The Battle Lord Saga 02 - Her Battle Lord's Desire (3 page)

the last thing she was gonna do!”

“That smell lasted for at least three days,” Bertrand added. “I remember Eenoi mentioned

Atty got a spanking within an inch of her life, but she never lost her pride over her first conquest.

And there was no disguising how proud they were of her.”

Yulen laughed aloud. It was so much like his Atty, yet it was fascinating to hear about her

life as a child. “You...you have yet to tell me about her younger sister,” he reminded them as he

gasped for air.

“Keelor,” Fortune nodded, suddenly sober. “Atty was eight when she was born. A sickly

child for all her life, but so beautiful. Very delicate, very elfin-like. She had these transparent ears that almost looked like butterfly wings. Very large, very fan-like. And she had these wide eyes

that sort of sucked you into them. Keelor worshiped her big sister. Where Atty was strong and

independent, Keelor kept by Eenoi’s side and learned how to cook and sew and tend to the crops

planted outside the compound. Atty adored her. She would do anything for her. Sometimes

Atty would tell her she was going out to get a rabbit or something like that, and Keelor would beg

for a souvenir, like a tail or an ear or a feather, and Atty would bring it to her.”

Having done a quick mental tabulation, Yulen commented, “Keelor was twelve, then,

when she and Eenoi disappeared?”

Both men nodded. “The day before you and your men arrived. It was the next day when

the council appointed me as her guardian. You attacked our compound that night.” Fortune

looked at the paleness that had come over the Battle Lord’s countenance, and he wondered if the

man had ever been aware of the magnitude of destruction he’d caused.

“Atty is the last of her lineage. Dayman had been an only child. Eenoi had had an older

brother, but he’d died of tree fever when he was a child. And then, when the council made clear

their belief that Atty would lose all her abilities and skills to hunt once she gave herself to another,

Atty swore to remain chaste, in order to protect the compound. We never thought she would...”

His words trailed off as he averted his face to hide his tears, which threatened to embarrass him in

front of the company of soldiers. He was not surprised when Bertrand reached over to clasp his

shoulder. But he was taken completely off-guard to feel another hand warmly grasp his other

arm.

“Here she comes now,” Yulen told them.

They turned to see the young woman come down the staircase where she was hailed and

greeted by several of the men seated. Confidently she walked among them to shake their hands,

giving them all a warm smile, and playfully slapping a couple of arms. A couple of teasing jabs

were thrown at her. She easily gave a few taunting remarks of her own in response, which were

answered with more than a few chuckles.

She had undone her braids, letting her hair flow freely over her shoulders, and exchanged

her blood-splattered clothing for a fresh set of clothes. And from the blush on her cheeks, it was

evident something else may have happened in the brief couple of hours since her return.

When she got to their table, she gave both men another hug and a kiss before taking her

place on the other side of the table, next to her husband, who had resumed his seat.

“You didn’t wait for me?” She stuck out her lower lip in a playful pout.

Yulen snorted softly. “Lazy bones gets the scraps. You took your sweet time coming

down.”

“You just wait, Yulen D’Jacques,” she threatened him with a mischievous twinkle in her

eye. “Next time you come home all tired and bloody and wanting a quick nap, see if
I’ll
let you

get any rest!”

“I didn’t hear you objecting.”

For his remark, she jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. Laughing, Yulen leaned back as

a plate was set in front of her and Atty began to eat. “Okay, my inner radar is saying you three

have been talking about me. Good things, I hope.”

“I was being given a very brief but succinct retelling of some of your childhood antics,”

her husband tattled.

“Such as?”

“Something about a skunk?” He gave her an amused grin over his mug.

Atty slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no! They told you about that?” She turned on

the two hunters across from her. “And I thought you were my
friends
!”

The men laughed at her embarrassment, which she tried to cover up as she resumed

eating.

“By the way, Berta was right,” Yulen told her. “The lizard is good the way you suggested

she cook it.”

Atty nodded and shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll be curious to see what she does with the

snake tomorrow. By the way...” She rolled her eyes toward their guests. “Did I miss anything

else besides you telling tales about me behind my back?”

Bertrand gave his companion a look that passed the obligation over to him. Fortune

responded by clearing his throat. “We came here on a errand of mercy,” he began.

Immediately he knew he had both of their attentions. Atty continued to eat, since the rest

of them were almost finished. His eye also caught the Battle Lord’s arm as it curved protectively

around her waist.

“We came to ask for your help.”

“What kind of help?” Yulen asked.

“In the past three months we’ve been besieged by Bloods. They’ve raided our fields and

attacked the compound to the point where we’re literally trapped inside our own walls.”

“Any casualties?” Atty inquired softly.

“Just Pillan...so far,” Bertrand told her.

Shoving her trencher away from her, Atty pressed her napkin to her mouth. “Pillan? Oh,

please, not Pillan.”

“We can’t get out to hunt for food. The crops are ruined, so there will be no harvest this

fall. There’s no rhyme or reason to when they attack. It could be broad daylight or dark of night.

Three of our best hunters tried to go out and see what they could bring back, but the Bloods

attacked them. Jacktin and Karle are still hospitalized, but Pillan didn’t make it.”

Fortune felt his blood begin to boil as he recalled what the horde of aberrant mutants had

done to his friends and fellow caste members. He didn’t need to relay that information to Atty

yet, although he guessed she would find out sooner or later.

“How long have you been on starvation watch?” she asked softly, her eyes filling with

tears.

“Four weeks,” Bertrand told her. “The Council of Elders met to see if there was some

kind of plan we could think up to help get us through this coming winter. To all extent, it looked

hopeless...until Fortune mentioned the Battle Lord.”

