Harris nodded and frowned. "You just have to suck the fun out of everything, don't you, Tarius?"
"We were beginning to think we were going to be eating cold food, son-in-law," Darian said.
"I was very dirty," Tarius said. "Had to fill the tub twice."
Harris laughed. "Me, too, and my skin came off with my gambeson in layers. Smelt like dead bodies . . ."
"Harris! For the gods' sake," Tragon said making a face. "We are preparing to eat dinner."
Harris's spirits could not be dampened by the likes of Tragon. He just smiled and shrugged. "I guess we were at battle too long. It might take us awhile to get used to polite life again. Aye, Tarius?"
"Aye," Tarius said simply. Jena grabbed her hand under the table and squeezed. Tarius squeezed back, and they looked at each other and exchanged a smile.
* * *
Tragon was sickened by the obvious love these two exchanged in a glance.
But you don't know what I know, Jena. You don't know that you're great love is a dark demon hidden in human form. That your man is no man at all, but a woman just like yourself. You can't wait for Tarius to take you to bed and give you what you crave, but Tarius can't give it to you. You jilted me and your own frustration shall be your reward
.
Despite the warning, Harris ate too much and got sick just as his mentor had promised. They sent for the academy surgeon, who mixed some powders that were supposed to help, and they all retired to the drawing room. Tarius sat down in one of the over-stuffed chairs and delighted in the softness of it.
Jena sat on the floor at Tarius's feet, leaning against Tarius's legs. She kicked her shoes off and pretended not to notice her father's look of disapproval. The servant started to serve drinks, and Tarius waved him away.
"Tarius, have a little of the mint liqueur. It's really very good," Darian said.
"I don't drink alcohol," Tarius said plainly.
"As I live and breathe! I didn't know that," Darian said. "Why not?"
"To be quite frank, I become a raving beast when I drink. Impossible, quarrelsome and wanting to shed blood," Tarius said. "I fear I might do something I would later regret."
"Always a sensible man," Darian said.
"How is your leg, my brother?" Tarius asked Tragon, wanting to change the subject.
"It's better, though it still hurts and it doesn't work very well. I see you've picked up yet another scar, my brother," Tragon said a bit of sting in his words.
"I'm afraid it is one of many," Tarius said with a shrug.
"That's what happens when you stay for the whole war, Tragon," Harris said harshly. "But of course you wouldn't know about that."
Jena looked at Harris and smiled broadly. She was glad Harris had said it and not her. She didn't want Tarius to find out how she felt about Tragon.
"It's a good thing Tragon was here," Justin said, "or we would have had no instructors at all. As it was, we put many Swordmasters in the field who would not have made the cut in peace time."
Edmond nodded his head in agreement. "I barely had time to teach them the stripped-down basics."
"Enough of this. I have held my tongue as long as I can!" Darian rubbed his hands together. "Tarius, Harris, tell us about the war."
"I guess that's our cue, dear," Justin's wife said looking at Jena.
"I'll stay," Jena said.
Justin's wife made a face. "It's not seemingly for a young lady . . ."
Tarius glared up at the woman. "It's seemly for my wife, madam. If I can go and fight in the war, she can at least hear about it if she so wishes. I don't tell Jena what to do, and no offense meant, but I'll be damned if anyone else will."
Justin's wife gave Tarius a heated look, but held her tongue. She looked at Jena expectantly.
Jena smiled up at her sweetly. "I'm staying."
The woman left in a huff, and the war stories were told in detail and at length. Jena was neither sickened nor frightened as she listened intently to all that Harris and Tarius had to say. She was only glad that it was over and she had her husband back. In time he would heal, and then they could be truly together.
* * *
Arvon and Dustan had found a good tavern, had as good and hearty a meal as they could stand, and drank freely of the best ale in the house.
Some of the villagers had gathered around to hear the war stories.
