The Well of Darkness (25 page)

From the hillside came a long, high-pitched roar. Yayshah launched herself downward and came to a quivering halt, crouched and snarling, not three yards from where Tarani stood, tense and watchful, close to Keeshah.

“She knows Keeshah has decided to leave,” Tarani said in a dazed, singsong voice. “She is frightened, and sad—Great Zanek, how much she cares for Keeshah. He is strong, and handsome, a fine hunter. Their cubs—there will be three—will have his high shoulders and great strength. The cubs—will they live if she cannot even hunt for herself?”

Tarani crossed the space to the female, her voice a moan of grief. She knelt beside Yayshah, who trembled at the girl’s touch but still watched Keeshah with a wild expression.

I felt rooted to the ground, mesmerized by Tarani’s recital of Yayshah’s agony.

“She has always known that Keeshah is different—how proud she was when he chose her!—but until we came to the Valley, she didn’t know what had caused the difference. She knows, now, that he has seen the world outside. She has looked into my mind and seen my memory of Keeshah, and is even more proud of him. She knows his difference has touched her, too.

“He must go among men again, and she cannot deny him because touching me has shown her what he would give up to stay with her. She is curious, afraid, needful. She wants Keeshah with her. She wants her lair—it took her a long time to get it just right. But more than anything, she wants Keeshah with her when the cubs come …”

The distant look faded from Tarani’s eyes and she stared at me in amazement. “Rikardon, she is thinking of coming with us!”

I didn’t question it.

*
Keeshah,
* I said quickly. *
The female wants to come along.
*

I felt relief from him, mixed with uncertainty.
*True?*
he asked. When I had confirmed it, he asked hesitantly:
*All right?*

*
You
‘
re asking
me
for permission?
* I said. *
Of course it
‘
s all right with me. The decision is up to you and Yayshah
*

Keeshah stood up and moved slowly toward Yayshah. Tarani stepped out of the way as the female rose to meet him. The sha’um touched noses, then Keeshah rubbed his mate, starting cheek to cheek and moving past her, leaning against her, until only their tail tips were touching.

I joined Tarani and put my arm around her waist. “Will Yayshah come with us?” I whispered.

“I do not know,” Tarani whispered back. “It is a more difficult decision for her. No female has ever left the Valley, cubs have never been born or nurtured anywhere else. To leave now goes against all her instincts.”

“Yet she wants to,” I said.

“Yes, for Keeshah and for me.” Her voice revealed an awe that was totally familiar to me. The friendship of a sha’um is a humbling experience. “I never considered it, Rikardon, and I would not have asked it of her. But I do want her with me.” Her eyes lit up. “It is a petty thought, I know—but I … it would please me to be the first woman to bring a female sha’um from the Valley.”

I turned her to face me.

“Another symbol of your ‘right to rule’ in Eddarta?” I asked.

“Perhaps,” she said. “But not one which would replace the second sword.

“Perhaps it is only that I wish to be what Vasklar named me, an agent of change.” Her mood lightened suddenly. “And perhaps I only wish to see Thymas’s face, if I should have occasion to ride a female sha’um into Thagorn.”

I smiled at the image. Thymas, young as he was, was a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist. It would be easier for his father, the Lieutenant of the Sharith, to accept a woman Rider than it would be for Thymas—even if, or possibly
especially
if that Rider was Tarani.

“If she comes with us, we’ll see Thagorn again soon,” I said. “There are sha’um there, and free-running vlek for game. It’s the most natural place I can think of, outside the Valley, for her cubs to be born.”

“
If
she comes with us,” Tarani said. “She still has not decided—and I do not think she will decide until forced to.”

Keeshah seemed to have the same thing in mind. He touched his nose once more to Yayshah’s, then came to crouch down in front of us.

*
Go,
* he said. *
Now.
*

That last was said impatiently, and Keeshah had my sympathy. The suspense was about to kill me, too.

*Will the female come with us?*
I asked him as I mounted. I would never again take for granted—if, indeed, I ever had done so—the security and pleasure of Keeshah’s muscular back beneath me.

*
She must choose,
* he said. *
I go.
*

Tarani stepped close to mount behind me. Yayshah made an odd sound, shook her head vigorously twice, then ran over to stretch her neck across my back to touch Tarani’s chest with her muzzle.

“She
will
come with us,” Tarani said, in an emotion-choked voice. “She wants me to—to ride her. Oh, Rikardon, is it safe? For the cubs, I mean? For her to carry my weight?”

“I’d say she’s the best judge of that,” I said, and ducked as Tarani scrambled over Keeshah’s back in her eagerness to get to Yayshah.

Tarani stroked the dark fur between Yayshah’s wide-set eyes, and I discovered for the first time that there was more difference between Keeshah and his mate than size and coloring. The female was proportionally narrower across her shoulders, and her muzzle was pointed more sharply. And the curve of her belly was rounder.

Noticeably rounder.

