Clans of Luteri Bk. 02 Ch. 05-07

Silence. Aslin stared at his profile. Kane was so still, looking at the dead man. She asked the question.

"Is it possible Duellan clan killed Penal and not Corsaire?" she asked him.

Kane was silent, and then he answered.

"If Ashe were mortally wounded here by Duellan and brought Penal here for her safety, he would have wanted her to try to get back to Tavishi before she ran out of food. But if Duellan were alerted, and if she were on foot with no protector against Luterian warriors, I wouldn't like her chances. Duellan would have pursued her. If they were the ones to kill her, Aslin, and if they deceived Tavishi, then they were the cause of three hundred years of feud. Betran killed Alore of Corsaire clan in retaliation for Pelar's death."

Kane looked up at her, his eyes lit with intense emotion.

"Ashe and Penal must have come to the shrine like we did and discovered the mining. They were seen and pursued to keep the secret of it, and Duellan clan wounded Ashe as he was trying to protect her. Ashe brought her here and died, and she left her bracelet and ran for Tavishi lands. She was killed by Duellan before she reached there and they put a Corsaire arrow in her back to make Tavishi think otherwise. And this secret has lain here with her bracelet and her cousin's body for three hundred years, waiting for someone to learn it."

Kane's eyes turned to the cave wall as if he could penetrate it with his eyes and see the ridge of mountains that lay across the Tavishi and Corsaire border to the west.

"Duellan clan have become very rich with their ruby stones over the past three hundred years. If they know we've learned their secret, they will fear Tavishi will attack. They might decide to attack first. Duellan clan is larger than Tavishi. Duellan have more warriors. We have to get back to warn them, Aslin."

"Why are Duellan so many, Kane? Don't all Luterians have the same number of children?"

"Yes. The other three clans all have more people than Corsaire or Tavishi, Aslin. I suppose you didn't notice because you're not used to it. Tavishi Hall is much emptier than they should be, and it is the same with Corsaire."

"Because of the feud?"

Kane nodded, looking down at the arrow again.

"We've lost so many Tavishi warriors that there were times, before I knew you, living in the blackest part of my hate, when I would wander through Tavishi Castle and see more faces of the dead than the living. I knew all of them. Loved many of them. And I have missed a few of them so badly I have sometimes wanted to join them."

He took her hand, leading her back to the fire pit. Aslin stepped wrong, following, wincing a little.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he said immediately.

"It's nothing. I fell and bruised my hip," she said shakily. "I've never seen a body before."

"Let me see."

"It's nothing, Kane," she repeated as he hauled her over by her arm to the blankets, pulling her down.

He knelt beside her, pushing her tunic up impatiently, untying her pants and pulling them down, turning her on her side. She looked. It was just beginning to go blue and purple, the size of a saucer plate. She winced when he touched it. He leaned forward and his eyes roamed the whole area, intent.

"What is it?" she said anxiously.

"You have the nicest, plumpest bottom," he said, grinning at her, cupping her butt cheek.

#

Two days later, they emerged from the crack in the mountain and into dawn light, misty and dim, the relief of warmth, relatively so, Aslin's eyes slow to adjust. Kane was wary, dropping Shaol's reins and scouting ahead while she waited. He came back after a long time and nodded. She mounted Ilian.

Aslin followed carefully as he led Shaol through the brush, finding small paths. A few times he had them stay still, and once they stayed in deep cover for a long time, Kane tense.

They didn't see any Duellan that day. They ate in the saddle, only stopping briefly to stretch and for necessities. She was tired and sore from riding so long by the time afternoon came, and when the light began to fail, she was cold again even with the cloak. All the muscles in her thighs and stomach were sore. Kane still led them as night fell. She kept herself upright, the stars bright above them, following Shaol's huge rear end, which she had entirely memorized, although she could barely see it anymore.

Kane finally dropped back beside her.

"There are quite a few Duellan in front of us, Aslin," he said to her quietly. "I don't know how many. They'll have scouts. We'll go through them, but it will be slow. I know you're tired. Stay alert, and be ready to run if I say."

Aslin shook off her sleepiness, nodding. The next few hours were a haze of stopping and going, waiting in a place for a long time before going to the next place and waiting more, sometimes getting off Ilian to lead her. She saw the gleam of firelight once far to their left, but it disappeared quickly behind a rise. She did what Kane said and stayed quiet. At last Kane had her mount Ilian, the night very dark all around them, and led them straight without stopping.

Ilian wasn't moving. Aslin opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them. Kane's hands were at her waist, pulling her off, her muscles protesting. She couldn't walk, her legs turned shaky. He picked her up and set her down somewhere soft and she curled up, only waking when he drew her into his arms a little later.

Kane woke her at dawn. She'd slept on her hip and it hurt. She chewed on rations in the saddle, no longer liking them. Kane had to help her into the saddle she was so stiff.

By late morning, she recognized the plains below them, saw the place ahead they had been before they had taken the mountain road to the shrine.

The distance was deceptive, and it was early afternoon before they were riding on the same plains, the horizon flat as the mountains behind them receded.

