Zara the Wolf (11 page)

"The earl has a good garrison, and his security is
excellent, but the Indian situation is troubling," he said, giving me a
hard look. "You don't believe it's Indians?"

"No. They act like mercenaries, not any savages I've
known."

"Did you find anything?" he asked, knowing that like
him, I had a mission for the duke.

"No. Nothing of interest."

* * *

I woke to a deathly darkness, no moon, stars, or noise. I
panicked, feeling like I was being dragged deeper into the void. Then I remembered
the exercises with the Monk and sought to quiet my mind, but the feeling of
sinking deeper into the blackness kept me close to panic. Fortunately, the Monk's
exercises slowly won, and I found that quiet place. As I did, the area appeared
bathed in blue light. I could see the camp, mules, horses, tents, and a thin
man sitting on a horse. Behind him were a dozen half naked Indians crouched on
one knee, waiting.

The man turned his head in my direction, and a large Indian jumped
up and began running toward me screaming, with his sword raised to strike. I
knew he wasn't real and the fight was in our minds. His overhead attack I met
with my sword angled down. The force of the blow drove his sword down mine and
threw him slightly off balance. Before he could recover, I pulled my sword up,
cutting through his arm and reversing it for a cut to his head, but before I
could strike, the image disappeared. Immediately, two more Indians sprang to
life and charged me. But they were different. One was clearly an Indian, naked
to the waist with his chest painted, but the other, while also naked with his
chest painted, had a square-jawed unshaven face and short curly hair that
shouted mercenary.

Then I realized he wasn't an illusion; he was real and
closing fast. I jumped to my feet, sword in hand, and screamed an Ojaza war cry
as I braced to meet his charge. The war cry must have broken the Siren's spell,
because the other charging Indian disappeared and the crouching figures no
longer looked like Indians but like men dressed partially like Indians. The man
threw all his weight behind a strike to my chest. My sword met his in a clash
of steel that vibrated through my arm and sounded like a clap of lightening.
His momentum carried him into me and my dagger. Even though I had been braced
for the contact, the impact sent me stumbling backward. He collapsed at my
feet.

My body strained against a strong wind as I struggled toward
the man on the horse, ignoring the fighting and chaos that had erupted in the
camp. Hearing the Monk chiding me to attack, I released the image of a wolf
that grew as it galloped toward the man on the horse. Then suddenly, I was free
of the wind and running. The man realized he had lost the mind duel and kicked
his horse into a charge. As the horse pounded toward me, I dove to its right,
cutting its front leg on the way to the ground. Tucking my head, I rolled to my
feet in time to see the horse stumble and fall, throwing the man to the ground.
I walked back to where he lay and cut his throat as he rose. He was far too
dangerous to let live. Besides, the duke had insisted our knowledge of their
existence must be kept a secret as long as possible.

I turned to see the fighting had stopped. Surveying the
area, six mercenaries lay dead, one on the ground wounded, and two tied to a
tree and under guard. Gritting my teeth at what had to be done, I walked over
to the two tied prisoners and sliced through their necks before the guard could
respond. Then I walked back to the wounded man. A guard stepped forward, sword extended.

"You're crazy. Stop or I'll kill you!" he shouted.
I raised my sword as he pushed his toward my stomach, caught the blade in my
guard, and twisted. The strain on his wrist forced him to release his grip, and
the sword flew into the air. As his eyes followed the sword, I delivered a deathblow
to the wounded man, turned, and headed toward Shelly.

"Was that necessary?" Eaton asked, looking down at
the young man who had been on the horse. "He and the others were
defenseless. You're a bloodthirsty savage."

I didn't answer and walked back to where Shelly stood. Her
face was a pale white, her eyes wide open, and she was shivering.

