This Battle Lord's Quest (18 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Hassee

The air was filled with the sounds of yelling. She
caught the clash of metal upon metal, telling her the battle was up ahead.
Confused, Aggee paused near a large oak to listen. Around her, people hurried
toward one end of the village, many of them carrying torches and weapons.

“The storehouse! They’re robbing the storehouse!”
The cry was faint and straight ahead.

Plunging onward, she followed one man holding a
sword. They raced through the open field of dry grass, toward a row of small
houses set away from the main village. At times her bare feet hit the edge of a
half-buried rock, sending small lances of pain up her legs. Grimly, she kept
running toward the area where several torches revealed a skirmish between a
half dozen people wielding swords and spears, and a handful of men on
horseback.

Suddenly, from out of the dark, a shadowy figure on
a black horse appeared and tried to run the man down. Aggee skidded to a stop
and stared at the creature in the saddle. Part man, part animal, its bore a
head on top of its other head, giving it a surreal, nightmarish appearance. The
thing screamed as it raised a sword.

“Aiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiiiii!”

The man on foot managed to divert the rider’s
blade, but the figure continued to rain blows down on him. Gritting her teeth,
Aggee ran toward the horse, aiming for the opposite side. Lowering her head,
she rammed the animal in its ribs with her good arm. The horse squealed and
went down, throwing the rider onto the dry grass. The man rushed over to drive
his sword into the rider’s bared chest, killing it instantly. Breathing
heavily, the warrior finally glanced up at her.

“Thanks.”

It was the male voice from the other room.

The moon broke through the clouds and threw a
silver halo about his head. Instead of turning it white, his hair glowed with a
reddish sheen. Aggee felt her heart jump into her throat as the image of a face
superimposed over the man’s. It was a face instantly dear to her, but one she
couldn’t identify. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the phantom visage
disappeared. Before she could react or respond, another scream came from the
distance. Immediately, the man took off toward it, with Aggee at his heels.

There were more horses. Nine, from what she could
distinguish. Over a dozen warriors were converging on the riders. Behind them,
she could make out several rectangular rock buildings. As she watched, a
shadowy figure emerged from one with a large sack slung over his shoulder.
 
She looked around for something she could
use to stop him, but all she could see were more rocks amid the dry grasses.

Without thinking, she snatched up several
fist-sized pieces of limestone, storing them in her sling, and took off after
the thief. In the wavering torch light, he had the head of a bear on top of his
own, and a pelt of blackish fur ran down his arms and back.

Mutah. They’re Mutah.

The man reached his horse, where he hastily threw
the sack onto the animal’s back and started to mount.

“Hey, you! Asshole!”

The man turned to see her running toward him, and a
smile jumped onto his face. Aggee stopped in her tracks and threw a rock as
hard as she could. In the confusion of dark and light, he never saw the
projectile until the split-second before it smashed dead center into his nose.
The man slid from his saddle, slumping onto the ground. Running up to him, she
jammed her heel into the man’s temple, finishing him off as she felt the skull
cave in.

She stood looking down at the man, and finally
realized he didn’t have two heads. He was wearing the remains of a bear like a
costume. His bared chest was smeared with a dark color to make him appear as
one with the pelt. From what she could see in the remains of his face, the
Hassee bore no distinguishing painted marks.

“You’re not Mutah,” she gasped, breathing heavily
as adrenaline raced through her veins. Glancing back at the storehouse, she
finally understood. “You’re here to steal the winter rations.”

A shrill scream came from behind the buildings.
Reaching for another rock inside her sling, Aggee hurried around the storage
bin in time to see Paas and a tall redheaded woman attacking another Hassee
warrior on horseback. It appeared the women had the upper hand when the horse
suddenly reared. Its hooves caught Paas on the shoulder. The spear flew from
her hands as she spun around from the blow and landed heavily on her side.

The redheaded woman screamed and tried to
retaliate, but the Hassee warrior kneed his horse to run her down. She swung
her sword, but it glanced harmlessly off the man’s own weapon, and the rider
continued to gallop away. Quiet as a ghost, the horse’s hooves barely made a
sound on the dry grass as the darkness started to swallow the retreating
figure.

