Perilous Seas (20 page)

But
no people. When the time came to rest the mules and feed the riders, Azak was
joyful. No cut trees, no tracks, no fences, no smoke. There were no people in
Thume, he said. Anything else he could handle, of course, except demons.

Inos
smiled, and assured him politely that she trusted both his eye and his arm.

Kade
said nothing, frowning around and biting her lip.

“This
is a splendid place to make camp!” Azak proclaimed royally, encompassing
the glade with a sweeping gesture of approval.

Inos
had been lost in a reverie of plans for Hub. Startled, she suppressed a
snigger. At times that large young man assumed lofty airs that were not in
keeping with his ragged robes and wildly bushy red beard-nor with his posture,
for his legs were very nearly as long as his mule’s. He had ridden all
across the mountains with his feet almost trailing on the ground, and he could
probably dismount by walking backward on tiptoe if he wished. Still, even if
habit still made him pontificate sometimes, he had proved far more adaptable
than she would ever have suspected back in Arakkaran. He had watched his
dominion shrink from a kingdom to a single caravan and then to two women, and
he had never complained or seemed to feel slighted. He had turned out to be a
superb woodsman just as he had been a superb ruler of a kingdom. Whatever the
game, whatever the stakes, Azak played with all his heart, and with all the
native skill of a born winner.

He
had his faults, Azak ak’Azakar, but he was a magnificent chunk of
royalty.

Yet
why this sudden change of heart? He. had forced the pace ever since the hurried
departure from Elkarath’s caravan, so why a call to pitch camp now, with
at least two hours’ daylight left? They had no tent to erect and, while
the clearing was a pleasant enough spot, it was no better than a dozen others
they had seen.

Inos
shot him a puzzled glance. “We hear and obey, Protector of the Poor,
Beloved of the Gods! “

“Of
course!” A smile flashed out of his red bush like an escaping bird, but
Inos was certain that the ruby eyes had read every thought in her head. Who
would ever have believed that Azak could handle her teasing so well? How had he
ever learned?

Then
his eyes flickered a signal. Inos twisted around to look at Kade, who was
bringing up the rear.

Idiot!
Furious that she had been so thoughtless-and that Azak should have noticed what
she had not-Inos slid from her saddle, dropped her reins, and hurried back to
Kade’s mule.

“Aunt!
Are you not feeling well?”

“Oh,
I’m quite well, dear. Why are we stopping?” The paleblue eyes made
a great effort to find their old sparkle-and failed. No matter what she said,
Kade was not better; she was worse.

Whatever
was wrong was taking a price. She was humped in her saddle, she seemed to have
aged ten years, and for the first time in Inos’s experience, her absurdly
uncrushable cheerfulness had failed her.

“Azak
thinks we should make camp now.”

The
news was not welcome. Kade twitched and looked around with evident alarm. “Oh,
surely we can make a league or two before dark?”

“He
thinks not. Here, let me help you down.”

“Oh,
I think we should continue!” Kade protested.

“Why?”

“The
sheik? Queen Rasha?”

“The
sheik is not going to catch us after all this time, Aunt. The mules need a
rest.” And so do you!

“Well
... We might find a better campsite?”

“Azak
insists that this one is perfect,” Inos said firmly.

It
was at least satisfactory, a grassy meadow in a wide loop of the busy river,
with water on three sides and unusually bushy forest closing off the fourth.
Even if the mules pulled up their pickets, they would not stray far unless the
weather turned bad, and at the moment the weather was perfect: hot sunshine and
cool breeze. Here and there the sward buckled in low mounds that hinted at
ancient dwellings, perhaps a farm-given a little leisure time, those might be
fun to explore for relics-and the only other landmark was a small copse in the
middle, a dozen or so spindly trees. Inos knew enough of Azak’s thinking
now to guess his intent. He would embellish those saplings into an illusion of
shelter, and it would have open ground all around. Practical man!

Still
murmuring reluctance, Kade dismounted. Azak’s mule, already stripped of
its tack, was rolling in the thick grass with all four legs in the air,
obviously agreeing with his opinion of this place.

