Warlord (18 page)

"I am honored." Essa tilted his head. "What songs have you heard?"

I grimaced. "Mostly sad songs." I sighed. "Although Joden sang a funny breakfast song for us when we celebrated the ehat hunt."

"Perhaps something more fitting your mood, yes?" He took a deep breath, and began to sing. His wonderful voice filled the tent. It wasn't as deep as Joden's but it held the same kind of power.

I listened, spellbound, as he sang. The first verse spoke of the sun rising, and lovers laying in the cool grass, their bodies bathed in the light of the dawn. As the star disappeared from the morning sky, they appeared in his lover's eyes.

Essa took a breath, and the second verse talked of the sun at the nooning, with the lovers riding their horses side by side. Their shadows danced over the grasses and their skin was slick with warmth and sweat. The Plains shone gold in the daylight, but the stars were still in his lover's eyes.

Another breath on Essa's part, and the sun sank down, to set on the Plains. Now the lovers danced in the light of the fire, their bodies yearning for one another. The stars were still hidden in the light of the sunset, but he turned to his beloved to see their gleam in her eyes.

The last notes of the song died away. Essa closed his mouth, and looked at me.

I swallowed hard. "That was beautiful, Eldest Singer Essa. But," I felt myself tearing up as I spoke, "there is another verse, isn't there?"

"There is." Essa tilted his head to look at me. "Would you hear it?"

"Yes. Please."

In the song, the sun was gone. The moon was high in the endless darkness, and his beloved had gone to the snows. His body ached for her scent and touch. The words explained that the darkness covered his sorrow, and his blade would end it. For even the stars cannot compare to the warmth of her eyes.

I dropped my eyes, remembering Isdra, and her pain.

As the last notes faded away, I looked up. Essa nodded his head to me, and left the tent.

Amyu wasn't going to go with me on my walk, claiming the press of chores. But I convinced her to come with me, since I knew that the warrior-priest guards wouldn't talk to me, or answer my questions. In point of fact, I noticed that the guards that appeared when I left the tent were older, and more experienced. I suspected that the younger ones had been replaced after the incident with Simus, but I didn't say anything.

Besides, I was proud of myself, that I could start to tell them apart. Once Keekai had told me of the one distinctive tattoo, it was much easier.

I exited the tent, putting on my cloak, and stopped dead in my tracks.

"Xylara?" Amyu was behind me, her cloak over her shoulders.

"I thought there was a wide walkway here. Last night, I am almost positive ..." I looked around, puzzled. There was a wide open area in front of the tent now, with other tents surrounding it.

"There was." Amyu stepped forward, and my guards moved into position. "But the Tribe of the Snake wishes to dance tonight, for a new babe, born into the tribe."

"So they moved their tents." I took a few steps forward. "Does that happen often?"

"Of course." Amyu looked at me oddly. "They're just tents."

"Of course," I echoed. We started walking, skirting the open area to a walkway off to the side. "But if everything moves, how do you know where anything is?"

She took my question seriously. "Some things do not move. Waste areas, fire pits. And the herds are always beyond." She flashed me a look. "We have a saying. 'The Heart of the Plains is always beating.' "

I nodded in response, too busy looking around to talk.

There were people everywhere. Talking, laughing arguing. In front of tents, repairing tents, knocking tents down. Even as I watched, a section of tents collapsed, and warriors were loading them onto pack beasts.

"Are they moving?" I asked.

Amyu shrugged. "Moving or leaving. The snows come, and many are setting out."

"Does anyone stay here during the snows?"

Amyu shrugged. "A few. The lodges here are small."

The sun was warm on my face, but there was enough of a chill to the breeze that I was glad for my cloak as we walked.

But the people had caught my attention again. A group of small children ran past, laughing and chasing each other. They all had a wooden dagger in their belt, and a wooden sword at their side or strapped to their back. The children swirled around us, and then ran off between the tents. I laughed, enjoying their innocent mirth.

Then a man stepped between the tents, and blocked my view.

I looked up, right at Prest.

He stood there, tall and strong, with Epor's warclub strapped to his back. He'd shaved his head when he'd been sprayed with ehat musk, so his hair was still very, short. I sucked in a breath in surprise at seeing him.

He waited until he knew I had seen him, winked at me, and walked off.

I stumbled a bit, but Amyu was walking ahead of me, so I focused on following her. None of my guards had noticed anything.

I stifled my grin. "So, do the Tribes stay together when they camp here?"

Amyu shrugged. "Most warriors like to be close to the theas and the little ones. So Tribes do camp together. But there are no formal lines that are drawn. All are free to camp where they please."

A fight broke out to our left, two female warriors taking blades to one another. My warrior-priest guards moved to avoid the clash when it spilled onto our path. I allowed myself to be steered off to the side. A flash of red caught my eye, and I looked behind us for a moment.

There stood Ander and Yveni, just behind us. Ander was grinning like a fool, and Yveni was smirking. They stepped off the path before anyone noticed them standing there.

I didn't bother to suppress my grin this time.

We rounded a corner, and I spotted a crowd gathered around something on the ground. Two warriors were sitting there, studying something on the ground between them. Others stood over them, watching intently.

As I drew closer I realized they were playing chess.

