Rider's Rescue (The Rider's Revenge Trilogy Book 2) Page 8

  Lodie clutched at her throat. "So Badru's dead?"

  K'lrsa shook her head. "No. He's here with me. Somewhere." She still hadn't seen any sign of them.

  "But he's badly hurt?"

  "No. He's fine."

  "You said he was stabbed." Lodie fixed her gaze on K'lrsa, her face clouded with distrust. "Attacked. How would Aran ever let him live? How did you get here?"

  K'lrsa glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to hear them. "Badru was killed in the fighting. But Herin brought him back."

  "Brought him back? How?" Lodie's voice sharpened as she stared K'lrsa down.

  "The same way she brought you back."

  "Death walker magic." Lodie stepped back. "I should've…I should've known. I felt the poison burn through me…I knew I was dead…I thought…How did she learn it?"

  "Aran. He had people who knew it. Herin said he used to kill Garzel and then bring him back just to torture her. You never saw?"

  "No." She shook her head. "If I'd known…I would've…."

  K'lrsa thought she was going to say something about helping Herin and Garzel sooner, but she should've remembered that neither Lodie nor Herin were soft, gentle souls.

  "I would've found a better way to kill him. Fire probably. I doubt I could've cut off his head before someone stopped me."

  "Lodie!"

  Lodie looked at her. "What?"

  "Never mind. Look, what's done is done. We need to save as many of the tribes as we can now."

  Lodie snorted. "I say everyone for themselves."

  "Lodie."

  "What? They didn't exactly welcome me with open arms. What do I care what becomes of them?"

  K'lrsa rubbed at her face. "They're my family."

  "Not a very good one from what I saw."

  K'lrsa turned to scan the tents, wondering where they'd put Herin, Garzel, and Badru. "We need the others."

  "What others?"

  "Badru, Herin, and Garzel. And Vedhe. The gods seem to think she's part of this, too."

  "Herin's here? Why didn't you tell me?" Lodie glared around the camp, completely recovered from her earlier defeat. She stood tall, her jaw clenched tight in anger.

  A Rider walked past them and Lodie grabbed her arm, pulling her to a halt. "Where are they? The ones who arrived with her?"

  The Rider nodded towards the edge of the camp. "With the scarred one."

  Lodie released her and stomped towards the far edge of camp, not looking back.

  K'lrsa scrambled to follow.

  They walked past the horse pickets and across an empty space to where two tents now stood, huddled against the barrier as if trying to escape. A magnificent silver horse was tethered outside with the distinctive white mark of an Amalanee on his forehead. Fallion and Midnight stood next to him, munching on dried grass.

  Vedhe, the slave woman K'lrsa had helped escape, stood to meet them, her hair so pale it was almost as white as the clouds. Her skin was still covered with shiny red patches where the sun had burned her, but she looked better, more alive than she had in the slaver's camp.

  She smiled as they approached, but the scars on her face twisted half of her mouth and K'lrsa had to force herself not to flinch away.

  "Herin!" Lodie shouted. "Get out here! I want a word with you."

  Herin ducked out of the right-hand tent, Garzel and Badru close behind. She watched Lodie, her face carefully neutral.

  K'lrsa turned to see if anyone was nearby, but they were alone. It was just the six of them.

  Lodie walked right up to Herin and slapped her, the sound of flesh contacting flesh so loud the horses stopped munching their grass to watch.

  "Lodie! Stop it." K'lrsa grabbed her wrist as Lodie raised her hand to slap Herin again.

  "You had no right," Lodie hissed.

  Herin spoke, her voice firm and even. "I couldn't let you do it. I couldn't let you give your life that way."

  "So whose did you give?" Lodie asked. "Who died so I could live, Herin?"

  Herin stared back at her in stony silence.

  "Who?"

  Herin flicked a glance at K'lrsa and away again, probably remembering the conversation they'd had when she'd revived Badru, before Sayel volunteered his own life. "A young slave boy."

  "You killed a child to save me? Herin."