In
another half hour or so, the work was done. Azak had chopped saplings and
branches from the woods and dragged them over to the copse to fashion a windbreak.
Kade was sitting in there, brewing a peaceful pan of tea on a small fire. The
mules were contentedly chomping grass at the end of long tethers, and Inos was
standing on the riverbank with Azak. A brief inspection of the mounds had
turned up nothing more interesting than old hearthstones, the day was not over
yet, and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next.

Azak
was shielding his eyes with his hand as he studied the westering sun.
Estimating time, likely.

Inos
wondered idly how it would feel to throw her arms around that oversized camel
jockey and kiss him till his beard smoked, to be herself kissed as Andor had
once kissed her. Actually Andor’s kiss had not been all that spectacular,
even if he had used occult power. The kiss she really remembered, out of her
very small collection, had been when Rap had been leaving for the spring drive
and ... but Rap was dead, and while she had a certain natural curiosity about
how an overgrown, bushbearded sultan might kiss, she could not detect any real
excitement in herself in considering the prospect. Nor any real desire to try
it, even were Rasha’s curse to be revoked. So perhaps she was not making
much progress in the falling-in-love department.

She
could not imagine any man she would rather have here to guard her against the
dangers of a savage land-as long as his curse was in place, of course-and very
few men she could less easily imagine wanting to share the rest of her life
with. Trust in love? Fun to have around, perhaps, but ... every day? Every
night?

Gods,
but he had noticed her stare! She turned quickly to face the wind. “Is
that the sea I can smell?”

There
was a heart-stopping pause, then he said, “I think so. It can’t be
very far off-- two days, maybe. “

“Then
we head west, to Qoble? “

“Maybe.
We shall come to that large river, and we are on the wrong side of it. “

She
should have thought of that, of course! “I feel very grubby. This water
will be warm, I expect. “

He
frowned at the arc of white sand fringing the meadow. “The current is
swift, little kitten. “

“Oh,
I shan’t go in deep. I can’t swim. It’s quiet this side.”
Near the sand, the water was barely bothering to move the leaves drifting on
its surface, but the far bank had been undercut into a small cliff and there
the river was bundled in glistening, motionless waves below the overhanging
forest boughs. Even as she watched, a floating stick went leaping through those
waves at an astonishing speed.

Azak
grunted, peering upstream and downstream, and also across at the jungle, which
was thick and dark, casting shadows on the river. “Crocodiles?”

“No!”

“Well,
I can’t see any,” he admitted. “But don’t trust
floating logs, especially if they smile at you.”

Inos
shivered. “I shall certainly keep that in mind. But I will wash the
clothes-and me.”

“I’ll
stay within earshot.” He spoke seriously, his face expressionless.

Inos
realized that she had been expecting a wisecrack, perhaps a joke about keeping
careful watch-the sort of racy retort she would have received from her friends
among the stablehands and servants of Krasnegar. Even the young dandies at
Kinvale would likely have tried to mask embarrassment with wit. Not Azak. Of
course the female body held no secrets for him, and to spy on her would be
self-inflicted torment. His sense of fun was an intermittent, unpredictable
thing anyway.

“You
are going hunting!” she said firmly.

“Oh!
I am?” He pursed his lips in astonishment.

“Yes,
you are. You know we’re short of supplies. Fresh meat will be a welcome
change after all those pancakes and dates and things. You have time.”

He
nodded, amused. “And who will defend you?”

She
began walking back to the shelter. “What is there to defend from?
Mosquitoes?”

“Lions,”
he said, following. “No!”

“I
saw some spoor, a long way back.”

Tramping
through knee-high grass, she said, “Don’t lions hunt at night? “

“That
depends on how hungry they are, and how appetizing the prey. Some people look
very appetizing. Sunset is a favorite time. Besides, they might be tigers, and
I trust those even less.”

“I
would enjoy a nice slice of venison, or a plump bird. “ She was not a
witless city girl who panicked at a mention of lions. He shrugged. “As
you wish. It won’t take me long to find something.”

