Winter Be My Shield (19 page)

Like Cam, Mira was of mixed blood — the colour of her hair was ample evidence of that. This wouldn't be the first foreign marriage in her clan. Her clothes were particularly fine — a lacy cowl hung around her neck in luxurious folds and at the open neck of her coat Sierra could see a flash of patterned fabric dyed in brilliant greens and blues.

Sierra realised she was staring and quickly looked away. She ought to be careful not to draw attention to herself — Kell might not have sent her portrait this far. Faced with proof of her identity, the clan wouldn't willingly hand her back to Kell to be trained as a weapon to be used against them. Instead they'd kill her as quietly and as swiftly as they could and bury her so deep Kell would never find so much as a trace. Or at least, they'd try.

Black Sun
, Sierra prayed silently,
just let them send me on my way.
Cam and Isidro were depending on Mira and her clan for their safety — if she was forced into action, she would be endangering their future as well.

 

Mira's hazel eyes widened when she saw Isidro standing behind Cam and she held her gloved hands out to him in welcome. ‘Isidro, it's so good to see you! After all I'd heard I was afraid I'd never lay eyes on you again!'

‘Mirasada,' Isidro said. He took her fingers and bowed low to kiss the back of her gloved hand.

‘Why so formal, Issey?' Mira said with a laugh. ‘Ten years in the wild and you still have better manners than half the men at court.'

Isidro smiled faintly. Mira was every inch a politician, raised from birth to follow in her mother's footsteps and lead the clan. She never quite knew what to make of him. Too often he had failed to bounce in the precise direction she pushed him. For a while, he'd enjoyed sparring
with her, but now he was too weary and too heartsick to take any pleasure in the game.

Mira frowned and quickly pulled her glove off to lay her hand on his forehead.

He pulled away. ‘Mira —'

‘You are ill, aren't you? You're so thin and pale. Here, you really ought to sit down. Someone fetch him something to drink!'

‘Mira, it's not necessary.'

Cam came to his rescue, just as one of Mira's men hurried over with a flask wrapped in felt. Rhia pushed her way through the crowd to his side and tried to get him to sit, kicking off her snowshoes to make a platform in the soft snow. Isidro refused, even though he had grown dizzy. He felt helpless enough as it was without having to stare up at everyone.

All at once, Isidro felt the hair on his arms prickle and rise; he looked up quickly, catching Sierra's eye across the crowd. She was nervous and his discomfort was making her more so, feeding her restless power. Isidro turned to his brother. ‘Cam,' he said in a low voice. ‘Better get on with it.'

Cam understood him at once and nodded. ‘Mira, we need to get digging.'

‘No you don't, Cam. I was going to leave a message, but it's so much better to find you like this. I've arranged for the clan to shelter you and Isidro for as long as you need. Your companions are welcome to stay with us, or we can help them settle in another clan's territory if they'd rather be further away from the troubles here.' Mira scanned the faces of his companions. ‘You told me of a man with mourning tattoos who might be recognised as one of the Raiders …'

‘Garzen,' Cam said. ‘He died. We had to buy supplies, but there were some soldiers in the village who recognised me and followed us back to camp. They took us by surprise.'

Mira's lovely face grew sombre. ‘Oh, how awful! And I remember how much help he was when you were with Charzic's band. Did the poor man leave any family?'

Cam shook his head. ‘They were all killed when the Mesentreians took their lands.'

‘Black Sun rest him,' Mira said. ‘But I see there is another addition to your group since I saw you last, Cam. You told me of Rhia the physician, as well as the sisters and their husband. But who is the other woman?'

Sierra had positioned herself on the other side of her horse, fussing with something out of sight as an excuse to hide her face.

‘We only met her a few days ago,' Cam said. ‘She was in some Mesentreian lord's retinue and slipped away when she had the chance.'

‘Ah,' said Mira. ‘That's a familiar story. Well, we can shelter her as well. What's her name?'

‘You can offer, but I doubt she'll take it,' Cam said. ‘Here, I'll call her over. Kasimi!' he said. When Sierra looked up, Cam beckoned her over.

She came warily. Isidro frowned, hoping her nerves wouldn't get the better of her. One wrong step would put all her plans awry.

