Exile (38 page)

The first problem she encountered on her return to the northernmost Murak village was the fact that not all of the Kudaness spoke Lyran. As she spoke only Caithin and a reasonably fluent Lyran, this proved to be a barrier, but only briefly. Her efforts to make the warriors who intercepted her understand that she wanted to see the suac met with threatening gestures and shouted words until someone recognized her from the previous visit. Then two warriors escorted her at spear point to the suac’s long hut while another held her mount, scowling at the poor animal so fiercely that she felt guilty leaving it behind.

She hurried into the hut to stay out of range of their spears while trying not to look as harried as she felt. Her prior encounter with the Murak high priest suggested that he wouldn’t have much sympathy for any show of weakness.

The suac was sitting cross-legged on some rugs, carving at something with a small blade. When he looked up, his dark copper eyes narrowed and he snarled, showing off one sharpened incisor. With a deliberate show of annoyance, he firmly set the blade and the other object to one side and got to his feet.

“Again you come unexpected,” he snapped, walking toward her with a fierce glare and a long sweeping gait that put in her mind the image of a predator about to leap upon its prey.

She stood firm, encouraged by his use of the Lyran tongue. He was at least willing to communicate for the moment. “I want you to unite the Kudaness and convince them to go after the Gray Army.”

His advance came to an abrupt stop. He blinked at her a few times, perhaps wondering if he’d heard her right.

She held his gaze and waited.

After a long moment of silence, he shook his head. “No. The gods have not directed such action. You are an insect who does not recognize the danger of a booted foot. Leave before you are stepped on.” Waving a hand toward the entrance, he turned and started back to where he had been sitting.

One of the warriors raised his spear and gestured to the door. Ignoring him, she took a few steps after Suac Chozai. The warrior grabbed her arm in a biting grip and she resisted the urge to sear his palm with ascard. When she stopped and didn’t fight, the firm hold eased a touch.

“You said once that my presence hides from you. If I’m not really here, than it will not hurt you to hear me out.”

Suac Chozai turned once more and walked back to her, stopping less than a foot away and scowling down at her. The dark man was taller than her and his muscular, tattoo covered body gave him an advantage in sheer physical intimidation. In power, however, although he had a strong connection to his inner aspect, he didn’t seem to have conscious control of it, which put her at a distinct advantage, so she continued to hold her ground, staring back up at him.

“If the Gray Army takes Lyra, do you really believe they will leave Kudan alone? You are a threat they will be eager to erase.” She rushed the words out, feeling impatience in the warriors behind her.

“If they return, the gods will warn us and we shall deal with them,” he replied, his tone final.

“Perhaps you will see them coming next time, but you didn’t see me coming.” She saw a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes at her words. It vanished quickly, replaced by a haughty smile, but she had placed a seed of doubt in his mind. “If the Kudaness attacked from behind while Lyra is defending on the fore, the Gray Army would be crushed between. Doesn’t that make more sense than waiting to face them when they are rested and ready for you? Why let them set the terms of that encounter?”

Suac Chozai turned and walked to a corner. For a moment, she thought she’d been dismissed again, but the warrior released her arm and the suac drew a water skin from a small, ornate cabinet. He carried this back to her.

“You mystify me, Unseen Woman,” he said. “I know what you are. You are a user of ascard. It is sacrilege to use the power of the gods as you do. Yet there is something different in you. Your words also carry some wisdom. I think that the gods may have given you the power you wield for some purpose, but there is only one way to be sure.”

He took a long drink from the water skin. When he lowered it, a violent shudder passed through him then he held the water skin out to her. This time she did step back, regarding the offering with suspicion.

“If you would ask me to consider your words, I would ask you first to walk among the gods with me.”

Her heart fluttered with fear so sudden and strong that it left her lightheaded, but this was a crucial turning point. Steeling herself, she took the water skin, meeting his copper eyes as she raised it to her lips. He started to sway, those strong muscles relaxing into a motion made disconcertingly graceful by the long weighted braids swaying out behind him. The smell from the water skin made her stomach churn. She hesitated, noticing the way his copper eyes had lost their focus.