Obviously
he did not rank the lions and tigers very high as a danger if he was willing to
leave two women alone for even a short while. They had all been together too
much for too long; a break would do them all good.

“Don’t
mention lions to Kade. “

“I
won’t, but you keep the other bow to hand while I am gone. “

Clearly
Inos was still one of the boys, and his faith in her competence was both
flattering and reassuring.

She
sat and sipped a pan of scalding tea with Kade. By the time it was finished,
Azak had saddled up the largest mule and ridden it off into the trees. The
others snickered to it a few times and then lost interest. Kade was still
strangely twitchy and nervous and obviously trying not to show it.

“He
won’t be gone long, will he?”

“Azak?
No. “ How odd! Inos thought that Kade ought to be finding Azak’s
absence restful-usually he made her jumpy. “Tell me what’s wrong,
Aunt. “

Normally
Kade’s rosy cheeks were lighted by internal sunshine. Today strange
shadows seemed to dull them. “Nothing! Nothing at all! Just superstition,
the Accursed Land.”

“Well,
I have never met a name less suited. It’s idyllic. Azak’s quite
sure there are no people here. “

Kade
nodded, uncertain. Then the old blue eyes steadied on Inos. “You’re
not changing your mind, dear, are you?”

“About
what?” Inos had not seen Kade wear quite that expression since their
first weeks together in Kinvale.

“Well,
Azak. I know he’s being very persistent.” Kade blushed. “He’s
a very handsome man, in his way, and-”

“We’re
planning the announcement as soon as we arrive at . . .” Inos laughed and
shook her head. “No, I have not changed my mind! I feel easier in his
company than I did, maybe, and I do find him fun at times. But you needn’t
start polishing the state plate yet. “ .

“Well,
I just wondered. I hope you don’t mind my asking?”

“Of
course not! Now, do you want to sit here, or come and do laundry with me?”

Kade
considered, and seemed to make an effort to overcome some daytime nightmare. “I’ll
stay here and watch the fire. I’ll come and have a wash later. “

Odd!
But the mountains had been very hard going. A good night’s rest was the
least of what Kade needed, and had earned. Even an hour’s solitude might
be good for her.

And
she might credit her niece with just a little more selfcontrol. Handsome man
indeed! There were lots of handsome men. And nice outside didn’t
necessarily mean nice inside. Things like honesty and reliability didn’t
always show in faces. Andor had been handsome, and who could have been
plainerlooking than Rap?

Leaving
her aunt sitting in her shift, Inos bundled up their two robes and all the
spare linen, and stalked off toward the sand and the river. About a third of
the way there she remembered Azak’s warning to keep weapons handy. She
stopped and considered. The idea of her bringing down a charging lion or a
brace of tigers was not a very convincing one. On the other hand, he had been
serious and he had trusted her. Azak had a very harsh tongue for those who
disobeyed his orders. How would she feel if something dangerous did come and
she had ignored so obvious a precaution? Feeling rather foolish, she marched
determinedly back to the shelter, added a bow and three arrows to her load, and
set off again for the water.

She
untied her robe, and was amused to find herself pausing and glancing around before
continuing to undress, even though she knew there had been no snoopers in these
parts for a thousand years. She left her shift on. Adding her outer clothes to
the others, she knelt down in cool water and set to work as well as she could
with only a scrap of crude goat-tallow soap and with no rocks to beat them.
Then she spread them on the long, warm grass to dry.

By
that time, the air was chill on her skin, for the sun had ducked below the high
treetops. As the air had cooled, so the water had seemed to become warmer. If
she did not take her dip soon, the crocodiles might sneak up on her in the
dark.

She
took a careful look at the river and could see no floating logs, with or
without smiles. A mule brayed in the distance, so Azak must be returning already,
and she was surprised to discover how comforting that knowledge was-solitude
had become an unfamiliar sensation.

Trying
to remember when she had last been completely alone, she stripped to the skin
and waded out into the river. Soon the current was unpleasantly strong, tugging
at her legs and prizing the sand out from under her toes. By the time she was
knee deep, she dared go no farther. She knelt and soaped, splashed and rubbed.

Two
mules whinnied.