Beyond the Prophecy (2 page)

Vatar grimaced. He hated having an enemy—and there was no
doubt Gerusa was his enemy—on the loose. Still, Kausalya was a small city on
the coast south of Caere, founded mostly on farming the rich river delta. Vatar
had no plans to go there.
“Hopefully, she’s far enough away.”

“Watch your back, Vatar. If I know Gerusa—and I do—she
hasn’t given up. It’s not in her vocabulary. She can’t reach you among the
Dardani. But be careful when you come back.”

“I will, Father.”
Vatar paused. He’d given this some
thought during the rest of the journey.
“We’re not planning to stay long
this trip. I may find a few sturdy Dardani to come back with us to help manage
the herd. With the three children along, it’d be hard for just Arcas and me
even with the dogs. We’ll leave early enough that there’ll be plenty of time
for them to get back to Zeda before the clans break up for the autumn.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

~

The next morning, they gathered again on the edge of the
village to say goodbye to Orleus and Quetza.

Thekila looked between the two. “Be careful.”

Orleus shrugged. “Oh, I don’t think even Mother could pay
anyone to come this far to attack us. No, that danger will always be closer in
to Caere—and Kausalya, now, I suppose. That could cause some inconvenience in
the future.”

“Still . . . just take care of each other,” Thekila said.

Quetza grinned. “We will. Don’t worry about that.”

Vatar slapped Orleus’s leg. “Fair skies, you two.”

Orleus smiled. “For you, also. We’ll meet again. Maybe this
winter. Or next year, here at Zeda.”

“And, in the meantime, we’re never farther away than this.”
Quetza tapped the side of her head to indicate Far Speech.

With a final wave, the two turned their horses toward the
south and rode off. Orleus’s dogs gave a joyous bark and ran ahead.

Thekila leaned against Vatar. “I hope they’ll be as happy as
we are.”

Vatar put his arm around her waist. “It’ll be different for
them. But they’ll make their own kind of happiness together.”

She looked up at him. “Does that feel true?”

Vatar gave her a squeeze, knowing she was referring to his
Talent of Fore Sight without mentioning anything that sounded like magic around
the superstitious Dardani. “Yes. Yes, it does.”

Vatar and Thekila watched until the departing horses were
almost lost to sight before turning back to the village. When they came in
sight of their hut, they found Avaza watching hungrily as the twins played
under the watchful eyes of Theklan and Vatar’s younger half-sister, Kiara. They
giggled as Vatar’s little half-brother, Fenar, just a year older than the
twins, jumped out at them from hiding. Vatar laughed, too.

Thekila pulled on his arm to make him stop. She cast one
distrustful look at Avaza before looking up into his eyes, which wasn’t
necessary with Far Speech, far less the more immediate communication through
their bond, but it would make better sense to any casual observer.
I
overheard a few comments about possession this morning when I went down to the
waterhole. Avaza hasn’t stopped spreading those rumors. Don’t trust her.

Vatar nodded, his eyes narrowing.
Thanks for the warning.
Was Avaza ever going to stop causing him trouble? If she weren’t the twins’
mother, he’d just avoid her. Which was what she seemed to prefer—unless she
wanted something from him. He stepped forward, making his footstep deliberately
loud so that Avaza would hear him.

Avaza turned toward him, smiling insincerely. “Hello, Vatar.
I . . . I wondered if you’d let me have the twins again this summer.”

Vatar looked past her to where the twins were now piled on
top of Fenar. “We’re not going to be here that long this year, Avaza. Only a
seven-day or two at most.”

Avaza bit her lip. “Even a little time is better than none.
It’s been almost a year since I last saw them. They’ve grown so much since last
summer.”

Vatar was silent for a moment as if he was considering it.
He’d encouraged Avaza to spend time with the children before and would have
now. They were hers, too, after all. Even though the relationship between Vatar
and Avaza had soured, he didn’t want that to affect their children.

And he could understand how she felt being cut off from
them. The times when he’d been forced to leave the twins for months at a time
had been the hardest of his life. Whatever else he personally felt about Avaza,
he didn’t think it was any easier for her to only be able to see the twins for
such a short time each year.

