The Gandalara Cycle I (22 page)

A suspicion nibbled at the back of my mind.
You shouldn't be feeling this good
, it warned me. I slapped it down and told it to shut up.
Feeling good feels wonderful for a change
!

When I had walked about as far north as I had traveled south the day before, I stepped off the road and headed west. I hadn't gone far when that annoying suspicion sat up and said
I told you so.

I saw them at the same moment Keeshah's warning sprang into my mind.

*Markasset. Sha'um. I am close. I come.*

"Them" was Snaggletooth. Riding the mean-looking, golden- eyed sha'um. I heard a soft sound behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know that Scarface and the other sha'um were back there.

*No, Keeshah,*
I ordered, and grappled with my own fear so that I could better control the cat.
*Are you downwind? Do they know you're nearby?*

*Yes. No.*
He sounded puzzled.

Snaggletooth slid off his sha'um's back and walked slowly toward me.

*Keeshah, stay away unless I call. Please. If they see you, they'll know who I am. These guys could be my ticket into Thagorn - don't spoil it. Please stay hidden. I promise call if I need help.*

I felt Keeshah hesitate, wonder, grumble. He was primed for a fight; I sensed his conflict as he tried to obey my wishes above his own instincts.

*Yes,*
he agreed at last, then added:
*Don't like it.*

I didn't have time to thank him because Snaggletooth's bruised face was only inches away from mine. It was no more attractive from such a close view.

"We got a score to settle," he said. His tone told me that there would be no reprieve this time - the score
would
be settled.

I wasn't quite sure how these two men could help get me into Thagorn. The possibility had only occurred to me when they had shown up just now. But I had already settled on step one of the unknown plan:
Don't get yourself killed.

"So now you're going to let your sha'um finish the job you couldn't do yourselves?" I asked. Snaggletooth's face turned dark.

It was an old trick, a challenge of honor by ridicule. Like when an unarmed man challenges a man with a gun to a fist-fight.
Yeah,
I thought uncomfortably,
and the man with the gun laughs in the other guy's face and blows his head off.

Either it worked in this case or they had never had any intention of letting their sha'um interfere. Because Snaggletooth waved his hand and the sha'um ahead of me moved back and lay down. I heard Scarface slip down from his cat's back, and that cat, too, move away. Scarface appeared at my right elbow. I took a step backward as they drew their swords. Scarface was using his left hand now; his right forearm was tightly wrapped with a length of linen.

I drew my sword. "Two against one?" I asked hopefully. But that honourable they weren't going to be.

"Same odds as last night," Scarface said. And they came at me in a double rush.

I ran through a short, wordless prayer to Markasset.

We were standing in a young grove of dakathrenil trees. They had grown taller than our heads, but their umbrellas of branches were still narrow and lacy enough to admit a lot of light.

I dodged to my left, evading Scarface's overhand slash and blocking Snaggletooth's thrust. Scarface turned and deftly shifted the momentum of his chop into a vicious two-handed swing at my midsection. I jumped backward and the edge of his sword whacked a good inch into a tree trunk on my left. Snaggletooth had anticipated the move. He grabbed the tree and swung around it to my left.

He very nearly skewered me. I saw him just in time, twisted to get my sword between us and deflect his aim; the edge of his blade dragged a long, stinging cut across my chest.

*Markasset hurt,*
came Keeshah's raging thought.
*I come now*

*No, not yet.*

*Please.*

*No. Stay downwind.*

I could feel him seething, eager to join the fight. The fire I sensed in him seemed to flow into me until I felt stronger, I quicker, more alert.

Snaggletooth roared at the sight of my blood and began to press me back. I needed all Markasset's skill and more to keep his bronze blade away from my skin.

Through the clanging of our swords, I heard the soft snicking sound of Scarface's blade being drawn out of the tree trunk. I looked over Snaggletooth's shoulder; Scarface had disappeared.

I began to worry about where he was.

Snaggletooth leaped forward with a grin of triumph. Had I retreated, as he expected, I'd have been chopped in two by Scarface's sword. But I smelled him behind me and jumped, instead, to the right. Snaggletooth had to pull up short to keep from catching Scarface on the point of his sword.

