Jabone's Sword
by
Selina Rosen

Table of Contents

JABONE'S SWORD
Selina Rosen

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed
in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents
is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2008 by Selin Rosen

First Dragon Moon Press printing January 2008

Dragon Moon Press
P.O. Box 1714
Calgary, Alberta T2P 2L7, Canada
www.dragonmoonpress.com

ISBN10: 1-897492-05-7
ISBN13: 978-1-897492-05-5

First Baen Ebook, February 2009

A Baen Ebook
Distributed by
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com

Preface

The Kartik was no longer tortured by Amalite raiders. Their shores were mostly quiet, and occasional problems were easily and swiftly dealt with. In this time those who had sacrificed and fought reaped what they had sown and enjoyed their lives and their loves. They built homes, had children, and told stories of the time of the Great War.

But children grow too quickly and peace never lasts.

* * *

Jabone watched his mothers play, scuffling in the dirt. They moved a little slower than they had when he was a boy, but not much else about them had changed. His birth father tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.

Arvon laughed at his son and sat down on the rock beside him. "So . . . just what were you thinking that I was able to sneak up on you? Your madra would be so very disappointed."

Jabone smiled at his fadra. "Then we won't tell her."

Arvon ruffed Jabone's long, dark hair making a mess of it. "All right if you'll tell me what you were thinking that put a crease in your brow."

"It was nothing really."

"Then you shouldn't mind telling me."

Jabone sighed. "Jena was supposed to be the mother of my birth, and when she was trying to conceive my father Dustan tried to impregnate her." He stopped there.

"Because they thought I might be the problem," Arvon said, then prompted, "Go on."

"So if things had gone differently Dustan would have been my fadra and Jena would have been my madra. I was thinking how different I would have been if they had been my birth parents instead of you and Tarius. I would be blond like you and light skinned. I wouldn't be the Katabull . . ."

"Are you unhappy with yourself, son?" Arvon was confused. "Or are you just not happy with Tarius and me as birth parents?"

"No, no." Jabone patted his fadre's back. "I am happy with all my parents, all of them. In fact I was just thinking that as different as I would have been in features and in cast that my personality would have been no different at all. I've had four parents to care for me, love me, nurture me, to train me and mold me into the person I am . . . "

He faded out then and Arvon knew what was troubling his son. He shook his head and smiled because as much as it upset his son it really was funny. With all the trouble Arvon had, in his youth and in his life in his homeland, it was hard not to be amused. "Jabone . . . You really must stop worrying about it. It isn't a deficiency nor is it the horrible burden you think it is"

"Fadra, you don't understand. How could you? How can I not worry about it?" he asked in a troubled tone. "My children will grow up like my poor friends Tarius and Ufalla, with only one father and only one mother. I have seen how the different-sexed couples react to one another. There isn't the same companionship between Tarius's parents as there is with you and my father and certainly none of the different couplings I have ever seen share what my mothers do. I mean look at them . . ." He pointed to the two women still wrestling and laughing as they rolled around in the dirt. "They have been together for over twenty years yet they are as much in love as they were on the day they met . . ."

"As are Harris and Elise," Arvon reminded.

"It's not the same, fadre. You know it's not the same. There is a certain equality that is just missing in different couplings," he said, obviously very worried so Arvon squashed his own amusement.

"And you were just thinking that perhaps if you had been Jena and Dustan's birth son instead of mine and Tarius's you might have been queer because they are so much less masculine than us," Arvon said, peeling away the layers. Jabone had in that moment the same look he'd had on his face the morning that they had caught him playing with his madra's sword.

"I'm sorry, Fadra." He looked at his feet ashamed.

Arvon laughed and hugged his son. "My son . . . You are no disappointment to anyone, and you shouldn't be to yourself. There is nothing wrong with you. You are a very normal, healthy man. You will find a young woman who you share equality with, you will fall in love, and your children won't grow up wanting. You worry too much." He smiled then. "You are so like your madra I sometimes wonder if she didn't have you on her own with no one's help. You worry so much. And if you hold onto the idea that love must be like what Tarius and Jena have, then you will never find it. What they have is something no one I have known has and it isn't because they are queer."

"Fadra . . . What was wrong with my mother, why couldn't she have me?"

Arvon wasn't surprised by the boy's question in fact he'd been expecting it for some time now. The question stirred up bad memories in his mind that darkened his features. His change in demeanor wasn't lost on his very intuitive son.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"You have heard the story of how your madra fooled the whole of the Jethrik, won a war for them, how their king repaid her by shooting her through with an arrow, how Harris saved her, and how Jena came here to be with her?"

"Of course, Fadra, I have heard nothing but stories of the battles and the wars all my life."

"But there are other things, private family things, that are not told in those stories. Deep hurts and things too personal to be shared in stories told around a camp fire. Things that only a few of us even know, and don't wish to repeat. We haven't told you because quite frankly it hurts too much to recall, but I think maybe it's time you heard the whole story. You shouldn't hear it from me though, because it's not my story to tell." Arvon looked at the two scuffling women and frowned. "And you shouldn't ask your madra because Tarius will not tell you. She couldn't. The thought of it hurts her more than any physical wound she has ever been inflicted with. You must ask Jena. Ask your mother; she will tell you."

"I don't want to dredge up unhappy memories for anyone, least of all my gentle mother," he said.

"Then you'll never know because it isn't my place to tell you and I know that Tarius will not. You don't give your mother enough credit. I sometimes think Jena is the strongest person I know. I think you have a right to know. I think maybe you need to know why Tarius is your birth mother and not Jena. Maybe that will explain for you just why they are so close. They have been through hell to be together. That and not the fact that they are queer is what makes them different from other couples, any other couples that you will ever know."

* * *

Jabone watched as his mother walked up from the lake wearing a colorful wrap-around dress and running a comb through her long, blond wet hair. It had been days since he had spoken to his fadra. He really didn't want to approach his mother and ask her to talk of something that had caused her much pain, but his curiosity was getting the better of him, and just as his fadra had told him when Jabone had asked his madra her features had grown dark and she had said it wasn't important and then changed the subject.

He walked up to Jena and she stopped combing her hair and smiled at him then gave him a big hug kissing him on the cheek. "I sometimes forget how big and beautiful you are. You look so much like your madra when we first met. Just bigger." She kissed him again and gave him yet another hug. Of all his parents it was Jena to which he felt the closest, Jena who had cared for him through his infancy, even nursed him with help from a potion, and it was Jena who lavished the most attention on him. He had always felt he could ask anything of her and yet he couldn't bring himself to ask her about this family secret.

She looked at him and smiled. "So . . . Are you going to tell me what has got my baby so worried that he's eating half of what he normally eats?"

"Mother!" Jabone laughed and slapped playfully at her shoulder. "I'm hardly a baby."

"You'll always be my baby," she said. "So . . . what's bothering you?"

"I . . . nothing . . ."
"Don't lie to your mother boy," Jena said in a scolding tone, but she was still smiling. In fact he couldn't remember her ever being the least bit cross with at him. "Tarius told me what you asked, Jabone. I will tell you if you still want to know."

He took her hand and started leading her back towards the lake. She followed, no doubt knowing where he was taking her. There was a spot down by the water where he went to think.

He sat down on the log that overlooked the lake and pulled her down beside him, but he was still silent.

"So?" she asked.

"I asked my fadra . . . he said I should ask you, that Madra wouldn't tell me and he was right. Mother, why is it that you were not my madra?"

"Honey, you know why. I couldn't get pregnant. At first the witch Jazel suggested that it was because of Arvon and so Dustan tried, but . . ." She shrugged. "You know all of that, so I'm guessing that's not what you really want to know."

"Why would Jazel so quickly come to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my fadra?"

* * *

Jena had been sure she knew what was on Jabone's mind, but part of her had been hoping that he really wanted to know something simple. Like when he'd asked where he came from and they explained sex and cross pairing to him and then he'd looked confused and said that he had just wanted to know if he'd been born in the Kartik or the Jethrik.

Jena frowned realizing she wasn't going to get out of this that easily. She steeled herself and answered his question. "Because I had been pregnant before, Jabone."

"By Dustan?"

It was a good question. If a woman lost a child in a cross-breeding partnership, she changed fathers in case the father's blood line was what was wrong.

"No . . . and not by Arvon," Jena said. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I had lost a baby long before we even thought to make you. When I was unable to become pregnant Jazel explained that the loss of that first baby was most probably what had made me barren."

"I don't understand," Jabone said. "How did you get pregnant? Who was the father?"

"It's a very long story, and I'm afraid that there are times in the story when neither myself nor your madra look very good, but you must understand we were both victims of a world you have never known." There was a catch in her voice and her son patted her back.

"You don't have to tell me Mother," he said. "I'm sorry to have opened an old wound."

"Not all the memories are bad ones, Jabone." Jena smiled. "From the moment I saw Tarius I was in love with her."

"Everyone knows that, Mother."

"But there is something only we know, something that doesn't go into the stories we tell. You know that everyone in the Jethrik thought that your madra was a man, how she tricked them all to fight in their army?"

"I have heard the story a million times," he said with a sigh.

"What you don't know, what we've never told you and has gotten lost in the stories is that I also thought she was a man." She laughed at the sudden change in the expression on his face. "Oh, so now I've got your attention. I was completely and totally in love with her and I had no idea, none at all, that she was a woman or the Katabull or that I was queer for that matter. At the time I was young and very naive. She tried to put me off, to spurn my affections; the problem was that she was also hopelessly in love with me. So much so that she risked everything to be with me." She smiled then. "She got injured saving Persius that first time and Robert gave her some powders which knocked her completely out. My father, who very much wanted her for his son in law, also had no idea she was a woman and he had her taken back to our house. Well, I never did behave in the way a proper lady of the Jethrikian court is supposed to behave and I crawled into bed with her. My father caught us in bed together, and was berating me so Tarius offered to marry me right on the spot. Now you have to remember this was the Jethrik where same-sex relationships are barely accepted. I still thought she was a man. Everyone thought she was a man except her sword partner, a man named Tragon." Her voice changed to match her emotions. "Now Tragon wanted me for himself, and not only did he know Tarius was a woman, he also knew that she was the Katabull and he was scared to death of incurring her wrath."

Jabone had grown up hearing Tarius and Dustan weave wonderful tales and he was a good listener. Jena would have laughed at the look of concentration on his face if what she was telling him didn't carry such painful memories in its folds.

"Tarius started teaching me to sword fight, which was at the time forbidden for woman in my country of birth. On the same day she put a sword in my hand she also made love to me for the first time. That was really when all the trouble started because you see I wanted to please Tarius as she had pleased me, but I thought she was a man and she was sure that if she told me the truth that I would reject her. And . . . as much as it pains me to tell you this my son, in all honesty being a stupid and ignorant young woman I probably would have . . ."

"But how . . . You loved her so much! Why would it have mattered?" He didn't understand. He had grown up here, among the Katabull where being straight made him a minority. He had grown up in the Kartik where sexuality was rarely an issue.

"Because as I have told you same-sex couples are barely accepted in my birth country. The love your madra had for me, the love I have for her was foreign, and I would not have understood then. I didn't."

"Where did this baby come from?" Jabone wanted to know.
"I'm getting to it. You know that I am not one of the tale weavers in our family. I told you it was a long story," Jena said with a smile.

"I'm sorry."

"At any rate, we got married your madra and I, and then I really didn't understand why she wouldn't . . . Well you know. A few days later she went to the front as Captain of the Guards with King Persius himself.

"I missed her terribly; every day was torture never knowing if she was alive or dead. A few months later Tragon was injured in battle but your madra had saved him and he'd been sent back to the academy to be nursed back to health. With Tarius gone he tried to poison my mind against her in an attempt to have me for himself. You see in my youth I was a very beautiful woman."

"You still are, Mother," he said.

She kissed his cheek. "You are such a good boy . . . At any rate several times the rouge almost told me that Tarius was a woman, but he was so cowardly and so afraid of her that he didn't dare.

"Finally Tarius returned home." She smiled at the memory. "She was a sight, a wild-looking beast covered in dirt and soot and dried blood and smelling like something dead that had fallen in the latrine and I had never been so glad to see anyone in my life. I started to beg her to give me something that I didn't know she couldn't. Finally feeling that she couldn't please me, and knowing that I desperately wanted a child, she enlisted the aid of the wizard Hellibolt to give a glamour potion to Tragon and fooled me by putting him into my bed . . ." Her anger must have shown in her voice because Jabone interrupted her.

"But, Mother how is that so different than what my fadra and my madra did to make me?"

"Because I didn't get to make the decision, Jabone. I didn't know that I wasn't sleeping with Tarius, and what Tarius didn't know was that I hated Tragon. What I had never told her was that Tragon had tried to force me to have sex with him while your madra was at war. I became pregnant by him and as my child grew inside me so did Tragon's resentment of your madra. One night he rode into the academy drunk and called Tarius from the house, he threatened to reveal her and take what he thought was his. Tarius threatened him right back and made plans to have him transferred to one of the Jethrik garrisons.

"She had been working day and night to try to get me to go to the Kartik with her. She told me it was to get away from the Amalite horde which she predicted would rain down upon our lands because Persius hadn't pursued the Amalites aggressively enough. But while she truly believed that and she turned out to be right, the real reason was because she figured if she could get me to the Kartik that I would accept her for who she was. How many times I have wished I had just gone with her when she wanted to go.

"Tragon hatched a plan to expose Tarius in such a way that it would be impossible for her to retaliate against him. He and Persius and a large guard contingent showed up in the dead of night. They put a spell on Tarius, and while she was unconscious they shackled her. She begged Persius not to reveal her in front of me. She begged him to let her tell me herself, because she knew I'd be traumatized. But he took a knife and cut through her shirt and the cloth that she had bound her chest with. I fainted dead away. Your madra called on the night, broke the shackles, and struck the king.

"Now Harris had no idea that she was Katabull or female, but he never hesitated in his loyalty to her and threw her sword to her and launched into battle beside her, against them. The king used me as bait to call Tarius out and at first I begged for her life, but . . ." her voice broke, and her son put his arms across her shoulder, "by the time we reached the castle I wanted her blood as much as the king and my father.

"I went to see her in her cell. We talked. She apologized to me and told me she loved me, I said hideous things to her, but I no longer wanted her blood. I was very confused."

"You know what they did to your madra and how Harris, Hellibolt and Robert rescued her. What you don't know is that my father made me marry Tragon. Here I was going through this horribly confusing time thinking that I had been betrayed by the only person I'd ever loved and that she was probably dead and trying to figure out just what the hell was going on in my head and they made me marry this man who I hated more than anyone else in the world. I don't know what I would have done if it hadn't been for your fadra. He was the only one I could talk to, the only one who had any idea at all what I was going through. Arvon took care of me through that time."

"Then one night Tragon came home drunk. Now I would not sleep with this man that I hated even if I wasn't still trying to sort out my feelings for Tarius. I had my own room. He knocked down the door. When I wouldn't submit to him, in fact told him that I found his touch repugnant, he beat me. I landed on my stomach with such force that I . . ." Her voice caught in her throat. "He killed my baby Jabone. Your madra had given me a sword I saw it and I grabbed it. I didn't stop to think. I jumped up and I killed him. Now at that time in the Jethrik any woman who struck anyone with a sword was put to death. I got past my stunned father and rode to Arvon and Dustan's house. Your fadra delivered my dead baby himself." She was crying hard now, and her son patted her back. "He buried my son there."

"You don't have to tell me any more," he said.

"Yes I do." Jena forced a smile and sniffled. "Your fathers saved me. They brought me here. I found your madra and all the bad times were forgotten 'til we wanted to have another baby. Now your madra, she was the Queen's Champion, the Kingdom Warlord, and the Great Leader of the Katabull people as well as leader of the pack of the Marching Night. There was never any question of who would be carrying our children, besides I very much wanted to have our children, but . . . because of the violent way my baby had died I wasn't able to get pregnant. I thought that was it, I thought it was our lot in life to be childless. I mean . . . Tarius couldn't be pregnant. It was just ridiculous, I never expected her to do it. But Tarius had always blamed herself for the death of our child. I never blamed her, I knew who was to blame and I'd already killed him.

Tarius knew I wanted a child and she knew I couldn't have you myself so she temporarily handed over her title of Great Leader to Jerrad and her kingdom responsibilities she gave to Harris and Arvon and then your madra, the Great Warlord, put herself in the very vulnerable position of being pregnant so that she could give me the greatest gift of all . . . you."

Jabone was crying now. He knelt in front of her and hugged her. She hugged him back and they both had a good cry.

She patted his back then pushed him gently away. "Come on let's go get some dinner."

They walked hand and hand back to their home.

Dustan was still cooking when they walked into the hut so they hadn't missed anything. Jabone walked up and hugged Dustan who looked over his back at Jena. Jena just smiled and mouthed the words. "I'll tell you later."

Jabone and Jena started to help Dustan with dinner. It was the way of the Katabull. Chores were neither given nor assigned. Whoever was home made the meals; everyone, including the cubs as soon as they were old enough, did their own laundry. Everyone cleaned up their own messes in the hut. And if someone was doing something you just helped unless there were already so many people doing it that you'd be in the way.

Arvon entered walking in a way that said his leg was hurting him and sat down at the table.

"Are you all right?" Dustan asked.

"Do I look all right?" Arvon resisted making a face. "My love I fear you should have married a younger man. This old body is decaying into ruin. I was doing nothing more elaborate than walking, tripped in a hole, and twisted my bad leg."

"It's nothing that a massage won't take care of. Come into our room and I'll work on it. Jena and Jabone will finish dinner."

Arvon nodded and struggled to stand up.

"Fadra . . . where is my madra?" Jabone asked.

"At council. She should be home soon," he said. He looked from his son to Jena and said to her. "You told him?"

"Yes."

"Are you all right?"

Jena smiled. "Yes, I think we're both all right."

Jabone nodded in agreement. When Arvon and Dustan had left Jabone turned to Jena. "He told me that when you had told me I would understand why you and Madra are so in love even after all these years. That I would realize that it has nothing to do with being contrary, but now I wonder how I can ever fall so much in love because I don't have any of the hardships that you've had."

Jena laughed. "You won't until you fall in love. You are just like your madra; you worry all the way up the hill about how you're going to get back down."

Jabone laughed then. "That is what Fadra said, too." He looked at Jena then. "But I am like you, too, Mother and like my fathers."

Jena smiled and kissed his cheek. "Yes you are. You are the best part of us all."

Tarius walked in then, grumbling incoherently, and four men walked in carrying the Katabull throne set it down and left.

"What's wrong?" Jena asked.

"The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me, that's all," she said, shrugging it off. "Dinner smells good."

"Dustan started it, he had to try and fix Arvon's bad leg," Jena said.

"See Jabone," Tarius said. "You who long for adventure and daydream about war. See how a hundred battles have aged Arvon and me before our time?"

"If you didn't tell such wonderful stories my love he wouldn't be so enamored of war," Jena said with a smile.

Tarius seemed to notice the puffiness of Jena's eyes and frowned. "Is something wrong?"

For answer Jabone ran across the room and embraced Tarius. She held him closely, pulling the man who was half again her size into her lap, and patting his back as he cried on her shoulder. "Oh now baby . . . You aren't still upset because you aren't queer are you?"

"No Madra, I just love you . . . I love you so much."

"As I love you my son. What is all this then?" She looked at Jena for answer, thinking perhaps that some catastrophe had taken place.

"He wanted to know why I couldn't have him and I told him," Jena said.

"Oh," Tarius said, and a dark cloud covered her face. She held her son still tighter.

"I have been wishing to my shame that you weren't my madra. Now that I know the great sacrifice that you made to have me . . ."
"Jabone . . . It's true that I didn't want to be pregnant, and it's true that I did it for Jena, and when I did it, yes I thought it was a great sacrifice . . . at first. But once I felt you inside me growing moving, when I gave birth to you . . . That, my son, of all the fantastic moments and feats of my life, that was truly my finest hour. There was no sacrifice. You are my greatest accomplishment and except for your mother, my greatest love. Don't feel guilty for wishing Jena was your birth mother. Had I not done the horrible things that I did to keep her, you would have been her son, and I would have loved you no less."

"And I could not have loved you any more." Jena walked over and kissed him on the cheek.

Arvon walked back into the room followed closely by Dustan. Dustan walked back over to finish dinner and Arvon sat at his place at the table.

Jabone stood up and walked over to him, hugging him, and Arvon hugged him back. He looked at Tarius across their son's back. "So . . . Are you ever going to decide that he's too big to sit in your lap?"

Tarius smiled back. "I think it's much more likely that he will decide he's too big to sit in my lap."

Chapter 1

The blond-headed youth of nineteen looked down at his much younger but larger friend of seventeen from his perch on the limb of a tree.

"I heard my fadra tell my madra that pockets of Amailites have been raiding wagons and whole villages in the Jethrik-held territories of the Amalite. That the Jethrik has sent forces in to find them and kill them out but have not found this Amalite horde."

"My madra has said nothing of it," Jabone said, pulling a face. "But she did come back from the council meeting complaining about how stupid people could be."

"They aren't going to tell us are they? Our parents want to keep us here as children forever," Tarius said in a disgusted tone. "They had all these great adventures and fought in all these great battles, but they want to chew our food for us 'til we are old and grey."

"My madra says there is nothing glorious about war, "Jabone said.

"Then tells all these wonderful stories. My fadra and madra do the same thing, but with no where close to the ability of your madra or your father Dustan," Tarius said. He pulled a face and jumped out of the tree.

"Damn . . . here comes trouble." Trouble appeared in the guise of Tarius's younger sister Ufalla. She had just turned seventeen and had just the week before gone through her sword-making ritual. Having her finger cut off had slowed her down very little and she wore her sword on her back just like they did. Tarius's younger sister was bigger than he was and colored like their mother instead of like their father which caused no end of resentment toward her from him. She looked like everyone else and she was a normal size for a Kartik which meant she was six feet tall. Tarius was only five four and had finally admitted even to himself that at nineteen he wasn't going to grow any more. He had been born premature and the Great Leader herself had saved him only by breathing her own life into him. Had it not been for the greatness of his birth and the fact that he'd been named for the Great Leader and was treated throughout the packs as a good omen he very easily could have grown up resenting the whole world. As it was he just heaped his resentment onto his sister.

"Hey Jabone," Ufalla said, making sure that they could see her sword with her finger in the hilt and her healing hand. "You think your madra could give me a sword lesson?"

"You sprout!" Tarius spat back. "You think you deserve lessons from Tarius the Black?" He had to call her "the black" because otherwise people thought he was talking about himself.

Ufalla looked at him like he had a cat growing out of his head. "She has always trained us and Fadra says it is time I had some one-on-one time with her."

"Who are you trying to kid? Fadra doesn't want you to fight until your wound is completely healed; he said so last night. I swear, Ufalla, you are such a little liar."

"I'm not so little," she said with a sadistic grin.

"Why I oughtah . . ."

"That's enough!" Jabone thundered. He smiled at Ufalla. As much as she bothered her brother was how much she didn't bother Jabone at all. He liked Ufalla. In fact it was his feelings for her that had made him first realize—to his horror—that he was not queer. "I'm sure my madra would be pleased to give you a lesson. Can I see your hand?"

She proudly showed it to him.

"I think it's healed enough. Come on." He started leading the way and Tarius followed them grumbling all the way.

They found his madra lying with her head in his mother's lap under a tree, sleeping.

Jena looked up at them and smiled knowing what the girl wanted.

"Madra!" Jabone screamed.

Tarius the Black jerked into a sitting position. She glared at him when she saw they weren't under siege.

"Madra, could you give Ufalla a lesson?"

"Son . . . Could you not see that I was sleeping?"

"That's why I screamed. Please?" he asked with his best smile.

"Oh all right." Tarius jumped to her feet. In her younger days this had been an easy trick for her, now that she was over fifty years old it was quite a bit harder. If she had been human it would have been impossible. "Let's see the hand."

The sword binding was a custom of Tarius's pack, a pack which had been mostly destroyed when she was a child. But now she had a new pack and she wanted to continue the practice of lopping off the little finger of the right hand and putting it into the handle of your sword. But only her son and Harris's two children—her god children—had done it. Jabone, who had been named for a famous grandfather he had never met, could remember the giant row that had erupted in his household when the time of the sword building had begun. His madra had carefully forged his sword herself, working on it for months, folding and refolding the metal. The whole time the rest of his parents had insisted that their son was not going to be disfigured in such a way; that it was just crazy. In the end it was only Jabone's own insistence that he wanted it done that tipped the scale in Tarius's favor.

Tarius looked at the girl's hand and nodded.

As he watched the girl spar with his madra his heart leapt in his chest. Ufalla was if possible even more beautiful when she was fighting. She was good; she'd always been good. Madra said she was born for the sword.

"Honey . . . Don't set your sights there," Jena said in his ear.

"What?"

"Honey, look at how she looks at your madra,," Jena said gently.

He did and his heart sank. Like every young queer girl he'd grown up with, Ufalla obviously had a crush on his madra. "I was sure . . . Since her parents and her brother were all like me. Since she wasn't Katabull. Mother . . . I think I love her, how can I just turn that off?"
"True love only comes when both people feel it. You don't have to turn off your feelings for Ufalla, just change them a little. She could be as good a friend to you as your madra's name sake, maybe even better."

He nodded looking like a cart had just rolled over his favorite dog.

"Jabone," his madra barked. "Come here."

Jabone's expression changed instantly and he trotted over to his birth mother knowing that he was about to get a sword lesson. He loved to fight as much as his madra did, and at least for now heartbreak could be forgotten simply by putting a weapon in his hand.

Jabone took his sword off his back, took the practice weapon of bamboo from Ufalla, and faced off against his mother. The older woman had obviously worn the youngster out and was still in the mood for a fight, which was no doubt why she was calling for a new opponent. She called for him instead of Young Tarius because Jabone was a far better fighter than his friend and his madra wanted at least one good fight. Someone who made her work and think.

Now his weapon had occasionally struck his madra but he had never come close to besting her in a fight which was why he was more than a little surprised when the sweep she'd been trying to teach him for months and he had never quite been able to master worked and he sent his madra flying backwards and splattering into the dust. She looked up at him, obviously as surprised as he was. Jena actually reached her side before he did.

"Honey are you all right?" Jena asked in a concerned tone.

Jabone reached down and helped Tarius to her feet, leaning down to help her to her feet even as Jena did.

"I'm fine, Jena. Quit dithering around me. I'm not some old woman who can't take a blow," she said in an agitated voice.

"I'm very sorry Madra," Jabone said.

Tarius just laughed then and slapped him hard on the back. "Jabone . . . You just kicked my ass."

"I didn't mean to, Madra, I swear it."

She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I'm so proud of you. Come on, let's try it again."

He held back afraid he was going to hurt his madra again.

"Son," she said, stopping and clicking her tongue. "You cut me to the quick. Do you think me so feeble that you have to pull your blows? Do you believe that I can't hold my own against you? They are just practice blades. Go ahead, don't be afraid to fight me."

Five minutes later he sent her sprawling again, and this time as she sat on the ground. She just started laughing and crowing. Jena and Jabone once again rushed to her side to help her up, and Jabone now warmed inwardly at the look of pride on his madra's face.

"Well," she said, "I think it's fair to say that you've managed to perfect that move. Young Tarius, would you like your lesson as well?" she asked, brushing herself off. The boy eagerly walked over to her. Jabone, Ufalla and Jena watched as Tarius trained the young man. In the same way that Tarius had trained Harris to fight around his club foot she taught his son to fight around his size. Young Tarius was a good fighter and brave to the point of being reckless, so she punished his aggression and hoped he learned his lessons.

* * *

Tarius was Katabull and the Katabull didn't age as quickly as humans did but she was still feeling her age as she limped towards their bed. She lay down and wrapped herself around Jena.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jena asked with concern.

"Fine just a little stiff. He got me clean, Jena, and before you ask no I wasn't going easy on him. He's just that good. He's too good."

"What do you mean?"

"Only that it's only a matter of time before he wants to go and try his skill out." She shook her head. "I don't want to think about that right now." She rolled in Jena's arms to look at her.

Jena recognized the look on her face and grinned. "What about your leg?"

"What about it?" She kissed Jena, Jena kissed her back, and neither of them worried about the leg.

* * *

Jabone couldn't sleep. Their, house like most Katabull houses, was really just four little round huts connected with covered hallways. The largest was their kitchen and living area and the three smaller ones were separate bedrooms all of which opened to the common room. Jabone's room was in the middle. The cub's room was always in the middle in cross-paired households so that all the parents were close to tend, and if need be, defend the young. He should have been sharing this room with siblings, at least one. Now when he would have liked to have someone to talk to about what was on his mind he missed having a brother or sister more than ever. He frowned. His brother was in the dirt of the Jethrik.

He heard the sound of his mothers pleasuring each other and wondered if he'd ever know the kind of love they shared. He felt bad about hurting his madra especially when he'd seen her limping and felt a little relieved to hear them doing what he knew they were doing. It meant he couldn't have hurt her very badly.

He had bested Jena and Dustan two years ago and had bested Arvon last spring and Harris just three short weeks ago, but he had never in a billion years dreamed that he might someday best his madra. Oh she was still much better than he was, but he had gotten her clean twice.

But none of this by itself would have kept him up. Ufalla was queer. Just his luck the only person he had ever felt anything for was as queer as he was straight. He had told his mother that he thought he loved Ufalla, but now lying there listening to his mothers go at it in their room he knew he hadn't really. It was attraction and liking, but it wasn't what his parents had.

As his mothers wound down his fathers started up and he realized he was going to have to move away from home soon.

Chapter 2

Jabone and Tarius and Ufalla had been going to the royal palace three to five times a year all their lives. It never once dawned on them that this might not be completely normal, or that it was any sort of a privilege. To them it was simply a chance to visit with friends they didn't see very often.

"So, Katan is a perfectly normal young man and will make a fine king, but Jestia . . ." Hestia sighed. "She is completely wild. She jumps from one thing to the next. You know all about her wanting to be a sword fighter because we sent her to stay with you and you know how long that lasted. Then she wanted to be a witch, she was sure she had the gift, so I sent her to Jazel's to be trained. She mastered most of the spells Jazel showed her and some she hadn't. Jazel said she had real promise, so Jestia immediately got bored with it and the next thing I know she's left Jazel's and gone on a drunken rampage across the lower coast line just looking for trouble, bedding any man that didn't move fast enough and drinking herself sick. We had to send troops to go and find her and bring her back home. She disappears for days at a time. I have no idea where she goes or what she does. Now she claims she wants to be a bard, so I've hired a singer to give her voice lessons. I keep thinking if I can keep her busy . . . but I just don't know anymore."

Tarius laughed. "Perhaps she doesn't wish to die Jestia the Boring."

Hestia glared at Tarius. "You feed me my own words. But I'll remind you those were the words of a selfish young queen, and my actions, however rash, were for the good of the kingdom. You can hardly consider my daughter whoring herself out and indulging in drink as the same thing."

"Perhaps not," Tarius said.
"I'm sure she'll find her way soon enough," Jena said, then added on a proud note. "Our son beat his madra up the other day."

"Is this true?" Hestia asked Tarius.

"Aye, is true," Tarius said, beaming. "He would have killed me dead had it been a real blade. He's a strong, fine, young man, who amazes me daily."

As always the conversation changed quickly to old battles.

* * *

"Well there they go again," Jabone said with a sigh.

"I wonder if they ever get tired of telling the same stories over and over again?" Jestia said. She was a ravened-haired beauty with her mother's good looks and her father's fine bone structure. She was only three inches taller than the young Tarius, which made her short for a Kartik, and was no doubt the reason he always panted around her like a love-sick fool. Of course she was only seventeen—had in fact been born only one week after Jabone—and she might still do some growing, but that didn't stop Tarius trying to get into her pants or her from ignoring him.

"I know I never grow tired of hearing them," Tarius said with a sigh.

"Just makes me long to do something more than just listen," Jabone said.

"My mother and father are having kittens because I run about. My brother Prince Boring is happy to hang around the castle and take his dull-assed going-to-be-king-someday lessons," Jestia said with a sigh. "I'm not like him. I long for adventure and if there aren't any real ones for me then I just go out and make them for myself. I just can't stand the boredom of sitting around the castle with my hands folded in my lap learning how to be a good monarch as if a second child with such a careful brother would ever get the chance to rule at all. They have had all these great adventures and expect us to live as careful people."

"They have taught us warfare and how to fight, but where is our battle?" Tarius added.

"When my father was my age he was fighting beside Tarius the Black in the Jethrikian war against the Amalites, yet he refuses to even listen when I talk of wanting to go and join our forces overseas in the territories," Ufalla said with a sigh.

"You, sprout, are only a child. Think of me—a full-fledged man—and yet they still treat me like a child," Tarius said.

"Because you look like a child," Ufalla spat back.

"Why I oughtah . . ." Tarius took a menacing step towards his sister and Jabone put up a hand to stop him. His mother had been right. He had been able to change his feelings for Ufalla and found that he enjoyed her company more than that of her brother's. For one thing he found that he had more in common with her than he did the young Tarius who was reckless and a bit of a braggart. In a way he felt as if Ufalla were his own sibling. It wasn't hard to lavish brotherly-type attention on her. In many ways she reminded him of his madra, and it was obvious that her own brother could hardly stand her.

"Enough you two," Jabone said. He was trying to listen to his madra as she launched into a brilliant telling of the Battle of the Arrow. The others were silent as well as they became mesmerized with the telling. When she had finished Jabone turned to the others with conviction. "Why should we sit here while the enemies of our parents and grandparents darken the shore of even one country?"

"What are you suggesting?" Jestia asked.

"My madra is ruler of the Katabull. The Katabull Nation has many ships which we use to fish with and to trade with the territories and the Jethrik. Why could we not be on one of the ships when next it sails to the territories? My madra killed her first Amalite when she was twelve. I am close to eighteen and have yet to know real combat. I have bested my madra, the greatest fighter who has ever lived, I am ready to test my skill in the real arena. We have all of us been trained to fight and you Jestia are trained in the magic arts as well. Why shouldn't we go to the territories, join with our Kartik brothers there, and go in search of these curs root them out and utterly obliterate them once and for all?"

"Yeah, now we're talking!" Tarius exclaimed. "I have been telling you this ever since we first started to hear the mumblings about the Amalite menace. If they will not let us go with their blessing then we shall go without it."

"I don't know . . ." Jestia started.

"You," Ufalla laughed. "You who run around the countryside whoring yourself out to any swinging dick for a laugh and drinking 'til you puke because you say you're bored, and now when we're talking a real adventure you've got cold feet." She looked at Jabone. "I'm in . . ."

"You . . . You're just a child. We don't need you. We need Jestia she's a witch . . ."

"She's also a whore." Ufalla never hid her disapproval of the way Jestia behaved. Jestia occasionally came by the Katabull Nation when she was on one of her "excursions," and they would go with her to Montero or some other near-by village and the four of them would just hit every pub in the village drinking themselves silly and having a good time 'til Jestia would go off with one man or another and then Ufalla would spend the rest of the night complaining about Jestia ditching them to tryst with someone she didn't even know. "But then perhaps having a whore along will make life easier for you brother."

"Why I oughtah," he raised his fist again and again Jabone pushed him back.

"Who are you calling whore, virgin," Jestia spat at Ufalla.

"I'm pretty sure I was talking to you," Ufalla spat back. To her Jestia was no one special, they'd been playing together and arguing their entire lives. They were friends. It didn't faze Ufalla one bit that Jestia was the princess of the kingdom she lived in. If she didn't want to be called a whore she shouldn't bed any man who walked past her.

"You ugly little toad, you're just jealous because no man would have you," Jestia hissed.

"I don't like men, remember, dumb ass?" Ufalla hissed.

"If no man would have you it's a sure bet that no woman would."

Jabone listened to them with only half an ear, more interested in hearing his madra weave yet another story. This one was about some battle that had taken place here. A small skirmish in which she and Harris and Elis had killed an entire contingent of Amalites by themselves.

He finally had to give up when the argument got so loud that it was a wonder that everyone in the room couldn't hear it.

"Gods, Ufalla! You are such a stupid, wretched little child," Tarius hissed.

"I'm a whole six months younger than Jabone and Jestia. I'm going. If you're all going then I'm going and if you won't let me then I'm going to tell our parents, everyone's parents," Ufalla swore.

"Why shouldn't she go?" Jestia now seemed to be on Ufalla's side which was common for their friendship. At each other's throats and name calling one minute, standing up for one another the next. "She's a better fighter than you are."

Tarius made an angry noise. "She most certainly is not."

"Quiet!" Jabone hissed. He turned away from his madra to look at them. "I am not sneaking away without telling my parents that I am going and neither should any of you. That would be the actions of a child, and if we aren't children why should we act like them? Listen to them, to all of them. They will all try to stop us but when it comes right down to it, we will go with their blessings. These are people who have lived by the sword and they will understand our desire. But perhaps if we can't even get along for a few minutes without fighting we shouldn't even think about going. We have heard these stories our whole life but I wonder if any of you have ever really listened. They didn't win those battles by fighting and arguing with each other. They won them because they worked together, always together, they trusted each other without hesitation. Your parents and my parents fought side by side, taking each other's council and direction, never doubting the others' ability or loyalty. They shaped the world that we have grown up in. A world that didn't have to fear death and annihilation at Amalite hands because they cooperated, not because they bickered amongst themselves like spoiled children."

They all mumbled but agreed that he was right.

* * *

Hestia and Dirk seemed almost relieved at the prospect of sending their middle child to the Jethrik to fight the Amalites. They saw it as her finally taking some real direction. At the very least it got her out of their hair for awhile, maybe even permanently.

Harris and Elis were more upset about their two oldest children leaving home than they were by what they wanted to go do.

Jena, Dustan and Arvon were resigned. Surprisingly, Jabone found that the one kink in his plan turned out to be his madra who he had assumed would be the first one to cave.

"Absolutely not!" she bellowed from where she sat on her throne just outside their dwelling, looking in that moment every bit the monarch that she was.

"But Madra . . ."

"No, I say! No, I absolutely forbid it. There is no discussion, Jabone. There is nothing to talk about. You will not go. You won't!"

"I am a grown man, Madra. I can go if I wish and you can't stop me," Jabone said angrily. His madra glared at him in a way that he imagined she had looked at hundreds of men just before she killed them, and he suddenly didn't feel quite so bold.

"You do not want to push that, boy. You do not want to push that at all. You will not go! There is no need for it, the problem is under control. Were the problem not under control then I would go and take care of it myself. I would not send children to do my work. I especially would not send my own child."

"We want to go, Madra. I want to go. I will go. You can't watch me around the clock. You don't command every ship or every crew in the Kartik. I will make passage one way or the other, with or without you. I will go."

She jumped up, quickly covered the distance between them, and stood toe to toe with her much larger son glaring up at him at which point he visibly shrank. "You will not go!" she said, catching and holding his gaze. "I forbid it! I am not just your madra I am your ruler. You will not go." She turned on her heel and walked towards the lake. It was the end of the discussion.

Jabone looked at his other three parents. "She can't do this."

"She's just upset, son," Arvon said.

"We're all upset," Dustan said, and ran crying into their house.

Arvon took a deep breath. "You're our only child, Jabone. It's hard for parents when their children leave and harder still for parents that have no other children."

"Why is she so mad?" Jabone asked Jena. Jena was silent. "Fadra?"
"Because she is Tarius the Black son, she knows she can't really stop you from going and Tarius can't stand anything that she has no control over. She doesn't want you to go, you're going, she can't really stop you, and she knows that, so she's mad."

"But you understand why I want to go?"

"Yes I do. You have my blessing. But it won't be easy to let you go." Arvon walked over and held his son. "I'd better go check on your father."

"Is he mad at me, too?"

"He isn't mad, son, he's worried." Arvon shot a glance at Jena and walked inside.

"Mother?" Jabone asked carefully. At that moment he couldn't be sure what she was thinking or feeling. She just ran over to him and held him. After a moment she moved away and looked up at him.

"Time goes by too fast. I knew this day would come; we all did. Tarius knows, too. It seems like only yesterday that you were born, took your first steps, fought for the first time, and now you're a man. Your madra . . . She taught you to fight, everything she knows, but she never wanted that life for you. You're her baby, our only child; she doesn't want you to go. She never wants you put in danger. And you think only of the glory of it and no matter how much we tell you how awful it is, you won't be prepared for what you'll feel the first time you kill someone. The first time you lose a friend. I know you won't be prepared because I wasn't. I'll tell you something else you don't know, that I probably shouldn't tell you. When we all went to the Amalite and the Jethrik to annihilate the Amalite horde, your madra did not want me to go. She hoped to leave me behind. She tried to tell me how hideous war was. It didn't matter to me then just like it doesn't matter to you now. I went, it was more hideous than I had imagined, but . . . I think what Tarius is forgetting is that if I had to make the same decision today knowing all that I know I would still go.

"Don't be angry with her. She loves you so much she doesn't want you to go. She certainly doesn't want you put into real danger."

"Talk to her, Mother. If you talk to her she'll listen. I don't want to leave with her angry at me."

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "You won't leave with her mad at you or you at her. That young man is where I put my foot down. I'll go talk to her. You wait here?"

He nodded.

* * *

Jena found Tarius not too surprisingly sitting in their son's favorite spot, crying like a baby. Jena sat beside her and put her arms around her.

"Why is he doing this?" Tarius cried.

"Because he's your son, Tarius, and it's in his blood to fight. There is no fight here . . ."

"I can't bear it, Jena. I can't bear to be separated from him. To not know if he's well or sick, alive or . . ." She couldn't bring herself to even say it. "These kids . . . They have no idea what waits for them there. They've never lived out of this village. Hestia's daughter is a joke. The girl paid no more attention to me than she did to any of her other instructors and she can barely sling steel. Tarius is as careless and reckless as his namesake without the natural gift, the strength, or the size. Ufalla, she's got a talent for steel just like her father, but she doesn't yet have the skill. They've not lived through what I had lived through by the time I was their age. They just don't get it. We fought because we had to. We fought so that they wouldn't have to."

"But they want to, Tarius," Jena said gently. "Our son wants this. He will be miserable if you make him stay here."

"He will be safe."

"True, but were you ever happy being safe?"

"I'm happy now."

"Because you've had that adventure. We made our own way, Tarius, no one handed us our life and said here it is. He wants to make his own way. This is their time, Tarius, and you have to let them—him—have it."
"Is it that easy for you, for all of you to just let go of our son, our only child?"

"We'll never let go of him, Tarius, and no it's not easy for me to watch him go. But I understand why he's going and so, my love, do you."

Tarius nodded. "Fine, but if our son must go then we will go as well . . ."

"He doesn't want us to go with him, Tarius. Jabone wants to be the hero of his own story. He doesn't want to spend his whole life in your rather large, all-encompassing shadow. You have to let him do this and you have to let him do this alone."

"But I don't know how, Jena," Tarius cried. "I don't know how."

* * *

Jabone watched with baited breath as he saw his mothers walking back from the lake. He couldn't see by Tarius's expression what she might be thinking and his Katabull senses had yet to help him in determining her moods.

She walked right up to him, not looking at him but at the ground. "So you're determined to do this thing?"
"Yes Madra."

"In spite of the fact that you are ripping your poor mother's very heart from her chest?" she said, pointing at Jena. He saw Jena pop Tarius in the ribs with her elbow. His madra finally looked up at him and he could see then that she had been crying. "It won't be as easy as you think." He nodded silently. "You are going to a foreign land with foreign ways. True many of the new settlers are Kartik, but most are from the Jethrik and there are still many Amalites there. Their customs are very different from our own. Even now the Katabull are barely tolerated. It is hard to wipe out the prejudices of many generations in one. Living a soldier's life . . . it isn't easy. When it rains you will get wet. When it's cold . . . and it gets very cold there, you will be cold. When it's hot you will be hot. Hunger and pain will become your constant companions and people you care for . . . they will die, and you will watch their blood spill into the earth. Both my father and your mother's father died in the Jethrik at the hands of the Amalite scum." She spat. "Do not, I pray of you my son, make us grieve for you as well."

She threw her arms around his neck then and held him tightly. Jabone felt the sting of his own tears. "I will not fail you, Madra. I will make you proud to call me son."

She kissed him gently on the lips then stood back and looked at his face. "I was proud to call you son on the day that you were born, and I will be proud on the day that I die, just take care that you make sure that I go long before you." She released him and walked off towards the house. To his memory his madra had never cried openly in front of him. Jena looked up at him and took his hand. Her own tears fell freely now.

"You have to understand, this is the hardest thing we've ever had to do." Her voice broke on a sob and he took her into his arms and held her. His resolve to leave home weakening with every tear his mother shed.

* * *

It seemed to Jabone that in the months that followed, his madra and fadra, Harris and Radkin and Rimmy were trying to beat them completely to death. They called it training, but Jabone called it sadism.

The four youngsters would move immediately from one seasoned fighter to the next 'til they couldn't stand. He didn't know who was taking the worst of it: Jestia whose wayward lifestyle had left her lacking the skill necessary to cover herself, or he himself, who considered it a point of honor to hold up longer than the others. Finally he staggered and fell to a blow that when they started the day he would have easily blocked.

"All right let's call it a day," Tarius said, and she and the "adults" patted each other on the backs, triumphant at having yet again put these arrogant youths in their place while the battered children sat in the dust of the practice field.

Jestia had a nasty swelling over her right eye which was no doubt going to turn a nice shade of blue. She took the wet rag Ufalla handed her and put it over the knot.

"Is it just me or do any of the rest of you get the idea that they are trying to teach us some lesson about how prepared we aren't?" Ufalla asked.

"They're just trying to scare us," Tarius said.

"They're trying to prepare us for what we might face in the territories," Jabone said, finally catching his breath.

"Well I didn't agree to have the crap beat out of me on a daily basis. Even battle, real battle, couldn't be this brutal. They beat on us from sunup 'til sundown," Jestia griped.

"Hardly that long," Jabone said. "Besides look at us. None of us can do more than stand on shaky limbs and all the old farts walked away with a few hours fight still in them."

Jestia gave him a look filled with distaste. "You truly are the beast woman's son. Look at him grinning he's actually enjoying all this. Well I've had it. I've had it with sleeping in these earthen hovels you call homes and bathing in cold lake water and eating . . . Well I don't even want to know what, so that I can have the living crap beat out of me by the most celebrated fighters in the Kartik . . ."
Ufalla just started laughing then.

"What? What's so damn funny?" Jestia asked hotly.

"You are, you spoiled little brat . . . I knew. I knew you'd get bored with this like you get bored with everything else and go running back to your safe little castle," Ufalla teased. "Well, go then and good riddance. You'd more than likely get us all killed anyway."

"Don't you tell me what to do you hovel dwelling little wretch!" Jestia screamed back. She started to get to her feet, groaned, and sat back down. "I'm . . . I'm not going home. I was just going to say let's go if we're going."

"If you can ever walk again," Ufalla teased.

"I don't see you up dancing, Ufalldown," Jestia clipped back, using the name she'd teased her with since they were children.

"I'm not bitching, either."

"Funny I recall it was you that started bitching in the first place . . ."

"Oh, I don't think so."

Jabone tuned them out then. He saw his madra motioning for him. He got to his feet with an effort and walked to where she summoned him.

"Madra?"

"You fought well today."
"Thank you Madra."

"In seven more days one of our ships will sail with a cargo to the Port of Sagal in the Jethrik-held territory of the Amalite. It is right on the Jethrik border. If you still want it you, your companions and your mounts will be given room on board."

Jabone nodded his head eagerly. "I do . . . we do."
"Even the young princess?"
"Yes," Jabone answered, although he wasn't quite sure. "But Madra, why the Jethrik-held territory? Why do we not go to help our Kartik brothers in our territory?"

Tarius smiled at him and said lightly, "Now what would be the adventure in that?" She quickly became serious again. "Our Kartik brothers in the territory don't need our help. The Amalite rebels aren't attacking there they are in the Jethrik territory right on the Jethrik border."

"Why?"

Tarius shrugged, "Who can say for sure? My guess would be that it's because the Amalites look so much like the Jethriks. It makes it easy for them to infiltrate without detection. It's harder for the Jethriks to keep an eye on them. I would imagine that as much as the sea between us is what has always made the Jethrik their target of choice. Also, there is something to be said for their fear of the Katabull. They can say what they like about their gods and cling to their hateful religion, but in the end they fear the Katabulls' righteous wrath against them, and we did totally annihilate them when last they came against us. You always remember your last battle best. They aren't supposed to be practicing their religion but it's hard to get people to stop clinging to the lies they enjoy. But they fear us more than they trust their gods." She got a puzzled look on her face. "But there is something else, too, something I can't figure out. There are too many of them. These raids do devastating damage more than a handful of stragglers hiding in the forest could do. They have found themselves a place to hide in great numbers, a hive."

"A hive Madra?"

"What else would you call something that held many stinging beasts?" she said with a smile. She looked him right in the eyes and he held her gaze. "There is a stench to an Amalite, they aren't fond of bathing and believe such things as perfumes are evil. They may look just like the Jethriks but there is a smell to them, you will know it when you smell it. There are many things I must tell you all." She turned and walked back over to the three beaten apprentices still sitting on the ground and Jabone followed.

"Listen up because I'm only going to tell you this once. No one wants to think that genocide is ever the answer, but you can kill people much easier it seems than you can kill idiotic beliefs. It seems that even I was short sighted in dealing with the Amalites." She spit on the ground. "That even I didn't go far enough. I who loathed them, even I didn't understand how insidious was their religion how it had so completely corrupted the soul of whoever followed it. We killed every priest, every warrior that we found among the Amalites, leaving only their noncombatants alive. We burned their temples, we split their country between the Jethirk and the Kartik, and we moved to inhabit their land. But somehow their hateful beliefs have survived. The Amalites have rebuilt their religion and are somehow bringing their people back to it, in secret and in hiding in the Jethrik-held territories of the Amalite.

"You may think that we are over reacting to this threat. That they are persecuted. You may say to yourself, what harm is a belief. But you haven't lived in the time of the Amalites in power. You haven't fought these people who believe their gods want them to kill the unbelievers. They hate us all because they believe that is what their gods command. You think that mercy is a virtue and it is, but you must show the Amalites no mercy. None are to be trusted, all are suspect, and when you find a group hiding and doing nothing more menacing than praying you must slaughter them to the last man, or they will kill you and all that you love, for this is their way.

"If you don't understand why they are so monstrous, why they must be killed simply because of their beliefs, then you don't truly understand what the Amalites do when they come to full strength. How they fell upon the Katabull and tried to make us extinct. How they marched across the Jethrik killing every living thing, burning crops and homes, leaving nothing but waste and famine behind them, all in the names of their gods.

"They follow their beliefs blindly and they will show you no mercy because you aren't one of them. If you don't understand all that I have just said, if you don't agree, than you shouldn't go, because you will die.

"Also know this. Great warriors and queens make enemies without trying even among their allies, so it would serve you all to keep your parentage a secret." She looked right at her son then. "The Amalites hate me more than any other being, living or dead, and I still have enemies among the Jethrik, so guard your lineage carefully."

"But Madra you are celebrated as a hero among the Jethrikian people."

"Some, yes, but many of them still consider me a sort of heretic and something of great loathing. I have friends there it is true, and those who admire me, but many would kill you in your sleep simply because you are my son. The same is true of Jestia for much the same reason, and as for Harris's children, Harris is of their country and yet he helped me. They have never forgotten that." She looked at the two girls then. "Understand this. The Jethrikians don't respect women as equals as in the Kartik. You will not be treated as an equal there. They will make you fight for even a crumb of respect." She looked at Ufalla. "What you and I are they do not respect at all. The Amalites believe we are an abomination. They used to kill people for being queer and probably still would if allowed. The Jethriks barely tolerate us."

"Then why go there?" Jestia asked, her mind no doubt going in the same direction Jabone's had. "Why go to the Jethrik-held territories if they will only be hateful to us? Why not the Kartik-held territories?"

"Because we aren't needed there," Jabone said. "There's no real fighting there."

From the look on the girl's face she obviously didn't understand why that was a problem.

Tarius smiled and went on. "Pearson Garrison is on the edge of a small village just a half day's ride from Port Sagal. There, I assume you will go through some sort of formal training and then be sent out on patrol. I have written a letter in my own hand which I have already sent out ahead of you. The Captain of the Garrison is an old friend of mine and will see that you remain together and that you are treated well. His name is Derek. He of course knows who you are, but heed my words well you must guard your true identities." She looked at Tarius and Jestia in turn. "Being who you are will not impress these people or gain you special privileges, but it might get you killed."

"Come follow me," she ordered. She turned and started walking as the tired youths staggered to their feet and started to follow. She continued to talk as she led them on a forced march around the lake that made there tired legs burn. She fed them so much information that there was no way they could possibly remember it all. When Jabone could stand it no longer he called on the night and the change gave him immediate relief that his friends couldn't experience. Finally Jestia saved the others when she said, "Please, Tarius, we can't change. Could we stop walking?"

Tarius turned, saw her son and said with a smile, "Cheater." He just smiled back and shrugged. "Yes we can stop. But remember, stopping because you're exhausted won't be an option in battle." She turned to face the tired youths who except for Jabone had all sat down hard on the well-beaten trail.

She addressed her son. "You won't always have the option of doing that, either."

He nodded. "I know . . ."

"No you think you know, and there is a difference. You are the Katabull. Here you are treated like a god, but there . . . the Jethriks will barely tolerate you. The best you'll get from them is fear and the Amalites—and there are still many of them that aren't practitioners of their religion that are trying to live as good citizens of the Jethrik and Kartik nations they now belong to—the Amalites still hate the Katabull. It is an inbred fear that won't go away anytime soon. Those who don't run in terror may try to kill you. They are not allowed to practice their hateful religion but you can not wipe out a thousand years of carefully taught hate over night. We did not slaughter and lay waste to those who held no weapons. That is their way, not ours, but now, now when they are regrouping in secret to raise their religion from the ashes and to try once again to dominate the planet . . . Perhaps genocide would have been kinder in the long run. To kill them all out once and for all, leaving none to remember their stain with anything but hate."

She looked at Jestia. "And you."

"Me?" Jestia said, a tone of righteous indignation to her voice.

"Yes you. This is not a joke. This isn't something you can quit once you start it. Learn your spells well and use them wisely. Make your sword one with yourself. Go for the right reasons or don't go at all."

Jestia very uncharacteristically nodded her head yes and said nothing.

"And you," she said to the young Tarius, who looked extremely shocked to have been singled out. "You aren't as strong as bigger people, quit pretending to be and embrace what you are. You are fast and nimble. Those are your strengths. Your only weakness my non-blood kin is your pride. Admit to your weaknesses and find your true strengths."

"Yes, Great Leader," he said, and his face shone with unhidden elation because even though she had just rebuked him she had called him her non-blood kin, a high honor among the Katabull.

"We will stop them from infecting the world again, Madra," Jabone promised.

She patted him on the back affectionately and called on the night herself. "The rest of you may go. Come Jabone . . . Let us hunt, enjoy this time together while we can."

He nodded in agreement and together they ran into the woods in search of game.

The others watched them go.

"Great, she's left us in the middle of nowhere. We're no doubt miles from camp and I swear I can't walk another foot," Jestia complained, not bothering to get up. In fact she thought she might just lay right there until some wild animal came and killed her. Death she was sure would be a great relief right then.

"No, she knew about where we'd run out of steam, look," Ufalla said, pointing up the small hill to where the Marching Night's camp was. She got up and put down a hand to help Jestia up. Jestia allowed herself to be hauled up though the very thought of walking up that hill filled her with dread.

Tarius grunted holding his hand up towards his sister. Ufalla sighed and helped him to his feet as well. They started walking back to camp silently and Tarius said smugly, "Oh Ufalla did you notice Tarius the Black had no parting words for you?"

Ufalla laughed and turned to face her brother walking backwards up the path with so little effort that Jestia wanted to throttle her.

"She didn't talk to me because she had nothing negative to say to me. Only you could take a chastisement as a compliment. Maybe you'd better think extra hard about what Tarius said about your pride, brother."

Jestia was certainly thinking extra hard about what Tarius had said to her.

"She didn't say anything to you because you're mostly forgettable," Tarius spat back.

There is nothing forgettable about Ufalla, Jestia thought as she watched her walk backwards as she fought with Tarius. She knows just exactly who she is and who she wants to be. She's tall and well muscled and there is purpose in those black eyes, in every move that she makes. Who could ever forget her? But me . . . I have no idea either who I am or who I want to be. I'm the one who's forgettable and . . . Tarius said not to go unless I'm going for the right reasons. Am I going for the right reasons? Do I even know what those are? Her thoughts were broken by Tarius's scream, and when she looked up Ufalla had twisted his arm behind his back and was marching him up the hill screaming at him.

"I'll make you eat dirt if you ever say that again."

"Let me go, beast girl," Tarius ordered.

She did, slinging him into a bush. He jumped up and ran at her and then the two were just beating the crap out of each other. Ufalla was stronger but Tarius was faster and older and knew more moves so it was hard to say when if ever the fight might end. Probably not 'til both of them were bloody and they were right in her way and she was tired and needed to think.

"Dark as night and warm as light stop these idiots' fight." She clapped her hands and the two were magically separated each going in a different direction. As the two startled combatants stared at her she walked between them and said smugly, "Brawn and speed will always lose out to brains."

Chapter 3

Persius glared across his hall at the old wizard who lacked the good taste to age like the rest of them did. He was ancient, Persius knew that, but he'd aged hardly at all in Persius's lifetime which was no doubt how he'd gotten to be so old in the first place. He was just standing there now with that smug look on his face, the one he wore for no reason at all most of the time. "She did what?" Persius demanded.

Hellibolt shrugged as if to say he had no idea why the king was vexed with him. After all he hadn't caused the problem or relayed the message.

"She left for the garrison this morning, Sire," the herald said as calmly as he had relayed the message the first time.

"What treachery is this?" Persius said, his voice rising in pitch. "I specifically told them that she was never to be sent on assignment!" He walked over and flopped onto his throne like an angry child throwing a tantrum, turning a pouting face to stare at a blank wall.

"You did take it back," Hellibolt said.

"What?" Persius asked.

"Well you said that but then you took it back when she complained."

Persius took in a deep breath and then he let it out. Leave it to Hellibolt to point out his failings every time.

When Persius had changed the law to allow women to join the Sword Master's academy, it had never dawned on him for even an instant that his youngest and favorite child would be the first woman to actually openly join the academy. To make matters worse she had been too good to be cast out. He had thought she would get tired and quit that it was just a phase that she would out grow, but the girl had grown more determined by the day. He had ordered them not to allow her to pass her final tests not to send her on assignment. When they had tried to fail her she had ridden straight to the castle and cornered him on it.

"You did this!" Kasiria accused. "I'm as fine a Sword Master as any. You told them to fail me to keep me from going on assignment. If you don't tell them to change their ruling then I shall go all throughout the land whoring myself out, getting into fights in taverns and telling everyone who'll listen that you make laws only so that you can break them. I'll have the word princess tatooed on my head and I'll . . ."

Persius had given in thinking that it seemed that some woman with a taste for steel was always confounding him.

He glared at Hellibolt again and Hellibolt returned a questioning stare but said nothing.

Finally Persius waved his hand dismissively at the herald. "Go." When he had left, Persius turned to Hellibolt once again. "Well old man, tell me what you think."

"About what?"

"About Kasiria you old fool."
"What about her?"

"Will she be safe? What the hell's wrong with her? Where did I go wrong? I swear Hellibolt as you get older you grow more difficult. You're an advisor, advise. You are a councilor, council."

Hellibolt sighed. "Kasiria is the child your favorite wife bore to you when you were still under the curse of Tarius the Black. Conceived in fact on the night that you dreamt that Tarius cut you into tiny pieces."

Persius cringed at the memory of the dream. "You said it wasn't really a curse," Persius reminded.

"Did I?"

"Yes you did."

Hellibolt shrugged. "Kasiria is the child of your curse, born with the spirit of a warrior. Kasiria will live as long as she remains true to herself. Only when you forbid her to follow her will do you endanger her life. Kasiria is destined to rule."

"Rule!" Persius laughed then. "No woman has ever ruled the Jethrik and none shall."

"I didn't say she would rule here. I wouldn't worry too much about the girl, Persius, she's got a lot of her mother in her," Hellibolt said, then vanished before he explained what he meant.

* * *

As their sergeant, Kasiria rode ahead of the others, unafraid of bandits or Amalite rebels. Fear was something she didn't understand and didn't really know. She wore a bastard sword across her back and a short sword on her hip and with those she was quite sure that she could kill any foe.

Not that she'd actually met any foe outside a practice ring. Of course all that was about to change; she was going to the garrison then off to do battle.

She couldn't wait.

"Even now she counts herself too good to ride with the rabble," Thomas, one of her company chided.

"I count myself too good to ride with you, wind bag," she spat back, undaunted. She was supposed to be in charge, she out ranked them, but had learned the hard way that they wouldn't really take orders from her. It was a joke that she was in command and she knew it.

"The way you act sometimes one might think you were royalty," he spat back.

Kasiria smiled a knowing smile that none of them could see. Her father had let her join the academy only after she promised that no one would know his blood ran through her veins. He said it was for her safety but she was sure it had much more to do with him not wanting to be embarrassed. Her royal title meant less than nothing to her. These men she rode with hated her because she had dared to break into their all-male world. The rules had been changed but only she among all the women of their kingdom had joined the Sword Master academy, and she had proved herself to be not only as good as them but better than most, which only made them hate her all the more. They had tried to torment her and she had ignored their verbal taunts and when they pushed her she pushed right back.

They had started a rumor that she was queer because the ones that weren't trying to run her off were trying to bed her without any luck. Kasiria wasn't a lover of women she just didn't want a man around ruining her plans. She didn't want courtly duties and gatherings and people who dressed her and cooked for her, and a man who expected her to act like a lady of the court.

She was a warrior and nothing would stand between her and conquest.

Yes the fifteen men she rode with hated her and she could care less, because she didn't like any of them, either. What had her father said that Tarius the Black had declared on their first meeting? That she loved only her sword. If you believed the stories that obviously wasn't true of Tarius, but it was true of Kasiria. She wanted no more from life than to do battle and bring death to the Amalite scum who she hated with a passion though she'd yet to actually meet one.

"So Kasiria." One of the other men started in where Thomas had left off. "What will you do when you single-handedly kill all the Amalite scum?"

"Slay you one by one," she said only half joking, "Oh but wait you'll already be dead because you're all such crappy swords men."

They weren't paying attention. None of them were paying attention. It was stupid and amateurish and extremely irresponsible. Bandits, twenty or more of them, fell on them from out of the trees. They knocked Kasiria off her horse and she fell on the ground rolling and came up swinging with her short sword. Her first blow cut a bandit's belly open, her second cost another his arm. Then she drew her bastard sword and discarded her short sword, moving as one possessed. All that she'd learned and something else ran through her. She jumped over horses and men to pursue their attackers until blood covered her body and the bandits were all running away into the woods.

"Let them go," Thomas said, taking hold of her shoulder. She turned to face him and he let go of her and jumped back quickly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded

"You . . . You're one of them."

"What in hell's name are you talking about?" Kasiria demanded. There was silence among the survivors. "What is wrong with all of you? Let's get on our horses and go before they come back or let's go after them but . . . "

"She doesn't know," Thomas said, looking at the others.

"Know what?"

"Look at your hands," Thomas said.

Kasiria looked and gasped. "What the hell!" She turned them over and over, staring in shock.

"You're the Katabull," more than one of them said.

Kasiria laughed out loud. "But I can't be. My linage . . . I can't be the Katabull."

"You just slayed eight men, jumping over a horse to kill one of them. You are the Katabull," Thomas said.

"No, I can't be, I can't be the Katabull. You don't understand." To answer her, one of the men held his newly-polished shield up for her to look in.

"You are the Katabull."

Kasiria looked at her image in the shield and there was no denying it. She did look like what she'd always heard the Katabull looked like and she couldn't explain how she'd done what she did unless she was. She looked at the men around her. Before they had hated her and now they were afraid. She didn't know what was worse.

* * *

Three of her men had been killed in the attack. They buried them and moved on. No one was taunting her now though she doubted it had anything to do with the fact that she'd just saved their worthless lives and everything to do with the fact that she was the Katabull.

But she couldn't be. There was no possible way. Just no way.

She had killed her first man, well actually her first eight, and she didn't have time to think about that because . . . Well, she was the king's daughter and her mother had been a noble woman, so she couldn't be the Katabull.

She looked down at her hands covered in blood and still not her own. One of the few things she knew about the Katabull was how to change back, but the thought repulsed her. Finally she lifted her hand to her mouth, licked away the half-dried blood there and she looked human again.

This just couldn't be happening.

* * *

Having bathed in a stream she had eaten and gone directly to her tent. She lay down but could still hear the men whispering and knew they were talking about her.

"Why, and why now?" she asked no one in particular.

"Why not now?"

Reaching for her sword, Kasiria turned quickly toward the voice. Seeing Hellibolt lying in the tent beside her, she relaxed.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just checking on you." He smiled. "You don't by any chance think that your father would really just let you go without at least checking on you from time to time?"

"I don't need a baby sitter."

"No of course not. You are after all the Katabull."

"You knew?"
"Yes of course I knew."

"Is my father . . . "
"No of course not."

"Does he know?"

"Not a clue."

"How?" Kasiria demanded.

Hellibolt took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You have more than one parent, girl. Your mother. Your father met her and married her and you were conceived all while he was under the curse of Tarius the Black."

"The curse, that's why I'm Katabull?"
"No, but it explains why your father was attracted to a half-Katabull woman. You are only a quarter Katabull. I'm surprised you can change at all having never been taught." He was thoughtful. "I don't know that you'll ever be able to call on the night as they do. It's more like it's a self-preservation thing."

"What's that mean?"

"Apparently it will come if you are in real danger, a danger from which you could not escape in your human form."

"But I don't want it, Hellibolt. The men hated me before and now they know what I am, they fear me as well as hate me. Soon everyone will know, my father and . . . Why was I never told by my mother's people?" Her mother couldn't have told her she died when Kasiria was so small she hardly remembered her at all.

Hellibolt sighed as if wondering how much to tell her.

"I have a right to know under what circumstances I was conceived."

"Your father shot Tarius the Black through with an arrow . . . "

"Everyone knows that. I don't need to hear a feast-fire story I've heard a hundred times over. I want the truth."

"After that, the Katabull in our kingdom went further underground than ever. They became even more secretive. Your mother's family . . . Her mother married a nobleman—your grandfather. They had always hidden what she was. When your father acted as he did they decided to enact the ultimate revenge against him by putting someone part Katabull on the throne to force a change in policy and perception by having one of their own become the king. But when you were born you were a female and your mother died when she tried to give birth to Persius's son. Their plans died with her and your infant brother."

"Hellibolt, that makes no sense. I have eight older brothers my mother's son, even had he lived, would have never come to power."

"I imagine your other brothers would have all had a series of very unfortunate accidents. The Katabull don't like to be backed into corners. Your father shot a wooden shaft into a Katabull, and not just any Katabull but one who had won a war for him, who had put herself in harm's way to save him not once but twice. Wood when it enters a Katabull's blood stream is like poison. You'd do best to remember that, girl. Shooting Tarius with an arrow in the stomach—well he might as well have challenged all the Katabull. They would have done anything at that time to make your father see the error of his ways—even murder."

"So . . . I was born only to bring revenge on my father's house, as part of a curse, a blight."

"You were born because your father loved your mother more than any woman except for Tarius the Black. You were born female because fate knew your father would redeem himself even before he did. That's all you need to know. By morning none of these dunderheads will know anything more than you saved them from bandits today; they won't remember why or how."

Before she could thank him he was gone. She was left wondering just what the hell she was, and what did he mean that her father had loved Tarius the Black? None of it made any sense.

Chapter 4

As part of the Katabull Nation whose main form of commerce had been the sea ever since the end of the Great War, Jabone, Ufalla and Tarius had been at sea many times, but Jestia had not. After one rough day she had downed the awful stuff that was the Kartik sea-sickness remedy and now ran around the deck just soaking it all up. Tarius ran around after her soaking her up.

Jabone was sitting in the stern enjoying the cool breeze that raked his cheeks. Ufalla walked up to him and sat down on the rail beside him. "What are you thinking?"

He looked at Ufalla and didn't hesitate to tell her, which let him know just how much more he cherished her friendship than her brother's because it was something he never would have told Tarius. "I was thinking that it's only been two days and I already miss my parents, especially my mother Jena. I want to wipe out the vision of her crying as I got on the ship and I want to wrap it up and keep it at the same time."

"I know what you mean, except it's my father's tears that haunt me. The Kartiks are all passion and so physically demonstrative, but well my father has always been more openly emotional than my mother. I think it's a Jethrik trait and I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad that I don't seem to have it."

"Do you think . . . Well have we made a terrible and selfish decision?"

Ufalla shrugged. "I don't think so. If we did well they only have themselves to blame. I mean if they'd taught us more about nets and rigging than they had about the sword and warfare we'd be fishermen instead of fighters."

Jabone nodded. "I feel like it's something I have to do. I love my madra, but how will anyone ever even notice me if I'm always standing beside her?" He took a deep breath and started throwing his arms about. "Tarius the Black, who conquered the Amalite scum, the greatest fighter who ever lived, the Great Leader who built our sea port and brought in the ships that serve our nation and who built the great wall between the Katabull Nation and the sea, who is Kingdom Warlord and the best bard in the country. There is nothing which she does at which she doesn't excel. Everyone is always saying Jabone you are just like your madra; I know they only mean this as a great compliment and when I was younger when they would say it I would glow with pride. Now . . . Well I don't want to hear that anymore. What they're really saying is that I will never be as great as my madra. I will be like her but I will never be her. I want to be my own man, to have stories told about me and my great deeds, but that will never happen as long as I'm with her because she shines brighter than the sun. "

Ufalla sighed. "That she does."

Jabone laughed at her crush and she shrugged and smiled knowing why he was laughing. "It's more wanting to be her than wanting her you know?"

Jabone nodded, understanding what she meant. Jestia and Tarius went running past them in some game of chase and Ufalla made a face. "My brother makes an ass of himself two or three times daily."

It was the first time Jabone had seen it, or at least if he had seen it before he hadn't recognized it for what it was. Suddenly so many things made sense. "Oh," he said simply.

"What?" Ufalla asked nervously.

"Just oh," he said with a shrug and a smile.

Ufalla sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Is it that obvious?"

"Not at all or it wouldn't have taken me this long to see it," he said. "Have you told her how you feel?"

"Why would I? She's slept with half the men in the kingdom."

"That doesn't mean she would reject you, Ufalla. I mean look at you, anyone would have to be crazy not to want you."

"Oh she'd probably have sex with me just for the experience and then toss me aside like all the others and expect me to act as if nothing had happened and . . . Well I love her so that wouldn't really work for me. I'd become one of those people who chase after the person who doesn't like them and won't let go."

"Like Tragon," Jabone said, making a face.

"The man who betrayed your madra?" Ufalla didn't understand the reference.

"He did worse to my mother, to Jena." Jabone told her the story.

"See? No one should ever chase after someone who doesn't want them, it's just hateful and pathetic," Ufalla said as he finished. She was still watching Jestia where she was now standing talking to Tarius on the other side of the boat. "I'll just watch her from afar and hang onto my fantasies. Those usually turn out to be better than the real thing anyway."

Jabone looked at her with raised eyebrows then. "Voice of experience my sister?"

"Like you I've had my share of women. It's never been as good as I thought it was going to be."
Jabone nodded. "I think it's better if you really love the person, if they love you."

"But you can't make people love you," Ufalla said with a sad sigh.

"No, but you can let that love change into something like a really good friendship." He looked at her then. "Ufalla do you ever worry that . . . oh never mind."

"What?"

Jabone took in a deep breath and let it out. "Do you ever worry that you'll never find someone that you love who will love you back?"

Ufalla sighed and smiled a sad smile. "Only every time I look at Jestia."

* * *

"I don't see why we can't just go off on our own. We don't need a bunch of stuck up Jethrikian bastards telling us what to do, and we sure don't need them to tell us how to fight," Tarius said.

"You do remember that you're half stuck up Jethrikian bastard don't you?" Jestia asked with a smile.

Tarius made a face. "I was born to the Pack of the Marching Night in the Valley of the Katabull. The Great Leader's own breath flows through my body . . . "

"Yeah, yeah," Jestia said with a sweep of her hand. "Half your blood is still Jethrikian. You're blond headed for the god's own sake."

"So what?"

"So maybe these people will be perfectly nice and maybe we will enjoy their company, and maybe, just maybe, we need a little help before we go off on our great adventure," Jestia said.

"Oh so . . . Now that adventure looms have you gotten as careful as your brother?"

"I wouldn't be on this ship if I was as careful as Katan. Hell I wouldn't even step out of the castle. But I have thought long and hard on all that Tarius the Black told us and I think it's high time that maybe I do learn at least a little caution. The Great Leader's breath running through your body won't protect you from swords and arrows either."

Tarius nodded thoughtfully. "You make a good point."

"Do you really think so, or would you just say just about anything to get me into your bed?"

Tarius looked only some taken aback. After all having the Great Leader's breath running through his body had gotten him a lot of action among the packs. He was known as a ladies' man. "Can't it be both?"

Jestia laughed in that way that girls do when they have no intension of sleeping with you and then she walked away. He followed her not so easily put off.

"So what about it?" he asked her.

"I'd like to ask what, like I didn't know what you're asking, but I do, and no. I'm not going to sleep with you."

"Why not?" Tarius asked angrily. "You've slept with half the kingdom."

"First off if I really had I wouldn't be able to walk," Jestia said angrily, "and second off . . . It's a wonder anyone sleeps with you considering you're such a little pig!" She stomped off towards bellow decks and this time he knew better than to follow.

"What did you do pig?" Ufalla asked at his shoulder a few seconds later.

"Nothing, and I'm getting a little tired of women calling me that!" Tarius screamed after Ufalla, who was obviously going after Jestia.

Jabone looked at Tarius and smiled.

"What?" Tarius demanded.

"So, did you say something really stupid?"

Tarius laughed and slapped Jabone on the back. "Yes, yes I did, incredibly stupid and insensitive and more or less a guarantee that I'm never going to get a piece of the royal ass."

"Do you think that would be such a good idea anyway? If we're going to work together I mean," Jabone said, thinking that considering how Ufalla felt that if Tarius ever actually slept with Jestia there would never be peace between these already feuding siblings.

"I suppose you're right."

Jabone looked out over the endless waves and wondered again if they were as ready for this adventure as they had all thought they were.

He wondered if his mother was still crying.

* * *

A young man in the uniform of a Sword Master of the Jethrik met them at the docks. They recognized the uniform though they'd never seen one before because they'd heard it described dozens of times in stories. He wore the plain blue puffy pants, black stirrup boots, and the plain long sleeved white tunic with an air of importance. Obviously a man used to being respected.

"So I'm guessing it's you four then," he said with a brilliant smile as he walked up to the four youths eagerly awaiting him on the dock. Jabone nodded yes. "Do you speak Jethrik?"