Two pairs of eyes turned in his direction, but Bertrand continued. “We didn’t know if you

were alive or dead, Atty. The last time we’d seen you was when we’d returned you here to Alta

Novis, and since that time we’d gotten no word as to whether you were still alive, or how things

were with you. But Fortune said there was a small glimmer of hope D’Jacques might give us

some measure of help, if for no other reason than he was your husband...and the fact that he’d

come all the way to Wallis alone and unarmed to find you when we’d taken you back after your

poisoning.”

Yulen lifted his chin but remained silent. He would not let them know Mastin had

accompanied him to the compound. Until now, he had believed his going there to see what he

thought would be Atty’s grave had been a fruitless mission. Apparently it had reaped some

benefits. Beneath his arm, he could feel Atty tense up at the man’s last remark.

“And you never told me he came for me,” she reminded them, her words tinged in

bitterness. “All the time I was healing, you knew I was calling for him.”

Yulen turned his head suddenly to stare at her in surprise. Vaguely he remembered her

telling him the same thing, but at the time it hadn’t sunk in.

“You knew how badly I needed to be with him,” she accused. “You knew, but you never

said a thing. You just let me lie there, believing he’d just let me go. Believing he never cared

enough to come see if I was still alive or dead.”

She paused to cover her face with her hands. A silent sob shook her shoulders, and

Yulen squeezed her waist sympathetically.

“That’s true,” Fortune admitted, sincerely sorry they’d given her such false impressions.

“We were wrong. Forgive us.”

“And then you made me go crawling to the Council to beg to be brought back.” She

looked up at them with anguish written on her beautiful face. “Why, Fortune? How could all of

you have been so...callous?”

“He was the enemy,” Fortune began.

“He was my
husband!
” she emphasized. “Why did the Council relent anyway? What

made them agree to bring me back? Do you realize that if we’d been an hour later, Yulen could

have been dead?”

It was Bertrand who dropped the final bombshell. “The Council relented because they felt

you were...” He bit his lip.

“Felt I was what?”

“That you were...no good to them anymore. That, because you’d taken D’Jacques as

your husband, and had consummated your marriage, that—”

“That my abilities were gone? Just as the Council had believed all my life? As they had

led
me
to believe?” Atty gave both men a disbelieving look. “Is that what they were thinking?

That since I was no longer a virgin, might as well take her back to Alta Novis because she was

damaged goods and could no longer provide for the compound once she got better? And now

you come crawling here, asking us to help you, even though you thought I was no longer worth

anything? Let’s appeal to Yulen because, maybe,
maybe
, he’ll feel some sort of responsibility

and help? Well,
screw you!
”

Leaping to her feet, Atty bolted from the table and ran upstairs, slamming the bedroom

door behind her. The main hall grew quiet, every eye turned toward the table by the fireplace.

Yulen slowly got to his feet and stared down at the two men still sitting in stunned silence.

“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen,” he said stiffly, then left them alone to go upstairs.

It was a full minute before Bertrand turned a pale face toward his companion. “What do

you think, Fortune? Is there a chance now we’ll get the help we need? Or have we just sealed

Wallis’s fate?”

Fortune Kalich couldn’t answer. He was too busy condemning himself for his stupidity

and pride, which had caused so much heartache in the past, and now would probably be the

downfall of two hundred and forty more souls.

Yulen walked into their bedroom to find Atty standing by the window overlooking the

compound. Her whole body trembled with suppressed rage and tears flowed silently down her

face. Closing the door behind him, all he had to do was raise his arms toward her. She came into

his embrace without coaxing, lifting her face to bury it in the warmth of his neck and shoulder.

He held her for as long as she needed. They were allowed that luxury now. After so

many tumultuous days and weeks, after all the suffering they had been forced to endure so they

could finally live as husband and wife, they had paid the price to be given their moments of joy

and comfort.

He stroked her soft hair as he bent and placed tender kisses along her hairline above her

forehead. Atty clutched him, pressing her body along his, seeking his warmth as much as his

solace.

“Damn them,” she finally whispered.

He heard her sniff and felt her wipe her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

“Talk to me, Yul,” she asked softly.

“Don’t you think it’s time we went to Wallis? This time together? Presented as husband

and wife? I’m sure our entrance will generate sufficient awe and jealousy, don’t you think?”

She pulled back a ways to stare up at him. “You would do that?”

“For you I would, my love. Not so much for them, but for you. After all, they are your

people. And initially I did promise them my protection.”

“Yeah, until they swarmed Alta Novis and threatened to destroy you and this compound if

you didn’t give me back to them.”

Yulen sighed. “It’s your decision, Atrilan. I won’t try to sway you. Buuuuut...”

She giggled as his arms tightened around her. “Buuuut?”

“But you
are
the wife of a Battle Lord. And I’ve never had the chance yet to present a

full guard of honor before. I think this would be a pretty good time to see how many jaws we can

drop to the floor.”

“What’s a full guard of honor?”

He looked down at her with a devilish grin. “You’ll never find out until I show you.”

“What are you thinking, Yul? Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“I’m thinking...I’m thinking that it’s time you saw just what a Battle Lord is capable of

showing. You want pomp and pageantry? My beloved, you have no
idea
what power you wield.

The last time I was part of a full guard of honor was back when my father was still alive, and he

took us to visit the Battle Lord of Long Martine. I was twenty-two, and
I
was damned

impressed, let me tell you!”

“But we’re heading into the enemy,” she reminded him.

“We’ll let them drop their jaws, too,” he murmured, bending lower to find her lips. “Trust

me, Atrilan. As my Battle Lady, allow me this chance to show the people of Wallis what kind of