"Walk with me, Lady Shelly," I said, pointing away
from the camp. She hesitated for a moment, shook her head like shaking water
from her hair, and then ran to catch up with me. "That man was a member of
a secret society that the duke wanted me to try to identify and the reason for
this trip to Kariso. They are Cheyo trained and very dangerous. More dangerous
than the Cheyo Monks, since unlike the Monks they have no ethics and want
power. I'm endangering you by telling you of their existence, but without your
support of my actions today or in the future, Eaton will stop me from
continuing. And you can't tell anyone. If they find out we know of their existence,
you, me, the duke, the Monks, and anyone else that knows will be murdered. We
won't be able to stop them because we don't know who they are—"

"Lady Shelly!" Eaton shouted as he neared us with
two soldiers, swords drawn. "That woman needs to be put in chains and sent
back to the duke. She's a bloodthirsty savage. I can't trust her around you
or—"

"Lieutenant Eaton," she held up her hand and then
pointed to the two soldiers. "You two return to the camp. Lieutenant
Eaton, sheath your sword and walk with us." She held eye contact until he
nodded. He couldn't refuse Lady Shelly, a noble who represented his liege lord.
"Zara is on a quest for Duke Wetzel. This caravan is her cover. I will
tell you she is following his orders, and killing those men … took great
courage—"

"Courage—"

"Yes, courage. To follow orders that repulse you. Trust
me, Lieutenant, if the duke had been here, those would have been his orders,
and you might have had to carry them out. Just as you will carry out my orders,
although you think them wrong." She had stopped walking and held eye
contact until he bowed acceptance.

"Yes, Lady Shelly. What do I tell the men?"

"That she was following orders. Nothing else."

"They may think it was your orders," he said,
looking pale.

"It doesn't matter," she said quietly, her eyes
misty in the moonlight. It did matter, which made the sacrifice even more
courageous. If she lived through our pilgrimage to Kariso, she would make a
wise leader someday. When Eaton walked off, head down in thought, I spoke.

"I'm sorry, Shelly."

She laughed softly. "Like being a slave, another
learning opportunity. And like then, I expect you to save me from any lessons
I'm not ready for."

* * *

Shelly decided to return to the castle with the bodies to
let the earl know it had been mercenaries rather than Indians and to get the
wounded soldiers treated. She was also concerned that a certain young baron,
who was one of the cousins in line to inherit, had been encouraging the earl to
take a party into the Vulture Mountains after the Indians. An expedition that
could get the earl killed.

"So it was mercenaries and not Indians. The survivors
always seemed so sure it was Indians," the earl said and took a sip of
wine. "I understand you had the survivors killed." He gave Shelly a
hard look.

"Isn't that what we do with robbers and murderers, My
Lord? They killed two of my soldiers and wounded several others. They showed us
no mercy, attacking in the dead of night."

"Quite right, Lady Shelly. You had a right to be upset
and to demand swift justice. You think you got them all?"

"None got away, My Lord. I would imagine a search of
the area would turn up their camp."

"Well, Zara, you saved the tribes, for now." His
smile was a partial sneer. There was no response that wouldn't get me in
trouble or that would convince him he was wrong. Shelly must have concluded the
same as she rose.

"If you will excuse me, Earl Pelote. I'm afraid I'm
more exhausted than I thought."

"Yes of course, my dear. A terrible experience for one
so young." He smiled knowingly. And like the many things he
knew
, he was mistaken. She had grown
tired of his many dogged misconceptions and used the
frail woman
act to leave.

* * *

We left five days later, when the wounded appeared fit to
travel. The lieutenant stopped early each day with Shelly's encouragement to
give the wounded men more time to recover. The ire directed at Shelly had all
but disappeared as the days passed, because of her obvious concern for the
troops and their wellbeing. Each night I spent some time alone with Shelly,
practicing with her knife. The sheath I had made for her knife strapped to her
calf, which was covered by her ankle-length skirts, and during the days on the
trail strapped to her thigh and hidden by her riding pants, which were wide
like a skirt but tight at the ankles. The exercises were twofold: when and how
to get the knife from its hiding place and where to stick it.

"My advice, Shelly: never draw it unless you are willing
to kill with it. Otherwise, there is a good chance it will be taken away from
you and used against you," I said after several nights of practice.