"Yes, all four," Jabone answered. He clapped his hands, and when one of the sailors looked at him he said in Kartik, "Please unload our horses and gear we must depart."

"Yes my prince," he replied in Kartik.

Jabone made a face. He never thought of himself as a prince. The Katabull picked a leader. Even when the end of his madra's days came he would not automatically take her throne. Still the Katabull thought of him as their prince.

"I am Master Richard," the man said.

Jabone didn't hear because he was to busy sniffing the air. He looked around him at the sea of blond-headed people and the hair on the back of his neck rose. Amalites. Madre is right; they do have a different smell about them. A bad one. He made a face and watched as the horses were brought out of the hold. He wasn't used to giving orders, but there was a reason he hadn't offered to help with this. He had never before done it and his madra had told him it was risky business. Bringing horses up from the dark hold into the light and getting them down the gangplank without losing them in the sea took knowledge and a certain finesse. Much training, training he didn't yet have, but decided to get as he watched the horses successfully unloaded.

"I am Jestia," Jestia introduced when it became obvious that Jabone was too preoccupied to do it. "Jabone, Ufalla and Tarius."

Jabone just nodded, not really breathing until the horses were safely on the docks and his horse's reins were in his hand. He was very attached to his mount. The horses had already been saddled and their gear packed onto them. Jabone patted the horse's nose.

"You look like one of us," Richard said, to Tarius which was of course the wrong thing to say to Tarius.

"My father was of your people, but I am Kartik through and through. The very breath of the Great . . . " Ufalla slapped a hand over his mouth as Jabone gave him a heated look.

"You will have to excuse my older brother, Master Richard. He is a small man who takes offense at most everything including our father's blood. I look forward to meeting a great deal more of my father's people," Ufalla said.

"As do I," Jabone said, and reminded Tarius as he told Richard, "my father is also of your country."

Jestia sighed. "While I am the only pure blood among the breeds."

"Shall we go then? It's a long ride and I hope to get there before supper," Richard said.

They were all tired of sea rations and they didn't have to be told again before they had all mounted up and were following Master Richard out of town.

Jabone found the countryside much as his parents had described, it pretty but mostly drab compared to the Kartik. A strange sense of homesickness filled him as he realized he was no longer in his country.

"What are you thinking now?" Ufalla asked him in Kartik.

"How different it must have been for my madra to come here alone and bent on revenge. There was no one to greet her at the docks, no one to lead her to the academy. She was a foreigner alone in a strange world where detection would mean that she'd never get to fight in the war she'd come to fight," Jabone said also in Kartik.

"It's no secret that your madra is very brave," Ufalla answered.

"It's no secret that his madra had already lived more life by then than most people live in a life time," Jestia said, riding up beside Ufalla and looking around her at Jabone. "What's your point Jabone?"

Jabone was more than a little miffed with her. He had been talking to his friend not her. "I don't have to have a point Jestia," he snapped. "I was just talking."

"Oh that's right, you aren't your madra. Your stories don't actually ever go anywhere," Jestia teased.

"I guess it's true what they say about witches," Jabone sneered back.

"What would that be?" Jestia asked.

Jabone was silent, having trouble coming up with a follow up.

"That they're all a bunch of whoring bitches," Ufalla supplied. "No wait, it wasn't all witches that was just you," Jabone and Ufalla laughed.

"Ha, ha," Jestia said, and rode up ahead to where Tarius was talking to Richard. Ufalla and Jabone looked at each other, smiled, and talked of less serious matters.

* * *

The villages stank, and they were filthy. The streets were filled with horse shit and the gutters were filled with human waste. That must be where they dump their pots waiting for a rain to come and clean them out—and send it where? Jabone didn't want to think about that. Most houses in Kartik villages were made of stone or brick. The Katabulls built their huts using a pole construction with woven sticks covered with clay for the walls. Most of these Jethrik buildings were wood and the construction had a cobbled-together look you would have never seen in the Kartik.

"What a wretched, horrid place," Jestia said, and for once Jabone agreed with her. His mother had been right. The Jethrik apparently had no rules about keeping the streets clean or keeping their waterways clear of filth. She had told him that they didn't know as much about disease as the Kartiks did, and that was obvious because they threw their filth in their streets which brought bugs and made sure they tracked filth into their homes and businesses on the bottom of their feet. If one was sick, soon all would be.

As they rode through the small village of Pearson they could see the garrison ahead of them. It rose out of the forest some sixty-five feet tall, a huge rock wall surrounding five acres of ground, with four watch towers and four ballistas. It took four men to open the front gates and five to close them back again. He sighed with relief when they had entered. The garrison was clean. He remembered now that his madra told a story about a Code of Cleanliness the Sword Masters lived by, and he was glad for it.

Once inside, Richard led them to the stables where they groomed feed and watered their weary horses. It wasn't exactly fair to make a horse take a long boat ride and then gallop them for most of an afternoon. Jabone apologized to his horse with a good brushing and an extra measure of grain.

The evening meal was still an hour away, so they gathered their practice swords and met on the open ground near the front gates and far away from everyone else. Everything was new and strange and they just needed to have some normalcy. For them normal meant sword practice.

Well for three of them anyway.

"Come on, I'm tired and hungry and there's no one here to make us do it," Jestia whined, but picked up her sword and started to fight with Ufalla anyway.

Tarius walked up to Jabone's elbow and whispered, "The foreigners are watching us." Jabone looked around to see if Tarius was right and seeing people look away knew that he was.

"You forget we are the foreigners here. Perhaps they aren't used to seeing women fight even now. Or perhaps they aren't used to beautiful Kartik women fighting. More than likely they aren't used to seeing Kartiks period. I haven't seen a dark head since we left the ship. What ever the case let them watch and then maybe they'll know to leave us be," Jabone said. Tarius nodded and then they, too, started to fight.

Chapter 5

Hellibolt had been as good as his word. When they had awoken in the morning and started tearing down camp all the men remembered was that Kasiria had saved their necks. Although none of them said anything remotely approaching gratitude, they were treating her with more kindness and courtesy than they ever had before. If even one of them remembered that she had become the Katabull they didn't say anything.

They were nicer to her all the way to Pearson Garrison, but being unused to them being anything but obnoxious to her she couldn't really say she enjoyed the reprieve. In fact, their usual rhetoric would have been welcome as it would have brought some normalcy to her suddenly very abnormal existence.

She was the Katabull, just an unwanted piece in a failed plan to humble a kingdom that had spurned them.

What did that mean? What did any of this take away or add to her? Was she more than she had been when she left the academy or less?

She shook these unwanted thoughts from her head. The sword was all that mattered. If a fighter was all she was and all she wanted to be then she should embrace this part of herself that could only make her a better fighter.

They rode into the garrison just before evening and dismounted. She heard the familiar sound of practice swords. All practice weapons in the Jethrik were now made from split bamboo imported from the Kartik though Old Justin had said that they used to use padded oak sticks. "Since changing to the Kartik practice weapons we've had far fewer cadets maimed in practice," he had told her once.

The practice blades had a distinctive sound, one she'd recognize anywhere. As she grabbed her gear off her saddle and a groom took her horse from her, she looked towards the sound and saw him. Her breath caught in her chest. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. His dark black hair went to the middle of his back and was braided in two small braids on either side of his face while the rest was allowed to flow freely around his head. He had three earrings in his left ear and a ring in his left eyebrow. His gambeson was the bright colors the Kartiks seemed to delight in and that she, being from in country, had hardly ever seen. His breaches and boots were dark black. For a minute all time stood still; she swore it did. Then he dropped his weapon to his side and turned to look at her, and his dark eyes just seemed to look right through her. Without realizing it she had walked right up to where he was.

"Kasiria!" Derek, the Captain of the Guard at the garrison said at her shoulder, and from the smile on his face and the loudness of his voice she knew it wasn't the first time he'd said her name. Derek was an old friend of her father's and one of the few people who was privileged to know her true identity. "Is something wrong?" he asked of the vacant stare on her face.

"I lost three of my men to bandits, sir," she said, never taking her eyes off the young Kartik man.

"I'm sorry to hear about your loses, Sergeant."

"It could have been far worse, there were at least twenty of them," she said in a voice she knew sounded detached, as if she was unaffected by the whole thing, which wasn't what she wanted, but she'd never been very good at pretending at emotion she wasn't really feeling.

"I will expect a full report of the incident later. If you're up for it, Kasiria, as long as you're here you might as well meet Jabone and his people. They are new recruits from the Kartik. You will be training together in the coming weeks. My hope is that they will teach us something of their ways of fighting and we will teach them something of ours."

The boy held out his hand to her in a gesture that was obviously foreign to him, and she took it and shook it, holding it longer than she should have just looking into his black eyes and feeling a million things she had never felt before. "Hello," she said.

"Hello," he replied, and it was obvious that Jethrik wasn't his native tongue.

She finally let go of his hand.

"Are you well?" he asked. "Have you been wounded?" All right he had a thick accent but his Jethrik was actually very good.

"No, I . . . I'm fine just a little rattled. Did you and yours have a good journey?"

"Aye, it was a fine journey," he said, and the way he looked at her made her feel naked. A tall, dark very beautiful girl came up and took his arm. She had bright dancing brown eyes and had three rings in her right ear and one also in her eye brow she said something to him in Kartik that made him blush some and Kasiria was immediately jealous that the other girl was touching him. "My pack . . . I mean my comrades, Ufalla," he said indicating the woman on his arm, "Jestia and Tarius." He pointed to the other two in turn. Jestia was if possible even more beautiful than Ufalla. Her raven-black hair pulled back from her face in a single braid. Her eyes were such a dark shade of green that Kasiria at first thought they were black like Jabone's. Her features were fine, her nose aristocratic, and her every movement seemed to ooze sensuality. She had at least a dozen rings in her left ear and three in her right.

"Tarius?" She was taken aback looking at the small, long-haired blond man who also had three rings in his left ear. "You mean like Tarius the Black?"

"I was named for her," he said proudly.

Jabone shot him a look and said to Kasiria. "As are many babies in the Kartik. My name as well has become common as their legend grows."

Kasiria sized them up as a group. Jabone and Ufalla would have made the height and weight requirements for Sword Masters easily, but the other man wouldn't have come close and the other woman would have missed it by a couple of inches. The small blond man didn't look like he fit in at all. A troll among gods, Kasiria thought.

Her men had already scattered but even if they hadn't she wouldn't have thought to introduce them. She didn't remember their names half the time. She wasn't close to them. These people you could tell all had a common bond. They actually cared for one another; it was clear in their mannerisms. They were comfortable with each other in a way Kasiria couldn't remember ever being comfortable with . . . well anyone.

"Why don't you all get cleaned up? Dinner will be served soon and you all look like you could use a good hot meal," Derek said.

The girl called Ufalla whispered something to Jabone. He grinned stupidly, said nothing, and followed her and the others away.

She just stood there watching him go like some love sick fool. This can't be happening. This can't be happening now. I'm a fighter, that's what I am, and now I'm not even a human fighter and I can't be feeling these sorts of things for someone I have just met. I am a princess he is a Kartik, a fighting thug. He was all sweaty and dirty and . . . he smelled good to me. It's the animal inside me, that's what it is, what it must be. Besides he has a girl friend. It's obvious that he's with that girl and . . . I think I could take her.

"Kasiria," Derek said gently. "Are you all right?"

For answer she just started rattling. "I killed eight men."

"What?" Derek said in surprise.

"There were so many of them and they jumped out of the trees and they killed three of my men and they knocked me off my horse and I jumped up and I just started swinging and I killed eight men."

"Come on." Derek took her gear from her hand and started leading her towards the bath house thinking that she was just shaken from the attack, which was exactly what she wanted him to think. "You get cleaned up and you'll feel better."

* * *

At dinner Kasiria grabbed a bowl of stew and a roll and looked for a place to sit. She saw them sitting at the head table with Derek and desperately wanted to join them. She kept standing, looking around as if she'd forgotten or lost something, hoping Derek would see her and wave her over.

* * *

"There she is," Tarius teased Jabone in Kartik. Jabone looked up, saw her, and then quickly looked back at his plate.

"Shut up."

Derek smiled, "So what's all this then?"

"You talk too much," Jabone spit back at Tarius in Kartik.

Tarius just laughed and told Derek. "Jabone is in love with that girl."

"That's not what I said!" Jabone said, taking in a hissing breath and reminding himself to never say anything of the least importance in Tarius's hearing ever again. "I said she looks just like my mother."

Derek made a confused face and whispered. "You're Tarius's son?"

"But Jena is my mother," Jabone explained.

Derek if possible looked even more confused.

"His parents are cross paired," Jestia said, as if that should answer everything Derek needed to know. When she saw by the look on his face that he still didn't, she continued, "Tarius is his madra, his birth mother, but Jena is his mother. She reminds him of Jena."

"Ah Jena." Derek breathed. "A beautiful woman." He smiled at the memory. "I don't think Kasiria is that pretty; however, she's every bit as rough around the edges, maybe even more so."

"Rough around the edges!?" Jabone said, taking immediate offense. "There is nothing rough about my mother. She is the most gentle of people, very regal, very elegant."

"He means she doesn't act like their cattle-type women do. He means she thinks for herself," Ufalla told him in Kartik. Jabone nodded. He looked up and this time the woman caught his eyes and he looked back into his plate. "Invite her over, Jabone. If she really is like your mother, stuck in this land she must feel as lonely as Jena did," Ufalla urged.

"I can't," Jabone said.

"Well I can." Tarius jumped up and waved wildly. "Come sit with us," he called in Jethrik. Every eye in the room turned to him and he quickly sat back down looking a little embarrassed.

"I don't think they make noise when they're eating," Ufalla told her brother in their own language.

"She's coming over." Jabone glared at Tarius, "If you say anything to embarrass me I will split you."

Tarius looked all innocent and said in Kartik, "My brother would I ever do anything to embarrass you?"

* * *

Derek watched as Kasiria made her way across the room toward their table.

"Sir Derek," She nodded her head as she sat down next to Ufalla and across from Jabone.

"Kasiria." He nodded back. He tried to hide his amusement. After all, he knew how they were all connected to each other but they had no idea. How strange and ironic fate was. The daughter of Persius, King of the Jethrik, hiding in the Jethrik army because she wanted to fight her father's enemies, was sitting at the same table as Tarius's son, Queen Hestia's daughter and Sir Harris's children, who were hiding in the Jethrik army so that they could fight their parent's enemies.

If that wasn't the gods working in mysterious ways he didn't know what was. He wondered whether he should send word to Persius that Tarius's son and the others were here. If, for that matter, he should send word to Tarius that the king's daughter was there. But he had promised Tarius that he would tell no one who these children were, and he had promised his king that he would tell no one who his daughter was.

He realized that the table had gotten suddenly very quiet. He looked at the Kartik children who were suddenly looking around the room no doubt to see how they were supposed to behave, and he remembered Tarius's early days at the academy. To his shame he remembered how he had made those days harder for her. Like them she'd just been trying to fit in. Derek smiled. "It's all right to talk during dinner," he said, and the four Kartik youths smiled as if relieved. Harris's son immediately started rattling a mile a minute about how much bigger Jethrikian horses were and how he wanted to trade his horse in for one.

"You will fall right off on your stupid head, big brother," his sister said.

"Bigger horses eat more," Jabone said, making a face.

"You are like your madra. You make friends with horses and then you keep them 'til they can't carry your weight any longer and turn them out to pasture."

"A good horse is your best friend on the battle field," Derek said.

Tarius laughed. "No, the Katabull are your best friends on the battle field. Any warrior knows that."

Jabone glared at the boy and spat something back at him in Kartik.

"Do you see many Katabull then?" Kasiria asked, looking into her stew. Derek had never seen her act so shy; he guessed that the attack had left her badly shaken. That or she was intimidated by the Kartiks.

"Of course we grew up . . . " Tarius started, and Ufalla slapped her hand over her brother's mouth and spat much the same thing at him that Jabone had. He nodded his head that he understood, muttered something in Kartik, and smacked himself in the head. Derek laughed out loud because the only person he'd seen hit themselves in the head like that was the Kartik Bastard herself, Tarius the Black. It must be some Kartik thing or perhaps he'd just picked it up from her.

"We see a great many Katabull. They are respected in our land, revered," Jestia said, looking at Kasiria. "We don't shoot our Katabull through with arrows nor do we have them drug behind horses, they are in fact considered the most noble of the queen's servants."

"We treat them the same way here now," Derek said.

"No we don't," Kasiria said with passion. "We say we do but we don't. We fear them just like he does." She pointed at Jabone. And when she did all three of the other Kartiks started to laugh in an altogether unseemly way. Ufalla whispered something to Jabone and then even he started to laugh.

"That's right," Jabone said. "I fear and loath the Katabull."

Derek decided that these four Kartik youths couldn't hold their tongues in a bucket.

"Well I fear and loath them, too," Kasiria spat out, thinking it was the right thing to do. But then they stopped laughing and just glared at her as if she'd grown two heads. And Master Derek was looking at her and shaking his head no violently, so Kasiria knew she had just made a huge mistake.

"Have you ever met one?" Ufalla asked glaring at her now with real contempt in her eyes.

"No."

"She wouldn't know if she had," Jestia said, and her voice had that same quality of tone that Kasiria's father had when he thought he was speaking to someone who he considered to be well beneath him.

Kasiria didn't know why they had turned on her. Jabone was the one who had said something derogatory about the Katabull when Tarius had brought it up. He was speaking in Kartik. I just assumed he said something bad. He must not have; he didn't. What an idiot I am. What do I do now? Just scream that I'm Katabull? I don't want everyone to find out because I was telling the truth about my people. And I can't make it happen so there is no way that I could prove it to them.

"I . . . I have never met a Katabull that I know of, but I'm sure I would like them," she said nervously. They all just continued to look at her like she had two heads. "I'm sorry, I don't know your ways or your customs and I think I'm trying a little too hard." She started to get up to move and Jabone grabbed her wrist.

"No stay," he said. "Obviously we are all having some problem with language and cultural differences. Just know that I didn't and would never say anything against the Katabull."

"I . . . " She looked down at his hand on her wrist and sat completely down. "I wouldn't either. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

"She is like your mother," Tarius said, and started laughing. Jabone slapped him with the back of his hand hard enough to knock him out of his chair to the floor, and the room became very quiet again. Tarius pulled himself out of the floor still laughing sat down and started eating again, so obviously this was the way they normally behaved around the dinner table.

"Have you all been training long?" Kasiria asked.

"Me not that long, a few years," Jestia answered. "But they're all sword babies."

A few years isn't long? Kasiria wondered then asked, "Sword babies?"

"Yes, look." Jestia took Ufalla's hand and held it up. The little finger was missing. Tarius and Jabone also showed their fingers or the lack thereof.

"The bones of your fingers are in the hilt of your swords," Kasiria said,,a cold chill going up her spine.

"My friend Tarius also assumed that custom," Derek laughed. "When she first came to the academy and we all thought her male . . . We were not friends. Nor were Harris and I." He looked at young Tarius, though Kasiria had no idea why. "I was a cruel boy, an arrogant one. You can't tell now but I had a head full of red hair in my youth. It made me different and told anyone who looked at me that I had a parent born of the island. I came from a wealthy noble family and I was an embarrassment, an obvious bastard. That's no excuse for my bad behavior but it did make me mean. War has a way of twisting a man for the good or the bad. I fought under Tarius and beside Harris. They forgave me for my idiocy and I came to love and admire them both."

"These three were born to the sword," Jestia continued, and Kasiria noticed a certain jealousy had entered her voice. "They have always known what they would become. Their cords were cut with their parent's swords and they have been practicing every day since they could hold a stick."

"Didn't it hurt?" Kasiria asked looking at Jabone's hand.

"Oh yeah," Tarius answered, smiling brilliantly.

"And you've been fighting all your life?" Kasiria asked Ufalla.

"All of it that I can remember," she said with a shrug. "Our father and our mother are both sword slingers. I'm rather more interested in how you came to take up the sword, since I see no other women here."

"I just . . . for as long as I can remember it's all I've ever wanted," Kasiria said.

"Well I've got to go," Derek said. "Kasiria, I have set up lodging for you and Ufalla and Jestia in the old officer's barracks towards the back of the garrison. You boys will be bunking in the common barracks . . . "

"No." Jabone shook his head dramatically. "We are supposed to stay together," he said,indicating the four of them. "My madra said we would be together."

"On assignment you will be together, but our customs don't allow young men to bunk with young women."

They all started to talk in Kartik at once.

"Hold, hold, that's the rules," Derek said. "The girls and Kasiria will be fine."

"We aren't worried about them," Jabone said quickly. "We aren't like you. Our women can take care of themselves better than most of your men. We don't want to be separated from or kin in a strange land; that is against our ways."

"You won't be separated in the field, I promise you that. You may do whatever you please when you leave here, but in the garrison . . . They'll sleep in one barracks and you'll sleep in another.

* * *

The women had been given a small, empty officer's barracks on the edge of the compound close to the garrison wall.

Ufalla spit something out in Kartik as they were choosing their beds.

"What did you say?" Kasiria asked curiously, and more than a little put out.

"I said your rules could not be any stupider if they worked on making them that way," Ufalla said with utter contempt. "Your streets are full of crap and then you make rules like this."

"Well I can't say I disagree with you there. I've been fighting the customs of my own people most of my life. Do me a favor and speak my language. I'm afraid I failed miserably at my foreign languages classes and I don't want any more mix-ups like what happened at dinner," Kasiria pleaded with embarrassment.

"Oh you mean like when you thought Jabone had said something derogatory about the Katabull and then he did as a joke and you said the same stupid thing just to agree with him because you've got a burning desire for him?" Ufalla teased, and both she and Jestia laughed.

"Not that you're right, but you act like you don't care."

"Why would I care?" Ufalla asked with a shrug.

"Isn't he your boyfriend?"

Ufalla and Jestia both laughed even harder then, Jestia in fact actually rolling on her bed.

"Well I don't think it's that funny," Ufalla said, which just made Jestia laugh all the harder.

"What's so funny?" Kasiria asked, smiling now just because their laughter was sort of contagious.

"Jabone is my best friend, my pack brother, but I would never have a boyfriend."

"Because they would get in the way of your sword work?" Kasiria asked, thinking she understood where the woman was coming from. Ufalla stared at her in confusion, obviously not understanding what she was saying, and Kasiria realized why. They were Kartik; the girl had said both her father and mother were fighters so in her mind having a relationship wouldn't exclude her from fighting.

"No, dummy, because Ufalla's as queer as the Great Leader," Jestia laughed again and Ufalla shot her a look. "What?"

Ufalla spit something at her in Kartik and Jestia just laughed, shook her head and said, "Well it's pretty obvious."

"It doesn't bother me," Kasiria assured Ufalla.

Ufalla grinned wildly then. "It's why I said your rules are stupid." Ufalla laughed looking right at Kasiria. "Apparently they have separated us from the men to make sure our virtue stays intact, and the truth is mine and especially Jestia's virtue has already been spent by your standards and your virtue is much more likely to be defiled by me than it would by my noble friend Jabone."

"Now your little brother is another story," Jestia said, and they just laughed harder and now Kasiria laughed with them.

"When you say the Great Leader, you talk of Tarius the Black?" Kasiria asked carefully.

"Aye," Ufalla answered.

"Do you know her then?"

The two girls exchanged a look and then Jestia said, almost too quickly. "We have met her."

Kasiria sat down on her bed and then went ahead and lay down. "My father fought with her at the Battle of the Arrow, and in the Great War. He told such stories! I have always wanted to train with her. Many of the men that teach at the academy were trained by her, but they all say they have never been able to match her style. I would really like a chance to train with her. Do you know whether she still train fighters in the Kartik?"

"Aye," Ufalla said. "We will show you the Kartik style and you will teach us yours as your captain said."

They started talking about fighting and for the first time in her life Kasiria felt like she belonged. These strange women with their strange customs seemed more like kin to her than all her brothers and sisters.

* * *

"I don't like it," Tarius said,as they chose bunks as far away from the others as they could get.

"Nor do I my brother," Jabone said, agreeing with him for the first time in days.

They sat on their cots facing each other.

"Imagine," Tarius whispered lower, "your madra, my age, alone hiding not just her parentage but her sex in a room just like this." He made an angry face. "My father the great warrior cleaning up after a bunch of spoiled rich brats just like these."

Jabone nodded that had been just what he'd been thinking. The other men in the barracks were not looking at them with curiosity as much as with great loathing. "They fear us because we look different. That was what my madra meant, why the Amalites," he and Tarius both spit on the floor, "are causing them so much trouble here, so much more than in the Kartik-held Territory. "These people are afraid; they distrust that which looks differently than they do. But the Amalites look just like them so they don't raise their suspicion."

"I don't look different than they do," Tarius said with a air of self loathing.

Jabone smiled at him. "You must or they wouldn't be snubbing you in exactly the same way as they are me. You may have your father's coloring but you have your mother's features."

"You really think so?" Tarius asked with a smile.

"Of course. That's why you're so dammed ugly." They had a good laugh.

"So what's the big Joke?" A big fellow with a brutish set to his jaw asked from behind Tarius. "Spitting on the floor is that funny to you, because here in the civilized world we don't spit on the floor."

Now if Jabone had been on his own he probably could have said a few carefully placed words and the guy would have gone away, but Tarius . . . Well he never had known when to hold his tongue, and living in amongst the Marching Night he'd never had to.

"You don't spit in the floor but you throw crap in your streets. That's some civilization you've got there." Tarius looked the man up and down and added, "I doubt you ever spit anything out, fat boy."

"Why you! I ought to . . . "

"Shut your mouth and go away before you get your ass kicked." Tarius was up and standing on his cot looking down at the other man in one easy motion.

The guy swung at Tarius who easily ducked it and jumped off the bed slamming three fingers into the man's windpipe which sent him gasping to the floor.

One of the other men started to punch Tarius in the face and found his fist in the rather large hand of Jabone. Jabone smiled at the man as he twisted the man's arm so that he couldn't bend it and drove him to the floor. Another man dove off a cot unto Jabone's back and Jabone threw him over his shoulder to land on top of the man he'd just thrown on the floor. He grabbed the heads of two men running at him and pounded them together, sending both into the rather large pile of men gathering at his feet.

Tarius was everywhere, smacking this one, kicking that one, and then moving on before they had a chance to retaliate. He had climbed up a rather large man, had him in a head lock, and was getting ready to break his nose. Jabone was driving his knee into another man's ribs when a loud booming voice screamed out.

"Hold!"

Jabone kneed the guy then let him go and stopped, holding up his hands and watched as Tarius punched the guy he held in the nose then unleashed him and dropped to his feet also holding his hands up. In the Katabull Nation this signified that you were done fighting.

"Do you two not understand hold?" Derek asked as he stumbled into what was left of the room.

"Sorry sir," Jabone said. "We were trained in Simbala never to leave off a fight 'til the other combatant is disabled."

"But these aren't your enemies, Jabone."
"They acted like it," Tarius said.

"He started it," the guy who actually had said,stumbling to his feet.

Derek looked at Jabone who stared coolly back and said, "He was looking for a fight. Tarius gave him one. Then they all attacked us. The dispute has been settled."

* * *

He was indeed Tarius the Black's flesh and blood. In that moment except for his size and his obvious maleness Derek would have sworn he was her. Jabone wasn't about to apologize for his actions or those of his friend, not as long as he thought he was in the right. Derek sighed.

He looked at everyone in the room singling no one out. "We all have to work together for the best of our peoples. Our Kartik brothers have come across the sea to help us fight on our front."

"They started it," Thomas insisted,

"Did they indeed, Thomas?" Derek stared at the youth 'til he was forced to look at his feet. "I'll tell you what happened. You wanted to test them, see what they are made of. Now you know they are made of muscle and skill and action. They have been trained in the sword, all manner of weapons, and Simbala—the Kartik marshal arts. No life of privilege for these boys. Trained in dirt pits instead of the comfortable Sword Master's academy, trained not for three short years but since their birth. These are stout fighting men of honor and if you don't provoke them they will teach you all they know and do you no harm. Provoke them and," he motioned around the room, "this is what you will have. Two men kicking all hell out of twenty. Treat them as you treat each other and they will make you better fighters. Abuse them in any way and they will use their skill and their strength to beat you completely down. I want this mess cleaned up and all of you in your beds. I'm going to leave you with this. I was privileged to have one of the greatest sword teachers of all, but I despised this teacher and in the ring I decided to teach this person a lesson. After I had been beaten senseless for most of an afternoon this teacher asked me, "Do you actually want to learn anything or do you just want to continue to try to hurt me?" I attacked again, and Tarius the Black beat me senseless without breaking a sweat. As long as you keep trying to hurt these people, you will learn nothing from them and they will continue to kick your asses until you learn to do nothing so much as how to flinch." Derek stomped from the barracks.

* * *

They started to pick up the room some of them tending cuts and bloody noses and lips as they went about it. At one point Jabone bent down to right a flipped cot and almost bumped heads with the man who had started the whole fight, Thomas.

"I'm sorry," he said grudgingly.

"And I'm sorry for my friend's mouth," Jabone said with a smile. "It works faster than his brain and he has yet to learn that there is honor also in choosing not to fight."

Thomas sighed. "It seems that in the last two days everything I thought I knew has been put to the test. Today I pick on a man half my size and he kicks my ass. Yesterday bandits attack us in the woods and we'd all be dead had it not been for a girl. While we were all still trying to figure out what's happening she kills eight men and sends the rest of them running for their lives into the woods."

"Kasiria seems like a worthy opponent," Jabone said.

"My friend loves her because she reminds him of his mother," Tarius said,teasingly at his shoulder.

"Shut up runt!" Jabone spat back in Kartik.

Thomas seemed some taken aback by the fact that they were talking to him as if they hadn't just all tried to kill each other. Jabone wondered why, then he thought he knew.

"We don't hold grudges over a little fight," Jabone said. It was the Katabull's way not the Kartik, but these men didn't know that and he realized that he was doing exactly what his madra had done in dealing with these people. He was using their ignorance of his country to hide what he really was. He didn't like it, didn't like feeling like he should be ashamed of what he was and whose cub he was. "Fighting, actually wrestling, is how we work out our problems."

"So you weren't trying to actually kill us then?" a boy asked, holding a rag to his bleeding nose.

"Of course not," Jabone said calmly. "If we'd been trying to kill you, you'd all be dead."

"Of all the bloody cheek," the man with the bleeding nose said, looking like he was ready for a fight again. Thomas put a hand on the man's chest.

"Hold up there, Eric. I don't think he means to be bragging. He's just telling the truth."

"Oh," Eric said, getting very quiet.

"So you have a thing for the ice queen, huh?" Thomas laughed. "Hate to tell you this but the girl doesn't like men, if you know what I mean."

Jabone felt as if he'd been shot through with an arrow and Tarius laughed, popped him in the ribs and said in Kartik, "So you were right. She is just like your mother."

Jabone found his sense of humor, laughed back and said, "Good thing they separated the boys from the girls, eh?"

Chapter 6

Ufalla woke before the sun was quite up. She'd hardly slept. The cot had been comfortable enough but she was just too excited about the whole newness of everything. They weren't home anymore, no longer under the protection and rules of their parents. What had the Great Leader told them? "There is no true adventure without danger and only those who know great risk embrace their destiny." She looked back at where Jestia lay. She was even more beautiful with the world washed away from her features in sleep and with the first lights of false dawn crawling across her face. In sleep there was no pretence and you could see someone's soul. At least that was what the Katabull believed. Though she wasn't Katabull she'd been raised amongst them and they were her non-blood kin.

Jestia's soul was as beautiful as Jestia was. Ufalla remembered the first time she'd realized that her friendship for Jestia had turned to love. They had been sharing a bed at the castle on one of their pack's visits there. Ufalla had woken early and just like now she'd seen Jestia asleep with the near-dawn light on her face and she'd longed to hold her then even as she did now.

Jabone said she should change this love she felt into something else, a stronger friendship, but her bond to Jestia was stronger than any friendship always had been and always would be. Jabone didn't know how long Ufalla had tried to turn her feelings another way or how long she had failed.

But she was good at hiding her feelings. She had learned that from her mother, the stern Kartik fighter. Elise wasn't very demonstrative. It wasn't that her mother didn't have feelings, or that she didn't occasionally show them, but she didn't have to.

I will never embrace you or my destiny because I can't take the risk that my feelings for you—unwanted—might drive you completely away from me so that I could never even be near you. Love, who needed it? Her love certainly didn't serve her. Why did it have to be Jestia, the spoiled pampered princess who whined and willed her way through life? Why her and not a dozen other women she could have easily had? Women who wanted her. Because none of that is who Jestia really is, this is who she really is and when I have seen her real soul how could any other woman ever compare.

When she'd talked to her mother about Jestia Elise had sighed and said, "You don't rule your heart, your heart rules you. You will find another for which your heart longs and then you will forget you loved her at all." Her mother was a practical person. She saw no hope for a relationship between Ufalla and the princess, so she didn't tell her to pursue it, just leave it alone and it would go away. It just wasn't that easy.

She's right there, always right there, so close I can touch her and so far away that I can't. The more I'm around her the more I love her, and I can't stand not to be around her. How can I continue to just pretend that I don't need her, want her? How long can I fool her and everyone else? Jabone knows. He'd never tell but he knows. He guessed and how long before other people do as well?

Jestia yawned and stretched then as if knowing she was being watched and Ufalla looked quickly away out the window at the compound.

"Ufalla," Jestia whispered in a voice filled with sleep. "How long have you been awake?"

Ufalla moved to sit on the edge of Jestia's cot. "I was too excited to sleep," she whispered.

"Too excited or too cold?" Jestia asked with a shiver. Now Ufalla thought about it she was cold.

"Both maybe," she said. They lived on a tropical island; they had been told that it was spring here just like it was back home, but if so their spring was about like a Kartik winter.

"Grab your blankets and bring them over here. We can share," Jestia said sleepily.

Ufalla started to tell her all the reasons that was a bad idea and then . . . Well, the chance to be that close to Jestia just drove any form of logic from Ufalla's mind. She grabbed her bedding, slung it on Jestia, and then crawled under the covers with her, her back to Jestia and hugging the edge of the cot so as not to actually touch her.

Jestia crawled up to her back and wrapped herself around Ufalla, making her stiffen and then just relax into the feel of it. "You're as cold as a toad," Jestia said.

Blessed be the Nameless One my heart feels like it's going to burst in my chest. What does she think she's doing?

"Have you ever been so cold in all your life?" Jestia asked in a whisper right in her ear.

"No," she croaked back, thinking that she was anything but cold now.

"I thought Tarius was exaggerating—you know just trying to scare us so we wouldn't go—but if this is their spring I hope we aren't still here for winter."

"She was trying to scare us, but I think she was telling the truth about everything."

"Gods Ufalla," Jestia whispered even lower, "what are we doing here? What am I doing here?"

"Do you wish you hadn't come?"

"I don't know. I think so. I'm just so cold and . . . Well I just had the most awful nightmare I've ever had in my whole life."

Which explained why she had talked Ufalla into her bed and was clinging to her. There was no hidden desire in Jestia just a need to be comforted, to feel safe. It was the reason a child crawled into their parents' bed at night, not the reason Ufalla had been so eager to help "warm" Jestia. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm a witch," Jestia whispered even lower.

"Yeah?"

"So a witch never repeats a bad dream or it will come true."

"Oh. Well I didn't know," Ufalla whispered back, taking exception to the "how stupid are you?" tone in Jestia's voice. Then Jestia's hand was under her shirt, rubbing her side near her hip and she was about to climb out of her skin trying to decide whether she wanted her to stop or not. Finally she said, "Ah, Jestia, either make love to me or quit petting me."

Jestia stopped with a snicker. "Sorry, your skin was just soft and warm and I forgot your peculiar persuasions for a minute." Yet as she said it she lay her head against Ufalla's shoulder and a few minutes later she was asleep.

Ufalla sighed and just enjoyed the moment. She's using me, for warmth, for comfort. She's playing me, just like she does every man who comes near her. Except she doesn't have to worry about me getting carried away and doing anything she doesn't want and she knows it. I've messed around and become one of her toys. She's a witch. Who knows but that she has bespelled me and made me love her just so that I'd gladly take an arrow for her?

* * *

Kasiria woke up and stretched. There was a moment of disorientation while she remembered where she was. She got out of bed; it was already warming up. When she looked over she noticed both her bunk mates were in the same bed and wasn't really very surprised. She smiled and got dressed. As a soldier she slept in most of her clothes, but armor and belts and boots still had to be put on.

She made so much noise getting her boots on that she woke Jestia up and she looked at her through a slanted eye. "It's not what you think, we were just cold." Her voice made the bigger woman stir and then Jestia let out a yelp as Ufalla turned, wrapped herself around Jestia's waist and tugged her close, burying her face in Jestia's cleavage. Jestia said something in Kartik and then shoved at her big friend who woke completely up but still didn't seem to be in any big hurry to unhand her. "Hounds, Ufalla, I'm not one of your hut-dwelling whores to be woman handled . . . "

"Don't flatter yourself, Jestia," Ufalla said, letting go of Jestia and getting out of bed. She looked at Kasiria and smiled. "I just garb any whore that happens to be in bed with me first thing in the morning."

Jestia pulled the covers tightly around her and snapped back something in Kartik. Kasiria decided she was definitely going to have to make a real effort to learn their language or she was just always going to be out of the loop.

Ufalla had also slept mostly in her clothes and was busy slipping on her minimal armor, belts and boots. Of the three of them only Jestia was sleeping in bed clothes.

"The horn will blow soon," Kasiria said.

"You hear that, Jestia? Get up and get dressed," Ufalla ordered, which caused another hissed comment in Kartik from Jestia. "Our new friend asked us to speak her language in her presence."

"Yes, well I haven't learned to cuss yet in their language," Jestia said. "What exactly happens when this horn blows?" she asked Ufalla, who shrugged. They both looked at Kasiria.

"The horn blows. We all meet in the middle of the garrison where they do a head count and then we go to breakfast."

"Well I'm all for breakfast," Ufalla said, and then turning to Jestia screamed, "get out of bed!"

"I'm cold," Jestia whined.

"Cold?" Kasiria said in disbelief.

"Yes, we're freezing," Ufalla said. Then to Jestia. "You'll feel warmer once you get up, move around and get dressed."
"I have to get undressed to do that," Jestia whined.

"I told you to sleep in your clothes. I don't know why you always have to put on such stupid airs," Ufalla said, obviously out of patience with her or at least pretending to be.

"I just wanted to sleep comfortably. That's not putting on airs. Could you hand me my clothes so I can get dressed under the covers?"

"You are such a little pain in the ass." But Ufalla handed over her clothes. Jestia was dressed and out of the covers as the horn blew.

They all put their swords on and then they walked out. Kasiria was just enjoying the idea that she now had companions when Ufalla and Jestia saw Jabone and Tarius and ran to meet them. "So much for my friends," she muttered, and went off to find her unit. She found them battered and bruised. "What in hell's name happened to you?" she demanded, expecting a pub story.

"We got in a scuffle with the new guys," Thomas said.

She found a whole new reason to like Jabone. She looked over to see if Jabone was hurt and saw that he didn't have so much as a scratch on him. "I guess I don't have to ask who won," she taunted.

"So did you . . . You know, get some action with the girls?" Thomas taunted right back.

His double meaning wasn't lost on her. She guessed they had already forgotten that she had saved them and were reverting right back to their old ways. She ignored him, it was how she got through the day. She lined up with them but longed to be with the Kartiks.

* * *

"Well?" Ufalla asked, sliding in beside Jabone.

"It's apparently how they make sure everyone is accounted for." He shrugged. "Seems a great waste of time to me. The way we do it at home makes a lot more sense."

"Huh?"

"You know, if you notice someone's missing you sound the alarm."

Ufalla nodded and then said, "That wasn't what I was asking. How did it go in the barracks with the chowder heads?"
"We had to fight, but they are our friends now. How about you?" he asked. Ufalla looked to make sure that Tarius and Jestia were busy talking, and then she whispered so low that only her friend the Katabull could hear. "Jestia got cold and asked me to sleep with her. It was better than full blown sex with other women so apparently I am doomed."

Jabone laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. "Maybe she got cold because she just wanted to be near you."

"A romantic thought, Jabone, of which we know you are filled because of your mothers, but she was just cold because it's cold here," Ufalla said.

Jabone nodded. "My mother packed me an extra blanket and thicker shirts. I thought she was crazy, just trying to coddle me, but now, well my mother knows the country of her birth. So did you get along with Kasiria?"

"Yes actually. I think she was just glad to be in the company of women who also wield steel. She has a huge undying desire for you my brother."

Jabone shook his head sadly. "No her fellows say she's much more likely to be interested in you."

Ufalla laughed. "No way. What's your mother always say? A beast can smell its own kind. That woman is not queer." Ufalla watched as a big grin covered her friend's face. "So at least one of us won't be loving in vain."

* * *

Derek watched as they lined up and the head count was done. The Kartik children apparently had no idea what standing at attention was and were talking and shoving each other. They weren't fighting they were just a very physical people Kartiks. They talked with flamboyant hand gestures and the way they pounded and shoved their friends you sometimes felt sorrier for them than you did their enemies. He ignored them; for the moment they were fine. What he couldn't disregard was the way Kasiria ignored her men as they taunted her in whispers under their breath. They had no respect for her what so ever. They were supposed to be her unit, she was supposed to be in command, and she obviously couldn't control them. What was worse was that she didn't seem to really care.

Three of her men had been killed. Not just three soldiers but three Sword Masters, men the country had put time and effort into training, and the princess cared not one rot.

If they had really been working as a cohesive unit it wouldn't have, shouldn't have happened. True when the chips were down it was Kasiria alone that had saved them, but she shouldn't have had to. If she had been able to command them, if they had been more intent on looking for danger than taunting her, they might not have been ambushed in the first place.

And none of them had learned their lesson. Kasiria wasn't trying to control them and they weren't showing her any more respect than they had.

Kasiria was the king's favorite child, not destined for the throne of course, but definitely number one in her father's heart. Persius was trusting Derek to keep Kasiria as safe as possible but it looked like in order to do that he was going to have to strip her of rank and take her out of command. That wasn't likely to go over well with the high-spirited Kasiria or her father for that matter.

Kartik words were screamed out suddenly, and the bigger of the two Kartik girls sent the other one flying a few feet backwards into Harris's son who shoved her back. As Hestia's daughter tried to slap the bigger girl's face and found first one and then the other hand held at the wrists, she kicked and squirmed and continued to scream out what he assumed were curses at the bigger girl. Then she hauled off and kicked her in the crotch, which made the bigger girl let her go and scream back at the princess.

"Enough!" he bellowed, pointing at them. They all looked at him. "Get in the line." They all looked at him like that was the stupidest thing they'd ever heard. In fact, Harris's son had to suppress a laugh, but they got in the end of one of the lines. "Now be quiet." They all looked at him and nodded. Then they looked at each other and it was obvious that they were all fighting their laughter.

They were never going to fit in here or in a unit on the road, they were just too different. Young Jestia was obviously a child of privilege but now that he thought about it so were the others. Jabone was the son of the Katabull's Great Leader, the character of legend Tarius the Black, Ufalla and young Tarius the children of Tarius's right hand man Sir Harris. In their land they no doubt took orders from no one save their parents. He looked at them even now looking at each other and making faces, no doubt because they thought being called out lined up and counted was silly.

Derek sighed. Everything was just clipping along so smoothly. I gave up being Captain of the Gaurds at the castle to take a post at the Pearson Garrison at the edge of the territory. It was supposed to be a semi retirement for me. I was just going to train a few fighters, spend time with my wife, and watch my daughters—hopefully—find nice Sword Masters get married and settle down, play with my grandchildren and basically just be left alone. Now I've got Amalites crawling out of nowhere and sacking entire villages and the king sends his wayward, sword-slinging daughter here with visions of grandeur hoping to be Tarius the Black, and Tarius the Black sends me her son and the rest of these Kartik thugs, and what the hell am I going to do.? I don't want to incur my king's wrath and I sure as hell don't want to incur the wrath of Tarius or Harris or Queen Hestia for that matter. And the girls—they have no idea what they are doing to the men. They are beautiful, and young men are young men, easily distracted by a pretty face. It is for this reason I have my own daughters stay close to the house, and now I have these three in amongst the men. If I'm not very careful we could easily have an international incident on our hands just because a bunch of children want to play soldier.

When he looked up the Kartik children had lost their battle and were just laughing out loud and Kasiria was ignoring her unit looking back at them and smiling, and a strange idea started poking at the corners of Derek's mind.

* * *

Kasiria watched as Ufalla spared with Thomas and stopped her self short of laughing out loud as Ufalla laid him out time after time after time. And it wasn't because they didn't want to hit her because she was a girl. Kasiria had broken them of that when they'd all been in the Sword Master's academy. Even Jestia proved to be too much for most of her unit, and Jabone, well there was no one here or maybe on the planet who could best him, of this she was sure. He had made fast work of her and taught her more with a few words and blows than she'd learned in three years at the academy.

Eric had walked into the ring with Tarius. His nose was still swollen and his eyes were going black from his injury.

Eric was considered one of the best and he was easily twice the size of the Kartik man.

Eric attacked with aggression and Tarius was all over him like a bad rash.

Kasiria heard laughter at her shoulder and turned to see Jabone. He smiled. "Your big friend doesn't understand. Tarius has always been too aggressive a fighter. Time and time again my madra would scream out, 'I will punish aggression!' and then lay him to waste when he was aggressive. What you learn the best is how to combat your own mistakes. The more aggressive Eric becomes the more badly Tarius will beat him, because Tarius knows nothing better than how to fight himself."

As if Derek had heard him—which he couldn't from where he was standing—he cried out, "Do you want him to teach you anything or do you just want to try to hurt him?" Eric seemed to calm some.

"So, do you ever make any mistakes?" Kasiria asked Jabone.

Jabone blushed with embarrassment at such praise, but on his dark skin it was only a slight change of color. "Everyone makes mistakes. I will not tell you mine, you will have to find them for yourself."

"He rarely watches his legs," Ufalla said helpfully at her shoulder. "But even that isn't much help because he doesn't watch his legs because he moves them away from blows instead of blocking them. He knows from where your shoulders and wrists are where your blows will fall, and he rarely blocks with his blade he just moves his body out of the way. And just as your blow misses he will hit you because his blade is rarely tied up with yours."

Ufalla walked away then and into the practice ring to fight another young man.

"Are there really so few women fighters here?" Jabone asked with a wave of his hand at the crowd of men assembled.

"Few!" Kasiria laughed though obviously not from joy. "I'm it. No other woman has joined the academy or the army in the twenty years that it has been legal to do so. Just me, so your mother was a sword woman?"

He seemed to take a moment to think and then said, "Yes, my fadra too, great fighters all my parents, but my madra, she is the greatest fighter of them all."

"I thought myself quite good 'til you all got here. I think even Jestia could beat me."

"I doubt that, she has no will for the sword, no real passion for it. The only thing that saves her is that she really, really doesn't like to get hit," Jabone said with a smile.

"And yet she is still beating some of our best."

"That is because she is hard headed and competitive, not because she has a passion for steel," Jabone said with a smile. "And she has had the best trainers that money can buy."

"She comes from money then?"
"Oh aye."

"Then . . . Why come here to fight?"

Jabone smiled. "Our friend Jestia becomes bored very easily. She can have anything she wants so she wants only that which she can not have."

Kasiria wasn't quite sure she knew what that meant. He seemed to talk in riddles at times, not unlike Hellibolt.

"She wants an adventure. To be quite honest, that's what brings us all here. Well, that and to slay our parents' enemies the Amalites." He spit on the ground and then blushed even redder than he had before. "I am sorry. We were told last night that's not proper."

"That's quite all right." Kasiria laughed. "I may start to do it as well before the year is done."

"I must fight now." He walked off towards the practice ring where Ufalla waited and Kasiria saw the first good fight of the day. They were well matched although Jabone obviously was the better fighter. Of all the people he had fought that day, Ufalla was the only one to touch him, and Kasiria found herself jealous of the woman's skill. Kasiria watched carefully. Ufalla faked a blow to Jabone's legs. When he moved and slung his blow she was no longer where she had been so he missed and she hit him in the head. Jabone stumbled backwards, rubbing his head and laughing. He said something to Ufalla in Kartik and she laughed, too. The next time she tried this shot it didn't work, but when she bluffed his head and then hit his leg it did. But Ufalla's bluffs only worked because she was very good at them. Kasiria would have thought the blows were going to land in the one place, be sure of it, and then with a flick of Ufalla's wrist they would land somewhere else.

Kasiria didn't know how they did it, but every one of the Kartiks seemed to just be able to sneak up on her without being noticed every time. She found it more than a little unnerving. "She's beautiful," Jestia said at her shoulder.

"What?" Kasiria asked, not taking her eyes off the fighters.

"Ufalla. She's a beautiful woman and rumor has it quite a good lover. She's really not mine if you want her."

Jestia had her attention then. "Let me guess, the men have been telling you that I'm queer."

"Yes, and you may have her if you want her."

Kasiria laughed. "I'm not queer. I don't want any of them, but I'm not queer."

Jestia smiled then, a smile almost too big for her face and said, "So then it is Jabone that you're swooning over." She sounded relieved and Kasiria had to wonder why.

"I'm not swooning over anyone."

"Yeah, whatever." Jestia laughed and walked away. Kasiria watched her go, not without a certain amount of contempt and thought, Who do you think you're ordering around? If I wanted her I'd have her with or without your permission. Giving people away, what do you think you are a princess or something? Swooning indeed . . . Oh my gods he is so beautiful and he would, should understand me. His own mother is a swords woman. Yes, but his mother isn't a Katabull, she isn't royalty. I have to stay focused, focused on my sword.

* * *

But in the next week she had little time to focus on anything other than the fact that her unit, seeing her friendship with the Kartiks, had something new to torment her about. They were supposed to be taking her commands and learning to actually live and work as a unit but they didn't listen to her at all.

The only joy she got were the few minutes she got to talk to Jestia and Ufalla before they fell to sleep and the moments spent sword fighting with Jabone.

They were at practice now and she was watching carefully as Ufalla beat the living crap out of Thomas, which was not only teaching her tricks she didn't know but was also warming her heart.

"Sergeant!" Captain Derek's voice broke into her thoughts. "Follow me to my office please." She nodded and followed him. As she walked in he said, "Close the door behind you." She nodded and did so, but she didn't like the tone of his voice. "Sit down Kasiria."

"Am I in trouble?" she asked as she sat down.

"Not really." He sat down across the table from her. "Kasiria, there is no doubt that you saved your troop the other day." She nodded silently. "But we both know that had your troop actually been taking orders from you, if they had been allowing you to lead properly, if they hadn't been spending more time taunting you than they were keeping an eye on the road, and if you hadn't let them distract you, that this probably wouldn't have happened at all."

"I have tried to make them respect me, but without my title . . . there is nothing to make them do so because I'm a woman and they are all idiots," Kasiria said hotly.

"I know it's not your fault, Kasiria, but even you have to admit that this is a problem that isn't likely to go away any time soon. You graduated at the top of your class and your skill with the sword is enviable. In fact everything about you says you should be a great military leader. The problem is that you aren't going to cure generations of ignorance fast enough to be allowed to lead your unit."

"What are you saying?" Kasiria asked carefully. That I'm being demoted? That I'll have to take orders from one of my tormentors? I'd rather go home first.

"There is a group among us now that desperately needs leadership. Its members need to be taught more about our land and our people and our way of life, and quite frankly with all the trouble the Amalites have been stirring up I don't have time to teach them. While they will be hard to command, you would have no trouble gaining their respect. In fact I'm sure you already have it."

"You are talking about the Kartiks?"

"Yes. They have no problem with female leadership. Two of them are women and the boys . . . Well their mothers are both swords women. In their culture women are the same as men. I've watched you with them, Kasiria. While all the men seem to need to be beaten into submission in order to accept them and I break up a fight somewhere in the garrison between them and our people every day, you seem to at least be trying to understand them. You alone have a rapport with them."

"But . . . They can hardly be considered a unit. There are only four of them."

"You've seen them fight. Do you really think that's a problem?"

Not since I'm the Katabull, Kasiria thought then said, "On one condition." Derek raised his eyebrows no doubt thinking she wasn't in the position to be asking for any special considerations. "I'm still a princess of the kingdom, Derek, and I've known you all my life. I think you owe me at least one concession based solely on that."

"What do you want?" he asked suspiciously.

"Move Jabone and Tarius over to where we are. Separate my unit from all the others. Put us together. It is their custom for both men and women to bunk together."

"Preposterous. Your father would never allow it."

"Then we won't tell him." She remembered what Ufalla had said the first night they'd bunked with her. "Ufalla's queer. I don't say that to shock you or to have you think ill of her, but it is true. That being the case am I any safer with her than I am with the young men? Besides as you said these young men have respect for women . . . "

"But . . . "

"It will help us bond as a unit and it will keep the men—both the Kartiks and our men—from being distracted by barrack posturing as they all stomp around trying to prove the ground they walk on is theirs alone."

Derek sighed. "The idea was to make them more like us, not you more like them."

"They will never fit in amongst the others. You know that as well as I do. Did Tarius the Black even before anyone knew he was a she, did she ever fit in? Was she ever part of the group?" Derek's silence answered her. "It wasn't until she had proved herself in a dozen battles that you even tried to understand her. These people are superior fighters in every way. They have already forgotten more than most of these men will ever learn. I don't want to ruin them by making them more like us. I want to make myself a better fighter by becoming more like them. Let them train the others, but let us carefully separate ourselves from them." She added sadly, "As you so wisely stated yourself, the men will never respect me. All things considered I think it far more likely that I will fit in with the Kartiks than I ever will with my own people."

"I'll give that what you say has a certain warped sense to it, Kasiria, but you are a princess of the kingdom and . . ."

"As such I will never be remembered after I am dead. I deserve to fight as you have so that someday people will tell stories about me." She stood up and grabbed an apple out of the full bowl that sat on his table. She shined it on her pants leg. "I'm going to go round up my new unit. You can tell my old unit about my reassignment. I'm sure they'll all be broken hearted."

* * *

Jabone couldn't say that he was too upset about the change in sleeping arrangements or having Kasiria as their sergeant.

He moved his cot over next to Ufalla's and Tarius put his on the other side of his.

He was glad to have his pack back together and happier still to have Kasiria as part of their pack even if she didn't yet know that's the way he would think of her.

"Tomorrow we will go on a field trip. You must learn about our plants and animals. What can be eaten, what can't. I have to teach you all about our country and culture in a very short length of time, and I think I can do that better away from the garrison," Kasiria said.

Jestia sat down on Ufalla's cot next to her and looked to where Tarius was still making up his bed for the night. "Tarius, tell us a story," Jestia begged.

"Yes Tarius," Jabone said, "tell us a story."

Tarius looked fleetingly at Kasiria.

"It's all right my brother," Jabone said.

"I have never told a story in this language.It might be clumsy and to tell one in our language would be rude."

"I'm shocked! My big brother actually knows what rude is," Ufalla said. "But then of course he would, he's practiced so much at it."

"Quiet, sprout," Tarius said. Jabone wondered how much bigger than him she was going to have to get before he stopped calling her that.

"Tell a story, Tarius," Ufalla urged. "What better time to learn to weave one in their language than now when it is just us?"

"What sort of story should I tell, of war, of great love, of betrayal?"

"Are not all the same in our history?" Jestia asked.

Tarius seemed to think about it only for a minute and then he started. "I tell the tale of Harris, a crippled servant boy who became a knight. The story of when he first met Tarius the Black, the Kartik bastard. Now there was in those days in the land of the Jethrik a Great War and Tarius had come into the land to go attend the Sword Master's academy pretending to be a man for the Jethrikian people did not believe that women should be allowed to fight . . . ."

As always Jabone was riveted as if he'd never heard the tale before as if he didn't know most of the players. The fact that Ufalla and Jestia had urged Tarius to tell a story and then were so quiet, and considering the story Tarius choose to tell, Jabone knew they were all as home sick as he was.

* * *

Kasiria had heard stories about them most of her life, but never this story, and never so well told. When he had finished she found herself clapping. She looked at Tarius. "You are a fine bard, Tarius."

Tarius blushed. "Thank you. I've had good teachers."

"So is that our Captain Derek that is your story's villain?"

"Aye," Jabone said. "One and the same. War changes men for the bad and the good."

That was the same rather confusing thing Derek had said about his youth, and Kasiria found herself wondering if Jabone was just repeating what he'd heard or if it was a common saying in the Kartik, something Derek had picked up from Tarius the Black.

"Well it's time for lights out," she ordered. They all went to their beds and Jabone blew out the oil lamp. It was then that she realized that she could still see because she could see Jabone walking across the floor without tripping over anything as he made his way to his cot as if he had already memorized the room. Maybe it just wasn't that dark. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but there was something different about the way things looked. She realized that it wasn't like seeing in the dark because there was a little light that made shadows, this was seeing in the dark, real seeing. Yet there was no light source that she could see. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. She could see everything in sort of a green spectrum but she could actually make out the faces of her companions. His face, Jabone's his dark hair looking all the darker against his white pillow.

It's got to be because of the Katabull thing. They see in the dark don't they? Damn Hellibolt he might have told me everything he knew. She looked at her "unit." Any one of them could tell her, but if she kept asking questions weren't they eventually going to get suspicious? She blinked. Was he looking back at her? She looked at Jabone again and his eyes were closed. Trick of the new eyes. Think about it. The ability to see in the dark, that couldn't be a bad thing for a soldier. So, now I'm the head freak of the freak brigade and instead of feeling like I've been demoted I feel like I've been reborn. I will teach them all about my country and they will teach me all they know about fighting and together we will prove them all wrong about us. That I'm just as good as any soldier in this army, better. Or I'll just admit—at least to myself—that the main reason I changed the sleeping arrangement is to keep Jabone close to me. That the main reason I don't care about my "reassignment" is that it means I get to be with him all day, every day.

The whole world, my whole world has changed in just a few days. That's the real reason I understand them, because we've all been thrown out of our comfortable places and forced to change or go back home with our tails between our legs.

* * *

Jabone waited 'til he was sure everyone was sound asleep and then he shook Ufalla awake. He put a finger in front of her lips and motioned her towards the door. She nodded and together they got up quietly and went outside.

Outside the barracks he said, "I've got to go to the privy."

"And I have to go with you? I'm freezing are you mad?"

"Come on I need to talk." She sighed and followed him. "Why do you suppose they've put her in charge of us?" he asked as they walked.

Ufalla shrugged. "I don't know, but you can't tell me you aren't glad."

"Do you think we did something wrong?"

"Are you kidding? Everything we do is wrong to them," Ufalla said. Having reached the privy Jabone went in and Ufalla stood outside the door much in the same way they had done back home. "They have rules about everything and most of them make no sense at all. Line up and be counted. What's that all about? And I wonder if any of them know how to just relax. They act like I'm some strange animal because I have breasts."

"Get this, when they have a dispute and they fight nothing is ever settled and they stay mad at each other," Jabone said.

"Then what's the point of fighting?" Ufalla asked in disbelief.

"Exactly!" Jabone said.

"I don't think it's what we did wrong though," Ufalla said thoughtfully, jumping from subject to subject because she just hadn't really gotten to talk to her friend that much and from foot to foot to stay warm.

"What do you mean?"
"I'm pretty sure she did something wrong and that's why she's stuck with us. Who cares? We all like her; she likes us. We'll be able to do what we want and deal with less crap."

"Right now I'm dealing with more crap," Jabone said, and they both laughed.

"Yeah, I don't know if it's their bad water or their bad food, but I've had the trots on and off ever since we got here," Ufalla said. "In fact when you get done I need in there and you can wait for me. I don't want to be alone out here. My father told me not to trust these men."

"And he was right. They are known to force women to have sex. It's common place with them. They do nothing all night but talk about sex. I don't think any of them have actually done it. And these 'cleaning rags,' what's that all about? Have they no suitable leaves? I hope they boil them to clean them. I'm done." He stepped outside and she went in. "You're lucky I warmed the seat up for you."

"I wouldn't call this stench you left behind you luck," Ufalla said with a laugh.

"Do you really think she likes me?" Jabone asked.

"I think she wants you to ride her like an animal. I don't think that necessarily means she likes you, but I suspect that she does," Ufalla said.

"You're sure she isn't one of you? All the men say . . . "

"All the men are a bunch of idiots. Jestia flat out asked her if she was and she said no."

"Jestia asked her?" Jabone said in disbelief.

"Yeah, you know Jestia, never let good manners keep her from getting . . . Well whatever it is she wants."

"Why would she ask her? She knows how they view it here."

"She wanted to know. Who knows with Jestia? She might have figured she could wrap her around her finger like she does everyone else who's physically attracted to her," Ufalla said, a bitter edge creeping into her voice. "Anyway she asked her and Kasiria said she was not. So I'd say it's clear sailing for you." She walked out of the outhouse pulling up her pants. "I miss having someplace to wash my hands." She made a face. "I'll race you; I'm freezing to death."

She beat him back she always had been faster than he was unless he was in his other form. Jabone went right to his cot and crawled in however Jestia reached over and grabbed Ufalla's pants leg, She stumbled and almost fell. She glared down at Jestia and whispered, "You liked to scared me to death."

"I'm sorry, but I'm cold." She looked appealingly up at Ufalla, not that it wasn't wasted on everyone but Jabone. He smiled as he snuggled into his bed.

"What would you like me to do about it?" Ufalla asked in a harsh whisper.

"I'm cold," Jestia said. Ufalla grabbed her bedding, threw it over Jestia's and then got in bed with her.

Jabone nearly laughed as he saw the look of pure bliss on his friend's face as Jestia moved up against her back spooning her. I don't think she's as cold to you as you think, Ufalla, he thought. He looked over at Kasiria and could have sworn she was looking at him. He blinked his eyes quickly and when he looked again her eyes were closed. Maybe we'll both find the love we want. He heard Jestia mutter something to Ufalla that even he couldn't make out.

Ufalla whispered back, "It's just a dream."

"Do you people ever sleep?" Kasiria asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.

They all started laughing, even Tarius, who Jabone had been sure was asleep. When it was quiet again Jabone wondered fleetingly what Jestia had dreamt and then he fell asleep and dreamt of his mother.

* * *

"If you dream of your mother what does that mean?" Jabone asked in Kartik, riding his horse up along side Jestia.

"Your madra or your mother?" Jestia asked carefully.

"My mother," he answered in a whisper, glaring at Jestia and then looking to where Kasiria was riding well ahead of them.

Jestia rolled her eyes. "Do you think she has learned our language in a day?"

"What does it mean that I dreamt of my mother?" he asked again.

"That you're a huge mama's boy," Jestia said with a smile, and Ufalla laughed from where she was riding on the other side of the princess.

"Come on, witch, I know you know how to interpret dreams."

Jestia shook. Yes she did, and that was why the one she kept having terrified her.

"You all right Jestia?" Ufalla asked.

"Fine just cold." .she pulled her cloak more tightly around her. She looked at Jabone. "What was your mother doing?"

"Sewing me this shirt. That's why I wore it, I thought it might be an omen," Jabone said.

"Did she say anything?" Jestia asked.

"She just kept saying over and over that it's cold here."

"What exactly did she say in the dream?"

"Remember it's cold in my home land."

"The dream means that your mother's love will protect you while you are here." Jestia smiled at the thought. Her own mother, so distant, cold even. Her father quiet and reserved and boring in ways that couldn't be imagined. She had been raised by the servants mostly and the only attention her parents ever gave her was when she was "acting out." Which of course was basically what drove her to 'bad behavior' time and time again, because bad attention was better than none at all. Oh she knew that they cared for her on some level but they didn't actually love her. She envied her friends, especially Jabone. While she'd had virtually no parents he'd had four. She was jealous most of all of his mother Jena, for Jena's warmth could always be felt and her love for him shone from her eyes when she looked at her son. Even now she warms him with the shirt she made him with her own hands. My parents never loved me like that. I'm just the middle child of a couple bound together for the sake of the kingdom. They don't really love each other so how could they ever really love us?

She looked at Ufalla and shook again then tried to clear the image from her mind. She didn't have to interpret her dream; she knew what it meant. She had to find some way to stop it, but how?

"Jestia, are you sure you aren't sick?" Ufalla asked with concern.

"My own dream is not so sweet," she said, as the thought of it darkened her features.

"What have you dreamt?" Jabone asked.

"She can't tell you stupid. If a witch repeats her dream it will come true," Ufalla spat back at Jabone as if it was something she hadn't just learned herself. Jestia smiled in spite of her troubles. For weeks as she was trained by the sadist that was Tarius the Black and even as they had been on the ship coming here she had wondered why she was really going. Tarius had tested her. "Don't go if you aren't going for the right reasons," she'd said, and her words had given Jestia real pause.

And yet she had come. In fact, there had never even been a real question in her mind that she would, but if anyone would have made her tell them exactly why she was going she couldn't have given them any better answer than she just felt she needed to be here. The first night she'd had the dream she'd put it off to being in an strange place and eating bad food but now she'd had it almost every night and she was sure that it was why she'd had to come. Either that or her being here caused the problem in the first place and fate had brought her here which meant there would be no changing events. No, she couldn't think that way she had to stop it from happening, but how, when she didn't know the when or where of it? How stop it, not with her sword she wasn't good enough with it, and none of the spells she knew . . .

"Invisible shield," she said out loud with a smile, her eyes wide. Ufalla and Jabone just looked at her. She smiled broadly and answered their curious faces. "It's a spell I was never able to learn and Jazel just kept pressing me over and over again. She told me it was an important spell for me to learn, but I stupidly decided it was better to run off across the countryside on a drunken toot. I must master invisible shield, that's the answer." She looked at Ufalla, who shrugged.

"If you say so."

"I need to practice all my spells, perfect them, but I must learn that one. I have to."

"When?" Ufalla asked.

It was a good question. Not even Derek had been told she was a witch because of the Jethriks open distaste of the craft. And all day long they were doing something.

"I'll just have to find a time and a place." Jestia swore. Wow! Sudden enlightenment. That's what I am. Who I'm supposed to be. I am a witch. I'm not just supposed to dabble in spells and potions for fun, I'm supposed to be a full-blown, potion-making, spell-casting witch of the caliber of Jazel herself. I've never been sure of anything and now I am because everything hinges on me learning this single spell. This spell which was the only one that eluded me. Every other spell Jazel taught me came easy, but not this one. Because I couldn't do this one spell, because it didn't come easy, I lost interest and took off without learning all I needed to know, without perfecting invisible shield. Now it's the spell I'm sure I need most. What a giant pain in the ass.

"Jestia, why don't you sing something?" Ufalla suggested. "I haven't heard you sing at all since we got off the ship."

Jestia realized it was true. Because I haven't felt like singing. She thinks singing will take my mind off my troubles. She looked over at Ufalla again. I will learn the spell; I must. She started singing her favorite song but it didn't make her feel any better.

Kasiria had been riding in front when Tarius rode up beside her. "I didn't know Jestia could sing," she said.

He nodded. "Oh yes, she's got a wonderful voice."

"What is she singing about?"

"It's the story of a woman who didn't love her garden until it was destroyed in a storm. My godmother said when she was a girl they used to have horrible storms in the Kartik but there haven't been any in my life time so it's an old song. The woman in the story had everything and took it all for granted 'til it was all destroyed in a great storm. She realizes only when all she had is gone how much she loved her garden."

"Well it's beautiful," Kasiria said with real appreciation and a little resentment. She couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

"Tell me again what we'll be doing?" Tarius asked.

"Looking at plant and wild life. Most of ours is different from yours and I want to show you all which plants can be used for food or medicine in case . . . "
"In case we get stuck out in the field or the supply line is broken. Yes, we were trained for survival. Of course where I come from everyone has to learn it not just warriors. It's a good idea. We call it readiness training at home," Tarius said.

"We do here as well. Came from the same place I'm sure," Kasiria said, knowing that Tarius the Black was the Warlord of the Kartik and that "readiness training" had been something she had implemented when she was war lord in the Jethrik. No smart back talk from this Tarius, no telling her what a waste of time it was. She definitely could get used to this. "Tarius, is it true that the Katabull can see in the dark?"

"Oh aye, and their hearing is better than ours, too. Even out of the catted-up state their senses are better than ours. Nothing fights like a Katabull," he said with real admiration.

Suddenly Kasiria had a brilliant idea. "Do you have a Katabull story?"

"I have many Katabull stories," Tarius said with real excitement.

"Could you tell me one?"

Tarius thought only for a moment and then he started. "I tell the tale of Tweed, mate of Rimmy, a much-loved member of the pack of the Marching Night who died at the hands of the ignoble Amalites," he spat on the ground, "in the final battle of the Great War in the Valley of the Arrow. Now there was a time in this battle when the Amalites did realize that they were all about to die and they knew that the Marching Night did block their only chance for a retreat . . . "

They had actually gone past the spot of woods she meant to take them to before Tarius had finished the tale. She knew a little bit more about the Katabull, they were fearless, amazingly strong, and fiercely loyal. She saw a small stream and reined her horse in.

"Ah, this looks like as good a spot as any." Kasiria dismounted. She led her horse by the reins off the road, pulled out her tether rope and tied him to a tree. The others all followed suit without being asked. "Why don't we eat before we start?" She pulled a bag out of her nap sack and started walking with it down to the small stream. She sat down on a rock opened the bag and pulled out a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese the kitchen staff had packed for her. She took a chunk of each and handed the remainder of it on to Jabone. She carefully watched them, each took only their share, seeming to first count how many of them there were and then carefully breaking off an equal share of what was left. It said a lot more about how they felt about each other than their constant squabbling would imply.

After they had finished eating she started walking them around showing them the different plants and was more than a little surprised when she noticed that Jestia had a tablet and charcoal out taking notes. She was glad but still surprised.

"This," Jabone pointed to a plant on the ground, "Is this clover?"

"Yes, but it isn't good for anything," Kasiria said, and started to walk on. She noticed that Jabone grabbed a whole handful of the leaves and stuck them in his pocket—she wondered why he was doing this and why no one in the Jethrik had thought to put pockets into their garments, they just seemed so handy. Kasiria couldn't even think to guess why Jabone was filling his pockets with clover but she didn't have to ask because Tarius did it for her.

"Jabone why are you filling your pockets with this worthless plant?"

"When my madra was here she used to keep her pockets full of clover. She fed it to her horse because it was a treat for him and then whenever she got separated from him in battle he would always come back to her because she always had clover in her pockets. In the Kartik I used to do the same thing with Lex only I used lespedeza. They don't have that here, but they do have clover."

The next thing Kasiria knew all the others were filling their pockets with clover as well. She smiled, shook her head, and moved on.

After about two hours she sent them each in four different directions with instructions to come back with any one of the plants she had shown them and tell her what it was good for. She sat down on a rock to rest wondering as they walked out of sight if it was a silly exercise that they'd be laughing about later like they laughed about coming when the horn blew or lining up and standing at attention. But at least they were doing it without question. Her old unit would have laughed her right out of the woods. She had just lifted her water botta to her lips when Hellibolt appeared in front of her and she spilled water all down her shirt.

"You know, you would have made a fine teacher," he said.

"Dammit Hellibolt!" she said in a harsh whisper, looking around to make sure none of the others were close enough to see him.

"Don't worry. They are far too busy with their own things to care what you're doing. So, what's this then? The king's daughter head of a unit built of four Kartik youths."

"They are good people; I like them."

"You like one of them perhaps too much," Hellibolt said.

Kasiria stood up. "I don't need you in my head, Hellibolt, and I certainly don't need you to spy on me. Tell me something useful or leave me be."

"If I tell you too much what will be the fun of watching this all unfold? What is happening here is something no wizard could do with a spell. You have been asked to guard more than you know. Do not take your duty lightly, but remember to enjoy this time as well."

Then of course he was gone.

"That's it?" Kasiria screamed at no one. Then flinched and went and sat back down on the rock. "That's it," she muttered to herself, "he just pops in long enough to spit a bunch of very cryptic crap out and then he's gone." She sighed. "It's just not helpful that's all."

* * *

Jestia wasn't wasting her time. She had found her one plant and gathered twenty others she recognized from her potion books. She was just about to head back to where they'd left Kasiria when she felt the hair pick up on the nape of her neck and a tingling sensation raced across her scalp. Only two things did that a Katabull changing form and magic being used in close proximity to where she was.

She quickly cast a spell to find Jabone. In minutes she was standing by him and he hadn't beasted out.

"Jestia I think we were supposed to do this on our own," Jabone scolded.

"Did you cat out?"

He shook his head no.

"Then someone else did or they used magic, I felt it," she said.

"You're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure jack ass. We have to get back. We have to make sure Ufalla and Tarius are all right."

Jabone nodded and they headed back in the direction they knew Kasiria was. When they were close they saw all three of them.

"Is the other witch still here?" he asked Jestia.

"They aren't casting now, but who knows what they cast or whether they're still here or not."

Jabone nodded. "All right then you go on down. I'll circle to the side and come in over there." He pointed. "I don't want Kasiria to think we cheated."

"Jabone did you not understand what I said? There was either a Katabull other than you changing or a witch other than me in these woods casting a spell, and I have no way of knowing what they cast or whether they're still here or not."
"Then the sooner we finish this assignment and get out of the woods the better."

Jestia stomped away swinging her arms in huge flamboyant circles muttering, "Impressing Kasiria is more important to you than the fact that some spell might blow up in our faces at any moment."

* * *

Ufalla was the first one back arriving only minutes after Hellibolt's retreat. She had a piece of wild cabbage and knew that you could eat it. Tarius was next with bark from a willow tree and he knew that it could be boiled and used for pain. Jestia showed up and produced lobelia and knew that it was both poisonous in large doses and used for cleaning blood in small ones, the only problem being that Kasiria hadn't told her either of those things and she was going to have to look it up in her book when she got back to the base to be sure Jestia was right. But she wasn't about to call her on it until she knew for certain because she didn't want to look ignorant if the girl was right.

Jabone showed up with a wild carrot root and after he said it was for eating he quickly walked over without being dismissed and fed it and the pocket full of clover to his horse. Then they all untied their horses, put their ropes away and climbed into their saddles, looking at her expectantly. She sighed she wanted to say something about protocol, how she was supposed to tell them when it was time to untie their horses and mount and ride away, but when she thought about it what was the point of all that? If you had good people who did what you wanted them to do without being told, why waste your time telling them to do it? She got her horse and mounted up too and then started leading them back towards the garrison.

It was almost dark when they got there and she found that she was tired. Still her "unit" decided to practice their sword fighting and she couldn't very well say no. So in the hour before the evening meal they practiced with each other and for the first time she noticed a peculiar thing. The Kartiks all smiled while they were fighting. She found it more than a little off putting when she had to face one of them.

The dinner bell rang and they all went to the mess hall dirty and sweaty and smelling of the woods. The four Kartiks sat closely together at a table on the far side of the mess hall and she sat at their table with them as she had been doing since that first night but she still didn't sit that close. She still felt like she wasn't quite part of their very tight group. Then there was the other thing—they sat so close together there was hardly light between them. They seemed to have no concept of personal space whatsoever. She got the notion they'd sit on each other if it wasn't completely impractical. She just wasn't ready to be quite that close to . . . Well anyone. Even their cots were so close together that there was just enough room to squeeze between them to get in bed and no more, and most mornings likely as not found Ufalla and Jestia in the same bed, and yet she knew they weren't lovers. They just all seemed to have a need to be in physical contact with each other most of the time. Maybe it was because they were so far from home.

