Lara (35 page)

They stared ahead. Before them a green plain stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance they saw a range of hazy purple mountains lying on the horizon. But there was no sign of civilization. The land was more beautiful than anything else she had ever seen, Lara thought. Pristine. Untouched.

“Which way do we go?” Noss whispered, stunned by what her eyes beheld.

“Straight ahead,” Lara answered, and her laughter echoed in the clear air. “There has to be someone, or something to be found eventually.” She spurred the golden stallion into a gallop. They had been penned up in that tunnel forever, it seemed. She heard Noss’s white mare coming behind her, and laughed again as the wind hit her face, and the tiny tendrils of hair escaping from her bandana blew about her face. It was wonderful! She had never felt so free in all of her days. Or more at home, she was startled to realize. At last, the horses slowed to a stop. Looking back Lara saw the cliffs had vanished, and realized the magic that had been involved in bringing her into the Outlands.

Noss was openmouthed. “The cliffs, Lara. Where did they go?” she managed to stammer. “We have not ridden that far, for the mountains are still a forever ways away.”

“Prince Kaliq has performed a great magical feat for us,” Lara said. “I do not know how, but we are obviously just where we are meant to be, Noss.” She laughed again. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

“It’s big,” Noss observed. “Very big. Where are the farms? A village or two? Where are the people and the herds? I can see naught but this plain all around us.”

“And a stream of water,” Lara said pointing to the animal’s feet. She loosed the reins so her beast might drink. “I must name my horse, for Og did not tell me what to call him,” said Lara.

The horse raised his head, and turning said to her, “I already have a name, mistress. I am Dasras. It means handsome, and as you will have noted I am very handsome. The mare is Sakari. She also has the ability to speak, but she is shy.”

Lara was speechless for a moment but then she said, “Thank you, Dasras. Noss, did you hear? Your mare is Sakari. We thank you both for carrying us so safely. Refresh yourselves while you may, for we shall travel onward until dark.”

The stallion turned back to his drinking, the mare joining him.

“A horse that talks? I never knew a horse that talked!” Noss exclaimed. “I rather like the idea. As long as Sakari and I are together I will have someone to chat with, Lara. Isn’t that nice?” She looked quite pleased.

Lara refrained from giggling. “Are you ready to move on?” she asked. “We may have to camp in the open tonight.”

But as they moved on, the plain that had seemed to go on forever began to roll gently, and they discovered it was not as flat as they had thought. As the day wore on, and the sun began slowly to sink, Lara searched for a place they might shelter for the night. Finally, ahead of them, she saw a pleasant grove of trees with another narrow stream flowing through it. She led them to it, and dismounting said, “I think we should be safe here.”

“We have seen neither man nor beast all day,” Noss said nervously. “What will the night bring? Should we light a fire to keep away savage beasts? Yet a fire could draw bandits to us.”

“If we had a better shelter,” Lara said, “we could avoid a fire, but Dasras and Sakari must be protected. We’ll make a small fire. Others have camped here before us, Noss. See the little ring of blackened stones, and the bits of burned fuel? Let us look for some wood, but we will not start our fire until near dark.”

“Do not unload us,” Dasras said. “The weight we carry is not heavy, and if you must depart quickly you do not want to lose your few precious supplies. And set your staff in the ground with a view of the plain that he may watch for us. We will graze at our leisure just beyond the trees.”

“You offer good advice for one so young,” Lara replied.

“My father was a great campaigner with the Shadow Princes long ago. He has taught me all that I know,” the stallion answered.

Lara pulled Verica from his place on her saddle. “Wake up!” she said to him, and his eyes flashed open. “You must keep watch for us this night, Verica.” She drove the staff into the ground on the edge of the trees.

“Are we looking for anything in particular?” Verica asked dryly.

“Savage animals. Hostile riders,” Lara replied, a small smile tugging at her lips.

“In other words it is up to me to save you from disaster,” Verica said.