She and Kane were riding next to each other, the horses in their loping gallop, when Shaol began tossing his head, going sideways. Kane turned him around the way they had come. Kane's face was tense. He looked where Shaol looked. Aslin turned Ilian, joining him.

Shaol was frozen, his ears up, his gaze fixed on the horizon of the grassy plain. It was flat and empty, but Aslin began to hear it. The horses both suddenly gave a series of sharp short grunting cries, their front hooves crashing onto the ground.

She recognized the sound. Horses, many horses, a low rumbling coming and then the ground was shaking lightly before the thin line of them appeared. Luterian horses, she realized, running on the plain in the far distance. Slowly, banners with the tiny symbol of a torch appeared.

"Duellan," Kane said. "They gathered their warriors while we were at the shrine. We rode through them last night, but I couldn't tell their number."

Aslin's eyes ranged. There were so many of them. She'd never seen so many Luterians.

"They attack Tavishi," Kane said, turning Shaol around and coming next to her. "Ride to Corsaire Hold, Aslin! Don't stop."

The ground thundered as the line of Duellan clan got larger, eating up the distance between them. She couldn't look away. She and Kane were going to die. They couldn't possibly get away.

"Ride, Aslin!" Kane cried, and then he whistled.

Aslin's frozen position broke, looking at Kane, feeling Ilian gathering herself. Aslin went with the motion as Ilian turned straight around on her haunches, gathering herself, no command on Aslin's part, and sprang away, gaining speed. She was running, then faster, running like Aslin had ever felt her run before.

Aslin was leaning over her neck, staying on the horse, Ilian's hooves pounding hard, stretching her neck, the horse blowing under her.

Aslin looked back for Kane, sensing he wasn't with her, but instead she saw Shaol pounding away in another direction entirely, parallel to the coming line, his saddle empty. Panicking, she looked for Kane, scanning the flat plain receding behind her. She found him. He was standing where they had been, just standing there facing what was coming. He hadn't moved. She cried out in terror.

She tried to slow Ilian to return to him, but the horse ignored her. She realized. The whistle had been a command Kane had given Ilian, who had never taken a command from him before. She suddenly knew what it would be. To run until her rider was clear, to defend her. That command did not include turning Aslin around and heading her straight into a line of enemy warriors.

"Kane!" she cried, the wind taking her voice.

Aslin looked wildly at the ground, wondering if she could throw herself off the horse, but Ilian was running too fast.

She cried out again as a man came out of the tall grasses ahead and to her left, on foot. A scout, she realized, Duellan colors. They saw each other at the same time. Ilian startled and then lunged across the distance between them. The Duellan man drew his weapon, Ilian slowing abruptly and attacking, straight for the man, a cry of fury from the horse, the man yelling, turning to try to run at the last moment. Then Ilian was on him, her head darting forward, her teeth sinking into his shoulder as the horse picked him up and shook at him.

The man cried out again, his feet leaving the ground. He fell under Ilian's metal-ringed hooves, sharp and deadly, his weapon flying out of his hand, the horse rotating in her place and stomping on him, bringing her front hooves down over and over while Aslin clung to her back, trying not to look, Ilian screaming in rage.

When the man didn't move anymore she clacked her teeth at the mess that was left and snorted, and then she turned. Aslin leaned forward as she leapt over the body, off again, running.

Aslin looked back and cried out again, recognition and then longing.

Kane wasn't there anymore. In his place was a great wolf the size of Shaol, huge, muscles running under his coat. He was so beautiful that she ached, his long thick fur multicolored, banded with black, white, gold and brown. The wolf heard her through the bond that never closed between them, turning his head and looking at her across the distance, a wind coming across the plain and flattening his fur against his side.

The wolf greeted her, wordless, powerful, Kane and not-Kane, the other part of him who loved her. Aslin realized she was crying. She wanted them with her so badly. Then the animal faced the oncoming line and his face crinkled, baring teeth as big around as her thigh, his snarling clear even from where she was. Ilian gave a short blare at the sound and put on more speed away from it.

Aslin watched as the wolf launched himself gracefully straight toward the line of Duellan clan as she cried out in terror again, his shoulders working, going faster, covering the distance effortlessly. They were still close enough that she saw the men in the front line see him, slowing their horses, the whole line drawing away in a wave and trying to flee, Luterian horses actually bolting in terror.

The wolf rose in a great leap into the center of them, engulfed by them, his great shoulders, men screaming, his head turning in every direction, his jaws snapping. Then he was gone, Ilian running down a slope, the ridge obscuring her vision.

Aslin cried out again and closed her eyes, the image in her mind, feeling desperately for the bond. He was still there, protecting her, savage rage and bloodlust, battle in her mind. Ilian ran, carrying her away from them.

Aslin opened her eyes and looked in front of her. She clenched her teeth and keened, leaning forward.

"Run, Ilian!" she cried, signaling her, the horse taking her commands again, Aslin's eyes fixed on the horizon, the line of Aspen trees she imagined in the far distance.

Corsaire. Her clan.