With hands and words and mind, Tarani guided Yayshah into a version of the mounting crouch—she didn’t want her weight to pressure the unborn cubs—and mounted carefully. Yayshah stood up, balancing Tarani’s weight awkwardly, and paced around a bit, getting the feel of carrying a rider.

*
She
‘
s going to come with us, Keeshah,
* I said happily.

*Desert?*
he questioned worriedly.

*
No, I promise you we
‘
ll wait until the cubs are born to go into the desert.
*

*
Good,
* he said, and surged to his feet. *
Go now. Home?
*

He meant Raithskar, and the stone house in Thanasset’s back yard, where Keeshah had spent most of his life.

*
Not yet,
* I said. *
We
‘
ll go to Thagorn first.
*

As we headed south, Tarani asked: “Where are we going? The Alkhum Pass is west of us, is it not?”

“I told you how hard a crossing it is,” I said. “I wouldn’t ask a pregnant lady to go through that. We’ll visit Thagorn, instead.”

“What about Worfit? Could he not be waiting for us at the edge of the Valley?”

“He might,” I admitted, thinking about Worfit for the first time in what seemed ages. “But those men with him were none too eager to tackle one sha’um—I don’t think he’ll get much support for a plan to attack
two
sha’um, do you?”

We rode on in silence for a while, moving slowly so that Yayshah could become accustomed to Tarani.

*
Woman knows female?
* Keeshah asked me.

*
Yes, Tarani talks to Yayshah the way I talk to you,
*
I agreed.

*
Why?
*

I sighed.

*
I don
‘
t really know, Keeshah. I think it has something to do with you and me being together, and with Yayshah being your mate and Tarani mine.
*

*
Woman have cubs?
*

I laughed, and Tarani jumped at the sudden sound.

“Keeshah just asked me if you were pregnant,” I said, then stopped short. “Uh—you’re not, are you?”

She stared at Yayshah’s left ear. “I would not have allowed … I was not fertile,” she finished awkwardly. “This is not the time to think of such things, Rikardon. There is too much to be done. The sword. Eddarta. The safety of the Ra’ira.” She held out her hand, and I took it. Riding this slowly, we assumed a position close to a normal sitting position. “You knew, long ago, that it was for you to safeguard the Ra’ira. I share that need, that duty, and I will not be free until it is done.”

You will not be free
, I countered to myself,
until you hold a steel sword in your hands and reconcile Antonia with Tarani.

“Afterward …” She let the word hang in the air.

“Afterward, we’ll find a place like this,” I said, waving to indicate the tall trees and dappled, leaf-covered ground, “and let our children get to know our cubs.” I squeezed her hand. “Ready to try a run?”

Her face lit up.

We lay forward on the sha’um, gripping their shoulders for security. Keeshah had been waiting for the chance. He sprang forward and stretched out, and trees seemed to fly by us. I watched Tarani and Yayshah long enough to tell that they were getting the hang of it, then I closed my eyes, pressed my face into Keeshah’s fur, and let myself join him in the pleasure of the run.

*I missed you, Keeshah
,* I told him, knowing that he could hear more emotion than the words could convey.

*Female slow,*
he said, and it was more a boast than a complaint—and it wasn’t, as far as I could see from Tarani riding, eyes closed, shoulder to shoulder with me, very true.

*
Yayshah
‘
s keeping up with us
,* I said, puzzled.

I felt a wash of good feeling from him, the basic physical joy of the run mingling with contentment. For a moment, I studied his pace, the way his body moved beneath me.

*
Keeshah, you
‘
re matching her, aren
‘
t you, so she won
‘
t fall behind?
*

*
Belong together
,* he said.

*
Yes we do,
I thought.
All of us

—
I withdraw our minds from the All-Mind, and now yours is free of mine …

—
Are you well? You tremble.

—
Yes, Recorder. I tremble. Obilin
‘
s death, the satisfaction of it …

—
If I may speak as a person, and not as a Recorder?

—
Of course.

—
Were I to have held the knife at that moment, the result would have been the same. Obilin was truly an evil man.

—
Thank you for saying that, Recorder. Now I must go …

—
Yes, the Record is a user of time. When you are ready again, call upon me.

Vicki Ann Heydron met Randall Garrett in 1975. In 1978, they were married, and also began planning the Gandalara Cycle. A broad outline for the entire Cycle had been completed, and a draft of
The Steel of Raithskar
nearly finished, when Randall suffered serious and permanent injury. Working from their outline, Vicki has completed the Cycle. Of all seven books, Vicki feels that
The River Wall
is most uniquely hers. The other titles in the Cycle are
The Glass of Dyskornis, The Bronze of Eddarta, The Well of Darkness, The Search for Kä
, and
Return to Eddarta.

THE GANDALARA CYCLE
(with Vicki Ann Heydron)

The Steel of Rathskar

The Glass of Dyskornis

The Bronze of Eddarta

The Well of Darkness

The Search for Kä

Return to Eddarta

The River Wall

THE LORD DARCY SERIES

Murder and Magic

Too Many Magicians

Lord Darcy Investigates

all available as Jabberwocky ebooks

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