“Exactly!” Lara agreed, now grinning. “We have to light a fire which will serve to keep the four-footed beasts away, but not necessarily the two-footed ones.”

Verica chuckled as Lara turned away to gather firewood. She and Noss set up a conical pile within the ring of stones. The sky was now aflame with the sunset, and the darkness came quickly afterward, surprising them. There had been virtually no twilight. Using the faerie magic her mother had taught her, Lara pointed to the stone enclosure and said, “Fire, light!” Immediately a flame sprang up within the cone. “Low,” Lara commanded it, and the fire burned low.

“Well don’t that beat flint, stone and dried grass,” Noss said admiringly.

“I’ll call the horses,” Lara said. “We had best see what we have in those packs to feed us.” She whistled for Dasras and Sakari, who trotted back into their encampment. Rifling through the saddlebags she drew forth a carefully wrapped packet. Opening it, she exclaimed, “Faerie bread!”

“What’s faerie bread?” Noss asked, taking the piece handed her and looking at it suspiciously. She sniffed at it.

“It will satisfy your hunger,” Lara said. Ilona had introduced her to faerie bread. “Take a bite of it,” Lara told her.

Noss bit into the chunk, and suddenly a beatific smile lit her face. “It’s good!” she said.

“Have just a little bit of it. We have no way of knowing how long our stores must last.”

When they had finished eating, Lara said, “I will keep watch for part of the night, and you will keep watch the rest of it.” She walked over to Dasras, and pulled a heavy cloak from behind her saddle. “There’s one for you with Sakari,” she told Noss. “The early watch, or the late watch?” she asked her companion.

“The early,” Noss said. “When shall I awaken you?”

Lara looked up into the sky above them to see the Triad, risen perhaps an hour now. She pointed it out to Noss. “When it reaches the midheavens wake me, unless of course you need me before then.”

“I will,” Noss replied, and watched as Lara lay down near their little fire and rolled herself in her cloak. Lara was soon asleep, and Noss sitting by the fire thought how peaceful the night was. Too peaceful. Not the sound of an insect, or a night bird. Getting up, she walked to where Verica stood guard. “It is so quiet,” she said to him.

“Yes,” he said, “nothing stirs, neither man nor beast. Do not fear, Noss, for my eyes can see through the darkness, and for now there is nothing dangerous to be seen.”

Noss walked back to the fire. The horses were grazing peacefully within her sight. She sighed. Traveling with Rolf Fairplay had been very different than this. Then on the horizon a new moon rose, the pale blue of the Midlands. Shortly thereafter a second moon in its first quarter stage arose, and it was the light green Forest moon. It was followed by the full copper moon of the Desert, and lastly a butter-yellow waning moon. Noss was astounded. She considered waking Lara, but then she realized that Lara would see it when she awoke her shortly. With the light of all four moons most of the stars had disappeared, but the Triad still shone brightly, to Noss’s relief. She could have never imagined the adventures she was going to have, and they had only just begun.

Noss roused Lara at the appointed time, now sleepy, but remembering to point out the four moons of Hetar. Lara was refreshed from the several hours of sleep she had had. She went into the shelter of the trees to relieve herself. Then she sought out Dasras, and took a water bag from her saddle. She drank, replaced the bag, gave the stallion a pat and went to sit by the fire. Master Bashkar had told her that in the Outlands the four moons of Hetar could all be seen. Three of them she knew, of course, but the butter-yellow quarter moon was new to her. This then would be the moon that shone over the Coastal Province. Once all four moons were risen completely, their colors faded gradually away, and they turned silvery white. The third moon was setting on its horizon as the skies brightened in shades of pink both deep and light, pale lavender, orange and gold. Above the vibrant colors the sky grew bright blue. The birds began to twitter, and then the blazing red sun burst over the horizon. Lara stood, stretched and then went to wake Noss.

