The Twelve Kingdoms (34 page)

“They won't hurt her,” Harlan said, changing the dressing on my thigh. The wound looked considerably better, which at least got him off my back some. “Terin needs her.”

“That's what I keep telling myself about Stella.” Ami looked down at a happily nursing Astar, her face showing the strain and worry she'd hidden under the saucy attitude. “I wonder if she'll even know me when I finally have her again.”

“Of course she will. She nursed from you before we lost her. You're her mother. She'll know that.”

Ami shrugged a little, giving me a sad smile. “I hope so.”

I studied Ash, still asleep. “Should we wake him? Seems like he should have food and water.”

“No, he wouldn't thank us for that.” Ami shook her head at some memory. “I did that once and he nearly took my head off. He should wake soon, though, and then he'll be hungry and thirsty.”

“I only nearly took your head off because I figured you for a bratty spoiled princess,” Ash spoke up, opening his eyes, the green of them bright in his corrugated face. He stretched and climbed off the horse, surveying the landscape with the keen gaze of a seasoned fighter, then nodded at me. “Your Highness. Good to see you survived without my help.”

“A near thing.” Harlan stood and greeted Ash. “You should have healed Her Highness first, or instead.”

Ash sized him up in turn. “You were in no condition to give orders and she was.”

“True.” He bowed. “Then take my thanks. I owe you for my life.”

Ash's light green eyes flashed as they flicked to me and away again. “No you don't. The debt lies elsewhere.”

Harlan's jaw firmed, but he simply nodded to Ash and returned to me, finishing the bandage and massaging the thigh muscle that had stiffened during the ride. “We shall discuss this further,” he said under his breath to me.

I didn't reply. He could think what he liked. My business was my own. I'd made the agreement in extremity, yes, but I wouldn't go back and change it, even if I could.

Ash was wolfing down some food—another good reason we headed back toward the cliff city, as our supplies were growing thin—when I caught an unusual movement in the water. Large animals cutting through the swells, sleek black hides shining through the mist. “Heads up,” I said softly, gratified that both men came on instant alert, flanking me as I stood. The Star in the hilt of my sword grew hotter as Ami moved up behind and to the side of me, squinting out at the water as she quickly strapped Astar into his carry pack on her chest.

“Stay behind us,” I told her.

“No argument there,” she muttered, but she also drew her dagger, her soft beauty sharpening with a ferocious edge.

The animal shapes disappeared and several Tala emerged from the water, standing up as if birthed from the waves. The woman in the lead, as tall as I and rangy with it, raised empty hands. “Cousins!” she called out. “Thank Moranu you're safe. We've been looking for you.”

I
f the Tala woman thought we'd relax our guard at that, she was mistaken. Her cheerful smile, however, did not wane. Stopping well out of range, she bowed. “The fearsome woman with the sword must be Her Highness Ursula and the mother tiger is Princess Amelia. I'm your cousin Zynda. We've come to help.”

“It would have been nice to have this help you offer back when we were beset by Terin's company and nearly killed,” I commented.

Her smile dimmed considerably. “Moranu,” she swore, taking in my bandaged thigh, visible below the pants I'd cut off to make Harlan's doctoring easier. And less invasive. “You're wounded. Are they still about?”

“I think we killed all the ones within reach. We haven't been bothered again. Until now.”

“If you think to lump us with Terin and his ilk, think again. We”—she gestured to the several men and women standing in their own V formation behind her—“are loyal to Queen Andromeda.”

“And King Rayfe?”

She grinned, not in the least bothered by my icy tone. “Him, too. But the women of Salena's line share a special bond. Beyond that, our family tends to stick together. We've long regretted not knowing Salena's daughters and it's a relief to find you well.”

“Don't relax too much. Queen Andromeda is Terin's captive.” I watched her closely as I said the words, looking for culpability or prior knowledge.

Instead she turned grim. “And King Rayfe?”

“Went after them. There's no word?”

She shook her head. “We thought they must be with you still, as they had not returned. What of the royal guard?”

“Dead, missing, or changed loyalties,” I replied. “We were encircled without warning.”