With cold precision, Aggee dropped the rock and
snatched up the spear, hefting it to familiarize herself to the weapon’s weight
and balance. Then, focusing on the man riding away, she took a couple of steps
forward and threw it as hard as she could.

There was a faint whistle as the weapon sliced
through the air, followed by an audible thump. The figure slid sideways off the
animal, but the horse continued its frenzied pace, speeding away from the
village and back in the direction where it had come from.

Aggee dropped to the ground as she gasped for
breath. She was aware of several people running up behind her. Two of them
stopped, but a third person continued onward to check on the horseless Hassee.
It was the young man whose life she’d saved earlier. She watched as he stabbed
the body once more for good measure, then retrieved the spear and walked back
to where she was sitting. He glanced down at her, but handed the weapon to
someone else.

“You got him through the throat. It was either a
lucky shot, or—”

“Lucky shot, my ass,” the voice to her left
remarked with a hint of laughter. “Aggee, who taught you to throw a spear like
that?”

“No one. I taught myself.”

I taught myself.
It was the truth, but she had no memory of when she’d learned the
skill. Or where. Or how. There was nothing she could offer as proof, other than
the fact that she knew it was an honest answer. “Is that all of them?” she
asked.

“Yeah.” A hand reached down to help her to her
feet. She turned to see Paas smiling at her. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

The group returned to the storehouses where five
bodies of the enemy were already laid out. Dahyan stood beside them, bloodied
sword in hand, and directed her people.

“Is that all of them?”

“There’s one more in the meadow,” the young male
warrior replied, pointing the way.

As the others counted the losses, Aggee went over
to check out the enemy. Her faceless bear man was among them. So was the one
whose horse she’d rammed. That man wore the head and skin of a feral feline.
Like the man in the bear skin, his chest was painted a dark color to help his
disguise. She also noted the other bodies represented a wolfen, a fox, and a
beaver. All of the men wore black pants and boots.

The toe of a boot nudged the bear man. “Who killed
this one?”

“I did,” Aggee admitted.

Dahyan came over to join them, and picked up on the
conversation. “
You
did? With what?”

“A rock.”

“Are you shitting us?” The real Aggee walked over,
disbelief on her face, as well as on the other faces of the other Lanta warriors
surrounding the bodies.

Instead of answering, Aggee tilted her sling and
dumped the rest of the rocks she’d collected onto the ground. No one disputed
her any further.

“Come on. It’s over,” Dahyan finally announced.
“Let’s go.”

“What if they return?” Aggee inquired.

“They won’t. At least, not tonight,” an unknown
warrior told her. “They’ll regroup to lick their wounds and wonder why their
little raid wasn’t as successful as they’d first believed it would be.”

“How much did they get away with?” the real Aggee
questioned.

Dahyan answered. “The council will evaluate that
come morning. Our job here is done.”

Aggee looked around at the flat landscape. “What
about the bodies? What will you do with them?” She couldn’t imagine leaving
them there in the open where the wild animals could feast on them. It would put
the village in danger, should the creatures decide to encroach further into the
compound.

She froze. Compound? Leaving the bodies out in the
open? Where did those thoughts come from?
No. Not thoughts. Memories.
The
faintest vision played in her mind of a body being thrown over a high wooden
wall, into a cleared area.

Paas pointed to a group in the distance. From their
movements, Aggee could tell they were digging one large grave. Nodding, she
turned to follow the others, when the young man snagged her good arm.

“Hey. I want to thank you for what you did to
help.” He smiled, and the markings on his cheek and neck moved like watery
figures. “My name’s Droo.”

“I’m—”

He shook his head to interrupt. “I already know who
you are. Or, shall we say, who you think you are. Where did you learn to fight
like that?”

Aggee started to reply, when Paas joined them.
“Didn’t you hear her? She taught herself.”

“Well, one thing’s for certain,” Droo responded.
“Her story of surviving a coon attack is becoming more plausible by the hour.
She wields a rock and a spear like a veteran warrior. And when she has neither,
she’s still hellacious. You should have seen her throw her body against that
horse to dislodge the Hassee. Hey, Aggee, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Yeah,” she replied, tears threatening to fill her
eyes. “I can’t remember shit.”

