Stormrider (7 page)

“Now you speak as one of The People, Stormrider,” Grey Wanderer praised her, using the name The People had given her. And she got the distinct feeling he was relieved to find a reason to leave her in the face of the storm roiling about them. “And you possess the magic of the bonding.” His glance touched on each of the angry, aggressive wolves. “A blood debt must be paid. There is no other way. Later we will see. For now, he will live.” He bellowed the command and removed his lance as he gave a curt signal to the warriors accompanying him. In moments they had all melted into the trees.

Littlefoot turned, and in a blur of tan and brown, raced into the underbrush. The she-wolf would make sure Grey Wanderer and his men did not do the foolhardy thing and circle back.

Raptor rolled to his side, stretched full length upon the grass a moment before dragging himself to his hands and knees and finally sat back on his heels peering up at Tanith’s face, almost hidden underneath an unruly hank of soft, brown curls.

“Hurry!” Tanith screamed into the wind. “I haven’t been through many storms here, but so far the ones I have endured have always been full of surprises. We have to get to the cave above!”
 

No mean feat for Raptor since he’d been allowed little time to recover from his injurie before being buffeted by Grey Wanderer’s warriors, and now this.

Raptor gained his feet with a decided lack of grace, swaying dangerously before the whims of the wind until Tanith slipped up beside him, wrapped one of his arms about her neck and placed her own around about his waist. Anxiously she propelled him forward and steered him toward the path up to the cave. One Eye raced ahead and Strongheart brought up the rear.

Strange energy balls the shape and size of grapefruit began to rain down from the convulsing heavens. They exploded into starbursts a couple of feet from the ground. Quick-moving shadows of clouds skimmed across the ground, made even darker by the electric outrage of the storm’s still building fury. The air was alive with power causing skin to prickle and hair to rise. Electricity crackled and spit, snapping at their heels. Tanith didn’t like to think of the result if one of those balls of raw power hit one of them directly. The sizzle put wings on their feet.

And wind, powerful enough to lift them from the ground, pushed and stayed their progress. It moved and eddied, surged and retreated, seeming to toy with them. In agonizing slowness Tanith and Raptor fought their way more than halfway up the steep trail before the water began to fall.

It was nothing like rain as she had known it at her home in Antaris. It did not sprinkle or even pour. It fell from the sky with the power of an unchecked waterfall. For the barest moment dust rose from the ground beneath the power of the water’s surge. Then all that changed. In an eye blink they were soaked though. In another, breathing had become next to impossible. Drowning seemed more likely.

The trail was turned instantly to slippery mud and just as swiftly both Tanith and Raptor found themselves sprawled in it.

Her feet swept out from under her in a slippery gush; Tanith had gone down hard, taking Raptor with her. From then on it was a frantic free-for-all. Strongheart and Littlefoot, who had returned from her errand, came from behind, pummeled by the terrible surge of water, but yipping and pushing, urging the two humans blocking the trail to move.

Tanith dug her fingers into the oozing muck which had been the cave trail. Fingernails bent, then broke. Sharp, raw pain that came when a nail was torn to the quick ripped up her fingers, bringing an exquisite agony. Sheer determination served to stop her downward slide and she managed to crane her neck enough to see Raptor’s position.

More lucky than she, he had latched onto a rock outcropping when he had fallen and clung there like something trapped in the bilge of a sea-going vessel. Water rushed down over him in broken waves. They had to reach the shelter of the cave before they quite literally drowned there on the slippery slope.

Mud threatened to throw her from the edge of the trail while it sucked at the length of her body, impeding progress as Tanith wallowed forward a few precious inches, then reached back to grasp Raptor’s slippery hand. She dragged him behind her, heart pounding and muscles screaming.