  Herin looked away, uncomfortable for the first time K'lrsa had ever seen. "You're my sister. I couldn't just let you die. Not when I had the power to save you." Herin looked back and there were tears in her eyes.

  K'lrsa tried not to gawk at her. It was hard to think that underneath all those layers of power and control, Herin was still just a flesh and blood woman like anyone else.

  But Lodie wasn't done. "It was my choice, Herin. I willingly gave my life to kill Aran. You had no right to bring me back."

  Herin shrugged one shoulder. "I knew the magic. I wanted to see it do something good for a change. And I wanted you to have another chance at life after you wasted the first one on me."

  "Another chance at life? You sold me to slavers. You told them to take me away across the desert and never bring me back."

  Herin's face twisted up. "It was the only way, Lodie. Everyone saw you die; you couldn't stay."

  Lodie sighed. "It's too late to change what you did, but I want you to promise me."

  "What?"

  "You will never again use that magic. Ever. No matter what."

  Herin hesitated.

  "Swear it, Herin, or I'll walk back to the center of camp and declare you a death walker."

  Herin pressed her lips together. "Fine. I swear it."

  "Good."

  K'lrsa glanced past them to Badru.

  Was it good? What if Badru was killed again? Or Lodie? Or her? Why give away a powerful tool like that?

  But studying Herin's face as she pulled her sister close for a hug, K'lrsa realized something. It didn't matter what she'd told Lodie, because if she had to, Herin would break any vow to protect the ones she loved.

  Chapter 20

  Herin and Lodie walked away, discussing possible ways to kill Aran, Garzel trailing behind them, which left K'lrsa facing Badru.

  "You okay?" He pulled her close and she sunk into him, breathing in the spicy scent unique to him.

  "If you forget the fact that the people I grew up with were willing to think I'd murdered my father and now they won't listen to me about leaving? Sure, I'm great."

  He kissed her on the top of the head. "We heard about it from M'lara. I'm sorry."

  She shook her head. Now was not the time to start crying again. "What can you do, right?" She sniffed. "They'll either come around or they won't. And if they don't, well…What can you do."

  "I could talk to them. Tell them who I am. Who I…was. It might help."

  She pulled away, shaking her head. "No. No one here can ever know that."

  "Why not?"

  "They don't trust the Daliphate and I don't want to try to explain to them that you're the good Daliph who probably didn't want to send troops as opposed to the bad Daliph who actually did."

  He grimaced slightly. "Point taken."

  "And…At some point someone is going to hear the story of how you were overthrown. You're dead, remember? You can't be you anymore, Badru."

  He frowned, but he knew she was right, she could see it in his eyes.

  He nodded towards the horses. "Did you see the other Amalanee?"

  She nodded. "Vedhe's." The pale woman had moved over to the horses and was now brushing her horse's coat, humming softly to herself.

  "Grandmother and Garzel were arguing about it half the night."

  "Why?"

  "Herin thinks she shouldn't have it since she's not of the tribes."

  "But neither are you."

  "My mother was."

  K'lrsa tilted her head to the side. "And your father. Was he of the tribes?"

  "No." He turned away, his shoulders stiff.

  "Badru? What is it? What did I say?"

 
; His hands were clenched by his sides. He didn't look at her. "My mother was raped. They never caught the man who did it."

  "Oh, Badru. I'm so sorry." She winced, imaging what it must've been like for him growing up the son and grandson of rapists. Of course, in the Daliphate being a rapist likely wasn't the death sentence it was in the tribes.

  But still. Her own father had been such a source of strength and support that she couldn't imagine what it must've been like for him.

  Badru shook his head. "Don't be. You didn't do it. And you weren't the one that was raped."

  He nodded towards Vedhe. "Do you think hers can fly, too?"

  K'lrsa shrugged. "Probably. We should have Garzel try to awaken it."

  Badru frowned. "Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

  "What?"

  "That we need Garzel to awaken the horses for us? I mean, Midnight's my horse, but he has to say all those words and use a sun stone to awaken him?"

  K'lrsa shrugged. She hadn't thought much about it. "How else would you do it?"