So much to explain, and no way to explain it. I can
do things I have no idea I can do. Why? How?

Fucking memory. Fucking head wound.

The more she tried to dredge up the past, the more
it hurt. The frustration kept building, to where she felt like sitting down in
the dirt and having a good cry.

They returned to the house she had fled, and went
into the large living area that contained several long padded benches. Droo,
Paas, the real Aggee, and Dahyan took a seat, while two other warriors got
their orders from their leader and left. Over in the corner, Bric watched with
hooded eyes.

“I saw our mystery woman make herself useful in
battle.”

“She was,” Paas defended her.

Aggee was barely aware of someone going from
lantern to lantern to bring up the lights, until Dahyan commented.

“Aggee, I may have been wrong about you.”

Wearily, she looked up at the woman standing in
front of her, holding her weapons belt in one hand. Thanking her, she took the
belt, draping it over her lap. Now that the rush was over, she felt totally
drained. But her disappointment at being unable to recall the least little bit
from her past was nearly overwhelming.

A body sat next to her. “I haven’t thanked you for
what you did out there.”

It was the real Aggee. The woman didn’t have any
marks or paintings on her face, but her neck and bared shoulders bore intricate
designs in a rainbow of colors. Aggee glanced at the sword leaning against the
cushion.

“I thought Paas said you weren’t a warrior. That
you helped your father.”

“I’m not, and I do,” the redhead said.

“But if the horn blows, everyone grabs whatever then
can, and goes to help defend the village,” Droo told her.

“Aggee.”

When both women looked over at the older woman,
Dahyan rolled her eyes. “I can see now we’re going to have a problem with
names.” She pointed to her daughter. “You we’ll continue to call Aggee. And
you, we’ll call...I don’t know. Aggie Two, I guess.”

Aggie Two? Or Aggie Too?

It didn’t matter. In a
way, it was funny, seeing the confusion. But in another way, it was
heartbreaking because she knew it wasn’t her real name. Her birth name. That
name, that person, and that life remained concealed behind the curtain of
darkness that continued to plague her.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Droo

She couldn’t sleep. The night’s events continued to
play through her mind. And with each repetition, she noticed things she hadn’t
before. Like the leather bracing on the Hasseen saddles. The sheen of the black
paint reflecting in the torches’ light. The fine craftsmanship of the enemy
swords.

Getting out of bed, she padded into the living area
where the lanterns had been lowered but not extinguished, and brought up one of
the lights. She took it over to a bench where the enemy weapons and saddles had
been brought after the dead had been stripped and buried.

She picked up one sword to examine the hilt. The
handle bore a knob at the end. The bulb gleamed from being constantly polished
by its owner’s hand.

His hand rubbed the sword’s grip, the only sign of
his nervousness and worry.

She gasped. The vision had been as clear as if she
had been watching it at that moment. Returning the sword, she examined the
other odd weapons, especially the thin-bladed knives. She cradled one in her
palm, giving it a twirl between her knuckles, then making it spin on the tip of
her index finger. The intricate movements surprised her. When had she learned
to do that?

Aggee dropped the knife back onto the bench. She
wasn’t the least bit sleepy, but she knew that if she didn’t get some rest, she
wouldn’t heal. And the last thing she wanted to be was a burden to Paas and her
family, who were gracious enough to allow her to stay in their home while she
recovered.

An owl hooted, and she felt a rising need to feel
the forest around her.
 
She glanced down
at the borrowed nightgown and shrugged. It still felt strange, but she knew she
couldn’t go outside wearing nothing but her sling.

A quick check revealed nothing but the sound of
someone softly snoring in one of the back rooms. Soon after they had returned
to the house, she got to meet Caim, Dahyan’s mate and father to Paas and the
real Aggee. After he was told what had occurred in the fields, he gave Aggee a
warm hug and his sincere thanks. The man was shorter than Dahyan, and his arms
bore muscles of iron. There were no facial marks on him, but like the real
Aggee, his neck, throat, and shoulders had become a canvas for a series of
intricate and colorful designs. He also sported many scars, and he was missing
one eye, but it was quickly evident how deeply he was loved, and that the love
was returned twofold. Aggee watched the interplay between him and the warrior
leader with envy, and for the first time, she wondered about her own mate.