"I want to see this," I told Amyu, and moved closer, not waiting for her approval. I craned my head around to see the board that lay before them. Sure enough, it was chess, with pieces carved of wood. I chuckled when I saw the castles had been replaced with ehats.

One of the players looked up. "Warprize!" He scrambled to his feet. The crowd eased back so that I could get closer.

"Warrior." I gave him a nod. "How goes the game?"

He laughed. "I am showing them all my prowess, Warprize."

"Where did you learn it? Were you with Keir's army?"

He nodded. "I was, Warprize. Didn't last long in the tourney, either. Keir of the Cat is too good at the game."

The mention of Keir's name made my guards restless. I gestured for him to return to his game. "Good luck, Warrior."

"My thanks, Warprize." His voice followed me as he settled back to his game, and I returned to my guards.

Amyu was frowning. "I thought they planned a pattern dance."

I shook my head. "It is a game of Xy, called 'chess'. I taught it to Keir and some others. It is very popular with the warriors of his army."

We kept walking, and I soaked it all in, the sights and sounds of Keir's people. It was only when Amyu suggested that she needed to prepare the meal for the nooning that I agreed to return to my tent.

It was as we were strolling back that I spotted him. It wasn't easy to do, but a movement in the shadows of a tent caught my eye.

It was Marcus. Fully cloaked, and hidden between two tents.

I almost felt like crying, but I kept moving, not wanting to put him at risk. How hard was it for him to move about, in a city of people who thought him afflicted?

They were here, all here, and that meant that Keir was close as well. I drew a deep breath of satisfaction, and kept walking.

We were almost to the tent, when a warrior came towards us, at a run. "Warprize! Warprize!"

"Here!" I called out, and the warrior ran over. My guards reacted, drawing their weapons as if to ward him off. The warrior stopped just outside their reach.

"Warprize." He sucked in air in order to speak. "Warprize, there is one that is ill. You must come."

"No." One of the guards spoke.

The warrior ignored him. "Warprize, I fear it is the plague."

Chapter 10

For a brief instant, my heart filled with joy. It was a ploy. Keir would be waiting in a tent, pretending to be ill—

But then I saw the fear in Tant's eyes, and knew it was no gambit of Keir's. Tant was terrified. No one who had lived through the horror of the plague would ever take it lightly.

Goddess, no.

Deep within, a part of me started to wail in fear. The image of this city of tents burning, of these warm and vibrant people dead, flashed before my eyes.

But the other part, the Master Healer, awoke with anger and determination. Not here. Not if I had anything to say about it. I clutched the strap of my satchel. "Where?"

Relief flooding his face, Tant turned to lead the way, and we both ran into two of my guards, who had moved to block our path. "No. This is not—"

"Bracnect,"
I snarled. "Follow if you wish, but get out of my way." I pushed past them, pulling Tant with me.

"Xylara," Amyu called, but I ignored her. I knew well enough that they wouldn't hurt me. As if to confirm my thought, two guards ran off, no doubt to report my transgressions.

"Keep moving," I whispered, and Tant obliged, moving off at a trot. I followed close behind, my thoughts racing with my feet.

Could it be the plague? We'd waited the required forty days after Gils died. A flash of sorrow cut me as I remembered the boy. His had been the last death caused by the illness. We'd waited the forty days, and dawdled as we'd traveled. Tradition said that was time enough for the plague to fade away.

But the sweat had been like no other, killing quickly and striking fast. Maybe we hadn't waited long enough. Maybe we'd carried it with us, an unseen enemy, into the Heart of the Plains.

My mouth went dry, but my eyes started to tear.
Oh, Goddess, please, no.
All these people. All these children. In my mind's eye I saw again the blackened village, used as a pyre for the dead.

We were at a tent and in before I could take another breath. The tent wasn't large, and held a pallet with a child on it, surrounded by three women, a small brazier off to the side. I focused instantly on the child, a boy, hair plastered to his forehead, damp with sweat. He turned wide, frightened eyes towards me.

"I found her," Tant started, but then Amyu and two of my guards burst into the tent.

"Outside," I barked.

They hesitated.

"Outside!" one of the women snapped, repeating my order with a glare as fierce as Marcus's.

That was too much for them, and they retreated out through the tent flap.

I knelt beside the pallet. "I am Lara, of—"

"Tant told us." The woman spoke. "I am Inde of the Bear, thea to Sako." She nodded her head toward the boy on the pallet. "Tant told us of the 'plague' and gave us this." She held out a jar of fever's foe. "We didn't know how to use it, and Tant said that you must be brought here, to treat the child."

The other woman protested. "She should not be here. Who is she, a city-dweller, to treat a child of the Plains? You offend the elements and the warrior-priests."

Inde's glance was a quelling one. "I will risk that, to protect the life of this boy."

The woman scowled, but closed her mouth in a tight frown.

"How long has he been ill?" I reached out to feel the boy's forehead, smiling at him. He stared at me un-blinkingly. His wooden weapons were next to him, on his pallet, set out much the same way that Keir positioned his. That had to mean he was between three and four years old.

"A few hours." Inde took up a cloth, and bathed the child's forehead. "He complained of feeling tired earlier, and I put him to bed. I should have realized when he didn't protest that he wasn't well. I checked on him and found him sweating."