After Thekila’s warning, however, he knew he couldn’t risk
it. The winter had been eventful for Zavar and Savara—kidnapped, rescued with
considerable use of magic, carried to safety by Quetza Transformed into a white
wyvern, and Savara’s injury magically healed. It’d be only natural for Avaza,
as their mother, to ask about their winter and it was entirely too much to
expect four-year-olds not to talk about adventures like that.

Vatar knew it would be as much as his life was worth to
trust Avaza with knowledge of his magic among the superstitious, magic-fearing
Dardani. Last summer, she’d spied on him as he sought advice from the tribe’s
shaman and then deliberately started rumors that he was possessed. She seemed
to have some misguided notion that she could get permanent control of the twins
by discrediting him.

Bad as that was, he could defend against it, knowing that it
wasn’t true. If she started gossip about what the twins might tell her, though,
it wouldn’t put just Vatar’s life in danger. The twins would be at risk, too.
He wished he believed that Avaza would think things through that far and keep
silent, but he knew her too well to expect that. No, much safer to keep the
twins among his own family, who already knew about his magic and accepted it.

The best he could hope for was that he might convince Avaza
to give up her attacks on him. Then maybe something good would come of this and
he could safely let the twins stay with her again.

Vatar shook his head. “I don’t think so, Avaza. They’re
growing fast. It’s important at their age to have good examples to
follow—honorable examples. I’d trust Ariad with that, of course.” He turned his
head to meet her eyes. “But not you.”

Avaza reeled back as if he’d struck her. “What do you mean
by that?”

Vatar sighed. Avaza never seemed to expect her actions to
have consequences. “Avaza, last year you as good as admitted spying on me and
my family while we conferred with the shaman. That can hardly be considered
honorable. It would take a real fool not to connect that with the rumors that
I’m possessed that started shortly after that. Which—again—is not true, Avaza.”
Vatar had to hold his voice steady not to betray himself with that statement.
He wasn’t possessed—exactly. The fact that one of his distant ancestors
sometimes spoke to him in his mind was irrelevant. Taleus couldn’t actually
make
Vatar do anything. All Taleus could do was offer occasional advice and
sometimes help to keep Vatar calm in a crisis. Not the same thing as
possession, though Vatar seriously doubted Avaza would see the distinction.

“I didn’t—”

“Don’t make it worse by adding lying to the list,” Vatar
interrupted. “I’m not a fool. And I know you too well.” He drew a deep breath.
“Avaza, once before you asked me to name the price of your honor for spreading
stories about me. That time, I thought Maktaz had tricked you into it, so I set
the price of your honor low. To make the same mistake twice . . . Well, I’m not
inclined to set a price a second time. I won’t stoop to your level and spread
the word that you are without honor—unless circumstances force me to it. You
might want to bear that in mind.”
He looked back
toward the romping children. “As for the twins, you’ll have to prove to me that
you understand your wrongs—and sincerely correct them—before I’ll trust you
with them.” Vatar strode on past Avaza toward the hut.

Thekila smiled as she caught up with him. “Nicely handled. I
wonder if she’ll mend her ways after she chews that over.”

Vatar shrugged. “Knowing Avaza, I wouldn’t count on it. It’d
be like her to try even harder to discredit me. Good thing Trev told all the
chiefs—and the new shaman—that I’m not possessed before he went home. Pa saw to
that. Won’t stop the rumors, though.”

~

Vatar looked up and sighed when he
saw Ariad standing outside his workshop. He should be happy to see his old
friend, but he had a feeling that his appearance now had more to do with Avaza,
now Ariad’s year mate, than with Vatar. He set aside the repair he’d been about
to start. “Fair skies, Ariad.”

Ariad nodded. “Fair skies, Vatar.”

“What can I do for you?”

Ariad shifted uncomfortably. “Avaza is very upset. Could you
see your way clear to let us take care of the twins for even just a couple of
days? As a favor to me?”

Vatar drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Ariad, there’s
very little I wouldn’t do for you. But I won’t let my children become part of
whatever Avaza is up to this time. That, I can’t do.”

“I know she went too far last summer, prying into your
business with the shaman. But she really is just concerned about the welfare of
the children,” Ariad said.

Vatar shook his head. “I don’t really care what she thinks
she’s going to accomplish by spreading rumors again, Ariad. I can’t just ignore
that. Not after what happened last time.”