Together they crawled forward, Tanith in the lead. Then she grasped nothing but air. Abruptly, Raptor released her hand and she felt his hands on her backside and he pushed. She shot forward, suddenly body-skating the surface of the mud, its tensile strength ruptured. Before she could sink again into its murderous grasp, Tanith’s hand shot out, grasping a gnarled root near the mouth of the cave. She desperately clutched it, reached again for Raptor and this time supplied him with the leverage he needed to follow upward through the driving waters.

At last, she used elbows to drag herself the final inches. Squishing through the viscous mud, Tanith popped like a cork from a bottle, rolling into the cave’s dry, dusty interior. She took a deep breath, the first one in many minutes not threatening to drown her, and turned to pull the wallowing Raptor after her.

And the water beyond the lip of the cave fell with even more fury, flattening small trees and tearing away great hunks of the pathway.

For a few moments thereafter both Raptor and Tanith lay in the thick cushion of dusty sand, breathing deeply, just grateful to be able to draw a breath not filled with water while they dripped, turning more dry dust to bluish mud. Tanith wheezed and gasped, coughing occasionally when droplets of water found their way into her nose or mouth. Raptor just groaned and rolled to his side dripping water into the powder-fine dust, turning small patches of it into mud while coating his body in a coating of mud as water seeped through.

Strongheart and Littlefoot barreled into the opening , water-logged and staggering beneath the weight of the water on their pelts. Vigorously, both shook themselves vigorously and Tanith groaned, dragging herself up, exhausted, in the face of a new drenching. She glared at the wolves.
 

Only One Eye remained dry and sequestered in the far corner of the cave. The blind eye milky white, the good eye a clear, glittering gold had a way of adding to his expression. It brought ferociousness to his visage in battle or at stand-off, but now it gave his face a clownish look as he sat quietly, head cocked, tongue lolling from his mouth. He appeared to be grinning, pleased with his own much drier circumstance.

Outside the wind continued to shriek but the falling water (Tanith decided not to dignify it by calling it rain) did not come into the cave. The air was incredibly warm but the water was freezing. Tanith began to shiver and shake. She grabbed her supplies, in moments producing a fire, which crackled at the back of the cave where she hovered near it, trembling, beckoning Raptor to join her.

Raptor laboriously drew himself up nearby to share the warmth she’d created. He fared little better than his companion, his flesh visibly showing the track of chill as his skin rose in a myriad of tiny bumps. He rubbed vigorously any patch of skin he could reach to bring warmth to the surface.

Tanith eyed him, breathing deeply, gaining time to allow her shivering to abate lest she speak through chattering teeth. Finally she said, “By the Sweet Goddess, for a bounty hunter of some repute you have a hard time staying alive! I don’t see how you manage to accomplish much else. In fact, I don’t understand how you manage to accomplish that!”

His face was tight, his body tensed against wracking shivers. “Luck,” he snapped, “these are trying times. His breath rasped in his throat. “Look,” he said when the shivering eased and a few deep swallows had loosened his throat, “surely you know I can’t be enjoying this any more than you.”

Strongheart broke through the strange communication void, his presence suddenly coming through strongly once again.
He is barely a day from nearly being mauled to death by the great bear and The People have shown little patience. Perhaps you should.

“I can’t show what I don’t have!”

Strongheart gave a small disapproving snort. Littlefoot looked sympathetic. One Eye rolled over on his sandy bed and prepared to nap.

“What does the wolf want you to show me?”

“Patience,” she bit the word out, “and his name is Strongheart.”

“Patience would be nice,” Raptor observed gently.

“I already told him. I’m not good with patience.”

“I owe you a blood debt, do I?”

“You do. And it worked.”

“Worked?”

“You’re alive and don’t worry, I don’t intend to collect on it. You can leave just as soon as you are able which, by the way, I would prefer.”

“How does one collect on a blood debt?”

“Servitude,” Tanith returned bluntly, tossing him a sour look. “The People believe in possession by conquest—one way or another. If you owe me a blood debt, I must be the stronger.”

