The Steel of Raithskar (26 page)

“I’d like that very much, Lieutenant,” I said, ignoring Thymas’s startled look as best I could. I fell back on Ricardo’s customs once more and offered my hand. “I can’t promise I’ll be back, but I’ll try. I’d like to get to know you and your people better.”

Dharak hesitated only briefly, then gripped my hand so strongly that I felt a sudden surge of affection for him. I knew I wasn’t the man he thought I was—but just for a moment I wanted to be. He carried a tremendous burden of leadership.

He and Thanasset should meet
, I decided at that moment.
They’d understand each other. They both have slightly inappropriate sons.

I was warmed, then, by a feeling of kinship with Thymas, and impulsively I offered him my hand, too. He looked surprised, then took it. Dharak smiled at the look of puzzlement on his face.

Then Zaddorn and I set out at a jog for the place where I had asked Keeshah to meet me this morning, the stream which had been my last stop on the trip to Thagorn. I had given Zaddorn the news about the developments in Raithskar. He had agreed, grimly, that we had to hurry back. But he had been quietly noncommittal when I assured him that Keeshah could carry us both.

So we traveled in silence, expending all our energy in covering distance. It suited us both, I think—as I had told Dharak, we weren’t friends. As Gra’mama Maria Constanza would have said, if you can’t say something nice …

Shortly before noon we left the road and headed for the appointed spot. Keeshah was already there, and he could wait no longer. He came running to meet me. He was still some distance away when we could hear him crashing through some thick brush. Zaddorn stopped, but I paid no attention. The trees were taller here, and the ground generally less overgrown, than was usual in this area; I caught a glimpse of Keeshah’s tawny head and I started running, too.

*
The one with you?
* Keeshah asked. *
Friend?
*

*
Yes,
* I called. *
Thank you for being patient.
*

*
It was hard,
* he told me, not griping or boasting, just stating the truth.

*
I know. I’ve missed you, too.
*

When we were about three yards apart, I caught the glimmer of joyous mischief from him—it wasn’t enough warning.

Keeshah came straight at me, bent his neck downward, and rammed me in the stomach with his forehead, knocking me off my feet. Still running, he lifted his head and flipped me up and over his back in a dizzy somersault. I crashed into a tall cluster of the curly trees and grabbed desperately at branches as I fell. I managed not to break my skull when I hit the ground.

That’s where I stayed, because Keeshah was right on top of me, grinding his muzzle into my chest. I grabbed his head and twisted, trying to wrestle him down to the ground. He roared and began to scoot backwards, shaking his head to dislodge me. He dragged me a good, scratchy ten yards before I gave up.

“Enough, Keeshah,” I gasped out loud, out of breath from laughing.

He nudged my chest again, this time almost tenderly.

*
Together,
* he said. *
Glad.
*

Then he lay down beside me, panting a little from the run and the playful struggle, and rested his chin on my out-stretched arm. A few minutes later, Zaddorn’s voice penetrated our peaceful communion.

“I couldn’t see what was happening,” he said, “but that
sounded
like a lot of fun.”

“It was,” I said, ignoring his sarcasm, and stood up.

*
Home now?
* Keeshah asked me.

*
Yes,
* I told him. *
All three of us must go, Keeshah. I know it will be hard for you to carry two all that way, but it’s important.
*

*
I can do it,
* he said, almost scornfully. *
I
won’t. Not him. You don’t like him.
*

I felt a deep sense of sympathy for Bareff. But if he could convince his sha’um to carry a man who had beaten him senseless …

As I had done then, to convince Keeshah of an urgent need, I reached out to him now. I felt his mind quiet expectantly, and this time it was easier to achieve that intimate bond that conveyed understanding without the need to compose communication symbols.

And Keeshah agreed to carry Zaddorn.

*
He will mount first,
* I said to Keeshah, and forestalled his objection. *
It will be easier for you; I have learned to ride second.
*

Zaddorn had been watching us quietly for the few seconds required for the exchange. Now I turned to Zaddorn and said: “Watch.” I sat on Keeshah’s back and slid into riding position, then sat up and got off again. “Like that. I’ll mount behind you.”

Zaddorn didn’t move.

