Rider's Resolve (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  Luden had checked on F’lia a few more times throughout the day but he hadn’t bothered to acknowledge them as he stormed past. K’lrsa smiled to see him so frustrated, but she worried about what was going to happen next.

  They’d managed to make the soup last through lunch, but as the sun set K’lrsa’s stomach was grumbling and the soup was gone. She had a few ration bars still, but she didn’t want to eat them.

  Vedhe was studying the two camps with her viewing tube. She hadn’t said what it showed her, but she’d had it out most of the day.

  “Be careful with that. Wouldn’t want it falling into the wrong hands.”

  Vedhe nodded and tucked it away in her vest.

  K’lrsa stood. “I’m going to see if N’la has some food to spare.”

  Given her friendliness with so many in the camp, N’la was also an excellent source of information. And a highly accomplished Rider. If K’lrsa wasn’t allowed to leave camp to get more food, maybe N’la could. It was either that or they were going to need to move camp soon.

  As she walked towards N’la’s tent she nodded to the Riders she passed, trying to convey confidence instead of defeat. Even though she was no longer on the Council and Luden had taken the necklace, she still felt responsible for these people.

  She’d been the one to suggest forming a new tribe, and the one who’d told the newcomers they could stay. (Although someday she was going to need to have a talk with Vedhe about what made a man a good man because it seemed she’d made a few mistakes where that was concerned.)

  Before she could reach N’la, Luden intercepted her. “Where are you going? Are you behind this?” He nodded towards the Rider encampment.

  “No. You are. Or did you think they wouldn’t notice when you walled your women away and put them under guard. What did you think they’d do? Steal them? Kill them?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. The women were uncomfortable being around so many strange men. They wanted something familiar. That’s all that was.”

  She pressed her lips together, not wanting to argue with him, but she couldn’t stop herself from making one more comment. “Well that’s not what it looked like. And you’re members of the tribes now. You need to act like it. We don’t separate our women like that.”

  “Funny. I don’t remember that being part of the vow I swore.”

  She exhaled through her nose, wanting so much to hit him even though it wouldn’t help. “Don’t you see how this divides the tribe?”

  “We have a right to our beliefs.”

  A young girl, about M’lara’s age, darted from the enclosure, chasing two young boys, all three laughing.

  “Your beliefs? I’ve been to the Daliphana. I’ve seen what you believe. That girl.” She pointed to the girl who had just caught one of the boys and was now running away from him. “What will become of her? If she wants to be a Rider, will you let her? Or will she spend the rest of her life behind those walls? Because that’s the way it always was in the Daliphana.”

  His lips twisted into a sneer before he could stop himself.

  K’lrsa shook her head. “I don’t understand you, Luden. Before the women and children arrived you were at least willing to listen. And you treated us with respect. But now…What changed?”

  “That was before I knew you were willing to kill my family to protect yourselves.”

  “It wasn’t…” She pinched her nose. “I wasn’t thinking of them as your family. You have to understand. In the tribes we’re always struggling to survive. There’s never enough food or shelter. It…We all know this…We all…”

  She shook her head. It was too hard to explain how everyone grew up knowing they might need to sacrifice themselves for the tribe, and how every decision the Council made was for the good of the whole, not the individual.

  She changed the subject instead. “Look. I know you won’t listen to me, but you can’t stay here. There’s not enough food in this area to feed this many people. Go to the other tribes. Ask for help. They’ll do what they can.”

  Although she was afraid it might not be enough.

  It was the very beginning of spring. Most would be surviving on the last of their winter stores, and they’d all already taken in extra mouths to feed at the gathering grounds.

  “We’ll find a way.” He didn’t even bother looking at her.

  “How?”

  He touched the necklace. Her necklace. “I have a few ideas. With this we can cover much more ground than on horseback.”

  “Luden. Be careful. The one time I traveled using that necklace it almost killed me and Vedhe.”

  “I’ve heard the story. It made you too scared to try again. Because of that you failed to see the possibilities.”

  K’lrsa shook her head and turned away.

  Let him kill himself. What did she care?

  “Where are you going?”

  “To see if N’la has some food she can spare. Unless, of course, Vedhe and I are allowed to leave the camp to hunt for ourselves?”

  “No. And go back to your tent. I’ll have one of my men bring you something to eat.”

  She turned on him, glaring. “Are you telling me I can’t even talk to anyone else in the tribe?”

  “Not right now. No. Now, go. Before I make you.” He touched the necklace, staring her down with his flinty black gaze.

  Rolling her eyes in disgust, K’lrsa stalked back to her tent. It was a good thing Badru was on his way or she would’ve probably done something very, very foolish.

  Chapter 17

  Luden’s men did bring them food. And the next day she learned what he’d meant by using the necklace in new ways. Luden and four men left the camp in the early morning and returned towards dusk with the mangled remains of five baru.

  None of the men looked particularly well; one was coughing up blood.

  “See?” Luden grinned at her, basking in the glory of his triumph. “We’ll have plenty to eat now that I have the necklace.”