They were beginning to stink of frustration, and I knew they would start taking chances. So I stayed close to the trunk of a tree, using it for a shield. The lowest branches were eye-ridge level, but I always knew exactly where they were. The other two weren't as lucky, and several times narrowly missed knocking themselves out.

Finally Scarface used his bandaged arm to swing around the tree trunk as the other one had done earlier. He aimed low, and he had a lot of momentum in his thrust.

I knocked the point of his sword into the ground and brought my knee up under his chin. He went down.

Snaggletooth was behind me. I jumped over Scarface and ran for another tree, Snaggletooth following me. From the sound of his heavy breathing, I judged the distance. I whipped around the tree to face him, leaped to catch the highest branch I could, and swung my weight on the springy tree, legs extended. Both feet connected with Snaggletooth's midriff.

He dropped his sword and doubled over, gasping for air. I landed on the ground, sheathed my sword, and walked up close to him. Ricardo delivered a sharp, satisfying right cross and Snaggletooth collapsed in a heap.

The two sha'um came up roaring, and I backed off. They didn't come after me, but stood guard over the unconscious men, now and then nuzzling and licking. I was reminded of Keeshah and me out in the desert.

Keeshah. I could feel him fading, and for the first time I realized what had happened.

*You were with me, weren't you Keeshah? I could smell and hear better. You did help me fight this battle, after all, didn't you?*

*Tried,*
he answered.
*Hurt?*

I looked down at the blood on my tunic, pulled it away to examine the cut. It was a bad place and might take a while to heal, but it wasn't deep. I was suffering more from the fading link with Keeshah, and I realized that his splendid fighting spirit had kept me going far past the point of my own endurance. I felt let down and shaky now, and I leaned against the tree I had swung on because I didn't trust my legs.

*I'm all right,*
I told Keeshah.
*That's a very special trick. You and Markasset must have made quite a fighting team.*

*No.*

*What?*

*First time.*

I didn't have a chance to wonder about that. Scarface and Snaggletooth were coming to.

Scarface's arms came up around the great wedge of his cat's head and held it, stroking and soothing the sha'um's concern for its master. Snaggletooth woke up choking and holding his gut; his cat lay down beside him, watching me with its golden eyes. Snaggletooth recovered enough to throw an arm up around the cat's neck. The sha'um stood up slowly, helping Snaggletooth first to sit, then to stand up.

Maybe these two wanted to kill me a few minutes ago,
I was thinking.
But as Thanasset said to me in different words not too long ago, anybody a sha'um loves can't be all bad.

I stood up straight and came out from under the tree. I was tense until I was sure neither one of them would reach for his sword.

Scarface moved to stand beside Snaggletooth. They touched their cats, who roared and complained, then quieted and sidled off unhappily.

If that means what I think it does....

It did. Snaggletooth worked his mouth, spat out a tooth, and spoke with a quiet dignity that I wouldn't have expected but which somehow suited him.

"They won't hurt you now."

"I don't want your lives," I said, understanding and impressed by what he had meant. "I do want some information. First your names."

"I am Bareff," said Snaggletooth, "and he is Liden." "Why did you quit so suddenly last night?"

They glanced at each other. Scarface - that is, Liden - answered.

"We thought you were one of us."

"Sharith?" I was beginning to see, but it wouldn't do to understand too easily. "What made you think so?"

"When our sha'um came in, they said you smelled of sha'um," explained Bareff.

I did,
I thought.
But I bathed and had my clothes washed. And I haven't touched Keeshah yet this morning. I'll bet their cats are confused.

"Then why all this hassle today?" I asked them.

Liden spoke up. "We're supposed to be told where our agents are, so that this doesn't happen. We sent a message to Thagorn last night, and the answer arrived this morning."

Handy things, those maufa,
I thought.
Fast, too.

"The Lieutenant told us we didn't have a man in Omergol, said Bareff.”He said to bring you in just to see what was going on."