"Then Sir Tarius the Black comes bounding on horseback over both shield walls. He runs through the Amalite forces hacking and slashing his way through. Then as if he'd had a vision, he jumped into his saddle, riding on his feet. He leapt from the horse, did a spin in the air and grabbed the arrow just inches from the king's face. Then he lands on his feet, looks at the Amalite horde, holds the arrow high above his head and screams like a million demons are being released. Then he just ran at them on foot, hacking and slashing, cutting a trail through the Amalites four warriors wide. Our troop's spirits were lifted, and we suddenly knew no force could stand against the might of the Jethrik army and the Kartik warlord that led them."
Arvon was drunk, and he simply nodded in approval. Dustan embellished a little, but he wasn't too far from the truth, and he told a good tale. Boy should have apprenticed to a bard instead of a Swordmaster.
Suddenly Arvon didn't feel so good. Not really sick, just different and . . .
Oh my god! I'm changing! I have to get out of here before the transformation is complete and someone sees me
.
He jumped up and ran outside.
"Arvon, Arvon!" Dustan followed after him.
Outside Arvon headed for the wooded area behind the pub. If he could get to the woods, but he was drunk and was having trouble walking. The transformation seemed to make him even drunker than he would have normally been, and the liquor seemed to speed up the transformation.
"Arvon . . . Are you all right?" Dustan asked.
"Go away, boy!" Arvon snapped in a voice very different from his usual.
"Are you hurt? You don't sound right." Dustan took Arvon's arm and Arvon swung on him. Dustan let go of Arvon's arm and jumped back. "My gods! You're . . . You're."
"Yes I am," Arvon growled out. The transformation was complete, and his head was spinning. He looked around. No one else had seen him. He grabbed Dustan by the collar. "You shouldn't have followed me. Come on." He dragged Dustan into the woods, kicking but not screaming.
Dustan was in shock. He didn't know what to think or do. Only two things were clear in his mind. First, he didn't want Arvon to get into trouble, and second he didn't want to be in the hands of an angry Katabull.
When he realized he couldn't get away, he stopped squirming. Arvon ran like the wind, and it was all Dustan could do to keep up being half dragged, half carried. He tried to make his legs help him along when he could get his footing.
When they were far enough into the woods, Arvon let him go and started to pace around him in a circle, obviously thinking.
"So you were the Katabull the Amalites said visited their camp every night before a battle," Dustan said.
Still drunk, Arvon spoke without thinking. "A couple of times. Mostly it was Tarius." He stopped, raising his hands to cover his mouth. When he removed them he screeched, "Damn! Now she's going to kill me."
"She!" Dustan squealed.
Arvon covered his mouth again then started mumbling to himself. "He's a good man." He started circling Dustan again, and Dustan didn't dare to try and make a run for it. "I'd hate to kill him, but now not only does he know my secret, but he knows all of Tarius's as well, and I owe Tarius a debt I can never repay."
"Tarius is a woman?" Dustan asked in disbelief, seeming not at all concerned that Arvon or even the Katabull was going to kill him.
"Yes, and quite fetching, actually, if one likes that sort of thing," Arvon answered.
"But Tarius married . . . Darian's daughter, Jena!" Dustan said in confusion.
Arvon stopped and looked at Dustan as if he were an idiot. "Well, that's where all the trouble started, isn't it? I mean how long does she think she can fool the girl?"
"Jena doesn't know?"
"No . . . And she can't find out, at least not from us." Arvon sighed. "What the hell am I going to do with you?"
Dustan relaxed completely as he realized that the Katabull was still Arvon even in this state. He knew that no matter what Arvon might say, he was in no real danger.
"Actually, I can think of quite a few things," Dustan said with a smile.
"You're a wicked, wicked boy, Dustan," Arvon said in disbelief.
"I'm no boy, Arvon, and I've made no bones about the way I feel," Dustan said.
"But . . . But . . . I'm the Katabull!" Arvon protested and made a horrible face extending his hands like claws. It had quite the opposite effect Arvon had been hoping for. Dustan laughed. Arvon let his hands drop to his side. "Aren't you even a little afraid of me?"
Dustan shrugged. "Not really, you're still Arvon, and I am very, very fond of you. What better way to make me keep your secrets and those of your good friend Tarius than to make me your lover?"
Tarius had just finished making love to Jena as she had never made love to her before. Jena was completely sated, and she lay in Tarius's arms blissfully exhausted.