She was so caught up with her own thoughts and her food that she didn't notice Captain Derek 'til he was sitting beside her. He made a face no doubt at the smell of them all but sat down anyway.

"So how did your field trip go?" he asked Kasiria as he pulled a piece of leaf out of her hair.

"Fine, it helps a great deal that they actually listen to me," Kasiria said in a whisper. "They learn very quickly. Jestia even took notes and I have the feeling she knows as much if not more about our plant life than I do. I think she's had a very extensive education." Derek nodded and she got the distinct impression that he knew more about her unit than he'd told her. "Out of curiosity who's leading my old unit?"

"Thomas," he said. Kasiria made a face but said nothing as she thought, I guess it makes a sick sort of sense. It was his constant taunting that caused the others to join him in making it impossible for me to lead my unit. I guess that could be considered a leadership skill.

Derek lowered his voice some, no doubt so the Kartiks couldn't hear him. "You do remember that we normally wash before the evening meal."

"We washed our hands. There wasn't time for anything else," she said with a shrug. "We will bathe after dinner."

"Are you just going to completely embrace their ways and forget our own?" Derek asked, obviously disapproving—of what she wasn't quite sure. After all it had been his idea for her to lead this unit.

"Maybe." She started eating, quite done with the conversation. She was hungry and it had been a long day.

"Kasiria," he sighed, "I've been thinking about it all day and . . . Well maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."

"And maybe it was the best idea you've ever had," she said in a panic, and perhaps a little too loud. She lowered her voice before she said anything else. "Captain, we are getting along well together. We are learning from each other, and I'm not constantly worried that the knife in my back is more likely to come from my own unit than any Amalite scum we might encounter. Please I beg you, don't undo what you've done."

Derek looked down the table to where the four Kartik's were talking, and eating with perhaps the worst table manners she'd ever seen. "Don't you think Kasiria that someday you will want to go home, to be a lady of the court and . . . "

"And what?" Kasiria stopped even trying to eat, dropped her spoon, and turned to look at him as she figured out just exactly what the captain was getting at. "No man will have me after I've been bunking with Kartik men? When I have lost all my 'lady-like' qualities and become a true warrior," she said in a harsh whisper. "Is that what you're trying to say? Do you think me so lame brained that I don't know the real reason my father refuses to let me use my title as long as I have a sword in my hand? I'm an embarrassment, yes, but it's more than that. He hopes that I will grow tired of all this and go home, marry well, and make him more heirs—as if my brothers and sisters haven't given him enough already. I will never embrace this vision of the life he wants for me. It is not any sort of life that I desire. Those men," she pointed at Jabone and Tarius, "treat me the way I want to be treated. Like a man."

Derek shook his head. "But you're not a man, Kasiria, and no common born girl . . . "

"Forget who I am. I do. Look at me, captain. What I was born to is not what I am. Hellibolt himself told me that I'm the child of my father's curse." Her voice took on an uncharacteristic pleading quality. "All my life I have always felt that everything that I've ever wanted was just out of my grasp and now I feel as if I'm about to embrace it. Don't you wish that you'd fought what you'd been taught, that you'd created an identity early in life even if it did disgrace your family so that now instead of being the villain who kicked a crippled boy in a favorite story told throughout two kingdoms you'd be the hero who helped the great knight the crippled boy turned out to be?"

Derek took a deep breath and nodded, then said thoughtfully, "It's so rare that people get to create their own stories." He smiled. "I feel quite certain that this will indeed turn out to be a story many people will tell and let's hope it's one of triumph not defeat."

Kasiria nodded. Then without saying another word she got up and moved to sit closer to the Kartiks.

* * *

"Are we in trouble again?" Tarius asked in a whisper.

"No, he just wishes we'd showered before coming to dinner," she told them.

"Here, you have to have some, too." Ufalla handed her some grass-looking stuff that she knew by smell was wild garlic.

"Spice upsets the stomach," Kasiria said.

"No," Jestia said with an air of impatience for someone so ignorant. "Spice keeps your bowels in order and gives your bland food some taste."

"Besides," Ufalla said, "if one of us eats garlic we all have to or we won't be equally offensive."

Kasiria watched as Tarius took his knife and cut the garlic top and stirred it into his stew. Stew and bread. Kasiria was so tired of stew and bread but it was what they served most every evening meal both here and at the academy. Whatever vegetables were in season with whatever meat they could find. She knew all the reasons why but it didn't mean she didn't miss eating like a princess. She cut some of the greens into her stew and stirred them in. She started to eat again and had to admit that it did taste better.

"It's better if you cook it with it," Jestia said. "And better if you use the root and cook it but I just grabbed some when we were in the woods today because I have to tell you that if I had to eat even one more bland bowl of soup I was going to scream. Do you people really use no spice, no herbs in your food?"

"Not many and only on special occasions," Kasiria answered.

"No salt that's what's killing me," Tarius said. They all agreed and Kasiria decided to go into the village the next time they were allowed out and see if she couldn't find a shop that had salt. They weren't the only ones that missed it. Salt was fairly expensive here but she imagined it was plentiful in the Kartik.

Then she noticed to her dismay that Thomas was headed their way.

"What do you want?" she asked without much charity when he stopped at the head of her table.

"I . . . I wanted to apologize."

Kasiria looked at him with a complete lack of trust and then when she saw his eyes drift from Ufalla to Jestia she knew just exactly what he was up to. "Great, now leave me and my unit to our meal."

"But I just wanted . . . "

"I can guess full well what you just wanted," Derek said with at least as much contempt in his voice as Kasiria had. "These girls are not common whores to be ogled by the likes of you, now take your seat and keep to your station."

Kasiria found his wording strange. Thomas's station? That presumed that he was of common birth and that Ufalla and Jestia weren't. Then she knew why he had said what he said. When Thomas apologized he as much as admitted that he had been treating me badly and to Derek I'm more than just a Sword Master, more than just a sergeant, I'm his king's daughter. He must have realized that Thomas had been looking at me the same way and I'm way above Thomas's station.

Thomas bowed and then left though he obviously felt he had been badly wronged. Kasiria doubted that this whole incident would do anything to help the already strained relationship between them. It doesn't matter I don't have to deal with him any more. I'll just have limited contact with him here and if I'm lucky he and I will be in different troops when we're sent out.

"So," Derek asked with a smile, "may I try some of that?" he pointed to the wild garlic tops sitting in front of Ufalla's plate and she handed them to him. "My wife is a lovely woman but I must confess that I eat here most every night because the food is preferable to her cooking, which I'm afraid lets you know exactly how bad it is. Jabone?"

Jabone put down his spoon and looked at Derek. "Captain?"

"I would like to talk to you alone in my office after dinner."

Jabone nodded though it was obvious that he was worried about being singled out.

"Loosen up, boy, you aren't in any sort of trouble. I just want to talk to you."

Although she tried to hide it Kasiria was more worried about this meeting than Jabone seemed to be. What possible reason could Derek have for talking to Jabone alone except to ask about her, if Jabone thought she was a good leader?

* * *

After dinner Jabone went to Derek's office as ordered while the rest of them went to the showers. They had separated a section of the showers off for women. She hated to admit it but the first couple of times she'd showered with the Kartik women she'd been more than a little uncomfortable mostly because of Ufalla, because wasn't it just like showering with a man? Most of the time she didn't even think about Ufalla being contrary, and it really didn't bother her but she didn't really like being naked in front of anyone. To be naked in front of someone who might be looking with interest was a bit unnerving at first. However Ufalla seemed to work very hard at keeping her eyes on the floor at all times as if maybe she knew she might make the other girls uncomfortable and now Kasiria didn't really have much trouble changing in front of them. Of course the first time she'd seen Ufalla's nipple piercing she'd cringed and the one in Jestia's belly button wasn't much better. Kasiria didn't have her ears pierced even a single time, she couldn't imagine just sitting there and letting someone stick a needle . . . Well anywhere. That was precisely why she'd never had her ears pierced. The piercings meant something to the Kartiks. They were a symbol of something but she couldn't remember what.

When Kasiria stepped out of the shower stream, turned off the water and pulled back the curtain she was more than a little surprised to find that both the other girls were already showered dressed and gone. She shrugged it off to them being faster, and then she was dressed and started back towards her barracks. She was almost there and looking forward to her cot when she saw Jestia and Ufalla and Tarius all dressed in clean clothes and hair still wet heading across the compound their heads bowed in a very conspiratorial way. Kasiria started to just go on to bed and then she decided maybe she'd better follow them. They were after all her responsibility.

* * *

Jabone sat down across the table from Captain Derek. "Are you comfortable Jabone?"

"Yes quite."

"Is the food suitable?"

He smiled. "Yes just a little blander than we are used to. I doubt you've brought me here alone to ask me about my quarters and the food."

Derek laughed. "You're no sleeper Jabone. I have to ask you something and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to but . . . Jabone this may seem a stupid question to you but well I don't know who or what your father is and I'd really like to know. Are you the Katabull?"

"My fadra is Arvon."

"Sword Master Arvon?"

"Yes," Jabone said. It was obvious from the look on Derek's face that he still didn't know all he needed to know. "My fadra, he is the Katabull."

"Arvon, but he is one of us."

Jabone smiled broadly. "No he only looks like one of you, he is one of us." He pounded his finger into his own chest.

"Then you are the Katabull?" Derek asked.

Jabone nodded his head. "Yes, I am the Katabull."

To Jabone's surprise Derek sighed with relief and said, "Good, very good."

"I was sure you knew."

"At first I assumed and then . . . Well I just didn't know."

"And you're glad that I am?"

"Yes," Derek smiled. "Nothing fights like the Katabull. So how do you feel about your sergeant?"

Jabone hoped he was keeping the silly grin off his face. "I think she's a good leader, very smart. She doesn't seem to have a problem with us, why should we have a problem with her?"

Suddenly Derek laughed and Jabone gave him a curious look. "Oh it's nothing you've said son." He laughed again. "I just," he laughed harder still, "I just saw this image of Arvon and Tarius trying to conceive a child."

Jabone smiled, not offended in the least. "Yes, it's something I try never to think of."

* * *

Kasiria found the three Kartiks huddled in the shadows against Derek's office, their ears pressed to the wall.

"Do you hear anything?" Tarius asked.

"I might if you'd shut up," Jestia said.

"Would you both shut up?" Ufalla ordered.

Kasiria cleared her throat and they jumped about a foot in the air and then turned around to face her. She just smiled. "What do you think you're doing?"

They all just looked at her and shrugged then Tarius said, "We were just walking around."

"And what? We decided to warm our ears on this building? She knows what we were doing dumb ass," Jestia said, elbowing him in the ribs. He shoved her and Ufalla reached over Jestia and popped Tarius in the head with her knuckles.

"Ow!" Tarius said, rubbing his head and glaring at his sister. "What was that for? I didn't shove you." And then he did.

"Enough," Kasiria whispered. "Let's get back to our barracks before Captain Derek finds us out here."

They nodded and started following her. "What do you suppose he wants with Jabone?" Tarius asked.

Whatever the girls were speculating about, they didn't want her to know because they started talking in their native language, and when Tarius talked back to them he did as well.

They were still talking to each other in Kartik when they got back to their barracks. Kasiria didn't like it because it meant they weren't getting as close as she thought they were getting. She lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Kasiria, what do you think the captain wanted to talk to Jabone about?" Ufalla asked.

"Oh, so you're talking to me now. Why should I tell you what I think when you wouldn't tell me what you think?"

"Oh come on," Jestia said, "We were just excited and we forgot you couldn't understand."

Yeah, until you want to ask me a question, Kasiria thought, but she didn't want to be angry with them. She shrugged. "Maybe he wanted to talk to him about fighting practices or something."

I'm not about to tell you that I think he may be talking to him about me because I'm only your sergeant now because I couldn't handle the last unit I was assigned.

Jabone walked in then and if she expected them to even pretend like they weren't going to grill him about it she was dead wrong.

"What did he want?" Jestia asked.

"We tried to listen through the wall but their wood walls are harder to hear through than our hut walls at home," Tarius said, "and Kasiria caught us and made us come to the barracks."

Kasiria almost laughed then because it was just so funny that they didn't seem to think that anyone deserved a private moment.

As if to prove that he didn't really need it Jabone looked at Ufalla and said as he gathered up clean clothes. "Come on, I have to go shower now." Ufalla didn't miss a beat, just stood up and followed him out of the barracks. Kasiria started to tell them all the things that were wrong with Ufalla going with Jabone while he showered but decided she was too tired to spend most of an hour explaining Jethrik customs to them.

As if forgetting the conversation they'd just had Jestia and Tarius started rattling in Kartik again.

Kasiria inwardly fumed and listened carefully to them but the only word they said that she knew what it meant was the word Katabull, because of course Katabull was the same in all languages. Kasiria was now more worried than ever.

Do they know about me? Did he tell Derek? They aren't looking at me. Why are they talking about the Katabull? Hell it might have just been one of their weird sayings. Why don't they want me to know what they're talking about if it has nothing to do with me and why did Jabone want to hide it so much that he took Ufalla to the showers with him obviously so they could talk in private? Instead of making the others go I should have gone after a cup to stick against the wall so that I could hear better and joined them. Was Derek asking Jabone about me or worse yet telling him about me being the Katabull? No, Derek couldn't know unless Hellibolt told him and he wouldn't have.

"He's supposed to be my best friend," Tarius said in Jethrikian, flopping on his cot. "But lately he only wants to talk to Ufalla."

"Because she actually listens when people talk," Jestia said.

She was only some relieved by the fact that they were talking in Jethrik again because that meant they really had been talking about something they didn't want her to know before.

"So," Tarius smiled a lustful smile at Jestia. "Are you in need of a man's touch yet?"

Jestia smiled impishly. "I'm a grown Kartik woman. I know how to take care of my own needs as well as you do and even if I didn't there are plenty of men around here and lots of empty rooms. You don't by any chance think I would ever bed you, swine?"

Kasiria forgot her problems and smiled as she listened to them.

"Why don't you work on Kasiria while you have a chance? You know before she learns what a disgusting little pig you are?" Jestia chided Tarius.

"I would never go after the object of Jabone's obvious affection."

"Just as well she probably wouldn't take you anyway," Jestia said.

Tired of them talking about her as if she wasn't there and almost wishing they would talk in Kartik if they insisted in talking about these sorts of things she said, "We are not as open sexually as you Kartiks are. Proper women of the Jethrik marry before giving themselves to a man."

She must have sounded as disgusted as she felt because Jestia laughed and said, "It sounds like you think even less of your strange customs than I do."

"I wouldn't be comfortable just bedding around as you obviously all do. I'm not judging you, just saying—perhaps because of the way I was brought up—that I wouldn't be comfortable doing that. But the whole idea that a woman has to give herself to a man, to diminish herself to be with a man, makes me sick."

"True love means that both must give equally of themselves," Jestia said in a far-away tone of voice. "To truly unite, both must be willing to give up part of themselves to create total union. It couldn't all come from one side, there would be no balance." She seemed to force a smile then as if not liking to get so serious. "Of course you have to shop around to make sure you find someone sexually compatible before you do anything as drastic as getting married."

Tarius laughed and nodded in agreement.

Jestia looked at Kasiria. "I can't imagine binding myself to someone before I even knew how they felt."

And Kasiria knew she didn't mean how they felt emotionally either. Kasiria blushed a little.

"Then the stories are true and Jena was no proper Jethrikian lady, because she was making love with Tarius the Black almost from the first moment they met," Tarius said with a laugh.

"Oh Tarius, please tell the story of Jena," Jestia begged.

He looked at Kasiria. "Yes please do," Kasiria said, thinking if they were occupied in such a way she could be left alone to brood, the last thing she wanted to talk about was sex. She didn't want to think about Jabone, especially not when he was having secret meetings with Derek and now with Ufalla to talk about her she was sure.

"I tell the story of Lady Jena of the Jethrik, daughter of Darian, mate to Tarius the Black the Great Leader of the Katabull People. A tale of the greatest love in all the Kartik and maybe the world. It was in those early days when Tarius was at the academy that Jena did come home from visiting her aunt's house, for you see Jena had been raised by her father alone, and in the Sword Master's academy and knew nothing of how to be a proper Jethrikian lady, so her father sent her periodically to learn manners and such things from her aunt. Upon returning to the academy from one of these visits her eyes fell upon Tarius who was sparing with Harris—the servant boy Jena had always treated like a brother—in the courtyard and her heart, which had always been cold, was filled with love . . . "

Kasiria was instantly mesmerized by the tale as it unfolded. Jena had always been just a side note in Jethrikian stories about the Great War. She had noticed she was mentioned in almost every story concerning Tarius the Black when this young Tarius told a story. She was a Jethrik woman, a lady of the court who had broken all the rules, and as such Jethrikian bards had mostly forgotten her. Not so the Kartiks and as this tale unfolded it was obvious why. Jena was a force to be reckoned with. She'd gone against everything she'd ever been taught, fallen in love with a woman, taken up her sword and left home and country for the sake of love. She and Tarius had ridden together in hundreds of different battles and their love had never flagged no matter what they were forced to face.

Jabone walked in with Ufalla not far behind him just as the tale was coming to an end.

" . . . and to this day Jena sits in the lap of the Great Leader on the Katabull throne and the Great Leader makes no decision great or small without her council." Tarius threw up his hands indicating the end of his tale and they all clapped even those who'd only heard the end of the story.

Jabone looked at Tarius smiled and said, "I recently heard a new chapter to that story. Some day when we are very old I will tell it to you."

"So are you going to tell us what the captain wanted?" Jestia asked.

Jabone looked at Kasiria then, and the way he smiled she was sure that he could see every thought in her head. "He just wanted to know if we were happy with you as our leader and I said yes."

Kasiria was only a little relieved because why would he have decided he needed to switch languages or take Ufalla off to the shower with him if that was all there was to it. And he has showered too, his hair is wet at the edges and he's clean and . . . my gods filthy or clean he just smells so good. That damned love story and . . . I just want to be Jena to his Tarius. To ride beside him as his right hand. To give myself to him, to have him give himself to me. Damn romantic Kartik bastards! My head is filled with nothing but cobwebs and love songs, and what I'm feeling is more like lust than anything approaching the undying devotion of the people in that story and . . . They're hiding things from me. What are they hiding from me and do I really have the right to question them when I'm keeping my own secrets? Gods! My father is the villain in almost every story they tell. He shot Tarius with Jena crying for her life. The man in that story is not my father, but do I really know him at all? Is it any wonder that Tarius cursed him? What did he say she had said? You have traded evil for good. She had never heard the actual curse before. It like Jena, was just a footnote in their own stories. She wondered how much of the curse was word for word what the beast woman had said to her father and how much it had been added to and detracted from in a hundred different tellings. I'm the child of that curse. I wonder how my new 'friends' would feel about me if they knew that. I was born in a sea of Jena's tears and Tarius's blood, does that not make me as evil as my father?

Ufalla grabbed her bedding threw it on Jestia's cot and crawled in getting comfortable.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jestia asked.

Ufalla obviously already working at going to sleep said, "I'm tired."

"So?"

"So, I'd like to sleep at least one night without you waking me from a deep sleep with the news that you're cold."

"Oh," Jestia said seemingly having all the wind taken out of her sails. Then she shrugged and crawled into bed with Ufalla.

"Lights out," Kasiria ordered, and Jabone put out the lamp and crawled into his own bed. Then she could hear him whispering to Tarius but couldn't quite make out what either of them were saying. She tried to call on her super Katabull hearing but if she had that trait it wasn't working in her human form and she was sure they were speaking in their own language so it wouldn't have mattered if she could hear them because she still wouldn't have been able to understand them. Frustrated in way to many ways to count Kasiria fell into a fitful sleep.

Chapter 7

Having given up the pretence that Jestia wasn't going to get cold or scared and order her to her bed Ufalla had gotten three good nights sleep in a row which was why she was more than a little perturbed when she was shaken violently and Jestia with her hand slapped soundly over Ufalla's mouth was whispering in her ear, "Get up and come with me."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ufalla said, but it didn't really come out because of Jestia's hand.

"What?" Jestia asked in a whisper, removing her hand.

Ufalla rolled on the tiny cot to face her and her breasts were pressed right against Jestia's so she took a moment to still her heart and quiet her breathing before she said in what sounded more to her ears like a husky admission of her love than any thing else, "I said what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Come on I'll tell you when we get outside," Jestia said. "Grab your cloak, your sword and your boots."

"Dammit Jestia . . . " She could just make out her face in the moonlight and anything else she was going to say died on her lips as she quickly got out of bed before she did something that would be hard to explain in the light of day. She grabbed her boots, sword and her cloak and actually beat Jestia out the door. They sat down together on the front stoop and donned their cloaks armed themselves and pulled on their boots. "What is it?" Ufalla asked in a whisper.

"I have to practice my spells," Jestia explained, "and you have to be my look out."

"Why me? Why not Jabone? He can see in the dark and his senses are better."

"Because of all that," Jestia said. "I'm still new to this and I'm having trouble with this spell. It's harder to cast magic in the presence of the Katabull."

Ufalla knew that. She hit herself in the forehead with her palm and nodded. "But he'll be with us, Jestia."

"Once I've built myself up, perfected the spell, it shouldn't be a problem. So I figured you can go with me and Tarius can go the next night." She got up and started walking and Ufalla followed. "That way you can both get enough sleep."

"But what about you Jestia?"

"I won't be able to sleep well 'til I have perfected the spell anyway. The dream wakes me every night, Ufalla, and then I can't go back to sleep."

Ufalla nodded. It wasn't something she hadn't figured out already. "I won't let anything happen to you Jestia, not while I still draw a breath."

Jestia walked in front of her, stopped looked up at her and whispered angrily, "It isn't your place to protect me. Of the two of us I am more dispensable than you are. You worry about yourself and I will protect myself. I don't need you to protect me." She turned on her heel and started walking again and Ufalla followed.

"I will protect you anyway," Ufalla said in a whisper in her ear. Jestia made an angry sound and walked faster and Ufalla smiled. Jestia didn't want to think she needed anyone much less a commoner like Ufalla.

She led Ufalla to a small, empty building even further back in the compound than their own barracks. "I found this the other day. It apparently used to be a quarantine barracks." Ufalla slapped a hand on Jestia's shoulder.

"If that's the case it will be filled with disease."

"Gods, Ufalla, do you ever listen to the stupid things you say? What do you think that disease has become corporeal and is sitting in wait for us?"

"No smart ass, but I have had medic's training and disease can imbed itself in walls and cloth."

"You act as if I know nothing of disease. I'd dare say I know more than you, Ufalldown. It's been cleaned I'm sure."

"By the people who throw their shit in the street."

"You just stand here and keep watch," she ordered hotly

"Yes your royal hindass," Ufalla said sarcastically, saluting her.

Jestia seemed to actually look chastised and said, "If it will make you feel better I'll do a cleansing spell." Ufalla just nodded her head and Jestia walked in and closed the door behind her.

Ufalla looked out at the darkness of the camp all around her. No light came through the windows and no sound came through the door at her back so she knew Jestia was already casting spells. She pulled her cloak back until the handle of her sword was sticking out where she could easily grab it and she leaned back against the door wondering if she was ever going to be warm again. Her mind went back to being in bed with Jestia their bodies pressed together so tightly on that tiny cot that they might as well have been one body and suddenly she wasn't so cold.

* * *

Jestia cast a cleansing spell, then darken windows, then cone of silence, and then witch light. She sat down on the floor and spread her books, stones and bones before her. She studied the spell, called up energy from the earth, and throwing her hands before her body said, "Invisible shield." There was a crackling of energy in front of her and then nothing. Even though the spell was supposed to make an invisible shield she didn't have to feel for it to know it wasn't there.

"Dammit," Jestia said, instantly frustrated. She shook herself. She couldn't afford to be impatient and give up so easily. She had to focus, try to figure out what was going wrong.

Her mind went back to a day in Jazel's alchemy when she'd been distracted and thinking that all this wasn't nearly as much fun as she had thought it was going to be.

"Jestia, pay attention," Jazel ordered. Jestia had nodded and looked at Jazel, Jazel sighed no doubt seeing the wander lust in Jestia's eyes. "Girl don't you realize how lucky you are?"

"To have you as a teacher, yes I know, you tell me a dozen times daily."

Jezel had laughed. "Aye, you're right, that does make you lucky." She'd gotten serious then. "But maybe better than that," she stopped, looking thoughtful, "but probably not . . . Jestia you can interpret dreams with an accuracy I never accomplished. I'm a prophetic dreamer, as I know you are, and I always know what my dreams mean, but I was never good at interpreting another person's dream. I was in fact so bad at it that I just started telling people that I couldn't do it at all. But those things alone wouldn't make you an exceptional witch. Jestia you are a thought-caster. Do you even realize how rare that is?"

"I don't even know what that means," Jestia had said, not bored for the first time in days.

"It means you don't need fancy, silly incantations. All you have to do is think of the spell, invoke the mere name of the spell, and you cast it. With a little practice you could cast without saying a word. I sometimes fake it by whispering the bulk of my incantation but I can't cast a single spell without reciting an entire incantation, without putting all of myself into it. You do most spells with very little effort."

And that was of course a lot of the problem. It had all just come too easy for her. Jazel had been right. Once she connected to the power of the world she could do what she had just done and walk into the building and as fast as she could say cleanse room, darken windows, witch light it was done.

It's not so lucky to be able to interpret dreams, and right now I wish I'd never had the prophetic kind myself. And I can cast dozens of spells by just saying them and then I sit here and work at it and invisible shield becomes dancing energy against nothing. Maybe I just need to go for a full incantation.

She picked up her spell book and looked long and hard at the incantation she'd written down as Jazel had told it to her. Obviously it was hard to rhyme invisible shield.

She read the incantation, Shield of darkness, shield of light. Wow! They use that darkness light thing a lot in incantations. Gets a little stale doesn't it? Dammit Jestia focus! Shield of darkness, shield of light, shield that's hidden from my sight . . . And then what? That just says what it is, it doesn't order it to be made. It's like it's only half there. All those times I recited this over and over again and only now I realize that . . . Well it must be wrong. She turned the page but if there was more to the spell she hadn't written it down. She thought back to the exact day she'd written the spell. She'd been bored, staring out the window at a bright sunny day wishing she could just go outside and maybe go shopping. Oh gods I wasn't listening. Why was I never listening? There has to be more to the incantation; it doesn't make any sense this way.

She tried it anyway. "Shield of darkness, shield of light, shield that's hidden from my sight." This time there wasn't even a crackling of energy. This time there was nothing at all. And she knew why. I didn't believe it would work. The spell caster can't have any doubt that the spell will work, but that's not the whole incantation it can't be. And it would be just like Jazel to have me practice it over and over again the wrong way and fail just to teach me a lesson. But it didn't work because like a spoiled brat I just got frustrated and took off. I have to learn this spell, but how can I when I haven't written it down properly? I will have to rewrite the incantation, make it my own. That's what a real caster does anyway.

She started writing but several pages later she'd still found nothing that worked there was a gentle knocking on the door. "Douse witch light," she said and the light was gone. She got up walked over and opened the door, looking into Ufalla's tired face.

"Jestia you must have some sleep. We both must have some sleep."

Jestia nodded, went in and gathered up all her things. She closed the door and followed Ufalla back to their barracks.

"I'm sorry, Ufalla, I lost track of time."

Ufalla nodded silently. "It's all right. Did you get any closer to your goal?"

"Oh Ufalla." Jestia was near tears as she moved up alongside her friend. "You're all right about me. I'm a spoiled brat and now my selfish, flighty ways have come back to haunt me."

Ufalla reached out took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You know we only tease you as you tease us because we are the best of friends. If we truly believed you to be no more than a bit of fluff do you think any of us would have wanted you with us?"

"I didn't write the whole spell down," Jestia said in agony. "I can't thought cast it and I only wrote half the spell down. That's why I could never do it, because I don't know the incantation and I kept trying to rewrite it and . . . At one point I conjured a bat. I have no idea how I did it or where it came from, none at all, maybe the rafters. After all I can't make a bat it has to come from someplace." She didn't let go of Ufalla's hand, just walked after her feeling like she had let them all down.

"You will remember, Jestia," Ufalla said gently. She looked down and smiled at her. "And if not a bat in someone's face might do just as well."

Jestia laughed and then quickly stopped as she realized they had gotten to the barracks. They undressed on the steps again and then quietly snuck in and got back into bed. "Thanks," Jestia whispered in Ufalla's ear. Ufalla patted her arm and in a few minutes they were both asleep.

* * *

Kasiria woke to the sound of whispering just outside the door and a few minutes later Jestia and Ufalla walked in. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep when she noticed they were carrying their swords, boots, and cloaks.

Now what were you two up to in the dead middle of the night? Kasiria wondered. She'd seen them take privy trips before and while they'd on occasion put on their boots and grabbed their daggers she'd never seen them take their swords and cloaks with them. Maybe a tryst? No. I don't think Jestia would have given me permission to bed her friend if she was actually using her herself and I get the idea that if any of them wanted to do that they'd just do it right here. I don't think there is an ounce of modesty between them. So, what the hell were they doing? Well great, now I'm wide awake and I have to go to the privy. She sighed deeply, got out of bed, and wondered if she was ever going to get another good night's sleep. She grabbed her dagger, strapped it on, and headed for the outhouse, not bothering to put on her boots. She had never shared quarters before with anyone. As the king's daughter she'd had her own room in the castle then at the academy being the only woman she'd been housed in the head master's house with his wife Hanna ever vigilant to protect Kasiria's virtue. Hanna would just die if she knew I was sleeping in a room with two boys especially Kartik boys. A sudden thrill ran through her as she realized she had lived in the house that Jena and Tarius had lived and loved in. Maybe she had even been sleeping in Jena's room in the bed they'd expressed their love in. She probably would have gotten completely silly about the whole thing if she hadn't gotten to the privy then and with the stench of it all romantic thoughts left her head. She did her business and rushed back to her barracks and her bed. She tried to go back to sleep but couldn't because now she could hear them all breathing and could hear their cots' legs rapping on the floor as they tossed and turned—except the girls who were now so sound asleep they didn't move at all. Outside a bird was singing and the wind had kicked up and . . . Dammit, it's not so much their all bunking with me that's keeping me up, it's the Katabull hearing. It would happen now when I'm trying to sleep and not when I might have heard what Derek really said to Jabone. Gods! How do they exist like this? I can hear everything. She quit fighting it and just embraced it for a minute, how far could she take this? She really listened and shortly she could hear somewhere a door open and then close—somewhere near the front of the garrison one of the barracks she was sure. Then she could hear water running and the only water that could be running around here came in the bamboo pipes to the caldrons that warmed water for the showers and the water that ran out of the bathhouse into a drainage ditch. Someone was showering in the middle of the night. Why would anyone be showering in the middle of the night? The water would be cold they only heated it in the evenings.

Curiosity got the best of her and she found herself getting up again. This time she grabbed her knife and her boots and headed out the door. She had just gotten out side when Jabone joined her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, and she noticed he had his sword.

"No I . . . "

"You just went to the outhouse so I figured well there must be something wrong for you to rise so soon afterwards and this time you took your boots." He sat down on the stoop with her and started putting his own boots on.

The water sounded loud to her, so loud she thought he might hear it, too. "Do you hear the water running?"

He listened carefully then nodded.

"It's the middle of the night. Why would anyone be showering?" she asked.

"It's a good question. You lead I'll follow."

Not too surprisingly their trek took them to the men's showers. "We will wait 'til they come out and see who it is," Kasiria said.

"Or I could just walk in and see," Jabone offered.

"Oh yeah," Kasiria said, smiling at her own silliness. Of course Jabone could go into the men's showers.

He was, after all, a man. She motioned a hand towards the door and Jabone walked in. There was a stifled scream and then Jabone walked out laughing.

"Well?" Kasiria asked.

"Well . . . either Eric has had the oddest accident I've ever seen or he's no more male than you are."

"Eric!" Kasiria said in disbelief. "Why he gave me as much grief as any of the other men. When I think about it more than most. Are you sure?"

Jabone laughed again. "I know what a woman looks like, Kasiria."

"Well I'll be damned." Kasiria laughed too then.

"Eric" ran from the showers, so quickly dressed that even Kasiria could tell he was a she now. Of course it was just because she knew now and knowing could see feminine features where she hadn't before.

"Kasiria . . . sergeant I can explain," she said. "I was alone, the military it was my only choice . . . and I just thought it would be easier this way and . . . "

"I understand all that, but what I don't understand is why you would help them gang up on me," Kasiria said.

Jabone looked at Kasiria and answered her question. "What better way to hide who she was than by taunting you? They weren't likely to find out she was a woman as long as she was as upset by your presence at the academy as they were."

"What are you going to do with me?" Eric asked.

Kasiria actually wanted to stomp her into the ground for making her go through all the shit she'd gone through on her own instead of standing up and being counted. How much different her experience at the academy would have been if she'd had even one comrade to share it with.

When Kasiria was quiet too long, Eric asked, "Are you going to tell on me?"

Kasiria thought on it only a moment. "No, why should I? You want to live this useless lie to make life easier for yourself, then you do it. You want to continue to put me down, me and my unit, then go on if that helps you hide your true self. Come on, Jabone, it's late and we need sleep."

Jabone followed her away. "Tarius the Black hid as a man in the Jethrik army," he reminded.

"Tarius the Black had no choice. It is only because of her that the laws were changed so that me and that . . . that thing could join in our own right."

Jabone nodded, seeming to fully understand her anger. "Do you ever get mad at anyone Jabone, at anything?"

Jabone thought about it, then he smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. I was furious mad when my madra ordered me not to come here." Then his features turned dark suddenly and Kasiria knew he was capable of great rage. "My mother told a story of what a Jethrikian man had done to her that made my blood boil and I find I don't really trust any of them because of that. Where I come from . . . well men don't force themselves on women."

"It happens too often here, perhaps there is something to be said for not being so sexually repressed as we are here," Kasiria said. They had reached the barracks and she looked at the door with sudden loathing she was wide awake and she just wanted to stay up and talk to Jabone.

As if reading her mind he said, "I don't think I can go back to sleep right away."

"Me either, you want to go on a walk?"

He nodded and they just started walking around the garrison. They wound up in the stables where Jabone lavished attention on his horse instead of paying attention to her. They had lit the small oil lamp by the door as they came in but had she had normal human eyes she would have still been barely able to see. Kasiria took a perch on a gate and just watched Jabone.

"Lex isn't used to being pent up like this. He's used to running in pastures knee deep." He ran his hand over the horse's neck. Kasiria was riding an academy trained horse she had yet to get attached to. "He was glad to be ridden today."

"Perhaps in a few days we could go out again. I'm sure you also get tired of being pent up."

"Is it that obvious?" Jabone asked.

"It wasn't 'til I saw you all in the woods today. You just all took off without even looking back and I realized you must just spend most of your days running wild across the Kartik," Kasiria said.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

"Not at all. In fact I'm a little envious. I have lived inside walls my whole life. I think that as much as anything else is why I wanted to join the Sword Masters so that I could just get outside the walls," she said in a far-away tone.

Jabone nodded that he understood and said, "There are all kinds of walls."

"Do you have a rank at home?" Kasiria asked, changing the subject.

"Rank?" Jabone asked, patting the horse on the nose one last time and then walking over to stand in front of her. He looked up at her and Kasiria almost forgot the question she had just asked wondering at how smooth his dark skin was. Kartik men had very little if any facial or body hair, Jabone had none that she could see. He didn't shave, of this she was sure. And I grow hair and fangs and claws and . . . my isn't that attractive.

Jabone smiled and again asked, "Rank?"

"Yes . . . oh yes you know like I'm a sergeant."

Jabone sighed. "I have a title I don't much care for, and it would mean nothing to you here. What is rank or title really when all are the same? It's just like a name and I already have a good one."

"You're a follower of the Nameless God," Kasiria said, taking a guess. She hadn't listened much better to her theology lessons than she did in language class.

"Yes, as are Tarius and Ufalla. I don't know what gods Jestia follows if any. It doesn't matter. All is one, and one is all."

Kasiria tried to figure out what he meant and couldn't. She must have looked as confused as she felt because he laughed. "Everything is the Nameless One and nothing is the Nameless One and all things are part of the Nameless One but they aren't the Nameless One," he explained, and if possible she was even more confused. Jabone tried again seeming to have endless patience with her. "Is the king more important than you are?" he asked.

"Yes," Kasiria said.

"No he isn't. Are you better than the boy who cleans the stable?"

"Yes."

"No you aren't. Are men better than women?"

"No," she said without hesitation.

"Right because all are the same, all are part of the Nameless One, and how can any part be greater or lesser than any other part? If a stable boy is called king he is still a stable boy. If a king is called a stable boy he is still a king. But it doesn't matter because all are the same," Jabone said.

It obviously made perfect sense to Jabone and the fact that she had no idea what he was trying to say just drove home how foreign he actually was.

Still he obviously wasn't ready to give up on her. "Eric is a woman. If she pretends to be a man she will be treated differently but does that make her a man?"

"No."

"And if they give you a rank and people treat you differently because of it are you no longer Kasiria?"

"No, of course not."

"So why should anyone treat Eric differently or you differently? All are the same."

Kasiria's scalp tingled as she finally got it. They didn't believe in divisions by classes or sexes or rank or religion because to them everyone was the same. It was why they always made a point of saying that the Amalites' religion caused their wickedness, why they had tried to save them by separating them from that which caused them to do evil because the Amalites also were the same. It was only their hateful beliefs which made them different. She smiled and nodded at him. "I get it, what's more I like it, and it makes sense."

Jabone smiled big then. "So . . . we'd better try to get some sleep." He reached his hands up to help her down, lifting her at her waist and lowering her to the floor as if it was little or no effort. She shouldn't have allowed him to, should have explained that it wasn't proper, but she didn't and as her feet touched the floor she looked up at him and he was looking down at her and the last thing on her mind was what was proper.

Then he just kissed her. He didn't ask he just did it. She'd never actually been kissed before but that didn't stop her from trying to kiss him back. She was sure she was doing it all wrong but he obviously knew what he was doing because her whole body felt like it was on fire.

"We'd better get back," Jabone said as his lips left hers.

"Yes," she agreed, when she'd found her voice and thought. Yes we better get back before we break rules my country men haven't even made up yet.

He took her hand and started leading her out of the stables. He blew out the light as they passed it and just kept leading her by the hand back to their barracks.

"Jabone, why did you kiss me?" Kasiria asked carefully.

"Because I've wanted to since the first time I saw you," he said simply, and that was it all he said, all he was going to say.

"Jabone . . . No one can know about this," Kasiria said.

"I know," he said.

"Seriously, Jabone."

"I know," Jabone said.

"Jabone, I'm not . . . We need to go to bed . . . I mean, we need to get some sleep."

But she literally ached when they were back in their barracks and in their own beds. She looked at where the two girls were sleeping together and wondered if she could convince Jabone that she was cold. too.

* * *

When the horn blew in the morning only Tarius was already up and the rest of them weren't in any hurry to leave warm beds. In fact Kasiria went back to sleep and it was only Tarius calling out, "Hey, the horn blew," that got her out of her bed.

She looked at Jabone's sleepy face and he looked back and smiled at her, she smiled back. Then as she threw her gear on and joined the others in a dead run for the middle of the compound wondered just where the hell she was supposed to put her memory of that kiss and whether he was going to do it again or not.

They lined up way after everyone else and looked half dressed. In fact Jabone and Ufalla were still trying to get their swords to hang right. Derek gave her a hard look and she looked at the ground afraid he'd see her guilty face and figure out what had happened and what she was thinking, everything that she was thinking.

She felt completely undone, like anyone looking at her could just guess everything she was feeling. Then she saw "Eric" looking as tired as she and all the rest of her unit—except Tarius—did and she felt some better. So . . . You left me to hang in the wind and then went out of your way to help Thomas make it impossible for me to command my unit and now look, after all your lies it seems we're in it together after all because you're hiding things and I'm hiding things but you have to sweat because I know your secrets, but you don't know mine.

She saw Ufalla and Jestia whispering to each other and tried to hear what they were saying. She did but it didn't help because they were of course speaking in Kartik. I have got to learn Kartik. Where were you two last night and what could you possibly have been up to in the middle of the night? She wondered if she should just confront them about it but then decided they'd probably just lie about it anyway.

Their day was busy with lessons and sword practice 'til they—who started the day tired—all just wanted to go to bed. They had showered and met in the mess hall for the evening meal. They were all quiet except Tarius who was talking a mile a minute about what she couldn't be bothered to listen long enough to know. She saw Eric covertly watching them and wondered for the twentieth time that day what her real name was. She looked up at Jabone and he smiled at her and then just went back to eating. So, was that it? He kissed me and now what? Is he going to do or say anything else about it? They had all told her he had a crush on her, and they all apparently knew she had a thing for him so what was going to happen now? And did she really want it to? She was scared of what she was feeling, she who had never been afraid of anything was scared to death of the feelings she had for this very strange man. Did she love him or was her body just ready to couple? An urge brought on by the beast inside her. That he was beautiful in a way no other man had ever seemed beautiful to her there was no doubt, but was that something special and if it wasn't could she just engage in casual love making and then just move on never looking back as the Kartik's seemed to do? Even if I'm feeling something more than just attraction there's no way of knowing that he is. I wonder . . . I don't even know how old he is. Didn't Ufalla say that and he and Jestia were the same age?

"Jestia how old are you?" she asked.

"Eighteen," Jestia said. "Why do you ask>"

"Just curious. You seemed older than the others," she lied.

"I'm the oldest," Tarius said, more than a little perturbed. "I'm twenty, Jabone and Jestia are eighteen and my sister is just seventeen."

Now this actually did surprise Kasiria because the truth was that because of the way they acted she would have thought that Ufalla was older than at least Jestia.

"How old are you?" Tarius asked.

"I'm twenty-three," she said, and immediately thought, He's only eighteen. I'm twenty-three, an old maid by Jethrikian standards and he's only eighteen. What am I thinking and can I make myself stop thinking it? My father would absolutely come apart at the seams if he knew what I was thinking. I'm coming completely apart because I know what I'm thinking.

* * *

Ufalla had just taken a beating from an inferior fighter and she walked over and landed in the dirt sitting next to Jestia making a little cloud as she did so. Jestia coughed and waved the dust away. She leaned over and whispered in Ufalla's ear. "Ufalla, you must let your brother go with me tonight. You need some real sleep."

"I've told you, Jestia, Tarius is already holding so many secrets he's about to bust." She then thought, Besides, I don't trust him to guard you as I do. "Jestia it's been over a week now and you're no closer are you?"

Jestia looked defeated. "No, not one bit, but I can't give up now, Ufalla, I won't," she said with conviction.

"I'm not saying you should Jestia, but a good night's sleep would do us both a lot of good. Maybe if you got some good rest you'd be closer to remembering the spell."

Jestia nodded and rested her head on Ufalla's shoulder. "You're right. I'll take some powders to help keep the nightmares away and try to get some real sleep."

* * *

Kasiria watched them. They were both on the brink of exhaustion as well they should be. She'd caught them coming in very late three of the last five nights. She didn't hear them leave because it was at the beginning of the night when she slept hardest and she was sure they didn't always wake her when they came back.

"So, is this the way it is with all swords women, are all of you queer?" Thomas asked at her shoulder. Shen she turned and saw Eric standing just behind him it was all she could do not to expose her.

"Yes, yes that's it exactly," Kasiria said. "We're all queer. Isn't that right, Eric? I mean you do always have to copy everything your stupid friend says." The other woman looked at her feet and said nothing.

"So, what's it like in your barracks, just a big orgy with all the queers just kissing and . . . "

"You ignorant savages act as if being queer is the worst thing a person can be." Jabone had been standing quietly at her side watching the fight and ignoring the exchange but apparently he'd heard enough and could hold his tongue no longer. "Among my people we do not worry so much about who other people love. We worry only about who we love and judge people only on how they treat other people. You are a man without honor who respects no one but himself. If you so much as look at my friends again, if I hear you so much as speak of them, if you even talk to my sergeant again, there will be none alive who will be able to find your bones." Then he turned on Eric and said, "And you are as bad as your friend because you condone everything he does with your silence or with your own hateful words. Now go before I grow any more tired of you." And then he growled.

To Kasiria's amazement, Thomas left without another word and Eric followed looking over her shoulder at them an unspoken apology in her eyes.

Kasiria looked up at Jabone and she smiled a smile that must have told everyone just exactly how she felt about him. In that moment she knew it was more than just lust and before she could stop herself she said, "I grow more fond of you by the day."

He smiled back, "Because I can strike fear into the heart of men with only my words?"

"And because I believed you when you said none alive would be able to find his bones," she said with a smile.

"You are if possible even more beautiful when you smile," he said, and then he was gone into the practice ring to fight.

* * *

Kasiria was bound and determined to find out what Jestia and Ufalla were up to so that night she pretended to be asleep 'til it was the middle of the night and the two girls were still in their beds and her faking sleep turned to her really sleeping.

The next night they woke her up again when they came back from wherever they'd been and whatever they'd been doing. So the next night she feigned sleep again and this time she caught them sneaking out, waited 'til they were well outside, then got up, put her boots on, and followed far enough back that she couldn't be detected. Being able to see in the dark and her increased hearing ability made the job of following them without being spotted easy and she began to really appreciate her Katabull senses.

The girls went to the old infirmary and since she half expected that they were meeting in secret away from the group to enjoy each other she was more than a little surprised to see Jestia go inside as Ufalla took up what was obviously a guard's stance. She even cleared her sword handle of her cloak.

What in hell's name are they doing? She moved in a little closer. She listened as hard as she could but could hear no sound coming from inside the building so she moved even closer and listened even harder and still no sound. It was then that she noticed that the windows were still dark. She's in there alone with no light and if she is meeting some boy for sex, well I would hear it. I can hear the creek running right now and that's a mile or more from here. But there is nothing. She moved still closer, but still saw no light and heard no sound. It just didn't make any sense. Then she started to remember things, like how much Jestia had known about plants, how she'd wound up pulling a medicinal plant that even Kasiria had to look up, how she seemed more educated than the others. She's a witch, there is no other explanation. What does that mean and is that what they're all hiding? The fact that Jestia is a witch? Jabone changes his family history daily, his mother is a Kartik fighter, his mother is Jethrikian. His mother is a smaller woman, his mother was a woman larger than me. His father is as big as he is, his father is a thin wiry man of average height. His father was Jethrikian. His parents had both fought in the war, but if his mother is a Jethrikian woman well that isn't bloody likely is it? Tarius . . . Well he is always telling things that make the others glare at him and then taking them back or stumbling over things and then saying that isn't what he means. And they are still speaking in Kartik all the time, and damn . . . Why didn't I listen more in my language classes? Why didn't I apply myself? Are all of these deceptions just to cover up the fact that Jestia's a witch? What are they really here for?

She kept watching the building for what she was sure was hours. Finally Jestia walked out looking like she'd been beaten and then they started back towards the barracks. Kasiria listened carefully as she followed them at a distance and for once they were actually speaking in her tongue so they were using their Jethrickian enough that it came as easy as their own tongue so when they were speaking in their language in front of her it really was to keep her out.

"You'll learn the spell, Jestia," Ufalla said. "I think you are trying too hard and worrying too much."

"And maybe all my life I've not tried hard enough and worried too little."

Kasiria couldn't stick around to hear more of their conversation. She knew now that she was right about Jestia and she had to beat them back to the barracks.

Chapter 8

A week passed and Jabone had neither kissed her again nor was she any closer to figuring out what to do with the knowledge that Jestia was a witch desperately working on some elusive spell. And for what reason did she need the spell? She was also only a few words closer to learning Kartik. She had learned the words for food, water and sword. That was it, the whole of her Kartik vocabulary. It wasn't very helpful in trying to figure out more about them or their secrets.

It was the third Tuesday of the month. They had just all been paid and they opened the gates to allow the whole of the garrison—except those that pulled guard duty—to go into the village for the day. Kasiria imagined that for the villagers these days when most of the population of the garrison was running around the village must seem both a blessing and a curse. With the men spending their money all over town as fast as they could being the blessing and having to deal with their drunken asses fighting and tearing things apart being the curse.

She had half hoped that she and her unit would draw gate duty. She wasn't really looking forward to having the four Kartik youths turned loose on the unsuspecting village. She decided she would have to go with them and try to keep them in line, though all she really wanted was a day to herself away from the garrison that seemed more like a prison to her every day now.

They walked out the gates together and she immediately ordered them, "Stay together and stay with me." They all just looked at her as if to say they hadn't been planning to do anything else. They always did everything together and although she wondered just how much more they were actually hiding from her she also knew that they considered her to be part of their group now, not that she had any idea just exactly what that meant. She'd never been part of a group before and certainly not such a strange one.

Growing up her sisters and brothers had wanted nothing to do with her and their mothers had made sure of it. Her mother was dead so there was no one to protect her from their open disdain. She was the child of the king's favorite wife who had tragically died. Her father's undying love and devotion to her had been both a blessing and a curse. Without it she might have grown up cold and unfeeling never knowing love. Because of it her siblings hated her so that she might as well have been an only child. She remembered a lonely childhood of grand privilege where her only playmates were her nanny and her invisible foes. Her father had thought it was cute when she dressed in play armor and took up a toy sword and fought off the forces trying to take over her play room.

It stopped being funny when she was putting on real armor and grabbing real swords and running off across the country to fight real battles.

Her "unit" was the joke of the garrison, a unit made up of only five people. The other sergeants cackled and pointed and made fun until they had to face any of her unit in the practice ring and then they stopped laughing and just tried to keep from being beaten to pieces. Still it was a bit of an embarrassment for her as the king's own daughter to be in charge of the "misfit" unit as the men had come to call them.

She turned to look at them carefully avoiding making eye contact with Jabone who always smiled at her in a way that she found disarming because she half expected that what he was thinking was that he would just wait for her not to be able to stand it anymore and come to him, and she wasn't at all sure that wasn't exactly what was going to happen.

"Now listen up." They all looked right at her, except Jestia, who was looking at her nails and making a face as if the worst thing that had ever happened to her was that she had a broken nail when Kasiria knew for a fact that the girl's nails were as ragged and rough as her own. She sighed and went on. "I'm not expecting any sort of trouble and I don't want you to make any." They all nodded except Jestia who was still looking at her nails. "Did you hear me, Jestia?"

Her head snapped up as if she couldn't believe she was being called out and she said in a voice that dragged, "Yes I heard you, behave and whatever we do don't have any fun. Quite clear. As if going into a village that reeks of crap is any more exciting than staying in the garrison. Why not take our horses and ride to some place less dirty if you have such a place in this gods forsaken country."

"Absolutely not, we can't leave Pearson," Kasiria said.

"Have you got some clever way to keep from stepping in shit here?" Jestia asked, and the other three nodded.

Kasiria made a face. She had noticed the stench when she road in. "In the Jethrik we don't throw our own waste into the gutters. It's an Amalite thing I guess, and it is pretty disgusting. I suggest you walk on the wooden walkways," Kasiria said and then threw up her hands turned and started walking. It wasn't a big village but it wasn't exactly small either. She was sure that these four would have no difficulty finding trouble wherever it might hide without much effort on their parts. She'd listened to them tell stories of tavern jumping in one Kartik village or another. The stories all started with one of them stating that the other one had gotten so drunk and then done some unbelievably stupid thing. That made Kasiria cringe as she now took them into a village where she was sure if she didn't keep a very tight rein on them she would be hearing a story soon about when they were in Pearson one or more of them got really drunk and did some incredibly stupid thing.

They started down the street and Kasiria found herself looking for an herb shop, someplace where she might get some salt for herself and her unit. She wasn't thinking about the others, just walking single minded looking for just what she was looking for and nothing else. She had grown up in the castle with servants and all the finest clothes and in spite of or maybe because of it she didn't really have a frivolous bone in her body. If she was doing something she wanted to do it and have it over with and then move on to the next task. She had never understood the lure of shopping maybe because she'd never had to actually do it. As the king's daughter she was brought everything she might ever need and choose from a dozen outfits. Now a soldier, she wore a uniform and was fed what she was given in the mess hall. Her gear and horse were provided by the kingdom, so what was the point of staring into shop windows or going through the wares in a cart?

Not too surprisingly it was Jestia who complained first. "Can we go in anywhere or would our horrid out-country ways just be altogether too embarrassing for you? I mean what's the point of being in town if we aren't even going to look at anything? We could just walk around all day trying not to step in shit but I don't think that's any more fun than doing nothing back at the garrison," she said, indicating the shops they were just marching past. "I haven't been shopping in so long I'm not sure I still know how to spend money."

"Oh, I'm sure you haven't forgotten that," Ufalla teased.

"Ah yeah sure," Kasiria said.

Without asking any further questions Jestia walked into the nearest shop, dragging Ufalla by the hand after her. The others followed her inside. It was a textiles shop and Jestia fell on a length of brightly-colored Kartik silk, holding it up as she said excitedly, "Oh, look Ufalla, wouldn't this just make the most gorgeous gown?"

"Yes, and a gorgeous Kartik silk gown is just what you want to be wearing in the trenches or on horseback while slaying the Amalite horde. I hear silk doesn't blood stain easily," Ufalla teased.

Jestia sighed then as if beaten, then seeming to ignore them all she started looking at yet another length of cloth and then another and then another. Until finally Tarius said, "Gods, Jestia, the rest of us would rather walk around town all day avoiding shit than stand around watching you make a fool out of yourself over one piece of cloth or another. Could we go now?"

"I'm still looking," Jestia said with a pout.

Kasiria was so bored she was thinking about just crawling into a bin of cloth and taking a nap.

"I could stay with her and we could meet you someplace later," Ufalla suggested with a shrug.

"Why should anyone have to suffer with the little princess," Tarius said, and it was obvious he used princess like a curse. Kasiria inwardly cringed. "Let her do what we want to do for a change."

Part of Kasiria thought it was a bad idea to leave the two women alone, but the part of her that had been screaming all her life that a woman didn't need a man to take care of her thought if any women could take care of themselves it was these two. Ufalla was better with a sword than anyone she'd ever fought except Jabone, and Jestia was both a swordswoman and a witch. If they weren't safe on the streets of this small village than no one was. And surely alone the two women wouldn't get into too much trouble.

"Meet us near the evening meal time at the Broken Tankard tavern on the east side of town and I'll buy dinner for us all, my treat." She looked at them hard. "Don't get into any trouble, please." They nodded and she was more than happy to leave them to it and go off with the two men. She smiled at Ufalla as she walked past her and said, "I'm sorry."

Ufalla smiled and said, "She doesn't know it yet, but she will pay for it one way or other."

Kasiria wasn't exactly sure what price Ufalla might ask for and she didn't want to know. She followed Jabone and Tarius out the door, shutting it behind her.

* * *

Ufalla stood at the door with it open a crack. At her shoulder Jestia asked impatiently, "Are they gone?"

"Yes, completely out of sight," she said, and opened the door. They walked out closing the door behind them no doubt ruining the shop keeper's day as he had no doubt been sure he as about to make a huge sale.

Jestia actually laughed, and it made Ufalla smile. It had been too long since Jestia had done anything but work on her spell and worry because she couldn't do it. "You were right. Your brother does make a perfect accomplice."

Ufalla laughed, too, and said, "Yes but only if you don't tell him what to do and he doesn't know he's doing it."

Jestia making sure no one on the street was watching her, reached down took a fist full of dirt in her hand blew on it then tossed it in the air and whispered, "Find witch." Ufalla saw nothing but Jestia laughed again grabbed Ufalla's hand and started leading her down the street, so she must see something.

"Is that it then? Just say what you want and it's that easy?"

"Usually," Jestia said, "I'm a thought caster. All I have to do is say what I want and it happens."

Ufalla hated to ask but curiosity got the best of her. "Can't you do that with this invisible shield thing?"

"I told you I tried I couldn't do it," Jestia snapped back. Then she took a deep breath and not turning to look at Ufalla no doubt because she was too busy following the trail that Ufalla couldn't see she said, "I'm sorry Ufalla."

"That's all right. I guess it was pretty ignorant of me to ask. I mean if it was that easy you wouldn't be working on it most every night."

A few minutes later Jestia was pulling her into an herb shop. An old woman inside was working with a mortar and pestle and she looked up at Jestia and smiled, "So, sister, what can I do for you?"

"I need to buy a spell," Jestia said.

Ufalla wondered if perhaps lack of sleep had made Jestia lose all sense but then the old woman just replied as if it weren't an odd request at all, "Which spell?"

"I need invisible shield."

The old woman frowned, reached under her table and pulled out a huge book from where Ufalla could only guess. "I don't think I have that one but let's see." She opened the book to the middle and said, "Book book, look look, find invisible shield if it is in your nooks."

Ufalla made a face.

The pages started to flip without her touching them. After this went on for several seconds the book just slammed shut and the old woman picked it up and put it away. Ufalla wasn't quite sure where she put it because it was just a table and it was like she had pulled it out and was now putting it back on a shelf that didn't exist and then the book just disappeared. Ufalla bent over 'til she was almost standing on her head to try and see where the book was. When she stood up again she looked at Jestia and it was obvious from the look on her face that she knew what the old woman was going to say before she said . . .

"I'm, sorry sister I don't have invisible shield. The only person I ever knew that had an invisible shield spell was the witch Jezel."

"Damn!" Jestia spat. "I can't believe she did this to me. I have to have that spell, but she only gave me half of it."

The old woman looked impressed. "You're Jazel's apprentice then?"

"I was," Jestia said. She looked at the old woman again, "Do you have some spell to summon Jazel or to get the spell?"

"Now wouldn't that be handy? A summons spell. You could just get any spell from any witch's spell book. No such spell exists, child. I suggest you go to the Kartik and get it from your old teacher, because I also know of no summons spell strong enough that it will move a person across an ocean," the old witch said.

Jestia looked ready to cry but then looked at the witch and asked curiously, "Were you casting in the woods west of here several weeks ago?"

"No," she said simply. "Is there anything you need while you're here?" She waved her hand in the air and a curtain behind her opened to reveal another room which was obviously an apothecary.

Ufalla knew Jestia and knew she was getting ready to stomp off without even looking because she was mad she couldn't get what she'd come for. If she couldn't get exactly what she wanted she wouldn't get anything. "Jestia, you'd better see if she has anything you need."

Jestia nodded. Shoulders slumped, she walked in and started looking around the room. Ufalla didn't realize she was keeping guard until she heard them. She went to the door and opened it a crack. "Damn, Jestia, Kasiria is headed this way."

Jestia nodded and paid the witch for what she had.

Ufalla closed the door and turned to look at the old witch. "Do you have a back door?"

"You should know I do. The Amalites hate witches even now and would gladly burn me if they got half a chance. The Jethriks barely tolerate witches and loathe the craft. I'd have to be a pretty stupid witch not to have a back door in the Jethrikain-held territory of the Amalite. It's at the back of the apothecary behind the curtain." She turned to Jestia and said, "Good luck little sister. Don't worry too much about the spell."

"But I have to stop the dream from coming true."

"Then you'll have to find some other way."

Jestia nodded and headed for the back door. As Ufalla walked past her the witch whispered in her ear, "Things aren't always as they seem, and things really do get darkest just before dawn." As the curtain closed at her back Ufalla heard the others come in the front door.

"Can I help you?" the old woman asked.

"I'd like some salt," Kasiria said.

They slipped out the back door, closing it quietly behind them.

"Was Kasiria following us?" Jestia asked.

"No, she was buying salt."

Jestia nodded. They walked a few feet down the alley and then Jestia sat down hard on a small wooden box sitting in a stack of trash and just started to cry. Ufalla fell to her knees in front of her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Jestia, it can't be as bad as all that. You're just tired and . . . "

"You're an idiot. Yes it is that bad, because I don't know what else to do." She put her arms around Ufalla and cried on her shoulder. "I should have stayed in the Kartik."

"Then go back now, Jestia." Ufalla pushed Jestia back then and dried the tears from her eyes with her thumb. "If that's what you think you need to do then you should just go home, Jestia. Do whatever you have to do to save yourself."

"Will you come with me?"

"No I can't."

"Then I can't go home because there isn't time to go and come back."

"You make no sense at all, Jestia."

"I have to find another way, that's what she said. I have to find another way that's all."

"That's right and you will." Ufalla smiled, stood up and helped Jestia to her feet. "I'm thinking 'Wall of Bats I don't Know Where They Came From' is looking better and better."

Jestia laughed.

"Come on, let's get out of here. If anything it's filthier here than it is on the street. Let's really go shopping," Ufalla offered

"But you hate shopping, Ufalla."

But I love watching you do it, Ufalla thought and said, "Well then someday you'll go hunting with me." Jestia pulled a face at the horror of the thought of it. Ufalla laughed, "See there? Then we'll be just about even."

* * *

Kasiria bought her salt and then watched as the men bought bags of herbs, and knew they must really, really hate bland food. They had gone to the livery to buy some tack for Jabone's horse and then just walked around looking at things and talking 'til it was time to meet the girls at the tavern. When they walked in they found Ufalla and Jestia already waiting for them at a back table and when they sat down across from them it was obvious that they'd already had a couple of beers because their eyes were glassy.

A serving wench came over asked what they'd like and Kasiria ordered five more beers and the evening meal which as fate would have it turned out to be stew and bread. They had all laughed and Jabone said, "I would kill for a big chunk of meat or some fish about now." And the others even Jestia agreed.

"So," Tarius asked looking at Ufalla. "Did she like to kill you sister?"

"Aye," Ufalla said. "Looking at the most boring things in every shop front and cart we passed and I don't think she actually bought anything all day," Ufalla said.

Jestia sighed. "What would have been the point of it? There is nowhere to wear anything nice. I did buy an apple. Of course it had been in storage so long it was pithy."

"I know I ate it. I told you it was the wrong season here for apples to be fresh," Ufalla said.

They brought out the beer and stew and Kasiria watched with curiosity as Jabone pushed his mug over in front of Ufalla and started to eat his dinner.

Kasiria ate her stew and bread listening to the women who were obviously near drunk if not already there. They were sizing up everyone in the bar according to how they thought they might perform sexually. Jastia comparing the men while Ufalla compared the women of which there weren't many.

"That woman over there, she'd do you but you'd have to pay," Ufalla said, and Kasiria thought she was most likely right. It was a Jethirk bar and in the Jethrik "nice" women didn't hang out in taverns, rarely drank, and didn't wear so few clothes so in all probability she actually was a prostitute. Ufalla started digging in her pocket and said, "I wonder how much money I have."

"Not enough," Tarius said with a sigh, looking longingly at the woman.

Jestia pointed to a man standing at the bar. "And if you did him you'd have to make him pay, because otherwise it wouldn't be worth it," Jestia said, and laughed in that peculiar way that people did when they were drunk, loud and too much and for very little reason.

"Or you could just ask him to do it twice and slap you," Ufalla said and then they both started roaring with laughter.

"It's the punch line to an old joke," Jabone explained to Kasiria who was looking confused, but that didn't help her confusion.

Tarius looked at her then told the joke. "This woman says to her lover give me ten digits and make it hurt, so he made love to her twice and slapped her."

Kasiria just shrugged, and this made the women laugh even more than they had been before.

Kasiria was just starting to relax and enjoy herself when much to her disgust in wandered Thomas and his troop. She had seen men from the garrison all over the village all day long but she had purposely picked this tavern and not the one closer to the garrison because she had learned that it was owned by and mostly patronized by Jethriks and that the soldiers rarely patronized this one because it was so much further from the garrison and therefore it was harder to stumble home drunk. She was glad when Thomas sat on the other side of the tavern away from them.

"My brother must tell better stories than he tells jokes," Ufalla said.

"Your brother tells wonderful stories," Jestia said dreamily.

Kasiria noticed to her dismay that the women had downed the two beers she'd just bought them and Ufalla had drunk Jabone's and they had ordered two more.

By the time she'd finished her first beer and started on her second and was starting to feel it the two women and Tarius had both downed three more mugs and ordered another.

"Ah, maybe you'd all better slow down there, all right? We have to actually get back to the barracks and be up for roll call in the morning or they dock our pay."

"Let me get this straight. They pay us, let us go to town with our pockets full of coin, but then if we don't show up to roll they dock our pay?" Tarius slurred out.

"That's right," Kasiria said, taking another sip of her beer thinking that she'd better watch what she drank if she was going to be sure of getting them all back to the barracks tonight, and glad that at least Jabone seemed to be staying sober.

"Don't worry, Kasiria, we know how to handle our liquor," Jestia started, then just laughed out loud again. "Or at least Ufalla does," she said, slapping the other woman hard on the shoulder.

They all started laughing and Kasiria realized it was yet another joke she didn't get. She sighed. They might as well be speaking in Kartik for all that I can understand what they're talking about.

"Yeah," Ufalla slurred out, "It's not like we're the Katabull."

"What?" Kasiria asked quickly.

"I said," Ufalla screamed in her direction, getting laughs from all her fellows. "It's not like we're the Katabull."

"What are you talking about now?" Kasiria demanded.

Jabone looked at her, shrugged and said, "The Katabull have no tolerance for alcohol at all."

"Which means?" Kasiria demanded to know.

"When they drink they cat out whether they want to or not, and just a little alcohol will get them rip snorting drunk," Tarius said.

Kasiria looked at the half empty mug of beer—her second—with a sort of panic.

"What's wrong Kasiria?" Jestia asked.

"I . . . I don't feel so good. I . . . I better go back to the barracks." She stood up quickly. "Please do me a favor and get back to the barracks in one piece tonight." She took off, stopping just long enough to pay their tab and leave extra for what they might still consume. Outside she looked in a panic up the street in the direction of the garrison, but she couldn't go to the garrison. If she was about to "cat out" the garrison was the last place she wanted to be.

Thomas had followed her outside without her knowledge and from behind her he started, "Hey Kasiria . . . "

She turned quickly and punched him so hard in the face that she knocked him off his feet. Then she just started running down an alleyway in a panic. She jumped a fence she shouldn't have been able to clear and ran off into the woods and as she did she could feel it happening. She was changing form. She ran 'til she was well away from everyone and everything and then she sat down on a rock. Now fully catted out there was no seeing like she had been. Now . . . Well it might as well have been day and if she had thought her hearing couldn't get any better she had been wrong. If she thought about it she could hear the noise from the Broken Mug Tavern and even pick out the sound of Ufalla's voice.

As if things couldn't get any worse Hellibolt appeared in front of her. She looked up at him and held up her hands that were half again their normal size and had claws. "Dammit all, you might have told me I couldn't drink anymore."

"Oh you can drink, you'll just turn into the Katabull." He thought about it and then said, "So I guess you can change if you want to but you'll be drunk."

"I'm not drunk now," Kasiria said.

"If you say so." Hellibolt shrugged.

"You might have told me Jestia was a witch as well, and . . . Are they even on our side Hellibolt?"

"Of course they're on your side." He laughed then. "Jestia's a witch. Well I guess that makes a certain sense. The gift is strong in her blood line. The green eyes should have been a dead give away. Kartiks almost always have black or brown eyes."

"Tell me about these people I live with, Hellibolt," Kasiria demanded.

"Why should you know who they are when they don't know who you are? All you need to know is that you can trust them."

"Can I?"

"Yes, with your life and with your heart. Heed my words, Kasiria, there are more Amalites than any of us could have guessed. I have seen them swarming in my mind."

"What do you mean?"

"Your destiny is at hand, Kasiria."

Then he was gone. She thought of all he had said then stumbled to her feet drunkenly and screamed in a slur, "Again you have gone, telling me nothing of real importance!"

She realized she was screaming and stopped. "Like how the hell am I going to change back?"

She saw a rabbit and chased after it, stumbling through the woods as she went.

* * *

Thomas walked in rubbing his chin and Ufalla let go of Jabone's arm. "See I told you she could take care of him herself."

Jabone looked at Ufalla who just threw her hands up as if to say do whatever you're going to do and Jabone got up and walked over to Thomas. He glared at him and Thomas flinched even before Jabone picked him up, carried him to the door of the tavern, and threw him out it into the street. "I told you not to talk to them and not to look at them. That will be your only warning." He turned to the rest of Thomas's troop and growled at them until they left, too. Then he walked over, sat back down and enjoyed watching his friends get pie eyed. Had they been home he would have drunk with them. After all nobody there cared if he changed. Finally when Jabone was sure they'd had enough he announced it was time to go and they took turns letting him hold them up as they got up walked out of the tavern and started back for the garrison.

About half way back Ufalla passed clean out and he had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her while trying to keep the other two walking in the right direction.
"Light weight!" Tarius screamed at his sister's unconscious form where she was draped over Jabone's shoulder, her head bouncing off his butt. Then Tarius and Jestia just cracked up laughing.

"Quiet both of you," Jabone said. Then they both made an unbelievable amount of noise shushing each other. He shook his head and walked double time. He had just laid Ufalla down and gotten the other two in the barracks when he noticed Kasiria was missing and he felt like his heart stopped in his chest.

He looked quickly at where Tarius had just tripped over one of the cots and landed on his sister who didn't so much as move. Then watched as Jestia launched herself at her own cot missed and hit the floor and then just started laughing. They weren't going to be any help and he decided they could very well take care of themselves.

He didn't hesitate. He walked outside and sniffed the air. He didn't smell her. Jabone took off running to the men's barracks. Inside he found where Thomas bunked and dragged the sleeping man out of his bed by his collar. "What have you done to her?" Jabone demanded.

Thomas looked down at him in real terror, no doubt a night of being beaten on had made him paranoid, and sure that Jabone was about to kill him he sputtered out, "Who? What?"

"Kasiria is gone. What have you done to her?"

"Nothing I swear it. The last I saw her she was punching me in the face. I swear by all the gods, Jabone. Seriously I really was just going to apologize to her. Really apologize to her and she just punched me before I could say anything and then she ran off."

"If you are lying to me . . . "

"I know, I know, no one will find my bones," Thomas forced a smile. "I swear Jabone . . . "

Jabone dropped him and took off. He went back to the tavern. No one was around so he called on the night and started to sniff out Kasiria's trail. Right then he didn't care about detection. He didn't care about anything but finding Kasiria. Having found her scent he took off at a dead run into the woods.

When he found her he felt like his heart finally started beating again. "Kasiria I . . . I thought . . . " He walked up to her back and put a hand on her shoulder, not even thinking about what he was. "Kasiria," he said with an air of relief. "I was so afraid something terrible had happened to you."

"It has," she cried, and he should have recognized the change in her voice, but maybe because his was altered the same way he didn't.

"Has someone hurt you?" he said, his anger rekindled.

"No, no one's hurt me," she said, but she was crying so her words didn't match her actions. "You might as well know." She turned then though she didn't get up from the log and he was looking into the face of the Katabull and so he suddenly realized even before she screamed was she. He didn't know who was more startled as they just stared at each other. Kasiria finally smiled and stated the obvious. "You, you're the Katabull."

Jabone nodded laughed out loud, moved and dropped to his knees in front of her. He ran his hand down her cheek and kissed her gently on her lips. "My madra always says a beast can smell it's own kind. I should have known when I was so attracted to you that you were one of us."

"Which mother the Jethrikian lady or the Kartik warrior?" Kasiria asked, an air of distrust entering her voice.

"My madra." Jabone laughed and hugged her tight to him. Then he let her go and stared into her face again. "Two thirds of the Katabull are queer. I'm the child of a cross pairing, I have four parents. Two mothers and two fathers."

"I have no idea what that means . . . I'm just so happy you weren't just making up the most huge lies to tell me." Kasiria cried then and hugged his neck. "I . . . I can't change back. I'm going to be stuck like this forever. For the god's sake I caught a rabbit with my bare hands and ate it raw and I'm still the Katabull."

"You're still drunk. The alcohol has to leave your system before you can change back. You didn't drink that much, so it shouldn't be long now," Jabone explained. "Don't you know that?"

"No . . . I don't know anything," she said, drying the tears from her eyes with the back of the hands she was sure she was just never going to get used to. "I don't know anything about being Katabull. I didn't know 'til a few weeks ago that I was one."

* * *

Kasiria explained how she'd come to find out that she was Katabull, leaving out the whole Hellibolt thing and explaining instead that the men didn't remember because she'd licked the blood off her hand and changed back before they saw her.

She couldn't very well tell Jabone that Persius was her father, not knowing how the Katabull felt about the king.

"My fadra, he was a half breed. My madra taught him to change when he was older than you are. I've never heard of any Katabull changing without willing it . . . Except well drinking of course and sometimes . . . " He let it lay there blushing a little and then said, "My madra taught me to change when I was very young but she said it was different than the way she taught my fadra to change. Maybe I could teach you, I could try anyway." He looked thoughtful and added. "Most of the nation are pure bloods like my madra. I don't think they know much about the changing in people even like my fadra, and you don't know how much Katabull blood you have do you?"

She sighed. She knew but if she told him, how was she going to explain how she knew? So she just shrugged.

"I don't understand why you felt you couldn't tell us," Jabone said. "I know why you and I must hide what we are from the Jathirks but why hide it from us?"

"I can't make it happen, so there would have been no way for me to prove it. This is only the second time it's ever happened to me, and you know how it is," she said with a sigh, "the more people that know a secret the harder it is to keep . . . Are the others?"
"No just me," he said proudly, and it was pride. He was proud of what he was. She was just trying to get used to the whole idea and he was busting with pride that he could finally tell someone that he was the Katabull. If half of what they had told her was true being Katabull in the Kartik was like being a knight here, so why wouldn't he be proud of what he was?

"So, the others aren't Katabull but Jestia is a witch?"

"How did you . . . "

"Katabull remember? Better sight, better hearing even in my human form. I followed she and Ufalla to where Jestia's been practicing her craft."

"She can't master a spell she thinks she needs," Jabone explained.

"Yes, that's what I got. So . . . We really don't need more than five people in our troop," Kasiria said with a laugh.

"No, I'm pretty sure two Katabull and a witch make up more than the difference," Jabone said with a smile. "You are changing back now and if we want to get back any time soon I need to find something to eat." And with that he ran into the woods.

Kasiria watched as her hands became her own again and was almost sorry. In minutes Jabone walked out of the woods and he too looked human again. And that's all it is, too, a look, because we aren't human. It's just like a suit of clothes we put on. Under this we're still animal.

Jabone walked up to her and hugged her then he released her took her hand and started walking back towards the garrison. At least she hoped he knew where he was going because she sure didn't.

"Jabone . . . With all that's been happening, all these huge changes in my life, all I have been able to think about is you," she said shyly.

"And all I have been thinking about is you." He stopped then and took her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and then they were kissing and this time she was sure she was getting it right.

* * *

They had spent most of the night walking through the woods, just talking and holding hands, occasionally stopping to kiss. By the time they got back to the barracks the garrison was already bathed in the light of false dawn. They walked in to the almost too quiet barracks to find three of the cots pushed together and Jestia and Tarius as naked as the day they were born spread across them and each other.