With a deep breath to strengthen her resolve, she lifted the water skin and tilted her head back, taking a swallow of the fluid into her mouth. For a few seconds she thought she would throw up before she could even get the thick, vile liquid down, then she managed to swallow. She tried to hand the water skin back to him, but another hand came forward and claimed it. The warrior closed the water skin with reverent care and returned it to the cabinet. Then he and the other warrior left the hut, leaving her alone with the swaying prophet.

She felt dizzy all of a sudden and her head began to hum. No, it was the suac humming, a deep, almost guttural sound with a strange, hypnotic rhythm. The rhythm filled her mind, taking control of her body and drowning her thoughts. She almost began to sway with it, but her terror stopped her. Pain coursed through her body, radiating out from her stomach. She felt weak. Reaching out, she tried to catch herself on the nearest object, which happened to be the suac, only he was no longer there.

After what seemed like an endless fall through blackness, she landed on her knees in the sand. Open desert stretched endless on all sides. It was night and the bright stars were tinted with a hint of red. They swayed in the sky as if hung upon strings. The air was crisp, making her shiver, but the pain was gone. No, not really gone, just distant.

Was she awake or dreaming? Had they drugged her and dumped her in the desert?

She stumbled to her feet again, finding it hard to balance. She turned and let out a cry of surprise when the suac appeared in front of her. He placed a firm hand on each shoulder, catching and holding her gaze.

“Don’t fight the movement. Let it guide you.”

His voice was deep and soothing. When his lithe, muscular body started to sway again, she moved with him, not sure she could do anything else. His copper eyes continued to stare into hers and she felt helpless to move away when he placed a rough, dry hand against her face.

Thunder rumbled through the air, the sound of thousands of horses running. The Gray Army charged around them, not touching them. Terror swelled in her, but she couldn’t turn to look at them, she could only see them passing by to either side as though she and Suac Chozai were naught but a tree in their path. The copper eyes before her narrowed, brow furrowing with intense concentration. Then she saw his eyes widen as Kudaness warriors moved past them by the hundreds, pursuing the Gray Army.

Even in this disoriented state, she felt a smug smirk upon her lips. The suac released his hold on her, all but shoving her away from him. Her balance already compromised, she reeled backward and fell through darkness again.

When she woke, Indigo threw up on the blanket she had fallen on. Sweat dampened her hair and clothes and her whole body trembled. Her stomach continued to spasm even after there was nothing left to send up. By then she was able to focus enough to use ascard to settle things down. Rolling over onto another blanket, she closed her eyes and panted until she became aware of someone chuckling. Opening her eyes again, she noticed first that the soiled blanket was already gone. The next thing she noticed was Suac Chozai sitting cross-legged on more blankets, laughing at her. As soon as his eyes met hers, his merriment vanished and he regarded her, looking not quite angry, but not pleased either.

She struggled up to a sitting position and met his eyes.

“I was right.” Her voice came out sounding hoarse, as though she had been screaming for a long time, and her throat felt raw.

Now he did scowl. “It appears so. The gods do not lie.”

She raised an eyebrow at him, pleased enough to be able to resurrect the smugness despite feeling like a herd of horses had trampled her. “Shouldn’t you be gathering the warriors?”

“I waited for you to wake. The other suacs must be consulted. We will go to Farid. This is your spirit journey, you must see it through.”

He tilted his head and a beam of light that passed through a crack in the door flaps reflected brilliantly off the metallic copper of his eyes. Those odd eyes were suddenly intimately familiar and she shuddered as the shared experience that created that intimacy replayed in her mind. Looking away, she worked through her body with a quick healing, doing what she could to mitigate weakness caused by the violent sickness. When she was done, weariness tugged at her.

“Could I have a bite to eat and a bit of rest before we leave?’

The suac nodded. “I must prepare. Rest, Unseen Woman.” He gestured to a pile of pillows and rugs.

“Indigo,” she countered.

