Lamarchos (29 page)

“So you didn't enjoy the copulation. That surprises me.”

“Don't talk to me that way.” She stiffened, suddenly furious. “If you must let jealousy rule your tongue, Miks, save it for when it's justified.”

“Jealousy! You flatter yourself.”

“You …” Suddenly unable to go on, Aleytys ran up the back steps of the caravan. “I'm tired. Take care of the horses.” Ignoring his angry exclamation, she pushed through the curtains and dumped herself on one of the bunks. “Hunh!” She brought her fist down hard on the mattress. “Bastard.”

Sharl stirred in the sling and yelled his hunger. The anger drained out of her. She lifted him to her breast and sat dreamy-eyed while he fed. When he was finished she made a nest for him in a drawer and tucked a blanket around him. Then she stretched out on the bunk, feeling warm, weary, aware of the noises around her but not really listening to them.

When Stavver came into the caravan, she was nearly asleep. She felt him bending over her.

“Lee, I'm a fool.”

She blinked heavy eyes, smiled drowsily. “You are, aren't you.”

“I didn't want to admit anyone had this much hold on me.”

“I know.”

“Was it really bad?”

“Mmmm.” She fought against coming awake. “I don't want to remember.…”

“Lee.…” His hands touched her face lightly, moved down, cupped over her breasts. “Are you too tired? We could make a good memory.”

Aleytys felt warmth surging through her. She caught his hands and brought them to her lips. “I'm not too tired.”

Chapter XIII

Stavver was shovelling dirt over the campfire. Aleytys came out of the caravan with a pail of murky water and damp diapers hanging over her arm. She dumped the diapers over the back of the seat and flung the water away in a soapy arc that splashed noisily against the pile of boulders nestling like a clutch of stony eggs against the steep slant of the hillside. Dropping the pail she smiled at Stavver. “Maker of magic memories.”

He grinned at her. “Bring the horses in, witch.”

“Let me hang out my wash first.”

“How much longer does that go on?”

“Forever!” She chuckled. “You don't know much about babies.”

“Only how to make them. I never hung around longer before.”

“Poor. Miks. Another year at least.”

“Good god.”

The sound of hooves pounding at speed along the road cut through the peace of the morning. Stavver came leaping onto the driver's seat then onto the caravan top. He teetered there a minute then straightened and stared downtrail.

“What is it?”

“Who, you mean.” He swung down. “Your boyfriend.”

“Idiot!” She poked her elbow in his side. “I suppose you mean Loahn.” She sighed with exaggerated weariness.

“You got it.” He slid off the seat and strolled toward the road where it curved past their campsite. Aleytys sat kicking her heels against the box.

Loahn brought his mount to a sliding stop, a grin almost splitting his face in half. He jumped down and bounded exuberantly to her, dropped to his knees and banged his head against the dirt in front of her dangling feet.

She slid down beside him. Catching hold of a tuft of hair she pulled it sharply. “Get up, you clown.”

Loahn came up onto his feet grinning at her. He shuffled a little dance, too full of nervous energy to stand still. “Lahela gikena, worker of miracles, turner of the horde. Hi-yi, you did it. I didn't think you could. But you did. Only two cities!”

“Two cities,” Aleytys repeated grimly. She turned away. “If I hadn't wasted so much time.…”

“No, no, Lahela.” Loahn caught her in his arms and danced an impromptu triumph around Stavver's silent figure. He spun her away from him so that she stumbled into Stavver. Then he fidgeted in front of her, grinning, eyes beaming. “Only two cities, Lahela. Last time we lost twenty and half the people dead.”

“Calm down, Loahn.” She climbed back onto the seat. “I know what I did. What happened after I left?”

“Well … mmmmm … what with this and that, I managed to collect a lot of men willing to follow my lead.”

“This and that?”

“Didn't hurt having your shadow wrapped round my shoulders.”

“And?”