"Oh no," Jabone said, a note of doom in his voice. He looked around for Ufalla and then tripped over her where she was lying on the floor. She groaned and rolled over and Jabone looked around for Kasiria and realized she had left the barracks. He tiptoed back outside and whispered, "Kasiria you have to help me. We have to dress them and move them before Ufalla wakes up."

"I can't," Kasiria said, shaking her head violently. "I just can't, they are naked," she told him as if he might not have noticed.

"Kasiria, you don't understand," Jabone pleaded, "If Ufalla finds them together like that she may kill them both."

"But why? You Kartiks just . . . Well you just have sex; it doesn't matter."

"That's not true, Kasiria, and . . . This is very complicated but she just can't find them like that."

But talking Kasiria into moving and dressing his friends turned out to be a moot point as a thundering voice erupted from inside their barracks, "How the hell could you do this!"

Then Ufalla was out the door, down the steps, and running past them. She started to throw up against the side of the barracks. Although it was hard to say whether she was sick because of how much she had drunk the night before or because of what she had just seen.

She threw up for a good five minutes and then she looked up at Jabone and demanded to know, "How could you let this happen?"

"I didn't know, I swear, Ufalla. Kasiria got into some trouble and I had to go get her. We just got back ourselves."

Tarius walked out of the barracks pulling on his pants. He glared at his sister. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked in an angry whisper. "My head's about to split and you're screaming like a banshee."

"What they hell is wrong with me!" Ufalla growled back. "How could you do this to me?"

"What the hell have I done to you?" Tarius asked, clueless.

For answer Ufalla ran up to him, growled right in his face, and then she dove on him and they were just slamming their fists into each other. Jabone watched them and sighed. If they had been at home and if it had been any other girl they'd been fighting over he would have let them fight it out. But they weren't home, and here a fight didn't settle a dispute, and she wasn't any other girl she was Jestia, Ufalla's one true love, so he doubted seriously that fighting it out was an option. Kasiria obviously wanted to break them up but was just running around trying to figure out who to grab and how. She kept looking at him expectantly as if he should stop the fight, but he'd been around them enough to know when you could act and when you couldn't.

He waited 'til Ufalla had wound up straddling her brother and then he grabbed her and pulled her off Tarius. She struggled to get free but Jabone just held her against his chest. Kasiria moved to stand between Tarius and Ufalla, and as Tarius stood up and acted like he was going to go after his sister again Kasiria put her hand in the middle of his chest and pushed him back.

"Calm down both of you," Kasiria ordered in a harsh whisper. "You're going to bring the whole of the garrison down on our heads."

Ufalla pushed away from Jabone still growling, and he finally let her go knowing that despite appearances she had calmed down. She glared across the space between herself and her brother. "Tarius" she hissed, "you are no longer my brother. If you were drowning in a puddle of water and all I had to do was put down my hand and draw you out, I would let you drown."

It was a Kartik curse. Jabone put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't mean that, Ufalla, they were both just drunk. He wasn't thinking. You know he never thinks."

"I did mean it." Ufalla swore then growled at her brother one last time. He growled right back at her and then she turned on her heel and stomped away. Kasiria started to go after her but Jabone moved and took her arm.

"No, let her go. It's Ufalla; she just needs to walk it off. If you try to stop her or talk sense into her she'll likely beat you up," Jabone said in Jethrik, and Kasiria nodded her understanding.

"What was that all about?" Tarius said, rubbing at his aching head. "Why did she curse me with the Kartik separation curse? I'm not her brother?"

"Tarius, you huge blind fool. You could have bedded any other girl in the world and not have incurred your sister's wrath. Why did you have to sleep with Jestia? Don't you know how Ufalla feels about her?" Jabone didn't wait for an answer, he just stomped back into the barracks where Jestia was still passed out and naked lying across the beds. He kicked the cot hard and kept doing it 'til Jestia woke up holding her head. He yelled at her just because he knew it would cause her pain. "What the hell have you done you royal whore?"

Jestia pulled a pillow over her head. "Leave me be, Jabone. It's no business of yours who I bed."

"It is when you come between my two best friends, my pack members. You knew how she felt about you, you had to. And all this time sleeping with her, holding her, knowing what she wants from you and now . . . You bed her brother. And he's just a dumb ass and it's him she's disowning not you."

Seeing he wasn't going to let her be she got up and pulled on her shirt which mostly covered her. "You don't understand, Jabone."

"Oh I understand princess. I understand that you think people are toys for you to play with and . . . "

"You don't get it!" Jestia screamed back and then she was crying. "I had to find another way."

Chapter 9

Kasiria didn't have time to try and figure out what was going on. There was lots of screaming in Kartik, which no doubt told anyone not as hung over as they were that her unit was fighting amongst themselves. To make matters worse her own hangover was pounding—which hardly seemed fair since she'd had less than two beers—and she'd had no sleep at all.

Jabone was the Katabull. He was the Katabull she was the Katabull and she was sure that they were in the middle of making their own amazing love story. That was all she wanted to think about, but now she had to deal with all this crap because she was the sergeant and they were her unit, and . . . I just need a good, hot bath, a bath not a shower, and then to sleep on a bed not a cot for about two days and then I'd be fine. But she wasn't as tired as she should have been and she realized that it had to have something to do with being the Katabull last night. And this morning, we were out all night just walking and talking, occasionally kissing. These idiots, I might have actually gotten at least some sleep but now . . . Where is Ufalla? Is she going to come back at all? If she is will she be there for roll call?

Jabone had stopped yelling and now he just seemed to be talking to Jestia.

Kasiria looked at Tarius and decided she needed to at least take some action towards salvaging her unit so she just started giving orders. "Get to the showers. Get cleaned up and dressed and ready for when the horn blows."

"Are you mad at me, too?" Tarius asked with no understanding whatsoever. He was obviously much more upset by his sister's anger than Kasiria would have thought he would be.

"No, I just . . . " she smiled. "I just need someone to be doing something to make us look some less than the worst unit in the garrison."

Tarius nodded went in got his clothes and gear and headed for the showers. Kasiria took a deep breath hoped that Jestia was dressed and walked on inside. She was dressed—barely—and sitting on Kasiria's cot just sobbing into her hands. Well so much for their "sleep with whoever you want and it doesn't mean a thing" philosophy. Obviously their coupling has caused a huge rift between the siblings and Jestia if possible looks more miserable than Ufalla did . . . Of course what woman wouldn't be crying if she woke up and realized she'd slept with Tarius. Kasiria made a face.

Jabone was just patting Jestia on the back talking to her in a soothing whisper and, well Kasiria didn't like him touching the half-dressed woman who would obviously bed anything since she'd even slept with Tarius.

"I'm not going to pretend to know what's going on here, but I need everyone to get cleaned up and in shape so that we're ready even if no one else in this garrison is when that horn blows," Kasiria said. Jabone nodded, patted Jestia on the back and said something to her Kartik. Jestia nodded and got up grabbed her clothes and gear and headed towards the shower.
"I'll go find Ufalla," Jabone promised, and then he headed for the door.

"Thanks."

He started to just walk out then turned around and came back, hugged her and kissed her on the lips, and her knees felt weak again. "I'm sorry for all this," he said.

"Don't be. If you hadn't had to come looking for me none of this would have happened, so if it's either of our faults it's mine."

"No one made those two idiots do what they did." He let her go and left and she found that she immediately missed him. I've turned into one of those women. The ones that need a man to feel complete, I'm disgusted with myself, but in my defense he's not just any man, he's Jabone.

* * *

Jabone found Ufalla standing and cussing a blue streak while chunking rocks at the garrison walls as if willing one of the tiny rocks to bring the heavy stone wall crumbling down.

"Are you all right?" Jabone asked, careful not to get within reach of her because he wasn't lying to Kasiria. Ufalla had a really bad temper and when she was in a mood she'd just as soon beat you as look at you.

"No, and I doubt I ever will be again. I just need to get over it, right?" she said. and kept chunking rocks not looking at him. "It never would have been me any way so it doesn't matterp, right?"

"Ufalla they were just both drunk. Tarius would never do anything to purposefully hurt you."

Ufalla spun on him and he was surprised to see tear tracks had carved their way into the dirt on her face that no doubt was a consequence of sleeping on the floor and fighting with her brother. She also had a fat lip. Ufalla just didn't cry, so he felt his own chest grow heavy with thoughts of his friend's pain. "Yes he would, Jabone. He hates me, he always has and he always will. He blames me because he's small and looks more like them," she flipped her arm around the compound, "than us, as if it is somehow my fault. I have always loved him and he has always hated me and he found the thing that would hurt me the most and that's what he did just for spite."

"None of that's true, Ufalla. He resents you, yes, but he also loves you. I really don't think he knew . . . "

"Will you also make excuses for her, Jabone? You know damn good and well that she knows how I feel because she uses the knowledge of it to get me to do anything she wants me to do, like a puppet."

Jabone sighed. "I don't know what she thought she was doing, Ufalla, or even if she was thinking at all. They were both very drunk. What I do know is that she's crying like a baby right now, and mumbling incoherent things that make no sense."

"Because she's probably still drunk or worse still she knows no matter how large her crime we'll all forgive her if she cries. Well I won't. She could have any man she wanted and she slept with my own brother. Don't try to talk me out of my rage, Jabone. I'm going home. Or I'm going to the Kartik-held territory," Ufalla said. "But I'm not going to stay around them not either of them."

"Ufalla, why punish yourself? Why punish me because you're mad at them?" Jabone put a hand on each of her shoulders. "If I had been there I never would have let it happen but . . . " He told her all that had happened with Kasiria the night before. "You don't really want to be on your own, Ufalla and I can't go with you for obvious reasons. I need you here, Ufalla. I'm sorry if that sounds selfish, but I need my best friend with me now, and I do know how you feel because I'm in love, too, now and it's scary to care so much for someone."

"So you have found your great love and you will finally know what your mothers have known." Ufalla was obviously happy for him despite her own problems. "I will stay for you my non-blood kin."

"You will find love, too, just not with her, Ufalla. It was never meant to be. You said so yourself."

Ufalla nodded.

"Come we need to get cleaned up and dressed for the roll call." She followed him.

* * *

Kasiria was just stepping out of the bathhouse with Jestia when Ufalla appeared. She saw them and just hung around a tree waiting for them to leave so she could walk in without having to be near Jestia. Oh this is going to be great, Kasiria thought with a sigh.

"She's never going to talk to me again," Jestia said a catch in her voice.

"She has to understand that you just don't want her that way," she said.

Jestia glared at her as if she'd cursed her and said, "You don't understand anything."

* * *

The horn blew and they all lined up. Oddly enough with most of her unit hung over, everyone fighting with everyone else, and she and Jabone having found out what they had about each other the night before it was the first time they actually stood in formation, at attention the way they were supposed to. None of them were talking and she noticed, not without a little pride, that their unit was the only one that was all there when the role started.

As the role ended Derek came out and faced them. "I've just received word this morning that there has been another Amalite raid. This time they have destroyed the entire village of Grey Noke and have left nothing but smoke and ash. We are the closest contingent of men . . . soldiers . . . so we are being sent out to investigate, track the Amalites, and try to find their stronghold. Kasiria, Thomas, Jason your units have been assigned under my command. Master Richard shall serve as my second in command. Lieutenant Heath will tend the garrison in my absence. Obviously many of you aren't in any condition to ride out today, so I suggest you spend the day resting and putting your affairs in order. We will be riding out in the morning."

Kasiria took in a breath. All she'd ever wanted was to do battle and now that the time was at hand all she really wanted to do was to be with Jabone. It didn't matter because now they had to go and fight. When they released them for the morning meal she turned to face her unit and was disheartened to see that she could now see light between them.

Great, now that we are about to go off to do battle and I need them to watch each other's backs they can't stand one another.

Breakfast was altogether too quiet, and while she, Jabone and Ufalla sat at one end of the table, Jestia and Tarius sat on the other but not together. Every time Ufalla remembered they were there she literally growled at them and her brother growled back showing his teeth. Which of course made her growl back showing her teeth. This habit of growling they had was like no sound you ever heard a Jethrik make.

"Ufalla and Tarius aren't Katabull?" she asked Jabone in a whisper right in his ear.

He smiled, apparently knowing exactly why she was asking. "No, but they grew up with me in the Katabull Nation, so they act more like Katabull than Kartiks," he whispered back.

She looked at the oatmeal gruel in her bowl and realized she hadn't actually eaten any of it, just stacked it up and then smeared it back out flat. As she looked around the table only Jabone was actually eating, the rest of them were just too hung over. She pushed her bowl over to Jabone who had just finished his and he looked at her.

"I can't eat," she said. He nodded and happily started to consume her food. He ate like a pig and she thought it was cute so she knew just how smitten she was.

"I look forward to doing battle with the Amalite scum," Ufalla said. "Perhaps when I have killed many of them and their blood stains my armor I will be happy again." She glared down the table at her brother and growled again. He growled back.

"Gods! What a nightmare." Surprisingly it was Jabone who said it. He quit eating and looked down the table at Jestia and Tarius. "If you all continue to fight like this you will get us all killed."

"He has a point," Kasiria said.

Ufalla spit something out in Kartik that although she didn't know what the words were she knew that the meaning was that she should mind her own business, so maybe she was starting to understand them more.

Jabone just confirmed it when he said, "It does concern her. We have to get over this," he said.

Kasiria looked down the table and said to the others. "We all have to get over this," she said. "We all have to get over this today. We don't have time for this crap. We can't bring this into the field with us."

They all just stared daggers at her except Jabone and she doubted they were even considering what she had said.

Thomas and Jason approached their table with caution, Thomas obviously trying to ignore Jabone.

"Kasiria, I am glad you are well."

"What do you want?" Kasiria asked without much charity, and beside her a low, gravely growl echoed from Jabone's throat—which was no doubt why both men seemed on the verge of running.

"I think we must call a truce between your unit and mine," he said, and Kasiria got the impression that it was Jason—who stood at Thomas's shoulder who had instigated this "Truce." Kasiria started to tell him to take his truce and stick it but her eyes fell on her unit. She had just told them that they had to get along for the good of the unit. What sort of a hypocrite would it make her if she wouldn't accept Thomas's apology and try to work with him for the good of their mission? She swallowed her pride and said, "There must be peace between us if we are to work well together in the field."

"What of Jabone?" Thomas asked carefully.

"What of him?" Kasiria asked, even as Jabone glared at the two men.

"Will you forgive me as well? Or am I still not allowed to look at or talk to any of you without fear of death raining on my head?"

"If the words of your apology are spoken from your heart as well as your mouth then I will forgive you. But if you ever disgrace my woman again, I will split you."

Kasiria blushed scarlet. Gods! Tell me he didn't just say that. By this afternoon everyone in the compound will know and in a fortnight so will my father . . . His woman! His woman? What am I now, a horse that he owns? She smiled then in spite of herself and suddenly the world around her just disappeared. His woman. I'm his woman.

Ufalla got up, smiling at the dumbfounded looks on the two men's faces, and she got right in Thomas's face and said, "See? She's not queer, she just doesn't want you." She walked off then.

Kasiria's sacrifice however was wasted on the Kartiks. When they got back to their barracks to try to get some much-needed sleep, Ufalla had moved her cot all the way over against a wall as far away from the others as she could and was lying down with her back to the rest of the room. And when Tarius had laid down on his cot Jestia took hers and moved it to a point some where between his and Ufalla's so that she wouldn't have to be close to either of them. Jabone without asking took his cot and stuck it right next to Kasiria's and then he lay down. She started to protest, then just threw up her hands and lay down, too. She felt his arms wrap around her and then he drug her against him and kissed her. She kissed him back. Then realizing they were in a room full of people she whispered. "Jabone . . . We can't."

"I'm not," he said with a laugh. "You forget my mother is of your country. I know you don't couple quickly as we do, that you expect to be courted."

"Your idea of courting is a little more physical than is really acceptable here."

Jabone smiled. "Are you that worried then about being acceptable?"

She nestled into his arms. "Only to you." In a few minutes they were both asleep.

* * *

Ufalla just wanted to go to sleep and not think about anything, more because she didn't want to think about what she'd seen than because she was tired and needed sleep. She was sick, sick in body and spirit and heart. She willed herself not to think about it, her brother's naked ugly body lying all over Jestia's perfect one. But of course the more she tried not to think about it the more the image played before her shut eyes.

What's wrong with me? I knew it was all just a fantasy. I knew she'd never want me. So why does it matter if it's my stupid brother or a hundred other men that she's slept with? Because she's not the least bit attracted to Tarius and that being the case she might as well have been sleeping with me. Oh gods! Why doesn't she love me? How can one person feel so much when the other feels nothing? Kasiria's right we have to work together, the way our parent's did. I can't let this thing govern me or we'll likely as not all get killed. But how can I? I don't care what Jabone says. Tarius knew good and well how I felt about her. He did it for spite, only for spite. Everything that came hard for him came easy for me and while I could do things he couldn't do there was nothing that he could do that I couldn't. Until now.

It doesn't matter. None of it matters. I will go and do battle. Bards will write stories and songs about me. Ufalla the woman who stood alone . . . Except I don't want to stand alone. I just want to sleep to have a sweet dream and forget all my problems.

She fell into a fitful sleep and had a dream she didn't ask for.

* * *

That evening as they finished packing for their mission Kasiria wasn't too surprised to find herself called to Captain Derek's office. She walked right in and sat without waiting for him to invite her to so she really was learning more from the Kartiks than they were learning from her.

"All right. I'm ready. Let me have it," Kasiria said.

Derek frowned. "Kasiria what are you on about?"

She realized then that he hadn't heard about her relationship with Jabone. "I ah . . . just anxious to have my orders."

"Your unit will ride in the middle with the wagons . . . "

"The safe spot . . . Why? Because I'm the king's daughter or because my unit is more than half women . . . "

"Because there are only five of you and yes because you are the king's daughter. Put yourself in my position, Kasiria. If something happens to you how will I ever explain to your father that I had you either leading the troop opening you to forward attack or in the back leaving you vulnerable to ambush?"

"You have no faith in us . . . "

"I do, Kasiria, but give an old man the chance to cover his own . . . head. You know that I'm going against your father's will to assign you at all. If he had his way you wouldn't leave the garrison."

"If he had his way I wouldn't have left the castle," she said, and she almost told him why he should never worry about her or her unit.

"In the field," he cleared his throat, "men can get . . . well the way men get. I don't want any of you women to ever be alone."

Because of course that's our fault not theirs. She thought but said, "That shouldn't be a problem."

"Kasiria . . . you could always back out."

"Why do you want me to fail so badly? Do you fear that once again a woman will out shine all the men? Maybe make a real change in our stagnant country?"

"No, I fear something may happen to you. That you will get hurt or worse yet killed and it would be my fault. Do you know why I'm sending your unit on this mission instead of some of the others?"

Kasiria shook her head no.

"Because as captain of this post it's my duty to protect the surrounding countryside to the best of my abilities. Your unit is the best one here, there is no doubt of that. You, Kasiria, are damned good I don't have to tell you that. I would be negligent of my post if I sent another unit, yet you're my sovereign's flesh and blood. This is why I am leading this mission myself. I am leaving Heath here because his health is no longer good enough for him to work in the field. I have worked with him at my side most of my life and I saw the pain in his eyes when I told him he would be staying. I'm leaving my family and coming out of semi-retirement because I don't trust you or the mission to anyone else. I do none of that because I don't trust your skills or because I fear you will make a great name for yourself. I do it because I do trust your skill and because I know you very well may make a name for yourself."

Kasiria was flushed with pride. "Thank you sir."

"Don't give me any reason to be sorry."

"I won't," Kasiria promised.

"Keep those Kartik thugs of yours in line."

"I will sir."

"You may go," he said with a flip of his hand, "Send Jabone in here, will you?"

"Why do you need to talk to Jabone?" Kasiria demanded quickly.

Derek smiled. "That, Kasiria, is none of your business."

* * *

Jabone walked into the captain's office not knowing what to expect. Derek smiled at the boy. "You aren't in any sort of trouble."

Jabone inwardly sighed with relief.

"This came by rider today." He handed him a roll of parchments with the Great Leader's seal in wax and Jabone smiled broadly. He had sent a letter to his parents a week ago so there was no way this was in answer to that. His parents had written them on their own weeks ago with no prompting from a message from him.

"Thank you. If I write them again and I bring it to you this evening can you make sure it goes out?"

"Of course," Derek said.

"May I?" Jabone asked pointing at the door.

He nodded and Jabone was out of the office and running across the compound back to his barracks.

He sat down on his cot, broke the seal, and opened the roll of parchment pages. They didn't want to stay open having been rolled up for so long.

"What have you got?" Jestsia asked.

"It has the Great Leader's seal whatever it is," Tarius said excitedly in Kartik.

"What is it?" Kasiria asked curiously, looking over Jabone's shoulder.

"Unless I'm wrong it's letters from home." He smiled as he pulled a page free from the others and looked at Tarius. "This one is written to you and Ufalla by your father's hand." Which was sort of a stupid thing for him to say since they all knew that their mother Elise couldn't write. They both reached for the page and then glared at each other. Jabone sighed. "Tarius can read it and then Ufalla."

He looked at the other four pages. There was a letter from his mother, and from both of his fathers but what made him choke back his tears was when he saw the labored hand of his madra in the letters of one page. Writing didn't come easy to her. "Even my madra has written!" he exclaimed. Yet it was Jena's letter that he started to read first.

"Jabone, was there nothing for me?" Jestia asked.

Jabone made a show of looking again just in the hopes that he might think of something to say that was better than just no but there wasn't. "No."

"Nothing?"

"No."

"Read your letters. See if my parents have sent news by way of your parents," she begged him.

He read his letters, smiling the whole time, and ignoring the near fight that had ensued when Ufalla decided that Tarius had hogged the letter long enough and it was her turn and tried to grab it. After a few more minutes Tarius grudgingly handed it over.

"My fadra says the early crop has come in good and that one of his new students has cracked his finger," Tarius started.

"Shut up I'm trying to read," Ufalla hissed at her brother. When she finished reading the letter she made a face. "My mother sends a message to tell us she loves us both and to get along."

It took several minutes for Jabone to get through all his parents' letters and when he did he was more homesick than ever.

"Well?" Jestia asked anxiously when she saw him put the pages down. "Did my parents at the very least send some message?"

Jabone was silent because again. He couldn't think of a less hurtful answer than no.

"No they didn't," Jestia said angrily.

"Our parents don't live where yours do," Jabone said by way of explanation.

"My parents are the Queen and consort of the Kartik!" Jestia screamed in their own language. "If they wanted to they could have gotten a letter to me. Hell they don't even have to do it. They could have had a servant do it. At least that would have been something to show that they at least care."

"But they don't care about anything except you're out of their hair now because your nothing but trouble," Ufalla said in the most hurtful tone of voice she could muster, and Jestia stood up turned on her heel and stomped out of the barracks. Kasiria looked at him and Jabone answered her unasked question with a smile.

"Jestia you can go after." So Kasiria did.

"Was that really necessary?" Jabone asked Ufalla who just shrugged walked over and lay down on her cot facing the wall.

Tarius stared daggers at his sister's back and Jabone asked him in a whisper, "I know why she's mad at you, but why are you mad at her?"

"Because she's mad at me," Tarius said as if it made perfect sense.

"What does your madra say, Jabone?" Ufalla asked, not turning around to face them.

"That she grows tired of hunting with my fadra." He cleared his throat then and tried to mimic his madra's voice. "That my mother cries every day for me, and hopes I will get tired of this and come home soon."

Ufalla laughed and he was happy to hear it because it was real laughter and gave him hope that she would get over this. "So in other words your madra misses you very much."

"Yes."

"And what of Jena, what word from your mother?" Ufalla asked.

"Well she is my mother and she and Dustan just come right out and say they miss me while my madra and fadra write of hunting and express their emotion by saying how much Jena and Dustan miss me. I miss them a lot. I forget about them mostly with everything that's going on and being so far away from home, and then Tarius will tell a story and I remember them and I miss them, and now reading these letters . . . and tomorrow instead of moving closer to home we'll be moving further away."

Tarius nodded and looked at his sister's back. This time all the animosity had left his face as if realizing that she was a living link to his family. "Ufalla, I . . . "

"What?" Ufalla shot back, not deigning to turn and look at him.

"I wish you'd quit being such a little bitch," he said hotly.

"Yeah well I wish you hadn't bedded the witch, so we're about one stanza from an incantation that I'm sure will make your member fall off so go on your turn!" Ufalla screamed back.

Jabone just sighed and wished they'd blow the horn for dinner.

Chapter 10

Oddly enough when they had first arrived at to the garrison none of them would have had trouble with an all day ride in a saddle. They did it all the time at home, even Jestia. In fact maybe Jestia was more accustomed to it than they were because she was always getting bored and just taking off across the Kartik.

But after weeks with very little riding the all day ride had taken its toll. It took all the rest of their strength just to make camp.

At one point Jabone stood at Derek's shoulder as he barked out orders and Jabone said, "You set camp exactly as we do."

Derek turned to look at him and smiled. "Of course we do. Your mother . . . No you call Tarius something different?"

"Madra."

"Your madra," he stumbled over the unfamiliar word and then went on, "she taught us how to set camp this way when she was our war lord. We've done it this way ever since. Horses on the perimeter, regular soldiers on the outside ring, command and support in the middle."

Jabone nodded and went to help set camp.

They weren't on watch that night so after a meal of beans and bread they all crawled into their tent which was barely big enough for them all. With all the feuding parties trying their damndest not to touch each other it was a good thing that Jabone and Kasiria were willing to lay basically on top of one another.

For the good of the unit of course.

She was lying with her back to him and he was holding her. He whispered, "I didn't get to talk to you at all today. How are you?"

"Fine. Damned wagons, we're split on either side of them and I saw no way to have us do it without you being on one side and me on the other because . . . Well look at them. It was the only way I could keep them separated," she whispered.

"I know. I was hoping they'd at least be pretending to get along but at dinner none of them would even look at each other much less speak."

"At least they've stopped screaming at and punching one another," Kasiria said.

"Actually," Jabone said, a sad tone entering his voice, "that's what I'm used to. If they were doing that I'd have some hope that they'd eventually make up."

* * *

Some time in the night a frigid rain started to fall. There tent leaked a little but considering it was pouring outside Kasiria just considered herself lucky not to be out in it and to have Jabone close for warmth. When the herald called them the next morning. She opened her eyes to see Ufalla, Tarius, and Jestia all huddled together for warmth. She was thinking that this was a good sign when Ufalla—who was in the middle—woke up first and sent the other two flying in either direction.

Kasiria had never had to do this before. Tearing down camp in the torrential rain was horrible. Her cloak stopped shedding water half way through the process, and then she was just soaked. Her clothes, her armor, everything. She assumed the others were as miserable as she was.

They were all fully armored now. In fact if her unit hadn't stood out before they would now. Kasiria wore standard Jethrikian military issue armor. Knee cops, elbow cops connected to leather vambraces, and a split chain mail shirt that went to her knees over her blue and white gambeson and blue breeches, and she wore a short blue cloak that went to her knees. However her unit wore black leather kidney belts, metal-banded black leather upper leggings that held their knee cops in place, black leather vambraces banded in metal with metal elbow cups, and black leather gorget with black breaches and sleeveless gambesons of the brightest Kartik colors you could imagine with three-limb palderons tied to them. Their cloaks were long, going to just below the tops of their boots, and jet-black just like their armor. Unlike her hood that barely covered her head theirs were so large they had to be careful or they obscured their vision. Their helmets weren't the barrel types the Jethrikian army wore but just a pointed metal half helm with leather sides. Of course no one put on their helmets unless they were in dangerous territory or facing battle. It was just too hard on our neck riding with them on and they kept you from seeing all around you. The Kartiks' helms weren't as bad as hers regarding field of vision, and while much less protective there was something to be said for actually being able to see. She wanted to look into getting herself a Kartik-style helm.

In fact why stop there? I'll just get all Kartik armor and then we'll all look alike, and I'll look good, too.

* * *

It didn't stop raining all day. Drenched and tired they went about the task of setting camp in the rain. There was no getting a fire lit and they all had to eat a dinner of hard tack which was in Kasiria's opinion the equivalent of chewing on horse grain and bark.

They were all just standing around under tarps chewing their cud and talking, Captain Derek looked exhausted. They all did. Like a bunch of drowned rats.

"The trail will be gone," Jabone said conversationally.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Derek said.

"What?" Kasiria asked.

"The rain will have washed out the Amalite's tracks," Jabone said, spitting on the ground.

Damn. She hadn't even thought of that. No I haven't thought of the mission all day. All I've

thought about is how cold and miserable I am. How this isn't what I signed on for, this isn't glorious battle, this is just mud everywhere and trying to find somewhere that isn't a standing puddle to pitch your tent on. I tell the story of Kasiria who pitched her tent in the mud. Now it was at that time that it was raining more than anyone had ever seen it rain before . . . Except that's not true, it's normal spring rains, I just never had to be in it before.

"When it is cold you will be cold," Ufalla said to Jabone.

He smiled at her and said, "And when it is wet you will be wet." He looked at Kasiria and Derek in turn. "That is part of what my madra told us when we wanted to go to do battle."

"And it just went down hill from there," Jestia said. "Your friends will die and your horses will trample their bodies and you'll breathe flies up your nose, on and on and on."

"My madra didn't want us to come," Jabone explained with a huge smile.

After they had eaten they all left that shelter such as it was and headed for their tent. Once inside they all took off their cloaks and lay them close to the door in a pile and that was when she noticed that Jabone and all the others were hardly wet at all.

She reached out and ran her fingers through his dry hair, which was the only dry thing she'd felt in over a day.

"Is it some spell you cast?" she asked Jestia.

"You told her I was a witch?" Jestia said accusingly, and slapped Jabone on the shoulder hard.

"No, I wouldn't," Jabone said, rubbing at his shoulder as he shoved Jestia. "She saw you going to practice."

Jestia looked at her as if sizing her up and deciding she wasn't smart enough to have caught her without help which Kasiria took as an insult.

"I'm the Katabull, all right?" she said in a whisper so low it almost couldn't be heard over the slapping of the rain against the tent. It was pretty obvious that Ufalla knew already because she had no reaction and Jestia and Tarius just sort of looked at each other and bobbed their heads as if to say that explained everything. Kasiria found herself strangely disappointed that they didn't react with any sort of shock what so ever.

The sun was almost set and soon the whole camp would be in darkness so black no one would be able to see a thing except of course for she and Jabone.

"It's not a spell." Jabone picked up his cloak and handed it to Kasiria. It was almost dry and it felt slick to the touch. "It rains all the time at home and then of course we also make most of our money at sea so we boil the cloth for our cloaks and coat our boots and leather armor in the oil of the silas vine. It makes the cloth and leather waterproof. I'm sorry I didn't know you were getting wet, you may use my cloak tomorrow."

Jestia laughed then and threw up her hands. "Thank the gods if I don't have to hide it from her anymore I can make life a little more bearable." Then looking at Kasiria Jestia said, "Dry cloth." Kasiria was happily standing in dry clothes, not about to bitch that her head was still wet.

"Light within dark without," Jestia said, and then a light was bobbing around the tent.

* * *

Not one but two Katabulls in the tent with her and she had cast not one but two fairly complex spells so she thought maybe, just maybe. "Invisible shield" there was a crackling of energy and then nothing. "Dammit." She flopped down on her bedroll took off her boots and started shedding down to minimal armor. She took her spell book from her pack as the others sat down and got comfortable and she tried to concentrate. She looked up over the top of the book to see if Ufalla and Tarius were even close to making up, which they obviously weren't as they choose spots as far away from each other as they could.

I didn't want her to get mad at him, I just wanted her to get mad at me so that maybe she'd stop loving me. But now she won't even talk to me and she hates her stupid brother. It doesn't matter. Eventually they'll get over it, but she's still going to shun me. I just wanted her to quit loving me, not quit liking me, not quit being my friend. If I could just learn this spell. She tried to just concentrate on the book on some of the incantations she had written. Revisit them see if any of them even looked close to being right. But even as she did her eyes lifted from the book to look at Ufalla who was huddled over with Kasiria and Jabone talking about something. We've always bickered but it was never real. She never said anything to purposely hurt me, not like she did the other day. They all get letters and I don't and instead of saying things to make me feel better she purposefully twisted the knife. No one in the world but Ufalla ever loved me and now she hates me, and it doesn't matter if it works.

Tarius tried to move over to talk with Kasiria, and Ufalla kicked him. He started to kick her back and then just moved back to where he had been. Shortly Jabone joined him. Poor Tarius, he doesn't even really understand why she's so mad at him, and I didn't even think about what it might do to their relationship. The spell, I have to work on the spell, just in case this doesn't work.

"Jestia," Jabone said, causing her head to snap up from the book. "Jestia, you didn't repeat the dream so it can't come true, right?"

She wasn't going to tell him that she'd spent two nights dream free, she just explained. "Sometimes dreams, especially a witche's dreams, foretell the future. If a witch speaks a dream aloud it will come true. But even if she doesn't it's still destined to happen. The only thing she can do is try to change the outcome of the dream. A witch's dream is a warning. I need invisible shield," she said, and this time when she looked into her book it had her full attention because she needed to be ready if the dream came back.

* * *

Jestia was fully invested in her studies Tarius had already gone to sleep, and Kasiria and Jabone were too busy he-ing and she-ing to notice what she was doing, so she just watched Jestia. There is so much in her that no one sees that I do . . . the worthless whore! She looked at where her brother slept and stared daggers at his back, thinking, If you were drowning and all I had to do was reach down and pull you out then you better hope that someone grabs you before I hit you in the head with a stick, drive you under and hold you there. She knew it wasn't how the curse went but she felt like it needed to be improved on just for her brother's sake.

She finally quit looking at Jestia, lay down and stared at the ceiling of the tent. Then of course a leak started over her head and dripped right in her eye. She started and wiped it away, and then the leak was just gone. When she turned to look at her, Jestia just smiled at her. Ufalla looked quickly away. I'd rather get wet, better to have it pour in my face, I'd rather it drown me out right than have your help. You wretched hateful woman. She suddenly realized something and she looked back at Jestia. Again she was now busy with her book. She has done it, all this trying to learn that spell and she's learned to cast without speaking at all. She is magnificent. She rolled on her side so that she could look at Jestia again and went to sleep just watching her.

* * *

The next day the rains had stopped and they continued their journey making much better time than they had the day before in spite of the mud their horses slung with every footfall. Until close to midday they came to a place where the road had been mostly washed away. There was barely ground left to get the wagons through between the washout and the treeline and even after they had removed two trees it was a tight squeeze. Several of them had dismounted to lead their horses through the area because the creek was still eating at the embankment. The horses were spooked and the ground wasn't stable. Jabone was leading his horse through the mud just behind Tarius and soon found that with every step he took his feet seemed to gain a pound as the sticky red mud clung to them. Tarius seemed to be having even more trouble than Jabone was, and behind him Ufalla was saying something about Jabone telling her parents that she loved them and had been eaten by killer mud. The creek beside them was way out of its banks and lapping against what was left of the road embankment. He was just thinking how unstable the ground really was when Tarius's horse spooked as the ground gave under his feet. The horse managed to escape the collapsing earth but Tarius wasn't so lucky. The ground gave way under him and then he was falling. Lex spooked in all the commotion and it was all Jabone could do to hold him still and keep him from collapsing the ground at Jabone's own feet. Tarius was a good, strong swimmer, they all were, they were Kartiks after all. Jabone trusted Tarius to be able to get out of the water himself. But Jabone underestimated the power of flood water. When he realized Tarius was in trouble he let go of Lex and started for the water but before he could get there he saw someone's cloak go flying and then a gambeson, and then a flash of color ran past him and then he heard Jestia screaming, "Ufalla no!"

But Ufalla was gone. She dove off the embankment into the muddy water no doubt where she'd seen Tarius go under. She was under too long. Jabone had stripped his cloak and gambeson as well and was ready to go in when Jestia grabbed his hand and then Ufalla came up. She had Tarius, shoving his head above the water, but the current was too strong

"Jestia rope," Jabone said, and there was one in his hand. He braced himself on ground that looked solid and tossed the rope out towards his friends. Ufalla grabbed it and he pulled them to shore with Jestia and Kasiria's help. He had no idea where Kasiria had come from, but he was glad for her help especially when it came to actually pulling them up the embankment and onto the road surface. Jestia may be all over making rope, but she wasn't much help with heavy lifting. Not that it stopped her trying anyway. In fact, he never would have believed she had that much strength.

Ufalla was still trying to get her breath when someone said, "He's not breathing."

Ufalla looked at her brother lying there soaked in mud and she didn't stop to think. She dove on him, struck him in the chest, and then she started to breathe into his mouth.

"What the hell is she doing!" she heard one of the men scream.

"Leave her be, she knows what she's doing, she's a medic," she heard Jabone saying, and realized he was standing beside her. She hit Tarius again and then breathed into him again. Tarius coughed and spit up a bunch of water and then he took in a long, shuddering breath.

He looked up at his sister's mud-covered face and with only a little effort said, "Wouldn't put down a hand to pull me out if I was drowning, aye?"

She laughed and kissed his whole face.

Chapter 11

As soon as they'd cleared the bloated creek Derek had called a halt and they started to make camp. "The trail is cold now anyway. An extra day won't make any difference at this point. Walking in the mud has made both horses and riders weary," Derek explained.

Kasiria was called to a meeting with Derek, Richard, and the other unit sergeants.

Jabone was carefully cleaning Tarius and Ufalla's clothes and armor and hanging them to dry as Tarius and Ufalla sat close to a fire wrapped in blankets. To his surprise Jestia came to help him. He looked at her and smiled. She smiled back.

"Maybe now they will quit fighting," she said.

"They'll never quit fighting, Jestia, but at least it looks like she's forgiven him, and maybe he'll finally realize what an amazing sister he has. I was busy messing with Lex. I didn't even think about the fact that he might be in bad trouble. I mean . . . We all swim, right? I didn't think about the current, the undertow. Ufalla, well she always has been able to run like the wind."

"No one but her brother is faster, not any human anyway. We were like a real unit today, Jabone," she said.

He smiled and nodded. "Yes we were."

She was quiet, too quiet for Jestia, and as she was working on cleaning Ufalla's palderons he noticed she had bad rope burns on her hands. He took one of her hands and turned it over to look at it. "You should take care of that, Jestia. Clean it and salve it not fill it with mud and . . . "

"It doesn't hurt," she said. "It doesn't matter anyway." She sighed deeply.

"Yes it matters. What's wrong?"

"Last night I had the dream again," she said miserably. "It was gone and now it's back. I thought I had made it go away but most likely it was just all the drinking that had dulled my mind and stopped the dream. As soon as it was out of my system it came back."

"I'm sorry, Jestia."

"I don't know what to do, Jabone."

He took the dirty palderons out of her hands. "Well for starters you can wash your hands and go put some ointment on them. Don't you have a heal wounds spell?"

She forced a smile then. "Spells can't heal, there is only one spell I know of that's in the healing realm and no witch dare cast it unless there is no other choice." She shrugged. "I have potions for healing and like you said I have ointment."

She started to walk away and he took her arm and said, "Jestia, today you made rope when we needed rope, and maybe when we need this Invisible shield you'll make that, too." She smiled then nodded and walked away.

* * *

Tarius looked at his sister as they sat huddled around the fire a group of the men had gathered around forgetting they didn't really like them and all just wanting to know what exactly had happened. Tarius smiled broadly at her.

"What?" Ufalla asked with a crooked smile.

"I tell the tale of Ufalla . . . "

"Brother . . . "

He ignored her, standing on his shaky feet and looking at the men around him. "I tell the tale of Ufalla. Now it was at this time that Tarius, not Tarius the Black mind you but a lesser known, but no less brave hero by the same name had done his sister Ufalla an evil turn and she did vow by a Kartik curse . . . " Ufalla smiled at him and he beamed back at her as his tale unfolded.

Eric walked up to her back and sat behind her. "Your brother weaves a good tale."

"That he does," Ufalla said with a smile. Jabone had told her that Eric was a woman and she felt a certain camaraderie for her that Kasiria obviously didn't because . . . Well wasn't she doing exactly what Ufalla's godmother and hero Tarius the Black had done? "So, what's your real name?"

"Aricia, I actually prefer Eric," she said pulling a face. If her hair hadn't been cut so short, if her shoulders weren't so broad, and if she hadn't been purposely trying to look like a man, she might actually be an attractive young woman.

Ufalla nodded, listening to her brother. This story wasn't just a thank you, it was an apology, and how could she not forgive him? Jabone was right, he was just a dumb ass, and while he no doubt resented her, he had never actually hated her. They had both nearly died today. That put a lot of things in perspective. All things considered, an ill thought out coupling between a couple of drunken whores hardly seemed the sort of thing one should hold an eternal grudge for.

"Do you have any other siblings?" Eric asked conversationally.

"We have a younger sister and brother, what about you?" Ufalla asked.

"Two, both much older and male. I haven't seen them since our father died four years ago. They just sort of left me to find a husband or fend for myself."

"And you chose the military."

Eric nodded. "Really it was either that, whore myself out, or accept the hand of my only suitor—a much older man with bad teeth and breath to match."

Ufalla laughed then and slapped the other woman on the back hard and said still in a whisper, "Then it had to be the army didn't it?"

Eric smiled nodding her head hard.

Ufalla looked at her brother as his story wound down. He was making her sound much more magnificent than she actually was and she smiled proudly and said, "That's my big brother."

* * *

Jestia woke in the dead of night in a cold sweat. The colors in the dream were even brighter now. She knew what that meant; the time was getting closer.

Ufalla stirred but stayed asleep her brother now curled around her. They shared warmth and so did Kasiria and Jabone. She was the only one that was cold. Cold and alone and missing her friend desperately. Why can't you just be my friend? Why do you have to keep loving me? But she knew now that wasn't the real problem. The dream had little to do with her, she didn't seem to be able to affect it which was frustrating and shook her to her core.

She needed to sleep but even with bedrolls the ground was hard and it was cold and if she couldn't keep the dream from happening she was always going to be cold and alone.

* * *

The next day they got to the Jethrik settlement of Grey Noke—or at least they got to the pile of ash that used to be Grey Noke. Half-burned poles stuck up into the air as a testament of what had stood there. Otherwise you never would have guessed humans had ever dwelt there. It was dead in a way that chilled you to the bone, and Kasiria knew she wasn't the only one feeling it.

Their unit walked around the ruins. What clues the fire hadn't destroyed the torrential rain that followed had. There were no tracks, no pieces of cloth to show which direction the Amalites had come in or which way they had gone. That didn't stop them all from looking. The entire troop had been walking around searching the area and the ruin for most of the day.

"What do you think?" Kasiria asked them as a group when they had stopped to drink some water and take a break.

"There aren't any bodies," Jabone said curiously, and the other three nodded.

"Could they have burned up in the fire?" Kasiria asked.

"There wasn't enough heat for that. There would have been something," Ufalla said then explained. "We burn animals when they die in case they were diseased. A goat is about the size of a small man. You have to work on it, keep feeding the fire constantly for a day or more, and even then there are pieces of the bigger bones left. There are none here. I've been looking and . . . Not so much as a piece of skull."

"Wild animals?" Kasiria offered.

"Wild animals also leave something, usually the big bones. And there were hundreds of people here not to mention livestock. That's a lot of wild animals. You don't by any chance think a lion ate the bodies and then threw the bones back in the fire to burn, do you?" Jabone was short with her which he'd never been before and she was instantly crushed. "I'm sorry Kasiria. I'm not angry with you but there is nothing left of over three hundred people. That just can't be."

"Is it magic?" Tarius asked Jestia.

"No, a magic trail that strong wouldn't have been washed out by fire or rain," she answered. "Besides, death magic takes a toll on the caster."

"Did they take them as slaves do you think?"

"Doubtful," Ufalla said, "Wherever they are hiding food would be scarce and slaves eat."

"And they couldn't afford to let even one of them escape," Jabone said, "because if they did they would run to the nearest garrison and give away their hiding place."

"It would take a lot of energy to make sure they didn't escape," Tarius added. "Besides what exactly would they need slave labor for?"

Kasiria noticed Jestia's silence. "What do you think Jestia?"

"I don't think. I know." Jestia looked up at her with haunted eyes. "They are taking the villagers and everything else and eating them. They're cannibals."

"How do you know that?" Kasiria asked. She alone seemed to be questioning Jestia's preposterous answer.

"I just know," Jestia said.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Tarius said.

"They're eating our people. That makes sense to you?" Kasiria said.

Jestia took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then said, "It takes a lot of big, strong, healthy fighters to take on three hundred angry and armed villagers. We know the Amalites," all the Kartiks spit, "don't let their women fight, so somewhere there is a mass of them. What are they eating? They can't be growing crops or raising livestock or someone would find their fields and so find them. They have resorted to cannibalism. All of you," she flipped her hand around in the air to indicate not just them but everyone in the troop. "You all stupidly think that they have just started regrouping. No! These people have been hiding since the Great War. Maybe longer. Hiding and breeding and multiplying like flies. Don't you get it? There are thousands of them. I have seen them swarming in my mind, they have run out of anything to eat. It's perfect if you think about it, they get rid of their enemies and they fill their larder at the same time."

A chill went up Kasiria's back as she remembered Hellibolt's words and she knew that Jestia was right. "How are we going to find them? Do you have some spell?"

Jestia shook her head no. "Everything I have would need tracks or something they left behind and I already cast to find both and found neither."

"Could you?" Kasiria asked pointing at Jabone, he shook his head.

"Too much rain," he said. "Even if I was fully catted out I wouldn't be able to pick up their scent. I smell nothing of them now and they have a very distinctive smell."

"We have to be close to them," Jestia said. When they all stared at her vacantly she sighed. "They couldn't have horses because if they had enough horses to carry enough men to do something like this surely the dozens of patrols the army has had combing the countryside for months would have found them by now."

"Where the hell are they hiding?" Kasiria asked no one in particular.

"This is the Amalite territories. Very little of it has been explored and less of it mapped," Jestia said. "They could be hiding almost anywhere—a box canyon, some secret valley."

"In a hive," Jabone said. They all just looked at him and he smiled, looking some embarrassed and explained. "That's what my madra called it because what else would you call something filled with hundreds of stinging beasts?"

* * *

They made camp just outside the ruins, and Derek called a meeting of the whole troop.

"Please attend," the field herald ordered, and the group was silent.

"All right. We've sent two men back to have more supplies sent because ours are getting low. We're going to stay right here and patrol this area thoroughly for several days riding out 'til midday and then riding back to camp. We will be spread thin. We will ride in twos for the sake of safety. You will have to stay on your toes and keep your eyes and ears open. We are looking for anything—a scrap of cloth, broken limbs, turned stones—anything. I can't express enough how vigilant you must be at all times. When you are all the furthest out there will only be the two of you. If you are attacked no one will be able to hear you scream. You will come back on the same trail you went out on, and the next morning if no one has found anything then we will start out again, each pair taking a different route. We will do this 'til we have checked every inch of ground or found some evidence of which direction our enemy has gone."

Jabone thought it a sound plan, and smiled. He is my madra's student, for that is just what she would do. He could smell the evening meal and his stomach rumbled, he was hungry. I hope it's not beans again, I nearly burst trying not to blow wind in front of Kasiria last night and Ufalla and Tarius liked to killed us all trying to out do each other. He remembered the night before and smiled. In spite of the great stench that had caused Kasiria to open the tent flaps and Jestia to cast a spell to banish odor which left the tent with no smell at all—which had been quite odd when he thought about it—it had been good to see the siblings getting along. He was sure it wouldn't last. Tarius's ribs would stop hurting from where his sister had beaten him back into life and he'd forget that his sister had risked life and limb to save him. Ufalla would forget she'd dove into the waters of death to rescue him and he would annoy her and they'd start fighting again, but at least it would be what he was used to and he doubted they'd ever be able to take each other for granted again.

Derek called for a meeting of the three sergeants and of course Master Richard was with them. Jabone watched as Kasiria walked away. How long am I supposed to wait? My need grows daily I just want her so badly. I wish I could talk to my mother, have her tell me what Kasiria expects of me, because my mother would know the rules even if she broke all of them. After all you have to know the rules to break them.

Ufalla was at his shoulder then, "Have you . . . "

"Not yet. I wish I knew . . . Well do you know how they court?"

"Wait for it to dry up and shrivel so that it has to be pried open with a stick I imagine."

Jabone laughed. "You're terrible. I love her, Ufalla. I know she loves me and I just want to make love to her. Does that make me so awful?"

"I'm not the one to ask advice of. If she was holding me as she holds you and kissing me as she kisses you I would have already had my way with her or moved on . . . "

"Oh, yes, as you have so easily moved on from Jestia," Jabone said and added, "hypocrite."

"Do not, I beg you, pour salt into that wound," Ufalla said seriously.

"I'm sorry. So have you forgiven her as well?"

"I forgave her even before I forgave him." She sighed. "Perhaps I will learn in time but so far . . . I don't know how to not love her."

Jabone patted her back. "If it's any consolation she's said a couple of things that—well they didn't make much sense—but I think she thought that by sleeping with Tarius she could change the out come of her dream."

Ufalla sighed. "She's a whore—not a common one, a royal one—but a whore nonetheless, and she thinks sex is the answer to everything."

"Right now I can't say I disagree with her. I wish I could talk to my mother for ten minutes. She would be able to tell me what this woman expects."

Ufalla popped herself in the forehead with her palm. "Why not talk to Eric? He, I mean she, should know all their customs."

Jabone slapped her on the back hard enough to rock her whole body. "You are a genius!" He kissed her forehead and ran off to find Eric.

* * *

Kasiria looked at Derek in disbelief. He had no idea what he was doing with her unit, but how could he? He didn't understand the dynamics of their unit and she couldn't very well say who had slept with who and who was in love with who and what was likely to cause them fighting again like huge idiots. At least he had teamed her with Jabone.

"Excuse me Captain Derek, but a better pairing would be Jestia with Ufalla," Kasiria suggested.

"In all respect, Kasiria, I don't want two women paired together in the woods alone," Derek said. This made Kasiria's blood boil. How much more did they have to do to prove themselves?

"I am one short a pairing anyway," Kasiria said. "Perhaps the three should ride together."

"Of my unit Eric was left over. You said he could serve here as guard, but I think Eric would be better in the field. She can have Eric," Thomas offered, and Kasiria immediately assigned ulterior motive to his action and cringed because she just hated everything that "Eric" stood for.

"Good. Then Kasiria your teams will be you and Jabone, Jastia and Tarius, and Eric and Ufalla."

"Why not team Ufalla with her brother and let Eric ride with Jestia?" Kasiria asked and thought, Old fool you are teaming two women either way, but it's all right because you don't know Eric's a woman and that's why she so irks me.

"Kasiria, must you question me at every turn?" Derek said, anger slipping into his voice, "Just two days ago I watched as that woman threw herself into a raging river to save her brother. On a mission such as this you must have your partner's back but you must also have a sense of self preservation. When it comes to her brother she obviously has none."

How could she damn him for all he didn't know about them? He's making decisions based on what he knows. I admit it he's right about not pairing Ufalla with Jestia because Ufalla is much more likely to throw herself on a pike to save Jestia than she would her brother. But Jabone and I we're likely to be so distracted because we're alone together that we'll be useless as a team. Jestia and Tarius barely speak to each other now and are likely to do more bickering than actual looking, and just by them riding together there's a good chance Ufalla and Tarius will start fighting again. Were I teaming the groups the right way instead of just to keep myself near to Jabone knowing all I know . . . Jabone would ride with Ufalla. I would ride with Tarius, and Eric would ride with Jestia. But she wanted to ride with Jabone and she couldn't very well explain why she would disperse the group differently. So in the end she just nodded her head silently.

She left the meeting with visions of the fighting between the three starting up all over again. She looked across the camp and saw Jabone and Ufalla engaged in conversation with Eric, and she smiled. Then again maybe the old coot has done us a service, maybe Eric and Ufalla have more in common than that they are both just women fighters.

She gathered clean clothes and went down to the creek where they had hung a piece of tarp in the trees. There were actually two on the creek. One for the men and one for the women and she was sure that this too had caused much bitching and moaning among the men because they'd never had to have this before there were women in the service. No doubt a tarp was just a huge deal. Behind the tarp she sighed and looked at the water. She wanted a bath, but the creek swelled from the recent rains was doubtless cold. Still, in the field you had to take every opportunity to bathe that you got because you never knew what might happen.

She wasn't supposed to be bathing alone and thought about going to get Jestia but then decided against it. She could take care of herself and she didn't like being naked in front of well . . . Anyone, let alone someone with a body like Jestia's.

The water was every bit as cold as she thought it would be and she dried quickly and dressed. She washed out her dirty clothes, wrung them out and then headed back to camp. She had just stepped out from behind the tarp and got her sword situated correctly when she looked up and saw them. The sun was still up and the field where the camp was set was still lit, but around the creek in the shadows of the trees it was already starting to get dark so she was looking at them through the dark into the light. The four of them were walking together across the camp talking and laughing, their black cloaks blowing in the breeze the setting sun glinting off their metal knee cops, their palderons, and off their banded-metal vambraces. For a second her breath caught in her chest as a hundred things they'd said poured through her mind catching like bits of sound in her ears and she realized for the first time what she was seeing.

She felt him at her back but didn't turn because she had nothing to fear from him and she was too caught up just watching them.

"What do you see Kasiria?"

"The Marching Night," she answered him breathlessly.

Behind her the old wizard chuckled, "And what do you think that makes young Jabone, who has one mother who is a Kartik fighter and one who is a Jethrikian noble woman?"

Her blood ran cold with the realization, and her voice came in a gasp. "He is the son of Tarius the Black."

"A prince among his people."

"And the others?" she asked.

"Tarius and Ufalla are the children of Sir Harris and his Kartik fighting wife, Elise. Jestia, Queen Hestia's own whelp. You should have known by all the piercings. Remember I told you the Kartiks wear gold rings as a sign of power and wealth?"

Damn that's what it was. "What . . . What are they doing here?"

"The same thing you're doing."

Kasiria finally turned to face him. "Why did you not tell me?"

"How would that knowledge have changed things?"

"I wouldn't have let myself fall in love with him."

"You let yourself do that then? You could have stopped it happening?"

"It's impossible," she said miserably. "My own father tried to kill his mother."

"He also saved her life."

"So what? She saved him twice and she never tried to do him any harm. You know the stories the Kartik's tell. They don't forgive him. In every story they tell he is an idiot or a villain. I'm the child of her curse, you said so yourself."

"But Tarius did forgive him," Hellibolt said. "Keep your head, girl. This isn't the time to dwell on the future. Live in the moment; that's the only way you will live at all."

Then he was gone, but at least this time he had told her something of value.

Chapter 12

Kasiria tried, she really did, to just watch the woods before them looking for any clues that might help. But she kept just looking over at Jabone. He was Tarius the Black's son, he was Jena's son. There was so much she wanted to ask him about them. He had fathers, too, but they didn't interest her.

He is the Great Leader's son. He is a prince to his people, and no doubt known to the Kartiks. He couldn't hide among his own people as I hide among mine, a completely forgettable princess in a land where I could never take the throne. Like Jestia, because if she was heir to the throne she wouldn't be here now. To my horror I find I have more in common with her than any of the others. No wonder she went on and on about clothes and shopping and always wants someone to do something for her.

What hateful thing had Jabone said Ufalla said to Jestia when she'd been mad at her? That her parents were just glad to be rid of her because she was nothing but trouble. They had an heir; she was just an extra. But even being an "extra" in the Kartik, being female, didn't mean you could never take the throne even if every sibling ahead of you died like it did in the Jethrik.

Jabone was sniffing the air again. He said he could smell the Amalites, that they smelled differently. She would have to take his word for it.

She had talked with Derek and the other sergeants about their theory last night. She told them what her unit thought had happened to the people in the village, and explained why they thought it, the lack of any sign of bodies. They had all reluctantly agreed. They also all agreed that the lair must be no more than a few days on foot away, but they were nowhere near close enough to hear the actions of the troop or they would have already fallen on them.

They left nothing here alive, they aren't worried at all about being found and they won't be back here to check because they know they left this area dead. These raiding parties . . . They have probably been butchering people for years. A few here and a few there, who would notice. They have gotten confident that we won't find them. They are religious fanatics they probably believe their gods are protecting them from detection. After, all it has worked so far. They aren't worried in the slightest and unless we fall by accident onto their doorstep we'll not see them. Her anger flared inside her. They were probably way too busy preparing their "harvest" right now to even stick their heads out of their hiding place.

She was looking, looking for smoke, any sign of the Amalite lair, any clue which might tell them in which direction they had gone. That was what she was looking for—all those things—when she could take her eyes off Jabone.

How would he feel about me if he knew my father was the bastard who shot his beloved madra through with an arrow, with wood that is poison to us? Why didn't he tell me who he was? Why did they all lie to me about their parentage? Because what I told Jabone is the truth and the more people that know a secret the harder it is to keep and I'm just protecting myself but they are holding each other's secrets.

Derek knew who they were, of this she was sure. She thought about it and decided it wouldn't open up a whole wave of questions she didn't want to answer.

"Jabone, does Derek know you're the Katabull?"

If he was surprised at all by her question it didn't show. "Yes, but he doesn't know Jestia's a witch."

Kasiria nodded and thought, So he has put us together for a reason, because he doesn't know what I am except for the king's daughter and he knows you're the Katabull and therefore I'm safer with you. She gave Derek points for that because obviously he was worried more about her safety than her virtue. Then she frowned taking the points away. He knows Jabone is Tarius the Black's son, too, because they're old friends. In fact, she probably sent Jabone to that garrison because Derek was her friend. The same reason my father finagled for me to be stationed there because Derek is his friend. And Derek knows who I am—what my father did to his mother. What did he hope to gain by putting us together? Is her friendship more important than serving his king?

But Persius would be glad to have her riding with Tarius's son, and Hellibolt said Tarius had forgiven her father.

It was all just an odd coincidence and Derek was just putting all else aside to protect her and what better way to protect her than to put her with Jabone, Tarius's Katabull son? Because of course a woman can't take care of herself.

"Kasiria we'd best turn back now," he said, looking up at the sky.

Kasiria nodded. "Let's stop for awhile and stretch. My back hurts."

"So is that what you call it here," he said rubbing at his own rear.

Kasiria smiled and said, "That's what a lady calls it."

Jabone reined Lex in and dismounted, and Kasiria had a moment of amusement. They must look funny from behind—the big man on his small horse her much smaller frame astride the much larger horse. Kasiria dismounted as well and they tethered their horses and unbridled them so that they could eat whatever they could reach.

Jabone sniffed the air. "There are none of them near."

Kasiria nodded and didn't have to ask why he'd told her that as he took her into his arms. He started kissing her. This time her lips parted under his and she felt his tongue in her mouth and a stirring deep within her that no longer wanted to be denied. When their lips parted he looked at her and she could see the hunger in his eyes.

And what she most wanted to do right then was unquestionably, reprehensibly, irresponsible, but it wasn't like anyone could sneak up on them without Jabone knowing it.

Jabone took his finger and brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and said, "I talked to Eric. She says courtship is supposed to last for months, but I can't help myself I want you, I want you to have me."

She was breathing so hard she was getting dizzy, and in that moment who she was and who he was didn't matter to her. She knew, knew absolutely that they were born for each other. This time it was she who kissed him and then she was undoing the buckles on his kidney belt. And then the armor was just flying—hers, his—it was just slung off. Then the clothes, and when their flesh met Kasiria's heart was beating so fast that she could hear it in her ears. Jabone lay down on the ground on top of their pile of discarded clothes and then he pulled her down on top of him. She just went completely crazy then, kissing him, and touching him everywhere, and his hands were all over her.

Then he touched her in a way that made her flesh cry out for more and he was breathing huskily against her throat, "You decide Kasiria, you decide when."

More than ready, she buried his flesh within hers and then the outside world just ceased to be.

* * *

He didn't know exactly when it had happened but at some point in their lovemaking both of them had changed and then . . . Well it was just nothing like anything he'd ever experienced before.

He held her and she held him.

"My mother was right," Jabone said. "It is better when you love the person."

"I do love you, Jabone." Kasiria ran her hand down his body and looked into his eyes. "So I guess now I know something else that will bring on the change."

"But . . . It had never brought on the change before with me. Are you all right?"

She laughed and kissed him. "I'm fine, but we'd better get up and get dressed or we won't make it back to camp before dark."

He nodded, disentangled himself from her, stood up and put down a hand to help her. When she was on her feet he held her again.

"Thank you."

Kasiria laughed. "Why are you thanking me, Jabone?"

"Because you could have said no."

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "No, I don't really think I could have. Now come on let's go."

"Like this?" Jabone asked.

"Well we have to get dressed." She laughed. He just looked at her in disbelief and she

realized what he meant "Oh yeah, I never thought I'd get used to being like this and now here we are both of us naked and, well I guess it says something that I don't even notice the difference."

"I'll bring down some game." He took off without dressing and shortly came back with a squirrel. They ate it, changed back, and then they dressed quickly, rearmored, untethered their horses and mounted up.

When they were on the trail again she turned to look at him and said with a smile. "Thank you."

He laughed and put his horse to a gallop knowing they'd never make it back by dark if they didn't make up some time. He heard Kasiria's horse right at his heels. But I would have known she was there even if I hadn't heard her like my madra always knows where my mother is without looking. Because we are bound together, we are one person not two.

* * *

Tarius was driving her crazy. Useless small talk about what she didn't listen enough to find out was interrupted by occasional questions about their "coupling," which he obviously didn't remember.

"So, was I as good as I usually am? I mean I was very drunk and . . . "

"Gods and spiders would you shut up!"

"I'd just like to know," he said with a shrug.

"We didn't do it, all right? You passed out cold on top of me. That can hardly be considered sex," Jestia said.

"But," Tarius didn't understand, "you let everyone believe we did."

"Like they would have believed me if I told them what really happened when they found us the way they did. Besides it wasn't my fault we didn't and I needed them to think we had. Or I thought I did, but it didn't work at all, not at all!"

"So we didn't do it?"

"No," Jestia said. She couldn't tell from his expression whether he was happy or sad about it.

"Why'd you let them think we did, Jestia?"

"It doesn't matter now, and like I said seeing us like that do you really believe that anyone would have believed we didn't?"

"No," he said, and that was the end of it.

Well that shut the little bastard up. Everything I did didn't change the dream. Didn't change it at all because her feelings for me never changed—not longer than it took her to get over being mad and start to make excuses for my behavior. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped the tent leaking on her head.

But that's not it anyway. At the garrison . . . Even when I made plans to leave and go home the dream ended the same I just wasn't in it.

I have failed. I can't do the spell and so the dream is the same. She loves me. No one else does, no one else ever has. She loves me and the time is close at hand and . . . Well that being the case what real choice do I have?

"Are you sure?" Tarius asked after a long silence.

"Quite," Jestia answered.

"Well you don't have to sound so happy about it."

Chapter 13

Jena sat on the throne in the sun holding their newborn infant in her arms against her chest, his head of dark hair standing out in contrast against her fair skin. It didn't matter how different they might look, Jabone was her son. He looked up at the sky his eyes bright, and so perfect, so alert, in that moment content to just let her hold him. He made a happy noise, looked at her face and smiled.

Tarius walked over to them carrying a pheasant which she threw on the ground close to the fire. She was so young, so perfect, and when she caught Jena's eyes Jena could feel her love flow through her. Tarius walked over to them and kissed her on the cheek. Then she ran her hand over Jabone's head. Her hand looked huge against his tiny scalp. Her hand, so gentle, scared with a dozen sword cuts from as many different battles. She wore a wide leather bracelet with an eagle tooled into it that Jena had made her for her birthday.

Everything was perfect and then Jabone screamed out in pain, not the screams of an infant but the screams of a grown man in pain and then the whole world was dark and into the darkness she watched in horror as Jabone's sword fell at her feet broken in two pieces.

Jena jerked into a sitting position, wide awake and remembering every aspect of her dream she caught herself just short of screaming. Outside the sun was just rising.

Tarius looked up at her. "Baby what's wrong?"

Tarius, older but still perfect. Their son wasn't an infant any more he was a grown man and . . . "Tarius get up." Jena did even as she said it and started to get dressed. "We must go to the Jethrik. Our son needs us."

Tarius didn't ask why Jena thought this she didn't question her. She got up and dressed in such a hurry she actually left the hut without her boots or breakfast. Once outside she called for the whole of the Marching Night and started giving orders fast and furious.

By nightfall she had left Jerrad in charge of the Katabull Nation and had loaded all of the Marching Night and all their horses onto five ships and they weighed anchor and left for the port of Sagal in the Jethrik-held territories of the Amalite. Only when they had pulled away from the dock did Tarius take the time to ask her.

"Jena what have you dreamt?"

"I dreamt our baby cried and then his sword was broken."

Tarius didn't roll her eyes or say she couldn't believe she had overreacted in this way. She just nodded her head, put a reassuring hand on Jena's shoulder and said, "We will get there in time, my love. Our son will be fine."

Jena nodded then turned to embrace Tarius. "And if I have brought us on a wild goose chase and our son is fine and we only serve to embarrass him and his friends?"

"Then we will tend to these Amalite," she and Jena both spit on the deck, " raiding parties ourselves and pretend like that is the only reason we have come," Tarius said with a shrug. "When it concerns our son I'd rather overreact a hundred times than not react and be wrong only once."

Chapter 14

When Jestia rode back into camp she tethered her horse and cared for him then immediately went looking for Ufalla. She found Kasiria and Jabone first, they were standing close to one of the fires talking. When she got close to them she looked at them and smiled.

"You reek of sex," she said in Kartik, and watched as Kasiria turned bright red. She laughed. "So, have you learned our language then in your coupling?" she asked in a whisper.

"I have learned your word for sex. Gods know you talk about it enough," Kasiria said, embarrassed.

Jestia was already tired of talking to them, she had much more on her mind than the actions of two horney Katabull rolling around on the forest floor scaring all the animals in the forest and . . . Wow! That made me flush. Maybe I should think of that. It might help. No. She shook her head to clear the thought.

"Where is Ufalla?" she demanded, once more single minded.

Jabone pointed and when she looked she saw Ufalla leaned against a tree talking to Eric. She marched right over and took hold of Ufalla's arm. "Come on I want a bath and you have to come with me."

"No I don't," Ufalla said shaking, her hand off.

"Yes you do, it's the rules," Jestia said, looking at her with meaning. She grabbed Ufalla's arm and started jerking on it until Ufalla gave up shrugged and followed her.

"Jestia what do you want? I was talking to Eric?"

"So it's Eric now, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean? That's her name," Ufalla said, following Jestia into the tent.

"Here," Jestia said, and started stacking things in her arms.

"I don't want to bathe, why are you getting my clothes? It's cold and I just bathed two days ago and . . . "

"Would you shut up and just come on," Jestia said, grabbing a blanket and then grabbing Ufalla's hand and dragging her along behind her at a healthy pace.

"Have you bedded my brother again and need me to know so that I can be mad at you?" Ufalla asked and then. "Or are you just going straight to annoying me so I'll be mad and why do you need me to be mad at you at all? You are twisted in ways I do not understand."

Jestia sighed, "I told Tarius and now I'm telling you. We never had sex."

"I don't believe you."

"Good then don't." Behind the tarp around the spot on the creek that had been marked out for the women she threw down the blanket and then took the things she'd piled on Ufalla and threw them on the blanket.

She started striping her armor off. Jestia looked at the confusion on Ufalla's face and then just sat down and worked on getting her leggings off. No sense in thinking about it, she had a job to do, she just needed to do it.

* * *

Ufalla was temporarily silent as she watched Jestia take her clothes off. She started to look away as she usually did, but . . . Well if Jestia insisted on her being here then why shouldn't she look at the most beautiful body she'd ever seen? Jestia knew what Ufalla was and how she felt, so what was the sense in pretence at this point? Jestia, finally naked, slipped into the cold water and as she did her nipples went hard and so did Ufalla's. Ufalla's whole body shook and her knees went weak. She sat on a rock close to the water and looked at Jestia.

"Do you want to do some spell?" Ufalla asked, still not understanding what Jestia wanted other than to frustrate her in brand new ways.

"I had another dream," Jestia said through chattering teeth, so the water was every bit as cold at Ufalla thought it was. "I dreamt that we made love."

Ufalla was completely taken a back. "Jestia, you said that if a witch repeats her dream it comes true."

"I know, so let's just get it over with. Get your clothes off, get in the creek, and bathe because I'm sure as hell not going to make love with you as filthy as you are right now."

"Jestia, have you gone completely mad?"

"Do you want me or not Ufalla?"

"You know I do."

"Then get undressed and get into the water."

Ufalla had never gotten undressed so quickly. She jumped into the water and swam over to where Jestia was. She stopped short of touching her and just looked at her.

"Are you sure Jestia?"

For answer Jestia moved up to her and wrapped her arms around her neck. "So, are you going to kiss me or what?"

Ufalla kissed her. Jestia's lips parted under hers and then she just let her tongue explore the hot, wet void of Jestia's hungry mouth. The water was freezing cold and everywhere her flesh touched Jestia's it felt like it was on fire. Jestia pushed her gently away and breathed huskily in her ear. "Get cleaned up." Ufalla watched Jestia as she walked out of the water and Ufalla started bathing faster than just the cold would have had her do. When she got out of the creek Jestia was lying on the blanket and she threw Ufalla a towel to dry off on. Ufalla dried off and then threw the towel back down and asked again. "Are you sure?"

"I'm laying here naked. I'm sure that if you don't get down here with me I'm going to get cold again. You don't want me to get cold do you?"

"No." Ufalla lay down beside Jestia, pulled her into her arms, and started kissing her again. She let her hands run skillfully over Jestia's body. She quit kissing Jestia and moved her mouth to embrace one of Jestia's nipples. Her excitement mounted when Jestia's back arched and she let out a groan.

She heard Jestia mumble something. She let go of Jestia's breast and raised up on one arm."What?"

"I cast cone of silence because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to keep quiet."

"I should hope not," Ufalla said with a smile, and then all humor left her as she gazed into Jestia's eyes. "You know that I love you Jestia that I always have and I always will."

"If I didn't know that I wouldn't be here with you now." She raised her head to kiss Ufalla. When she lay her head back down she asked with a smile, "So . . . are we going to do this or just talk about doing it?"

For answer Ufalla kissed her hard on the mouth and moved her hand between Jestia's legs. Jestia bit her on the lip then muttered that she was sorry. Ufalla just kept kissing her, not put off in the slightest. She wanted to please Jestia. She figured this was a one-time thing and that being the case she was going to enjoy every minute of it, take her time and do it right.

* * *

Jestia had no idea how long they'd made love, she only knew it was dark now and that it wasn't supposed to be like this. Not with her clinging to Ufalla begging for just a few more minutes and Ufalla insisting they needed to get up and get dressed before someone noticed they were missing.

Jestia wrapped herself more tightly around Ufalla and for the moment Ufalla having given up the argument was just holding her and stroking her head and . . . Well what did it mean that she'd been with dozens of men and that while she had found them amusing and somewhat pleasurable that it had never been anything approaching this? Her whole body was still humming and she just couldn't get close enough to Ufalla no matter what she did.

She wasn't supposed to be feeling anything except maybe satisfaction at a job well done. She just couldn't change the dream, and that being the case she'd just wanted to give her dearest friend the one thing Ufalla wanted most in the world, her. She had been willing to give herself to her friend. It was supposed to be the ultimate sacrifice, not the most amazing sex she'd ever had in her life.

"Jestia, seriously, if we don't show up soon someone, maybe the whole camp, is going to come looking for us, do you want them to find us like this?"

"I seriously don't care, Ufalla. I just . . . I need to be with you right now."

"Jestia . . . Not that I'm complaining, but what the hell has gotten into you?"

"I just need you. Can't I just hold you, can't you just hold me?"

"I am holding you. I want you to hold me. I'd happily lie here naked with you 'til we both died of cold or hunger," Ufalla said. "But they aren't going to let us do that because sooner probably than later someone's going to notice we're missing and come looking for us."

"You're right," Jestia said grudgingly. "Kiss me again." She did and then Jestia really didn't want to let go.

"Jestia," Ufalla said with a laugh.

"Oh I know." She grudgingly untangled herself from Ufalla and they started to dress. They gathered their things and headed back for camp.

She took hold of Ufalla's arm, making it harder for Ufalla to carry the pile of stuff she had in her arms, but Ufalla didn't complain. She just looked down at her and asked, "Jestia . . . are we, are you and I . . . are we going to make love again sometime?"

"Sometime?" Jestia laughed, resting her head on Ufalla's shoulder. "I'd knock you into the dirt right now with everyone watching and we'd do it again right now if I didn't think every Jethrikian in the camp would die from the shock."

Jestia didn't want these words to keep spilling out of her mouth; she just didn't seem to be able to stop herself.

"Come on, let's put this stuff away and go get something to eat. I'm starving," Ufalla said.

Jestia nodded willingly following her.

* * *

When the last pair came in and all had been accounted for, none had found a thing. Which meant they'd be doing the exact same thing the next day.

Kasiria watched Jestia and Ufalla walking towards them and saw they were holding hands. She whispered in Jabone's ear, "It looks like Jestia and Ufalla have made up."

He looked, smiled and said, "Good."

"I do hope Jestia's not going to say anything more about . . . Well you know."

He laughed at her, no doubt because although she had been more than willing to do it she wasn't willing to even talk about it. The two girls grabbed bowls of stew and hunks of bread and sat down across from them on a chunk of log someone had brought up for that purpose. Kasiria smiled, once again you couldn't see light between them they were sitting so close.

Eric came over to join them and Kasiria watched with interest as Jestia gave her a look that would curdle milk, and thought maybe she really did have more in common with Jestia than she wanted to admit.

"Where were you two?" Jabone asked curiously.

"Coupling," Jestia said, and once again glared at Eric. Ufalla actually choked on whatever food she had in her mouth, and her brother quickly popped her on the back laughing no doubt at the startled look on her face.

"Jestia, you aren't queer," Jabone said with confusion.

"Well apparently I am now," Jestia said, an angry tone to her voice as she flipped her hand around in the air flamboyantly. She looked at Ufalla who was now as red as the flames in the fire. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Ufalla said, and then she was just smiling stupidly at the smaller woman.

"I swear, Ufalla, you are acting more like you're of the Jethrik than the Kartik every day," she said. "Kasiria and Jabone have coupled and you don't see them acting all silly about it."

Kasiria looked quickly around and was glad to see that the only people in hearing for any of this was their unit—and Eric—who wasn't likely to say anything not while they were all keeping her secret. Kasiria could have strangled Jestia who seemed to throw out as part of casual conversation things that should only be talked about in private if at all.

"You look rather smug, sister," Jabone said to Ufalla.

"As do you," Ufalla said. Jabone just smiled broadly and nodded.

"Could we talk about something else?" Kasiria asled.

"As if they aren't going to talk about it at length the first time they're alone. They tell each other everything, you have to know that," Jestia said. Then she added impatiently to Ufalla, "Aren't you done eating yet?"

"What's your big hurry?"