Mira looked her over, taking in the worn and faded clothes Lakua had picked out for her. ‘Cam tells me you've escaped from the army.'

‘That's right,' Sierra said.

‘Well, you're welcome to take shelter with the Wolf Clan. Do you have family who will take you in? We can help you find them.'

Sierra shook her head. ‘No, no family. And thank you, but no. I can't stay here.'

‘Why not?' said Mira. ‘Who did you escape from? Will he try to hunt you down?'

Sierra shook her head again. ‘He'll make things difficult for anyone who shelters me. It's better if I just keep moving.'

Mira hooked her thumbs into her sash and tilted her head to one side. ‘The Wolf Clan is not easily pushed around,' she said. ‘If he has no reason under the law to keep you, then you will be safe … unless he intends to bring some charge against you?'

Sierra looked away, casting around as though hoping to find a way to escape. It was the worst thing she could have done and told Mira clearly what she was really afraid of.

‘Mira,' Cam said, ‘Just let her go. It's for the best. The charge against her is false but there's no easy way to prove it; the taint will cling to her forever. It's easier if she just disappears.'

‘Really?' This time, when Mira frowned it was in honest puzzlement. ‘Well, now I
am
curious. But very well, you know your own mind best, I'm sure.'

‘We promised her supplies from the cache,' Cam said.

Mira shrugged. ‘Show the men where it is, then, and they can get digging.'

While Cam was getting his bearings on the trees surrounding the little clearing, Sierra turned away with an air of relief — but Isidro saw Brekan sidling towards Mira with a smirk on his lips.

Isidro went to head him off. ‘Brekan —'

Brekan ignored him. ‘They're lying to you, my lady! Cam and Isidro — they're hiding something from you.'

Mira turned to him with a small frown of confusion, but then she laughed, and Brekan flushed bright red.

‘Oh, come now,' Mira said. ‘I've known Cam and Issey for years. Why would they do a thing like that?'

‘I'll tell you,' Brekan said. ‘That woman —'

‘Hold your tongue, Brekan!' Isidro said with a warning glare.

Mira turned to him, suddenly suspicious. ‘Isidro,' she said in a low voice. ‘Is there something to what he's saying?'

Brekan smirked.

‘We'll explain later,' Isidro said. ‘In private. Trust me, Mira, it's better to keep it quiet.'

Mira cast a narrow glance over at Cam and Sierra, who had once again ducked behind her horse and out of sight. ‘Are my people in danger?'

‘Not at the moment,' Isidro said. He laid a hand on Brekan's shoulder on the side of his broken ribs in an effort to steer him away from Mira.

‘Well,' Mira said. ‘I hope you know what you're talking about.' To Brekan, she said, ‘Come and speak to me later this evening and I'll hear your concerns if you still have them.'

It took Brekan a moment to recognise the dismissal in her words, but once he understood his face darkened even further. ‘What? No! My lady, you have to hear this! That girl —'

Isidro tightened his grip. ‘Brekan, shut your mouth —'

‘No! And don't you talk to me like that, you useless cripple! I've had enough of being treated like the lesser man when you're nothing but a traitor!' Cam was striding back towards them with a face like thunder. Lakua, standing by the sleds, hid her face in her hands. Eloba was furious, but Brekan ignored them all. ‘You couldn't even last a day before selling us all out to the king's men! And what are you now? So worthless that the only woman who will take you to her furs is a cursed sorcerer! Get your wretched hands off me!' Brekan turned and shoved Isidro hard enough to send him sprawling in the snow.

For a moment the only thing he was aware of was the pain in his arm. Somewhere in the distance he seemed to hear a sound like the world itself was being ripped apart as the clearing erupted into light. Men were shouting in alarm as horses reared and screamed. Cam, a mere silhouette against the blaze of blue light, bunched one fist and swung at Brekan, but Sierra got him first.

She flung out one hand and a bolt of energy as thick as her wrist burst from her palm and struck Brekan like the lash of a whip. It caught him on the chin and whipped his head back so hard it lifted him into the air and threw him back and out of Isidro's line of sight.