  “What did you do?” She stared at the twisted carcasses in horror as grel gathered at the edge of camp with their beady red eyes and greasy gray feathers, calling out to one another at the sight of the bloody feast.

  “We found a herd of baru off in the distance and I used the necklace to bring five of them to us. Barely took any time at all.”

  She paced closer to the pile of bones, hide, and meat, studying the remains. “Did you even think about which baru you were killing?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “See that? You killed a nursing mother. Now her calf will probably die, too. And there? You chose at least two young bucks. When we hunt we always aim for the old who are past their prime.”

  “And it shows. I haven’t had a decent meal since I’ve been here. Either the meat is so stringy I can barely eat it or completely tasteless because it boiled all day.”

  She bit her lip, wanting to slap him. “It keeps the herd healthy and alive so we can hunt them another day. You keep killing the young mothers and bucks and there won’t be a herd left for you to hunt.”

  “Then we’ll find another.”

  “And when that one’s gone?” She glared at him, wondering if he really was this stupid.

  “If you don’t want any of it, don’t eat it. I need to clean up before dinner.” He stalked away as his men started butchering the meat.

  K’lrsa watched him go.

  She needed to take the necklace back. Luden didn’t understand how delicate the balance was between the tribes and the land. A few more hunts like this one and the damage might take years to fix.

  She sighed. Just what she needed right now.

  Aran was a threat, certainly. An immediate threat to the very existence of the world.

  But men like Luden—who only saw their own needs and interests and ignored the impact of their actions on the wider world—were just as likely to destroy everything given enough time.

  Which meant she needed to deal with him, too.

  And first
.

  Chapter 18

  The next day there was a new camp of the Daliph’s soldiers on the edge of the barren lands. Luden didn’t even bother to call a meeting of the Council—what little remained of it with F’lia drugged and K’lrsa under guard. He simply used the necklace to send the soldiers away and brought the new women and children back to the camp.

  As the five women and fifteen young children made their way to the newcomers’ enclosure, J’ver stepped forward to confront Luden.

  He was the oldest of the Riders in the tribe, but still only twenty-five summers old. His father was on the Council of the Spring Winds tribe. He’d left it to find his own way, but so far he hadn’t done much more than lounge in the background and follow the orders he liked and ignore those he didn’t.

  He glanced back at the other Riders, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.

  “What do you want, J’ver?” Luden asked, barely looking at him.

  “We need to talk.”

  “Well, then, talk.” Luden crossed his arms and stared J’ver down.

  For a moment, K’lrsa thought he’d run back to the safety of the other Riders, but he surprised her by lifting his chin and meeting Luden’s condescending sneer. “The Council didn’t meet before you banished those soldiers and took in the women and children.”

  “And?”

  “And that’s the way we do thing in the tribes. The Council meets and decides, and anyone who wants a say can have one.”

  Luden shrugged, every line of his body conveying confidence and command. “I decided we don’t need a Council anymore.”

  “But…That’s the way we do things.”

  The Riders who were close enough to hear what Luden had said were muttering back and forth, their expressions dark, but Luden didn’t care.

  “Not anymore. Not now that I have this.” He touched the necklace at his throat.

  “But…You don’t understand.” J’ver glanced towards K’lrsa. “She was right you know. About hunting the healthiest of the herd and hunting too many at once. You need to listen to us. And…We can’t keep taking on all these new mouths to feed. You have to send them away.”

  Luden loomed over J’ver, snarling. “If you don’t like the way I’m running this tribe then leave.”

  J’ver stood up straighter, his eyes flashing with anger. “No. That’s not how we do things here. Maybe you should just go back to the Daliphate where you belong.”

  K’lrsa flinched as J’ver spat, not at Luden’s feet, but on his face.

  Before she or anyone else could react, Luden grabbed the necklace, screaming in incoherent rage, and J’ver disappeared.

  For one heartbeat, the space before Luden was empty. Every one stood, frozen, staring at him, trying to understand what had just happened.

  And then the space wasn’t empty anymore.

  Before Luden was a pile of twisted flesh and bones, all white and red and dripping. But enough was left of J’ver for everyone to know what had happened.

  Luden glared at the Riders. “I am the leader of this tribe now. If any of you dare to oppose me, you’ll meet the same fate J’ver did. Now, everyone back to your tents.” He gripped the necklace in his fist, slowly shifting his gaze across the crowd until people crept away, fleeing to the false safety of their tents.

  K’lrsa stayed where she was.

  J’ver was dead because she’d let Luden take the necklace from her.

  It was her fault.

  And her wrong to fix.

  Chapter 19

  Luden walked towards her, slowly, calmly, his expression one of contempt. He stopped five steps away. “You saw what I did to J’ver. Do you really want to defy me right now?”

  She swallowed heavily, licking her lips, wanting to run back to her tent like everyone else had, but she couldn’t. “It’s because of what you did to him that I have to defy you.”

  He laughed softly. “And how do you think you’re going to do that? Without your magic horse or necklace? You’re just a girl. How old are you anyway?”