“Not an entirely logical argument.”

Tanith grinned. “Oh, I don’t know, it has its points. I’m the one who saved your life if you’ll remember.”

“Not unaided.”

“It doesn’t matter which channel the strength follows. In their view the strength was flowing through me.”

“That’s why they leave you alone—in spite of their views on women?”

With a nod, Tanith reached for a piece of dry cloth and began briskly wiping herself down, drying skin and scraping off itching mud while the water dropping from the sky outside was slowly easing its force. “First I beat a couple of would-be suitors in combat—that dampened their enthusiasm somewhat; put them off a while. Then, once I started to gather the pack, it put them
all
off—all except the shaman-warrior who still thinks his magic is as strong as mine and he will one day have me.”

“And when he decides to try his hand?”

“I won’t have to worry about that. I’ll be gone before it comes to a showdown between us.” She glanced at the wolves.

Strongheart rose as the falling water slacked off to a mere downpour and the strange energy hail had stopped
. I will get the food if it has not been swept away.

“My thanks,” Tanith returned, “but it might be best if you brought the bow I lost on the path first, if you can find it.”

Strongheart gave a soft huff indicating he had heard and left the cave leaving Tanith behind.

Raptor watched as she moved to the mouth of the cave, wet the cloth to wipe the more stubborn mud from her face and neck before tending to arms and legs. A few moments later she returned, cloth dripping, and began matter-of-factly to wipe down his back with a surprisingly gentle touch. It felt good to have the mud, which was rapidly drying and forming a crusty shell around his body, removed, despite his almost greater desire to remain dry.

Tanith filled a container with water that still fell outside the cave mouth and brought it to Raptor where he sat near the fire. “You can reach the rest,” she said tersely and handed him the cloth as Strongheart entered the cave, Tanith’s pack dragging between his front legs.

Before she could say anything, Strongheart left the cave a second time, returning with her slender, well-crafted bow. Then he shook himself again and lay down near the fire.

Tanith accepted both with silent thanks, then turned again to Raptor. “The Council of Nine has burdened me with you by sending you, so I will stay with you until you regain your strength. Then I must go after The Amulet of the Suonetar.” Speech made she put her hand to fixing them some food.

Raptor didn’t argue. The smell of food as she prepared it over the fire was too distracting. He watched her as he thought back over the papers the Circle of Nine had given him to read about her. He knew her life in-side-out and he had seen only one small crack in her armor—that being when she had believed, for a moment, that he did know all about her life. So he had conceded her privacy.

There were times when it was wise not to let the full truth be known.

Chapter 5

Raptor, Tanith noted, healed quickly just as he had promised. To her relief there had been no further incidents with The People, or anyone else for that matter. The powerful storm, days before, had wiped out all trace of their existence except to The People who knew of their presence in the valley. The hunting, both of game for the wolves, and of edible plants, had been good. They had eaten well and preserved much. And she knew much would be needed to fill her packs for the trek to retrieve the Amulet.

She sat cross-legged in the mouth of the cave, basking in the warmth of mid-day, the wolves scattered around her in the coolness the cave provided while she watched Raptor with a critical eye. Below on thick grasses, he moved through some sort of exercise routine with powerful grace. When had it happened? At what point during his amazingly brief convalescence had he become sleek and supple, swift as a cat? At what point had he left the crippling stiffness behind?

Tanith could not put her finger on his changes, but the time was now right for her to begin her pursuit of The Amulet of The Suonetar. The seasons were beginning to turn. Very soon she would leave Raptor Simic, and this place.

The Amulet, gift of the Sun-Goddess, powerful and alive unto itself, had always been the symbol, and more, of leadership in Antaris. It had become a ritual object to The People of Nashira after most of those who had managed to transport it as far as this land had wound up dead since The People were not ones to acquire such a powerful object by trade. Such a venerated piece required possession by conquest—and by the amulet’s acquiescence.