"While they're all out here the tent is empty," Jestia said with meaning, and the bigger woman drank her stew swallowing the chunks whole, jumped up put a hand down to help Jestia up and then it was Jestia who was dragging Ufalla across the camp. All Kasiria could think was that she wished she had thought of the empty tent first.

Eric was just chuckling under her breath. "What?" Kasiria demanded, and the woman shrugged and said nothing, but that didn't stop Tarius.

"So you two," he slammed his palms together in a suggestive way, and Kasiria's jaw dropped and her face turned as red as Ufalla's had been. Jabone just laughed and shrugged. Tarius stuck his lower lip out and said with a pout, "And I'm to be the odd man out."

Eric laughed, "No, I'm the odd man out."

Tarius laughed and shook his head in agreement then said, "Well I have to say, you two no big surprise, but those two." He shook his head and added with a laugh. "Hestia's going to crap herself when she finds out."

Jabone glared at Tarius who seemed to go over what he'd said and you could tell from the expression on his face at what point he realized what he'd said that was wrong. Then he quickly explained—no doubt for she and Eric's benefit—"It's a Kartik saying, sort of like saying something is so completely off that the Queen will be upset."

No, I know exactly what you meant. Just what you said if Queen Hestia knew her daughter was coupling with your sister she'd have a screaming fit. And what of Tarius the Black? What would she think of my union with her son?

Tarius told a short story in which her father was once again the villain and she cringed. When he had finished the tale, she said to him. "Tarius, is there not one Kartik story that mentions our king in which he isn't either a blind idiot or an out and out villain?"

Tarius seemed to look around at the group that had gathered to hear him tell tales. "There is just one," he said, "but only Tarius the Black ever tells it and it is said that when she does so to this day Jena and Harris walk away so that they don't have to hear it. It is Tarius's nature to forgive—except of course for the Amalites," he spat, "but not Jena's and certainly it isn't Harris's. I have a good story without him in it at all, though."

He cleared his throat and then started, "I tell the story of the end of Jabone the Breaker, the Kartik Waster, father to Tarius the Black. Now Jabone was a great slayer of Amalites," Jabone and Tarius spit, "for they had killed the whole of his pack. They killed his first mate and left Tarius for dead, her throat cut. In fact Tarius had been stacked on a stack of bodies that were to be burned and in a Katabull rage Jabone had gone after the Amalites."

There was more spitting and now she noticed a couple of the Jethriks had joined them, no doubt thinking of the village in burnt ruin at their backs.

"Jabone followed them to the sea and killed them to the last man, and then thinking there was nothing for him in the Kartik he sailed for the Jethrik where he joined the Sword Masters academy and went to war and slew Amalites," even more spitting this time, "in numbers like no other man. But this is unfortunately not the story of his life but of his death. Now it was after he'd gone back to the Kartik and found his daughter yet living and after he had trained her in every manner of warfare and weapons that he came once again to the Jethrik just to make sure the country was free of the Amalite," more spitting, "menace. Tarius was young and she'd gone into the woods to hunt and as soon as the Amalites," all right all the spitting was getting annoying, "saw that he was alone with his mate they swooped down upon him a great multitude of them. He was slower in his old age and they took him and his mate down. Tarius had felt that something was wrong but even as she got there they were pulling a sword from her foster mother and her father was already dead. Tarius fell on the beasts in a Katabull rage and she slew them she thought to the last man, but when she went back to tend her father's body and to grieve she looked and looked but she didn't find Jabone's sword. It is said that Tarius as she engaged each Amalite," really annoying all that the spitting, "she killed looked to see if he was carrying her father's sword. Though she killed even more Amalites," it seemed to her like every man in the troop was spiting now, "than her father ever did she has never found Jabone's sword."

The men all clapped and so did Kasiria. Beside her Jabone just rolled his eyes. "What?" she asked him.

He looked some surprised but said too quickly, "Well she couldn't have seen could she, with their hands on the hilt of the swords and killing as fast as she did? It's just a pretty bardic twist, I doubt seriously she wasted any time at all looking for his sword past the day he died."

They're stories to me, to these men, and we appreciate that he makes them pretty, but to Jabone . . . He's talking about his mother, his grandfather. It couldn't always be comfortable for him. No more comfortable than it is for me to hear story after story of the brutality of my father and how much pain his actions have caused.

And then to Kasiria's dismay Tarius launched into a telling of a story about Jena's wrath against her own father in which yet again her father was the real villain.

* * *

Jestia clung to Ufalla. It had been exactly the same. No, worse than that, it had been even better and now she wanted to be even closer to Ufalla. In fact she was laying on top of Ufalla under a blanket just looking at her and thinking how much more beautiful she was than she had ever realized.

Ufalla stroked a hand down Jestia's hair and over her back and when her hand touched and cupped her buttocks Jestia shivered. She quit looking at Ufalla and put her head down on her chest listening to her heart and pushing her face against her hard.

Ufalla laughed. "What are you doing?"

"I can't get close enough," Jestia said, a sad tone in her voice.

"If you get any closer your head will pop out my back."

Jestia relaxed and rolled off Ufalla to lie beside her. Ufalla rolled on her side and held her, Jestia felt warm and wonderful and safe and she started to go to sleep.

"Jestia, we can't sleep like this. What if the Amalites fall on us in the dead of night?"

Jestia nodded and reluctantly got dressed even as Ufalla did. When she looked up Ufalla was just watching her with a stupid smile on her face.

"What?" she asked, smiling back what she was sure was her own stupid smile.

"I think I like watching you dress almost as much as I like watching you undress."

They lay down, Jestia doused the witch light, and soon they were both asleep. Her dream was sweet, peaceful and then the other one came brighter and if possible more brutal. She woke with a sob and found Ufalla holding her. Oh no! What have I done? I've made it worse. But she thought carefully. The dream was exactly the same as it had been. But now I care even more about her, so it feels worse. Gods! What am I going to do? As if knowing her terror Ufalla pulled her closer, which just made her cry.

Chapter 15

The morning saw the whole of the troop preparing to head out with less enthusiasm than they had the day before. No one had found anything yesterday and they were all sure today would be no different. They were doing this because it seemed the only thing they could do but none of them actually thought it would do any good.

Derek marched over to Kasiria and she turned to look up at him turning away from where she'd been cinching her horse's saddle in place. "Captain?"

"Sergeant. Listen I have decided to pair Jestia and Ufalla together today and put Eric with Tarius."

Kasiria didn't have to ask why as Jestia and Ufalla rode past her then and Jestia just smiled down at her. That little witch will do anything to get what she wants. Sort of makes me wonder what she hopes to gain from bedding Ufalla.

Still it was what Kasiria had wanted in the first place, so she just said, "Thank you." Derek walked away and she finished cinching her horse's girth.

* * *

They hadn't gone too far when Jestia said, "I'm tired. Let's stop for a minute and rest."

"I doubt you're tired already, Jestia," Ufalla said, a hint of laughter to her voice.

"So what? We aren't going to find anything anyway."

"We surely won't if we spend all day having sex in the woods."

"You can't be sure of that, Ufalla," she said slyly.

"What of safety?' Ufalla asked.

"I will cast warning bells. Seriously, Ufalla, I really am tired. Just a few minutes?"

It took considerably longer than a few minutes and by the time they had gotten dressed and back on their horses it was near midday. Jestia rode beside Ufalla just watching her silently for a long time.

Ufalla laughed. "Jestia, we are supposed to be looking for sign and . . . What has happened to you?"

Her tongue deceived her again. "I think I actually love you. I think that's what's wrong with me," Jestia spit out. Ufalla looked at her, and the look of pure ecstasy on her face was so beautiful that Jestia wished there was some way she could keep it. Her heart broke. "We have to go home, Ufalla, both of us, today. Back to the Kartik."

"I don't know what you've dreamt, Jestia, but we can't go home now—abandon our post and our brothers—at least I can't. And how would we get you back from here? Is this the only reason you've been with me, the only reason you profess to love me, so that I'll take you home?"

"Of course not."

If I tell her what I've dreamt then it must come true and if I don't she will never go with me. I've started to go home alone even made arrangements when we were at the garrison, but that didn't change the outcome of the dream, and now . . . Before, I don't know if I could have taken it and now I know I can't. She's the only person who has ever loved me, the only one who ever will, and I love her, too. I don't know when or how it happened, but I do. I feel as if she is me, as if I am her, and . . . I don't know what to do. Except love her while I can.

"I'm tired. I need to rest again," Jestia said, giving Ufalla a wry smile.

Ufalla looked at her and laughed. "Jestia, we aren't helping. We won't find anything with you not even trying and stopping every few minutes to make love."

"We've had this argument before. I won then, too, and . . . It's been more than a few minutes."

They tethered their horses and again clothing and armor was shucked with reckless abandon and they pleasured each other until Ufalla let out an excited yelp and tossed Jestia to the side like some discarded toy. Ufalla jumped to her feet, pulled on her boots, and went running into the woods otherwise naked like some long-legged wood nymph.

"Ufalla what on earth is wrong with you?" Jestia asked, not at all liking feeling like anything was more important to Ufalla than she was.

"I've found something! Come here."

Jestia at least put on her gambeson with her boots before walking over to where Ufalla stood bent over pointing to something just inches from her finger. Not twenty feet to the right of where they had been riding a piece of red cloth was hanging on a thorn. It was so small they never would have seen it if they'd just ridden past it. Ufalla pointed to other obvious disturbances—turned rocks, moss side down, broken limbs—probably evidence of some sort of struggle. Of course dead the villagers would have been dead weight and alive they most likely wouldn't have gone that easily.

Jestia smiled and kissed the back of Ufalla's head. "See? I was right. We never would have found it if we hadn't been stopping every few minutes to make love." She reached out and snagged the piece of cloth in her fingers. She held it out in front of her between two fingers. "Direction." The cloth blew obviously to the west.

"We were going north, so northwest from the camp."

"Yes," Jestia said, looking at the little piece of cloth with a sense of dread.

"We'd better get back to camp as quickly as possible," Ufalla said happily. Then she stood completely up and slapped Jestia on the ass. "Good thing we aren't very damn far from camp. Come on, let's get dressed."

* * *

"Come on, let's get dressed," Jabone said. "We need to head back now." It would have been frustrating to come out only to find nothing if it wasn't for the fact that it gave him a chance to make love to Kasiria. He smiled at her, kicked what was left of the rabbit out of the way and started dressing. Kasiria was just pulling her sword into place when she turned to him and asked, "Do the Katabull marry, or have some sort of other symbol of a union?"

"We exchange things," he said. He was still fastening his kidney belt into place.

"Exchange things?" Kasiria asked.

He had finished buckling his belt and he gave her his full attention. "Things that have meaning to us, things of value to us such as . . . " He pulled up the vambrace on his left arm and removed the leather cuff with the eagle tooled onto it. " . . . this. The eagle is a strong symbol to our people. It is said that the eagle protects the wearer. My mother made this for my madra and my madra gave it to me when I left for the Jethrik." He took her hand and put the cuff around her wrist.

"Jabone," she looked into his eyes as her own filled with tears, "I can't take this."

Jabone smiled back. "The idea of the exchange is to give away that with which you would never part because if I never mean to be parted from you then I'm never parted from it."

Kasiria seemed to think about it only a moment then she reached into the top of her gambeson and pulled out a small chain. On the end of the chain was a very intricate gold medallion. "I have had this since my birth; it was given to me by my father." She put it around Jabone's neck.

He smiled and then kissed her gently on the lips. "And now two are one."

* * *

As they neared the camp they could hear it—it was too loud. Kasiria looked at Jabone and he nodded. Without having to speak a word they both put their horses into a trot, skillfully guiding them around trees and rocks and stumps. They pulled up short just outside of camp and as they looked on Kasiria realized what they heard had not been disaster but celebration. They took care of their horses and then started for the heart of the camp.

"What's going on?" Kasiria asked of one of the fellows as she got close.

"Jestia and Ufalla have found the Amalite's trail and we will ride in the morning."

"What about the supplies?" Kasiria asked.

"They arrived with pack horses just minutes ago."

Kasiria found the rest of her unit all talking and laughing and realized, not without some disdain, that Eric seemed to have permanently attached herself to her unit. Kasiria and Jabone joined them. "How'd you find the trail?" she asked Ufalla.

"We had stopped to rest," Ufalla said. Kasiria guessed they had done more than just rest, but how could she even start to disapprove when she and Jabone had stopped to "rest" twice that day themselves? Ufalla told them what she had found and Kasiria guessed that Jestia had done a spell to see in which direction they'd gone. This group wasn't going to ask questions because they were hungry to find the trail, find the Amalite stronghold, and then go back to tell the rest of the Jethrik so that they could assemble the army and attack in force.

No one held any illusions anymore that they alone would be able to stop the Amalite horde. They knew now that they numbered in the hundreds if not thousands. They were a scouting expedition now, nothing more and nothing less.

Kasiria noticed then that far from looking happy Jestia looked angry. She was hanging on Ufalla's arm, leaning on her back, and if any of the Jethrikian men were angry about it they weren't showing it. What had happened in the last few days that had everyone accepting them, all of them?

As she thought her eyes fell on the ruins of the village and she knew that was at least part of the reason. Now that they had a common enemy, none of their differences seemed to matter. Now they truly were all the same. They shared the same living conditions; they'd all eaten hard tack, been rained on, and caked in mud. Now though they had yet to face their enemy they knew them, knew what they were capable of. The enemy wasn't some made-up entity in a bard's tale anymore. They'd been camped by this ruin for over three days now, and it was a constant reminder of their enemy.

Perhaps there was something else that had changed the men's feelings towards her and her unit. Her eyes feel on Tarius, who was now weaving yet another tale of the Great War. He is an asset I did not realize I had. He tells them stories of great women and Kartik fighters and the men now see us not as a potential problem but a solution. They know we may be face to face with our enemy soon and if that is to be the case then they're glad to have us at their backs. And we've proved ourselves twice now, once when we saved Tarius against all odds and now it is part of our unit that has found the trail.

Her attention turned once again to Jestia and she shuddered. I have read her features wrong, She's not mad; she's miserable. At our hour of triumph the witch looks as if she is expecting doom. That couldn't be good. She decided she would talk to her later but she never got the chance to as she was dragged off to a meeting with Derek, Jason and Thomas and by the time they had finished strategizing and she got back to the tent all the others, even Jabone, were fast asleep. Tomorrow would be a long, hard day and so she just unarmored and lay down beside Jabone.

* * *

When day broke they rose, broke camp, and started into the woods. There was, of course, no road heading where they wanted to go, so they were forced to ride into the woods and that meant the going was slow. They had to take pack animals and leave their wagons behind. Trying to stay together they only covered about half as much ground as a single rider might have covered and knowing they were getting ever closer to their enemy there was little talking. They had each put their helmets on and then had slowly started taking them off again when their necks started to hurt and they got tired of not being able to see. But the Kartiks kept their helmets on and Kasiria wished more by the minute that she had a Kartik helm instead of the barrel helm she had, especially since Jabone kept insisting she wear it.

"But I can't see a thing," Kasiria complained.

"I'd give you mine but it would have to be repadded to fit your head," Jabone said. "Ufalla give Kasiria your helmet, you never get hit in the head anyway and if you did your head is so hard it would break a blade."

"Don't you dare," Jestia ordered. Then she rode up along side Kasiria. "Give me your helm."

Kasiria took the helmet off and handed it to Jestia.

"Is anyone looking?" Jestia asked.

Kasiria looked around. "Not right now."

"Change helmet," Jestia ordered, and the helmet changed. It wasn't black like theirs but silver, and where the leather was chain covered it. She handed it back to Kasiria and Kasiria put it on. It fit as well as her old helmet had and she could actually see.

"Don't you think someone will notice she's got a completely different helmet?" Ufalla asked scoldingly as she rode up on the other side of Jestia.

Jestia just smiled at her and said, "It's the same helmet just reconfigured. They'll just think she had two."

"If you keep just throwing spells every few minutes then they'll find you out and burn you at the stake or some primitive thing."

Primitive? Kasiria almost laughed, that was the second time she'd heard one of the Kartiks refer to the Jethriks as primitives. They considered Jethrik ways and customs to be the way of a primitive, someone who didn't understand the modern world. When Kasiria thought about the differences in their cultures, the Kartiks did begin to look much more advanced than the Jethriks. Oh the Jethrikians had built huge monuments, temples and cities, and cleared whole forests, but did tearing down and building up make a people more or less advanced? Maybe when all things were considered the greatness of a people was tested by how they treated the land and each other, not by what they built.

When Derek called a halt to set up camp for the night they had covered only about one and a half times what they had on their individual treks each day. They had stopped only briefly that morning to examine the trail Ufalla and Jestia had found and then deciding they were right about the direction they had moved on from there.

There was just no way to move faster through the woods.

They were driving the stakes in for their tents when Jabone grabbed her arm. He sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"

She lifted her head and sniffed. She did smell something peculiar.

"It's the Amalites. Tell the others, I'll go tell Derek."

* * *

Derek didn't hesitate. When the Katabull told you they smelled Amalites on the wind you acted. He sounded the alarm through the camp and the soldiers were quickly armed, armored, and mounted. But as he heard them, saw them running through the woods towards them, his heart filled with dread as it never had before in battle. There were hundreds of them. He had less than sixty men including the support crew, and there were hundreds of them covering the woods in all directions. They looked more like a mass of spiders than men.

He looked briefly over at Richard where he was on his right, and the look on his face told Derek he'd come to the same conclusion he had.

He didn't have time to even shout a single order before they were on him. He swung his sword, connecting every time, and they just kept coming. He saw them drag Richard from his horse and then they were dragging him off his. Daggers drove into his flesh even as he kept swinging. And then they were just gone running away. Beside him Richard looked as if something had stomped his guts out of him and he was already dead. When he looked up, Jabone stood over him his sword in his hand and he was the Katabull.

Chapter 16

There was no time to think about whether to incite the change or not. There was simply do it or die and it didn't matter anyway because beside him Kasiria had already made the change. If she was exposed he might as well be. The Amalites were attacking their horses, and the woods was no place to be on horseback. The horses weren't helping them here, in fact the Amalites were using their own horse to their advantage, knocking them over or pulling the men from them and then crawling over their riders like bugs. There were that many of them.

"Leave the horses!" Jabone screamed as he jumped off his. He ran over, grabbed Kasiria by her left arm and dragged her from her horse before they could get to her. "Off your horses!" he shouted again. "They are using them against us." He had killed his first, second, and third man before it even had time to register. Kasiria was at his side and Tarius was at his back, and there wasn't time to think of anything but cutting the next man down. Finally he understood Katabull rage. Everything his madra had tried to explain . . . Everything he had thought he understood he didn't. His mind and body worked as one, he saw, he attacked, he blocked, he moved as if driven by the beast's desire to survive. Together he and Kasiria were making a hole in the Amalites, and Tarius was always at their backs protecting them from rear attack.

When Derek and Richard fell they moved to defend them. He heard Ufalla calling orders from somewhere well behind him, but what she was saying didn't matter because that was a different front and they could only fight one.

Suddenly before them the Amalites seemed to finally realize what they were looking at and as if they were one person they retreated from the Katabulls, fleeing through the woods as fast as they had come. Jabone, Kasiria and Tarius moved to help Thomas's unit to their left where it was being hacked to pieces.

* * *

Jestia was pinned down with Ufalla and Jason's unit. She remembered Ufalla repeating Jabone's order to dismount, and then Ufalla had pulled her off her horse, slapped it on the ass, and sent it running through the Amalites. But either Jason and his men hadn't been listening or they had just been attacked so fast they didn't have time to dismount. Either way they'd paid the price as the Amalites drove spears into their horses, ran up the dying animals, grabbed the men and dragged them to the ground where they were often times as not stomped by their own terrified mounts.

Jestia's heart pounded but she didn't have time for the terror of the moment to seize her. Why would it? She'd seen it all over and over again for weeks. She and Ufalla were alone, fighting back to back. Ufalla was killing five men for every one she killed, but she was holding her own and she began to think that maybe, just maybe, her skill with sword alone might change the dream's outcome. Trees and brush got in the way of their blades and impeded their movement and they only had seconds to adapt to fighting in the woods. Then she felt the big tree at her back and saw Ufalla on her left and her heart caught in her throat. It was about to happen.

The axe hit her blade. She tried with every once of her strength to hang onto it, then watched with a sob as the blade spun out of her hand.

* * *

Ufalla jumped away from the tree, pushing between Jestia and the axe. Knocking Jestia to the ground, she stood over her. She caught the blow and slung it back, but there was another axe, and there was just no way she was going to catch this one. Then Jestia just appeared right in front of her.

* * *

Jestia dove between Ufalla's legs and quickly jumped to her feet, looking at the axe head that was supposed to be for Ufalla and then well she didn't want to die, so she threw her hands in front of herself and cried out in desperation, "Gods damned invisible shield!"

She waited for the crackling nothing that would be followed by the axe slicing into her skull and then watched in amazement as the axe and its wielder bounced back about two feet. He swung again but again his axe bounced off.

"You did it!" Ufalla screamed at her shoulder.

"I did it!" Jestia screamed and felt her powers gather like a storm. She stood to her full height and then raising her arms to the sky called out the very next thing she thought of. "Wall of bats!"

In seconds thousands of bats filled the air, diving on the Amalites, and the remaining attackers, fearing only witchcraft more than the Katabull, ran screaming into the night.

* * *

Jabone started to chase after them still in a Katabull rage but felt his mate's hand on his shoulder. He turned to Kasiria to make sure she was all right and she was except for a nick on her chin. He wiped the blood away with his thumb and saw that his hands had half a dozen cuts on them. I am looking at my madra's hands and now I know why she sometimes stares into the night as if she's seeing something no one else can.

He remembered Derek, went to find him and knelt by his side. He was barely alive. "Ufalla!" Jabone cried out, and she was by his side in seconds, Jestia running right behind her. He was so relieved to see his friends alive and in one piece that he almost cried.

Ufalla knelt beside Derek and looked at his wounds, especially the one on his neck. She looked at Jabone and shook her head no.

Jabone looked at Jestia. "Some powders maybe?"

"My brother, there are no powders or potions for this," Jestia said gently.

"Kasiria," Derek choked out.

"I am here Derek." She knelt beside Jabone and took Derek's hand.

"Noble Kasiria, I have failed you," Derek said.

"You have failed no one, Derek," Kasiria said, her tears falling so hard they dripped onto Derek's bloody body.

"I must leave you in the hand of the Katabull."

"I would give my life for hers," Jabone said without pause.

Whatever he said next was incoherent. Derek's body jerked a couple of times and then he was still. Jabone knew he was no more. Kasiria collapsed into Jabone's arms her body rocking with the strength of her sobs. There wasn't time for it. His madra's words echoed in his head. There will not be time to grieve you must leave your dead for the crows and the maggots or be just as dead. He jumped to his feet, bringing Kasiria with him. He looked over her head and said, "Their fear will only keep them at bay so long and then they will come for us, they have to. They can't afford to let us get back to the garrison."

"What are you saying Jabone?" Thomas asked. He was helping Eric walk—she had a deep cut in her leg. When Thomas got close he saw what Kasiria and Jabone were and he stepped back. "You're the Katabull, you're both the Katabull."

"Yes and Jestia's a witch. Where do you think all those bats came from? Why do you think they ran away in terror. Not because of you with your sword," Jabone said. Now wasn't the time for pretence. "They were petrified, but their need for self preservation will over rule their fear and when it does they will come back. When they do we can not be here."

"Jabone, we can't just leave our friends . . . Derek." Kasiria's voice caught in her throat. "We can't just leave them here to be cannibalized by the Amalites."

"She's right. I don't know about you Kartiks but we don't like our dead to be eaten. These men died in battle they deserve better than that," Thomas said in disbelief.

"They deserve better maybe but they won't get it. We have to save ourselves. Live to fight another day. The dead don't care what happens to them. Only the living matter and we don't have time to cry for the dead now. We don't have time for anything but survival."

"Ufalla, you and Tarius treat the wounded. Nothing fancy, field dress it so they can ride and no more." They nodded and took Eric from Thomas to work on her first. "Thomas, round up all the able-bodied men you can find and strip this camp. Get everything we need, pack it on the horses . . . "

"You aren't in charge," Thomas said angrily.

Jabone pushed Kasiria gently away from him then got right in Thomas's face and growled, "I am the Katabull, the son of Tarius the Black, the Kartik Bastard, the Great Leader of the Katabull people and I am their prince. If I say I am in charge then I am in charge." Thomas just backed up nodding. "Pack quickly but leave no weapons, no armor, and no food for the Amalites. If they have to go back to their lair for supplies that may slow them down."

"You expect us to strip the dead?"

"Of weapons and armor yes. I will help you myself when we have settled everything else," Jabone said. "Now get after it."

"It is near nightfall; how will we move in the dark?" Thomas asked.

"I will ride in the back and Kasiria will lead. If we head south from here we will eventually get to the road, and if we make it to the road then they won't be able to catch us because Jestia was right and they don't have horses," Jabone said. Then as if that reminded him he turned to the witch. "Jestia summon the horses."

"Gather horses," Jestia called, and the horses came back to camp. Jabone and Kasiria gathered up the horses by their reins and Jabone noticed Lex was missing. He went looking for him and found him on his side with a spear through his chest. Jabone fought his tears and walked over to his horse. He knelt beside him and looked into his frightened eyes.

"Oh Jabone, I'm so sorry," Kasiria said at his shoulder. Jabone nodded quietly. He didn't have time for this either. He stroked the horses neck 'til he was calm then punched him as hard as he could between the eyes. Then as Lex died he striped his saddle and gear and walked back to camp to strip the bodies of the dead.

In minutes they were riding as hard as they dared ride through the woods. At night, with Kasiria in the front and him in the rear on the back of a horse that wasn't his. He knew the world was never going to look the same to him again.

* * *

Jestia rode somewhere near the middle of the troop—or what was left of it—with Ufalla ahead of her and Eric and then Tarius behind her. Derek was dead; Jason and his entire unit were dead as were most of the support staff. Half of Thomas's unit—there had been nearly sixty of them when the Amalites had attacked and now there were only eighteen. There were a lot of horses without riders but a lot of the horses were dead, too. She looked back to where Jabone was bringing up the rear and leading all the riderless horses that were tethered together behind him. His own horse, Lex, was dead, and she knew how he felt because she knew how she would feel if something had happened to her horse Raven. She'd lost the horse she'd had in her childhood and she still remembered what a traumatic experience it had been. Horses loved you if you grained them and petted them, and they never judged you. If a horse could it would write you a letter and send it to you.

There was no doubt that the attack they'd all been through was going to leave them all with nightmares for the rest of their lives. They had all been terrified in ways most people never would be and she was still shaken to the very core of her being. She had killed men, and she and Ufalla had nearly been killed. She looked at her hands that were cut and covered in blood and then over at her lover who was also cut and covered in blood and her heart wanted to burst out of her chest with happiness.

She was sure it would all catch up with her later and she'd just have herself a good cry, but at that moment she couldn't remember ever being so happy.

She knew it wasn't what she should be feeling so she worked at keeping it from her face, but dammit she just couldn't help it. The battle was awfu,l so many people were dead, but none of those people were them. Not her, not Jabone, or Kasiria, or Tarius and not—praise be to all the gods—Ufalla. Now that it was daybreak she saw no reason to ride single file, so she rode up beside Ufalla and dared Jabone to say anything about it. One battle and he had turned into his madra, not to say that was particularly a bad thing, and he and Kasiria were both still the Katabull for which she was personally glad.

Ufalla, who looked as grave as she was trying to, looked over at her and smiled a smile just for her and Jestia's heart leaped in her chest. Ufalla was still alive. "So, let me guess. That axe was for me," she said more than asked.

"Yes," Jestia said.

"And you were going to eat it for me because we both know that you had no idea that spell would work that time because it never had before."

"I suppose so," Jestia said, smiling as she thought of it. "So the way I see it you just owe me forever."

Ufalla looked at her and growled. "Jestia, if you ever do anything stupid like that again I'll split you." She was mad. Jestia didn't care she could be mad. She was beautiful when she was mad and at least she was alive to be mad.

"No you won't, you'll just be glad I'm not already split and we both know it so you can just lose the attitude right now, or I'll make more bats or . . . something." Jestia was now smiling in that way she knew everyone would resent, so she worked at wiping it from her face.

Ufalla leaned in closer to her and said in a low whisper. "Derek and Richard are both dead, and I know it's crazy because of all the death and blood and stuff, but I'm just giddy inside because everyone I really care about is all right and you're alive and I killed dozens of them and yes they nearly wiped us out but look how many more of them there were than us and you . . . You were amazing. Seriously, who would have ever thought wall of bats would save the day? I'm alive and I had more or less guessed from the way you've been acting lately that you were dreaming I was dead, so I just want to laugh out loud. If you hadn't been with us, Jestia, we'd all be dead." She fell suddenly silent as she seemed to be actually going over the last few days. "Jestia, did you really dream you slept with me?"

"Of course," Jestia said, and smiled at Ufalla in a way she knew gave away her true feelings for the woman to anyone who was looking and said, "and I just keep dreaming it over and over."

"Oh you did not you little liar." Ufalla laughed and then made herself stop, actually cringing a little. She worked at wiping the smile off her face, then she asked, "Do you really care for me Jestia?"

"Ufalla you huge idiot, if you don't know that now then you never will." Jestia smiled then quickly wiped it off her face and said, "How could I not love you? You who shares my problem of having to frown when all I want to do is laugh."

* * *

By the time they got to the road they were hungry. It was near the end of the day and they were so tired they wound up finding a spot on the road surrounded by a field and pitched camp right in the middle of the field on the road. Tarius, Ufalla, and Jestia treated the wounded, this time taking the time to do it right. There were five wounded in all—the worst one a belly wound—but if it was treated properly and they could get him to the garrison he'd make it. If any of them did.

Kasiria didn't want to think about what Jabone had just told her. They had both taken their human forms back but now she wondered if that had been such a good idea, at least in her case. Jabone could become Katabull any time he wanted but Kasiria couldn't and now . . . Well Jabone said he smelled them the minute the wind shifted before they'd even finished setting camp.
"They figured out where we were going. They've cut us off and now they are waiting for us. In order to get to the garrison we will have to go through them," Jabone said. "It's better we don't tell the others. We all need rest and food if we are to face the Amalite horde." He spit, and this time Kasiria did, too.

"What if they come for us tonight?" Kasiria asked, thinking it was a good question.

"Why would they come for us when all they have to do is wait for us to come to them? And they know we are Katabull, that we have a witch with us, that we can see in the dark and they can't. They are a superstitious lot. They have a saying, 'If you see the Katabull at night death will come in the morning' . . . something like that. It's close anyway."

She nodded. He knew more about them than she did. She had thought she knew everything there was to know about warfare, thought that she was ready for it, but you could never be ready for what had happened to them yesterday afternoon. Everything she thought she knew amounted to nothing when applied to real conflict.

Jabone had taken over last night. She should have been in command but Jabone had taken over and she was happy to have him do it because at that point, deeply grieved over the loss of a mentor and friend and seeing nothing but death and carnage all around her she just didn't have any idea what to do.

He told everyone that he's Tarius's son last night. So now he has kept no secret from me, but I am still keeping secrets from him. Gods! He asked me to exchange tokens with him and he gives me this. She held up her wrist and looked at it. This thing created by the hands of Jena for Tarius and given to him by her hand to protect him—and what do I give him? The gold medallion with my father's seal on it that he had made for all his daughters on their birth. So now my beloved is wearing the crest of the man that tried to ruin his family.

She shook her head. There was no time for frivolous thought. She had been calling Hellibolt all night and all day, and now as she neared the point of utter exhaustion she found herself alone in the woods calling out for him, thinking that perhaps that it was against wizard protocol to just pop up in front of everyone.

"Hellibolt please," she said for the twentieth time. Then she just looked all around her. "You always show up when I don't really need you and now where the hell are you?" she demanded.

"I'm assuming you're doing something in the woods besides trying to become an Amalite's dinner," Jestia said, walking out of the shadows.

"I was . . . "

"Unless I'm wrong—and let's face it I hardly ever am—he should be appearing shortly right about there." Jestia pointed to a spot on the ground and then there was Hellibolt looking very put out. He glared at Jestia.

"You have gotten way too powerful, way too quickly young witch." Then he turned to Kasiria. "I always show up when you don't need me? Don't need me? I seem to remember getting you out of a couple of jams."

"I knew it," Jestia said smugly. "I knew I kept feeling magic." She looked at Kasiria. "So how does a sword slinger come to have the king's wizard in their pocket? That's quite a trick."

Hellibolt frowned. "Don't be so smug, Jestia, I actually need you here. How is your mother the Queen by the way?"

Jestia seemed to size Kasiria up and guessed correctly that Kasiria already knew. "My mother the queen is fine. Safe in the Kartik which is more than I can say for me. Now can you help us or not?"

Kasiria wanted to smack her for the dismissive tone in her voice.

"Can you help us, Hellibolt? Hit them with a wall of fire or something?" Kasiria asked quickly before the old wizard just popped out of existence again.

"You have wall of fire?" Jestia asked excitedly.
"No," Hellibolt said, "but I do have this nice little ball lighting spell. Quite a crowd pleaser and it will actually blow things apart."

"Oh! I'd love to have that one," Jestia said.

"Hey!" Kasiria demanded, and they turned to look at her as if she'd just stuffed a whole cat into her mouth. "Pearson garrison is on the other side of the Amalite horde and at our backs is nothing for a three week ride but the Amalite frontier. We need help, Hellibolt. Some grand spell."

"I can't," Hellibolt said.

"I have a stealth spell. We could try going around behind them through the woods," Jestia said.

"There is no behind them. The river is on one side and they cover the ground on the other side," Hellibolt said. "You'd be going between them and their lair, and I doubt they'll sleep 'til they've killed you all, so a stealth spell wouldn't be much help."

"Forde the river then," Kasiria suggested.

"And when we're waste deep in the cold water we will be easy for them to kill," Jestia explained.

"Well do something," she demanded of Hellibolt. "And what do you mean you can't cast a spell to help us?"

"He's not here," Jestia said, and stuck her hand into him.

"Hey!" Hellibolt protested.

"It's just an image of him. He's astral projecting. A picture can't do a spell," Jestia said.

"But . . . The first time I became the Katabull you cast a spell on the men so that they wouldn't remember."

"Oh," Hellibolt said. "So you do admit that I've been helpful then?"

"You cast a spell from image?" Jestia asked excitedly.

"Well," Hellibolt said humbly, "it was only a day's ride from my actual presence and it was a simple memory loss spell."

"Still very impressive," Jestia said with real admiration.

"Hey!" Kasiria exclaimed again. "I hate to break up your little magic-users party, but Amalite horde lying in wait, impending death."

"He could tell the king to send troops," Jestia suggested.

"Help is already on the way." He looked with meaning at Jestia then. "All you have to do is make sure young Jabone stays here and waits for it to arrive. Do not allow him to attack the Amalites."

Jestia nodded then said, "Hey that ball lighting spell couldn't hurt." But he was gone. "Gods and spiders," she cursed. She looked hard at Kasiria. "So are you going to tell me how you come to be so familiar with the king's wizard?"

"No, and I'd rather you didn't tell Jabone." Kasiria watched as Jestia nodded and started out of the woods.

"You coming?"

Kasiria followed, inwardly fuming because Jestia had something to hold over her head, and given the girl's nature Kasiria was sure that she would.

When they walked back into camp Ufalla and Jabone—who'd obviously been getting ready to look for them—came running up and said at exactly the same time, "Where the hell were you? Don't run off like that again."

Jabone stopped there but Ufalla went on to say to Jestia, "Or I'll beat you to within an inch of your life."

Jestia slid up to Ufalla and slipped her arms around her. "Beat me, huh?"

Ufalla smiled in spite of herself and said sliding her arms around Jestia's waist, "Oh at least that."

Kasiria could tell by the look on Jabone's face that he was mad even before he spoke. "Jestia, do you think you could quit being in heat long enough to concentrate on the problem at hand?"

"But I've already done that." Jestia turned to look at him. "I had to find a good tree to cast bones against and your good lady was kind enough to look over me while I did so. We should not try to go down the road. We must wait here."

"That makes no sense Jestia," Jabone said. "They will eventually just get tired of waiting and come to attack us or just keep us from getting supplies and watch us starve to death."

She released Ufalla who didn't let go of her. Jestia held a delicate wrist to her forehead and said, "I have seen it. Help is on the way and we must wait for them to get here."

Gods! She lies as easily as she tells the truth. Kasiria thought. Of course I'm the one who doesn't want her to say how she really knows, so I guess that lie she just told was really mine. As if to drive this point home Jestia looked at her and winked. Then she squirmed away from Ufalla, took her hand, and started dragging her away.

Jabone watched them walk away with an air of confusion. He looked at Kasiria. "I don't know if we can trust Jestia's council."

"Because she's over sexed or because she said something you didn't want to hear?"

Jabone smiled then—the first smile she'd seen on his face since the attack. He kissed her gently on the cheek. "They have always said that I am just like my madra, that I worry too much, and now I find that like her I don't want to wait to be attacked. I would rather be the one to attack. But if help is really on the way as Jestia says . . . Alone, I don't think we have much chance of getting through them."

Chapter 17

Persius stared at the court herald, and thundered, "What do you mean no word has come back from Derek's troop?"

"Sire, runners bring news every day of troops in the field and now no runner has come into Pearson Garrison in three full days."

He knew well what the runner system was, it was a system set up by Tarius the Black. Riders were set up at stations between the troop and it's base and in this way supplies could be sent more quickly when needed and news of the actions of a troop could be easily relayed. He had known days ago what shape Derek and his troop had found Grey Noke in because of a runner. He had sent word right then to have the troop—and subsequently his daughter—removed from the field, but he doubted now that they had even gotten that message.

"Send a troop to Grey Noke immediately and have Derek's troop extracted at once," the king ordered. Then when the herald seemed like he was in no hurry to depart he yelled, "Do it now!!!"

"Yes sire," the man said, and then bowed and ran off.

Persius sat on his throne and ran his hand through his thinning hair. "Oh Kasiria, please be safe," he moaned. The runner system while better than the nothing they'd had before, still left a lot to be desired. The news you got through them was always at least days old. What was actually happening in the field might have changed twenty times by the time Persius got the news. It left him to make decisions based on what he knew—which might be far different from actual facts. Master Heath might have already sent in a troop to extract Derek's. Or he might be waiting for word from the crown. Either way by the time they got the news to the garrison and got a troop assembled it could be too late. It might already be too late. He wanted to know what was happening and he wanted to know now. That meant one thing.

"Hellibolt!" he summoned with a yell. The old wizard was his best chance of getting first-hand information about what was happening out there. If he could get him to cooperate with him which could be difficult to impossible depending on the wizard's mood.

Hellibolt appeared before him. "Persius, what is it you need now?"

"Why must you always act as if it is I who serve you instead of you who serve me?"

"I guess it's just my contrary nature. Now what do you want?"

"It's Kasiria. Her troop is missing."

"Are they? Well I found them easy enough. Well some of them anyway . . . "

"Enough of your games old fool. Have you seen Kasiria?"

"Yes."

"Is she safe?"

"No, no not at all, but she's in good health," Hellibolt said.

"Dammit man, you told me Kasiria would be safe as long as I allowed her to follow her will."

"No, I believe I said she would live. You never truly live if you're always safe," Hellibolt said.

Persius pulled at what was left of his hair and said, "Why must you torment me with your word play and riddles? If you know what is going on out there tell me what it is I should do."

"There is nothing for you to do," Hellibolt said sadly. "It's beyond forces that either you or I control now. Only trust in Kasiria, Persius, she is stronger than you can know and in more than one way."

And then he was gone.

* * *

By the third day the Amalites hung in the trees at the edge of the field and screamed taunts at them. At least they were sure they were taunts though of course they couldn't understand a word they were saying. The Amalites launched arrows that landed on the edge of their camp. Their bows and their lack of strength kept the arrows from coming any closer. Still it was unnerving. Until then the tattered remains of their troop had been sleeping in shifts but now they were all fully armed and armored, ready. Some were on horseback, some on foot with the big shields they called scootums, and a couple with spears and pikes. Jestia had insisted they keep a huge fire burning and no one had grumbled about feeding it. The Jethriks might not be comfortable with witchcraft but they'd all seen the Amalites flee before Jestia's bats and knew she was their best chance of survival if the Amalites got up the courage to attack.

It wouldn't be long now. Their fear had been keeping them at bay but it wouldn't for much longer. They hoped to force the troop into the treeline where they had the advantage, but they had taken all the supplies with them when they had fled and with considerably fewer mouths to feed and the ability to hunt they weren't going to run out of supplies any time soon. Their antagonists had figured out that they weren't going to starve them out, and that's why they had started to taunt them. They wanted the troop to run into the treeline to attack them.

Jabone wasn't stupid enough to lead a charge into the treeline. He had, however, had enough of waiting. It was only a matter of time now 'til they attacked and he badly want to strike the first blow.

He called on the night, sheathed his sword, grabbed a bow and knocked an arrow.

"No, Jabone!" Jestia called out, running towards him, but he ignored her aimed and fired. An Amalite archer fell from a tree and then another and another. One for every arrow he shot. He could hear some of the men firing cross bows now, too, but he couldn't be bothered to see what they were doing. He was completely consumed with getting as many of the archers as he could. Even Jestia slapping him in the shoulder and screaming, "You idiot!" didn't distract him from what he was doing.

Then they came tumbling out of the woods and out of the trees and running towards them looking like ants when you kick their nest over. Jestia yelled out, "Move fire."

The roaring fire flew over his head and exploded just in the tree line where the Amalites had been hiding. It made an impressive display, sending about a dozen Amalites running around in flames and caught the woods on fire.

The Amalites in front of them seemed to pause to think about it. Some ran off in terror and then the rest after a brief pause started pouring out of the burning woods.

Jabone threw down the bow and pulled his sword. At his side Kasiria had changed and she held a spear hoping to use their tiny shield wall to its best advantage. "I love you," he said, and she didn't have to ask why he was saying it now. She knew they all knew they probably weren't going to live to see another day.

"I love you, too," she said and then drove her spear into the face of an Amalite.

* * *

Jestia couldn't see Ufalla. Tarius, who had been fighting spear, had lost his shield man, thrown the spear down and pulled his sword. He was to her left hacking and slashing everything she wasn't. This was closer to what she'd been trained for—no plants or trees in her way—just targets to hit. Where was Ufalla? She could fight or she could cast but she was sure she couldn't do both at once.

Then she saw Ufalla. Ufalla screamed and then she dove over their own shieldwall on the Amalites who scattered under the weight of her rage. Then they all ran at her again. The huge idiot! Could humans have Katabull rage? Ufalla was going to get herself killed and there was no way she and Tarius could get over there to help her, and then she thought as hard as she could while she was fighting off hundreds of screaming Amalites, Come to me.

Ufalla was lifted into the air and sailed backwards 'til she landed beside Jestia, where she gave Jestia a look of utter relief closely followed by a scowl before she just started fighting again. "You can thank me later," Jestia said.

"I couldn't find you," Ufalla said as an explanation for her actions.

"Honey, if I had been out there nothing you could have done would have saved me."

"Why don't you cast get us the hell out of here?" Tarius said.

She wished she could. Jestia was pretty sure all she'd done was postpone the inevitable.

* * *

Eric and Thomas and two others were still on their feet fighting beside he and Kasiria, but Jabone couldn't even see anyone else. Then one of the men fell, and it was just the five of them. For every one they killed three more seemed to appear from thin air

"Jabone, look out!" It was Tarius's voice and he looked up in time to see the arrow heading not for him but Kasiria. He reached out without thinking to grab it by the shaft, but it went right through his fingers and into Kasiria's side. Her sword fell and she looked at him with an air of disbelief as she changed form and crumpled to the ground.

"No!" Jabone forgot about the battle. He dropped his sword, dropped to his knees beside Kasiria and took her in his arms wondering why he wasn't dead already.

"Brother we need you!" Ufalla yelled at him, but he had no idea where she was.

"Wall of bats!" Jestia screamed.

"Again!" Tarius exclaimed.

"I am running out of spells," Jestia said. The wall of bats confused them enough that they were able to make it over to the others.

"Jabone," Kasiria choked out, "you have to fight."

He shook his head.
"You must," she said, and then her eyes closed. Filled with the Katabull rage he rose, grabbed his sword, and with his shoulder against Tarius's he started to slay the Amalites two and three at a time.

* * *

Ufalla had gone over the shieldwall because she couldn't find Jestia and she was either going to find Jestia and save her or she was going to kill as many of them as she could before she went to join Jestia, so she knew why Jabone had just laid over Kasiria. But his few moments of grief had cost them dearly. Eric and some man whose name she didn't remember and the four of them were the only ones left alive now. She was, in fact, forced to stand on Thomas's body as she fought.

Her parents' enemies were alive and well and living in the Jethrikian-held territories of the Amalite. In that moment her arms and legs were burning and she felt like she had just given all she had to give. If there was anything keeping her going besides trying to keep herself and her loved ones alive it was the fact that she didn't want to let her parents down. If someone didn't get back alive they might never find these bastards and they needed to pay for all they had done. Tarius the Black was right; you couldn't allow these things to thrive.

But it was looking more and more like none of them were going to make it out of there alive. There were too few of them too many of their enemy.

"Invisible shield!" Jestia cast in front of them and Ufalla was just glad to have a moment to breathe and get better footing. She looked at Jestia.

"Jestia do some spell go over them, disappear and get away. Something," Ufalla said.

"No, I won't go without you," Jestia said, shaking her head. "If you die I die, so you'd better not die. It won't hold long," she said of the shield.

And it didn't. Soon they were fighting for their lives again. Ufalla took a blow that rocked her head without breaking her helm, but her strength was waning and she was about to just give up when she heard horses coming in fast.

"Thank the gods!" Jestia said behind her and she knew it wasn't just in her head.

* * *

When Jena saw them a million nightmares came back made worse by the fact that her son—if he was still alive—was in that mess. Before she really had time to think about it, Tarius had called a charge. They rode in hard and her heart started to beat again when she saw their son still alive.

"Tarius!" she called out because even though she rode beside her she couldn't have heard her unless she was yelling. "Jabone!" She pointed with her sword and Tarius took off for him like one possessed with Harris following right behind her. Jena knew she couldn't keep up so she stayed with the remainder of the Marching Night, staying in formation even as Arvon commanded them to.

With the single-minded precision she was known for, Tarius hacked her way right through the Amalites, Harris taking up her slack 'til she was beside their son. Then Jena couldn't watch any longer because the Amalites had turned on them and they were fully engaged.

* * *

Tarius let out a war cry and then she landed beside her son, sending her horse away. Harris did the same and stood at her left as her son was on her right. This wasn't Tarius the Warlord, this was Tarius the mother and they had threatened her only cub. They would all pay. She killed 'til there was no one there left to kill and then she hollered in rage and ran off to where the battle had gone and killed some more.

* * *

Harris stayed behind to guard the children because at his age and with his club foot he simply couldn't keep up with Tarius any more, not on foot anyway. He turned saw his tattered, bloody children and started to cry. They both ran and embraced him. He watched as Jabone threw his sword down and went to kneel beside a dead Jethrikian girl.

For reasons he could only guess at, Jestia ran over and hugged him, too, and he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

* * *

The battle was now where Tarius took it because the Amalites were trying to retreat and she wasn't about to let them do that. So Jena rode quickly up to her son. She dismounted and ran to his side, knelt beside him and put her arms around him. "Son."

"Mother," Jabone croked out, and then he threw his arms around her and just cried. She didn't have to ask why when she saw his madre's cuff on the girl's wrist. She looked down at the shattered girl. She had been very pretty. Then she saw the slightest movement on the right side of the girl's chest.

"She's still alive." She pushed her son gently away. "Ufalla, come help me. Tarius, go get Jason."

Jabone dried his tears. "Mother she is the Katabull," he said, knowing that Jena had called for a human medic.

"Yri then!" Tarius yelled back and continued to run across the battlefield, weaving in and out of corpses.

Ufalla unhanded her father and dropped down on the other side of the girl to check out the wound even as Jestia went to check on the wounds of a Jethrikian boy whose leg was bleeding badly and who had a nasty sword cut across his left shoulder. No one else was alive that Jena could see.

Ufalla looked around the shaft of the arrow and made a face. She pointed and Jena saw the bubbles and knew what it meant one of the girl's lungs had been hit and was leaking. Worse yet, the girl was Katabull and the arrow shaft was wood. It wasn't good and Jena found herself wishing she hadn't realized the girl was still alive because she probably wouldn't be for very long.

"We need to get the arrow out," Jabone said. Ufalla, knowing she couldn't push it through where it was started to pull it out and Jena grabbed her hand.

"No. The Amalites wrap their arrows so that the heads will come out in the body if you pull on them. Wait for Yri."

"Kasiria can you hear me?" Jabone begged. "Kasiria I'm so sorry."

The girl made a gurgling sound but that was it.

Yri ran over then with his bag. He looked at the wound and then he looked at Jena. She knew what he was thinking even though he didn't speak a word because she had just seen too many bad wounds on the battle field.

"Try, Yri," she begged.

He nodded, skillfully twisted the arrow a bit and then slowly pulled on it 'til it was out of the girl's body cavity. The whole time the girl had made gurgling noises and Jena took that as a good sign because if she was still feeling anything she was still alive. Yri threw the arrow down then took a tool from his bag that looked like a small set of tongs. He poked around in the arrow hole with his finger then drew out his finger out, put in the tongs, and extracted a link of the girl's chain mail, then another and then another, and then a piece of her gambeson. When he was done he poured a bottle of what she knew was water from the springs of Montero into the wound which bubbled and spewed as it cleaned the poison from the wound and the wound stopped bleeding. Together they pulled the girl from her chain mail and her gambeson and shirt. Yri didn't stitch the wound, just took some powder and sprinkled it over it then dressed it. Then he grabbed his bag and stood up. Jena stood with him, took his arm and pulled him away from the group. Before she could ask him what the girl's chances were Jabone was there and demanding to know.

"How is she?"

Yri was silent looking at Jena. Jabone knew he would say nothing without her permission so he appealed to her. "Mother I need to know. You'd want to know if it was Madra."

Jena looked at the medic and nodded.

"Her wound is grave, my prince. She lost a lot of blood. A pierced lung it's beyond my expertise. Add to that she's pierced with wood and one of us. She's barely alive. If we could put her in the spring of Montero today, maybe. But we are a two day ride if we ride hard to the coast, and then three days on the sea. The ride alone will most likely finish her off, I am sorry."

"Don't you have some powders that would help maybe 'til we can get her to Montero?" Jabone asked.
"The only thing I have is for pain, Jabone, and she's not in any pain as long as she's unconscious. The powders alone might kill her at this point."

Jabone turned to look at Jestia who was crying on Ufalla's shoulder and couldn't hold his eye.

"Do you have a potion, a spell, something?" Jabone asked, crying again.

Tarius the Black ran over to them then bloody and triumphant. "Killed to the last man. The troop is just gathering up the weapons and armor now."

Jena scowled at her.

"What?" she asked. For answer Jena nodded her head in the direction of their son who was crying. "My son what is wrong?" She walked over and took him in her arms. He cried something incoherent against her neck. Surprisingly she seemed to understand him and started to cry with him, patting him on the back so hard his teeth rattled.

Then Jabone pushed suddenly away from her. He spun quickly to look at Jestia who still wouldn't look at him. "You, you do have a spell. You told me you had a healer's spell."

Jestia cringed as if she'd been waiting for him to say this.

"I also told you no witch dare cast it," she said, separating herself from Ufalla.

"Unless the circumstances are desperate. She's dying, Jestia. You don't get much more desperate than that!"

"The spell is dangerous, Jabone," Jestia said, wiping her cheeks with her hands and coating them with yet more blood and dirt.

"Again I say, she is dying. Don't just stand there if there is anything you can do that might save her, Jestia. She would do it for you, you know she would." Jabone was still crying and it was obvious that the girl wanted to help him so there had to be some reason for her reluctance.

"What are the dangers of the spell girl?" Tarius demanded.

"Well first off I've never cast it before and gods alone know what will happen if I miss-cast it," Jestia said. "The spell is called healing sleep, and even if you cast it right the person can wake up from it a blithering idiot or might just never wake up at all. In which case you can either watch them slowly waste away or kindly kill them. That's the spell you're asking me to cast, Jabone. Are any of those things what you want for Kasiria?"

There was something the girl wasn't saying, but Jena never got to ask her what it might be because then Tarius demanded, "Cast the spell, Jestia."

She looked at Jena as if asking her council and explained, "It's her only chance for life, and if anything goes wrong I will kill the girl myself."

Jena nodded her agreement.

"Do it," Tarius ordered.

Jestia walked over to the girl, held her hands over her and said the words "Healing sleep" so low they could hardly hear her. Then they could see the white light of the power radiating from Jestia to envelope the girl. When the light ceased Jestia collapsed and Ufalla who seemed to have appeared from nowhere caught her. Gathering Jestia in her arms, Ufalla turned to give them all the most magnificent go to hell look then carried Jestia in the direction of the medic's wagon.

Tarius reached down and picked up her son's sword. She handed it to him and said in a scolding tone, "Son, never throw your sword in the dirt." Then she turned and called out. "Marching Night! Back the way we've come double time!"

Chapter 18

Jestia woke with her head pounding, her whole body shaking, and something cold and wet on her face. She opened her eyes and in the near dark she could just make out Ufalla's bouncing face and realized she was in a wagon, a wagon that was moving fast. She sighed. It was over and once again she and Ufalla were both still alive. When she turned to see who was lying against her Kasiria was there in the wagon beside her. She shivered and pushed away the wet cloth Ufalla had been washing her face with. She sat up with an effort and Ufalla grabbed her and pulled her back to her. She wrapped her arms around her so Ufalla must have had her back leaned against something. Jestia pulled the blanket she'd been covered with back up to cover her to her shoulders. She was just so cold and she knew it wasn't because it was cold out. The weather had warmed considerably in the last few days. She just felt hollowed-out inside, empty.

Jestia leaned her head back against Ufalla looking at Kasiria. "Gods, Ufalla what have I done?"

"More that you should have done. They had no right to make you do that spell. Are you all right Jestia?"

"Mostly . . . I was just exhausted, and that spell . . . Most spells are just changing what you already have—like Kasiria's helmet—or just moving something like the rope from my pack into Jabone's hand, or moving the fire, or making Derek change his mind when someone else had already put the thought of us riding together in his head. Poor Derek," she added before she went on. "Those spells take no energy at all because you haven't really done anything but use what you already had, just change it a bit. Summoning bats—that's apparently something I'm very good at—you aren't making the bats they're just coming from . . . Well wherever bats come from. Spell casters aren't made they're born, much like the Katabull. We have a connection to the earth and it lets us use its power. Even invisible shield is just taking the air that's there and temporarily making it hard. It seems I have to be scared out of my wits to do it but even it doesn't deplete me. But this spell, this healing sleep, it takes a piece of its caster." She shook at the memory of it.

"One you can't get back?" Ufalla asked with worry in her voice.

Jestia patted her hand reassuringly. "I'm sure you will help me get it back."

Ufalla moved Jestia's hair and kissed the back of her neck. "I thought you were gone today Jestia, more than once. I'm so glad you're still with me, but today I don't feel like laughing."

Jestia looked at Kasiria in her magic sleep. "I don't either."

* * *

More than half the Marching Night were Katabull and they had all ridden together so long that a three and a half day journey in two was difficult but not impossible. Half way to Pearson they ran into a fully-armored troop heading for Grey Noke. Tarius looked at the number of men in the troop.

"This is not enough," she said with a sweep of her hand. "You would need ten times as many as yours and mine put together to even think of taking them on."

"What are you saying?"

"That there are thousands of them and well armed."

"Our king commands that we extract Captain Derek's troop from the area around Grey

Noke," the captain leading told her.

"You tell the king that Tarius the Black has already made the extraction. That all were dead save four Kartik youths, a girl, and a Katabull who is so badly injured we are traveling to the Springs of Montero at once." She had looked back at the girl who'd been dressed like a boy when they had started the trip. She had taken off the bindings she'd had on her chest, and with her face clean she was obviously a girl. "The girl also is badly injured but should heal fine. Girl, do you want to go on with this troop?"

"No," she said quickly. No doubt she had no desire to face the enemy again any time soon.

"There were no Katabull in that troop," the captain assured her.

Tarius glared at him and it was obvious that she held him in contempt. "I think I know my own people when I see them. Turn back or all that you will find at the end of this road is death."

"I have my orders," he said, then glared right back. He'd no doubt heard stories of her but she was still just a woman in his eyes. "Odd extraction. You seem to have gotten only the women, the Kartiks and a Katabull out. Perhaps you got yours out and then left the rest to die."

Her blade was instantly at his throat. "Did you just call me a liar?"

"Na . . . no."

Tarius sheathed her blade as quickly as she had drawn it. "I tell you there were none of them left alive, but you believe what you want and do as you please."

"And I tell you it is my duty to my king to find out."

"Were Persius here himself he would take my council, but I have no time for you, so you get aside and let us pass. We can not be delayed. We rush to save life as you rush to lose yours. I will give my report at Pearson Garrison, for there will be none among your men who will come back alive to do so if you insist on moving on."

He grumbled but had his troop move out off the road and allowed them to pass.

Tarius stopped just long enough to give a report at Pearson Garrison and for her troop to eat a quick meal.

Again Tarius asked Eric if she wanted to stay, but she said she wished to go with them.

"Great Leader," she said using Tarius's title, "I no longer wish to pretend. Kasiria was right to despise me. I left her alone to face the men's taunting, even helped them to torment her. I thought I was like you, but you were never afraid and I was. I can't hide what I am, not with Kasiria in the state she is, yet I am not brave like she was . . . is. I don't want to face the men as a woman. So if it's all right with you I'd like to attach myself to the Marching Night."

Tarius nodded she understood exactly what the girl was saying. She looked the girl up and down, assessed her, and nodded her head.

Tarius reported that the girl would be going to the Kartik with them, even telling them it was because they'd not learned their lesson and still treated their women no better than dogs. Then they were on their way again. By that evening they had boarded ship and weighed anchor for the Kartik and she finally got some sleep.

* * *

All of the Marching Night that were on the ship were asleep. With only the crew moving around and with the sea calm it was peaceful. Normally Jabone had no trouble at all sleeping in a ship, but tonight though he was physically exhausted, his mind wouldn't let him rest. He lay on the small bed in the cabin next to Kasiria and just watched her barely breathing, her heart barely beating.

He looked over at where his mothers were sleeping, as always wrapped around each other, at where his fadra lie alone on his bed. Dustan got so sick at sea even with tonics that he would have slowed them down had he come so he had stayed home. So here he was safe and surrounded by three of his parents and his pack and he'd never been so afraid or felt so alone.

He had never had a pain like this. He felt like he could actually physically feel the arrow in his own body. He rolled onto his back and looked at his hands. He was clean now and his cuts had been treated and dressed. His hands had failed him, his speed, his training. He was not his madra, not the great hero who could snatch an arrow from the air. She had done it while jumping from horse back in her human form, yet he couldn't do it with a firm footing in his Katabull state for the woman he loved. How many battles had Tarius the Black dragged his mother into and had she even once let Jena get more than a scratch? No.

And it was all his fault. His! Because Jestia had told him not to attack them, that help was on the way. Even when he'd knocked his first arrow she had ordered him not to fire and he hadn't listened. They had all thought Tarius rash, that he would be their undoing. His madra had never trusted her namesake's pride or his recklessness. Jestia was selfish, self-serving, and willful. Yet they had saved the day while it was his rashness, his pride, his selfishness, his willfulness which had almost gotten them all killed. Kasiria . . . His tears caught in his chest.

Kasiria loved him, she trusted him, and now she was probably dying. He still didn't understand the nature of the spell, wasn't sure that Jestia did, and knew that the spell had cost Jestia dearly. They'd all be dead now if it wasn't for his friends and if his parents hadn't showed up with the whole of the Marching Night. He still had no idea how they had known they were in trouble or how they had gotten there when they did. Across the country heading for the sea they had moved too fast for talking. They had moved in that single-minded way his madra did when there was only so much time to do something and it had to be done in just this way or it wouldn't be done in time.

Why had he demanded that he be allowed to go to the Jethrik? His madra had warned him, she had told them all what it would be like. All they could see was the adventure of it. The great thrill, and only now he realized that he was really not like his madra as much as any of them had thought. He didn't live and breathe for the battle. Until he had come to the Jethrik his life had never been hard. His madra had been a small child when her whole pack had been killed when she'd been stacked up with the dead. She'd killed her first Amalite when she was twelve, not for the adventure of it but of necessity. All she'd ever done was out of necessity, because she knew—had always known—just what those things were capable of doing in the name of their gods.

She loved the fight because being able to fight was the only thing that had kept her alive. Fighting was what made her enemies pay for taking her mother, her father, and her childhood away.

Jabone had always loved to fight but those had been practice blades that couldn't really hurt you swung by his parents and his friends, not steel-wielded by men who wanted to kill and eat him. Real fighting was different; there was so much blood. He could still smell it.

But if I could go back and do it again, I would have stayed my attack on the road to Grey Noke, but I would still go to the Jethrik because if I hadn't I never would have known Kasiria and she would have been sent on that mission anyway and then she'd be dead for sure.

He rolled back onto his side and looked at Kasiria. He moved his head so that his lips were right against her ear and started to whisper to her, "Kasiria if any part of you can hear me now, I am so sorry. You must live. Please don't make me damn the day I was born because I have failed you. The first time I saw you there in the garrison my heart started pounding against my chest and I knew. I knew the minute I saw you that you were my mate. Your blond hair all tied back from your beautiful face, your blue eyes so bright so intelligent, the gentle sway of your hips when you walked, the way you carried yourself, and I just knew that I was going to be with you forever . . . " He kept talking to her 'til he fell asleep.

* * *

The herald had just finished reporting to him . . .

"Tarius the Black did what?" Persius demanded.

"She extracted Derek's unit and reports that . . . ."

"No, no after that. The part where Tarius the Black took my daughter with her to the Kartik."

"She took all that were left of the troop back with her to the Kartik. She says they will make a report of the incident to Queen Hestia and come back as soon as possible to make an assault on what she calls the Amalite hive."

"Why was Tarius the Black here?"

"Captain Heath, acting Head of the Garrison also sent this." He handed the king a roll of parchment tied with a string and he took it. He could see the broken wax seal of the Katabull Nation. "He said it might explain what Tarius was doing here."

"Tell me again who she extracted from Grey Noke?" Persius asked, for the moment ignoring the parchment in his hand.

"Four Kartiks that had been assigned to the garrison, a badly wounded Katabull, and a Jethrikian girl I presume it was Kasiria as the two Kartik girls and she were the only women, well . . . In the whole army."

It was the way he said it that put Persius off. Few people knew where Kasiria was or what she was doing and all that knew had been sworn to secrecy. This jackass knew and Persius resented the way he rubbed Persius' nose in the fact that Kasiria had gone against him at every turn.

"The facts have become skewed in the telling," Persius said angrily. How could you trust the news when the people who delivered it were so often idiots? "There was no Katabull assigned to that garrison and certainly none in that troop. I would have been informed had there been. It must have been one of Tarius's people."

"What sex was the Katabull?" Hellibolt asked.

"They didn't say."

"What a stupid question why would that matter?" Persius spat at Hellibolt. He then looked at the herald and said, "Send a runner and have that fool Captain Hank's troop called back in at once. We will wait for word from Tarius and Hestia and then take action." The herald just stood there and Persius said, "Go! Now!"

When the herald was gone Persius turned to Hellibolt. "Hellibolt why did Tarius the Black come to the Jethrik in the first place? Why now and why there just in time to save Kasiria? Is it just mere coincidence?"

"He did say the parchment in your hand may answer that question," Hellibolt reminded.

Persius opened the parchment and immediately recognized Tarius's labored hand though he hadn't seen it in years. He read the letter aloud, "Derek I am sending you four of my students . . . Well that explains why the Kartik's lived when the rest of the troop died. They were trained by Tarius the Black." He read on, "Jestia is the daughter of Queen Hestia . . . Gods! . . . Ufalla and Tarius are the children of my good friend Harris." He smiled at a happy memory and said, "She always called him that, her good friend Harris." He read on, "and Jabone is my own son . . . " His hand shook and the parchment fell from his hand. He looked at Hellibolt. "Tarius has a son? She must have heard something, something that let her know they were in trouble and she came here to save them and . . . the Katabull that's hurt must be her son." Hellibolt reached down, picked up the parchment, and handed it back to the king. Persius took it and finished reading the letter. "Please keep their identity a secret as we have many enemies there. Jabone is our only child. If anything should happen to him my wrath would rain down upon the whole of the Jethrik as long as blood flowed through my body so please protect my son . . . " He paused, frowning. "What was Derek thinking? He sent these children—my child—on this mission and . . . the wrath of Tarius the Black . . . We don't have enough trouble with the Amalite horde and . . . Gods! That is why she has taken my daughter. She knows who Kasiria is and she has taken her in case her own child dies."

"Well it does seem only fair since she only has the one child and you have so many," Hellibolt said flippantly.

"This isn't funny, Hellibolt. Why else would she take Kasiria with her?"

Hellibolt shrugged. "Perhaps Kasiria wanted to go. That is what the herald reported."

"Well that would be like Kasiria. Probably thinks she will train with the Great Tarius the Black. No, that's just preposterous."

"While Tarius is going to trade her son for your daughter isn't at all?"

"What do I do?" Persius asked.

"Wait for Tarius and Hestia to contact you. Don't borrow trouble, Persius. They don't even know the girl is yours."

"You know that then?"
"Well they didn't last time I saw them," Hellibolt said with a shrug.

"Go and check on her, Hellibolt. Do whatever it is you do and go and check on Kasiria."

"I can't. She is on the water. My powers do not extend that far."

"Have you seen him? This son of Tarius'?"

"Yes, he's quite beautiful, a big strong man with his mother's dark good looks and his father's charm."

"Who is his father then?"

"Master Arvon. He is the product of a cross pairing but he is Tarius's own flesh and blood."

"I envy my own daughter, Hellibolt. Envy this time she is spending with Tarius. I still miss her. No other friend was ever so dear to me; no woman has ever stirred me so."

"The girl's mother came close."

Persius nodded and seemed suddenly far away. "All the women I love are taken from me, Hellibolt. I don't want to lose Kasiria as well. Tell me I won't lose her, Hellibolt. Tell me that she's safe."

But when he turned because silence was his only answer, Hellibolt was gone.

Chapter 19

Yri cleaned the girl's wound and redressed it while Jabone watched. The wound looked the same and he said, "She said healing sleep but she's not healing. It's exactly the same."

"Shush Jabone," Jestia said in a whisper, entering the cabin. "She may be able to hear you. I don't know. Healing sleep doesn't heal the injuries it shuts the body down so that it doesn't die until it can be healed. We still need a healer. Her body has to be put back together properly before it can start to heal." Yri nodded at them both being a man of few words and departed. "So does Yri ever smile?" Jestia asked when he was gone.

"Not often," Jabone said with a scowl of his own.

Jestia knelt beside the bed, opened Kasiria's mouth, and forced some liquid from a small vial into it. "This should help. It's supposed to take the place of food, keep the body from eating its own organs."

When Jestia started to get up she was obviously having a little trouble. He rushed to her side and helped her, then looking down at her said, "I'm sorry Jestia."

"For what?"

"Saying what I did about your spell. After all it's the only thing keeping her alive." Jestia stuck the empty vial in her pants pocket looking at him expectantly and he said, "And sorry that I asked you to cast a spell which you obviously cast at great personal cost." She was still looking at him so he sighed and went on. "And sorry that I didn't listen when you told me not to attack, but to wait. You have every right to be mad at me and . . ."

"Oh Jabone, I couldn't be mad at you, not right now." She patted the side of his face playfully and said, "Now if you do it again, I'll kill you."

"Thanks Jestia." He motioned with his head toward Kasiria and Jestia nodded.

"I'll come back in a few hours and do it again." Then she left.

Jabone sat down in a chair by Kasiria's bed. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door jam—because there wasn't a door—and when he looked up young Tarius was standing there. "Is it all right to come in?" he asked in a whisper.

Jabone nodded and Tarius walked in. "I don't think you have to whisper, Tarius, I don't think we can wake her up."

Tarius walked in and sat on the end of Jabone's mothers' bed. "How you doing?" he asked.
Jabone nodded. "Tarius I'm sorry . . . "

"For what?" Tarius laughed. "There wasn't a one of us weren't so mad at those damn cackling Amalites we weren't ready to do the same thing or worse."

"A lot of men, good men, are dead because of my pride."

"And none of us would be alive if it wasn't for you, either. Don't forget that. The night before that in the woods you flat saved our asses."

"Jestia saved us with her bats."

"That alone wouldn't have worked and you know it."

"You my friend." Jabone shook his head. "What happened to you?"

Tarius laughed. He didn't have to ask what Jabone meant. "How many times did Tarius the Black beat me down and scream at me 'I will punish your aggression!' and I just thought she was just trying to keep me down so that I wouldn't ever be as great as her. And she told me, didn't she, that I wasn't as strong as everyone else and I needed to use my speed and see my size not as a liability, but use it as an asset. That just made me want to prove I was as strong and big as everyone else all the more. My younger sister was bigger than me and stronger and better at everything than I was, and I always felt like I had something to prove. And then . . . Well your madra and Dustan taught me something without even trying. They taught me how to tell stories, wonderful stories that everyone wants to listen to. I finally felt like I was really good at something, better at something than most were, and certainly better than Ufalla who can hardly tell a joke. That was the start of it, but that alone wouldn't have done it.

"Something amazing happened, Jabone. The earth gave way under my feet and I went in that swollen creek and I didn't just almost die as you all think. I died. As I was churning around in the muddy water with my airways full of water I thought, 'Gods and spiders it's cold in here.'"

He got a chuckle from Jabone so he smiled then got serious and continued his story. "And then I actually saw my sister throwing her cloak and her gambeson off and coming in after me. I saw you guys pull us out of the water and I saw her breathe into me and pound my chest. Then I thought, 'The Great Leader breathed her own breath into me to bring me into the world and now my sister's going to breathe her breath into me to bring me back.' I realized how special that made me." He laughed and shrugged. "And then I was back, and I thought about it a lot the next couple of days. I wasn't doing anything wrong, nothing rash, nothing bold. The earth just gave way. I couldn't catch myself and that was it. I almost died, my sister almost died saving me, and if a simple chance event can kill you how much more trying to do something you know you can't really do in the first place? I started to really hear everything your madra had been telling me all those years. My father . . . great stories are told of him and wonderful songs are sung as tribute to his deeds and yet he never did anything but stand in your mother's huge shadow taking up her slack, and everything about him is to be admired. Your madra always told me, sometimes so loudly my ears rang that, 'The war is not won by great feats it is won by living and killing the enemy one at a time,' and that drove me crazy. I just didn't get it, but now I do. It's like now I know just exactly what she meant, everything that she meant, everything she told me, everything my father did, it all makes sense now.

"Jabone, if I had not fallen in that creek, then I probably would have died on the end of a spear or on the edge of a sword in either one of those battles because I just would have been trying so hard to prove something instead of just staying alive and killing my enemies one at a time."

Jabone nodded.

"And Jabone, maybe something good will come of this too," Tarius said looking with meaning at Kasiria.

Jabone looked at Kasiria. "My brother, what good could come of this?"

"Well for one thing when she wakes up she'll be in the Kartik, where it's always warm, never dreary, and the food is always good."

Jabone smiled. That was the first time anyone had said "when she wakes up." He nodded his head silently and fought back his tears. "Tarius, Jestia says she might be able to hear, to think, and if she can I can't bear to think of her lying there having nothing to think on but the horror of battle. Could you tell her a story?"

"Girls like love stories, and I think we're all fed up with battle." Tarius seemed to think about it a minute then nodded, stood up, and as if he was telling the tale to a huge audience in a crowded tavern he launched into his tale. "I tell the tale of the great lovers Kasiria and Jabone. Now it was at this time that Jabone did decide to leave his parents' home and travel with his friends Ufalla, Jestia, and Tarius, not Tarius the Black mind you but a lesser-known, very good looking hero by that same name . . . "

* * *

Tarius the Black stood on the bow of the ship looking out at the sea before them and wishing there was a bit more wind for the sails. She took her eyeglass and looked out at the open water just because she liked to see what she could see.

"I see a whale, Jena, do you want to see?" She turned to her, handing her the eyeglass and pointed. "Over there."

Jena looked, then said with a smile, "Yes I see it." She took the eye glass away from her eye and looked at Tarius. "Just once you could at least pretend like I had snuck up on you."

"Oh but my great love I always know where you are."

She wrapped her arms around Jena and kissed the top of her head. "You saved our son, Jena."

"You saved our son, I just had a dream," Jena said. She pushed back from Tarius then. "Tarius, have you seen the trinket our son wears around his neck?"

"You mean the one he thinks is copper and which is really the finest gold? Aye I've seen it."

"And do you know where he got it?"

"As well as you do. You saw his cuff on her arm. They have made the exchange and the girl gave it to him."

"Tarius," Jena said with venom, "do you know what that thing is?"

"Of course I do. I was in the country of your birth, for four years. I worked for the king. I know what it is. The only thing that should be important to us is that it means that our son loves that girl," Tarius said simply.

"Do you know who that girl is. Tarius, whose child she is?"

"She is bound to our son, so she is our child," Tarius said.

"Dammit. Tarius! You know what I mean. Do you know who her father is?"
"Yes, I know," Tarius said with a hiss. "I had noticed she looked very familiar to me and when I saw the medallion with the king's seal around our son's neck I knew."

"Our son can not be with his daughter," Jena said emphatically.

"If I know our son he has already been with her many times," Tarius said with a smile.

"I won't allow it," Jena said angrily.

Tarius was a little taken aback. "Jena! I can't believe that you of all people would tell our son who he can and can not love."

"You forgave Persius, Tarius. I do not, I will not and . . . "

"The girl is not her father any more than our son is us. You know our son, Jena, you know him better than I do. Would he have fallen so completely in love with this girl if she wasn't something very special?"

"He doesn't know who she is, Tarius. She didn't tell him who she was. Why didn't she? He loves her, but how do we know that she loves him?"

"Because she is the Katabull, Jena. I don't know how one of Persius's children came to be the Katabull, but she is. And since she is the Katabull how could she help but to love our son for he is the most magnificent boy in the whole of the Katabull Nation . . . Come here." She drew Jena into her arms and looked down into her face. "The girl may not live, Jena. She probably won't live, and that being the case just let our son have this time with her. We don't need to tell him who her father is. If she lives and she wants to tell him then so be it. If she really loves him, don't you think it would be the last thing she'd want to tell him?"

Jena nodded.

Tarius laughed.

"What?" Jena asked. She looked to where Tarius was pointing and saw Jestia and Ufalla standing against the bow kissing. It wasn't just a friendly kiss either because it didn't look like it was going to end any time soon.

"Hestia's going to crap herself," Tarius said.

* * *

Jestia had talked her into an empty cabin again. She was shoving her against the wall and had her hand down Ufalla's pants too fast for Ufalla to protest, and then Jestia was touching her and all thought of protesting flew out a porthole. Later they were sprawled all over each other on one of the top bunks, naked and just talking.
Ufalla was laughing. "What are you saying exactly Jestia?"