“Zyr, Chalo,” she said without turning her head, and a man and woman stepped forward. They resembled Zynda, all with the long and wild black hair of the Tala, but with more deep red in it, like Andi's, their eyes a blue so dark it nearly matched her storm gray. Cousins. We had cousins. “Check out the situation, would you?” Zynda asked.

They nodded. The man, Zyr, it seemed, smiled at me and Ami. “I hope we get to meet again, Cousins.” And he flashed into the shape of a large, sleek dog, as did the other woman. Both took off with lightning speed, following back on our trail.

“Weren't they some sort of water animals just now?”

“Seals, yes. Most of our family boast several forms. Everyone in this group does, which is how I chose, for best advantage.” She hesitated, as if broaching a delicate subject. “You and Princess Amelia . . . cannot?”

Behind me, Ami snorted with amusement. In that, she and I understood each other. We were happy for Andi, finding her place and her magic, but neither of us felt the lack. “No, none of the four of us can. So if we're going to the Heart of Annfwn, it won't be by swimming.”

Zynda's face darkened. “Why do you think that's where they've gone?”

“Terin said as much. I believe they planned to take Andi and the infant Princess Stella there.”

She scrubbed her hands through her long hair, wringing it out with a long breath of resignation. “Ah, Terin. You fool.”

It seemed mete to accept the truce they offered, though Harlan and Ash both kept a wary eye on our new companions. After introductions, our Tala cousins changed into horses, to better keep pace with us in our race back to the cliff city. Nobody seemed to know—or, if they did, would not say—where the Heart of Annfwn was. If it could be reached only by a shape-shifter that could take multiple forms, then it must be in an environment survivable only by certain animals, not by humans. Which meant high in the air or deep in the water.

Scanning the warm, calm sea, aquamarine again under the bright midday sun, I figured water for it. Probably deep water, since different sorts of fish lived at various depths. That's how I would hide something from shape-shifters, anyway.

Unfortunately, it would also render me and my blade worthless to Andi. The frustration ground at me, so much so that when Ami insisted on a pause to tend Astar, I growled at Harlan's attempt to make me rest and chose to pace instead. Zynda had sent several of the cousins ahead for news and had shifted to talk with one who'd just returned in bird form. I wanted to hear for myself, except that they spoke in the Tala language. I'd have to wait for the translation, which didn't ease my annoyance.

Harlan folded his arms, positioning himself to keep an eye on both me and the cousins. Ash had escorted Ami behind a stand of palm trees for a bit of privacy to nurse. “We could ride ahead,” he suggested. “Leave your cousins to guard Princess Amelia.”

“No.” I glanced in Ami's direction, catching the bright glint of her hair.

“You don't trust them?”

“Not particularly.” I sighed. “But it's not that. It's only that we keep getting separated and I have a bad feeling about . . .” I trailed off when he grinned at me. “Don't give me that. I'm not thinking I'm the only one who can protect her.”

“Which you're not. She survived without you to look out for her.”

“Nearly didn't. Terin could have killed her as he tried to kill me. Likely planned to after he raped her. When I think of her—” Well, clearly I couldn't even say it out loud, because my voice cracked.

Fortunately Harlan, though his face showed his compassion for me, did not try to comfort me. I would have had a difficult time maintaining composure if he had. “Then we'll be patient and keep this pace.” He said it as a reminder that my frustration would bear no fruit.

Zynda approached just then. “No news,” she said.

“It took that long to convey that?”

She smiled in her easy way. The Tala in general seemed remarkably difficult to needle. “It was an extensive list of all the ways in which there is no news.”

“Delightful.”

“So here's the thing.” Zynda sobered. “I've been mulling it over. So far as I know—which is more than most do, as we of Salena's line guard this information carefully—Queen Andromeda is the only one who can enter the Heart. It's a secret passed from mother to daughter. I don't know how Salena could have guided her, however, having passed from this world so long before Andromeda returned to Annfwn.”

I did, though. The doll. Secrets and messages. “Can Andi take anyone else into it?”

“I don't think so. Family lore said that each girl had to find her own way. Sort of a test. I don't think she
could
take Terin or Princess Stella into it.”

“Does Terin know that?”

“On the unlikely side of possible.”

“So he might try to use Stella as a form of blackmail. Send Andi into the Heart with instructions to do something or other. But Terin's company is much weakened, unless he has greater resources than we know.”