  She lifted her chin, fighting not to quail away from him. “Almost seventeen summers.”

  “Seventeen? You’re a child. Go to bed.”

  “No.” She braced herself even though there was nothing she could do if he chose to use the necklace on her. “I can’t let you do this. I know you think you did the right thing—fighting back against someone who challenged you—but…You didn’t. Can’t you see that?”

  He reached for the necklace. “How dare you…”

  K’lrsa focused on the necklace and willed it towards herself, thinking about how she was the one the gods had given it to, not Luden, calling to it to obey her, not him.

  The necklace trembled slightly, vibrating on its chain, but it didn’t fly through the air to her hand like she’d hoped it would. And then Luden’s fingers closed around it, holding it in place, taking control of it.

  She shivered. Any moment she might be turned into nothing more than a pile of meat and sinew, but she refused to quit. Not until he actually killed her.

  She tackled him to the ground, surprising both of them with the speed and impact of her attack as she wrapped her arms around his legs and drove him to the ground with the weight of her body.

  Luden let go of the necklace as he landed. The next moment he’d kicked free of her grip and grabbed her, pinning her to the ground, his fingers wrapping around her neck as he tried to choke her. She broke the hold, smacking his arms to the side and reached for the necklace, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully to the side.

  She used her other hand to hit him in the side, causing him to release his grip just long enough for her to twist free and lunge for the necklace again.

  She could hear the Riders and newcomers gathering around them, but no one stepped forward to intervene.

  They struggled back and forth, evenly matched as they struck and counterstruck, grappling back and forth, neither one gaining enough advantage to grasp the necklace and use it.

  Finally, Luden grabbed both of her wrists in his hands, his grip too strong to break and pinned her to the ground with his body. She fought to free herself as he slowly pressed her wrists towards one another, clearly meaning to hold them pinned with one hand as he used the other to grab the necklace.

  K’lrsa turned her attention to the necklace. She only had a few more breaths before he’d succeed. She focused, drawing on its power the same way she had when she’d banished those soldiers without touching it.

  She met Luden’s flinty black eyes as she willed him into the heart of the barren lands with every ounce of strength she had.

  She was rewarded with the sight of his eyes widening in fear for just one instant before he disappeared and the necklace dropped to her chest.

  Chapter 20

  K’lrsa lay on her back, eyes closed, relishing her victory for one, long, sweet moment. And then she had to scramble to her feet as the Riders and newcomers moved closer, ready to fight one another.

  “Stay back. All of you.” She glared them down, the necklace clutched tight in her fist. “Whether you want to believe it or not, we’re all one tribe and it’s about time we started acting like it.”

  She waited to make sure she had their attention and then nodded once. “Good. Now everyone gather round. We need to talk.”

  A few of the newcomers looked like they might argue but she brandished the necklace at them and they sullenly came closer.

  She nodded towards the enclosure. “I want the women here, too.”

  Murin crossed his arms and planted himself between her and the women. She smiled at him, willing him to defy her so she’d have an excuse to be rid of him once and for all. He stared back at her for a long moment, but then nodded to one of the younger newcomers to get the women, and moved off to the side, hands held up to show he wasn’t a threat.

  K’lrsa watched him while she waited for the women to join them.

  Only when everyone in camp was there—except F’lia—did sh
e continue. “Alright. I’m going to say my piece. You can all do with it what you will. I say this as a former Council member and as the one who rightfully owns this necklace. And as a member of this tribe.” She made eye contact with as many people as she could as she spoke. “It’s pretty clear to me that we’ve failed as a tribe and we cannot continue the way we’ve been going.”

  “We should just send them back where they came from,” a Rider in the back of the crowd shouted.

  “No. We can’t. These men are as much members of the tribes now as you are. They swore the same vow to the gods as the rest of us. And we offered them a home here. I won’t take that back.” She met the eyes of each Rider, stopping on the most stubborn ones for an extra moment or two. “And neither will any of you.”

  N’la stepped forward, hand on her knife. “How are you going to enforce that? Turn us into a pile of blood and guts like Luden did?”

  “No. You’ll do it because those are our rules. Members of the tribes don’t attack one another. And anyone who does attack a member of the tribes is expelled. That’s how we survive. By following the rules that have kept us alive for hundreds of years.”

  They clearly didn’t agree, but she continued, wanting to get to the heart of what she had to say while they were still listening. “Look. We’ve failed as a tribe. Maybe given enough time we would have worked through our differences and found a way to honor our existing ways while also accepting the experience of these newcomers, but we don’t have that time anymore. And now that these women and children are here, I don’t think it will ever happen. Already we’ve split into two camps. And look how willing we were to fight one another. Which leaves only one choice.”

  “What’s that?” N’la asked.

  “Riders return to your original tribes. Newcomers stay here and form your own tribe. Or go with the Riders and join an existing tribe. But if you do, you’ll be fully subject to the rules of the tribes and the governance of the Council that already exists for that tribe.” Her gaze lingered on Murin as she said that last bit. “Any Riders who’d prefer to stay here as members of this new tribe, can.”