"That every time we do it I get more powerful, that's all."

"Let me get this straight. You think that every time we make love your power increases?" Ufalla laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I'm serious," Jestia said. "Think about it. I couldn't cast invisible shield and now well I'll bet I could do it right now if I wanted, and that healing sleep spell? I never in a million years should have been able to do that one and it seems to be working. It knocked me all the way down but now, right now, I feel fine, and I can feel my power growing."

All hint of humor left Ufalla's face. "He never should have made you do that spell, it was too dangerous for you."

"Would you get your hairs out of a knot? It isn't that big a deal."

"It is to me," Ufalla said.

"Ufalla, don't be mad at Jabone. I didn't tell anyone the spell was dangerous for me, and he's got enough to worry about without you being mad at him. You don't know how he feels, but I do." She moved a stray straind of hair out of Ufalla's face and kissed her gently on the lips. "I know exactly what he's going through because I thought I was going to lose you, too. I was just as sure you were going to die as he must have been. You're his best friend, Ufalla, he needs you now." She smiled wickedly. "Well not right now."

"Jestia, if you really are getting more powerful every time we do it then you're going to explode."

"Do you want to help me rebuild my powers or not?"

"Well if I must, I must."

* * *

Tarius went looking for the witch and wasn't too surprised to look into one of the cabins and see clothes discarded all over the floor and two pairs of feet hanging off a top bunk.

"Are you finished?" Tarius asked, and heard the two girls mumbling to each other.

Jestia's head popped over the edge of the bed and she said with a non-apologetic smile, "Just," at which point her whole body jerked as the other girl obviously shoved her. Then they were both laughing.

"Are you well, Jestia?"

"Better than well at the moment," she answered.

Tarius laughed. "I meant are you well enough to cast a spell?"

"No," Tarius heard Ufalla whisper.

"Yes, I think so," Jestia said.

Then Ufalla's head poked over the edge of the bed and she was glaring at Tarius. "No she can't do a spell for you right now. You made her do a spell that almost killed her and she's just now starting to feel better." Then she seemed to remember who she was talking to and added, "Great Leader."

"I'm sorry, you're right of course," Tarius said. she was being selfish.

"No she's not." Jestia jumped down from the bed then, quite naked, and started to pick up her clothes. "I can do a spell. I feel fine." She started getting dressed and looked at Tarius. "She thinks she has to protect me all the time, but ask her who snatched her out of the mouth of death. Me."

"I saved you first," Ufalla said, climbing down just as naked and also started dressing.

Jestia smiled and moved to kiss Ufalla on the cheek. "That you did."

"So are you two," Tarius shrugged, "just having some fun, or is this serious?"

"She's going to marry me," Jestia said matter-of-factly.

"I am?" Ufalla asked, more than a little surprised.

"Yes," Jestia said, walking out of the cabin with Ufalla right behind her and Tarius following them, "and not one of those Katabull trinket-exchange things either, Ufalla. I want a full-blown ceremony with you promising to love me and only me with passion for the rest of your life." Ufalla looked back at Tarius, rolled her eyes, and Tarius just laughed.

"I will have the most gorgeous dress made in blues and greens because I look best in those and you will wear armor, not that raggedy nasty now bloody and holey stuff but the fancy, shiny stuff, and you won't be making that face that I know you're making right now, either."

They were on deck then and Jestia looked at the hardly-billowing sails. She turned to face Tarius. "Let me guess you'd like more wind in the sails."

Tarius nodded.

Jestia flipped her hand about and said, "Wind in sails," and they all had to catch themselves as the ship started moving faster with a lurch.

Tarius just stared dumbfounded. Where was the silly incantation she was so used to hearing before a spell was cast?

"She's a thought caster," Ufalla explained, guessing what Tarius was startled by.

Tarius just nodded as if she understood perfectly what that meant, though she really had no idea.

"Tarius, you'll officiate at the ceremony of course."

"Of course?" Tarius looked at Ufalla who looked like she was being choked and smiled, "Oh girl, did you have any idea what you were in for?"

"Of course she did, she's known me all her life. She knows what I'm like and she still loves me, don't you, Ufalla?

"Yes," Ufalla said with a sigh. She looked at Tarius. "With all my heart and soul." Which was no doubt why she looked so distraught. She was trapped and she knew it.

"Now I don't want anything stuffy or formal, Tarius, just things about undying devotion and . . . "

"Jestia," Tarius said, "you do realize that your mother's going to have a screaming conniption fit over this union."

This just seemed to totally elate the already excited girl. "Oh! Do you really think so? What a marvelous extra."

"Jestia, I don't think you understand how upset your mother is going to be," Tarius said. Jestia was second in line for the Kartik throne. Her mother expected her to marry a man of noble birth and have heirs for the kingdom. If the girl wanted to keep her half-Jethrikian female lover that would be fine, but bound to her under Kartik law, no.

"I don't think you understand how much I don't care what she thinks," Jestia said. "My parent's didn't even write me a letter. They certainly didn't risk their necks to save me like you did for Jabone or Tarius and Ufalla's father did for them. I am going to be bound to her. Will you officiate?"

"Of course," Tarius said, thinking she was possibly the only one in the kingdom that could get away with it because Hestia wouldn't dare to incur her wrath. She watched as the two girls walked away Jestia basically planning out the whole of their lives together.

"We certainly aren't living in the castle because I hate it there and I'm not living in one of those mud huts you people dwell in either. I'm thinking we could get a home in Montero." Then she slapped Ufalla on the arm hard. "Maybe we'll buy our own spring . . . "

Ufalla looked over her shoulder at Tarius and mouthed the words, "help me."

Tarius laughed and went to find her son. He was in the first place she looked, which was where she expected to find him, sitting beside the girl. He looked up at her his face a mask of pain and she smiled at him. "My son I don't think going without food and fresh air and holding your face in such an unhappy mold is going to help her any."

He nodded, tried to smile, and failed. She sat down on her bed and just looked at him. She had told Jena she would get to him in time but it had all been boasting. She had never been sure, and the minute her foot had touched the shore of the territories and she'd smelled the Amalites she had known they were running out of time. How could she explain to him that when he was in so much pain she just wanted to laugh out loud because she had once again felt the rush of the battle and all those she cared for had been spared?

Well not all, Derek was gone.

"Why don't you go up and find your mother? She will get you something to eat and you'll feel better," she said, thinking that his mother's attention would do him more good than any food she might make him.

He nodded and stood up and she realized that he still didn't really know how to not do what she told him to. He's a man, but he's still a boy, my boy. He only went against my will once in the whole of his life, to go to the territories to fight my enemies, and now they are his and he is second guessing everything that he did because of the outcome.

"Jabone, in battle you make the decisions of your body more than your mind. Your instinct guides you."

"But Madra, did you ever lead any battle you didn't win?"

She sighed as the memory ran through her brain. "My son, at the last battle of the Great War I made a mistake that nearly got myself, your mother, your fadra, and the whole of the Marching Night killed. It did get your mother's father and Tweed and many others of our pack killed." He looked at her in disbelief. "You never have heard the story for your mother will not listen and she drags you away with her. I used a formation I had used before against the Amalites and they were desperate. When they saw where we were they knew that we were blocking their retreat and the whole body of them did turn to attack us, us alone. I called a retreat and Harris led it as I stayed behind to try to slow them down. It is only because of the good people who stood with me that day and would not follow my orders that I'm alive to tell the tale and only because Persius, the King of the Jethrik, ordered his troops to our rescue that my mistake didn't take us all from this earth. He stopped a blade meant for me that day."

Jabone sat back down. "How did you know? How did you come to save us?"

"Your mother had a dream." She told him the dream.

When she had finished he nodded and said, "I had a dream when we were in the garrison. I told it to Jestia and she said that it meant my mother's love would protect me even in the territories."
"And so it did," she said. "Now, go let your mother feed you. It does her heart good to think you still need her."

He got up, walked over to her and kissed her on the top of her head. "I do still need her, I need you all, obviously." He stood up and headed for the door. He stopped half way through it and turned to face her. "Kasiria always wanted to hear a story where Persius wasn't the villain and Tarius wouldn't tell it because he said it was your story alone to tell. Jestia says that Kasiria might be able to hear us. Madra would you tell her your story?"

"I will if you will go and eat," she said. He nodded and left.

She got up and moved to the chair her son had been sitting in and looked down at the girl. "You do look so familiar." She took a deep breath. She felt somewhat silly to be telling a story to this unconscious, barely-alive, spell-bound girl, but she had promised so she began, "I tell the tale of the redemption of your father Persius, King of all the Jethrik. Now it was in this time that Persius had lived many years under the curse of Tarius the Black, that would be me, and he had neither slept in peace nor enjoyed life.—But I'm guessing you were born during that time so he must have enjoyed something, any way . . . ."

* * *

Eric sat on the rail of the ship looking out over the sea. They'd made her drink some concoction when she'd boarded which she was sure was meant to poison her at the time. It was horrid and she had tried to quit drinking it several times but the Kartik who'd given it to her had just kept forcing the cup back to her lips and shouting some Kartik word at her that she assumed meant drink. When she had asked young Tarius about it he had said it was the Kartik's famous sea sickness and hangover tonic. Having never been at sea before she had no idea what sea sickness was, but as the boat had left port and her excitement had been replaced by a rolling in her stomach she figured it out. Then just as she had been sure she was about to throw up, her stomach had quieted and she'd been able to just enjoy the fantastic new adventure of being at sea in a Kartik ship in the company of the Marching Night and Tarius the Black herself no less.

Katabulls and witches and the greatest fighting force the world has ever known, and me, she thought.

She rather felt she didn't fit in at all and most of them didn't speak Jethrikian either. But here she was foreign, and a fighter, and a woman, and though she couldn't understand what they were saying she didn't think they were taunting her.

Thomas was dead and she doubted any of them cared, but he had been her dear friend. Oh she knew that if he had known she was a woman he would have hated her at least as much as he had hated Kasiria. At least at first. In the end Thomas had been growing to respect Kasiria, even trust her judgment, and he had told her on more than one occasion that he envied the way she was able to keep her Kartik unit out-performing all the others. That was why he had wanted Eric to go with them to see what Kasiria might be doing differently. But how could she explain that the only real difference was something he'd never be able to copy because the big secret was mutual respect? Well that and the fact that they were all bedding each other.

Thomas had been growing up, becoming a better man, and now he was never going to get a chance to be the best man he could be. None of them were going to be. She'd been with the unit all through the academy. There was no one in her unit she hadn't felt close to, that she hadn't connected with. She had been very angry with Kasiria after the bandits had attacked them. To Kasiria three men, three tormentors, were dead and she could have cared less, but to Eric three friends were dead. Jona, Henry and Kosian. Now they were all dead. She and Kasiria were the only ones left, and the only reason she was alive was because she had formed a different attachment to Kasiria's unit. They knew what she was and except for Kasiria—who had reason to dislike her—the others had embraced her, respected her not for what she appeared to be, but for what she was. And so she had been with them instead of her own unit in both battles and they were superior fighters and so the others were all dead and she was alive.

She hadn't seen him come up until he was standing right in front of her and didn't know she was crying until he was handing her a handkerchief. She wiped her face and blew her nose then looked at him.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Which was always a stupid question to ask when someone was crying.

"I'm fine. They're all dead and I've got a few stitches in my arm and my leg but I'm fine.

Hell, I'm better than fine. If I could have picked a fantasy and had it come true it would have been this, to be part of the Marching Night, and I am aren't I?"

"That is what the Great Leader has said," Tarius answered. "And as you might have guessed what she says goes."

"But why? Why did she welcome me into her pack? I'm nothing special."
He laughed at her and punched her in the arm—luckily not the one with the stitches. "Eric, you fought shoulder to shoulder with us and who knows if any of us would be alive if you hadn't been there. That is the code of the Marching Night. You protect your fellows because they protect you and if they're not there then you may fall to the sword blow they would have stopped. I'm sure Tarius and Jena and Arvon consider that you have helped to save their cub." Tarius grinned broadly, "Bards will tell great stories of you. In fact I will tell one right now."

And so he did. She knew he was just trying to cheer her up but that was all right because it worked.

Chapter 20

Where had they come from? He had no idea and now they were everywhere, attacking the horses then knocking them onto their riders. Hundreds of them pulling and stabbing, slashing, and killing.

* * *

Earlier that day they had found where a battle had obviously raged because the whole field had been churned up and there was blood everywhere, but there was nothing else, not a body, not a shield, not a weapon.

He'd heard the lieutenant ask the captain, "Where are the weapons?"

"Tarius the Black must have taken them. It is said she will leave nothing that might be of use to the enemy," the captain answered.

"Where are the bodies?" he asked.

"That I don't know," he said, and they started up a trail that went deep into the woods. Here they found another site of obvious battle but again not a single body.

No bird sang, no bug made a sound. The captain had ordered them to dismount and look for any evidence that any of the troop might still be alive. He had seen something strange on the ground and had bent over and picked it up without thinking. He quickly dropped it when he realized it was a chunk of skull with brain and hair still attached. Tarius the Black had been right. No one had lived through this slaughter save those that she had extracted and they were about to be next. He knew it, could feel it in his bones even before he heard that awful sound.

When he'd heard it the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. It was like nothing he'd ever heard before, like the sound of a thousand feet scraping against an earthen floor. His heart had filled with dread, and then they were all over them.

* * *

They were all going to die, and that being the case there was no glory in making a stand. He screamed at his unit to retreat and they did, but only three of them made it clear of the battle, and they just rode in a dead heat in and out of trees, trying to ignore the battle at their backs. They weren't cowards; they were just practical. They were well clear when they came to a big rocky hill. They started running around it because to go over it would have slowed them down too much. One of his fellows, obviously with a stronger sense of self preservation than even he had, had gotten ahead of him and run right into a wall of Amalites. They seemed to just be boiling up out of the ground. He and his other fellow turned their horses back the way he had come and he—remembering what they had left behind them—turned his horse once again and then just started running his horse through the woods like a thousand demons were behind him because they were. He heard his last fellow scream and turned his head just in time to see him topple to the ground with an arrow through his chest.

He spurred his horse on, pushing him to his limits. He had to get back, he had to get to the garrison and tell them that he knew where they were hiding. Tell them how many of them there were.

Mostly he just had to get away from those things.

He didn't see the rope. It hit him hard in the chest and knocked him off his horse. The horse ran on and then they were on him and he prayed death would come quickly—which it did.

Chapter 21

Persius glared at the herald. "What!" he boomed.

The herald, who was no doubt tired of having to repeat everything twice and feeling more and more by the day that he was close to being beheaded said, "There is no word from Captain Hank's troop and the last runner sent to meet him has also gone missing." Then he cringed.

Persius took a deep breath and let it out. "What matter of fool doesn't listen to Tarius the Black in matters concerning war? They are all dead. You know that, don't you?"

The herald just shrugged.

Persius thought over the message Tarius had left for him. She was going to the Kartik. She would meet with Queen Hestia and then she would come back and they would discuss how best to deal with the Amalite horde. He was sure that if his people knew that he was taking no action while waiting for the council of two women there would be a great outcry, but they didn't know and they weren't going to find out. If his news was undependable, the common man's was far worse, and everyone who knew what was really going on could be hung for treason to the crown if they opened their mouths. Still it irked him to do nothing, to have no idea what was really going on when he was sure that Tarius did.

He ignored the herald for the moment, turning to Hellibolt. "She doesn't expect the Amalites to move against us again. That must be why she is in no hurry, why she has returned to the Kartik. Her son is wounded and she has time for him to heal because she doesn't expect the Amalites to move again soon, but why? Why doesn't she expect them to attack again?"

Hellibolt shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know! What manner of wizard are you?"

"An honest one. If I knew, I'd tell you."

"Oh no you wouldn't. You'd spit out a bunch of riddles then I'd spend weeks trying to figure out just what you meant and then just as I did you'd come back and tell me I was wrong."

"Sire," the Herald said, "what message do you want sent to the garrison?"

"Hellibolt, what should I do?"

"What matter of fool doesn't listen to Tarius the Black concerning war?" Hellibolt repeated.

Persius took a deep breath, let it out, and then calm he turned to the herald. "Tell them I said to do nothing. That we are waiting for Tarius the Black to return from the Kartik. She knows what we are facing and two troops of our men have died trying to learn that. When she has returned I will meet with her and we will make our plans. That is all." This time the herald left at a run, no doubt glad to take Persius's leave.

"You are willing to let her run things then?"

"For the most part. What real choice do I have? She has my daughter for one thing. Besides, only she has faced them and lived. Only she and her people are even close to knowing where to find them. This will not be an ordinary battle; I know that." He looked at Hellibolt for conformation.

Hellibolt nodded and said, "I have seen a multitude of them swarming in my mind a great menace."

"Tell me now, do we have time to wait for Tarius?"

"Yes, the Amalites will not need to raid another village for a long time as they are very busy filling their larder."

"What does that even mean?"

Of course Hellibolt had gone.

* * *

The bulk of the Marching Night had stayed in the Valley of the Katabull. They had gathered up the Katabull's best surgeon and Arvon, Jena, Tarius the Black, Jabone, Jestia and Ufalla had taken Kasiria and gone on to Jezel's spring in Montero. Jabone had ridden in the wagon with Kasiria the whole way to Montero, holding her head to keep it from jarring around in the back of the wagon even though Jestia kept insisting she couldn't feel a thing.

When they had pulled up outside Jezel's, his madra went in to get the old witch, then returned to the group with Jezel in tow. Jazel looked over Kasiria where she lay with her head still cradled in Jabone's lap then looked at Jestia who had just dismounted from her horse and hissed at her, "What have you done girl?"

"You know what I did old woman," Jestia said, unrepentant.

"You're lucky to be alive."

"I know."

Jezel nodded and said grudgingly, "You did a good job. She seems to be in a complete state of nothingness."

"That's good?" Tarius asked.

"She hasn't gotten any worse has she?"

"No," Tarius said.

"Then considering that air is still leaking out of one of her lungs I'd say she's doing a lot better than the dead she should have been. We need a good surgeon. I'm a witch not a cutter."

"Taboro is the best cutter of my people," Tarius said.

"Cutter?" Jabone didn't like the sounds of that.

"Taboro knows what he's doing, son," Jena said.

Jabone moved, laying her head down carefully and then he grabbed one end of the stretcher as his madra grabbed the other and they unloaded Kasiria from the wagon. They took her directly to the spring where Taboro explained, "Jabone, you and Ufalla will help me. I need you to bring the stretcher into the water. You will hold her above the water. I will make the cut then you will put her under the water and I will close her lung. Then when the wound has stopped bubbling we will bring her out of the water and she can be stitched closed."

Jabone nodded then watched as Taboro started undressing her. Jabone stopped him when he started to take off her pants. "No, don't. She'd be so embarrassed if she knew she was even half naked in front of everyone much less fully naked. Will it make a difference?"

Taboro looked at his madra and she nodded then smiled. "Jena used to be like that but she out grew it."

His mother smiled at her but said nothing.

"Taboro, could you leave your pants on as well?" Jabone asked. "Ufalla and I will leave ours on, and that way when I tell her about it when she wakes up, I won't have to lie and she won't be embarrassed."

Taboro nodded.

Jabone didn't know exactly what to expect. His heart was racing, and he felt sick to his stomach. Then his fadra was at his shoulder he whispered in his ear, "Your madra believes in Taboro's skill. If you want to be safe follow the man who bears the most scars. Trust your madra. Jabone. I would have been dead had I not trusted in her. We are all here for you no matter what happens."

Jabone looked at him and nodded. He felt stronger, more certain, and he didn't analyze it. He and Ufalla carried Kasiria into the water and Taboro and his mother followed them in he realized then that his mother was going to help Taboro and saw with a smile that she wore all her clothes in. She smiled back at him and said, "I still don't like being naked in groups, you know that."

Taboro stood on one side of Kasiria and his mother stood on the other and he and Ufalla were holding the stretcher with Kasiria on it above the water.

Taboro poked at the wound a couple of times on the outside and then he put his finger inside and poked around. Jabone would have sworn he could feel it in his own chest.

"What are you doing to her?" he demanded.

"Quiet, Jabone. He knows what he's doing. He has to check to make sure all her organs are out of the way of where he'll be cutting," his mother said gently.

"And I have to see how much is damaged and how much room I'm going to need to work," Taboro said. "It's all right, Jena. I can tell him what I'm doing as I do it if he wants to know. Some people want to know what you're doing. Others would just as soon," he stopped, moving his finger to the side obviously pushing on something inside Kasiria's body 'til it made a popping sound, "not know. Just getting that rib out of the way."

When his stomach began to turn Jabone almost admitted he was one of those people who'd rather not know except he did want to know, needed to. He looked at his fadra and madra standing together on the side of the pool, their faces masks of calm, and he took strength from them.

Taboro looked at Jena then and drew a line across Kasiria's chest with his finger. "I'll be cutting here." His mother nodded and put her hands on either side of where he had indicated. Then he pulled a sharp knife from a sheath he had put on the stretcher next to Kasiria. "And now we start to cut." Jabone noticed his mother pushed on either side to help with the cutting and thought of butchering meat. He swallowed hard and steeled himself. The cut bled but not badly and Taboro said to Jestia who also stood beside the pool, "Nice spell. Makes it very easy to work."

"Thanks," Jestia said.

"Now," Taboro said, "Jena if you will reach in and spread her ribs so that I can get in there."

And then his mother's fingers were in Kasiria's body and Jena was using all her strength to pull her ribs apart until he could see Kasiria's insides. He had to look away.

"Brave heart Jabone," his madra called from the bank of the pool.

He just nodded and was reminded briefly of her coaching him as he fought what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Taboro took a small piece of polished bamboo from the stretcher then said, "All right Ufalla, Jabone, put her into the water so that the wound is just under the surface and of course so that her head isn't." They did and his mother never quit holding the wound open. The wound was bubbling so much that the water at the surface looked like it was boiling. Then Taboro put one hand into the opening. "I have to pinch the wound in the lung closed and hope the waters will heal it closed immediately, but first I have to blow it up." He took his other hand with the bamboo in it and stuck it into Kasiria's body and then he blew gently into it. At the same time he was obviously doing something in her body with his other hand. Then he drew out the bamboo, threw it away, made one more movement with his other hand and drew it out, too.

"All right Jena," Taboro said, and Jena let go washing her hands in the water which was growing red and then clearing almost instantly. "And now we wait to see if we have sealed the hole." In a few minutes the water stopped bubbling and Taboro smiled at him. "And we have. The lung is sealed. And now you take her out of the water and put her on the table."

Jabone and Ufalla carried Kasiria out of the water and set her down on the table. When he saw the gapping wound where the small one had been he didn't think this could actually be better, but then he saw that the right side of Kasiria's chest was moving for the first time in days. His mother and Ufalla were drying Kasiria off and then covering her wet pants with a blanket. Taboro dryed himself off and then he walked over and put his hand in the wound again and again Jabone could hear that awful popping sound.

"The Katabull when we change, our chest expands. For this reason our ribs can be popped both into and out of place quite easily. It makes us easier to work on than humans. We popped them out of place and now we have popped them back in," he explained.

Jabone just nodded.

Meanwhile, his mother had threaded a needle. When Taboro had finished putting Kasiria's ribs back in place it was his mother who started sewing the wound back together, sewing her flesh just like she had sewed his shirts. With everything else she was, he often forgot that she was also a medic. As she was sewing Kasiria's wound closed she was teaching Ufalla who stood at her shoulder, watching. Jabone had medic's training, too, but not to the extent that Ufalla or young Tarius did. He knew just enough to be able to field dress a wound and to be really worried about everything that was happening with Kasiria.

"We have time," his mother told Ufalla, "and she's a beautiful girl, so you make smaller stitches. They are harder to pull when the time comes but heal more quickly and, like I said, they just make less of a mess."

All just part of a day's work. Jabone tried to remember what his fadra had said concerning his mother, That he sometimes thought my mother was the strongest person he knows, and he's right. I couldn't have done any of the things she just did, even if I had known how. As if to drive this point home he felt his madra's hand on his shoulder and then a chair behind his knees as she guided him to sit. Then Jezel was pressing what he thought was a cup of water into his hands and he realized he was queasy and that he'd almost passed out.

His madra was patting his back 'til half the contents of the cup in his hand spilt into his lap. She had always patted him like this to comfort him so whenever she did it he always did feel better in spite of the fact she often "patted" him so hard she made his teeth rattle. He drank from the cup with it knocking into his teeth as his madra called him her "poor baby" and he almost spit the vile stuff out but had already swallowed it.

"What is this Jezel?"

"It's a potion to calm your nerves."

"Drink it. You'll feel better. You have done all you need to do and now you need to rest," his madra coaxed. He drank the rest of the swill down in one swallow.

What am I? I couldn't protect Kasiria and now I'm weak-kneed and sick to my stomach just watching the ordeal she had to go through. I am an embarrassment to my madra and to my grandfather's name.

"Hold the stretcher that's all I had to do was hold the stretcher," Jabone said. "I couldn't even do that right."

"Yes you did, son. You didn't get sick 'til you got out of the water. You did well. You've had very little food and less sleep. There is just so much a body can take," his madra said.

He didn't believe her. She was just saying it to make him feel better and . . . Did a bird just fly by? I'm pretty sure a bird just flew by. And what's that? Is that a whale? That pool's not big enough for a whale. What nature of idiot put that in there? He started to laugh because it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen.

Next thing he knew Taboro had him under one arm and his madra had him under the other and they were hauling him back into Jazel's Inn. . His fadra was walking at his back, assuring him that Kasiria hadn't felt a thing. He didn't remember anything after that.

* * *

"Well?" Jestia asked Jena, looking over her shoulder at where she was finishing stitching up Kasiria.

"It went well, but I just don't know," Jena said with a sigh. Suddenly she was just exhausted, still she wanted to know. "What is the nature of the spell, Jestia?"

"She stays asleep 'til she heals." It was Jezel who answered. "If she can heal. If you can fix the actual injury, and it looks like you have, then you don't have to worry about the wasting, and she should heal just fine."

"What do we have to worry about, Jazel?" Jena asked. Carefully tying off the last stitch and cutting the thread she turned to face the witch.

"Jestia did a good job with the spell but this is a very powerful spell one that most witches won't cast. This spell cheats death and death doesn't like to be cheated. It takes much from the caster and . . . If it works, the girl will awaken when she is healed and be fine. If the spell hasn't ruined her mind," Jezel explained.

Jena was still confused. "What do you mean if it hasn't ruined her mind?"

"I told you," Jestia said, sounding more than a little put out. "She could be an imbecile."

Jena nodded. She did remember that. Had that only been a few days ago? It seemed like years. What private hell is this, to see my son in such pain. He is already beyond being able to function. How much worse will he be if she dies, or worse yet wakes up and is something he never knew and his madra has to kill her? He'd never forgive Tarius and that would crush her. But if the girl lives then we will be forever tied to Persius a man I despise with every fiber of my being. My child with his. He nearly killed Tarius, he nearly ruined us. She looked back at the girl, but Tarius is right, the girl is not her father and our son does love her and I can't bear to see him in such pain. I have had my hands inside her and stitched her up. She isn't any different than any other Katabull I have helped work on over the years. I must accept her whether she lives or not I must reconcile with this.

"Is there any way of knowing if her mind is broken?" Jena asked.

"Not until she wakes up," Jazel answered.

Together they moved her to a dry stretcher, then stripped her of her wet clothes put her in a gown and started moving her towards the inn.

Ufalla had taken one end of the stretcher and to her surprise Jestia had taken the other and she didn't seem to be having any trouble at all with it. All the sword training has made her strong Jena thought, but then Jazel was cackling at her back.

"You've done it, haven't you girl?" Jazel asked.

Jestia turned her head to look at the old witch and smiled.

"Done what?" Jena asked curiously.

"She's learned to cast from her thoughts," Jazel said proudly. "She doesn't have to use incantations she just thinks what spell she wants and it is cast. What are you using?"

"Half weight," Jestia said.

When they had laid Kasiria on a bed in the room Tarius had put Jabone in, Jazel looked at Jena and said, "If you'll excuse us I think me and my apprentice have some catching up to do." They took off and then Ufalla shrugged looking forgotten and asked, "Can I help you with anything Jena?"

"Nothing I can think of at the moment, thanks." Jena smiled. "I wouldn't worry too much about young Jestia losing interest in you any time soon, Ufalla. The girl is obviously smitten with you."

Ufalla smiled and nodded, "Well I guess I'll just go soak in the spring." She turned and left.

Jena watched her leave, thinking, Little Ufalla, not so little, all grown up, they were all grown now. It's so hard to face the passage of time. Getting older, having our children grow older, watching them go through the same trials and tribulations we had to go through.

They thought they had done their best to protect Jabone and now he was in the worst pain imaginable and who knew whether it was their fault or not. They could have raised him to be a fisherman or a blacksmith, but they raised him to be a fighter because it was what they were and what they knew. It was their tutorage that had brought him to where he was now. If they hadn't trained him to fight then what path might he have chosen? What hell might have awaited him there? You could never be sure that you weren't just pushing them in just the right direction to send them straight into misery. What mistakes had they made raising him that might have contributed to this moment of pain, and were they to blame?

She looked at her son as he slept and even in a potion-induced sleep his face was still filled with worry and something else that she knew all to well. He was no longer happily ignorant, no longer a naive, innocent youth. Two battles had stripped that from him and she knew from experience that once you had lost it there was no getting it back. No pretending that you didn't know what horrors lived in the dark of men's souls. Ignorance was bliss, knowledge often as not caused pain. She walked over and took off his wet pants, smiling that Tarius hadn't thought to do so, and then she covered him with a blanket and kissed his forehead. She started to leave the room and then walked over and covered the girl as well. She looked into her face.

How am I ever going to be able to forget who you are? When I look at your face I see him. I see him shooting Tarius in the belly with an arrow. Knowing I did little to stop him I relive my own shame, my own pain every time I see you. If you live you'll know what it's like to be shot through with poison and how will you be able to look her in the eye knowing what your father did to her? To me . . . I have to stop this, my anger won't serve me, and she isn't the cause of my anger just a reminder of it. If I don't accept her it will drive a wedge between me and my son so I have to, and who knows but that she's a lovely girl and she can't help it if she has her father's face.

* * *

Jazel's mate Helen had made them some tea. Jestia loved really good tea. Nothing quite quenched her thirst in the same way and it had been awhile since she'd had any decent tea so she was savoring it. They were sitting in Jezel's alchemy talking. Jestia decided her alchemy would be breezier and not so dank. Where was it written that a witch's potion room had to be so messy and abysmal looking? Would it make the potions any less powerful if you used pretty-colored jars for the herbs instead of stuff just hanging collecting dust everywhere and maybe clay pots to put the uglier stuff in so you didn't have to look at it and . . .

"Jestia," Jazel said and Jestia looked at her. "Are you here with us now?"

"I'm sorry, Jazel, I was just building my own alchemy in my mind."

Jazel laughed. "So casting has your interest again, for how long?"

Jestia looked at her then and all frivolous thought left her mind. "I am a witch, Jazel. It's no longer just another distraction, it's who I am. I am a witch."

Jazel nodded as if it was something she already suspected. "You have gotten very powerful very quickly." From her tone it was difficult to say whether she thought this was a good thing or not.

"Necessity provided an enducement mere desire could not," Jestia said, and decided she needed to write that one down before she forgot it.

They talked for quite awhile about magic and spells.

"Wall of bats," Jazel laughed. "And that worked?"

"Better than you would think," Jestia said with a smile. "But you have to realize there were thousands of them. So many you couldn't see the sky. If I hadn't cast them myself they would have scared me, too."

"Thousands of them?" Jazel asked curiously. "Where did they come from?"

Jestia shrugged, "I have no idea. Wherever bats come from I guess."

"That many, coming that fast—they had to be close."

Jestia shrugged again then asked quite seriously. "Jazel, this may not sound like it but I assure you it is a serious question. Can sex make you more powerful?"

Helen laughed. "Oh don't tell me that young witches are still using that one to get girls into their bed."

Jezel smiled and ignored her mate. "Not that I know of, why do you ask?"

"Because . . . Well I wasn't queer before and ever since I've been with Ufalla, well that's when I started getting so much stronger so quickly. I was trying to do invisible shield—oh and by the way thanks a whole hell of a lot for only giving me half the incantation."

"I gave you the whole incantation. You weren't listening, and I don't like to repeat myself."

"All right I deserve that but anyway . . . " She told them all about Ufalla and the spell. "And then I did healing sleep and I know it should have near killed me and all it really did was knock me out for a little while and make me a little weak. As soon as I made love with Ufalla I felt fine."

Jazel laughed and shook her head. "Silly girl, Ufalla didn't make you queer. Most magic users are. Look at the Katabull—they are magical creatures and most of them are queer. There is an equality in same-sex partnerships which is necessary for our growth as witches. You were just too young to know what you wanted. It's not the sex that makes you grow more powerful, it's because you love her, really love her, and she loves you. Her devotion to you is complete and obvious. That's an incredible well of power to pull from. It's that love, and your own growth as a person that's making you stronger, not the sex. Ufalla grounds you, gives you a reason for all you do. She makes you part of the world instead of just walking on it. Having a lover will never make a witch stronger. Having a bond with someone, sharing not just your body but your soul, your whole self with them, that is powerful magic." She looked at Helen and smiled and Helen smiled back. "And Ufalla's not just a good woman, but a very strong one and not untouched by magic. She's not Katabull but she was raised with them."

Jestia smiled stupidly and said, "We're going to get married."

"Oh, Jestia, your mother will just crap."

* * *

After a long soak, feeling drained, Ufalla had just crawled into bed but she couldn't sleep. She'd gotten too used to having Jestia beside her. She started to get up and just go find her but knew she was off somewhere talking to Jazel about witch stuff. While she didn't find witch craft a boring or frightening subject at all she didn't want to distract Jestia when she was talking to her teacher and she knew that she would—distract her that was.

Because I'm an object of desire. Well it's a good thing I like Montero because it looks like this is where I'm going to be living, unless of course the Queen has me beheaded. Finally we have a room all on our own with a real bed and clean linens and where the hell is Jestia? Off talking to Jezel. I'm here alone and if she doesn't get back soon I will go to sleep and I'm not going to let her wake me up, either.

As if she had willed her to appear the door opened and Jestia walked in her head wet from where she'd obviously been in the spring. She was wearing a short robe. Ufalla smiled, "I missed you."

"You did?" Jestia said with a sly smile.

"Yes, look I've been waiting for you." She pulled back the cover to show that she was naked.

Jestia laughed excitedly, undid her robe and let it slip slowly to the floor no doubt just to watch Ufalla's face become a mask of lust. She walked over and crawled into bed with her and Ufalla covered them both up as Jestia slid over to her. Jestia wrapped her arms around Ufalla's neck as Ufalla grabbed Jestia's waist and pulled her snuggly against her. They kissed and then Jestia just sort of melted against her.

"Wow, in a real bed," Jestia breathed. "You suppose we'll even be able to do it without fear of attack or someone walking in . . . "

"We'll have to work on it." She kissed Jestia again and then stopped and drew back from her a little so that she could see her face. "Did you ask her?"

"Ask her what?" Jestia asked more concerned with playing with Ufalla's breast than she was answering her question.

"Stop." Ufalla laughed and then at the pouty look on Jestia's face, "Just for a minute. Did you ask Jazel if sex made you stronger?"

"She said, yes, yes it did. I told you so," Jestia said.

Then trying to hold her off would have been like wrestling an octopus so Ufalla gave in, but laughed and said, "You're such a little liar."

* * *

It was good it was really good and now Jestia was in the throes of passion, her body writhing, and at the moment her passion had reached it's zenith she cried out what just had to be the strangest thing any lover had ever screamed, "Bats!"

"Bats?" Ufalla asked, looking at Jestia in disbelief.

"Yes, Ufalla bats. Don't you see? That's the answer. Bats!" she said, trying to catch her breath.

"Jestia what in hell's name has gotten into you!?"

"I was having climax and then suddenly I was thinking about what Jazel said and . . . "

"You think while we're making love?!" Ufalla asked, a bit put out.

"Not on purpose, but thoughts float in, they float out." She kissed Ufalla on the lips then pushed her away and got out of bed. She turned to look at Ufalla and gave her a look that said why don't you understand anything and then once again as if it explained everything said, "Bats, Ufalla, bats. I can't make bats."

"All right."

"Come on we have to go tell Tarius."
Ufalla didn't want to get up and go wake the Great Leader up—or worse—in the middle of the night to tell her that Jestia couldn't make bats.

"Can't it wait 'til morning?"

"No."

"Why do I have to go?"

"Because I miss you when you aren't with me, now come on." She started for the door.
"Shouldn't we at least put on robes?"

* * *

She and Jena were just enjoying some alone time in the spring when Jestia and Ufalla walked up.

"Here first," Tarius said, as Jena tried to hide her nakedness by wrapping herself more firmly around her.

"Are you finished?" Jestia asked with a wry smile.

"Just," Tarius said, and Jena slapped her. "Seriously girls we'd just like to be alone."

"We aren't here to use the spring," Jestia said.

"No," Ufalla said pulling a face. "We're here so Jestia can tell you insane things concerning bats."

"That's right, Tarius, bats," Jestia said, as if anyone who heard it would understand and Tarius feared the spell had done the girl a bad turn after all.
"Bats?" Jena asked, taking the word right out of Tarius's mouth.

"Tarius, I can't make bats," Jestia said with wild hand gestures.

"I'm sorry?" Tarius said with a shrug, looking at Ufalla who just shrugged back.

"Oh don't you see? It's a summoning spell. They had to come from somewhere, and they were there so fast and there were so many it had to be close, and bats live in . . . "

"Caves," Tarius said with sudden realization, feeling suddenly cold even though she was submerged in the hot springs water. She looked at Jestia who was nodding her head excitedly. "The Amalites really have gone underground. They are living in caves."

"Why didn't you just say caves, Jestia?" Ufalla said, slapping Jestia on the shoulder hard enough to rock her whole body. Jestia shoved her back and Ufalla laughed at her. "Can we go back to bed now?" Jestia nodded took her hand and started following her, "And for the record Jestia, I'd rather you cried out an old lover's name than 'bats!' when we are making love."

"Oh, I seriously doubt that," Jestia said.

Tarius laughed at their antics and then her mind turned to what she had said. Caves, I can't imagine trying to fight a battle underground. We could smoke them out but . . . How would we have any idea how many of them we would face, or where they might come from? They might just boil out of the ground under our feet.

"Don't worry about it now," Jena said, and Tarius smiled at her.

"When should I worry about it Jena?"

Jena gently kissed her lips and pulled her closer and whispered, "Not right now."

* * *

Tarius sat looking at the girl feeling like a total idiot. If the girl woke up and she told them she hadn't been aware of anything then Tarius was really going to feel stupid but the only way she could get her son to leave to do anything besides sit in the chair beside the girl's bed and watch her breathe was to promise to tell the girl a story.

She looked around to make sure that no one was close because perhaps the only thing that would be more embarrassing than telling a story to an unconscious person would be to have someone catch you doing it.

She told her a story about Jabone when he was a boy. Then her son wasn't back which she thought was a good thing but she didn't feel like telling another story.

"So, Kasiria, you're a Sword Master trained in the academy, a sergeant even. Tell me what do you think of a battle in a cave?. . Oh aye that's what I said a cave. That's why there are so many of them, yet no one knew they were growing, no patrols found a single sign of them . . . Oh good question, what about fire? They'd need fire to make weapons, to cook, for warmth because caves are cold. There would be smoke . . . Aye, you're right, if they made fires only at night you couldn't see smoke in the dark only flame and if their fires are in the cave you wouldn't see them . . . You're a clever girl . . . "

"Tarius," Jena said from the door, making Tarius jump. "What are you doing?"

"Talking to our daughter-in-law."

"Yet telling her a story makes you feel silly," Jena laughed.

"The girl has uncanny insight," Tarius said with a smile.

"Which means she can't disagree with you."

Tarius smiled, "Maybe she's just a good listener which is more than I can say for you, woman." Jena shook her head. Tarius looked back at Kasiria. "So where were we when we were so rudely interrupted? Well no she doesn't much care for you but she hasn't really given you a chance yet has she?" Jena laughed and walked away. "I thought she'd never leave. Anyway about those caves . . . "

* * *

Jabone had eaten and then gone to find Ufalla. She was sitting on the front stoop of the inn drinking a mug of tea.

"Where's Jestia?" he asked.

"Studying with Jazel at the moment," she said.

"Ufalla . . . Are you still mad at me?" he asked carefully.

"I had planned to be mad for quite a long time but Jestia forbade it. These days I only do what she wants me to do, because it's just easier that way." She looked at him and smiled and he relaxed.

"I really didn't know. She didn't say it was dangerous for her, Ufalla," Jabone said. "If I had known . . . "

"You would have made her do it anyway, and then I really would have been mad at you," Ufalla said and added soberly, "Jestia's fine so it would be stupid for me to be angry." Then she smiled. "At least I've been told that's what I think."

Jabone smiled.

"So Jabone, you and I, we found the great loves we wanted but they certainly aren't what we thought they'd be, not with Kasiria in the state she's in and Jestia . . . well being Jestia."

"My madra said you are getting married?"

"So I've been told, and what I'll wear and what I'll say. She's basically planned out the whole of my life except for a little block of time between the morning meal and midday three years seven months and two days from now. She's already named our kids. There are going to be three of them—two boys and a girl—and I'm going to carry them because she's too small and delicate to do it. Apparently they will be born through a spell because she can't stand the idea of anyone but her touching me. Oh, and I will take care of running the spa and taking care of her herb gardens and maybe train some of the locals to sword fight. On and on and on, she talks constantly."

"Would you change her?" Jabone asked with a smile, because even as Ufalla was complaining she had a smile on her face you couldn't have peeled off with a trowel.

"No not at all. It's not like I didn't have any idea what she was like when I fell in love with her. She certainly isn't boring," Ufalla said with a laugh. "This morning we went on a walk through the streets of Montero just because it was a lovely morning and of course Jestia wanted to. And we're just walking around holding hands, looking at the flowers and the gardens and the springs and she picks out this spa with a lovely flower garden and she says that's where we're going to live. Did you know that Jestia just has all sorts of coin? And . . . Well you see that little tile roof that you can just make out through the trees?" Jabone nodded. "That's our house. The people who run the spa now are going to continue to do so until we get back from the territories."

"You're going back there?" Jabone asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Jestia says we must go back with your madra."

"My madra has already made plans to go back?"

"Yes," Ufalla said, and it was obvious that she not only thought he knew already but that she didn't understand why he was so upset. He turned on his heel and went back into the inn with Ufalla screaming after him, "I'll just talk to you later then."

He went right back to his room and found his madra there telling Kasiria a story which he interrupted when he yelled, "You are going back to the Jethrikian held territories!"

"I must."

"No," Jabone said shaking his head. "You don't have to go. None of us have to go back there. Finally let that coward Persius stand on his own feet and fight his own battle. The Amalites are not here, they are not even in the Kartik-held territories. It was his job to make sure they were never allowed to rise up again and he has failed. Now those things eat his people, but there is no reason, none at all, for them to eat our people."

"Jabone, calm down, the girl . . . "

"Kasiria, Madra, her name is Kasiria, and you know as well as I do that we can't wake her." Jabone's voice now caught in his throat. "You saw them, you fought them, and as always there is no fear in you. But I am not you and I do fear them. I don't want you to go back there and drag my mother and my fadra and my friends with you into a battle with those things, because I don't want to go back there. I never want to go back there and if you all go then I must go, too, or be forever seen as the greatest coward that ever lived."

His madra stood up then and walked over to him. She reached up and took his head in her two hands and made him look at her. "You are wrong. There is much fear in me. That is why I have to go and fight them, because it was not in battle that my whole pack was slaughtered, my madra killed, but here at home when we thought we were safe. Then even after that a time did come when I felt safe again and then they killed my father in the Jethrik. I was not afraid. I felt no danger until it was too late and then . . . Well I killed many of them but some had gotten away because I never found my father's sword. They killed my father and they took his sword. And from that day on I have known fear. I am so afraid that I will not, I can not, sleep when a threat such as this one is over us all. Not because I'm brave or even because I love to fight, but because I'm afraid. If you don't want to go then you shouldn't go. I don't want you to go. I don't want your mother to go but I know that she won't be left behind because we have had that fight before. No man would dare to call you a coward, not if he had seen you as I did that day." She pulled his head down to her and kissed him on the forehead then she released him. "Put it out of your head for now and just be here for Kasiria. For now your battle lies in your heart and I know from experience that you can not think when your heart is broken."

He watched her walk away and went to sit beside Kasiria. He looked down at her and said, "My madra lies; she isn't afraid of anything, and if no man would dare to call me a coward it's only because they fear she would kill them if they did. You would go, Kasiria, if you wake up. I know you will go unless I force you to stay here. Maybe she's right and if you wake up and are fine and I can have even two minutes where I don't think you are going to die my courage will come back, but right now I don't want to be brave."

"Quit saying if she comes back and say when, ninny," Jestia said as she walked in the room. She walked over and administered the potion as she had been doing three times a day since that first day back on the ship.

"Jestia, you want to go back to the territories?"

She smiled at him as she put the now empty vial back in her pocket. "I think want might be going a bit too far. Must is a little closer to the truth. Could you quit frowning?" His effort to do so made her make a face and then laugh at him. "So I'm guessing the answer is no then."

"Jestia . . . do you think . . . is she getting better?"

"It's only been a day since she was cut. It's hard to say and I haven't seen the wound. Frankly I wouldn't get up if I was her. I mean she's bound to you and you're such a pouty, whiney, way-too-serious man. I mean you were always too serious but now, all this crying and carrying on like a big sissy, well it's just really unbecoming, Jabone. That's all I'm going to say."

"Oh I some how doubt that," Jabone said, and smiled in spite of himself.

"Oh so you are still in there somewhere. I was beginning to think that maybe we actually lost our friend in the territories and brought home some whining mama's boy by mistake."

"Jestia, have you seen my fadra today?"

"He is in the spring," she answered.

"Will you stay with Kasiria while I go talk to him?"

Jestia sighed. "Arvon will never be able to change Tarius's mind, Jabone, and no one needs to stay with Kasiria."

"Will you stay with her 'til I get back anyway, Jestia?"

"Yes, but do hurry back. She is boring company on her best days and these days even more so."

Jabone got up. As he walked out the door he heard Jestia start to sing to Kasiria and suddenly realized just why Ufalla was and always had been so in love with her. Jestia just acts like she doesn't care but it's not what her actions indicate. She risked everything to try to save Kasiria. It's all just talk and when it's just Ufalla and her I doubt she talks such crap. She really is as extraordinary as Ufalla thinks she is.

Jabone walked to the spring where he found his fadra submerged up to his neck in the hot mineral water. Jabone walked up to the edge of the pool, took off his boots, pulled up his pants legs, and sat down next to where his fadra was in the pool, letting his legs dangle in the hot water.

"What?" Arvon asked with a smile, not opening his eyes.

"Fadra you must talk to my madra. She will pull us all back to the territories to fight the Amalites."

His fadra sighed. "I have little sway with Tarius you know that son. Besides, she has to go back. The Amalites must not be allowed to grow to power again. Their religion is nearly eradicated even among the Amalites left in the territories, but this could bring it all back. We can't risk that; they must be stopped now."

"Then let Persius stop them."

"Persius has never been very good at stopping the Amalites, Jabone. Only your madra was ever able to really stop them. She will stop them now, again."

"And put you and my mother and my friends in danger to do so, and we are safe here."

"Today, today we are safe." Arvon's voice was harsh. When he turned around in the pool and looked up at Jabone it was obvious that he was out of patience with him. "That will not last if they are allowed to grow in numbers. You think you have seen the worst of them but you have not. I have, I have seen them so numerous that no one army could have stopped them. You don't realize how lucky you are to be able to fight. Look at me son, really look at me."

He did and saw for the first time the age on his fadra's face. His shock must have shown because Arvon smiled and said, "That's right. I'm an old man. I'm half human and apparently I age like them and not like the Katabull, just my rotten luck. I'm older than the rest of your parents and I didn't hesitate to go to the territories when we thought you were in danger. I ran right into that battle my sword blazing a trail through the Amalites for you my son. I left Dustan here as I have done in the past not knowing whether it would be the last time I saw him or not and ran off with Tarius to do battle. Nothing could have kept me here while I thought you were in danger. I fought well and now I can hardly walk. If the battle had lasted more than a couple of hours I wouldn't have made it to the end. Your madra had to have me put on a wagon to get me out of the field and she's been mostly half carrying me for the boat ride and since we've been here."

"I'm sorry Fadra I didn't know . . . "

"I didn't tell you to gain your pity. You haven't noticed because you've had bigger things to worry about than your old fadra. I want to go back to the territories and fight the Amalites even though it would mean once again leaving Dustan for what could be months depending on the siege.

"I know exactly how you feel, because when Braxton . . . " He stopped, took a breath and went on. "When Braxton brought me back from the field, me sick with fever, with my leg nearly rotted off and my life hanging in the balance with only your madre's will to save me, I never wanted to go back into battle ever again. She told me I'd get my fight back and I did. And now . . . I can't go with her any more. I can't fight any more. That battle was my last one. If I try to go back and fight again I will die or worse yet cause someone else's death because my speed and my strength are no more." He seemed near tears. "So I won't go back to the territories with Tarius and I won't fight and I feel rather like a horse that's been put out to pasture. Something worthless kept around for sake of affection."

"There is nothing worthless about you Fadra."

He laughed, patted Jabone's leg, then turned away from him. "Part of me says that I still have much to give. But the part of me that has always been a fighter says that the only thing worse than an old sword slinger that can't fight is a young one that won't."

Chapter 22

Tarius was once again talking to the girl. "Daily baths and treatments have done you well, and when his mother took your stitches out yesterday and Jabone could see your skin wasn't going to fall apart because you had healed, well I think he finally feels like you are going to wake up . . . What's that you say? Oh, aye, he does worry too much . . . Oh, no no, not like me. I never worry. That would be his other mother. He did explain that, didn't he?" She sighed. "Oh girl, please don't wake up an imbecile. I promised I'd kill you if you did, and I think he'd happily care for you if you drooled and cussed walls for the remainder of both of your lives . . . And your father, how would I explain to him that I had taken one of his children to the Kartik and then killed her? Though seriously why he should worry when he has so many I don't know."

"But I'm his favorite."

"Well that would just figure then wouldn't it?" Tarius stopped talking and stared into the girl's face. Kasiria's eyes were still closed. Have I just been pretending to talk to her for so many days now that I'm hearing things or did she really speak? "Girl, did you say something?" There was no response. Tarius looked quickly around and then got right in the girl's face and screamed, "Bats!" There was no sign of movement, not so much as a flickering eyelash. Tarius took a deep breath and let it out then mumbled. "Girl's going to be a blithering imbecile, old tired war lord going to be a blithering imbecile."

"If you're going to make an assault on a cave you're going to have to send a unit in to scout it out first," the girl said, and this time Tarius had seen her lips move.

"Jabone!" she yelled out. "Jabone get in here now!"

* * *

Kasiria opened her eyes and at first could see nothing but bright light. Then she blinked and then she blinked again, and then she rubbed her eyes because she was pretty sure she couldn't be seeing what she thought she was seeing because the person standing over her with the scar that ran down the length of her face, a small one on her chin and one that ran across her throat could only be . . .

"Are you Tarius the Black?"

"Ya ha!" the woman screamed out, and then she shouted again. "Jabone!" Her voice was abnormally deep for a woman, probably because of her throat injury.

"Are you?" Kasiria asked again.

"Am I what . . . Oh yes, yes I am Tarius the Black." She laughed out loud then. "I am so glad you aren't an imbecile."

"Madra what is wrong?" Jabone asked, panic in his voice as he came sliding into the room.

The woman smiled at her son and then pointed to Kasiria. "Nothing is wrong, Jabone, your woman is awake and she's not an imbecile."

Jestia came into the room and walked up to look down on Kasiria. She seemed to be looking into her eyes. "How do you know she's not an imbecile?" she asked.

"Because, as she woke she was talking battle strategy," Tarius said.

"How very romantic," Jestia said, rolling her eyes. She looked at Kasiria and smiled. "Nice to see you again. I'll go get Jazel."

Jabone dropped to his knees beside the bed and took her hand. "Kasiria can you hear me?" he yelled.

"People in the Kartik can hear you my love." She laughed and then felt a pain in her right side, not bad but there. Jabone just started kissing her forehead over and over again.

"I'll give you my son was screaming, girl, but of course people in the Kartik could hear him because you are in the Kartik," Tarius the Black said.

Kasiria wondered now as she looked at the woman that she had known immediately that she was Tarius the Black. Except for the scars and that she looked so much like her son she didn't look at all as she had expected her to look, and then she knew why she had known her. "I recognized your voice," she said.

"Madra has been telling you stories," Jabone said, having stopped kissing her to just look at her.

"Jabone, what are we doing in the Kartik? What happened?"

A Jethrikian woman walked in followed by Jestia and Ufalla and Jestia said, "She doesn't remember what happened. Well doesn't that just figure? I nearly killed myself saving her life and she doesn't remember."

"I failed you Kasiria, I failed you," Jabone said, crying on her shoulder, as on her other side Ufalla was hugging her

"He couldn't catch an arrow," Jestia explained with a shrug. "His mother could and he couldn't and he's just been whining and crying like he is now in a most unpleasant way for days. He's been half crazy for all this time and you wake up mumbling battle strategy." She turned to face Ufalla and said, "Remember this, if you should ever be in a comma for weeks and you wake up and are saying anything but how much you love me, I'm going to smack you right back into a coma."

Ufalla smiled and whispered in Kasiria's ear. "At least then I could get a little rest." Then she released Kasiria.

Kasiria smiled and then frowned as she finally remembered the battle, the arrow, Jabone's face looking as if it had been shattered, and then nothing but dreams, vivid dreams, wonderful dreams.

There were way too many of the enemy. What had Hellibolt said? Help was on the way. She had thought he meant her father had sent men but she quickly realized what must have happened. "The Marching Night came to save us." Had someone told her that? Had she heard it? How long had she been asleep and . . .

She touched her chest where the arrow had gone in and through the cloth of the gown she was wearing she could feel a scar, a scar that felt healed.

Jabone was still crying and when she realized why he was still crying she felt horrible. "Oh Jabone." She patted his back. "It wasn't your fault."

"It sort of was," Jestia said, and she and Tarius and the older woman all glared at Jestia. She just shrugged, completely unaffected by their disapproval and said, "Well it was. When a witch tells you not to do something you should listen."

The Jethrikian woman had shoved Ufalla out of the way and now seemed to be doing what Jestia had done which was looking in her eyes as if she could see something odd if she looked hard enough. "Are you Jena?" Kasiria asked.

The woman stood up. She and Tarius looked at each other and then they started to laugh. They embraced each other and laughed even harder until the other woman pushed Tarius away and said, "Well it isn't that funny, Tarius."

"That's not my mother," Jabone said, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "That's the witch Jazel."

Kasiria touched the scar again, and thought how odd it was. It's like going to sleep in the middle of a nightmare and waking up in the middle of a fairy tale with all these characters I've heard about all my life. It doesn't feel quite real. The only thing that does is the scar.

* * *

Jena had been outside in one of the gardens when she heard the commotion. She came at a run and then somewhere in the house as she heard them all talking and could tell it was "good" news she just stopped. She has woken up and she is fine. This is good, this will make Jabone happy. She gritted her teeth and shut her eyes closed hard. My son, our only child, and his child, one in a multitude, and if he hadn't done what he did to us I might have borne my own child. We might have had a house full. Tarius doesn't understand, and I can't tell her the real reason I still hate him so is because the son I carried lies buried in the ground in the Jethrik. And he had more children than he wanted and now this girl is going to take our only child, the child Tarius gave me, and it's like a knife twisting in my gut. She took a deep breath and reminded herself. I am not my parents and Jabone is not us and this girl is not Persius and all children grow up and find a mate and then they don't need their parents any more and . . . Jabone hasn't needed us in a long time. But I still need to hold my baby. She thought maybe she needed to go walk in the garden a little longer before she faced her but then she looked up and Tarius was standing in front of her.

"Are you all right?" she asked, wiping a tear off Jena's cheek.

"I'm fine," Jena said, but her voice was choked.

Tarius kissed her forehead and said, "Do you remember what you said when he wanted to go to the territories and I wasn't going to allow it?"

"I don't want to remember because doubtless you're about to make me eat my words," Jena said with a smile.

"You said it's his time. Jena, it's their time not our time, let the past stay in the past. Go in and see her, and what you'll see is a brilliant girl who is very much in love with our son. Go in and see her while she's awake with expression on her face and you'll see why he loves her so much."

Jena nodded, steeled herself, and started walking for the room with Tarius right behind her. When she looked at the girl, she took a double take.

Tarius bent over and whispered in her ear. "She looks very like you did when I first met you."

* * *

"My brother is fine," Ufalla assured Kasiria. "He and Eric both made it . . . "

"Anyone else?" Kasiria asked.

"No," Jabone said sadly. "Only the six of us."

"Amalite scum," Kasiria cursed under her breath. "Can I sit up?" she asked Jezel.

"You can do anything you feel up to," Jezel said. Then turning to the group said, "Well I've got work to do. I will check on her later."

Jabone helped her to sit up. There was a twinge in her chest but nothing more. She looked at him and saw how haggard and broken he looked. She cupped his face in her hands and looked into his bloodshot eyes. "Oh, Jabone, I just lay here and dreamt and you had all my pain for me." Then she kissed him gently on the lips and let him go.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jestia asked Ufalla.

"Maybe it means mind your own business. Come on let's leave them alone. I'll make it worth your while." Ufalla winked and took Jestia's arm and Jestia didn't protest, just allowed herself to be led away. "Kasiria we're glad you're well," Ufalla said as they vanished out the door.

"That Jestia is quite a piece of work," Kasiria said.

"Yes she is," Jabone said seriously. Then he looked up towards the door, smiled, and said, "Kasiria, this is my mother."

Kasiria was in awe as she watched Jena walk in on Tarius's arm. "You are the greatest of all Jethrikian women. I have heard so much about you," she said, unable to stop herself gushing.

"And I'm sure all true," Tarius said. "Jena, Kasiria, Kasiria this is my dearest love, Jena."

Jena looked from Kasiria to the medallion that hung around Jabone's neck, and Kasiria knew that they knew and she couldn't hold their eyes.

"Kasiria," Tarius prompted, and she looked at her, "As long as you are bound to our son, you are our child. Isn't that right, Jena?"

Jena took a deep breath, expelled it, then said if a bit grudgingly, "Yes."

"I . . . I have got to go to the privy," Kasiria said, the sudden need driving out everything else.

"Can you walk?" Tarius asked.

Before she had a chance to answer Jabone had jumped to his feet, picked her up, and lifted her out of the bed. "No . . . I don't want you to take me," Kasiria said.

"Put her down, son, see if she can walk," Jena said, but Jabone was just hauling her through the building and then out to the privy. She was glad that Jena had followed them. "Son, put the girl down and go back to the inn."

"But mother."

"Son, a Jethrikian lady doesn't want to attend to her nature with her husband outside the door."

"Attend to her nature?" Jabone asked.

"I have to go, just put me down, Jabone, and leave me alone."

He nodded quickly and set her down. Her feet weren't too shaky, not great, but she could definitely walk as long as she had something to hang onto.

"I will help her, Jabone, go on now," Jena ordered her son. He nodded and took off for which Kasiria was happy because when she got in the outhouse and sat down the gates just opened. It was bad enough to have to hear her hero asking, "You all right Kasiria?" She would have died of complete embarrassment if Jabone had been there as well.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't be, you've been in a comma for over a week and haven't so much as peed. Nature of the spell I guess."

"Spell?" Kasiria asked, wanting to ask if while her bowels hadn't been working at all they had just stuffed her with food because she just felt like she wasn't ever going to be done.

"Didn't they tell you? Jestia used a spell that saved you. You'll have to ask one of the others I'm not much of a storyteller."

"Damn," Kasiria said.

"Something wrong?"

"No it's just . . . Well I had hoped she was just kidding or more likely over-stating her importance as she always does. She'll never let me live this down."

"Most probably not," Jena said with a laugh.

Kasiria finished and looked for the cleaning rags. "Ah, there are no cleaning rags."

"Use the leaves hanging to your right. You'll find them very comfortable and then you just throw them in the hole and then throw down a cup full of ash. The Kartiks get very perturbed with people who don't cover."

Kasiria found the leaves and the ashes and was actually quite pleased with the results. The leaves worked quite well and the ashes were no doubt why there wasn't as much stench as she was used to. She stood outside again and noticed there was a basin sitting on a near-by shelf so that you could wash your hands. So these are the savages? Her hands started to bubble in the water and she pulled them quickly out.

"It's all right. It's water from the spring. It bubbles when it finds poisons or impurities. More than safe, it's what saved your life. It has healing properties for everyone but even more so for the Katabull."

Kasiria washed her hands and dried them on a towel hanging there for that purpose. Then she stopped and just looked around her. Color. Everywhere she looked there was color. The inn was made of some sort of red stone the ground was covered in fine red pebbles that made a crunching sound when you walked on them, and the flowers—so many flowers of every color—and from here she could just make out the outline of the town—so pretty. The buildings all seemed to be made of rock or brick with tile rooves as red as the huge red rocks the town was built around.

She could just make out the road from where she stood and the first thing that jumped to her mind was how clean everything was. She was standing outside the outhouse and it smelled about a hundred times better than walking down the street in Pearson. There was no stink. In fact when she walked just a few steps away from the outhouse the air smelled just like perfume.

"It's just like they said. I thought they were just homesick and making home better than it was, but it's just like they said it was," she said in wonder.

"Tarius had told me all these wonderful stories of the Kartik when we were in the Jethrik and I thought it was just to get me to come here with her, but then when I got here . . . Well there is no other place in the world like the Kartik."
Kasiria took a deep breath and turned to look at Jena. "You know don't you?"

"Kasiria . . . you put the king's crest around our son's throat," Jena said in utter disbelief.

"I know," Kasiria cried miserably. "But he gave me this," she held up the cuff, "and he wanted to bind me to him and I wanted to bind him to me and . . . It was all I had that meant anything to me and it was only later that I realized how absurd it was. I couldn't very well take it back could I?"

Jena nodded her understanding. "Kasiria . . . You're the Katabull. I doubted it when my son said it and I figured out who you were . . . but when I had my hands inside your body . . . Well Katabull anatomy is just different. How is it that you are the Katabull?"

Kasiria took in a deep breath and let it out. She might as well get it all over with at once. "I am the product of Tarius's curse against my father . . . " and she told Jena all she knew as Jena took her hand and led her around Jazel's herb garden. "And when I knew Jabone was Katabull, too, then I was sure that we were meant to be together, but then I couldn't tell him because well the Katabull hate my father obviously. And then when I figured out he was her son . . . " She started to cry in spite of herself. "Well how can I ever tell him now?"

Jena patted her back. "Don't worry about it for now," Jena said gently. "I was ready to hate you because of him, because I am not like Tarius who holds a grudge only for the Amalite's religion and I will carry a grudge to the grave. Tarius is right, though. This is not for us to tell Jabone. You can tell him or not as you will and I won't be the one who tells, but I think you do Jabone a disservice because he has been raised in the Katabull Nation as a follower of the nameless god and he like Tarius will not damn you for your father."

"What of you Jena?" Kasiria asked drying her eyes.

Jena smiled and patted her shoulder, "I think we'll get along fine."

* * *

Jabone was heading back out of the inn with Tarius right behind him. "Son, let the girl have some privacy to do her business."

"Something must be wrong." But then as they got outside he could see Kasiria and his mother walking around the garden, talking. He started to go to them, but Tarius clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"Jabone, let your mother have a few minutes alone to get to know Kasiria."

"But Madra, it's been so long since I could even talk to Kasiria. I thought she was going to die and I just want to be near her, to hold her."

"I know, but give your mother a minute. This is a very difficult time for her." He gave her a curious look. "Until now you have never loved anyone more than your mother. It's hard for her."

"I will always love my mother."

"Ah, but now she has been replaced. It's the way it should be and what she wants for you," if not with who, "but that doesn't make it easy for her. It's just us now. I should have given her another child. She misses you so very much."

Jabone smiled and looked at her. "And you Madra, do you miss me as well?"

"Do you really need to hear me say it?" Tarius sighed. "Yes I miss you, too." He kissed her on the cheek and then looked longingly at where Kasiria was talking to Jena. "Go on and send your mother to me."

She watched him walk away and then watched as Jena started for her and her heart lightened when she saw the smile on Jena's face.

"So, would you like to go on a walk with me fine lady?" she asked offering her arm.

"I'd be delighted." Jena looped her arm through Tarius's arm and they started walking.

"Well?"

"I like her, and she may look like me, but she is more like you."

Tarius smiled. "Well you know what the Katabull say, a boy always binds himself to a woman just like his mothers."

Chapter 23

"You want to do what with who?" Hestia screamed down at Jestia from her throne.

"I'm going to marry Ufalla," Jestia said matter-of-factly.

"Ufalla, your best friend Ufalla? Harris's daughter Ufalla?"

"Yes, that Ufalla. Mother, I know you're ageing poorly, but are you getting feeble minded as well?"

"Jestia, you tax me!" Hestia thundered.

Wow! I wonder if she really will crap herself. She is really upset. In fact, the color of her face is clashing with the blue velvet in that draping that's hanging behind the throne and . . . That would make a wonderful gown. She turned her attention back to them with an effort and then said thoughtfully, "Why do we always have to have family discussions in here? Do we not have a parlor where we could meet like a real family? Must you sit on your throne and look down on me like I'm one of your subjects instead of your daughter?"

"Jestia," it was her father who spoke now. "Your mother is right. You are second in line to the throne. Now you may keep this girl as a lover but you can't marry her. You must marry a man and have heirs to the throne."

"Oh, really why? Has Katan suddenly started doing really reckless, outrageous things like not eating enough vegetables or sleeping with the window open? Here's an idea for you—how about I marry Ufalla and let Katan do the making heirs thing? Come on . . . it doesn't matter what I do. Hell you would have been happy if I'd died in the territories."

"Jestia, how can you say such a thing?" Hestia said in a gasp.

"I open my mouth and flip my tongue around and sound comes out. Come on . . . Seriously. Do you care about me or do you just think I have to suffer with some loveless union for the sake of the kingdom because that's what you have done?"

Hestia started, "What a terrible . . . "
"But true," Jestia chimed.

" . . . thing to say. You think you love Ufalla then? The poor, wretched girl, she's just the latest in a long string of things you've done just to annoy me. She isn't even full-blooded Kartik, Jestia. A sword slinger, raised among the Katabull. She knows there ways more than ours and . . . "

"You are making me madder by the minute old woman! You are talking about the woman I love," Jestia said, glaring at her mother angrily. "Do your subjects know how little merit you have for them?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is the Kartik, Mother, yet all of the things you have just said sound more like they should have come from King Persius's mouth instead of a monarch on the Kartik throne. It isn't the Kartik way to care who people love, or what their country of origin is and certainly no real Kartik would ever have contempt for the Katabull or their ways. I am going to marry Ufalla, I am going to live my life with her, and you don't even want to try and stop me because I have become a very powerful witch." And with that she stomped out of the throne room and down the hall to where Ufalla was waiting for her. When she saw her sort of hiding behind a suit of armor she glared at her and hissed, "Coward!"

Ufalla just smiled weakly and shrugged. "Well what did they say?"

"They said you're a lovely girl, we make a very handsome couple, and they can't wait to have you as part of the family."

"Jestia, do you even know how to tell the truth?" Ufalla asked with a laugh.

Jestia wrapped her arms around Ufalla's neck. "You want to hear the truth? I love you, Ufalla. I need you, and no one is ever going to keep me from being with you. If they try I'll make them damn sorry." She kissed Ufalla then released her and took her hand. "Now come on I finally have something to dress for.

* * *

Kasiria was still disoriented. It had only been six days since she had awakened. Going from being just a little better than dead in a field in the Jethrikian held territories of the Amalite to being in a spa in Montero in the Kartik had been hard enough to understand. She'd now gotten half a dozen accounts of what had happened and all seemed to be more or less the same with some people doing a better telling than others.

She'd hardly gotten to feeling like her old self again when she was dressed, sitting on a horse, and in route to the Kartik capital to meet with Hestia the Warrior Queen herself.

At Montero, Jabone had been happy, light hearted. He'd been very loving those first few days, just staying with her, helping her in and out of the spring, making sure she got plenty of rest and enough to eat. At night he'd lie with her and just hold her 'til after three days she was the one who couldn't stand it any longer.

"Jabone I feel really good now," she had told him as they lay in bed holding each other.

"Good," he said.

She had sighed. It wasn't lady-like to be forward. "I do, I feel really, really good. As if I'd never been shot with an arrow at all."

He smiled and kissed her forehead and said, "That's good."

"Jabone, you know . . . Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing's wrong," he said pulling, her close and smelling her hair. He just wasn't getting it at all.

"Jabone." She kissed him on the lips gently. When that didn't get the reaction she wanted she kissed him a little harder. When she still didn't get the reaction she wanted she pushed back from him and said, "I'm not going to break you know?"

Jabone's face lit up with sudden understanding, "Oh you want to . . . "

"Don't say it, Jabone, just do it."

Because of course she could do it but still couldn't make herself talk about it.

After that she and Jabone had just spent the days making love and walking around the town with him telling her what everything was and trying to teach her a little Kartik along the way, and she found that she was getting to a point where she could mostly understand what they were saying but was still having trouble actually saying the words.

She loved Montero, it was peaceful, beautiful. Everywhere you looked there were waterfalls and flowers. The air was like perfume. She loved spending time with him in the spring; it was like magic. Something had made a perfect round hole in the rock. The water was soft, almost too hot, and had a greenish-blue tint. You could see it bubbling up from a small fissure in the bottom of the pool and watch it run over the top. It had a cover over it supported by six stone columns, a wood walk way built around it and connecting it to the spa, and there was a fence all the way around it for privacy. She'd never wanted to leave there, but when she'd learned they'd all be going to the Kartik palace she'd been really excited until it was obvious that Jabone wasn't.

"What's wrong, do you not want to go?"

"I don't mind going to the palace, I like it there. You will to. It's the reason we're going I don't like. My madra makes plans to go back to the territories," Jabone said. "To fight the Amalites in their hive. I don't want to go, Kasiria, I don't want either of us to go." He wrapped his arms around her then. "I almost lost you there. I never want any of us to go back again. I don't care what happens there."

She hadn't even thought about it, hadn't wanted to she guessed, just wanted to put the battle out of her head, let it be like a bad nightmare she could talk herself out of in the daytime. But it wasn't just a bad dream, it had all been real. When she started to remember how they had looked crawling through the woods, how they had come upon them like relentless waves of flesh with swords, pikes and axes, when she remembered the burned-out husk of the village of Grey Noke and the look on Derek's face as he perished, his dying words fear for her safety, and remembered that he was only there because he was trying to protect her, then she knew what she had to do.

"I do care what happens there, Jabone. Unchecked those things will swarm the whole of the territories and then the Jethrik. I know that means nothing to you, but it's my country," Kasiria said gently. "I understand if you don't want to go . . . "

"Don't you dare say such a ridiculous thing! I am bound to you. If you must go there then so must I. In all honesty I knew this is what you would say, and were you to say you would stay here I would go because I would not send my family and my friends to face that while I cowered here. The only problem with the spell that Jestia put on you is that you don't know what your body went through. You almost died and you don't seem to understand that at all, because for you it's not quite real. My mother stitched you so well that even your scar doesn't remind you. But I was awake. I saw everything. I saw your insides, Kasiria. I watched you as you just lay there looking almost dead. So I'm afraid, afraid for you, afraid for everyone I love who will be going. I will go, because I'm no coward, but you can't make me like it. No one can make me like it."

She nodded, and said, "If Tarius the Black is leading the combined forces of our two countries then it will not be for us what it was, Jabone."

He nodded, but didn't seem any happier.

Now they were preparing for the feast. Apparently they would feast tonight and talk business tomorrow. The palace was not like the huge, drafty castle she'd grown up in. It wasn't a fortress. In fact it looked much like the homes around it only bigger and with a huge garrison attached to it. They had all been given their own rooms but at the moment she was in Tarius and Jena's.

"I have no clothes," she said in an excited panic. "I don't know what's proper and it wouldn't matter if I did, because . . . I don't have anything to wear anyway," she said, gesturing to the brown puffy pants and bright red shirt she wore that actually belonged to Jabone.

"Relax girl," Tarius said. "It just isn't that formal." But Kasiria noticed Tarius was donning fancy armor. Jena must have read her mind.

"That's her battle armor not dress armor. She doesn't own dress armor," she said.

Tarius stood to her full height, put her hand on her chest and said, "I like to get dressed up pretty when I feast or kill people."

The skulls on her palderons and knee cops appeared to be smiling at Kasiria mockingly and Kasiria said to Jena, "I need something to wear besides breeches and a shirt."

"Oh, you mean like a girl," Tarius teased.

"Tarius finish dressing and go away," Jena said with a smile. She looked Kasiria up and down. "I have an extra dress you can wear. You're taller than I am so it may be a little short on you."

Kasiria looked at what Jena was wearing. You could see her knees as it was, anything shorter would be obscene.

"I ah . . . "

"She's all yours," Tarius said, and gathering up her sword and slinging it on walked out.

"Too short?" Jena asked.

"I'm just not used to well . . . When I went to the academy and switched to men's clothing that was a big leap, but at least it was one I wanted to take. I know it's the way you all dress but I'm just not comfortable wearing so little clothing in front of anyone but my husband." She felt her face getting flushed. She considered Jabone her husband though they hadn't been married in any sort of ceremony she'd ever seen, but among the Katabull the binding held that meaning and she was Katabull. However she thought parading around half dressed in front of strangers was a bit much to ask of someone who'd only been in the country a few days and still couldn't even speak the language.

"I could ask Hestia, you're very close to her size . . . "

"No, don't bother the queen with anything as frivolous as that."

"Mother finds nothing about clothing to be frivolous," Jestia said, walking into the room in a long, flowing blue velvet gown that was absolutely beautiful and exactly what Kasiria would have liked be wearing to a feast at the Queen's palace. "Tarius said you might need my help," she said, and Kasiria wanted to strangle Tarius. As it was she owed Jestia a debt she could never pay, and she knew Jestia delighted in the knowledge.

"Kasiria needs a dress," Jena said, "and I'm afraid all of mine are too short."

"Too short," Jestia said, as if she couldn't imagine such a thing.

"I have to admit it took me awhile to get used to Kartik clothing myself," Jena said.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to Jabone running around in that nothing he wears," Kasiria said.

"It's called a loin cloth," Jena said.

"I don't understand you people at all. If you've got your junk covered what else matters?" Jestia said. Then she nodded looking thoughtful and looked from Kasiria to Jena and back again. "She's taller but you have a lot more boobs and more hips," she said to Jena as if Kasiria weren't important enough for her to talk to her. She seemed to think a little more then finally turned to look at Kasiria and ordered, "All right. Change into one of Jena's dresses and I'll make it longer."