  "I don't know. But I think…" He glanced at Herin. "I think my grandmother knows."

  "Herin keeping secrets? No…She'd never do that." K'lrsa rolled her eyes.

  Badru laughed.

  K'lrsa nodded towards Vedhe. "Come on. Let's say hi."

  She led the way over to the horses, Badru trailing a few steps behind. He seemed hesitant to get too close to the girl. And she was just a girl. Slight framed, slender. Younger than K'lrsa although how much younger was hard to say with all the scars and the way her experiences had aged her.

  As Vedhe watched them, K'lrsa had to admit she felt a certain urge to keep her distance as well. She struggled against her aversion to someone her gut told her was sick and therefore dangerous. In the tribes, illness killed often, so anyone who was sick was avoided. K'lrsa knew the girl's scars weren't contagious, but it took everything she had to step closer.

  "Vedhe, yes?"

  Vedhe approached them with the lithe grace of a warrior and K'lrsa was reminded how Lodie had said she'd killed six men the night she was taken from her homeland. "You Krissa. You save me." She hugged K'lrsa so tight K'lrsa could barely breathe.

  "Yes. Well…" K'lrsa didn’t really feel like explaining that she wouldn't have had to save her if she hadn't taken her place in the caravan in the first place. She nodded towards the Amalanee horse which was watching them with a level of awareness that was almost disconcerting. "Beautiful horse."

  Vedhe nodded. "Kriger."

  "Kriger?" The horse snorted and K'lrsa laughed. "Seems he knows his name. Where did you find him?"

  "He find me. And Lodie. In the bad land."

  "The barren lands? That black area where everything was dead?"

  Vedhe nodded. "Black horse tired. Lodie tired. Vedhe tired. Want out. Ride when no sun or moon. Lost. All gray. Walk and walk and walk. Moon never comes. Sun never comes." She stroked Kriger's nose. "Kriger finds us. Leads us out of bad lands. Saves us."

  "Huh." K'lrsa studied him and he studied her back. "That's…wonderful. And then he just stayed with you?"

  "Yes. Mine. For me." She put her body between Kriger and K'lrsa.

  "Of course he is. Anyone can see that."

  Vedhe snorted. "Tribe not see. But Kriger show them. Kick and bite until they leave him alone."

  K'lrsa laughed. "Well done, Kriger. I hope Fallion would do the same if anyone tried to take him from me."

  She wanted to ask more, but just then M'lara came running up with a large bowl full of sour greens, millet, and what looked like hare meat. K'lrsa's stomach grumbled. "Oh, thank you. I haven't eaten for at least a day now."

  "I made it myself."

  "Did you now?" K'lrsa scooped some into a smaller bowl and took her first bite. She had to fight not to spit it back out. "You used the salt?"

  M'lara nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "Uh-huh. I know it's really good stuff and Mom doesn't use it much, but since it was for you…"

  "Thank you, M'lara."

  K'lrsa forced herself to take another bite and smile.

  Salty as it was, it was still food, and at least someone had cared enough to bring it to her even if she was going to need to drink a whole waterskin when she was done.

  Chapter 21

  M'lara settled herself at K'lrsa's feet as the others came to join them outside the two tents. "Hey, K, who are these people?"

  "Well, that's Herin and Garzel, and this is Badru, and of course you know Vedhe and Lodie."

  M'lara studied Herin, Garzel, and Badru before turning back to K'lrsa. "What happened to her fingers?" She nodded at Herin who waggled the fingers in M'lara face, making her squeal in fright.

  Herin cackled, the sound like earth cracked after too much sun. She leaned close. "I asked too many questions when I was younger. My mother took one finger joint for every question I asked." She waved her fingers again, grinning.

  "That's not true!"

  "No?"

  "No." M'lara shook her head. "K, what happened to her fingers?"

  K'lrsa choked down another bite of food. "It's rude to ask questions like that, M'lara."

  "But you know the answer?"

  K'lrsa nodded.

  "Tell me, please. Please, please, please."