The next thing Isidro knew, Cam and Rhia were kneeling beside him. Sierra stood a few paces away, still blazing with light, while Mira's men held her at the centre of a circle of spears.

For a few long moments it took all of Isidro's strength to keep breathing through the pain. Intentionally or not, when Brekan shoved him, his hand had pressed on the fingertips of the arm bound in the sling across his chest. Even with all the splints and wrappings intended to hold it rigid, that shove had forced his shattered wrist to flex. It was no more than a fraction of an inch, but it sent a spear of pain through his arm so intense that for a long moment he thought he was going to pass out. It seemed as though he was viewing the world through a long, dark tunnel.

Sierra had her hands in the air in a gesture of peace, but her attention was on Cam and Rhia, as though she wasn't even aware of the weapons ranged around her. ‘I can help him,' she said.

‘You've done enough damage!' Rhia spat.

All Isidro could think about was the pain in his arm. He would have crawled to her if he could and to hell with the shame of it, but Rhia and Cam both had an arm around his shoulders and he lacked the strength to shrug them off.

‘Stay where you are!' Mira ordered, her voice hard and cold. ‘I have bowmen on you, and they'll shoot at my order!'

‘Let them!' Sierra shouted as the strands of power snapped and crackled around her head.

‘Sierra,' Isidro whispered, but his mouth was dry and the words came out as a croak.

‘What's that?' Cam said, leaning closer.

Isidro swallowed hard and tried again. ‘Sierra … I need her, Cam …'

Rhia's hands tightened on his shoulders. ‘No, keep her away. Cam, I warned you of this —'

Isidro clenched his good hand into a fist. The pain was a beast inside of him, trying to claw its way out. When it rose up like this, he couldn't talk, he couldn't think — it robbed him of his will and he hated it. His mind was the only strength he had left now and the pain and the drugs kept it caged.

‘I need to get to Isidro,' Sierra said, her voice calm. ‘Tell your men to get out of my way. I don't want to hurt anyone …' Her voice faltered. ‘Anyone else.'

For a moment there was confusion and then Sierra was crouching beside him. Her bare hand, already cold in the winter air, brushed against his face.

This time he didn't feel the shock. Her touch opened a channel beneath his skin and a flood of cold carved a path through his flesh until it reached his hand and pooled there, turning bone to ice.

In a few moments the pain was gone and Isidro wanted to weep with relief. His head was spinning and his body trembled like a newborn foal, but he could think clearly again and the awful, devouring pain was gone. He tried to sit up and would have toppled to the side if it weren't for Cam's arm supporting him. ‘Where's Brekan? Did you …'

‘He's alive,' Cam said, looking past him. Isidro twisted around and saw Brekan sitting on the snow with a blood-soaked cloth pressed to his cheek.

‘She's a mage!' Brekan said again, his voice strangely wet and thick. ‘What are you waiting for? Kill her!' He spat a mouthful of blood onto the snow.

‘Sierra,' Cam said softly. ‘You should go.'

She looked from him to Isidro and nodded. ‘You're right.'

Before she could stand again, Isidro caught her sleeve. ‘Sirri!' he said. ‘I …' He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

She cupped her hands around his. ‘Be well,' she told him with tears in her eyes, then gently pulled her clothing free and stood to face Mira. ‘I'll leave,' she said. ‘Let me take my gear and go and I promise you'll never hear of me again.'

‘I can't let you do that,' Mira said.

Sierra gave a brief, humourless laugh. ‘Just how did you plan to stop me?'

‘She fought her way free of Kell's encampment, Mira,' Cam said. ‘A few nights ago she killed a dozen armed men without raising a sweat. She's going to walk away from here no matter what you do — spare your men and give them the order to stand down.'

Mira was shaken and her carefully schooled calm was slipping. The men were loyal, they would do whatever she asked — Isidro only hoped she was not so afraid of losing face that she would order them to attack Sierra despite Cam's warning. He doubted that Mira had ever found herself in a situation like this before — she had been groomed to be a peace-leader, not trained as a warrior to lead men into battle.

Sierra, on the other hand, was deadly calm and utterly fearless. There was nothing Mira's men could do to her. Isidro had spent enough time with her to be certain she had no wish to harm anyone, but she would if she had to.