As long as I can keep this up, she's never going to want anything else
. Tarius closed her eyes and was almost asleep.
"I can't wait till you're healed and I can please you as you please me," Jena said.
Tarius sighed deeply as her heart broke. "Jena . . . Can't you please believe me? You
do
please me. I'm happy with you. Just like this. I don't need any more."
Jena shifted in her arms to face her, although it was too dark for her to see Tarius's face. But Tarius could see hers by shifting only her eyes. There was such love there and such desperation as she spoke so softly Tarius could barely hear her.
"But I
want
to give you more, Tarius. I want to make you scream out with desire the way you do me. I want to be mother to your sons," Jena said.
Tarius held her tightly and choked on a ball of tears she fought to keep down. She couldn't keep this farce up. Eventually her house of cards was going to come tumbling down.
* * *
Tarius didn't rest long. A week after she got home she started to train the new group of recruits. They were the last of the quickly chosen, quickly trained, and they needed a lot of sword training.
Tragon had been the primary trainer, and it had made him feel important. With Tarius and Arvon back from the war, he was now forced to train the boys with even less skill than he'd had when he was in academy. They had just finished the lessons for the day, and Arvon and Tarius were sparing. Tragon watched them. Both Tarius and Arvon had gotten better in the war. Arvon had gotten much better, but of course Tarius could still whip him.
"You there, boy," Tarius called out to the young orphan they had found to replace Harris as the step-and-fetch'em boy. He was young, hardly twelve. "What's your name?"
"Frederick."
"Well, Frederick, run up to Sir Darian's house and fetch my wife and my good friend Harris and bring them back here."
"Aye, sir."
"When you get back I'll give you a copper," Tarius promised. The boy dropped the bucket he'd been carrying and ran out the door like he'd been shot from a crossbow.
Tarius and Arvon sat down on a bench to rest, and Tragon limped over to join them. "So, what are you two up to?"
"You might as well know, we've made a clearing in the woods and we go there to fight. Want to go with us?" Tarius asked.
Tragon shook his head. He didn't ever want to go back there, not to that place of great embarrassment for him. Besides, he tried to steer clear of Jena these days. She didn't want him around her, and if he made Jena unhappy or uncomfortable there was a very real possibility that she'd tell Tarius what he had done. Armed with that knowledge, Tarius would have all the excuses she needed to kill him. Tarius was not a person who liked lose ends, who liked to leave her fate in anyone else's hands, and Tragon imagined that she daily considered killing him just because it would be so much cleaner. He was only alive because of her code of honor, and if she knew what he'd tried to do to Jena . . . well, that same code would allow her to kill him without blinking an eye.
"Think I'll stick with sparing partners I can beat," Tragon said with a laugh.
Frederick ran in with Jena and Harris, and Tarius gave the boy a copper as promised. Tragon made a face. No doubt Tarius would get this water boy knighted like she had "his good friend Harris."
He looked at Jena, and she glared knives back at him. She was hardheaded like her father, and she had already made up her mind to never forgive him.
If Tragon had any honor or pride left, he'd pack up and head for home. But at home his father would view him as a worthless cripple. If Tragon dropped his masquerade, his father would see him for the coward that he was. So there was no winning, at least not until his father died.
Tragon couldn't help it. He had seen war up close and personal, and he just couldn't handle it. He couldn't. If he had gone back to the front, then more likely than not he would have gotten killed.
He'd had such plans for advancement. Now he'd be lucky if they kept him on here at the school as an instructor. Everything that he wanted Tarius had, including courage and skill.
He watched them go. It was like a club he had belonged to and didn't anymore. He had no one to blame but himself, but that didn't stop him from being resentful.
* * *
Tarius and Jena were sparring.
"That's the kind of woman I want," Harris said, speaking of Jena.
Arvon laughed and shook his head. "Think they broke the mold."
"Tarius says there are lots of Kartik women like Jena," Harris said. "When Tarius and Jena go to Kartik, I'm going with them."
"They're going to Kartik? I didn't know the decision had been made," Arvon said curiously.
Harris nodded vigorously. "Tarius has made up his mind." Harris smiled. "I'm not sure he's told Jena yet."