Dagger's Point (Shadow series) (33 page)

“Tell us about the land you come from,” Savela begged. “Father says it’s all green like the valley, full of trees and land where the earth is so full of water that you sink into it.”

Jael was no born storyteller like Shadow, but she could describe Allanmere and the land around it—the Dim Reaches, filled with foul-smelling mud and old magic rotting in the soil, where strange creatures lived and where Farryn’s ancestors had once made their home; the wide, rich plains dappled with farms; and of course the Heartwood, where the trees grew so thick that the sky could only be seen in clearings and where the sunlight trickled down like golden syrup between the leaves, where elves rode on the great spiral-horned deer and wove their homes in trees, and where some elves could speak to the beasts and fly through the wood in the minds of the birds.

Tanis woke partway through her stories and joined the circle around the glowing firepit, adding his tales of other lands, larger cities. It wasn’t long before a strange Kresh male peered in at the door flap, and Lidaya beckoned him to join them; by evening there were at least ten others crowded into the dwelling, listening raptly to Tanis’s stories and waiting patiently for Farryn to translate when Jael spoke. Sometimes the listeners looked so plainly disbelieving that Jael was half-inclined to tell them to go elsewhere to listen if they thought she was a liar; Farryn, however, remembered enough from his journey to Allanmere to substantiate some of what Jael told them, and Tanis staunchly supported Jael’s accounts of the elves and the Heartwood.

By the time Jael and Tanis had talked their voices into a hoarse rasp, it was far into the night and they were reeling with exhaustion. As if at some signal, although Jael had seen none, the Kresh visitors rose as one and left as silently as they had come. When Jael and Tanis returned to their own shelter, guided by Farryn, they were surprised to find that someone—who?—had brought their packs to the shelter, strewn warm furs over the floor, and filled the sleeping pit with more furs and fur covers.

Jael and Tanis were far too tired, however, to wonder at the unexpected generosity.

Jael took time, however, to squat down beside the firepit and examine her leg and Tanis’s side. Apparently the Kresh’s Enlightened Ones were healers of formidable skill; there was not even a scar left on her leg, and although Tanis had a jagged furrow in his side to mark his far more serious wound, the scar was as white and firm as on a wound years healed. There was no sign of the grayish discoloration on her skin or Tanis’s.

Tanis took the precaution of removing the bracelet from his wrist and storing it in his pack before he joined Jael in the sleeping pit. In this unfamiliar place, where even her kinfolk found her an inconvenience, it was good to have a friend to keep her warm at night. She almost jumped in surprise, however, when Tanis slid his hand over her bare hip in a manner that indicated anything but weariness.

“Oh, please,” Jael groaned. “I’m exhausted.”

Tanis sighed and wrapped his arm around Jael’s waist, pulling her close.

“It’s not just being tired, is it?” he asked gently.

Jael sighed, too.

“Since they took away that soul keeper I found,” she said miserably, “it feels like I’m right back where I started. The ponies have been griping at me all day, and then my bracelet—it’s like we came so far for nothing.”

“Not for nothing,” Tanis corrected. “You’re here with the people who can help you. And there’s no reason why they shouldn’t want to help you.”

“There may be,” Jael sighed. She told Tanis what Farryn had told her about the preparation of Kresh children to receive their souls. “They may have decided I’m not worth helping.”

“Then we’ll just have to change their minds,” Tanis said firmly. “The next time we tell them stories, I think it’s time they heard something of Lady Jaellyn’s great adventures. Demons and dragons and shifters should impress just about anybody. Now go to sleep and try not to worry. Anyway, it’s been more fun than sword practice with the High Lady every day, hasn’t it?”

Jael smiled and turned over to pillow her head on Tanis’s shoulder.

“I can’t argue with that,” she admitted. “Dragons, shifters, and all.”

In the morning, Jael and Tanis were pleasantly surprised when Lidaya, bringing Dellan with her, led them to a large structure that contained several hot-spring baths like those in Allanmere. Jael learned they had been constructed similarly, the Stone Brothers creating channels for the hot subterranean water to reach the surface much as Allanmere’s mages had magically drilled their shafts. Jael had always disliked the sulfurous smell of Allanmere’s water, but now she found the odor comforting in its familiarity.