Did they share a love as deep? Was her being alone
a cruel twist of fate, or was it due to an accident? She shivered at the
unbidden thought that came next. What if she was alone because she had fled the
relationship?

No. I didn’t flee. I was...

Hunting.

She blinked. She had been hunting. She had been
hunting...
with friends.

The coon screamed and lashed out at the man who had
chopped off its tail with one powerful blow.

“Paxton.” The name came to her with instant clarity
and no pain. Either her memory was returning as she recuperated, or something
had caused her brain to dredge it up from the depths.

But the one true fact that she needed above all
continued to elude her, and she frowned with frustration.

The owl hooted again. Unmindful of what others
would think, she ventured outside.

The village was well-lit, but not brightly. Hooks or
sconces graced both sides of every door and window of every dwelling. And while
every sconce bore a flaming torch, each metal curve held aloft a lantern or a
clear, glass-like container containing more of those glowing rocks, like the
kind Paas had worn around her neck.

Aggee eyed a nearby tree. Walking over to it, she
settled onto a tuft of grass next to its roots, and leaned against the trunk,
tilting her head back against the rough surface.

The night soothed her. The forest, even with its
dangers, was comforting. When she closed her eyes, she was no longer a nameless
stranger in a place containing buildings that had survived the Great
Concussion. She was...

Home. Where wooden buildings sat side by side.
Except for hers. Hers stood apart. A wide, two-storied lodge, where inside she
would see—

“I can’t sleep, either.”

Aggee lifted her head and opened her eyes to stare
at the young man standing a few feet away. He was still fully dressed, his
sword sheathed at his hip.

“Mind if I join you?”

She gestured to the ground in silent invitation,
and Droo parked himself next to her, folding his legs beneath him.

“What do you do when you can’t get any shut eye?”
she asked.

The man smiled. “Most of the time, I do what you’re
doing. I sit outside and watch the moon, hoping to bore myself into falling
asleep.”

She glanced at the weapon. “Do you always take your
sword with you?” The moment she uttered the words, she realized Droo’s true
intent. “You were placed here to guard me.”

“Actually, it’s not just me. This is my shift.”

“Am I still considered a danger?”

“Truthfully? No. But Dahyan thinks you could wander
off and get lost.”

Aggee snorted. “Get lost? Where? This place is wide
open. You can see people coming and going a mile away.” She pointed out to the
grassy field where the broken moon bathed everything in its milky radiance.
“What lies in that direction, besides the storehouses? And why are they set so
far away from the village?”

Storage bins. Conical shapes clustered in one
corner of the compound.

Droo noticed her blank look. “What?”

She blinked, brought back to the present. “What?”

“You looked like you were remembering something.”

She gave a little shrug. “I saw something, but I’m
not sure what it was.”

He snorted softly. She knew he wasn’t laughing at
her. It was his way of commiserating with her struggle.

She chanced a glance sideways at him. The ambient
light highlighted his profile, and cast a yellow glow around his red-gold hair,
which he had pulled back and fastened at the nape of his neck.

Fastened with a length of leather, or with a...

“I love this.”

She had taken some of her hair and braided it,
until it formed a narrow chain a quarter of an inch wide and approximately
eight inches in length. He held it in his palm and ran a fingertip over it.

“I made it for you to use as a wristlet. Here, want
me to tie it for you?” She held out her hands in offer. He handed it over to
her, and she made a slipknot through it. The length was a perfect fit around
his thick wrist.

“I love this,” he repeated again, drawing her into
his arms. Bringing his lips down on her and stealing the breath from her lungs.

He wore the wristlet for two days, until one
morning at breakfast she noticed it was no longer there. He noticed where her
gaze was directed.

“I accidentally snagged it.”

He’d broken it, which meant she would need to make
him a new one, or—

“I was afraid I’d lose it, so I found another way
to keep it with me.”

He turned his head to show her he’d used the braid
to tie back his own hair. The blue strands were stark against his lighter
shades.