  K'lrsa sighed. Such things weren't for children. Why burden her with that kind of knowledge? But staring around camp she saw kids laughing and playing and adults chatting as if it were any other day. Maybe if they understood what life outside the tribes was like, they'd see the threat they faced.

  "K?"

  "A very bad man did that to her, M'lara. The same one who sent soldiers to attack us."

  M'lara goggled at Herin. "Is that true?"

  Herin nodded. "Yes. He took one joint for every time I tried to kill him." She held up both hands, fingers splayed. "He's very hard to kill."

  M'lara leaned against K'lrsa's legs. "Why would you try to kill someone so many times?"

  "Because he needed to die. He's a very bad man."

  M'lara chewed on her lip, studying Herin's fingers with a sort of rapt fascination, still not grasping the fact that a man had ordered Herin to be maimed like that.

  K'lrsa envied her her carefree innocence.

  She'd been like that too. Once. Before her father was murdered.

  She sighed.

  That's what the Daliphana would do to her people. Strip them of their innocence. Bind them, sell them, kill them. They had to be stopped so sweet little girls like her sister could stay that way.

  But they weren't going to be stopped if her people kept acting like nothing was wrong.

  She stood. "C'mon, M'lara."

  "But why? I like it here."

  "I need to find D'lan. We can't wait until morning."

  K’lrsa and M’lara threaded their way through the tents looking for D'lan or their mother. K’lrsa saw familiar faces everywhere, but none were friendly. Even knowing why she'd killed her father, they didn't trust her.

  M'lara pushed ahead, leading the way to a tent with green flowers painted at the top. F'lia's family's mark.

  "Wait. M'lara, come back."

  She didn't wait but instead stepped around the edge of the tent. K’lrsa followed to where an older woman, her hair mostly gray, plump for the tribes, sat, a sour expression on her face.

  "M'na. How are you today?" she asked.

  "Fine. What do you want?"

  K'lrsa flinched from the anger in her voice, but forced herself to be kind back. "Do you know where I can find F'lia? Is she around?"

  M'na glared at her. "You don't know then."

  "Know what?"

  M'na sniffed. "She's gone."

  "Gone? Where'd she go?"

  "Gave herself to the sands."

  "What?" K'lrsa crouched down, too breathless to absorb the news and stand at the same time. F'lia had given herself to the sands? Her bright, beautiful friend, so full of life that she practically shone with it, had just let go? Walked into the desert never to return?


  So many questions tumbled through her mind—why hadn't they stopped her, when had she done it—but all she could strangle out was one word, "Why?"

  "Why? Because L'ral was gone. And you were, too, and there was V'na screaming about how you killed your father. What was she to think? And who did she have left?"

  K'lrsa sat back. Her best friend had killed herself because she wasn't there for her. Because she was too selfish to see what the loss of L'ral might do to her. "Are you sure? Maybe she…?"

  "What else do you think happened? One day she's here, moping around, crying her eyes out, wailing over L'ral. The next she's gone, all her things still here."

  "Maybe she went to another tribe?"

  "No."

  "But…"

  M'na stood and glared at her. "I know my own daughter. And she wouldn't have left to go to some other tribe without telling me. She's dead. And it's all because of you." She stomped away before K'lrsa could respond.

  K'lrsa watched her go before dragging herself to her feet and turning back to find M'lara waiting in the shadows. "We better find D'lan. Lead the way."

  K'lrsa stumbled after M'lara, lost in a haze of grief and regret.

  If only she'd done things differently.

  Chapter 22

  They finally found D'lan, but he wouldn't listen to her.

  Neither would her mother who pointed out that almost all of the Riders were gone and there was no point in moving on without them.

  K'lrsa was furious. "Why would you send the Riders away after what I told you?"

  "Because we'll need more food if we're to spend any amount of time there. We had enough for the five days of the gathering, but no more."

  "But…"

  "K'lrsa there's no point in going there if we're just going to starve to death."

  She tried again. "We could still start moving in that direction. The Riders will catch up with us. They move faster on horse than the tribe does on foot."