Kasiria took off Jabone's clothes and put on one of Jena's dresses, and then before she had a chance to see how she looked in the mirror, the dress was changing color and growing longer and the neckline lower. She turned to look at Jestia and shook her head. "No . . . I can't have . . . Well there should be more cloth here." She moved her hand back and forth between her breasts. It was so low cut that when she looked down she could just make out the beginning of her scar.

"But there isn't any more cloth. You can have it long like that or short," Jestia said with a shrug.

"Why'd you change the color?" Jena asked curiously.

"Red and blue better suit her coloring than the yellow and green. Yours, too, really Jena," Jestia said with a shrug. Jena nodded so she obviously agreed. "How do you like mine?" Jestia asked, spinning around.

"It's beautiful Jestia," Jena said with real appreciation.

Jestia giggled. "I made it from the drapes behind Mother's throne."

"Jestia," Jena said in a scolding tone but her smile made it ineffective. "You have to stop goading your mother."

"She'd better stop goading me. She's all upset that Ufalla and I are getting married . . . "

Kasiria interrupted her, "But you're both . . . " she fell silent when they both turned to look at her as if she were about to eat a live toad, and she realized that what she'd been about to say would probably get her chewed up and spit out by these two women.

"Both what?" Jestia asked with a sadistic smile.

"So . . . Well suited to each other," Kasiria said quickly. Jena and Jestia looked at each other and laughed.

"What are you going to do?" Jena asked Jestia.

"What do you mean, what am I going to do? I'm going to marry her anyway. My mother can demand all she wants but I'm not one of her subjects, I'm her daughter," Jestia said, flipping her hand in the air. "If she pushes me too hard I'll make her feeble, turn prince boring into a dog and then I'll be queen and . . . Well I don't think any of us want to see that so she better just tread lightly and stay out of my way, that's all I'm saying."

"I doubt that," Kasiria said under her breath. Then aloud said, "I can't sit down to a feast with the Queen of the Kartik half dressed."

"Half dressed?" Jestia said pulling a face. "You're wearing more than Mother is. I have to go find Ufalla. She's hiding somewhere because she's sure Mother's going to have her beheaded. I could use a spell to find her, but it's just so much more fun to look for her the normal way." She grinned wildly rubbing her hands together. "It will make the finding so much more entertaining."

"Jestia, don't be late for your mother's feast," Jena said.

She made a dismissive noise and said, "I'll get there when I get there and if we make an entrance all the better."

Kasiria looked at herself in the mirror and then at Jena who laughed and said, "Kasiria you wouldn't want to be wearing more clothing than the queen would you?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter. By their customs I'm not nearly naked, right?"

"Not at all. I admit I was not so bold myself when I first got here, but it didn't take me long to embrace their ways." Jena smiled broadly. "Of course I was never proper enough to suit my father or my aunts. You look beautiful and I'm sure you'll put the sparkle back in Jabone's eyes."

"He doesn't want to go back."
"I know," Jena said.

"I think he's mad because I do."

"He's not mad, Kasiria, he's worried," Jena said.

Kasiria rubbed at the scar where she could see it. "He says between Jestia's spell and your fine sewing I don't really understand how close I came to dying and don't know enough to be scared. But I do know fear now, Jena. I remember the battle. I remember leaving Derek and Richard and all the others behind to be eaten by those beasts. I remember the look on Jabone's face and I remember the arrow. I just think my reaction is different than his. It just makes me want to go back and kill them all to the last man."

Jena smiled. "I wonder just how much you heard Tarius tell you when you were asleep. That's not the first time I've heard you say something that might have come straight from her mouth. Put all of it out of your mind for now, Kasiria, tomorrow we will talk of war but tonight we will feast and dance."

* * *

Tarius watched as Jestia tugged Ufalla into the dining hall far after they'd started their meal and thought, Ufalla looks more uncomfortable than Kasiria does. While I understand why Ufalla looks like she's chewing rocks I don't understand Kasiria. She's the king's daughter. She should be used to these sorts of things.

Hestia was glaring at Tarius then. "How could you let that happen?" Hestia said, motioning her head towards the young couple who sat down between Jabone and some young man of Hestia's court that Tarius didn't know. When she saw how he looked at the two girls—with total disdain—she had no desire to. She was glad to see Jabone laughing and enjoying himself and trying to get Kasiria to relax. "Tarius, I asked how you could let that happen?" Hestia accused.

"First off I had no control over that happening Hestia, and second it would take a cold heart to try to kill that love."

"Tarius I know you don't understand as you and Jena are a love match and you are a follower of the Nameless One alone." Most Kartiks believed in the nameless god but they also believed in many others, the Nameless One balanced the rest out as most of them were willful and selfish which was why the Katabull didn't believe in them. "You don't understand that royalty has to live by a standard different than the common man . . . "

"I don't understand it because it is utter crap," Tarius said, dismissing the entire idea with a flip of her hand. "And you'd best not insult my non-blood kin," she said pointing at Ufalla, "or then you'll have a fight with more than just Jestia."

"I have nothing against Ufalla, Tarius. She's a nice girl, a brave girl, a beautiful girl. I know, I can tell looking at her that she loves my daughter, but . . . Jestia has duties . . . "

"Made up ones because we all know that unless some peril should befall your family she will never rule. that being the case, why shouldn't she have what she wants? Because it looks bad, because it sets a bad precedent? Bearing children should never be a duty. I say again, Hestia, it takes a cold heart to try to kill love."

"She can keep her love, but she needs to remember her responsibilities as a royal. Tarius, your son, he has made a good match for himself. Jena and Arvon and Dustan are all Jethrikian. She is Katabull so that is a good match she fits your family well. Ufalla, she is half Jethrikian the royal line must remain pure . . . "

"Unless Jestia is an even more powerful witch than I think she is, I don't think you have to fear Ufalla 'fathering' Jestia's children," Tarius laughed then got serious. "So what's your real complaint? That she's shirking her duties as an heir to the crown or that you couldn't? Jestia has always been willfull and headstrong, Hestia. I thought it was some joke when she said she wanted to go with the others to the territories, but I did everything in my power to break her, so that she would beg to be left behind. She didn't budge so she already had my respect before she went and she certainly proved herself there. Had she not been with them then all would have perished and the Amalites would still be growing under the ground undetected. You should be proud of her, Hestia, Jestia is a smart girl, a brave one, and though she doesn't want anyone to know it she is a kind and compassionate girl as well. Jestia threw herself between Ufalla and an axe-wielding Amalite to save her. That being the case do you really think that there is anything you can say or do against their coupling that would affect Jestia's opinion in the slightest? She's going to do exactly what she wants to do. You never have been able to control her and you won't stop her now. If I were you I wouldn't try because she has become a very powerful witch, and you will only make yourself look a fool."

"How powerful?" Hestia asked curiously as if this would be the deciding factor.

"I have fought with and befriended both the witch Jazel and King Persius's wizard Hellibolt, and I believe neither of them are as powerful as Jestia. Jazel herself has told me this. The girl is able to cast spells from pure thought. So again I say, don't cross her. Certainly don't cross her over something over which she has very little control. You can't help who you fall in love with."

Hestia nodded and sighed, "Perhaps you are right Tarius." She lowered her voice. "My children . . . Well I was never close to any of them not as a mother should be. I had them because I had to, not because I wanted them and . . . Well I do envy her Tarius. Part of me always has because she has always just done whatever she wanted and . . . These walls could never hold her as they have me. She had more spirit in her at five than I've had in me in my whole life and the only time I ever really felt alive was when I went to the Amalite with you to fight in the Great War." She looked at her consort briefly and then back at Tarius. "Him, well I love Dirk, but it's the way you love a good dog, not like what you and Jena have. Maybe if I had ever had that sort of love I would have known how to love my children."

"You can love that one," Tarius pointed at Jestia, "by letting her marry Ufalla, by letting her have her love on her terms, by not forcing the life you've hated upon her." Hestia still looked uncertain. Tarius sighed, glad that Jena was too busy talking to Kasiria at the moment to pay attention to their conversation. "That lovely perfect girl my son has bound himself to, the one that's so right for my family?"

"Yes?" Hestia asked curiously.

"Well she doesn't just have good courtly manners because she's had academy training. She is Persius's own daughter."

Hestia was openly shocked.

"That's right and she will bear my grandchildren and his blood will run through them with mine. I think that if I and even Jena can deal with that you should be able to deal with Ufalla in your family."

Hestia nodded thoughtfully. "As always, Tarius, you give good council."

"Yes, and I've had enough of it. Let's enjoy good food and good company. In our youth we discussed business as we feasted, now we're old I find it annoys my digestion. Tomorrow we discuss war, let's enjoy the rest of the night."

* * *

"I see you still have your head," Jabone teased Ufalla. He was glad she had sat beside him. He had been busy with Kasiria and she'd been busy with Jestia and they really hadn't seen each other, much less had a chance to talk. He guessed this was what happened when you fell in love. The person you fell in love with took the place of everyone else in your life, but that didn't mean he didn't miss just being with his friends all the time. He was sad to look around the table and not see Tarius. He had hoped he would have met them there but no doubt he was quite happy at home in the Katabull Nation telling stories of everything they'd been through in the Amalite to the whole of their people.
"So far, of course I've managed to avoid her 'til now. So you'll notice I put my gorget on just in case," Ufalla said, once again taking a sideways glance at the Queen.

Jabone laughed then said, "My madra would never let her harm you."

"I'd never let her harm her," Jestia said, glaring at her mother with real contempt and then actually sticking her tongue out at her when she glanced their way.

"I can't believe you put me in exactly the same dress your mother is wearing, as if I weren't uncomfortable enough," Kasiria said, gazing around Jabone and Ufalla to glare at Jestia.

"If it was the 'exact same' dress you'd both be very uncomfortable," Jestia said, and Ufalla and Jestia both laughed and Jabone had to bite his lip to keep from doing so.

"It's not funny. It's bad enough I'm only half dressed," Kasiria said, an embarrassed expression on her face.

"You look even more beautiful than usual. The dress looks better on you than it does on Hestia," Jabone said, smiling at her. Tonight he had decided to not think about why they were here and just enjoy being there with Kasiria. "Is the food to your liking?"

"I would enjoy anything but stew but everything I've eaten since I've been here is so good that I can see why you all complained about our food so much. All your food is so full of flavor." Kasiria seemed to relax some.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Do not be self conscious, Kasiria. My dear love if all eyes are on you it isn't because of what you're wearing but because you are by far the most beautiful woman in the room. Relax, you are part of the Marching Night now. We are not in your country now we are in mine. You are the Katabull and here that alone makes you the most celebrated of the queen's subjects."

Kasiria smiled and whispered back to him, "I keep thinking if I could just drink the wine . . . Look at Ufalla. When she first walked in here it was obvious that she was even more uncomfortable than I am. A couple of drinks and, well I don't even want to think about where her hand is right now."

Jabone glanced where Kasiria was looking and he could see where Ufalla's hand disappeared under the table cloth. "Just resting on Jestia's thigh would be my guess. If she was doing any more than that I'm sure everyone in the castle would know." He smiled, thinking of hearing them in the next room at Jazel's. While Kasiria had been lying in a comma he had resented the sounds of their energetic and more or less constant love making but when Kasiria was awake again and not an imbecile it had just reassured him that life did go ever on. Then when he and Kasiria had started making love again he was sure they gave even better than they got when it came to noise.

Kasiria smiled too, nodded and said, "True. Still my point is I'd like to be able to take just a little drink to relax me."

"Hestia doesn't care about having her feasting hall filled with Katabull," Jabone said. He looked around Kasiria at his mother. "Mother tell Kasiria that Hestia doesn't mind having the Katabull in her feasting hall."

Jena looked at Kasiria. "The very first time Tarius met with Hestia the whole of the Marching Night were with us . . . "

"All of them?" Jabone said, looking at the size of the hall where almost every seat was filled.

"There were considerably less of us in those days. Any way, Hestia said she didn't mind if the Katabull drank and," she smiled at some distant memory, "this hall was filled with drunken Katabull."

"The drunk part is what I fear," Kasiria said.

"She's nervous," Jabone explained, and didn't understand why Kasiria gave him a dirty look.

"Relax girl," Jena said. "No one here bites." Then she smiled and said, "Except Tarius." Jabone felt himself blushing. Jena saw him blushing and reached around Kasiria to slap him in the shoulder. "So, do you bite too then, Jabone?" He watched as Kasiria turned a bright shade of red and his mother laughed and said to her, "Oh so you're the biter."

"Mother! I don't think you're helping Kasiria relax."

* * *

Kasiria just stared at Jena in disbelief and wondered how she had known. She had in the throes of passion bit Jabone on the shoulder hard enough to draw blood, for which she still felt guilty. She had explained that she was sorry and that she wasn't really used to either being the Katabull or making love. Jabone had just laughed and said it didn't hurt, which she was pretty sure was a lie.

She looked around the room. It was not like any feast she'd ever attended. There was no sober air to it. There were minstrels playing music and singing and everywhere people were talking in wide-sweeping hand gestures that reminded her of the way her unit talked. She smiled. After all that had happened she still thought of them as her unit.

People were talking too loudly and laughing too much, obviously having drunk a great deal.

Then suddenly the tempo of the music changed. It got louder, became more primitive in tone with more drums. And then four people, two women and two men, walked in wearing next to nothing. The men wore only loin cloths, the women see-through skirts under which they wore only a small piece of bright red cloth and over their breasts they wore only a single piece of red cloth tied in the back. They started to dance. Or at least she supposed that was what they were doing. It certainly wasn't like any dancing she'd ever seen. And Jabone, he was watching them.

She slapped him without thinking. He looked at her with no understanding what-so-ever. "Don't look," she said, and leaned over her plate staring at it. He laughed at her and kissed the back of her head.

"They're just dancing. It's the entertainment we are supposed to watch," he said.

Ufalla said something to Jabone in Kartik and he laughed. Kasiria turned to glare at Ufalla.

"What did you say?" she demanded.

"That you're the oddest Katabull I have ever known," Ufalla said, and her speech was slurred so she was half drunk.

"They aren't even that good," Jestia said.

One of the women dancers danced right up to Tarius the Black and danced in such a provocative way that Kasiria found herself covering her eyes and then looking out through a hole because she wanted to see but was embarrassed to have anyone think she might be watching. Tarius clapped approvingly and then as the dancer moved away from Tarius, Jena got up, walked around the end of the table and took the dancer's place in front of Tarius and Tarius seemed even more pleased.

"See? Even Jena dances better," Jestia said.

"My mother is a great dancer," Jabone said, an insulted tone to his voice.

Jena's hips gyrated and her hands gestured for Tarius to come to her. Tarius stood up, jumped onto the table, and then onto the floor in front of Jena and then . . . Well they were dancing with each other in a way that seemed more like love making though, most of the time they weren't even actually touching.

"Now that's dancing," Jestia said. Then she jumped up and grabbed Ufalla's arm. "Come on," she ordered when Ufalla didn't get up right away.

"Jestia . . . your parents," she said looking over at them.

"So, drink the rest of your wine and come on. You know you want to."

Kasiria watched in near astonishment as Ufalla downed the wine in one gulp and then walked around the table to where Jestia was waiting, and then . . . Well it became obvious why Jestia was so judgmental of the dancers. The girl just moved like there were no bones in her body, and Ufalla moved with her. It was beautiful. She put her embarrassment aside and just watched.

Their hands and arms moved slowly and with purpose, enticing one moment, loving the next, then shy, their bodies moved together in rhythm and then apart again. And each dancer, each couple, told their own separate story to the same music. Jena and Tarius's dance was a story of old love grown stronger with the years but still fresh. Ufalla's and Jestia's a dance of new love still seeking, still exploring, still unsure, fired by an aching need to just be close. The song changed and their movements changed but what their bodies said to each other as they danced never really did.

Jabone had stood up without her noticing and he reached down and took her hand. "Come dance with me."

She looked from his hopeful face to the dancers on the floor and shook her head violently, "Oh . . . I couldn't Jabone. I don't know how, I would be an embarrassment to you."

He smiled down at her, "There is no knowing how."
"Jabone, you aren't going to tell me that," she motioned with her head towards Jestia and Ufalla, "that those girls haven't been dancing like this all their lives, that they haven't taken classes and trained." He was silent. "That's what I thought. Look at your mothers. I imagine you've been dancing like this all your life. You think that it's easy because you have always known how to do it. I will look a fool."

"Not to me and who else will be watching?" He motioned around the room. No one else was sitting. Everyone had moved to the floor between the tables. Even the queen danced, and Jabone was right, no one watched the other dancers. They were all caught up in the music and each other. He took her by the hand and led her onto the floor. At first she was embarrassed and clumsy but as she watched him, his every move a testament of love and desire only for her she just couldn't be bothered with what she might look like and just moved as her body felt like moving.

"Not bad," Jestia said at her shoulder and as Kasiria turned Jestia moved away pulling Ufalla back across the dance floor. Kasiria relaxed completely and just gave herself up to the dance.

* * *

Ufalla looked around the room at the moonlit expanse of fancy dresses and toys. She remembered coming here as a child thinking how grand everything was. Playing with Jestia with these toys which were nothing like what she'd had at home.

We have danced togther hundreds of times in classes together and with each other and it was never like that. Our love making has been fantastic but tonight it was so much more. She gave me so much more and I don't remember doing anything at all special today.

Jestia was lying with her head on Ufalla's chest in this huge, comfortable bed in the palace in the room Jestia had grown up in surrounded by all her magnificent positions and . . . What could Ufalla ever give to Jestia that she didn't already have? She held Jestia even closer as if she was afraid she might lose her hold.

"What?" Jestia asked.

"I was assigned a room. I'm pretty sure that's where your parents expected me to sleep."

"And I expect you to sleep here with me so I win again," Jestia said. She moved her head then so that she could look at her. "What's wrong, Ufalla?"

"You really want to marry me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I love you, Ufalla. You know that."

"Why? I'm nothing special. You have everything you could ever want, I can't give you anything. I don't have anything."

Jestia smiled at her and kissed her lips then said, "Are you going to force me to get all sappy and sentimental? Ufalla, you see all this?" she asked, sweeping her hand around the room. "I had all this, and I ran from hither to yon and back and tried many different men and many different things and nothing, absolutely nothing, made me happy until you loved me. It's not the love making that has made me stronger, it's you Ufalla. It's what you give me. What you've given me that no one else ever has. You love me."

"Is that the only reason you love me, Jestia, because I love you?" Ufalla asked.

"Ufalla," Jestia sighed. "You are magnificent, beautiful, funny, strong, brave to a fault and in bed," she rolled her eyes and sighed again though in a different tone, "you did something to me that very first time we made love. I didn't know what it was at first, I thought it was strictly great technique and then I realized that what you did was that you made me feel. I never really had before."

"But . . . Why did you bed me in the first place?"

"Because you were my dearest friend and I knew you loved me that you wanted me. I thought you were going to die so I just wanted to make you happy."

Ufalla just glared. "You didn't even want me physically? You were just sleeping with me out of pity? I at least thought you found me attractive."

"I always have, just not that way. I do now so what does it matter? Why are you so mad?" Jestia laughed and kissed her. "Don't be mad at me, Ufalla," Her features suddenly changed and then she lay her head back down on Ufalla's chest. "Never be mad at me."

Ufalla wrapped her arms around Jestia to reassure her. She moved to kiss the top of Jestia's head. "I could never be really mad at you, Jestia, you know that."

"I do," she said. "Fate put us together, Ufalla. Fate bound us when we could hardly walk. We were always meant to be, you knew that, I was just too ignorant to know it because I had no idea what love was. How could I have learned?"

Ufalla could feel Jestia's tears fall against her skin, "Oh baby, I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you."

"Why Ufalla? Why doesn't she love me? Why did she never love me? What's wrong with me?"

"There is nothing wrong with you. She doesn't love anyone, Jestia. She is a bitter woman old before her time because she's never let anyone in," Ufalla said angrily. She took Jestia by the shoulders, lifted her up and shook her. Jestia just let her head hang and didn't look up. "Hey stop it, look at me." Jestia lifted her head and their eyes met. "It's her loss, not yours. You can't fix what you didn't break. You belong to me now. I'll do the wedding ceremony because it's what you want but I don't need anything or anyone to tell me that we belong together. You are part of my family, my pack now, and you know they all love you. Why care at all what people think who are too stupid to care about you?"

Jestia smiled. "You make every pain go away. You fill my heart 'til it wants to burst."

Ufalla kissed her and set her back down on her chest. "You were amazing tonight," she whispered.

"I want to make you feel the way you make me feel," Jestia said uncharacteristically shy, "I have to make sure you never want to leave me."

"Oh Jestia, if you don't know it now you never will, I could never leave you." She paused then added, "after all you'd hunt me down and kill me."

Chapter 24

Tarius and Eric had been sitting around the fire outside his family's huts when the news came that Kasiria was going to be all right. They had celebrated by running down to the lake and having sex 'til they both passed out.

He really liked Eric. He didn't care that they looked ridiculous with her at six feet and broad shouldered for a woman and him five four and of small stature for a man. Did such differences really matter? Didn't such difference make for better stories? And she loved his stories.

Tarius and Eric and some others had been going through the Amalite weapons they had taken from the battle. They had started burning the shields as soon as they realized what they were—two and sometimes three layers of human skin stretched over a frame made of horse's rib bones. Most of the weapons were abominations, too. Blades with human bones for handles. Bones—most probably human—carved into spear heads and knives. They threw all of the bones into the fire and they broke the bone off the tongues, threw the bone fragments into the fire, and set the blades aside to be cleansed.

"How could any gods condone such behavior?" Eric asked in disgust, picking one of the shields up from the back of the wagon and slinging it into the fire. "I keep telling myself not to think it but I keep thinking that when we face them again they will have the skins of my friends stretched across their shields."

"Aye, I have been thinking the same thing," Tarius said, picking up another shield. He was preparing to throw the shield on the fire when he saw what had been under it and the shield just dropped to the ground beside the wagon. He reached down and picked it up, turned it in his hand, and his blood ran cold. He let out a yell and jumped out of the wagon and just started running. Eric jumped out of the wagon and ran right after him, not that anyone could catch Tarius on foot. Tarius found Arvon outside his own huts, and he skidded to a stop at his feet.

"Tarius what on earth?" Arvon started. For answer Tarius held up the item he had found. At first Arvon had no idea what all the excitement was and then his eyes looked haunted. He took it from Tarius's hand and looked at it, "Where did you find this?"

"Among the weapons we took from the Amalites."

"We must get this to Tarius at once. She is at the capitol. I will wrap it for the journey, you go and pack and tell your parents you must go."

"Me, master Arvon?"

"Yes you. You're the one who found it," Arvon said with a smile.

In minutes he and Eric were on their way to the capital.

* * *

Jabone stood around the huge round table beside Kasiria looking down at the map and feeling resigned. They were going, but he had none of the passion for the fight that they did. Kasiria knew this and she kept a comforting hand on his shoulder, as if she could keep him from saying what he felt by will alone.

He looked over at Ufalla and Jestia who were mostly just whispering and smiling at each other only occasionally half paying attention to the discussion around them at all. Hestia mostly ignored them as she talked to his madra and the kingdom's other military advisors.

What was funniest about them standing over this map of the Jethrik as they talked was that the territories hadn't actually been mapped out yet and there was just a huge white space that said "territories" on the map with no details, so it was mostly useless. Of course his mother had a quill trying to rectify that problem.

"Kasiria, help us with the mapping," Tarius said, and Kasiria let go of him and moved to his madra's side taking the quill she handed her and starting to draw the road, guessing at distances.

"The road is here and here are the ruins of Grey Noke—all approximate of course. There is a river that runs here and a creek here and . . . "

Jestia had untangled herself from Ufalla and she held her hands over the map she said nothing but suddenly color started to swirl and when next he looked it was as if someone had made a model of the area.

"Is this accurate Jestia?" Tarius asked in amazement.

"As well as my brain has kept it," Jestia said.

"Thank you," Tarius said.

Jestia looked straight at her mother and said, "You're welcome Great leader, such things are very easy for me." Then she purposefully walked back over to Ufalla and wrapped herself around her again.

Jabone turned away from the table. He didn't want to see it.

"Bravery is not governed by a man's desire to fight but his conviction to do so even when he doesn't want to," his mother whispered in his ear.

"My madra's words, do they rattle in your head all the time, too then?" he asked in a whisper looking down at her and smiling.

"After all these years I often think she and I only have one mind and then we'll disagree and then I realize we are still ourselves within our oneness. I wouldn't quote her if I didn't agree with what she'd said. You know that."

"Even to make me feel better?" Jabone asked.

Jena smiled, "Well maybe for that."

"I'm trying, I really am, but I see no reason, none at all to go to this far away place to fight a war the Jethrikian king should fight. Why should anyone I love be put in danger for them?" He looked at Kasiria then.

"She told you?" his mother said, obviously a little shocked.

He didn't have to ask what she meant. He knew because Kasiria had told him his parents already knew. "Yes, she told me this morning. I woke mad at the world and I was going on and on about what a coward King Persius was and she told me."

"How do you feel about it?" Jena asked carefully.

"She is not her father and just because she is his daughter doesn't make me think less of her or more of him." He smiled at his mother. "But I suppose for the sake of her feelings I won't be calling him a coward in front of her anymore. Or at the least I'll try not to."

Then the door to the war room flew open and young Tarius ran in, closely followed by Eric. Jabone started to run to his friend and give him a hug but then something about the urgent look on his face made him stop. Tarius walked right up to his madra, carrying something wrapped in cloth. He put it on the table in front of her.

"What is all this then, Tarius?" his madra asked.

Tarius motioned for her to lean down to him and she did. He whispered something in her ear and her features went ashen and she just looked at the bundle in front of her. Jabone found himself wishing he'd been trying to hear. His mother had left his side without him noticing and she was pushing young Tarius out of the way and moving to stand beside his madra.

"What is it?" she asked in a voice so low human ears couldn't have heard it, and only he did because he was trying this time.

His madra didn't answer, she just started to unwrap the package and her hands were shaking. He couldn't imagine what would cause her to react so. Then the wrapping was pulled away and he could see it was a sword. She just looked at it for what seemed like a lifetime, and then she carefully picked it up and flipped it over. When she did she laid it gently back on the table and then she staggered and almost fell. His mother caught her.

"Madra what's wrong?" Jabone asked. But tears swam in her eyes, and she didn't seem to be able to find her voice.
"It is her father's sword," his mother said.

"Found among the weapons taken from the Amalites," young Tarius explained.

Jabone's blood started to boil and his desire for the fight was rekindled ten fold, remembering all that these things had done to his family to his madra.

"We must smoke these bastards from their caves and kill them to the last man," Jabone swore. "We must find them where they are sleeping and slit their throats. Let none of them live to utter the names of their accursed gods ever again. No Amalite," he spit as did every person in the room, "will ever again threaten any peoples. Let us waste no more time here when our enemy sleeps at peace in the territories thinking us defeated. Let us take a great force, meet with this coward of a King of the Jethrik and go in great numbers and destroy our enemy in the hive."

Chapter 25

They had stopped in Montero just long enough for Jestia to gather up some herbs and potions and then they had headed straight on for the Valley of the Katabull. Hestia had sent out ten ships with five hundred soldiers and one hundred horses aboard. They would reach the territories before them. A page would be sent out with a request for Persius to meet them at Port Sagal. Hestia had written the letter he would carry to the king in her own hand.

Kasiria looked at Jabone where he rode beside her. There was no longer any doubt in him. In fact, his face was set in the same single-minded, determined scowl his madra's was.

She had told him who her father was expecting a Katabull rage and he had looked somewhat puzzled and said this rather confusing thing about he wasn't his madra and she wasn't her father and that the news made him care no less for her or more for him. And that seemed to be exactly true because she had never doubted his love for her even once and he had never stopped saying damning things about her father. It was her father's fault this old enemy had been allowed to grow and menace them anew, he and all those who had sat on the Jethrikian throne before him—so in other words all of her ancestors too—they were short sighted and just kept making the same mistakes over and over again. Which apparently included treating the Katabull and women like cattle while allowing the Amalites to thrive and practice their filthy religion which everyone knew never brought anything but death.

She wanted to be furious with him but all she kept thinking was that she was just so glad that he wasn't mad at her. He didn't even question why she hadn't told him. In fact, he seemed to understand exactly why she had thought she couldn't and had sounded only a little put out as he said, "Kasiria what you would have to do to make me not love you hasn't been thought of yet. You should have known that."

They were going up a small rise and Jabone told her, "The Valley of the Katabull is just over this hill."

She nodded, smiling at him. As they crested the hill she took one look and gasped. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it wasn't this. Crop fields and animal pens and huts—so many huts—as far as the eye could see right up to a huge stone wall that was a good fifteen feet tall with four watch towers along the length of it.

"And suddenly not so all alone," Tarius the Black said from where she'd ridden up beside her.

"How did you. .?"

"Because that's what I thought when I came over the hill and saw it. It was almost overwhelming, and yet there were considerably fewer of us then," she said, and then put her horse into a trot. "Come on! There is much to be done and not much time to do it in."

They rode down into the "compound"—she didn't know what else to call it. The Katabull Nation wasn't laid out like a village but more like a military encampment. Even as she thought it she realized why. Tarius the Black was their leader, and she had laid this "town," out so that it was easily defensible with very few if any other considerations. The wall had been built between them and the sea and it started several feet into the lake and ended—she was told—where a one hundred foot cliff met the sea and went up the coast for several miles. There were guard towers set up at intervals all around the compound and Kasiria noticed that not a single one was left unmanned.

Kasiria found herself pulled along to a big rectangular rock building with a red tile roof smack in the middle of the compound as the afternoon rain started—it rained almost every day for about an hour and then it stopped. When she'd asked them jokingly one day if they'd ever had a drought none of them had even known what she was talking about.

"A long time without rain?" Kasiria had explained.
They'd all just laughed at her and since they'd all nearly drowned in the territories she didn't know how to explain that in her country they often got their rain too much or not at all.

"We used to have them here when I was a child," Tarius had said, "but the weather has changed and we no longer either have the droughts or many hurricanes as we did in my youth.

Inside the building it was dry and she felt an almost spiritual presence as she entered.

"This is our meeting lodge. It also serves as an infirmary and in case of attack it's where they would bring the children and those who can't fight. That is why it is made of rock," Jabone explained. "And of course we do rituals here, ceremonies, and feasts."

Kasiria nodded then watched as the Katabull throne was carried in and set towards the front of the hall. She thought it was funny the way it was always carried anywhere the Great Leader went. Tarius the Black said she just found it to be an annoying custom, but had never been able to talk her people out of it.

Tarius walked in then and sat down. To Kasiria's amazement Jena sat down right beside her. But not exactly in her lap, Kasiria thought with a smile. When Tarius started giving what were obviously orders there was no doubt that she was ruler of these people. Even though Kasiria could only understand about one in ten words Tarius was saying and grew more certain every day that she was never going to be able to learn to speak Kartik, she could tell that Tarius spoke with authority and that when she did her people listened.

Kasiria was growing more bored by the moment. Gods! It is exactly like when my father holds court, so boring I'd rather be watching moss grow. At least then I know what they're talking about. Of course I think that only serves to make it all the more boring. She and Jabone were sitting on a bench against the wall, just holding hands. Meanwhile when she looked around to find her friends, Jestia and Ufalla were necking in a corner of the hut seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world and Tarius and Eric were gone altogether. She looked back at Jabone who smiled at her but said nothing, but she could guess what he was thinking—that if she wasn't so repressed they might be doing the same things his friends were. She was just glad he'd stopped scowling long enough to smile. Then thinking maybe she could put a real smile on his face and her own while she was at it she whispered in his ear, "Do we have to be here?"

"No," he whispered back. "She's just mostly saying who's going and assigning commanders to the different units saying what's to be done here in her absence and who's to be in charge of what while she's away."

"Is there somewhere we can go?" she asked shyly.

He smiled back and nodded, "I have my own room." He stood up helped her up and then together they started for the door. They were almost through and she could see it had stopped raining already.

"Ah Kasiria," the Great Leader said, and Kasiria turned quickly no doubt looking as startled as she felt.

"Yes Great Leader," she said bowing.

There was a huge gasp from all the Katabull assembled and then much muttering as if she had committed a great error. Which Jabone confirmed as he whispered in her ear, "Never bow to anyone, least of all my madra."

"That's right, Kasiria," Tarius said, then said something to her people in Kartik the gist of which was that they must excuse her daughter-in-law's out country manners and strange gods, which seemed to calm them. "Never bow to anyone in the Katabull Nation. It is a great insult to us," Tarius explained to her. "All are the same."

"I'm sorry Great Leader," she said.

"It's all right, girl, you didn't know and you are mated with my cub so don't call me Great Leader, you may call me Madra or Tarius but not Great Leader, you cut me to the quick. Now you can do what you were going to do later. Jamie?" A Katabull rose from where he was sitting on a bench and nodded. She gave him some orders in Kartik and he spit something back

"Go with Jamie, Kasiria. He will fit you in the armor of the Marching Night."

She thought of the armor and what getting it meant and her heart leapt in her chest. "Thank you great . . . Tarius," she said, and stopped herself just short of bowing.

Tarius smiled broadly and said to Jabone lifting both hands palm up in the air, "Until now only your mother has ever called me that," Jena popped Tarius in the ribs with her elbow and Kasiria felt if her face got any hotter she would catch fire. "Jena why don't you and Jabone go home and pack to leave?"

Jena stood, whispering something in Tarius's ear that made the Great Leader smile and then she walked over to join them.

Kasiria looked at Jabone; he was scowling again.

Jamie motioned for Kasiria to follow him, which she did, Jabone walking with them holding her hand. She noticed Jena was following and she must have seen the confusion on Kasiria's face.

"Jamie is part of our pack. We will go past our home on the way to his foundry," Jena said. "Son, do not look so defeated. She will only be gone for a short while."

Jabone nodded silently.

A short while later they stopped outside a hut Jamie said something to Jena then Jabone let go of her hand and bent down to kiss her, a wistful smile on his face. She laughed at him and he shook his head and went into the hut with his mother as she continued to follow Jamie.

He led her to a hut close by with a forge and anvil out front covered by a hexagon-shaped thatched roof held up by six poles around the outside and one pole in the middle. She realized as she walked inside following him that Jamie must be the armorer for the pack of the Marching Night because the walls of his hut were lined with different weapons and armor—all new, all the stuff the Marching Night wore. All this, that huge defensive wall, that meeting hall, the way their compound is laid out . . . Ready, they are ready yet there haven't been any real battles here in years. This is why Jabone is so mad at my father because these people have been ever vigilant, always watching for their enemy. They probably dress in full armor and go out in groups to patrol the beaches looking for any sign of their enemy and if they find any they quickly put them down. And what did we do? We ignored Amalite raiding parties attacking small groups of our people and the Amalites under our rule in that area until they have grown so large on our flesh that they were able to wipe out an entire village and a troop of well-trained men. Two troops if Tarius the Black is right—and she usually is.

She felt a little uncomfortable having a man putting her in different pieces of armor, cinching in here and tucking flesh there—touching places she didn't really think he should be touching—having her move whatever part of her body the armor was on and either yanking it off and trying another or leaving it in place if it fit. Finally he was happy that the suit of—including a helmet—all fit her properly with very little adjustment. Then he patted her on the ass to let her know he was finished.

"Hey!" she protested. Then she saw the look on his face and realized that if he was just now getting fresh he'd missed an awful lot of better opportunities since she was in full armor now. She remembered that roughly two thirds of Katabull were queer so in all likelihood he wouldn't have been interested in her anyway.

She walked around in it, loving the feel of this wonderful, well-fitting Kartik armor that allowed her a full range of movement. As she jumped around in different positions to test the fit she no longer had to wonder how it was that Ufalla, Jabone and Tarius had been actually dancing in theirs. It was light weight, it was comfortable, and it gave. Then she stopped and worked her elbow watching the connecting bands on her elbow cup. They really were giving. She saw instantly why they did it if not how but she looked at Jamie and smiled, "Katabull armor?"

Jamie nodded. "Aye." Then he rattled off a bunch of things she could only about half understand. The belts that held the armor in place were made from some strange fabric that stretched out and then retook its shape. Jamie popped the band holding her vambrace in place and said, "Rubber." It allowed a Katabull to "change" in their armor without readjusting it or just being damned uncomfortable like she'd been when she'd changed in her Jethrikian armor. She had been lucky her chainmail shirt had been large to begin with or she probably would have split it, or it her.

"Thank you," she said nodding and speaking loudly as if this would help him understand her. He laughed at her and said something she understood to mean, Go on you get out of here.

She thanked him again though she wasn't quite sure he understood her. Then she walked out of the hut and almost into Tarius the Black. "Walk with me," she ordered, and Kasiria was obliged to do so. "You look like one of us now, much better. Jena has made you a cloak as well."

"Thank you," she said. "These," she said popping one of the bands on her vambraces. "What are they made from?"

"We call it rubber, it is made from the sap of a tree," Tarius said.

"It's amazing."

"Well . . . Katabull armor needs to be able to give. There are a couple of things you should know about us. The first one you already learned, never bow to the Katabull. We are all followers of the Nameless God. Do you know anything of our beliefs?"

"Some." She told her what Jabone had told her.

"Well that's about it; not really a lot to know. Don't growl in a Katabull's face unless you are prepared to wrestle them. Never tell them to do something, always ask them. Among the Katabull they will call you princess because you are Jabone's wife not because of your father, but most days they won't treat you any differently than they do anyone else."

Kasiria nodded. Tarius walked them all the way to the lake and then walked over to an old log that hung out over the water on the end and sat down. "This has always been our son's favorite spot so when Jabone was gone I would come and just sit because I felt close to him here. Does it surprise you that I could be so sentimental?"

"Not at all," Kasiria said honestly. "It is yet another thing your son shares with you and a good trait."

"Do you know how a warlord gets to be a Great Warlord?" Tarius asked, apparently turning the conversation in a totally different direction.

Kasiria shrugged and answered, "By winning many battles."

"No. By not losing any, because if you lose you die and then who cares about your bones?"

Was Kasiria supposed to understand that? What had Jena said? The Katabull are a very philosophical people who sometimes seem to be talking in riddles but everything they say makes perfect sense to them. If you think on what they've said long enough it will make sense to you, too. So Kasiria would just listen carefully and hope she could figure it out later.

"A Great War lord wins by always calculating in their head, asking themselves questions like . . . How many of the enemy are there? Where are they? Where is the sun? How hungry are my people? How hungry are theirs? You carefully add and subtract all these different factors and that's how you know when, where, and how best to attack—all by the numbers. I run most things in my life this same way weighing and counting and asking 'til I have an answer. I used to think Jena was the only thing that had ever confounded me, but the truth is I knew what being with Jena was going to do to me I just reached a point where I didn't care. No there is but one thing I could never figure well, in all my life one factor that constantly refused to be counted and calculated. In matters concerning your father the real conclusion always eluded me. I never knew how that game would play. I'd have everything all planned out, know just what I was going to do, and then . . . I could never figure him into any equation and come out right. Things concerning he and I have never made any sense, never added up right. Now there is you. Things which should have been impossible given the odds happened always when it concerned Persius and I. Are we always to be somehow tied together? Is it some plan of the Nameless One who makes no plans? How can you be what you are and his daughter? How could I have ever calculated that you and my son would find each other there across the sea both you and he so far from your homes, find each other and fall in love? The odds are as against that as they were against me plucking an arrow out of the sky to save Persius. As me living through him trying to kill me. What does it mean Kasiria? What does any of it mean?"

"I don't know," Kasiria said, and thought, I only understand about half of what you're saying. Math and the infinite . . . what?

"I think it means that life being what it is we can't always figure on what fate will bring our way." She took the sword scabbard and all off her back and it was only then that Kasiria noticed she'd been wearing two swords. She got up, walked over to Kasiria, and handed her the sword. "I want you to have this, Kasiria."

"Your father's sword?" Kasiria asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Tarius said, nodding her head.

"I . . . I couldn't." But she didn't try to give it back.

"Take the sword, Kasiria. It is my father's own blade with which he slew many Amalites. It has been cleaned and sharpened but to be truly cleansed it must be bathed in Amalite blood. Bards say I am the greatest fighter who ever lived, but to me Kasiria my father will always be the greatest fighter who ever lived. His death sent me into your country and set your father and I on this strange course we have taken where we do not seem to be able to be rid of each other. It seems only right that you have the blade." She smiled at Kasiria. "Besides, who else would I give it to? My son has his own sword, my non-blood kin Ufalla and Tarius have their own swords. Jestia doesn't need a good sword and I have a feeling this blade would only get the witch in trouble. Jena, well not only could you not pry the sword Jena's always used from her hand without a fight but my father's blade is too long for her. You're my kin now and I doubt you'd go through the ritual." Kasiria looked at Tarius's hand with the missing finger and made a face. "So, let my father's hand guide yours."

Kasiria didn't know how she felt about brandishing a sword with her husband's grandfather's finger in the hilt until she took it the rest of the way from Tarius. She took it from the scabbard, which was obviously new, and then it just seemed like it really was her sword. It seemed to have a power, a will all its own. When she walked a few steps away from Tarius and swung the sword in a couple of huge sweeping arches in the air. It seemed to sing. It was light. There was no tip heaviness to it at all. It was the right weight for her, the perfect length, and she swore it felt as if she'd grown a sixth finger.

"See, Kasiria? The sword wants you."

"Are you sure, Tarius?"

"Kasiria, my father is long dead, and we believe a sword is to be used. these swords that we build with our own fingers in the hilts, it is not just for show or to frighten our enemies, nor is it some primitive right of passage. These swords have a soul of their own. They are literally part of us. We Katabull are magic people. A part of my father remains in his sword. You will use his sword well and it will serve you well."

"Tarius, I can't . . . Thank you. For the sword and for welcoming me into your family."

"There is no need to thank me." Tarius walked up to her and clapped her on the shoulder. "When we get back I will teach you all that I know, and you need not thank me for that either. You make Jabone happy and my greatest wish for him was always that he should be happy."

She started walking back for the hut and Kasiria started to follow and then stopped short. Get back? We will live here. Live here! I had never thought about it, but of course we'd have to live here. I could never separate Jabone from his pack. She started to panic and then she looked around her. He's here, all my true friends are here. The Kartik is beautiful. So there could be worse things than that I should have to live out my days in a paradise where I am treated as an equal. I will miss my father, but he has more children and I have a new life. I'm of the Pack of the Marching Night now. My family and my life are in the Kartik and I will embrace all that I am here among my own kind.

"You coming girl?" Tarius asked, yelling down the trail towards her.

"Yes, I'm coming."

* * *

"So this is your room?" Kasiria asked, crawling into bed with him. His bed was made of logs with rope stretched between them and then a mattress stuffed with what she could only guess was thrown on top of it. It was surprisingly comfortable. Their "home" was a series of four hexagon-shaped huts connected by covered walkways. The largest one in the middle was a kitchen and living area where the Katabull throne dwarfed everything else. The three smaller huts were separate bedrooms for Jabone, his fathers and his mothers. She was sure she was never going to get used to him having four parents or remember which parents were his birth parents and which were his extra parents because they obviously didn't see it that way. It had been a lot easier before she'd actually met Arvon and Dustan because then she had just thought of Tarius as his father and Jena as his mother and she knew that was absurd but it was a lot easier to keep track of than this.

"This is my room, right between them, so that they could take care of me when I was little. If I had brothers and sisters we all would have lived here 'til we moved out," Jabone said sadly, then he smiled. "But well if I did then we'd have to share with them right now so I guess it's lucky I don't have siblings."

"Why don't you have any siblings?"

"My madra had to have me," he said as if that explained everything.

"Tarius is your birth mother then?" Kasiria hadn't really been sure, because . . . well Tarius just didn't seem like she could do something like give birth.

"Yes, that is what Madra means, Kasiria, it means the mother of your birth. It is how cross-paired couples' children keep their parents straight. Ufalla and Tarius sometimes call their parents Madra and Fadra but there is no need because they only have two parents. Tarius is my madra, Jena is my mother, Arvon is my fadra, and Dustan is my father. They all raised me. Just one cub. Normally they would have had four, two at the very least."

"Why didn't they have more?" Kasiria asked, and then wished she hadn't because it was obvious that he was upset.

"Because, my madra was in charge of everything and she couldn't be pregnant. It was a great sacrifice for her to have me, and my mother couldn't have any cubs because my only brother lies in a grave in the cold ground of the Jethrik because your father shot my madra . . . " And then she got to hear yet another story where her father was one of the villains.

And yet he still loves me, and they have embraced me in their family.

"I'm sorry, Jabone."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You did nothing. You weren't even born yet—neither of us were. I always wanted a sibling so badly, and when I finally had the courage to ask my mother why I didn't and learned that I'd had a brother who never got to draw a breath . . . Well it's just not fair."

"I'm sorry I brought up such unhappy memories." She crawled on top of him and kissed his lips. "When we get back, can we have our own hut or do we have to live with your parents?"

"We can have our own hut," he said, laughing.

"But it should be close, so that when we have a bunch of cubs your parents can play with them."

"That would be best," Jabone said smiling. "I have always thought how hard it is for the cubs who grow up with only two parents."

Chapter 26

"Jestia," Ufalla said at her shoulder, "Tarius said I'd find you here. What are you doing?"

"Trying to turn that storm," Jestia said, pointing to a line of dark clouds on the horizon.

Ufalla didn't say another word for several minutes. Finally Jestia turned to face her, she smiled. "Well you don't have to be so quiet. I'm already finished. Come here." She put her arms around Ufalla's waist and pulled her against her. "You don't have to make yourself scarce every time I'm doing a spell. Are you afraid of my magic?"

"No, but I don't want to make you mess anything up."

Jestia laughed and hugged her tighter. "You aren't going to mess anything up. Having you with me only makes it easier for me to cast."

Down the deck she could hear Kasiria talking in that too loud way that she seemed to think would suddenly teach the Katabull Kartiks how to speak Jethrikian.

Jestia untangled herself from Ufalla and took her hand, "Come on I've had enough of that to last a lifetime."

Ufalla followed her.

They walked up to where Kasiria was and she turned to them. "Could you ask him when we will get to the territories?"

"Two more days, three tops," Ufalla answered.

Jestia wondered why Kasiria seemed so anxious. Jestia certainly wasn't in any hurry to face the Amalites again. It had to be done but a few more days weren't going to make any difference one way or the other.

"Are you ever going to learn Kartik?" Ufalla asked with a laugh.

"No," Jestia answered, and then to Kasiria, "screaming at them isn't going to make you any easier for them to understand. If you can't manage to ask a simple question in our language how are you going to understand them if they do answer you?"

"I don't know, but I do seem to understand it much more than I can speak it," Kasiria said, her shoulders slumping.

"Speak Kartik," Jestia said, waving her hands flamboyantly in the air.

Behind her Ufalla laughed and said, "You don't have to do any of that. You just do it for show don't you?"

"Do I look good doing it?" Jestia asked with a smile as she flipped her hair back away from her face.

"Well of course. You look good doing just about everything," Ufalla said in a husky voice.

"Do you two ever give it a rest?" Kasiria asked, and then she grabbed her throat. "I can speak Kartik!" She laughed, looked at Jestia and said, "Thank you Jestia, thank you so much and . . . Quit doing things for me."

"You say that as if I'm going to ask for your first born or something," Jestia said.

"Well thanks, Jestia," Kasiria said excitedly, and ran off no doubt to find Jabone.

"You are welcome," Jestia said after her. Then she turned to Ufalla and whispered, "Maybe some of her husband's seed some day, but definitely not a child."

Ufalla laughed and shoved her so hard she then had to catch her.

"Do you always have to be so rough?"

"You know I don't," Ufalla said with a sly smile.

"Jestia!" Tarius bellowed from the helm.

Jestia looked at Ufalla and rolled her eyes. "Why do I always have to do everything?"

Ufalla shrugged and walked with her to the helm. "Yes?" Jestia asked, looking at her nails and seriously considering a spell to make them look pretty instead of mangled.

"Were you able to turn the storm, Jestia?" Tarius asked.

"Aye," Jestia said, quite bored with the whole thing. "And then I made Kasiria speak Kartik."

"Thank the Nameless One," Tarius said. "The girl was about to drive me mad between butchering our language or screaming hers at us."

Jestia nodded her head in agreement and then she heard practice swords and looked up to see young Tarius and Eric fighting on the rear deck. "Come on." She dragged Ufalla after her.

"Bye," Ufalla said to Tarius. Tarius just laughed.

Jestia fought first with young Tarius, who hadn't been able to lay a blade on her. Then she found herself fighting Ufalla which she found was actually sort of exciting her. Then she hit Ufalla in the head and Ufalla staggered back. No one was more shocked than Jestia was. "Oh baby, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ufalla said in an agitated voice. She rubbed her head and looked at her with an expression Jestia couldn't read.

"Cheater," Tarius accused Jestia.

"What are you talking about?" Jestia asked, more than a little put out.

"Come on Jestia," Ufalla said with a laugh. "You used a spell."

"I didn't," she said.

"You did," Tarius accused. "Every time one of us were about to hit you, you moved."

"Well that's what you're supposed to do, block or move, dumb ass," Jestia said.

"No one's that fast," Tarius said, and added disapprovingly, "you're not practicing your sword work if you use magic."

"I didn't," but now she wasn't sure. Jestia looked at them feeling a bit of panic. "Are you playing some joke on me because if you are it isn't funny."

"I don't think we're the ones tricking anyone," Tarius said.

"Jestia, what's wrong?" Ufalla asked, so Jestia knew she must look as upset as she felt.

"What's wrong you big jerk is that I didn't cast anything." She threw down the practice sword and took off for the hold. Halfway there Ufalla grabbed her arm and spun her around. She started to jerk away from her but Ufalla was much stronger than her and she wasn't letting go.

"What's wrong?" This time it wasn't a question, it was a demand.

Jestia was scared. She looked at Ufalla and said in a whisper, "If I was using a spell then I did it without knowing. Then I'm casting without even trying. I'm casting with my random thoughts."

"So?"

"So . . . What if I get mad and cast something I don't mean to? What if I go to sleep and my dreams cast things and . . . "

"That's not going to happen, Jestia."

"I don't know that, so you surely can't!" Jestia hissed at her. She immediately made herself calm down. Gods! If she was casting with random thoughts she couldn't afford to be mad and certainly not at Ufalla.

"Jestia, you fought a bit better, nothing bad happened," Ufalla said.

Jestia looked at the welt on Ufalla's forehead and started to cry. "Take me to the cabin, Ufalla, I have to think, or maybe not think."

* * *

Jabone had been taking a nap when Kasiria woke him up speaking to him in Kartik saying, "Are you going to sleep all day?"

He just smiled and said in Kartik, "I might."

So she climbed on top of him and asked, "Do you notice something different about me?"

"You've braided your hair like mine. It looks very nice."

"I am speaking Kartik you idiot," she said.

He laughed. "So you are . . . "

Jestia walked into the small cabin. Kasiria and Jabone had been sharing the cabin with Jestia, Ufalla, Eric and Tarius.

"You guys have to leave," Jestia said dismissively.

"Not again," Jabone moaned. "Maybe we want a turn now." Kasiria smacked him in the shoulder and he laughed.

"Seriously, you guys have the room alone more than anyone else," Kasiria said disapprovingly.

"And we use it better," Ufalla said with a laugh.

"You have to leave for your safety," Jestia said, then went to her bag and started pulling out more books than should have fit in it.

"Our safety," Jabone said with a laugh.

Ufalla looked at them and rolled her eyes, "She thinks she's having some sort of magic melt down because she apparently cast a spell without knowing it."

"You're acting like it's no big deal and it's huge! I can cast from thought, but I'm still supposed to have to consciously think about it. It's not supposed to just happen. Go please, I can't trust myself," Jestia said, and this time she was pleading not demanding so Jabone shoved on Kasiria 'til she got up and then he got up as well. Kasiria thought with a smile. Never tell the Katabull to do anything, ask them. Jestia knows that.

As they walked away she heard Jestia tell Ufalla. "Stand outside the room. Guard the doorway and don't come in or let anyone else in 'til I figure out whether I'm dangerous or not."

"She sounds serious," Kasiria said, some worried.

"Yeah, but you have to remember that Jestia tends to make a big show of everything. Still I don't think they just want the room for sex again," Jabone said thoughtfully then smiled and added, "though if they did, that was a really good way to get rid of us."

* * *

"She said what?" Tarius asked her son, motioning for the helmsman to take the wheel.

"She said she was casting without trying," Kasiria answered before Jabone had a chance. "That she was worried she might be dangerous."

"Stay on deck I'll go talk to Jestia," Tarius said. As she walked away she called on the night, magic couldn't be used against the Katabull so it made sense that if Jestia was worried she might be just casting random spells that Tarius should give herself her best protection.
She found Ufalla outside the door, obviously guarding.

"What's going on?"

"Well we were sword fighting and . . . " Ufalla told her the whole story. Tarius nodded and looked past her into the room where Jestia was sitting in the very middle of the floor a circle drawn in chalk around her looking at books.

"What's the circle for?" Tarius asked.

"She says it's to protect us from her magic." Ufalla frowned. "At first . . . well I thought it was just Jestia being Jestia but she keeps leafing threw books and muttering stuff, and I'm starting to get really worried. Do you think . . . Well could she hurt herself?"

"I don't think so," Tarius said thoughtfully. "I'll talk to her and see if I can calm her down."

"You think she's just excited over nothing?" Ufalla asked hopefully.

"All the witches and wizards I've ever known . . . They never cast an evil thing. The way I understand it to do so takes a great deal from the caster and eventually turns them into something . . . Well less than human. I don't think you can just cast something harmful like what she's afraid of without going out of your way to do so. I certainly don't think it's going to happen from her random thoughts, I mean Jestia can be a royal pain in the ass but there isn't an evil bone in her body. I'll tell her that and maybe she'll calm down."

"Thanks Tarius," Ufalla said, and seemed to relax a little.

Tarius smiled, They're all grown up but they're still cubs. When things happen that are beyond them they're more than happy to have the help of one of their elders which is good because I still need them to need me on occasion.

She walked into the room and Jestia, not looking up from the book said, "Get out, Ufalla."

"I'm not Ufalla."

Jestia turned to look at her and it was obvious that the girl was distraught. "Tarius, don't come inside the circle. I've cast a wall around myself so I can't hurt anyone."

"But I am the Katabull," Tarius said and walked into the circle. She felt the strange stirring of the magic field but nothing worse than a little tingling at the base of her skull. "Jestia, you must calm down."

"I can't Tarius. I'm trying," Jestia said then in a whisper, no doubt for Ufalla's benefit. "I may have to go into the woods and live like a hermit." She was near tears.

Tarius nodded solemnly and looked at the books at her feet. She hunkered down and picked one up. Then holding it towards Jestia said, "So . . . have you actually looked at any of these?"

"I've looked at all of them twice."

"Don't you have a spell for finding things in books?" Tarius asked.

"Yes of course," Jestia said, slapping herself in the forehead with her palm.

"And yet you've been looking and looking?" Tarius said with a smile.

"Yes?"

"And the spell didn't cast itself," Tarius said. "With you so distraught and thinking of becoming a hermit you're just looking and looking through books."

"And my mind didn't just automatically cast the spell," Jestia said, realizing what Tarius was saying with a sudden smile.

"Jestia, maybe you didn't actually cast a spell before, maybe your woman and her brother just think themselves so good that they forget that every fighter has a good day. I have always said on his best day the worst fighter can take the best and on their worst day the best fighter will fall to the worst. Even if you did cast some fighting or speed spell without trying, that doesn't have to be a bad thing; it might be a very good one. Look in your books for thought casters and see what it says about them. I'm sure you won't find anything that says they got mad at their lover and accidently turned them into a toad. Until you figure out what's happened and why and whether it's good or not, calm down. You've got poor Ufalla chewing her nails to the bone with worry."

Jestia nodded. "Thanks Tarius."

"You're more than welcome." She stood back up. "I'll stay like this. If you feel like you really can't control your magic then you send Ufalla for me and together we'll get it under control, but I think, my non-blood kin, that you are worrying about nothing."

"Tarius . . . am I . . . am I really part of your pack?"

Tarius smiled down at the girl. "Jestia even if you weren't Ufalla's mate . . . You saved my son's life . . . "

"I didn't . . . "

"You did, but even if you didn't . . . Jestia the minute I had them slap you into Marching Night armor and saw you walking in it, I knew you were part of my pack. So, when I tell you not to worry and that we will handle this together whatever this might be then know that I mean to do it. You will not be a hermit. Think it a blessing or a curse, but you'll never be alone again."

Jestia nodded and a tear ran down her cheek. She sniffed and went back to her books. This time one lifted out of the pile and the pages started turning. She smiled. "I had to work on it."

"Then there you go." Tarius stood up, turned on her heel, walked out of the circle and out of the room. She took Ufalla's arm and led her down the hall a bit. "The fight was it . . . Well are you sure it was magic?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it. Tarius, it was like she was there one minute and then she just wasn't and then she was somewhere else," Ufalla said. Then added a bit insulted, "Tarius I wouldn't let her think there was something wrong with her if all she'd done was best me at sword."

"I didn't think you would, Ufalla, but sometimes the best of us see one thing and think another. I was just checking," Tarius said. "I know I don't have to tell you this, but stay close. If she does need help you come get me. I'll be in my cabin. I don't think this is the problem she thinks it is, but she has grown very powerful, very quickly and it's better to be safe than sorry."

Ufalla nodded and Tarius started to walk away. She felt the girl's hand on her shoulder and turned. "Thanks Tarius, and thanks for saying what you did about her being part of us now. I know it means a lot to her even if she didn't say so."

"People don't have to speak to say things, Ufalla. Jestia as you know speaks more with her deeds than her words. Hestia's a good person, my friend, but she's not a good mother. She knows this but doesn't know how to fix it because her heart has never been full. Jestia doesn't have that problem; I don't think she ever has. That's why she was so miserable as a child. She's not like them, she never belonged with them, she belongs with us, with you."
Ufalla hugged her and Tarius hugged her back, when they parted she went to her cabin. With all the excitement she wanted a nap, "Old age bites," she grumbled.

* * *

Jestia read the passage titled "Thought Casters in the Royal Line of the Kartiks" twice. There had apparently been two very powerful witches among her ancestors, but the references to Dorcus the Great were the ones that most intrigued her because she was the one who was known to be a thought caster. Further it said that she was able to cast certain spells without even trying.

One story said that whenever she sat down in her garden a pot of tea and a cup would appear and then the tea would pour into the cup and the cup would go into her hand. When a friend asked her why she didn't simply have the cup of tea appear in her hand she explained that she never really cast the spell. That she liked to have tea in her garden and it just always happened that way.

It was wildly interesting and some amusing but the main problem with thought casters was that there had been so few of them that there just wasn't much in the books that Jezel hadn't already taught her. The only reference to thought casters casting without their will was Dorcus the Great's magic tea pot.

But maybe that's good. I mean if Dorcus had accidently conjured great beasts that ate people that would be in the books. Maybe it's as simple as I wanted to win and so it just happened.

"Can I come in now?" Ufalla asked.

"Yes," Jestia said. Ufalla walked up to the edge of the circle, and Jestia looked up at her and smiled. "You can come in the circle, too. I think I'm safe."

Ufalla crossed the circle knelt and started gathering the books up for Jestia.

"I never had any doubt," Ufalla said and kissed Jestia on the cheek. "Come on, let's put these up, I heard someone say the evening meal is ready and I'm starved."

"I'm going to have to learn to cook because you are always hungry," Jestia said, taking the books from Ufalla and putting them back into her bag.

"I'm sure you will learn to do it as quickly and as well as you do all things. However I do know how to cook."

"Then you can teach me."

Jestia followed Ufalla to the galley where they sat down at the table. On the ship they had to eat in shifts as the galley was small. Still she was glad to see Tarius.

"You can go back to human form if you want, I think I'm fine. Seems I actually had an ancestor who did the same thing and it never caused any real problems."

Tarius nodded but was in no hurry to change.

Lobster, they were having lobster, she loved lobster and . . . Where the hell did that tea pot and cup come from?

Chapter 27

Persius had been meeting with several of his advisors concerning the Amalite menace. He now looked at the Kartik man standing before him. The man was still out of breath from what Persius assumed was a dash from his horse to the throne room, probably with Persius's own stupid herald and half a dozen others chasing after him telling him he couldn't just see the king, that he was breaking protocol.

"A message," he said in heavily accented Jethrikian, trying to catch his breath, "from my Sovereign Queen," he caught his breath again, "Hestia, Ruler of the whole Kartik. To be delivered into the hand of the King of the Jethrik." He handed Persius a roll of parchment with the queen's wax seal prominent on it.

"Concerning what?" Persius's herald asked and the Kartik soldier—who had in the herald's

opinion broken about every rule of protocol that could be broken—looked at him like he was nothing more than a piece of irritating fluff. Persius could not have agreed more.

"Concerning the Amalite scum," he spit on the throne room floor before continuing, "that have been raiding your territory and your country."

Persius smiled looking at the spit on his floor which had the herald and most of his advisors all puffed up with irritation. Then he opened the parchment carefully and was pleased to see that the Kartik Queen actually knew Jethrikian.

"Read it aloud so that we all may know her words." He held it out toward his herald who wasted several seconds not understanding that Persius was talking to him. When he realized all eyes were on him he stepped forward nervously and took the parchment from Persius's hand. "Do you just never pay any attention unless things of no importance are annoying you?" Persius asked, glaring down at the herald.

"Sorry sire," he said, bowing.

"Look at this man, out of breath and red in the face from hurrying to serve his queen. Why can I not command such respect, such competency from my own subjects?"

"I don't know sire," the herald said.

"Just read the missive dammit!"

"From Queen Hestia, Ruler of all the Kartik, Herald of the Dawn, Daughter of the Moon . . . "

"Skip the nonsense and read the message!" Persius was thinking more and more that this guy didn't need his head since he never seemed to use it any way.

"Tarius and I have met and are in agreement that we must send troops to help you kill the Amalite horde that threatens all our peace, for Tarius has seen that there are a great multitude of them. For my part I am sending five hundred men and one hundres horses which have made berth at Port Sagal.

"When did you dock?" Persius asked the man.

He held up four fingers which was good because he then said, "six days ago and five horses changed." And then he held up three fingers. He obviously had mixed up his Jethrikian numbers.

Persius waited for the herald to start reading again which he didn't until Persius screamed, "Dammit man, are you just trying to see how much you can get away with before I have your head removed from your shoulders? Read on!" At Persius's shoulder Hellibolt chuckled and Persius ignored him.

"Tarius the Black, the Great Leader of the Katabull people, will dock there a day or two after our forces with two hundred fifty men and fifty horses. Most of the Marching Night plus one hundred twenty other Katabull. She will be commanding all of our troops in the territories. She wishes to meet with you at Port Sagal and discuss strategy.

"I have met your daughter, Kasiria. She's a lovely girl and seems to have healed well after her ordeal, thanks in no small part to Tarius's impeccable timing and my own daughter's aid . . . "

"Wait, wait," Persius held up his hand and worked at coming to terms with what he'd just learned. Hestia was a shrewd woman. She no doubt told him this to make him more pliable to what she and Tarius wanted, and maybe to hint at the possibility of a ransom of sorts with them returning Kasiria safe only if he agreed to their terms regarding the impending battle. Of course 'til she'd told him in her letter Persius had no idea Kasiria was even hurt, no doubt because everyone who worked for him was an incompetent fool, which Hestia would have no way of knowing. "You imbeciles, you got the messages wrong, Kasiria was the one that was hurt not some Katabull. They rushed to the Kartik with Kasiria because she was injured. Did you know this Hellibolt?"

"I had my suspicions," Hellibolt said simply.

"And yet you said nothing."

"What would have been the point, sire? Kasiria was already in the Kartik when we got the information that she had gone there. What could you have done? Gone to the Kartik? By the time you got there and if you could find her she would have already either been healed or dead." He was right of course. What could Persius have really done? He could worry but that never really helped anything and there was nothing constructive he could have done. Hellibolt continued. "Besides she was in good hands. Tarius would never let anything happen to the girl if she could help it."

Persius didn't really understand that. Why should Tarius care what happened to Kasiria? Was Hellibolt saying Tarius had forgiven him completely now, that she'd saved his daughter for the sake of their old friendship? Persius had just been happy that Tarius didn't hate him anymore; that she didn't sit and pray to her strange god for his slow and painful death. What other reason could she have for taking care of Kasiria? Concerning war Tarius never did anything without good reason. Perhaps she had saved Kasiria only to use her as leverage now, but even that didn't make sense. Persius had gone against Tarius's battle strategies before and the results had been tragic for his country. Surely she must know that he'd never resist her ideas concerning battle now. It made him wonder just what she might have planned if she thought she needed this sort of leverage. "Read on," he ordered.

"I hope that you will come to the meeting and that you will gather as many troops as we have and send them to the rendezvous point which Tarius says should be Pearson Garrison. Signed by my hand thi . . . "

"Go to general Orion at once, tell him I need at least seven hundred men and as many horses at Pearson Garrison as soon as possible. Tell the valet to pack my things and get my personal guard ready. We will leave immediately."

"But sire, it will be dark soon and . . . "

"Hellibolt will go with us and cast some spell so that we can see." Persius ignored all the cringing and outright animosity of his advisors. His people didn't like or trust witchcraft. That Hellibolt had served the kingdom as long as they had recorded history only made them distrust and fear him all the more. Had he been mortal he would have been dead many times over. Persius had no time for their superstitious idiocy. "We must not waste time, our allies come from over the sea to help us and I can't . . . I won't have them thinking that I have less concern for my own people than they do. Take this man and get him something to eat, he will ride with us."

And then they all just stood around looking at him. "Surely you can all see the urgency of this matter. Must I sit and make lists as to who should do what? Can none of you think for yourselves? Are you not supposed to be here only to advise me and if you can't take matters into your own hands and make simple decisions on your own then why would I ever need your council? I need men of action around me, not just mindless figureheads. Go now all of you and make yourselves useful for a change. Hellibolt you remain, I must speak with you in private." Then addressing the rest of the group again he said, "The sooner we leave the better and if we aren't on the road before nightfall heads will roll."

In seconds the throne room was empty save for himself, Hellibolt, and his personal guard who stood by the door and pretended not to listen as he always did. He was a constant and so Persius hardly even knew he was present most of the time.

Persius stood up and started pacing, thinking a dozen things at once, and it was Hellibolt who broke the silence with his words so softly spoken Persius barely heard him, "So, do you move so quickly because of the urgency of the matter or because you will see her again?"

"The matter is most urgent. I'm sure they already see me as having been asleep at my post, but of course I want to see my daughter to see for myself that Kasiria is well . . . "

"I was speaking of Tarius the Black."

Persius stopped pacing and spun on the wizard. He was about to spit out an angry retort when it died on his lips, his shoulders sagged and he sighed and asked, "Is it such an awful thing Hellibolt?"

Hellibolt smiled. "No, I was just wondering. Many things have changed over the years Persius, but many have not."

Persius ran his hands through his thinning hair and glared at Hellibolt. "What does that mean?"

"Many of the old wounds are closed, but many are still open and new ones have surfaced. Even after all these many years I do not believe you are as prepared for this meeting as you think you are. I do not believe you will leave this meeting the same man who arrived," Hellibolt said.

Persius took a minute to go over what Hellibolt had said then glared at him and said, "That is more confusing than what you said before. Why can't you simply answer my question?"

"Because I'm a wizard not a soothsayer. Sometimes I get a glimpse of what might happen in the future. I have no answers because I've had no such vision and even if I had there is no knowing what will happen for a certainty because the future can always be changed until it's the past. What I do know for a certainty is that you still harbor within you a desire for Tarius that has never been shared and will never be fulfilled. Tarius doesn't still hate you, but she does still hate what you did, and she thinks you a weak leader driven only by what things look like not what they truly are. She doesn't respect you. Jena's wound is as fresh as it was on the day that you cut it into Tarius's flesh. And Kasiria—their battles have become hers and she has chosen a path different than any you could have foreseen for her and one you will likely never fully understand."

"With every word you say you confound me more,"Persius said.

Hellibolt frowned. "That's because you hear, but do not listen."

"Arrr! Come on let's just go. And speak to me no more unless you can tell me something that might help me." Persius stormed out of the throne room mumbling and Hellibolt followed. "Nothing you have said helps me to know how I should conduct myself at this summit. I need to be advised as to what to expect at this meeting and . . . "

"That is precisely what I told you," Hellibolt interrupted, and yet that wasn't at all what Persius had heard.

* * *

They had gotten off the boat and it was only as he watched the crew unloading their horses that he finally started to miss Lex and he felt guilty.

He felt Kasiria's hand take his. "What's wrong?" she asked.
He looked down at her. "I was just remembering poor Lex. I loved that horse, Kasiria. He was a good horse, a good friend, and I hadn't even really thought about him being dead 'til right now. It's like everything I thought was important isn't, everything has changed since the last time we landed and I stepped foot on this soil for the first time. It's only been months but it seems like it was years ago that I came here with Jestia, Ufalla and Tarius seeking adventure, to fight our parent's enemies, because we didn't have our own enemies when we came here. I stood very near where I am right now and I watched them unload the horses so worried that something would happen to Lex because at the time I thought he was as important to me as any of my friends. Master Richard met us here. He went out of his way to make us feel like we belonged. He was a good man, now he's as dead as Lex. Lex got off the boat just fine, but he never got back on because I had to kill him to put him out of his misery, and since that time I haven't had time to even think about him or Richard . . . any of them. Everything has changed for all of us, and for you most of all. When we left Pearson Garrison none of us had ever been in love and now we are all bound to someone. None of us had ever been in battle and now all of us bear scars. You almost died. I used to spend hours with my friends just talking, playing, practicing. We, Tarius and Ufalla and I, we spent nearly every waking moment together from our births and now . . . Well when we were in the Kartik I'd go several days without seeing either of them and yet now we're so much closer than we ever where when we were always in each others' pockets. Everything that seemed so important to us now seems so frivolous. I loved my horse and now he's dead and the only thing that's really changed is that I no longer want to learn to unload horses from the boats."

"I'm sorry, Jabone," Kasiria said.

"Just a horse." He smiled at her, remembering a story his father Dustan had told him, a story he'd never really understood 'til now. "How can I morn for Lex? I almost lost you, Kasiria. When I think about that . . . I loved him but he was just a horse. I'll become attached to my new horse and that gap will be easily filled, but this new horse will never be as important to me as Lex was because I've changed. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes, I think I do. I think what I miss most is my ignorance. People will talk about losing their innocence but that's not really right because if we were truly innocent we wouldn't have had any desire to go do battle and kill people. Tiny children are innocent and none of us were tiny children, but we were all ignorant, and now we aren't. I hate knowing what it's like to be nearly stomped to death by my own horse, what it's like to slice through a man, what it feels like to be shot with a arrow, to know the smell of blood and bowel and brain. Most of all I hate knowing how it feels to watch the life drain from a friend and have to leave them there for the Amalites to feed on or be just as dead.

"You are right. Everything has changed; we've all changed. When we were still on the boat and I could first see land I thought I'd feel a sense of home coming but I didn't. Then when we docked I thought, surely now I'll feel like I'm home. Then when we stepped off the gang plank I was sure I would feel something, but even now with the dirt of the shores around my feet . . . Well, I'd like to think that it's because we're in the territories—still not really in the Jethrik—but I don't think if I was in the castle sitting at my father's feet I would feel any sense of homecoming. I don't belong here, Jabone, I'm not sure I ever did. Looking back now I can't remember a single time in my life in the Jethrik that I felt like I belonged. I'm the Katabull but it's not just that. Like Jena my soul always yearned for everything I wasn't supposed to have. Hellibolt says it's because I'm the child born to my father when he was under Tarius's curse."

Jabone bent down to kiss her gently on the lips. "You are no one's curse."

"We'll see if that's what my father thinks when he sees me like this," she said, indicating her armor.

Jabone nodded silently. He was worried about this meeting. He hadn't told anyone because he didn't dare to speak it aloud, but he was afraid that everything Kasiria thought she wanted now might change when she saw her father. What if she wanted to stay in her country with her people after all? It was easy to forget about home when you were separated from your people and in a strange land. What would she really be feeling when she saw Persius?

Persius, how would she feel if she knew that many of their people spit when they spoke his name just like they did when they spoke of the Amalites?

What was he going to do if she wanted to go back to her country, go back to being a princess? What if, forced to choose between her father and him, she chose her father? His mind raced, thinking things he'd tried to get it not to think. What if when all is done and said, she's the great love of my life and I'm just a fling—someone of her race thrown together with her and it's not real love, not for her.

Kasiria sighed, thinking she knew what he was thinking. "I know you hate my father, Jabone."

"I hate what he did to my mothers," he said simply. He started to say nothing and then realized he really was more like Jena than he wished sometimes because he found himself speaking from his heart. "I will hate him if you decide you'd rather go home with him than be with me. If you decide you need to be with your people."

Kasiria laughed and her grip on his hand tightened. "Jabone, did you not hear what I just said? I'm with my people now, and I could never in a million years leave you. Before we left the Kartik I knew that we'd be going back. I made my peace with that. Maybe that's why the Jethrik doesn't feel like home anymore, because now the Kartik is my home." She moved to wrap her arms around his waist and he embraced her and relaxed. Even a few weeks ago she wouldn't have been able to show him this much affection in public, so maybe she had embraced their ways.

Jabone kissed her gently on the lips and she kissed him back and any fear he'd had that she didn't really love him was gone as well.

* * *

When Persius and his entourage pulled into Port Sagal it was obvious that Tarius the Black had already been there several days. They had made camp just outside the town, a vast sea of colorful Kartik tents. Soldiers and Katabulls, in their beast form were milling around.

They were met by a Kartik soldier who stopped them and asked who they were, though Persius was sure he knew. After showing credentials they were led into the camp.

A young Katabull ran up to him and of course he did not bow. "The Great Leader asks that you be taken immediately to the war room."

The "war room" turned out to be a huge tent in the middle of the camp. As the flaps were held open he stopped, his face had gone flush his heart was pounding. He took a deep breath. Inside, just inside, was Tarius the Black, whom he hadn't seen in over twenty years and yet it seemed like only yesterday.

"Sire, are you all right?" his aide asked at his shoulder.

"I'm fine just . . . Nothing." He walked in the tent and there she stood bent over a table on which a map was drawn. Her black hair was braided in two small braids on either side of her head as the rest was just allowed to fly around her head. It was the same armor—or at least the very same make—that she'd been wearing when he'd last seen her, and to him it seemed like time had stood still for her. When she looked up at him and smiled he actually felt like his heart stopped for a moment.

"Persius, we weren't expecting you so soon," she said, and her voice was the same as well, strongly purposeful with a hint of mirth in it.

"I . . . I didn't want you to think that I didn't understand the enormity of this problem." Then he saw Jena not an arm's breadth from Tarius. She hadn't changed much, either. In fact, the burning hate she looked at him with was exactly the same as it had been when last he'd seen her. Harris was still with her as well, and he also gave Persius a look of total disdain. Jena and Harris were also wearing armor—the same armor Tarius wore with the skulls on the knee cops and palderons.