“Kekio brought your message to us. We were waiting to attack. So we waited a little longer. Saw you take off like someone set your tail on fire. We went down then, not knowing what to expect. They were like new-born babes, Lahela. We went through them. Through and through. Their minds were gone. Except for a few with funny silver helmets on. We stopped trying to fight them then and just gave them merciful death. Who could hate such lost things? And who could let them go on the way they were? The death pyres will burn long around wahi-Usk.”

“Dead.”

Loahn hooked his thumbs behind his belt and shifted from foot to foot. “Most of the adults.” He turned his back on her and stared downtrail. “It's not finished yet. So many of them. But …” he brightened. “The children are coming out of the daze. We'll divide them among the families that lost men. They'll grow up lakelanders.”

Aleytys frowned. “If they've lost kin, won't they … mistreat the children?” She stared down at her hands. “I know what it's like being a cuckoo in the nest.”

Loahn looked shocked. “No. No, Lahela. Never. These little ones are gift of Lakoe-heai. One does not mistreat a blessing.”

Aleytys tapped her fingers on her knees. “Listen.”

Loahn sank back until he was sitting on his heels. “What Lahela?”

“You should know what I learned about the horde.”

“The horde is finished.”

“Is there only one horde?”

Loahn looked startled. “I don't know.”

“Then listen. The reason the horde moves out of the south is this—the horde master is dying. Somehow a traverse of the lakelands and the resulting orgy of death forces the peculiar physical and mental development that results in a master.”

His bright lively eyes were locked on her face. “Weird.”

“Understatement. Have you ever tried watching them for a pattern of action?”

Loahn scratched at the earth with a finger. “Not that I know of. It's all so irrational. Another thing. It's dangerous going near them, especially when the drums beat.”

“Right. They've got courage, these young raiders who dash past shooting into the horde.”

“They don't hang around long or come too close.”

Aleytys swung her legs, kicking her heels against the side of the caravan. “Still … never mind. When the drums stop, they fall in their tracks deep, deep asleep. The roan stepped on one and he didn't even stop snoring. Except for a ring of guards on the master's wagon. The ones with the helmets. What happened to those helmets?”

“I don't know. They're around somewhere.”

“Better collect them. Carefully. They're more valuable than just about anything else you can have. At least when the horde comes. The drum rite is held before entering the lakelands and after that as soon as sun goes down on a plundered city.” She frowned over his head, staring blankly at the far horizon. “It always begins as soon as the sun is gone and ends … when it ends. The sleep lasts for several hours. Then they pick themselves up and move on. As far as I saw they never bothered to eat.”

“So?”

“So this. After the drums stop, if a small raiding party …” she slapped a hand on her thigh for emphasis, “Wearing those silver helmets, slipped among the sleepers and jumped the guards, they'd have a good chance of getting at the master and stopping the whole thing. Like I did. You'd have to lose one city.”

“One city. Ah! Wonder worker.”

“Idiot.” She rubbed at her knees. “I only serve Lakoe-heai. You don't owe me anything.”

He flung out his hands, his mobile face animated. “Lakoe-heai. Ha! Our songsmiths shall sing of Lahela gikena and her gift to the people. Our children and their children and their children as long as tongue lives in mouth.” He caught her hand and held it against his face.

“Loahn, you awe me with your capacity for nonsense! Talking of tongues, I think you open the floodgates and let the words flow like water downhill.”

“Looks like I'm fated to be a famous leader then.”

“If hot air qualifies one to be a leader.”

“Have you ever seen one without a large supply?”

She chuckled. “I'll miss your impudence, Loahn.”

“I couldn't persuade you to stay?”

She shook her head. “Loahn, heroes are only an embarrassment when the emergency's past. You know that.”

“I'd better know it if I want a peaceful life.” He sighed and didn't look all that happy about his future. He walked away a few paces. “So. I ride out of saga and back into the pettiness of ordinary living.”

“Mountain tops can be just as boring.”

“But harder to forget. Good faring in your quest, Lahela.” He caught up the reins of his horse, sprang in the saddle with a barely contained explosion of energy, and started to ride away. Before the horse completed two strides, he pulled him around and came back to Aleytys. “What'd you do with my horse.”