Apparently the Kresh, like the elves, had no objection to nudity and considered bathing something of a social occasion, for Jael and Tanis found several of the pools occupied by groups of Kresh sipping cold water and talking comfortably. There were a few abruptly terminated conversations and more than a few curious glances when Jael and Tanis followed Lidaya in, but as soon as Jael and Tanis had stripped and entered the water, the conversations recommenced and the watchers turned back to their companions. Jael realized with a tinge of amusement that most of them had probably been waiting for Jael and Tanis to take off their clothes, to see just how different the strangers were!

The rest of the day, however, proved to be less pleasant. Tanis joined a hunting party at Farryn’s invitation; Jael, however, decided that since they’d be gone all day, she’d best stay in the village where the Enlightened Ones could find her if they wished. Besides, she again had no control over her beast-speaking, and hunting would, for her, likely only prove humiliating.

Savela and Lainan disappeared early in the day; Lidaya explained that Lainan would face his trials of adulthood in only a few months, and both children therefore spent their days learning from a number of different teachers. Lidaya herself was taking Dellan to the valley where she planned to visit some kinfolk; although the Kresh woman had thawed to Jael somewhat, she did not invite Jael to join her. With no one to translate for her or guide her through the confusing maze of dwellings, Jael was effectively confined to Farryn and Lidaya’s house for the day; she wasn’t even certain she could find her way back to the house where she and Tanis slept.

By midday, however, Jael could bear it no longer. She grabbed a warm fur from the sleeping pit and wrapped it around her, wishing she’d thought to bring her warm fur outer clothing to the bathhouse with her that morning, and set out to look around. By following the slope of the mountain downward, she could probably have located the cliff where she’d talked with Farryn the day before, but there was no point in going there; besides, that was in the uninhabited part of the village and there would be no one to help her find her way back in any event. She headed up the mountain instead; the bathing house was uphill, and with any luck, one of these Enlightened Ones might have come up for a bath.

Within a hundred paces she was completely lost in the bewildering maze of seemingly identical stone houses and narrow alleys between them. Jael fought down the utterly elven impulse to scramble up to the top of one of the houses to get her bearings; but then, since all the houses looked alike, what would that tell her?

The cold mountain air did not bother Jael as much as it troubled Tanis, but after an hour of wandering in the cold with nothing but a sleeping fur, Jael was shivering and numb-fingered. She saw several Kresh, and discomfort finally won over pride; as soon as she encountered someone whose expression showed no overt hostility, she did her best to convey with gestures that she was looking for the house where she and Tanis had slept. The elderly male finally nodded his understanding and guided her back downhill, abandoning her at the door flap of a structure that seemed too large; when Jael raised the door flap, the warm, moist rush of air told her that she had been led to the bathhouse instead.

Well, at least it was warm, and it was a place where Farryn would think to look for her when he returned. Jael ducked inside and stripped off her clothes as quickly as her numb fingers would allow. She might not need a second bath, but the bubbling hot water would thaw her admirably.

In fact, Jael spent a warm, if boring, afternoon in the bathhouse before Farryn finally came to fetch her. Some of the Kresh who came to the bathhouse addressed her, but none knew her language and she couldn’t seem to convey by gestures the need for someone to take her back to Farryn’s dwelling or her own.

When Farryn arrived, he only raised an eyebrow puzzledly.

“We’ve been looking for you,” he said. “A friend said she saw you here, but that was near midaiternoon. Do you miss the hot springs of your home so badly?”

“No, I miss being able to tell people I can’t find my way back home,” Jael retorted. “And I miss being
able
to find my way around. I don’t suppose those Enlightened Ones have been looking for me?”

Farryn shook his head apologetically.

“They would have found you easily,” he said. “But perhaps you will settle for some supper.”

Jael hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and at the thought of supper, her stomach rumbled so loudly that it could be heard clearly even over the bubbling of the water.

“I see supper will suffice admirably,” Farryn said, smiling. He gave Jael his own coat and guided her back to his home. There Jael found Tanis almost strutting around the firepit, where an unusually shaped piece of meat was roasting. This time both Lainan and Savela were there, eyes on the meat.