"Then you weren't supposed to kill me?" I asked them. Scarface rubbed his swelling jaw. "Not that it wouldn't have been a pleasure."

I laughed then, and I caught a facial twitch from Snaggletooth that might have been the start of a smile. Or maybe not.

"Well, Bareff and Liden," I said finally, "I demand that you never raise sword to me again. But that's all I demand. Your lives are restored to you; the debt is settled."

They looked at each other, waiting for the catch. I let them stew for a few seconds, and then I laid it on them:

"I need to go to Thagorn." I just let it hang there.

"Why?" asked Bareff. He bent over and picked up his sword: Liden walked back a few paces to retrieve his. They both looked at me thoughtfully before they sheathed the bronze blades.

"A personal matter," I said. "It's important to me that I have a chance to talk to -" What had they called their leader? "- the Lieutenant."

"The Lieutenant don't talk to ground walkers," sneered Bareff.

"You'd have taken me back to Thagorn as a prisoner, right?"

Liden nodded, the scar showing white against the bruise flowing upward from his chin.

"If I had wanted it, I could have taken you back as my prisoners, right?"

Another nod I didn't need their facial expressions to tell me that every member of the Sharith would have despised me for doing it. I, too, was a Rider. I'd have felt the same way.

"Neither way suits me. Your Lieutenant - he might talk to me if I came to him in the company of two of his best men." That wasn't flattery; I was sure they were exactly that. "Not as prisoner or master - but as a friend."

They chewed that over, staring at me. Finally Bareff said: "I've never met a ground walker I'd call friend.-

I felt a temptation to call in Keeshah to prove my kinship to them and end this bickering. But Balgokh had said that Markasset was the only Rider not connected with the Sharith. They already knew that I wasn't one of their own. Seeing Keeshah would identify me positively - and I was still plagued by Markasset's lack of knowledge about the Sharith. They might welcome me as a long-lost brother. Or they might think me a traitor, a maverick, and refuse to have anything to do with me. I couldn't take the chance.

I felt Keeshah in the distance, getting ready to come in as he sensed my almost-invitation.

*Sorry, Keeshah,*
I told him.
*Stay where you are.*

To the two Sharith I said: "I'd say most ground walkers feel the same about Riders. But I've had a taste of your honor -" I waved vaguely at the sha'um "- and of your swords."

I waited. Ricardo had been a military man for a large portion of his life. As a Marine, I'd had the occasion to convince a few wetfeet that mud sluggers were worth something, too. I was hoping I'd just taught the same kind of lesson to these two members of the Gandalaran cavalry.

"Well," said Liden. His sha'um came up to him, and he put out a hand to stroke the smooth brow. "Well, let's get moving, then."

I sighed.

It's not hail-fellow-well-met,
I decided,
but it's a start.

The two sha'um knelt beside their masters. Liden mounted his cat stood up and ambled a short distance southward.

Bareff swung his leg over the cat's broad back, then turned to me and grinned. There was a gap in his lower left jaw. "Come on, groundwalker. See how it feels to Ride." I just stood there, looking at the flattish, dark-furred head of the kneeling sha'um. It was watching me, hating me.

"Or have you changed your mind about going to Thagorn?" Bareff s voice sounded dimly in my ears. I could spare no attention for him or for his cat. I was paralyzed by the icy rage that swept through me from Keeshah's mind.
*YOU RIDE ONLY KEESHAH!*

I could barely breathe through the onslaught of emotion.

Keeshah's anger, yes - but my own reactions, as well. Love for the great cat. Awareness of our unique partnership, guilt over this necessary betrayal, I knew he was coming closer and was ready to attack Bareffs sha'um. I was desperate to stop him for Thanasset's sake. I was desperate to make him understand the need for this ugly deception, to win his forgiveness and cooperation.

Wordlessly, I reached out to him. I pushed against the violent waves of disappointment and pain and outrage and fury. I seemed to push
through
a barrier and we were linked as we had been during the fight. Only now I shared his perceptions more completely. I could see the trees passing, feel the ground thudding by underneath me/him.