"I imagine the places you have been teaching me to stick
it aren't the kind my opponent would survive. Do you really think I'll need to ...
kill someone?"

"I hope not, Shelly. Taking another's life is not an
easy thing, even to survive or for duty. I hope your position and sharp
intellect will always be enough, but in case they aren’t, you will have a
choice."

"Yes, one always has a choice, even when neither option
is good."

Four days later, we reached the town of Ayus. Although the
town was on the coast, the shoreline at Ayus was rocky and unsuitable for
boats, so cargo was loaded and unloaded in a quiet cove several leagues north
and transported to and from the town by wagons. The original city walls no
longer accommodated the current residents, which had spread well beyond the
walls, so the city gates remained permanently open to traffic. Inside the
walls, the homes were well maintained and the shops and craftsmen predominately
catered to the wealthy. The castle was located at the far end of the city and
sat on a small hill. A small party met us at the castle gate.

"Welcome, Lady Shelly. I'm Minister Neiland. Earl
Varesko sends greetings and would like to speak with you after you have had a
chance to get settled. I've made arrangements for you and your ladies in the
castle, and Lieutenant Garret will take care of your escort. If you will follow
me." He waved toward the four-story building in the center of the
courtyard.

"Thank you, Minister Neiland. It will be nice to be
able to wash and sleep in a bed again. A day on a horse is invigorating; eight
is torture," Shelly said. I marveled at her ability to switch back and
forth from
young and inexperienced
,
to
pampered noble
, to
no nonsense noble in charge
as the
occasion warranted.

The rooms Shelly was given here were bigger than the ones at
Salman, and I chose to stay with her, reinforcing the idea of me being a
chaperone. A young girl, Lisa, came a couple of hours later to inform Shelly
that the earl was
free
to see her an
hour before dinner, and she came back at that time.

"Lord Varesko," Shelly curtsied as we entered; I
gave a small head bow. "Thank you for looking after me and my
companions."

"Anything you need, Shelly. It's hard to believe you're
the same little girl I last saw just three years ago. I was devastated to hear Indians
kidnapped you. I can't believe your uncle was so careless."

"It was Phillip's fault. He was raised to believe he
was special and that he made the rules. He died determined to teach the Indians
he was special." Shelly wiped her eyes dry.

"Like your uncle," Varesko said quietly. "Is
your companion the one who freed you?" he asked, turning his full attention
on me.

"Yes. Earl Varesko, this is Zara."

"Zara, I understand you did it alone."

"The Indians are hunters, so if they can't steal it,
they trade for what they need. A slave is useful but has a value, like most
things they own. Lady Shelly was worth less than a mule and fifteen long
swords," I said. The Earl frowned then smiled then laughed.

"If they knew she was royalty, they would have gotten
ten times that."

"A slave is a slave. Royalty can't work any harder than
a farmer's daughter. I didn't bargain for Lady Shelly, just my pick of the girl
slaves."

"You seem to have a keen understanding of the Indians'
thinking. I'm surprised you managed to get away after you delivered the mule
and swords."

"They had similar concerns. Men are men."

"Yes. No one trusts anyone, and with good cause."

Shelly took that as an opportunity to change the topic and
told the earl of our encounter with the mercenaries. We were the last to arrive
for dinner, which had more than fifty people in attendance. Afterward, a
juggler, a pair of acrobats, and a fool entertained us. Melisa had been right.
The nobility did little work and spent most of their time being waited on or
entertained. Maybe the Indians had the right of it: a person's real worth was
what you could trade him or her for.

* * *

We left three days later, with two additional soldiers the earl
had provided to bring the military detail back up to strength. He claimed they
knew the land south of Ayus, which might prove useful. The soldiers had changed
into typical hired-guard clothing, as the dukes of the various regions didn't
like foreign troops wandering their lands. They turned a blind eye to guards
for caravans carrying nobles.