Ariad spread his hands out, palms up. “She’s . . .” He
paused, blinking. “Wait. What do you mean
last time
?”

Vatar picked up the bent hand
weeder
he’d been about to straighten.
How could Ariad not know this?
“You
remember three years ago, all the rumors that sprang up before I was forced to
challenge Maktaz to the Ordeal?”

“Y-
es
.” Ariad made two syllables
of the word.

“Well, all of those rumors were based on things—perfectly
innocent things—that Avaza told Maktaz. She was upset that I had been forced to
take our children into the Lion Clan to protect them from Maktaz. She came to me
at midsummer and confessed what she’d done. Ask Pa or Mother. Or old
Draza
of the Raven Clan. They were there. Avaza asked me to
set the price of her honor. I thought that Maktaz had tricked her, so I set a
simple price. Only that she tell the truth—even if no one believed her.” Vatar
sighed. “Now, I think I set the price too low. She thinks she can get away with
pulling the same trick that Maktaz tried.” He paused. “I don’t think she’s
really thought that through. Even if she convinced the tribe that I was
possessed, it wouldn’t get her the twins back. But I told her and now I’m
telling you, I won’t set a price for the same breach of honor twice. And I
won’t trust her with the twins until I’m sure I can trust her not to use them
as Maktaz once used her. They’re at a very impressionable age. I don’t want
them learning to follow Avaza’s example.”

Ariad swallowed. “I . . . I didn’t know any of that.”

Vatar smiled wryly. “I gathered that. I trust
your
honor implicitly. Avaza will have to prove hers to me. I’m sorry, but that’s my
final word.”

Ariad nodded. “I understand.” He winced. “Avaza’s still not
going to be happy.”

Vatar thought back on what living with an unhappy Avaza had
been like for the few months they were year mates. “My sympathies.”

Ariad drew a deep breath and let it out. “We should have
become life mates last year. She wants to have more children—children she can
keep, this time. But then when she . . . spied on your interactions with Trev.
I thought maybe she still . . . had some feelings for you. So, I put it off.
Now . . .”

“Oh, she has feelings for me all right. She hates my guts.”
Vatar closed his eyes, briefly. “Ariad, Avaza and I were always a mistake. We
were too young and inexperienced to know it or see past mere physical
attraction to more important things. The things that make a relationship work
over time. If we’d taken the time to know each other better first, we’d never
have become year mates at all. By the end, we were barely talking to each
other. And then I had to take our children from her to keep them safe from
Maktaz. I can’t really blame Avaza for having a very particular kind of enmity
for me.” He grimaced. “Her actions are another matter. She can hate me all she
wants, but trying to harm me or mine is something entirely different.” He let
out his breath. “What I’m saying is that you shouldn’t judge based only on how
she behaves toward me. What’s important is whether you think
you
can
trust her.”

“Maybe. As you’ve said yourself, it’s also important what
her example would teach any child of ours.”

Vatar nodded agreement with that. “Maybe you should talk to
someone less biased. I confess, Avaza isn’t my favorite person, either.”

Ariad started to leave, then turned back. “Is this why you
asked me and my father to sponsor Thekila and Theklan into the Eagle Clan last
year? So that their word would carry more weight than Avaza’s in my clan.”

Vatar shook his head again. “No. I won’t pretend I didn’t
recognize that aspect. But there are other reasons why Thekila belonged in the
Eagle Clan.” Vatar paused. The next obvious question was what those reasons
were. And, since they all involved magic, they were not things he could explain
to any Dardani. He wasn’t about to tell Ariad that Thekila could Transform into
an eagle, just like Vatar could take the form of a lion. There was, perhaps,
one thing he could tell Ariad, though. “When they tattooed her Clan Mark, did
you see the little charm Thekila wears around her neck?”

Ariad cocked his head to one side. “I was preoccupied with
Theklan, but my father said she wore a little metal eagle on a chain. I thought
it was maybe something you’d made for her.”

“No, that’s not my handiwork,” Vatar said. “Her people all
wear similar amulets, though they’re all different. It’s always some animal
that represents that person’s . . . spirit, if you will. The eagle was the
symbol they chose for her. Thekila was an eagle long before she was adopted by
your clan.” That much, at least, was certainly true. Truer than Ariad would
ever know.

Ariad nodded. “Then she’s in the right clan.”