Aggee’s eyes went to the back of the man’s neck.
The tie was black, and a sense of disappointment went through her. He must have
noticed.

“What’s wrong? Did I say something to upset you? If
I did, I apologize.”

He was sitting closer to her, almost knee to knee.
Close enough to where she could feel his body heat. There was something about
him that tugged at her heart. He was so much like someone else she knew.
Someone she cared about, deeply.

A misty face tried to form over his. Aggee
struggled to bring it into focus, but the visage stubbornly refused.

Droo reached out and tucked a lock of her hair over
an ear. The gesture brought back a flood of memories, but these were too
jumbled together for her to try to sort out.

She looked into the young man’s face. At his
features. His deep-set blue eyes. The strong chin. Yet...

S
omething is missing. Something isn’t quite
right.

She lifted a hand to the face that drew nearer, and
touched his right cheek. She ran her index finger from the corner of his eye,
down the slight stubble, to the edge of his mouth. Something...

Something...

He leaned over and kissed her. She had no idea why
he felt emboldened enough to attempt it, but she didn’t object. She waited, not
responding. Waited for her reaction to come leaping from the center of her
soul. Waited for the magic of his kiss to awaken the need and desire within
her.

Nothing. She felt nothing.

Droo realized she wasn’t kissing him in return, and
broke away, red-faced.

“I’m sorry. Forgive me.”

“It’s okay. I knew you meant nothing by it.”

He picked up a dry leaf from the ground and slowly
picked it apart bit by bit. “I know you’re mated, or you have been.” He finally
risked looking at her. “You will probably hate me for what I’m about to say,
but it’s the truth. I’m hoping no one comes for you. I’m praying to Stephen
that the time will come when you’ll finally realize you are alone, and
therefore free to choose someone else...if you desire to.”

He was baring his heart to her, and his sincerity
touched her. Reaching out, she grasped his wrist.

“Thank you, Droo. I appreciate your honesty, so I
must return it in kind.” She touched the center of her chest. “I don’t feel any
kind of grief, and that worries me because it either means I’m not aware of my
mate’s death, or if I am, I don’t care that he’s gone. And that second
realization frightens me more than it worries me. Whoever this man is who’s
claimed me, I don’t feel we’ve truly separated. I can’t explain it, but I think
he’s alive and coming for me.”

“Are you looking forward to reuniting with him if
he does show up?”

Aggee searched herself. “Yes,” she finally
admitted. “I do.”

Droo sadly nodded. “I understand.” He started to
stand, hesitated, then looked back at her. “Keep this in mind, if you will.”

“What?” She had an idea what he was going to say,
but she needed to hear him say it anyway.

“How long will you wait for him before you
determine he isn’t coming?”

“I don’t know.”

He took a deep, steadying breath. “If he doesn’t
come for you, Aggee, when you decide not to wait any longer, may I have
permission to kiss you again?”

It wasn’t a plea. He wasn’t begging. It was a
soul-baring question needing an honest reply.

“Yeah, Droo. When I finally accept the fact that he
isn’t coming for me, I will let you kiss me again, but I don’t know when that
will be. So if you decide before then you’re no longer interested, I’ll
understand.”

He gave her a rueful smile and stood. “That’s what
I wanted to hear. Thank you.” Glancing around the quiet village, he added,
“It’ll be morning in a few short hours. You need to get back to your bed.”

She allowed him to take her hand and help her
stand. She didn’t miss the quick glance at her nightgown, knowing he would see
the outline of her body through the thin material, but his perusal didn’t
bother her.

A chilly wind blew through the area. Aggee grasped
her bandaged arm against the cold. It would soon snow again, probably around
dawn.

“Quick, now. You don’t want to catch your death.”

She smiled. “You’re right. After all I’ve already
been through, it would be ironic to come down with the flu.”

She knew he watched her as she walked back to the
house. Pausing in the doorway, she turned around and smiled at him. “Goodnight,
Droo. See you in the morning. I mean, later today,” she laughed.

“Goodnight, Aggee. Sleep well.”

She closed the door and returned to her bed, and
easily slid into a restful sleep.