“I killed a drake,” Tanis said without any preliminary greeting. “They’re like dragons, but smaller, and they don’t fly or breathe fire, but they hunt in packs instead of solitary. We killed three, and I got this one.”

“I know what drakes are,” Jael said a little irritably. Unaccountably, Tanis’s bubbling satisfaction annoyed her. “Lots of folk in and around Allanmere have guard-drakes.”

“It was a fine kill,” Farryn said, “although few of us hunt with our swords. Drakes especially are risky to fight at such close range. But Tanis acquitted himself well. I will have the skull and the hide cleaned and prepared for him as a trophy.”

It took some time for the large haunch to cook, and Tanis could talk of nothing but the hunt and his kill. The drake was good, but Jael was restless and discouraged by her boring and profitless day, and as soon as she’d finished eating she excused herself. The thought of another evening of telling stories somehow held no appeal.

“There’s no need to come back until you’re ready,” Jael told Tanis, who had risen to join her. “I’m sure you have a few more stories to tell. I’m just tired.”

Tanis was so late returning to the shelter that Jael was long asleep. He woke her the next morning, asking if she wouldn’t like to join another hunt today, but Jael again declined, urging him to go without her. Tanis’s company might have been pleasant to help pass the time, but truth to tell, Jael was in such a foul mood that she’d as soon be left alone. Wisely, Tanis understood and left her to go back to sleep. Jael slept until she could sleep no more, then passed another boring day in her own shelter, not daring to go exploring again. Tanis came to bring her to supper, but again she excused herself after she ate.

To Jael’s surprise, Lainan offered to guide her back. Jael hesitated, but Farryn gave her an approving nod, and Jael accepted, thanking Lainan. Lainan walked in silence, however, until they reached their destination. When Jael started through the door flap, he stayed where he was, so Jael was all but forced to invite him in. Lainan followed her inside and sat down cross-legged by the firepit, watching her silently.

“I keep meaning to ask,” Jael said, “about these rocks. What makes them give off light and heat like a fire, but never go out?”

“Most Stone Brothers can do it,” Lainan shrugged. “They say there’s a memory of fire in each stone that they call forth. But why do you ask? I thought you were a Stone Brother.”

“I suppose I am.” Jael sighed. “But I never tried to do anything like that. And I can’t do much of anything at all with part of my soul missing.”

Lainan was silent, staring at Jael narrowly over the glowing stone.

“Lainan, you’ve been looking daggers and spears at me ever since I came here,” Jael said impatiently at last. “Whatever you came here tonight to say, I wish you’d say it.”

“When did you learn that our father was your father?” Lainan asked almost idly, but the intensity in his eyes belied his calm voice.

“More than a year ago,” Jael said. “But I promised my mother I wouldn’t leave until certain things were settled at home, and until my swordsmanship improved so I could protect myself. And of course it took some time getting here, too.”

“My father has sung songs of your mother, Donya, who slew a great lizard the size of a house, and her friend Shadow, who stole Adraon’s healing secrets,” Lainan said.

“Shadow stole—” Jael chuckled. “Aunt Shadow never told me that, but I can well believe it. The giant lizard part’s true, or so I’m told.”

“Then you’ve been raised by a mighty warrior.” Lainan’s eyes narrowed further. “What do you want of my father?”

“Nothing.” Jael gazed back directly into his eyes. “I never meant to—embarrass—Farryn. All I want is the rest of my soul so I can live my own life. I certainly wouldn’t have come all the way here if there’d been another way. When I found the soul keeper in the dragon’s nest, I thought my problem was solved, and we’d have gone straight home if it hadn’t been for the Singing Forest and the skinshifters. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong by wearing the amulet.” She shivered.

“Tanis spoke last night of your great deeds,” Lainan said wryly. “He made you sound a great warrior yourself.”

“I’m not such a great warrior,” Jael said with a shrug. “Anybody fights hard to stay alive.”

“They will never grant what you ask,” Lainan said suddenly. “The Enlightened Ones. They have no reason to do it. You’re not one of us by blood, not entirely, nor by life among us. The tales of your deeds are only that, only words. You can wait in this house until the winter snows come again, and they’ll still not summon you to the temple. You may as well go home to your own kind.”