They ate their faerie bread and drank from the clear stream, refilling the little they had taken from the water bags the day before. Lara drew Verica from the earth, thanking him for his night watch. She brushed the dirt from the bottom of the staff, replacing it in its holder on her saddle. Lara ordered the fire out, and they departed the grove that had served as their shelter.

The vast rolling plain stretched on ahead of them. They rode at a leisurely pace, not wanting to tire the horses when they had no idea where they were going. At midmorning they heard, first faintly, and then more distinctly, the sound of many horses behind them. Lara turned. She could see a group of riders in the distance behind them.

“What will we do?” Noss half sobbed. “We have no place to hide.”

“Calm yourself,” Lara chided the girl. “If we run, these riders will think we have something of value, or something to conceal. We will continue on as we have been. They will either pass us by, or inquire to our destination. I will speak for us. Do you understand?”

“You are so brave,” Noss said. “I should be, but I am not.”

Lara laughed to herself.
Right now I am terrified,
she thought,
yet I must appear calm and in control of myself and the situation. I must remember what Kaliq said. I have a destiny. If that destiny were to be killed easily and at a young age, the Forest Lords would have done it. I have not come into the Outlands to be murdered.

They pressed onward, and eventually the riders behind them caught up to them, and they found themselves surrounded. Lara and Noss sat straight in their saddles, eyes ahead. They rode for a time within the group of horsemen. All were silent, and then the horse next to Lara’s reached out to bite Dasras.

“Control your mount!” she snapped at the animal’s rider.

“You ride a stallion as do I” was the reply.

“Yes,” Lara said.

“It is unusual for a woman to ride a stallion,” her companion remarked. “And particularly, so little a woman.”

“Dasras and I suit each other,” Lara answered him boldly. The man next to her laughed. “I am Vartan of Clan Fiacre,” he said, “and you are very beautiful as well as very brave. You did not flee my riders, though you knew we were behind you.”

“I am Lara, daughter of Swiftsword, and why would I run? This is Noss, my companion.” She turned her head to look at him. He was a big man, and tall. His long black hair was pulled back and held by a leather thong. His face was oval in shape; his cheekbones high; his mouth long and narrow. His gaze engaged her most directly, clear and light blue, and filled with both amusement and frank curiosity.

“You are two little girls on rather good horses all alone on the plain,” he said. “Should you not be afraid?”

Lara’s green eyes never left his as she spoke. “The sword on my back is Andraste. It is not there for decoration. I know well how to use it, and we have killed before, Andraste and I. Noss and I are travelers from the City. We carry nothing of value in our packs. You are free to search them.”

He laughed again. “Where are you bound for, Lara, daughter of Swiftsword?”

“I don’t know,” she told him. “We have never been in the Outlands before, and all we know of it is that it is uncivilized, or so we have been told.”

“Hetar,” he sneered, “so smug in the assurance of its civilized ways.”

“It is all Hetar,” she told him.

“The High Council doesn’t consider it so,” he said. “For them Hetar is the four neat and tidy provinces of the Midlands, the Forest, the Desert and the Coastal Regions. We are the Outlands, filled with ignorant savages, unable to live by the rule of law. I curse their law!”

“It has nothing to do with me,” Lara replied. “I departed the City over two years ago. I cannot go back.”

“Why?”

“Where are you going?” she asked him, ignoring his question.

“Our encampment,” he answered her, “and then to the village of Camdene,” he told her. “Would you like to travel with us? Not all those you meet out here on the plain will be friendly, Lara, daughter of Swiftsword.”

“I should appreciate your company,” Lara answered him, “but you need not be friendly, my lord Vartan. Just companionable.”

He nodded. “And tonight you will tell me how you came to be in the Outlands.”

“Around the fire,” she agreed. “And perhaps you will tell me what you do out here on this lonely land. We rode all day yesterday without seeing man nor beast.”

“You camped in the grove of Drem. We stopped to water our horses there earlier. You were fortunate to find it for there is not another like it for miles,” he told her.

“I have never seen so much open land,” Lara told him. “It is beautiful and frightening all at once.”