“Well?” I said impatiently. “You know how important time is. Get on!”

“I—” It was the first time I had seen Zaddorn lose his composure. There had been a certain style even in the way he had come up fighting from the cargo net in Thagorn. Yet now his face, thinner than ever from the long run across the desert, was ashen white. His dark eyes reminded me of something …

“I don’t think I can do that.”

That’s the way I looked in the mirror at Yafnaar
, I realized.
Scared right down to my toenails. It’s not just that Keeshah’s a big, dangerous cat. Zaddorn has spent all his life with both feet on the ground. At least I was accustomed to the idea of riding an animal—he has never even considered it.

I was learning something else about the relationship between Zaddorn and Markasset. No matter what other triumphs Zaddorn had scored, Markasset held the ace: he had Keeshah.

Well, sympathy won’t help him now
, I decided.

“Either you get on Keeshah’s back,” I said aloud, “or he’ll carry you through the gates of Raithskar by the seat of your trousers.”

The challenge stirred him up, as I had hoped. Zaddorn glared at me, then the muscles along his still-pale jaw twitched with determination. He walked up to Keeshah, sat down on his back as I had done and slid into an approximation of the position I had shown him. I checked both sides, moved his hands a little higher on Keeshah’s shoulders, then mounted behind him. He was stiff as a salt block.

*
He’s terrified,
* I explained, and I had to smile at Keeshah’s disgusted agreement. *
Stand up slowly and walk around. Let him get used to you.
*

There was no direct response from Keeshah, but I felt him getting impatient and stubborn. I had just barely enough time to warn Zaddorn.

“Close your eyes and don’t pinch Keeshah’s shoulders,” I shouted as Keeshah leaped up and set off at full run. He found the road and headed for Raithskar. I was very glad that I couldn’t read Zaddorn’s mind.

Keeshah tired quickly, of course, and gradually Zaddorn thawed out. We followed the mountain trail, the route by which Keeshah and I had made the trip out. It would have been faster to cross the desert, but Keeshah needed food to sustain him through the trip. There was game for him along the hills.

But we used the same travel pattern Zaddorn had adopted for the sake of speed: travel four hours, rest for one. We took a longer rest occasionally, to allow Keeshah to feed and rest more thoroughly. Zaddorn didn’t complain—in fact, our tacit agreement to silence held except for the purely mechanical communication relating to food and rest stops—but I knew he was approaching the end of his endurance by the end of the second day. He had worn himself thin on the way
to
Thagorn, and this constant application of a different kind of strength was telling on him quickly.

For all our sakes, I called a halt near a stream in the late afternoon. I didn’t wake him on time, but let him sleep an extra three hours. Keeshah, too, accepted the extra resting time. But though I tried to sleep, I found I couldn’t. My head was buzzing with thoughts of Thanasset—what was happening to him? A mob—would they even listen when we got there? Always assuming we would get there on time?

“You let me oversleep,” Zaddorn’s voice spoke to me from the dark.

“You needed it,” I said, then called “Keeshah!” We heard him stand up, stretch and shake himself. “And I need you.”

After we had all taken care of some necessary body functions, Keeshah knelt and I waited for Zaddorn to mount.

“You take the front position for a while,” he said. “Fair trade for the extra sleep.”

“You’ll be sorry,” I told him, and asked Keeshah to let me know if he were too uncomfortable with Zaddorn riding second.

“Probably,” he agreed drily, and we mounted.

*
It’s all right,
* Keeshah told me after a few minutes. *
He learns.
*

Gratefully I gave up my weight and my troubled mind to Keeshah’s soothing rhythm. I slept clear to the next stop.

After that, we traded positions every time we stopped. Zaddorn, too, learned to nap while Keeshah carried us.

It was noon of the fourth day since we left Thagorn that we rode up to the gates of Raithskar. The last leg had been a long one, Keeshah as eager as we to get back. He pulled up short, snarling, as a cordon of armed men flowed out the gate and surrounded us.

I slid off Keeshah’s hindquarters, lifting my hands to show that I had no intention of drawing my sword. Zaddorn sat up, still on Keeshah’s back, and the effect on the men was electrifying.