He responded with an absent nod and stood.

Too tired to care what he called her, she moved to the pile and curled up among the pillows.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Physically, Yiloch felt good. The healing Indigo had done was more thorough than he had first realized. The wounds were healed, taking away the fever and weakness of infection. He felt stronger than he had in some time, more ready than ever to give chase. The Gray Army wouldn’t be moving as fast now that they were in a region where supplies were easier to come by and resistance was more probable. If he could get to AhnSegys, he knew the backcountry from there to Yiroth well enough to cut out considerable distance compared to the main road, which meandered around, avoiding terrain that wasn’t passable with wagons or large groups. They could make up time that way and perhaps still get ahead of the army.

The improvement in his health made it impossible for him to put Indigo out of his mind. For the most part, he managed to act as if he didn’t care about her whereabouts, but he couldn’t convince himself that he hated her anymore. Knowing she had defied her country for him and that Myac was involved made it hard to feel much more than sympathy for her.

There was no denying the truth in Ian’s accusations either. King Jerrin had been one of his prospective targets. He wanted someone on the Caithin throne who would work with him to abolish the slave trade that demeaned his people. Even his love for Indigo wouldn’t have given him pause when he was ready to move against the Caithin king, but he was far from ready to make that move. Now, even if he managed to stop the Gray Army, there was still a substantial threat lurking across the Gilded Straight as Caithin continued to seek justice for the death of their royal family. Trying to face such a formidable foe now would be the end of Lyra.

Tantrum kicked out in irritation, reacting to his gloomy mood. He gave the stallion a sharp nudge in the ribs as reprimand and took advantage of the resulting twist to one side to glance back at Ian. Would the creator even tell him if he sensed Indigo now? It was highly unlikely that she would let him know of her presence after what he’d done, but she might let Ian be aware of her through the link she shared with him. Facing forward again, he weighed the value of asking and decided that, had she wanted any of them to be aware of her location, she would have said something before she left. Ian wasn’t going to know any more than he did.

They were coming close to the last village in the Murak lands now. It would be easy to pass it by and certainly faster, but he wanted to have a word with Suac Chozai about the ambiguity of his prophetic statements. It wasn’t going to be a polite word either. The doubts instilled in him by the suac’s prophecy had led him to believe that Indigo had betrayed him, not only with her actions, but also with her heart and he was crueler to her because of that. If what Ian and Cadmar said was true, then she had been as much of a victim in this as he was.

There was also a chance, however slight, that Indigo might be there. Even if she had left immediately after their argument, she only had about a six-hour lead. If she had dallied anywhere to rest, then there was a chance they might catch up with her.

“Are we stopping here?” Cadmar asked when Yiloch angled towards the village.

“The horses need water if we’re going to be picking up the pace soon.”

“Of course.” Cadmar’s tone said he suspected there was more than that to the visit, but he wasn’t going to press.

No one came to meet them as they approached. Perhaps they recognized Cadmar and Ian and assumed they were no threat. Many Murak watched them with wary intensity when they entered the village proper, but no one challenged them as they dismounted to lead the horses to the water. Yiloch noticed fewer warriors than he would have expected to see. Cadmar only shrugged at his querying look. One of those warriors eventually approached them at the watering hole, nodding to Yiloch, then to the other two in greeting. The order of that greeting was the only indication that he knew who Yiloch was.

“I would like to speak with Suac Chozai,” Yiloch stated.

The warrior shook his head. “Suac Chozai has gone to aid a spirit journey.”

“Did Lady Indigo, the woman who was with us before, pass through here?” Ian asked, taking advantage of a momentary silence.

The warrior nodded.

Yiloch kept his expression neutral despite the sudden spark of hope that made his pulse quicken. Ian was far less discreet. He stepped toward the warrior, eyes lighting with excitement. The warrior stepped back, his hand coming to rest on the hilt of his sword. Ian glanced at the weapon and dismissed it, so Yiloch did the same. As long as the creator was aware of the possible threat, it wasn’t likely the warrior would get a chance to do any damage.