We reached the Black River just after noon. A sturdy wooden
bridge spanned the turbulent waters at its narrowest point—some fifty
paces wide. Duke Wetzel's Black and Silver standard flew on our side, and the Purple
and Silver of Duke Dewan flew on the other. Four independent dukes who had been
at peace for over fifty years ruled Aesona. However, if the Sirens took control,
that would soon change.

According to Eaton, he didn't expect any trouble on the way
to Munda. Our party was too large for local bandits, and no mountains stood between
here and there, therefore, no Indians. True to his logic, we encountered no
problems on our five-day trip to Munda. The morning of our fifth day, we
encountered a Munda patrol of ten men flying Earl Alleaki's colors: Purple and Maroon.
A young-looking lieutenant raised his hand, stopping his formation twenty paces
short of us.

"What is your purpose on Earl Alleaki's land?" he
said in a commanding voice, which matched his scowl and ramrod posture.

"We are escorting Lady Shelly on our way to Earl
Alleaki's castle," Eaton said as he moved to the front of the caravan with
Shelly and me following.

The young lieutenant's face softened, and he rode forward. "Welcome,
Lady Shelly. The earl was told to expect you several days ago. He has been
concerned and told patrols to watch for you."

"Regrettably, we were delayed leaving Salman, and it
put us behind schedule. But all is well," Shelly said, dismissing the
delay as trivial and none of his business at the same time.

"The earl will be pleased to hear that. We will
accompany you to the castle to make sure all remains well." He gave a bow
then rode back to his troop and sent a rider off at a gallop to notify the earl.
His troop moved to the rear of the caravan, but the lieutenant moved to the
front to ride with Shelly, ignoring me after an appraising look. Shelly used
the opportunity to quiz the young man on castle Munda. I suspect he would have
told her anything she asked, judging from the mesmerized look on his face. By
the time we arrived at the castle gate, a reception group was waiting, and I
would wager by then Shelly knew the latest gossip and every secret the
lieutenant knew.

"Lady Shelly, I'm Minister Mackle. We're glad to see
you arrive safely. We have rooms ready for you and your ladies, and the lieutenant
will take care of your caravan," the minister said. He had a rotund
figure, a happy looking face with a big smile, and a pleasant sounding tenor
voice.

"Thank you, Minister Mackle. I feel at home
already," Shelly said, handing her reins to a young boy. "And looking
forward to a wash and a soft bed."

* * *

"Two men killed, I heard. Duke Wetzel was wise to send
a military unit with you, Lady Shelly. Guards for hire can be
unpredictable." He smiled. "We all send military troops into the
other duke's territory on special occasions, like when a caravan is
transporting royalty, and we pretend not to know so long as they don't wear
their uniforms.

"Regrettably, they hit us at night, and we had little
warning. We also had several wounded, which is the reason I was delayed."

"If you don't mind me asking, Lady Shelly, who's your companion?
She doesn't look like an officer or a lady in waiting."

"She a very underpaid mercenary," Shelly said,
which caused the earl to choke on his wine and my jaw to drop open. "What
would you say it was worth to save a noble from the Indians' camp?"

"Forty, fifty gold," the Earl said, eyes downcast
in thought.

"How about ten silvers."

"You're joking ... No, I guess you aren't." He
stared at me for a long time before continuing. "A good person to have at
your back. The duke is a wise man." The earl went on to ask Shelly a few
questions about the Indians and her capture before breaking for dinner. The
table arrangement here was in the shape of a letter "T." Sitting across
from me was some kind of noble sitting next to a young woman dressed in blue
and pink silks, which brazenly displayed her shapely figure. By any standard,
she was beautiful, and the nobleman was smitten with her. The pair distracted
me all through the meal for no reason I could grasp. But when they rose and
walked arm-in-arm away, I saw a faint blue tinge around the woman's hair and
made the mistake of closing my eyes and opening my mind as the Monk had taught
me. The room blazed blue, and the woman was revealed as a small thin girl wearing
a plain white dress.