“Zaddorn?” said one of the men, stepping forward and dropping the point of his sword. “We didn’t expect you back for another week.” He grabbed his gray baldric with one hand and replaced his sword in its sheath. His face said plainly what he wouldn’t put into words—certainly they didn’t expect Zaddorn to arrive on the back of a sha’um.

*
Want home,
* Keeshah told me. He was panting heavily. *
Rest. Want home.
*

*
As soon as possible, Keeshah. I promise.
*

Zaddorn swung his right leg over Keeshah’s back and slid to the ground with his characteristic grace. “Well, I’m here now, Klareth. What’s the situation?”

“You know about—?”

“Thanasset, yes. Now answer me, man!”

“It’s bad, Zaddorn. We’ve had to put the Supervisor into custody in his own home. The tension had been building ever since he—” he nodded in my direction “—rode out of here. The people took that as an admission of guilt for him and for the Supervisor.” His voice dropped almost to a whisper. “I’ve never seen the people this stirred up about
anything
, Chief. Things could get very nasty any minute now.”

“Let’s go,” Zaddorn said, and started for the gate. I followed him, my hand on Keeshah’s neck. The cordon of men fell in around us in a double rank.

There was a lot of whispering in the marketplace as we passed, but nobody challenged us. The crowds got thicker as we approached Thanasset’s house, and I felt a coldness in the pit of my stomach.

The street in front of Thanasset’s door was packed solid with people. Word of our coming had been shouted ahead, and the crowd turned its attention in our direction.

“There he is,” someone yelled, “the traitor’s son! How dare he come back to Raithskar?”

“Zaddorn, too!” someone else called. “Zaddorn’s with him.”

“What news?”

“It’s the traitor Markasset!”

The tide of people swept toward us, tumultuous, curious, demanding, abusive. The noise was incredible; even those who merely wanted information wouldn’t have been able to hear us. The cordon of men was pressed back by the sheer weight of people until Keeshah—though he wouldn’t have phrased it this way—was beginning to feel like a furry sardine.

*
Home close!
* he told me impatiently. *
I
go.
*

“I can’t hold him back much longer,” I shouted in Zaddorn’s ear.

“Let him go,” he yelled back. “He’ll get us some room.”

I let him go. By then I didn’t have any choice.

*
Try not to kill anybody!
*

He shouldered his way between two of the guards and announced to the crowd that
he wanted to move.
A climbing wail of panic began around him and rippled outward. His claws and teeth damaged the nearest people, but the far reaches of the crowd still didn’t know what was going on. Many more people were hurt by being crunched between the edge of the mob, still pressing inward, and the center of it trying to get away from Keeshah.

Zaddorn and I followed Keeshah closely, with four men around us guarding our rear. The rest of the cordon got separated and swallowed in the crowd. There were guards around the house shoulder to shoulder, all of them standing tense and quiet until we got close to the garden gate. Then they came forward and formed a protective V around us until the gate was opened and we got through.

I have never felt a sense of relief quite like I felt when that gate had closed behind us.

Keeshah started off for his house, but Zaddorn said: “Call him back. Only for a minute.”

I did, and he came grumbling.

“We can’t leave that crowd without some information; they’ll tear down the house,” Zaddorn told me. “Ask Keeshah if I might mount him once more and climb to the top of the wall.”

Keeshah knelt for us at my request, and in a few seconds we were both standing on top of the garden wall, a tapering structure of gray brick. The edge was narrow; Zaddorn overbalanced and I caught his arm to steady him. It trembled slightly.

He’s about ready to collapse
, I thought.

But once he had his balance again, he stood rock-still and waited while the crowd noticed us and roared, realized slowly that Zaddorn was waiting for quiet so he could speak, and, more slowly still, gave him what he wanted. We stood above the silence for a full two minutes, looking over the mass of jutting-browed faces.

Young, old, and in between—they all carried that same terrifying expression. The look of an individual who had discovered the power of many. These groundwalkers were riding now, riding a high sense of strength, and to support that insidious addiction they joined each with his neighbor to keep the power directed. Some of them, I knew, didn’t even care
where
the mob’s energy was directed; they only wanted to be part of it, to maintain that heady sensation of a current of power flowing through them.