“King Rayfe is a difficult enemy, especially where his queen is concerned. He's likely nibbling at their guard from the outside and Andromeda no doubt making it difficult from within.”

“They have to be holed up somewhere.”

“Agreed.”

How to find them? I rubbed my thumb over the Star of Annfwn, feeling it heat, and looked over to see Ami approaching.

Danu take me. How dense was my skull?

To keep Ami the same distance from me, I made her mount up on my stallion, which didn't thrill her. I had to give her credit; when I took her aside and explained the plan, she firmed her chin and agreed. Maybe she clutched my waist a bit too hard, sitting behind me. Still, the war-horse tended to jump around quite a bit more than she was used to, and I hardly blamed her.

While the others watched with bemused curiosity, we started triangulating by riding up the beach, then down again. Then into the sea up to the stallion's hocks, then well into the dunes. With us so close together, the Star heated quite warm. Had it been less than blazing noon, I had no doubt we'd see it glowing, as it had when Ami tended my wounds. However, that left little room for it to heat even more if we drew near to Andi. And how close would we have to get to her before we noticed an effect?

“I'm sure it's warmer this direction,” Ami insisted, on the point closest to the cliff city.

“Are you sure that's not just because you've had your hand on it?”

She poked me in the ribs with a surprisingly pointy finger.

“Ow.”

“Shut up—that didn't hurt. Give me some credit here. I'm only touching it when you get to the far point in each direction.”

“Fine, fine. It's more than we had before.” Next I took us on an arcing line from that point into the water and back to the dunes. “Anything?”

“Go back a bit.”

Obligingly, I did. She pointed at a diagonal, south and inland. I gestured to the others, who'd mounted up and waited. The stallion lunged into a full-out run at my signal, making Ami squeal and hold so tight I nearly reminded her of my cracked ribs. We'd already argued once about having Ash heal me. I had flatly refused, saying we needed Ash as an alert fighter more than I needed having my bruises removed.

I did not want to say out loud that I wanted him at full power in case Andi, Stella, or even Rayfe needed his skills.

If no one else had considered that possibility, then they didn't need to worry also.

Harlan likely had thought of it, because he didn't argue, giving me only a long, considering look. At least he only badgered me in private, for the most part.

The rest followed us without question. Not as if any of them had a better plan. Ami and I stopped periodically to trace an arc and refocus our direction. Our cousins remained in animal form, and Astar, strapped to Ash's chest, thankfully slept. We bore more south than inland, better luck there, as I had no wish to face a pitched battle with shape-shifters in the dense woods again.

After a time, the cliffs rose in the distance, towering white as we drew nearer, silhouetted against the sparkling sea from this angle. This end had been more sparsely inhabited, for whatever arcane reasoning the Tala might use. From the inland side, the cliffs appeared to have been carved out of the tougher rock of the foothills. Probably by eons of a much harsher surf than lapped the sands now.

Darker spots showed where caves riddled the surface. A fine place to hole up.

We'd paused to orient again, when a whistling sound warned me of attack from above. I ducked and the stallion responded as he'd been trained, leaping to the side and immediately zigzagging. Ami had a better seat than I'd credited her for, because she managed not to fall off.

The phalanx of flying lizards wheeled around and dove again, met midair by a shrieking black hawk I recognized as Rayfe. Zynda and another cousin changed into raptor forms to help. So, while I managed to slice up one that came too low, reeling from a taloned swipe from our side, those of us on the ground weren't much help.

The battle ended swiftly, with several of the lizards morphing back into staymachs. One, however, remained pinned to the ground by Rayfe, who shape-shifted back into human form with his sword at the creature's throat. Handy trick, that.

“Shift!” he demanded. “By command of your king and on pain of death, shift!”

The creature thrashed under his weight, spiny tail lashing, and attempted to bring up hind claws to rake at him, something I stopped by the simple expedient of putting my blade through the base of the tail. Rayfe spared me a glance. “Thank you. About time you caught up.”

“So many sights to take in.”

He laughed without humor and edged his sword into the lizard's throat, blood welling out. “I'm dead serious, Osme. I wouldn't shed a tear for your death.”