them. Buri watched her royal mistress for a moment before taking her place beside the Doi woman. “Whatever it is you have to say, whisper it, all right?” she asked as she offered her right hand.

Mi-chi agreed, and afterward Buri refused to say what she'd been told. Coram was next, and he asked
the same favor. When he stood, he was smiling—whatever his own future held, he seemed to like the prospect.

Mi-chi smiled at Liam. “You know your fate already, Dragon-man. Nothing I may say will change it, or your knowledge of it.” She looked at Alanna. “You, please.”

Alanna took the seat beside Mi-chi, offering her left hand. Mi-chi took both, studying the knight's callused palms intently. When she spoke, Alanna could feel a power in her words that was nothing like the Doi magic she'd sensed earlier. This was stronger and untamed.

“He waits, old Chitral.” Mi-chi's voice was harsh. “He knows you have come for his prize. He will not surrender it if you are unworthy.” Alanna's friends gathered close, listening. “Do you think it will matter if you await
this
storm's end before you set out? He has others to throw at you.”

“I'm not trying that pass in the middle of a blizzard!” Alanna protested.

“Then your desire, or whatever it is that drives you, is not enough.” Mi-chi's eyes were mocking. “Make no mistake, hero from the flatlands. Chitral fights you with his snows and winds. All who would
face him must battle on
his
terms, or not at all.” Dropping Alanna's hands, the Doi looked at Liam. “Dragon-man, do you bring your kitten to us for testing? You may not want the grown cat.”

“I don't bring Alanna anywhere, wise-woman. She picks her own road.”

Mi-chi stood, shaking. One of her companions came to support her. “Do not forget that, Dragon-man.” Her voice rasped with exhaustion. “She is a champion, like you, but different. Always different.” The Doi helped her to her rooms.

Alanna rubbed her hands on her breeches—they still tingled with both Mi-chi's Doi magic and the
other
magic that had spoken through the fortune-teller. “It sounds … I don't know. I'm not a hero, not yet.”

Buri slung an arm around Alanna's shoulders. “Glad to hear it. Come on out to the stables and we'll practice some kick fighting.”

The worst of it was that Alanna believed Mi-chi, or she believed whatever had spoken through the Doi woman. That surge of weird magic was impossible to deny.
Just what is sitting up in that pass, waiting for me to come after the Jewel?
she asked herself time after time as that day ended and the next crept on. The
blizzard continued to blow outside without showing any signs of letting up.

She thought about just going home, but at this point, something inside Alanna balked. She knew there had to have been other times in her life when she'd failed to complete something she'd set out to do. She couldn't remember them, however, and she didn't want to. Furthermore, she did not want her search for the Dominion Jewel to become the time she
would
remember that she had started something and had given it up. Almost in spite of herself, she began to remember what she'd known as a child in Trebond about survival in the snow.

She was peering through a crack in a shuttered window shortly before twilight of their third day at the inn when she felt someone come up behind her. She knew it was Liam and didn't turn. “I think the storm's dropping,” she said, trying to hope.

Liam turned her around, gripping her shoulders tight. “Don't even
think
of it,” he warned. “And don't make your eyes wide and ask what I'm talking about. I'm not Coram, and your tricks don't work with me.”
That
made her angry.

“Maybe Coram
lets
my ‘tricks' work with him, and I
don't
know what you're talking about.”