I quickly opened my eyes and found her staring at me, or at
least in my direction. I rose as if I had turned to leave and looked toward
Shelly, who thankfully was already standing, talking to the earl's wife. The Monk
had said those not fully trained had power, but it was limited and frequently
leaked when they used it. The girl had been maintaining an illusion and
occasionally leaked power that was visible to anyone trained to notice.
Apparently, I must have noticed it once or twice out of the corner of my eye during
the meal but too briefly to catch my full attention.

Now what?
I wondered as she and the noble left the room. She appeared aware someone had
breached her illusion, but she didn't show she knew it was me. And if she did,
what was I supposed to do? I couldn't just kill her, nor did I want to. And if
I didn't, did that alert the Sirens? I had the mother of all headaches by the
time Shelly broke free and we headed for her room.

"You look pale, Zara. Don't you feel well?"

"Did you see that girl, sitting across from me?"

"The one with the noble? That was no girl. A woman
extraordinary! She's every girl's dream when they grow up. Mine too!" She
gave me a devilish grin.

I said nothing, since I couldn't be sure no one could hear.
I waited until Musa and Sarkis had helped her to get ready for bed and left for
the night.

"That was a thin waif of girl, a year or two younger
than you, that the nobleman had on his arm," I said as she crawled into
bed.

She frowned then smiled. "Where do I go for
training?" She held up a hand. "I know it's serious, but ... All women
do things to make them look better than they are naturally, but imagine what
she could do to his mind with that power."

"The duke believes they belong to a secret society that
one must assume has an objective. Like the group in Salman: they had some
agenda, else why pretend the Indians were doing the raiding. And what is the
girl's agenda here? What does she want with that noble?"

"I understand why you have a headache, because you've
just given me one."

"I think she knows I know. That's why I have a
headache."

"Oh. In which case you need to ... Oh." We sat in
silence for a long time before Shelly finally pulled the cover over her,
although I doubt she went to sleep. She wouldn't like the idea of me killing a
young girl any more than I would. Besides, I couldn't kill someone in the
castle without being arrested and hung. Hours later, exhausted from wrestling
with a problem that had nothing but bad solutions, I fell asleep.

* * *

I was sinking into a black void: no sight, sound, or smell. I
had no body, arms, legs, or tongue. Panic. I shut my eyes and sought to quiet
my mind. Suddenly, the room came to life, bathed in the blue light I had come
to recognize as another level where the mind ruled. The girl stood inside the
door with a dagger in her hand. When she saw me, she smiled and morphed into a
giant cat, finger length fangs dripping blood. Without thinking, I morphed into
a giant wolf. Feeling like I had been freed from captivity, I bounded toward
the cat, eager for the fight. The cat grew and changed into a giant with an axe.
The wolf in me responded by tripling in size and lunging at the giant's arm that
held the axe. I could taste the blood as my teeth shredded his arm and the axe
fell to the floor. A dagger flashed at my neck that I avoided by clamping down
hard on the giant's arm I had in my teeth. The giant screamed as I felt bone
crush beneath my teeth. The giant jerked away, leaving me with skin and blood in
my mouth. The giant became a knight in armor with a long glistening sword.
Mistake. As Zara again, I attacked with all the skill and furiousness of a well-trained
Ojaza warrior. Sparks flew off the armor as I landed blow after blow. Then a
two-handed strike to her helmet knocked it off, and it flew into the air. She
stood there in shock as I reversed my momentum and slashed her naked head,
cutting through bone and into the brain.

My eyes blinked open to find the girl lying on the floor
with a dagger, and Shelly sitting up in bed with her dagger in her hand.

"What happened, Zara? Is that the girl you told me
about? You're bleeding. She almost killed you?" The questions came too
fast to answer.

"Call your guard. We'll talk later," I said,
feeling exhausted as if I had actually been in a physical fight. Shelly quickly
grabbed a robe to cover her night shift and then screamed. Seconds later, a
corporal opened the door, then followed Shelly's finger pointing at the girl on
the floor.

"If it hadn't been for Zara, she would have killed me.
Get the castle guard." Shelly sounded hysterical. The guard stood looking
at the girl, probably wondering how she got past him. "Now!"