“Nothing. He came along. Over there somewhere.” She pointed beyond the caravan to a sparse tinting of green in the rock.

“Where's the saddle?”

“I threw it away somewhere beside the road.”

“Threw it away …” Loahn burst out laughing. “Threw it away!”

Aleytys stood and stretched. “That animal,” she screamed after the retreating Loahn. “That boneshaker has the worst gait of any horse I ever rode!”

Loahn waved back. “I know,” he bellowed, his voice echoing hollowly around the embracing hills.

She watched him until he vanished behind an outcropping of granite. Leaning back against the slats, legs stretched out in front of her, she looked up into the sky where the streaks of color nearly covered the blue. “That's three.”

“Three what?”

She sat up. “Four things to do for Lakoe-heai.”

“And this is the third. Getting rid of the horde.”

“Like I told you.”

“So what's number four?” His hand was warm on her knee. One eyebrow twitched up in humorous mockery.

“I don't know. I'm almost afraid to find out. How's Maissa?”

“Still asleep.”

Aleytys frowned. “She was still under spell when I killed the master and you heard what Loahn said about the others. I tried healing her. I don't know … damn … there's so much I just don't know. Better let her sleep.”

“Right. You ready?”

Aleytys glanced at the sun's glow spot. “How long to the ship from here?”

“About two days.” A wide smile lit his dark face briefly. “Then you can have your bath.”

She twitched her shoulders, laughing. “Ay, Miks. Will you still like me as a redhead?” Eyes dancing; not waiting for his answer, she rubbed her stomach. “I'm starving. What about some food? The cupboard's bare over there.”

“I'm stocked. Loahn took care of that.” He stretched and yawned. “Didn't you just eat?”

“I can barely remember that.”

“The fire's out, Lee. Chew on a piece of waybread.”

She wrinkled her nose. “All right. If I have to.”

He strolled away looking around for the horses. Aleytys chuckled and summoned them so that they brushed past him in an uneven three-legged gallop. They clattered to a stop in front of Aleytys sidestepping nervously, rebelling against the hobbles' restraints.

“Unfair, witch.”

She chuckled. “True.”

“No time for games, Lee. You want to hitch your own?”

“No.”

Stavver snorted and strode off to buckle on the harness, a job he disliked more every time he did it.

The morning passed with unaccustomed placidity. They had to go slowly because the way was little more than a wild goat track leading vaguely south to meet the road that skirted the lakelands. A little before noon Stavver pulled up at a flattish spot and waited for her to join him.

“Time to eat?” She looked around at the desolate rocky hillside, her nose twitching with distaste.

“See those trees?” He pointed. “Down there where the land flattens out.”

“Why?”

“That's where we hit the road. It's a couple hours yet. You want to stop now or wait till we get down there?”

“Maissa's still sleeping. I'm beginning to worry about her.”

“You want to stop here?”

“No … I don't think so.” She scanned his team, then her own chewing thoughtfully on her thumb tip. “This downhill work is tiring the horses. They need fodder and water.”

“Nothing here but rock, Leyta.”

“Right. It's not that much further.”

She nodded.

The slope went on and on, down and down, the caravans rocking precariously over the rugged track, friction brakes spealing continuously.

“What's that noise?”

Aleytys jumped, nearly dropping the reins. She looked around. “So you're finally awake.”

“Stupid. Obviously I'm awake.”

“Well, what does one say?”

Maissa settled herself beside Aleytys. She looked around briefly, eyes glinting with a touch of malice as they swept over the caravan ahead. “How'd you break us loose?”

“How much do you remember?”

“Not much. More like a nightmare you forget as soon as you wake up. You do that too?”

“Hm. I killed horde master and some others. The horde fell apart.”

“Filthy beast.” Maissa shuddered, looking suddenly old.

Aleytys concentrated on the horses for a while. The trail led downhill in a series of long lazy s-curves.

“Where are we?” Maissa sniffed at the barren landscape.

“Nearly back to the road.”

“Road?”