The way they looked at him made him feel stripped, but Tarius looked at him again and smiled and he was put at ease.

"We've still got much time. The Amalites," she spit on the dirt of the tent floor, even as all the Kartiks did, "in the hive will still be busy preparing their spoils."

"This hive, what exactly is it? I have seen them in my mind swarming and when you sent word . . . What is this hive?" Hellibolt asked as he walked into the tent.

Tarius ran up to Hellibolt, embraced him, and kissed him on both cheeks. "My dear friend," she called him, and held him for quite awhile before she released him stood back laughed and said, "You might have the decency to age like the rest of us."

"So says the Katabull goddess for whom time has almost stood still."

"Flattery!" Tarius laughed. "I think I'm touched."

"How good it is to see you again." Jena walked forward and hugged him as well, and suddenly Persius knew what Hellibolt had meant. Jena hates me as much today as she did all those years ago, and Tarius, she really has forgiven me but not what I did. Jena won't so much as look at me and while Tarius will smile at me, she will not embrace me, she won't kiss me on the cheek or announce to anyone in hearing that I'm her dear friend. That's what Hellibolt meant. He wasn't talking just of my desires as a man, he was talking about my very real desire that somehow she and everyone else would have magically forgotten what I did to her. That she would embrace me as an old friend.

Jena finally released Hellibolt, who shook Harris's hand. Then he turned to Tarius and asked again, "What is the hive?"

Tarius walked back to the map which was a very rough drawing on the back of a cow hide. "We believe they are in a system of caves in this area. This is how they have lived so long undetected."

Hellibolt nodded as if this explained everything.

"You are road weary and I imagine hungry. Go get a bath and I'll have a meal prepared. We can discuss this all after we've eaten. Yurri, please show Persius and his people where the baths are and then when they have finished bring them around to the mess tent."

"Yes Great Leader." He didn't bow to her, and yet he showed her more respect with his words than Persius ever felt from his subjects. As Yurri walked past Persius and his entourage it was obvious that he expected them to follow without being told.

Persius reached out and touched the man's shoulder. "One moment."

Persius turned to look at Tarius who was already leaned over the map again. "Tarius, where is my daughter?"

Tarius looked up at Jena. "Honey, where are the children?"

"I don't know. In camp, maybe in town, maybe back on the ship," Jena said, and he got the impression she wouldn't say if she did know.

"Is she well?" Persius asked carefully.

Tarius looked at him and nodded. "Oh aye, well enough to run around with the rest of the youngsters getting into mischief no doubt."

"Tarius . . . Jena, thank you for taking care of Kasiria."

"Persius among the Marching Night we have a saying, if one falls then all may fall. Had Kasiria not been with them we probably would have lost our children. She's a brave girl, strong, you should be very proud."

And of course Tarius the Black would think that he should be proud of his warrior daughter. He nodded and said, "Thank you, all the same."

Tarius just nodded and went back to whatever she was doing with the charcoal in her hand on that cow hide.

* * *

"You didn't tell him," Jena said, and Tarius didn't need to ask what she was talking about she knew.

"It's not my place to tell him. Kasiria should tell him when and what she wants."

"What if he orders her back to the castle?"

"She is our son's mate, he wouldn't dare. Even if he did . . . I get the feeling she's never really listened to him and with the whole of the Marching Night behind her he wouldn't dare to anger me. Not now, not concerning my children," Tarius said. She turned back to the rough map she was drawing from what she'd seen herself, what information she'd been able to pull from the children, and the image Jestia had produced. She smiled then and said looking at Harris, "I guess we'll have to stop thinking of and calling them children some time soon."

"I don't plan to," Harris said with a smile. Then he laughed. "You know I had thought I had forgotten my Jethrikian ways. But I've actually worked very hard at not knowing about my children's—and especially Ufalla's—couplings, because well," he looked at Jena then, "in the Jethrik no girl is ever allowed to act on her sexual feelings without a marriage."

Jena nodded.

"They do have the most ridiculous rules," Tarius said, once again looking at her map drawing on it some more but still listening to Harris.

"I sort of knew that Ufalla was like you Tarius, more like you than like Jena," Harris said. She knew what he meant and took no offense. "But . . . Well did you know that she and the queen's daughter . . . "

"Yes," Tarius said with a laugh. "I assumed you knew. How could you not, Harris? They are always on each other."

"They've always been very close, and well like I said, I didn't really want to know that she was . . . well doing anything actually." He turned bright red then and said, "and surely not doing those things in places where her father might walk in and see her doing it."

Tarius could no longer concentrate on her map making. She started laughing riotously as she saw the look on her friend's face.

He smiled red faced and shrugged. "At least they look like they belong together every time I see my son with his woman . . . " He laughed. "Well, let's just say I hope I never walk in on them because the picture I've got of their coupling in my head . . . " He made a face, and Tarius laughed still harder. Jena laughed, too, now having seemingly forgotten that she was pissed off just because Persius was on the same planet as they were.

"You had to say it." Jena laughed at Harris. "Now I'm going to have nightmares."

"Like a goat mounting a horse," Tarius laughed. Then she stopped and looked at the map and muttered. "A goat mounting a horse."

Jena and Harris both knew her so well that they quit laughing and asked at the same moment. "What is it?"

"A goat mounting a horse." She pointed to a spot on her map where she had drawn a hill according to what the "children" had described and she remembered. "It's this hill here." She indicated a large mound with a smaller one connected to it. "This one that looks sort of like a goat mounting a horse. This is where the cave is. This is the hive. I'm sure of it." Suddenly the spot on the map had an ominous feel to it and she knew that she was right.

* * *

The Kartiks had confiscated one of the town's bathhouses for their use. When Persius stepped out of the building clean and freshly dressed Kasiria was standing there though it took a moment for him to recognize her because she was dressed exactly like one of Tarius's people, in the clothing and the armor of the Marching Night. She embraced him and he hugged her back, not really aware of his tears 'til they parted. He wiped his eyes and nose quickly on a handkerchief his aide handed him. Then looked at her she smiled at him. His daughter, his favorite yet so changed, not a girl any more but a woman.

"Kasiria," his voice caught and he cleared his throat before he continued. "Are you well?"

She said something in Kartik then grabbed her throat and looked perturbed. He could see her eyes also swimming with tears but she didn't shed them.

Hellibolt laughed. "She says she is fine."

Kasiria said something else in Kartik and Hellibolt laughed more and said, "The witch Jestia put a spell on her so that she could speak Kartik and apparently she can't speak Jethrikian now."

Persius just looked at her. There was a small scar on her chin, one that would probably go away in time and a haunted look deep in her eyes that probably wouldn't. Battle did that to you, made the whole world look different. My child, and yet she seems like a stranger to me, she looks foreign, she sounds foreign.

The fellow who had brought him to the bathhouse ran up and announced, "Dinner is ready, please follow me." Persius was a bit surprised because he wasn't curt as he had been earlier. Persius wondered what had changed his manner and then he knew. His feelings towards me haven't changed. He still has only contempt for me. It's Kasiria whom he respects. To her he shows courtesy, not for me, but why?

"Never tell the Katabull to do anything. Always ask them," Hellibolt whispered in his ear. Persius started to growl an angry retort at him and stopped. No, everything he says has meaning, is a warning, I just have to wait 'til it makes sense.

Kasiria said something else he couldn't understand and Hellibolt said, "She says she has much to tell you and she will as soon as Jestia restores her Jethrik."

"I'm sure you do." Persius smiled and took her hands in his and held them. He tried to catch her eyes but she was staring past him at something behind him. He released her hands and turned to see what she was looking at and there he was. The man glared at Persius with black hate but even if he hadn't he would have known who he was. Persius nodded his head in the direction of the man and said more than asked Kasiria, "That is Tarius's son."

"Jabone," Kasiria answered with a huge smile, nodding.

"He looks so much like her," Persius said.

Jabone walked up to them then and looked down at Persius. He was huge, this son of Tarius's. He said something to Kasiria in Kartik and she said something back.

Jabone nodded then looked at Persius and said in rather good Jethrikian, "My madra has forgiven you because your actions saved her and her pack, but I still hold you in contempt for what you did to my family. However, for my madra and Kasiria's sake I will be cordial." His words didn't match the expression on his face. In fact, Persius was sure that what he really meant was that the only reason he wasn't going to kill Persius was because his "madra" wouldn't allow it and it might upset Kasiria.

"If I lived for a hundred years and daily did some good service towards your family I would not expect to be forgiven by you or your people," Persius said, picking his words carefully.

Then the boy was past him very quickly. So much so that he cringed thinking he'd said the wrong thing and was about to be killed. Then as he turned he saw that the boy was hugging Hellibolt and whispering things to him in Kartik. Hellibolt gave the boy an exuberant hug and said something back to him in Kartik and Persius wished for the thousandth time that he'd paid more attention to his language lessons.

The boy finally released Hellibolt and then he grabbed Kasiria's hand. Without another word he started to drag her away towards the mess tent. Persius thought this was odd but then Kasiria turned looked at Persius, a helpless smile on her face, and shrugged as she followed Jabone, and Persius remembered that Kartiks tended to be a physically demonstrative people.

"What did the boy say to you?" Persius demanded of Hellibolt as they started following the Kartik fellow to the mess tent again.

"He thanked me for his madra's life," Hellibolt said.

"You . . . But Hellibolt you never saved her life."

Hellibolt shrugged and said, "Who told you that your hour of redemption was at hand?" Persius knew there was more to it than that but didn't have a chance to pursue it because they had arrived at the mess tent then.

Several big tables surrounded by chairs that he guessed correctly had been taken from a Port Segal inn were scattered around in no particular order. Tarius sat at one of these, Jena on her right, her son on her left. Kasiria sat next to Jabone where she was arguing in a whisper with a girl who looked like a younger, better-looking version of Queen Hestia so he didn't have to ask who she was. Tarius indicated two chairs across the table from her and he and Hellibolt sat down. Kasiria looked up at him and smiled, perhaps knowing he needed the support being basically surrounded by people who hated him.

"The rest of you may sit wherever you like," Tarius said to his men with a wave of her hand. He nodded his head at them to indicate that they should do as they were told. Then Tarius turned her attention to the argument down the table. "Jestia, can you not just give her back her Jethrik?"

The girl sighed heavily as if deeply grieved and said to him in his language, "Did none of you people learn any language but your own? She annoys us when she yells at us and mangles our tongue." To Tarius she said, "I can't just give her Jethrik back. I had to turn her Jethrik into Kartik, so I'll have to now turn her Kartik into Jethrik. You can't make something from nothing you know."

"Then change it for now and change it back later," Tarius said.

"There will be no need to change it back later," Persius said with a laugh. "She is here now among her people." His daughter shook her head violently and his stomach rolled and not from hunger.

"Jestia," Tarius stood up, leaned her weight on her hands and looked over at the girl. "Just give her Jethrik back now."

"Oh very well, Tarius but I have to tell you from experience that with royal parents she's much better off if he can't understand a word she says. They never listen anyway," she said. Then she swept her hand in the air and muttered something incoherent.

"I don't understand why she can understand Jethrik if she can't speak it," Jena said conversationally.

"Because she had gotten to the point where she could understand a certain amount of Kartik but still couldn't speak it," Jestia explained.

The food was brought and Persius noticed they were getting the same beans and bread that everyone else was.

Tarius had sat back down and was just eating. They were all just eating with their horrid Kartik manners and when he looked at his daughter she was eating with only slightly better manners than they were. Were they not in the middle of a conversation? He was sure the witch had already cast a spell so why wasn't Kasiria talking? Because she's chosen a path I never would have foreseen and I'll never understand. She wants to be one of them. That's what Hellibolt meant. Kasiria wants to be part of the Marching Night.

He glared across the table at Tarius. "Tarius, Kasiria is my daughter, my flesh, my blood. She was nearly killed. Kasiria will be going back to the palace where she belongs and play war no more."

Jabone growled at him and started to get up, but Tarius stayed him with a hand on his arm saying something to him in Kartik.

"No I won't," Kasiria said, but she looked not at him but at her plate.

"Persius," Tarius said in a calm tone. "Kasiria will do what Kasiria wishes to do, and while I breathe no one will order her to do otherwise."

"What treachery is this? Do you bring me here to tell me that you mean to steal my child?"

Jabone jumped from his chair, growled again and then spat words at Persius in Kartik that made the hair stand up on the back of Persius's neck even though he had no idea what he was saying. Again Tarius's hand was on Jabone's arm. She whispered calming words to him and he sat down but he didn't stop glaring at Persius and he didn't stop growling.

"I came here to deal with the Amalite horde. To once again put myself and all I hold dear on the line to fight in your land. A person can not steal what belongs to no one," Tarius said.

Persius looked at Kasiria. He couldn't fight with Tarius and win, not with words and certainly not with weapons. "Kasiria, what is this? You have a duty to our country."

"I'm fighting for our country, and what other duties would you have me perform? A princess in a country that sees women as nothing more important than dirt. There is nothing for me here."

"You will go home. I've had enough of your sword-slinging dream."

Jestia sighed and said, "See? I told you. she was better off not being able to talk to him. It's ruining what was going to be a barely eatable meal as it was."

Persius glared at her and was surprised when Tarius actually laughed. She looked at him and said in a voice barely above a whisper. "A word to the wise. Angering Jabone is enough of a folly, but don't piss off the little witch. She has much power, is fiercely loyal to her friends, and has a very bad and very short temper." Then Tarius just went on eating as if nothing were happening.

Persius took a deep breath, calmed himself, and then tried a different approach. "Kasiria, I just want you to be safe. I just want . . . "

"What about what she wants!" Jena screamed across the table at him. "She's a woman not a toad. You've got a hell of a nerve Persius to demand anyone do anything when you are seated at our table."

Tarius actually grinned at the confounded woman as if she'd just done something incredibly cute, and she said nothing. Because she's already told me where she stands. So she's done, and as far as she's concerned any more talk is just a waste of time.

"Tread gently, Persius," Hellibolt whispered in his ear. When Persius looked around him every eye was on him and all but Tarius had stopped eating.

"Why Kasiria?" Persius asked. Kasiria was hopelessly quiet as if trying to find an answer he might understand.

"Because," it was Jestia again, "you're not her people. She's with her people now idiot."

"Jestia," Tarius said harshly, and then spit something in Kartik at the younger woman. Who just shrugged as if to say she didn't care about incurring the wrath of the Great Leader but she fell silent.

"What is going on?" Persius asked Tarius.

"It's not for me to tell you," she said.

Kasiria took a deep breath and looked at him. "Father, I . . . Jabone and I, he is my husband."

Persius shook his head as if trying to make what he'd just heard stick somewhere.

"I love him, he loves me, and my place is with him, with his pack. My pack."

Persius looked from Kasiria to Jabone and back again. So many things were going through his brain. What did it mean, what did any of it mean? Tarius's son, his daughter, husband and wife. It just couldn't be.

"Tarius, what did you say about this? Did you condone, encourage, it?"

"There are things more powerful at work here than you or I. They had bound themselves together before we even found them and fallen in love without knowing their connection to each other. So how dare you or I or anyone else say anything regarding their coupling? They were raised on different continents an ocean apart and yet they found each other. That can't just be coincidence. Their souls wanted each other."

He looked at Kasiria. She was looking at him, obviously expecting more orders and thunder from him and readying herself for it. If he tried to get her to bend to his will she would fight him and she'd win. He looked at Jabone. He was still growling and his very expression dared Persius to cross him. And he remembered everything that Hellibolt had told him and now it all made perfect sense. He looked from Jabone to Kasiria and back again. They are one person broken in two and only whole when they are together, like Tarius and Jena. I have never known that in my lifetime because the only person I ever loved like that I could never have. Even if I could make Kasiria bend to my will I couldn't do it. I couldn't bear to see her broken. Hellibolt told me those things for a reason. I have to let her go.

"This is what you truly want, Kasiria?"

"Yes. It's all I want, to be with Jabone, to be part of the pack of the Marching Night."

Persius nodded then looked at Tarius, "And you will take her into battle with you and then take her back to the Kartik with you when you go?"

Tarius nodded.

Persius looked at Jabone. "This would be easier if you didn't hate me."

"Some things shouldn't be easy," Jabone said with a hiss, and Persius was reminded of how his mother had cursed him on the day he'd shot her through.

"He doesn't hate you," Kasiria assured Persius.

Persius nodded and thought. No he doesn't hate me. he hates what I did which is mostly the same thing, but if I were him I would hate me too so I can't fault him for that. The same loyalty he shows to his mother he will show to my daughter, the same respect . . . They all show her respect. That's why she has no qualms about leaving her own country, because among the Kartiks she is respected. Among the Katabull . . . He is their Great Leader's son, he is a prince among his people and . . . He spun quickly to look at Hellibolt who just grinned an all-knowing grin, and you said Kasiria was destined to rule. You know far more about the future than you ever disclose.

"I think you'll be happy, Kasiria, and when all things are considered, what could be more important than that? I will miss you." Persius smiled and he didn't have to work at it. Hellibolt's wrong about one thing. I will have what I desire. These two will have children and when they do my blood and Tarius's will be mingled, our legacies will be forever sealed together, we will finally be one.

* * *

After the meal Tarius suggested that Kasiria talk to her father in private while their food settled and before they discussed the Amalite hive in detail.

Jabone wasn't happy, but Kasiria hadn't expected him to be. "It will be fine," she told him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I do not trust him," Jabone said. "He will try to poison you against me."

"But you trust me right?" Jabone nodded. "I don't think he's going to try to talk me into anything but even if he does I'm still going home with you."

He nodded and smiled a roguish smile and said, "Even if I have to tie you up," he assured her.

She laughed and walked in the direction of Persius's camp. She was more than a little surprised to find him just standing in the middle of the chaos staring off into the distance apparently at the tree tops. She walked up to his back.

"Father, I'm sorry but . . . "

He didn't turn to face her. "There is no need to apologize Kasiria, I understand. If I could have had what I most wanted in this world I would have gladly given up my title and lived in a hovel."

"Did you love her then, father?" Kasiria asked softly.

"Who?"

"Tarius the Black."

"Where did you get that idea?"

"Hellibolt told me a long time ago."

"That old fool," Persius muttered. Then he looked at her smiled and shrugged. "Did I love her? I still love her. I loved her when I tried to kill her. Don't make me explain it, Kasiria, because I can't, not and have it make sense to anyone."

"He said the only other woman you came close to loving as much was my mother."

"It's true. I was at my very lowest in the midst of Tarius's curse and your mother . . . She was the only one who could make me forget my troubles for even a little while."

Kasiria took a deep breath and thought about not telling him at all. "My mother was the Katabull."

He stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"My mother, she was the Katabull."

"That's impossible," her father said, shaking his head.

"Are you Katabull?"

"Of course not."

"Then she had to be, because . . . " She took another deep breath. "She had to be because I am. Father, that's what Jestia meant when she said I am among my people now."

"I don't understand," he said, shaking his head again. "You aren't Katabull, Kasiria. You are living among them now, I assume your husband is one, but you aren't. You can't be."

"But I am," Kasiria said. She had no intention of telling him of her mother's and grandparents' plot to put a Katabull on the throne. What good could that do anyone now? "I didn't know. The first time I was in real danger I just changed and Hellibolt told me. I can't just change—call on the night—not like the others, but I am the Katabull. I wasn't going to tell you. I thought, well what's the purpose of you knowing? Then I thought maybe it would make you understand why I belong with them, with Jabone. You don't need to worry about me because I'm one of them."

"I doubt I will ever worry less about you since you choose a way of life which will constantly put you right in the middle of danger. My mind races, Kasiria," he said. She couldn't be sure what he was thinking. "You were the Katabull that was injured then?"

"Yes. An arrow."

"That is why Hellibolt asked the sex of the Katabull. How he knew you were injured." He looked at her then as if trying to peel away the layers and see the beast within. He laughed then and shook his head. "Oh Kasiria, no wonder you were always my favorite child." He hugged her then and she hugged him back. He seemed to notice her sword for the first time then. He jumped back and took both her hands, checking them over.

"It's my sword but not my finger," Kasiria assured him, smiling, "It was Jabone's sword . . . Well not my Jabone. It was Tarius's father's sword."

"She gave you Jabone the Breaker's sword?" Persius asked, curious

"She said the sword wanted me," Kasiria said with a shrug.

Her father shuddered then and said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I shot Tarius in the belly with an arrow and she nearly died. Then you were shot in the belly with an arrow and you would have died had it not been for her."

"I was actually shot in the lung and if it wasn't for all of them I'd be dead. Jestia especially, and don't think she doesn't rub that in every chance she gets." Kasiria laughed and then she was just telling him all about everything that had happened since she had left the academy. About Derek giving her the Kartik unit. All about Jabone, and the Kartik, and Ufalla and Jestia, and Eric and young Tarius.

"Now Tarius, he's the one you should be hearing all this from. He can weave a tale better than the greatest of the palace bards, though he's still not as good as Tarius the Black."

"You glow," her father said.

"What?" Kasiria asked.

"When you tell me of him and of your friends and your adventures together you glow," he smiled.

"They are my friends. I never really had that before. It feels good, the way I know them, the way they know me."

Her father nodded. "Even when you tell of the bad parts there is a passion to your voice, Kasiria. I haven't felt that in a very long time. Hang on to that passion, Kasiria, cherish it, saver it, and never forget what it's like. It will serve you well when the years grow long and the nights cold."

She just nodded her head.

Jabone ran up to them then. "Madra is ready to talk of the battle now."

Kasiria nodded thinking that Jabone was happy to have any excuse to come and get her before her father could spirit her away. She took his hand and allowed herself to be dragged along after him.

"So," her father asked following her. "Do the Katabull ever walk at an ordinary pace?"

"Not much," Kasiria answered with a smile.

"Now I think about it, your mother never did. Always in such a hurry to get where she was going. I feel like such an idiot. I know why she didn't tell me—because of what I did to Tarius. She was afraid I'd reject her."
Kasiria thanked the gods for her father's ego. She imaged it had served him well, sparing him from the many truths he'd rather not know. If Tarius had been a great lover of men she never would have found him a suitable match. How much comfort he must take from his idea that she was only lost to him because of her peculiar affection for her own gender. Kasiria looked at him, he seemed smaller to her now, as if her own personal growth had cost him size. I still love him because he is my father, but he is the man in those stories. Short sighted, egotistical, he almost killed Tarius only because he couldn't have her. That's not in the stories but I know it because now I see him as he really is. Not some god on a pedestal just a man—and not even a particularly good one.

This was yet another thing Kasiria wished she didn't know.

Chapter 28

She found herself riding with the rest of her unit somewhere near the middle on either side of a supply wagon. Once again Jabone was on the other side of the wagon. Tarius's orders. She didn't even pretend that she hadn't put them here because it was the safest place for them to be and she had ordered Jabone to ride on one side and her on the other so that they wouldn't distract each other.

Behind her Jestia and Ufalla were having one of those discussions that were only really tolerable when you were having it with your own lover.

"No, I love you more," Ufalla said.

"No I love you more," Jestia said.

"I've loved you longer and therefore more," Ufalla said.

"Ah but I became queer for you therefore I love you more," Jestia countered.

"You were always queer just too ignorant to know it," Ufalla said, and from the change in the tone of their voices they were either escalating into a real argument or getting ready to tether their horses to the supply wagon and crawl under the tarp to get a little.

"I can't for the life of me understand why Tarius thought it was so important to separate me and Jabone but she thought you two weren't a distraction to each other and everyone around you," Kasiria said, turning in her saddle to look at them. For answer they just looked at each other and then laughed, rather proving her point. "Really, if anyone needs to be separated it should be you two. Do you ever think of anything but . . . Well whatever it is that you two do?" And she never should have said that because Jestia was only too glad to tell her—in detail—just exactly what they did, which Kasiria decided was much more distracting than just riding beside Jabone talking to him, because there were a couple of those things she and Jabone could do and hadn't yet and now all she could think about was doing them. "Jestia," she said when she'd had about as much as she could take, "could you please talk about something else, or better yet not talk at all?"

"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen," Ufalla muttered. When Kasiria turned to look at her, Ufalla was red in the face though it was hard to say whether the discussion had embarrassed or aroused her that much. No doubt she hadn't tried to shut Jestia up for the same reason Kasiria hadn't at first because of course letting Jestia know that what she was saying was embarrassing or annoying you only made her want to talk about it more.

"I don't understand why you act so chaste. I've heard . . . We've all heard you and Jabone going at it, and have you ever even made love in human form?" Jestia read the expression on Kasiria's face. "That's what I thought. You become Katabull every single time, so don't pretend to be all prim and proper. If you weren't completely consumed with your lust for him you wouldn't change."

Kasiria looked at Ufalla to confirm what Jestia said and Ufalla smiled broadly back at her. "She's right. Most Katabull don't change form every time they do it. Of course sometimes they start out that way or they change because they want to, but a forced change—that's rare."

"What exactly are you implying?" Kasiria asked, glaring over her shoulder at Jestia.

"That you're every bit as over-sexed as we Kartik sluts. You just don't like to talk about it," Jestia said.

Kasiria started to get mad and then she looked from Jestia to Ufalla and laughed. "No one on this planet is as oversexed as you two freaks. And that whole 'who loves who more' thing, well that's just about enough to make a battle-worn soldier throw up their lunch. Again I must say, I can't believe that Tarius separated Jabone and I and she let Eric and Tarius ride together and left you two riding together." They were too quiet and she knew why. "She separated you as well didn't she? One of you traded places with Eric or Tarius."

"You know, Kasiria, you don't always have to do everything you're told. Tarius is a huge hypocrite. Who is riding beside her right now?" Ufalla asked.

Kasiria started, "Your father and . . . "

Surprisingly it was Ufalla who interrupted with, " . . . Jena. She is riding right beside Jena as they have done most of their lives. And do you know why? Because I do," Ufalla said.

"Why?" Kasiria asked curiously.

"Because she doesn't trust anyone else to protect Jena, that's why. She keeps her close. She always knows where Jena is, and she certainly finds her a distraction, so she's a hypocrite. She's going to separate us from our lovers while she rides with her thigh rubbing against Jena's. Well I don't trust anyone else to protect Jestia, so I'm riding with her."

"And I don't trust anyone else to protect Ufalla," Jestia said with conviction.

"Oh bull, you mostly just want to be together and . . . " She looked over at where Jabone was riding and sighed. "It's my turn. One of you go ride over there and send Jabone over here."

"No," they both said.

"You two are so selfish," Kasiria says.

Jestia looked at Ufalla and said in a shocked voice, "So says the girl who I risked my very life to save."

"Where's the appreciation the respect?" Ufalla asked with a wry smile.

"Exactly my point," Jestia said.

So Kasiria rode with them the rest of the day listening to their idiotic "I love you more" argument interrupted occasionally with graphic descriptions of what they wanted to do to each other. When they finally stopped to make camp she ran, grabbed Jabone, and dragged him off into the woods.

* * *

Tarius stood beside the fire warming her hands though it wasn't cold it being late summer now. Still the warmth felt good on her hands. She watched Jabone and Kasiria coming back into camp holding hands and giggling, and since they were both now in their Katabull state she knew exactly what they'd been up to. "Look," she pointed them out to Jena who stood with her arms around Tarius's waist her head resting on Tarius's back. Jena raised her head then lay back down with a chuckle.

"Let them ride together, Tarius."

"Do you think they'd be any less likely to run off and couple before we can make camp if I did?"

"I think they'd be 'distracted' by each other if you put one on one end of our troop and the other on the other," Jena said.

"The others already ride together," Hellibolt said.

Tarius looked at him and for the hundredth time wondered just what he was doing here. Persius had gone back to the palace stating that he was too old to fight a battle, especially some strange cave battle. She thought it more likely that he felt uncomfortable being around so many Katabull because her people, her mate, and her son made no pretence of how they felt about him. As Persius had prepared to leave Hellibolt had come to her and insisted on coming with them, and though she was more than happy to have him she still didn't know why he wanted to go. He rode on one of the supply wagons as horses didn't like him. He stood rubbing his haunches, so obviously not even a cushion and his magic could stop his butt from hurting after riding all day on a rough wagon. Hellibolt quickly declined the chair that had been offered by one of her people when he'd walked up. What are you doing here? Tarius thought, watching him.

"Perhaps an old wizard would like a chance to relive his glory days as well," he said in answer to her unasked question. Tarius smiled and nodded.

"This cave, it will not be like any battle I have fought. These things they are not like us, not like any of us. They are eaters of human flesh. I had set up sentries around Port Sagal to make sure that none of the Amalites would be able to get through to go to the hive and warn them, but none so much as tried. Grey Noke, it was a Jethrikian settlement in the territory but the smaller villages they had hit first, the wagons they'd stripped, those were mostly Amalites. What do you make of that, Hellibolt?"

"That age hasn't made you any less sharp my friend," Hellibolt said. Then he seemed to think for a minute. "They are followers of the Amalite religion no doubt, but a splinter group even more fanatical than the others. I believe they broke from the original group long before the Great War started. They probably started out as heretics in their own religion and now as time has passed they see anyone who lives outside the hive as being a heretic and only they are the true believers."

"So they are exactly like the Amalites only they even hate other Amalites."

"Precisely. As the Amalites' religion has been stripped from them they would have seemed less and less like brothers and more and more like prey. What you have said, what the others said and what I have seen in my own head as much as proves that this people's entire society depends on cannibalism. I imagine they went underground to escape, yes, but not our armies searching for and killing out pockets of Amalite all through the territories. They hid long before that. As we all know, the Amalites believe there are only their gods, that only their priests can interpret what these gods say, and that they must be served in only the way they are told to serve them. This probably had some relatively small difference in what they believed or in the rituals they wished to perform. The difference wouldn't have had to be very big in our eyes. In fact, we might not even be able to understand it. So they went underground to avoid persecution from other Amalites.

"People hiding underground, well food would be scarce. I mean they couldn't very well raise it. They'd have to comb the woods at night looking for what they could hunt and gather. Fields, herds of any kind would give them away. As you know a large group of people hunting and gathering in the same area for many years, a group growing in numbers, the food would have eventually become scarce. They probably started out eating their dead and then that escalated into eating the dying, then the infirm and the old. I imagine their priests told them their gods condoned it. As we know, when pressed the Amalites' gods suddenly condone any number of things . . . "

"Their gods aren't real; the priests run the people through the religion."

"Gods are only as real as people make them, Tarius. You're a bright woman—you know that. Priests convince themselves they converse with gods and see visions. They have to believe the crap they spout or the people won't. That's beside the point. Eventually they just started hunting people instead of animals. Think about it; people are easier to hunt."

"It's terrible," Jena said with a shudder against Tarius's back. "I never thought they could be any worse than what we faced before."

"I'm thinking smoke them out, or close off their air holes and entrances—somehow suffocate them," Tarius said.

"There will be children in there, Tarius," Jena said, a disapproving tone to her voice.

"And any over eight would surely be ruined—hateful things you'd never be able to make human. Even younger than that may be too late. They are a cult of death. I think it might be kinder to just kill them all. Who knows what hell these children have lived through?" Tarius assured Jena.

"If we miss even one air hole . . . and how would we know how much air they have in there? Caves can be strange things drawing water and even air from the other side of the earth. With enough people they would eventually tunnel out. Are we to just leave a force there forever?" Hellibolt said. "I agree that everything over eight must be killed, but surely children younger than that should at least be given the chance to see if they can live normal lives."

"And then will you be the one to kill them if they can't?" Tarius asked. "I think it would be kinder to kill them all and safer for us to find some way to just kill them all in the hive, poison or gas or . . . "

"Babies Tarius," Jena said in disbelief, moving away from Tarius' back to face her. "Small children who've never had any choice about what they eat or how they live. They should have the chance to live in the sunshine, to eat real food. They should have a chance."

"I know what you're saying, Jena, but why put our children, our people in danger for them, when they may be damaged beyond curing?"

"I agree," Harris said. He had walked up and was now putting wood on the fire. "What would you do with all these babies? Who do you think would want to take in an Amalite brat who'd cut their teeth on human flesh? Surely there is some magic that could find all the openings. Then we could plug them or put so much fire down them they would cook in their cave."

"We could find homes among the rehabilitated Amalites of the territories for the children," Hellibolt said. "I can not condone killing the children with the adults. Anything under eight should be spared and I know of no spell that would show all the openings."

"I know one," Jestia said, walking up to the fire with Ufalla, "but I'd have to be in the cave to cast it. You build a fire—doesn't have to be big—and then tell the smoke to find all the holes. Then someone just needs to be watching for the smoke to see where the holes are."

"If we knew where the openings were we could start fires in some and have our men waiting at the others and when the smoke drove them out we could kill them," Tarius said.

"And the children would all die from the smoke or be killed in their mother's arms when they ran out with them," Jena said, glaring at Tarius "Surely not even you, Tarius, can just have us discount these children as casualties of battle."

"Not even me!?" Tarius was immediately hurt and agitated. "What is this then, Jena? You make it sound like I weekly go out and slay babies. I did not create their hateful religion. I am not the one who pulls my people under the earth and has them eating their neighbors. I didn't put these children in danger. Their parents, their priests did that."

"I'm sorry, Tarius, I know you're only trying to make sure that we take as few casualties as possible but . . . I also know that if you try just a little you can find some way to do that without killing the children," Jena said appealingly. "Tarius, you are the greatest war lord who has ever lived, but more than that you are also the most just person I have every known. I have seen you make the impossible happen many times. Please try to think of some way that we can save these babies."

Dammit, she knows me too well. She could have screamed at me all day and I wouldn't have budged, but when she asks me . . . When she insists on saying over and over again not to kill the babies. I was a child when the Amalites came and killed everyone but my father, when they tried to kill me and someone unrelated took me in. I was near dead and traumatized in unimaginable ways and she just took me to Montero and fixed me body and soul. It's the Amalites' way to kill the innocent towards their own ends. My ways can't be like theirs. Dammit they're right. I have to save the children if I can, and Jestia can only cast the spell from within the cave so I don't have a choice. What Kasiria said before she even woke from the healing sleep is right. We have to scout out the caves. Dammit, it's insane. I wanted to keep my people out of the caves if I could, but it can't be helped.

"After we reach Pearson Garrison, resupply, and pick up the Jethrik troops there, we will travel on six days," which is what she figured it would take with so many men on foot, "'til we are no closer than a half day's ride from the hive . . . " Tarius started but was interrupted by Jestia.

"But we don't know where the hive is."

"I'm sure I do. I'm sure it's the goat mounting the horse." They all laughed at her and she grinned when she realized what she had said. "It's the small hill against the big one; I'm sure of it. Anyway when we are . . . "

"What if you're wrong?" Jestia asked.

Tarius looked at Ufalla smiled and said, "You poor, poor girl." Ufalla smiled and shrugged, then Tarius continued as if Jestia hadn't interrupted her. "I didn't want to but we're going to have to go scout out the caves. We'll scout out the area first and make sure I'm right about the location of the hive. Then when our scouts come back and we know for a certainty where they are I will gather the Marching Night and we will go into the caves. We will go in when they are sleeping—which I believe will be in the daytime. We will scout out the whole of their complex. Just before we leave Jestia will do her spell to find the openings. We will have spotters all around the hive to mark the openings when the smoke shows itself . . . " Kasiria and Jabone walked up to them then and they were human again so they'd obviously gone hunting. "While we are scouting the caves we will work on getting the children out. Hellibolt and Jestia, you will have to come up with some sort of spell."

"We'll need far more than one," Jestia said.

"Half way through the day the rest of the troops will move up to surround the front of the hive. Our smoke spotters will make fires on the back side of the hive over all the openings they find there so that they will have to come out the front of the hive and face our forces in their entirety.

"What if we aren't out yet?" Jestia asked.

"If we aren't out by then it will be because we have failed to extract the children from the hive and are dead," Tarius said.

"See, I don't like this plan Tarius," Jestia said.

"Jestia," Ufalla said glaring at her, "shut up!" she commanded. To Tarius's astonishment Jestia looked hurt and fell silent.

Tarius smiled and went on. "It's just the skeleton of a plan. We will work on it over the next few days. I'm not going to lie. This is going to be a difficult battle especially if we are going to try to save the children in the hive."

"I have a spell that will work on the children," Hellibolt said. "The problem may be that it will work on all the children, not just those eight and under."

"That's good. We want to save all the children," Kasiria said.

"Not if they're over eight," Jestia said matter-of-factly.

"Why not?" Kasiria asked.

"Older than that they will have seen too much. Everything they will have been taught will be set in stone. No one would ever be able to turn them, to fix them. They will be too far gone, too twisted," Hellibolt answered. "I'll work on the spell and see if I can make it more age specific."

"How do you know that after eight there is no saving them? What has told you this?" Kasiria demanded. Tarius sighed. perhaps this was why the Amalites didn't allow their women to fight at all and the Jethrik had only allowed it grudgingly. Jethrikian women brought their emotions and sentimentalities to the war table, insisted on worrying about babies and children and then argued over what constituted a child instead of just accepting that distasteful things sometimes were necessary to win a battle.

"Even I know that you can not change a child's personality after eight," Tarius said.

"How?" Kasiria demanded.

"I just know," Tarius said.

"But how? Who told you this? What if you're wrong and . . . "

"We are taking a huge personal risk to save any children from the hive. Saving the children takes a difficult task and makes it almost impossible," Tarius said. "This is war. War isn't glorious and it isn't tidy. You often times have to do things you'd rather not do. As war lord my first concern always has to be winning the battle, then it is the safety of my troops, and only after that do we even start to consider anything else. I will not argue with you, with any of you, over things I find to be unimportant. For me it is a huge concession to agree to extract any of the children from the hive, it puts us at great risk. An unnecessary risk when our main goal is to kill everything in the cave. This is danger we wouldn't other wise be in, but I have listened and agree. I can not condone killing the innocent with the guilty, but it is my belief that any child over eight will not be worth saving, can not in fact be saved. Furthermore they will be big enough to attack us if we try to 'save' them. A spear head in your stomach is a spear head in your stomach whether it is in the hand of an old man or a child. If I am wrong, then their blood will be on my hands and I will accept that as well. Do you think my job an easy one, Kasiria? Maybe even an enviable one?

"I have been for most of my life the warlord of kingdoms. The decisions that have been mine alone to make have affected multitudes. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I have lost many friends who died because of decisions I made, my orders that they followed, even when I had made no mistake. When I made a mistake many people I loved paid with their blood. I will take a chance on being wrong about these children long before I will put us in any more danger to save them. First we must win, we win when everything in that hive, every living thing that might go on to spread the Amalite curse is dead. Second, we must take as few casualties as possible. Then if we happen to save any of those wretched children then we have surpassed ourselves. Anyone who doesn't have the stomach for what must be done may stay at Pearson Garrison." Tarius turned on her heel and stomped away from the fire through the camp and towards the woods.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Kasiria said, "I didn't mean to make her mad."
"You didn't make her mad," Jena said, frowning at the fire then looking in the direction Tarius had gone. "The situation upsets her because she doesn't like the idea of children as casualties any more than you or I do. She knows, though, that no matter what we do some will die, others will have to be killed, and we will all be put in danger we would not otherwise be in trying to save any of them."

"It's the sort of thing no person should have to face—human-eating demons living in the earth," Hellibolt said. He looked at Kasiria. "No one wants to believe that a child of nine or ten can be ruined beyond repair but I assure you that from all I know it's the truth. Think of yourself at eight. Other than physical changes, how much have you really changed since that time?"

"And she thought," Jena's voice caught in her throat and she took a deep breath, "we all thought that we had gotten rid of them. Now there are many of them again and their religion has perverted them even further."

"And it's my father's fault they're back because he ignored the threat 'til it was too big to be ignored—something he has made a habit of. And he isn't here with us now to face the danger because he's a coward," Kasiria said with real venom.

"He was not afraid to fight," Hellibolt assured her.

"No it's worse than that. He was too cowardly to face all these people who know what he did. He rushed back to the castle where he can pretend that he never did anything wrong and that no one knows because away from the Katabull he can forget all those things he wishes not to remember."

"You're awful quiet," Jena said to Jabone.

"There is nothing to say. Madra is right, she's always right. That doesn't make you or Kasiria wrong, doesn't make any of us feel good about a bunch of little kids getting killed. Battles, your battles, were between combatants, not like this."

"We have done battle in towns before, with children in harm's way. We just don't talk about that fact. No battle is ever as clean as the stories make them sound," Jena said. "Who would enjoy such stories as the day a toddler ran in front of Rimmy's horse during a battle and was trampled to death? Or how about the story of an old woman coming at me with a pitchfork and me cutting off her head?"

"No battle has ever been like this one will be," Hellibolt said.

"Should I go after Madra?" Jabone asked his mother.

"No, I'll go after her. I was just letting her walk it off a minute." Jena smiled then took off in the direction Tarius had gone, walking at a leisurely pace.

"I'm sorry, I should have held my tongue," Kasiria said to all those assembled.

"She was only angry because earlier she'd had almost the same argument with Jena, and Tarius had already given in to Jena," Ufalla said. "Tarius didn't want any of us to have to go into the caves. Then Jena pointed out that there would be children in there, something I don't think Tarius had even considered and then . . . Well Tarius had to change her plans."

Kasiria was pleased Tarius had changed her plans to accommodate Jena. At least those stories were true—in all things Tarius took Jena's council.

"I still think it's daft," Harris said. Then he took a deep breath, let it out and said, "Yet I guess if we had just found a way to kill them all in the hive I'd be having nightmares of babies crying the rest of my life."

Ufalla looked down at Jestia and asked, "Do you think that you and Hellibolt will ever be able to cast enough spells to pull this off? There is no possible way to do it without magic."

"So, am I allowed to speak now?" Jestia asked, glaring at Ufalla.

"Oh, Jestia for all the gods . . . You kept interrupting the Great Leader," Ufalla said in disbelief.

"I was just trying to help," Jestia said, and Kasiria was astonished to see that Jestia actually looked hurt.

Kasiria noticed only then that Hellibolt wasn't there. She wondered just where he'd gone and what he was up to. "Is Tarius mad at me?" she asked Jabone in a whisper. "I just . . . Well it seems so wrong to me."

"My mother was right, Madra isn't mad at you, you just happened to remind her of what she was mad about," Jabone said solemnly. "It's a terrible thing even if things work out for the best and I think . . . Well I think you should stay in Pearson Garrison and we can pick you up . . . "

He stopped talking no doubt because she was shaking her head so violently. "No, this is my fight too, Jabone. More my fight than it is yours. I am going."

Eric and young Tarius walked up then, "So what's going on?" he asked.

"We're all going into caves with thousands of angry Amalites," Harris said simply.

Tarius just smiled. "That will make a great story."

* * *

Jena found Tarius on the edge of the camp looking out at the woods.

"No one understands," Tarius said, proving once again that she did always know where Jena was. Jena slid up to her and took her hand.

"It's not that we don't understand. It's that you aren't saying what we want to hear."

"It isn't what I want either, Jena. I didn't create the situation. Those hateful bastards," Tarius ran her free hand through her hair.

"You'll do the best you can. No one expects more than that."

Tarius laughed then, though she obviously wasn't amused. "Yes they do Jena, you know they do. Even you do. You expect more of me than I can produce. I can not make a miracle. I can't take us down into those caves and even say that we'll all come back out again much less rescue a bunch of children, infants. We need total stealth to even think of pulling this off, and how keep a hundred warriors in armor quiet much less the Nameless One alone knows how many children? How do we get them out without waking the whole of the hive?"

"You don't have to do it alone, Tarius. You have many good people with you and a powerful witch and wizard both willing to use all they have. We will do the best we can. I'm not worried, Tarius, my dreams are sweet. Come on, come back to camp with me. I can smell that dinner is almost ready. You'll get something to eat, I'll give you a back rub, we'll get some rest and tomorrow you will have even more answers. You always do."

Chapter 29

They had picked up the Jethrikian troops and supplies at Pearson Garrison and moved on. They were now a half day's ride from the hill Tarius was sure was the Amalite hive. They had just finished eating their evening meal when the three scouts who had left early the day before returned.

"You were right Great Leader, the Amalites live within the mountain," the man called Riglid announced as he approached them where they stood around the fire. His brother Laz followed him. "We watched with spy glasses at a good distance away as you instructed and all through the day all was quiet. There was no smoke none at all. Then as soon as it was dark they started to come out in twos and we could see smoke coming out of holes all in the mountain. Laz made a drawing." He handed it to Tarius who looked at it. "These are some of the openings we saw them coming out of, and these are where we saw smoke." Tarius nodded and patted both men's backs fondly.

"You have done well Riglid and Laz. Your fadra would be proud of you, as your other parents are, and as I am," Tarius said.

"Thank you Great leader," Laz said, his chest swelling with pride.

"Who is their fadra?" Kasiria asked in a whisper in Jabone's ear.

"Their fadra was Tweed who died in the last battle of the Great War. Their mother and father, Radkin and Rimmy, also stood with my madra that day," Jabone answered in a whisper. Kasiria nodded. She knew the story. Their fadra had died—one of the heroes who saved the pack of the Marching Night and Tarius the Black. Where had she heard that story? Young Tarius had told a short version but she'd heard a longer more complex version. Where had she heard that version? She remembered it so well she was sure she could tell it herself but couldn't remember who had told it to her . . . It was the story where her father wasn't the villain. The one where he saved Tarius the Black. The one that no one save Tarius herself told. Kasiria smiled as she remembered. "What?" Jabone asked.

"I know that story, I remember it." She looked up at him and smiled broader. "Your madra told it to me when I was ill."

Jabone smiled now and nodded his head. "That's right she did. When she isn't busy you should tell her that you remember. She felt very silly doing it, and only did it at all to humor me. It will do her heart good to know she wasn't talking to no one."

To Kasiria's back somewhere near the edge of the camp she could just make out young Tarius's voice as he told a story. She found the sound of his bardic voice put her at ease, it was something normal in what was anything but normal circumstances. It is the calm before the storm, Kasiria thought.

Hellibolt had spent most of the day casting wards around the camp that would warn them if the Amalites got near them and even stop their progress for a few minutes. Still he'd found the time to find her and talk to her, which was always more disconcerting than it was helpful in her opinion.

She'd just been standing huddled against one of the fires because there had been a chill in the morning air when he'd popped up in front of her. She'd had her sword out of its sheath and was damn near on him before she realized it was only Hellibolt.

"Dammit Hellibolt," she had said, resheathing her sword.

"The sword does want you. It makes you quicker. I see I shall have to pick a greater distance away from you in the future," he said with a smile.

"You could try just walking across the camp to find me. What's wrong?" Kasiria asked.

"Why does anything have to be wrong?" he asked.

"Because you're here to talk to me and whenever you are you usually want to tell me something I won't understand or something I'd rather not know."

"Maybe I just wanted to say hello. I mean we are traveling together off to fight the same battle."

"Good morning then. I'm off to get breakfast," she started past him and he grabbed her arm.

"All right, you were right, I do have something to tell you that you probably won't understand and don't want to hear."

"Then tell me now so that I can spend the rest of the day trying to figure it out and worrying about it," Kasiria said.

"Jabone's sword. It will serve you well, it will protect you, but it also wants it's revenge and to redeem itself for the years it spent in the hands of the Amalites. To wield it will make you a Great Warrior but it will also take its toll. You must wield it, you must not allow it to wield you, unless a time comes when it knows more than you do."

And then of course he was gone, and she had spent the entire day trying to figure out what he meant, and still wasn't any closer.

"What's wrong?" Jabone asked, no doubt because of the look on her face.

"Oh Hellibolt, he spit out some garbage this morning about my sword."

"Don't disregard the wizard, Kasiria. My madra says he's very wise and very powerful."

"Yes, well she can be as confusing as he is and . . . She actually understands him." She looked back to where Tarius was talking and they really should be listening. Kasiria couldn't very well interrupt her to ask if she might know what Hellibolt meant, and surely not with Hellibolt standing right there. She glared at Hellibolt; he could just tell her.

Then sudden enlightenment struck her as she remembered Jestia's dilemma concerning her dream. Surely the same law applied to wizards. He couldn't repeat a dream or it would come true. He was older and therefore wiser than Jestia and he had found a way to warn them without telling them what he'd seen. If only she could figure out what his words meant. She went over what he'd said again and got stuck in the same spot she had all day. I must wield the sword, I must not let the sword wield me unless it knows more than I do. What does that mean?

Then she turned all her attention to Tarius who was laying out the plan that she and in fact all of them had been working on since before they'd even left the Kartik. It was an elaborate plan and she had listened carefully when Tarius had warned that the more elaborate a plan was the more likely it was to fail. However nothing else was likely to work at all.

She saw Jena standing close to Tarius, her hand on her arm, and a cold chill went up her spine as an unwilled thought entered her brain. Tarius wouldn't live a day without Jena and visa versa. They were that tied to each other. A big chunk of the Marching Night would be going into the caves and many—perhaps all—might never be coming out again. If even one thing went wrong when they were all under ground, they were doomed. The plan was extremely elaborate and depended on everything going exactly as planned.

No mistakes. What were the chances that with a hundred people going into a cavern filled with thousands of blood-thirsty Amalites that no one would mess up? Especially since they'd be going in with basically no previous knowledge of the layout of the cave.

"Excuse me Tarius," Kasiria said, and found all eyes on her. "Perhaps we should send in a small scouting expedition into the caves to tell us more about them."

Tarius nodded. "I have thought about that, but we are running out of time. Every day we sit here we risk detection, losing the element of surprise. Besides, what if our scouts in the caves are found out and killed? Then we will have most certainly lost the upper hand. No, we must go into the caves as a small army. And when we leave the caves our men must be in position to attack, and whatever is left behind us—or following us—will be killed."

Kasiria just nodded. So everything had to go exactly according to plan and . . . well she is Tarius the Black so if it can be done she will do it. She looked at Jabone. His eyes were fixed on his madra, his expression . . . well just like hers. They were ready, their souls prepared for the battle.

"I can cast Katabull eyes on those of us that aren't Katabull," Jestia was saying at a question asked by Tarius. "The real problem is that we don't really know whether even the Katabull are going to be able to see in the cave."

"I don't understand," Tarius said. "We are Katabull. We can see in the dark."

"Or do you see in the near dark?" Hellibolt asked. "There is never a complete absence of light out here and that is what the Katabull use to see. Down there even in the day time there is a complete absence of light unless they burn candles during the day—and why would they if they are nocturnal?"

"Perhaps so that they can get around. I mean if they were attacked down there they would need to see," Tarius said.

"But you can't count on thatl Blind people learn to walk around their gardens and homes, and if we cast some sort of light spell . . . Well then we might as well bang on a pot and let them know we're there," Jestia said.

Tarius nodded, understanding this dilemma they hadn't previously thought of. "I still say, if it really is that dark down there they might keep some candles lit. I mean it's all well and good to learn to find your way around in the dark, but they can't believe themselves completely safe from attack and if attacked knowing where stationary things are in the dark wouldn't help them. I mean they aren't so different from us that they don't have bodily functions, and they can't see in the dark and . . . well if they were to be attacked without any light they'd be as lost as we would be. If there were even a few candles—any light source—we should be able to see fine." She pondered that for only a second. "If there's not, we can easily see when humans can see nothing. Could you do a light spell with so little light that the Katabull alone would be able to see?"

"I could," Hellibolt said, "but I would have to work on an incantation." Both Hellibolt and Tarius looked at Jestia who took a deep breath and let it out.

"I don't know degrees of light. I'm not sure I have that much control over my magic right now. Maybe I could but where would we test it before the caves? And I don't think testing it when we get in the caves would be a very good idea." As if to prove her point a tea pot and cup appeared floating in the air just in front of her. "Well, damn," she said with a sigh, but then she drank from the cup of tea that the pot poured and then handed it to Ufalla who just took it smiled and drank it down. "Anyone else?" she asked with an air of resolve.

Young Tarius held out his mug and the pot filled it. "Thanks," he said to Jestia. He must have noticed everyone looking at him because he just smiled and said. "It's really good tea."

"Kasiria," Tarius the Black said and Kasiria snapped to attention looking at her. "What are your thoughts?" Kasiria couldn't imagine why she was asking her. Tarius must have read her expression because she said, "Your father is the king, you are a representative of the crown and you're academy trained."

Kasiria watched with a certain amount of joy as the two generals her father had sent with his troops glared at her and obviously expected her to defer to them—which she wasn't about to do.

"I think what you've said about breaking into two groups and going in at different openings makes sense but further I would have each of the two large groups go into the cave in squads of ten, waiting for a hundred before the next squad goes in. That way it will be hard for the enemy to pin us on each side and if there is trouble immediately fewer will be in the caves to be fodder."

Tarius nodded, an impressed look on her face, and Kasiria felt pride well up inside her. "And that way if we find an infant we can have one of our men bring it to the group just behind us and so on 'til the infant is out of the cave. I'm assuming there will be guards just inside the entrances. We must go in and take them out as quietly as possible . . . " and from there they just planned on and on every detail of the battle that lay before them.

* * *

"Why?" Ufalla asked, curling herself more firmly against Jestia in the small tent they were sharing. Jestia was like holding a board she was so anxious.

"I just don't like having so much riding on me and my abilities when . . . Well I keep making tea. What if I mess up?"

"You won't mess up, Jestia." Ufalla kissed the top her head and wondered that Jestia still smelled so good after days on the rode and camping in the woods. She smelled like her perfume and smoke.

"Honey, quit smelling me and really listen to what I'm saying," Jestia said in that perturbed tone that Ufalla was sure she'd someday find annoying but that for now she still thought was cute.

"I am listening."

"No you aren't," Jestia turned in her arms to face her. "At the very least you aren't thinking about what I'm saying. If I make even one mistake we could all be killed."

"Jestia my love, if anyone makes any mistakes we could all get killed. It's not going to happen."

"How do you know that?" Jestia asked.

"Because we are the Marching Night, Jestia. The Marching Night doesn't make mistakes."

"You really aren't worried at all?" Jestia asked in surprise.

"I really am not. You know we mere mortals dream, too. Don't forget it was Jena's dream that saved us. I've had a wonderful dream, Jestia, of you and I getting married. It was exactly how you wanted it to be and you were more beautiful than ever and I didn't feel silly at all. Now that can't happen if either one of us are dead so . . . I'm not worried."

Jestia immediately relaxed in her arms. She pressed her face against Ufalla's chest. "Did you really dream that?" she asked in a whisper.

"I did."

"And was I really more beautiful than ever?"

"Well, you never looked better in clothes," Ufalla said. Jestia laughed moved and kissed her on the lips.

"You wouldn't lie just to make me feel better?"

"I would, but I'm not," Ufalla said.

"If even one thing goes wrong . . . "

"It won't, and if it does we'll fix it."

Jestia nodded and snuggled against her again. "Ufalla you will stay by my side tomorrow?"

"Jestia, I will stay by your side for the rest of this life and my next."

Chapter 30

Harris had stayed behind to command the Kartik troops that would be sliding in behind them to surround the hive, and Jabone had told Kasiria, "They have always fought side by side, so Madra feels almost naked, but his leg . . . He would slow us down in the caves."

She had watched with baited breath as Jabone had moved to fill the place at Tarius's side. Kasiria had almost protested when Tarius had taken him inside the cave opening with her, and Kasiria's heart had all but stopped until they both walked out and rejoined the group. When they did she was already the Katabull.

"Looks like you're getting more control of that," Jestia whispered to her.

"No, I was just that scared," Kasiria admitted. "I still have no control over when I change."

Tarius and Jabone reached them then just as Radkin and Rimmy who would lead their troop into the other entrance did.

"There were only two guards and there are candles lit. Not many but enough so no light spell will be needed. Also, at least this passage appears to be man-made, carved out not a natural cave," Tarius said

"Ours was natural at least in part. It has been widened but also only two guards and lit by candles. More than enough for Katabull to see," Radkin said.

The hill and the area surrounding it had few trees-probably because the soil was very shallow being a bare sprinkling over a layer of rock. Tarius noticed that there was little deadfall and imagined that they picked it up as soon as it fell to be used for heat and cooking within the hive. In the new dawn she could easily make out—but probably only because she was looking for it—several patches of brush that were probably placed strategically to camouflage air holes and door ways on the hill. She pointed these out to a couple of her men who would be staying behind as spotters and said, "There isn't much deadfall to burn but it looks like they might have actually supplied the wood for our fires. Especially if we shifted some of it from the holes we want them to use to the ones we don't." The man nodded.

Tarius looked at Hellibolt expectantly and Hellibolt moved some ahead of the group. Just feet from the hive he raised his hands into the air and began his incantation, "Follow the music, children. Follow the tune. Children under eight, oh children under eight rise up, be quiet, walk but don't awake. The morning air awaits. Crawl out, crawl out from out of your holes. Only the young and not the old. Follow the music. Hurry don't wait. Follow the music your freedom awaits."

"Wow," Tarius said in an almost disappointed whisper at Kasiria's shoulder, "that was almost pretty."

"I know. Usually his incantations hurt the ears," Kasiria whispered back.

Jena sighed. "Let's hope it works."

They were all standing, weapons in hand, ready just in case the Amalites started to boil up out of the ground. They were only going in two entrances but there were dozens. The idea was to get all the children to follow the music and all come out the openings where they had already eliminated the guards. If it worked the children would come out and Hellibolt would lead them deeper into the forest. If not they would fight, then retreat to where their horses were and go back to where the rest of their troops should already be moving up to surround the hive. Then when they came back in force they would smoke the Amalites from their hive.

Kasiria didn't hear any music but the way she understood it was that only the children would hear it. They all waited with baited breath. Then just when Kasiria was sure it wasn't going to work, children began walking out of the cave entrances, silent and obviously still asleep. They started to gather around Hellibolt who moved deeper into the woods to make room. Children just kept coming in large groups for about an hour and then it slowed to a trickle until finally after waiting for several long minutes there were no more. Kasiria had counted on hundred and seventy-two in all, some literally still crawling more than walking.

Hellibolt took them far into the woods, gathered them into a circle, then did an incantation, "Lay down and sleep, rest so that you don't know what we're about to do. Sleep deep, deep sleep, wake only when I speak."

Kasiria smiled that was more like the incantations she was used to hearing from him.

Then the two groups were splitting. Hellibolt was going with the other troop and Jestia was coming with theirs. Tarius was leading of course but Kasiria still felt good that her unit was all together.

Tarius led with Jabone by her side and Jena behind her. Kasiria was behind Jabone. Jestia had cast something on them all called silent armor which was really weird because they didn't make a sound as they moved. It was of course exactly what they wanted, but still a little disconcerting.

They had purposely put Jestia in the middle of their group. She was right behind Kasiria and Ufalla was behind Jena. Eric and young Tarius were behind them and Riglid and Laz were bringing up the rear.

They were the vanguard and in a few minutes ten more would enter the cave behind them.

Jestia cast something that Kasiria knew—because it was part of the plan—was to find infants. The next thing Kasiria knew they were all following what looked to her like a little puff of blue smoke. The hive was a mixture of natural cave and rooms and halls carved into the sandstone the mountain was made of. The hallways were just wide enough for two people to walk through without bumping each other or the walls. The only wider spots were those areas where doorways were carved out, usually one right across from the other. There were rooms carved into the rock and you could see where they had carved things around the original cave—what was natural and what was man made. She might have been able to enjoy the beauty and the craftsmanship of it if the entire cave didn't stink of death and human filth, though the halls they walked through and the rooms they looked into looked fairly clean.

The candles burning smelled horrid and black smoke came from them. At her shoulder Jestia whispered, "The candles are made of human tallow."

Kasiria nodded and felt sick but she didn't dare to speak because one thing was sure—the hive was full. When Tarius walked into the first room that the blue smoke indicated a baby was in, Kasiria, Jabone and Jena stood outside the door, ready in case any of the adults woke up. As she looked in there were dozens of them sleeping in the room carved from rock, literally lying on their sides to have enough room. Tarius grabbed the baby which Jestia had obviously cast some silence spell on because it didn't make a sound and it obviously wanted to be screaming. Tarius handed Kasiria the baby and she handed it back to young Tarius. He was the fastest, so he would be running the infant back to the group behind them and then coming back to join them. It was dangerous in the extreme and her worry must have shown in her face as she handed him the infant because he looked at her and smiled reassuringly before he took off.

They started walking again, following the bouncing smoke. They hadn't gone far when young Tarius was with them again, and she felt relieved.

Kasiria tried to ignore the older children she saw in each room they passed. Sleeping, none of them looked like the horrid monsters that had attacked them so vehemently. The sword in her hand ached for their blood. She could feel it and knew it didn't care whether the blood ran through a forty year old warrior or a nine year old child—all were its enemies.

It was hard not to admire the ingenuity of the cave system. They had carved aqueducts into the rock that were fed by tunnels that led to the surface to pick up water when it rained on the mountain. When they had walked onto the path that went into the natural vault of the cavern the beauty was only marred by the foul stench. There was a ceiling high above them and it was covered with the bats Jestia had called. No more wondering where they had come from, now they knew. There were millions of them.

The trail curved around the right side of what seemed to be a vast bottomless pit from which a cold constant wind blew and the horrid stench emanated.

"Their refuse," Tarius whispered. "Everything they don't want goes into this pit. It's why the whole place smells so vile and why there are no piles of rubble outside from all the rooms they've carved in the rock. They have thrown it all into this pit."

"We can use this pit, Tarius," Jestia said in a whisper.

"How so?" Tarius asked curiously.

"What's down there? Rock, sand, dirt yes, but also bones, human waste—all those things will burn. Look," she pointed to a hole in the roof of the cave that had been covered with brush to hide it. "They have already brought us the stuff to start the fire. If we could set that on fire and knock it into the pit and get what's in this pit burning they'd have to flee, it might even be enough by itself to kill many of them."

"There is certainly enough draft," Jabone said.

"When we are ready to leave the caves you will cast the smoke spell here Jestia," Tarius said.

She nodded and they moved on collecting more infants, but there weren't as many as their total numbers or even the number of children would indicate there should be. Perhaps Hellibolt and his people were picking up more. Then a cold chill filled her as they rounded a corner and found themselves in a vast chamber carved into the rock with pillars to support the roof at intervals. The place felt like death itself. The walls were a deep rust color and when she reached out to touch it, Jestia grabbed her hand.

"Painted in blood," she told her. Kasiria quickly drew her hand back. Odd, she thought. She was the Katabull, a creature who used blood, and yet the thought of an entire huge room being painted in human blood made her own blood run cold. Pictures had been carved into the rock by going through the blood stain to the original tan color of the rock. The pictures depicted the Amalite gods of course but also there were pictures of the gods butchering humans and offering them up to their followers. The pictures depicted every stage of the process from their hunting humans to them rendering their fat for candles.

There were many candles in this room and an altar at the front of the room would have told her what it was even if Tarius the Black hadn't whispered, "It's a temple."

The blue smoke was dancing around a bundle of cloth at the foot of the altar. They all walked up to the bundle. It was a tiny infant, perhaps only hours old.

"What is this baby doing here?" young Tarius said in a voice filled with the sickness they were all feeling.

Tarius the Black bent over and picked the infant up and tucked him into the crook of her arm.

"He's a sacrifice isn't he?" young Tarius asked, his eyes swimming in tears.

"Not anymore. Let's go." She sent young Tarius on ahead of them to tell the groups behind them that they were leaving and he ran like the wind through the tunnels. Then Tarius the Black started leading the way out of the cave and Kasiria hoped she had more idea about how they had come than she did because Kasiria was pretty sure that she couldn't have found her way back out by herself.

Kasiria noticed then that the blue smoke was no more and knew what that meant, No more babies. She did a count of the babies they had found ten. Only ten. Thousands and thousands of Amalites in the hive yet only one hundred and seventy-two children. Even if Radkin's troop had found twice as many babies that was only a total thirty. How long had these things been sacrificing and eating their own young? She fought a wave of nausea as she thought of walls painted in the blood of babies.

At the pit Jestia put down the bundle of twigs she'd brought with her, started it on fire, and then she did her "smoke to find openings" spell and they moved even faster. They were almost out of the cave when they could smell the smoke coming up behind them and knew the fires had been lit. They moved a little faster.

Suddenly an Amalite who had no doubt smelled the smoke ran into the tunnel in front of them. He got a scream out before Tarius's blade silenced him. Then they were boiling out of rooms on either side of the hall and Kasiria's blade was bathed in the Amalite blood it so craved.

* * *

Jestia knew they were close to the surface. She looked at the tunnel at their back. If she could just stop them from coming up from behind them. There were thousands behind them but only dozens before them, and she was sure that they could fight their way out if they didn't have to fight the thousands of them at their back. Invisible shield wouldn't hold long enough, wasn't big enough. She looked up at the roof of the tunnel even as she realized her sword was just sitting in her hand doing nothing as poor Ufalla was beside her fighting for them both. She cast invisible shield in front of Ufalla. She was scared and she was thirsty and . . . Damned tea pot and cup right beside her, it momentarily zapped her self confidence. But then as if Jestia had made it for just that purpose Ufalla grabbed the tea pot, spun and slung it into the wall just behind three Amalites who found themselves covered with hot tea and china shards. Ufalla turned to her smiled and Jestia found the strength she needed. She quickly turned to the tunnel at their back and concentrated all her energy at the roof of the cave ignoring the wave of angry Amalites now coming down the tunnel. "Ball lighting!" The roof exploded as a ball of white light smashed into it and then it was coming down and Ufalla was dragging her out of the way of falling debris.

* * *

Kasiria was like a machine, mowing down everything between them and the way out. The real problem was that they were in the tunnel at a point where two rooms opened into it so they were literally being hit from both sides. She heard an explosion and a shake and even that didn't distract her from what she was doing. She could see Tarius the Black who was to her left and just in front of her. Jabone was somewhere in front of her and to her right but she wasn't sure where.

Tarius was clutching the infant to her with her left arm and fighting with her right arm alone. No small feat with bastard sword but she did it with a skill that could easily have made Kasiria jealous if that skill wasn't keeping them all alive.

Kasiria had no idea where anyone else was. It was kill or be killed, and if any of them were going to make it out alive she had to concentrate on nothing but killing.

The unit that had been just in front of them and had no doubt made it out of the cave came running back in and attacked the Amalites between them and the exit. Then she saw Tarius turn away from the battle in front of her so quickly she nearly missed a simple block, and Kasiria felt her own blade tugging her in a totally different direction than where she wanted to go.

It was Jena, a blade was coming at her and she was already fully engaged and Tarius, she wasn't going to make it in time. Kasiria spun quickly and shot up with her blade and then down into Jena's would-be assassin and he collapsed. Jena killed her own opponent and had no idea how close she'd come to dying, but the look Tarius gave Kasiria told her that she did. Then they were both just fighting again.

In minutes they had killed everything that stood in their way and gladly ran out into the light. "Don't stop, keep running. Get behind the shield wall, move, move, move!" Tarius ordered, running. "Don't look back and don't engage. Just run."

Kasiria didn't have to ask why. She could hear them at her back. Most of them couldn't come out at the hole at their back, but there were dozens of other holes and now their anger and the smoke was driving the Amalites up out of the ground.

Tarius and her troop ran through the openning in the shield wall they had made for them and Tarius yelled out, "Fire! Fire!" And a volley of arrows went over her head. "Hold the shield wall. Pikes and spears attack."

Kasiria heard the orders yelled through the ranks. When she turned the mountain was mostly on fire, and smoke and Amalites were pouring from every hole.

"Kill them to the last man!" Tarius screamed.

Beside Kasiria, Jabone had taken up a spear and was behind the shield wall. Many of the Amalites weren't even armed. It didn't matter. They were an abomination. All must die. She dove back over the shield wall and started laying into them.

"Kasiria no!" Jabone screamed, but that was somewhere in the back of her mind, something she didn't really hear and that she didn't understand.

Then Hellibolt's voice was in her head. "Kasiria, don't let the sword wield you," it said, and she suddenly realized where she was—on amongst the Amalites alone. No, not alone, Jabone was at her side now with his sword in his hand.

"Get back behind the shield wall, Kasiria," he ordered even as he drove a man to the ground and pulled his sword free in one movement. She realized as she watched him, still a bit dazed, that she'd never match his skill with sword. He was mowing down their attackers three and four at a time. He pushed her a bit and then the two of them dove back over their shield wall together.

Kasiria looked at him, feeling a sudden shame. "I'm sorry, Jabone."

He sheathed his sword, picked up a spear, and then he smiled at her. "Don't be sorry, just don't do anything that stupid again. Who do you think you are, Tarius the Black?"

* * *

Tarius didn't have time to think about her near catastrophe. She just pushed Jena towards the back of the ranks where she'd be safest and started to command her army. There was no time to do anything with the baby, either. It was drop it or hold it and she couldn't make herself drop it. So she just ran through the ranks giving orders, occasionally killing some Amalite that was trying to go over the shield wall, all with the baby tucked in the crook of her arm.

Suddenly a loud crackling sound came from deep within the mountain and then black smoke was billowing out every crevice. The refuse in the pit had caught fire and those Amalites who hadn't already vacated the mountain did so then. They had them blocked in. They couldn't go back underground; they couldn't go out the back because fire blocked their way; they had to come out the front of the hive and face the armies of three nations waiting for them there. Many of them were unarmed but none of the soldiers showed mercy, none was deserved.

At one point she ran past Kasiria who was standing shoulder to shoulder with Jabone spear in hand holding the line.

"Thank you," she said as she ran past.

"Don't thank me it was the sword!" Kasiria screamed after her.

Tarius saw Harris with spear behind the shield wall and moved quickly to stand beside him. She smiled at him briefly and said, "Finally this battle feels as it should." He smiled back and they continued to kill the horde that struck their shield wall 'til there was nothing left to kill.

* * *

Kasiria had been driven, killing everything that came in reach of her and thinking nothing of it. She lost her spear in one of them and just pulled her sword and continued the job she was doing 'til one of them came screaming up the shield wall and she found what had to be a child under twelve hanging on the point of her sword. She slung him quickly off, feeling sick, but there wasn't time to think about what she had done or what she kept doing. There were just too many of them and they all had to die. When there were none left standing she just collapsed to her knees exhausted, and when she looked the front of her body, her sword and her hands were covered in blood.

Jabone took her sword out of her hands, rubbed his fingers down the blade to clear it, and sheathed it on her back. Then he put his hands under her shoulders and picked her up. When she was on her feet and looked around Tarius was standing with Jena and Harris was a few feet from them. Jena and Harris, covered in as much blood as she was, Tarius covered in even more and she was still clutching the baby in one hand and her sword in the other. The blanket the infant had been wrapped in was covered in blood and Kasiria wondered if it was even still alive until it cried. Then Tarius sheathed her sword with one hand, put the infant on her bloody shoulder, and started patting him.

"Poor baby," Jabone said with a laugh. "My madra, she always was a little rough."

Kasiria nodded silently.

"Are you all right Kasiria?" Jabone asked.

"I'm fine," Kasiria said fighting her tears. "I just, I know what Hellibolt was saying about Jabone's sword."

"It's your sword now, Kasiria."

"No, it's still his sword. It just belongs to me."

* * *

Tarius shifted the baby and grabbed Jena in her free arm and hugged her. Jena hugged her back. She kissed the top of Jena's head which since her helmet had come off was the only clean spot on her body. "I almost lost you today, Jena. I turned but I didn't have enough time. Were it not for Kasiria we'd both be dead today, because I wouldn't live without you."

"Or I without you," Jena said. Then she smiled broadly.

"What?" Tarius asked, a bit put off that Jena was near laughing at such a poignant moment.

"What are you still holding that baby for?"

"I . . . I." The baby had stopped crying and she realized something. "It didn't cry the whole time. I was sure Jestia had put a spell on it like all the others." Then in sudden panic she asked, "Harris where are the girls, where is Tarius?"

"Calm down, Tarius, all are well." Harris pointed to where they were all sitting on a patch of clean ground. "Jestia's a bit drained. I think the ball lightning spell took its toll."

"It saved us," Tarius said. She started to walk around; she had to check on her troops. She staggered and Jena grabbed her arm and steadied her. Exhausted, she was exhausted.

"Tarius, you need to rest." Jena took her thumb and wiped the blood from Tarius's chin.

"I can rest when I have checked on my people," Tarius said.

"You want me to take the baby, Tarius?"

"No," she said quickly and held him to her. The Jethriks had taken the most casualties. The Kartik unit had lost twenty people. Among her people only two were badly wounded. It helped that most of her people were Katabull and that those who weren't knew to stand behind or beside those that were. She had all her wounded and the Kartik wounded moved immediately from the woods to the wagons and on their way to the Port of Sagal. Hellibolt did a spell to make them move faster and she thanked him for that and for everything else he had done.

She walked up to the Jethrik generals. "I will move my people and the children back to our base camp now. Come morning we will move on towards Pearson Garrison and leave the children there to be farmed out as they see fit. This mess is yours to clean up. I suggest you throw the bodies of the Amalites into the caves they lived in. Better still take them deep within when the fire stops and throw them into the pit. Since that was where they threw their trash it seems appropriate."

They just nodded, didn't even say thank you, and she gathered her battle-weary people together and the infants and children and started to leave. Hellibolt stopped her getting on her horse which had been brought for her.

"Tarius, my old friend, I will stay with my people now. I wanted to say goodbye." She embraced him with her free arm, the other still holding the baby. "Tarius . . . What are you going to do with that?"

"With what?" Tarius asked, not understanding the question.

"Nothing," he said. He embraced Jena and then her son and then Kasiria. "Kasiria, you are beyond all that I had dreamed you would be. You will live a long life and all that know you shall be richer for that knowledge."

"Thank you, Hellibolt, for everything."

He nodded humbly then he caught Tarius's eyes and held them. "They will never say it, but thank you Tarius, and not just for once again saving the day or doing it in your very unique way, but thank you for having the courage to always do what's right no matter how distasteful it may be. My personal thanks for having allowed me to be something more than just a palace figurehead."

"Allowed?" Tarius laughed, getting into her saddle and resituating the baby. "Hell, we couldn't get rid of you. I love you, Hellibolt, and don't speak as if we shall never see each other again. Our days are still long and our world still small."

He laughed. "Indeed."

* * *

They had kept the children in a trance 'til they got them to the camp then taken them out of the trance, which Tarius decided was a huge mistake. They were terrified of the Katabull and trying to keep them in line was like herding cats. Finally she'd just had them all fed, put into tents, and had Jestia put a sleep spell on them. There were only fifteen babies altogether and they turned out to be no trouble at all once the cook had come up with some milk. It was no problem at all finding people willing to hold a baby. After all the killing it felt good to be so close to new life. She simply handed the babies out to different people and told them to care for them 'til they could get to the garrison.

Tarius was still covered in blood and was trying to get the baby to eat, but he really was just barely born. In fact his—because it was a boy—umbilicus wasn't even dry.

Jena sat down on the log beside her. "Tarius, why don't you give him to me? I'll take care of him and you can go get a bath."

"I just . . . I want him to eat first, Jena," Tarius said, more than a little frustrated.

"Tarius . . . What are you doing with that baby?" Jena asked again.

Tarius didn't know. She really didn't. "I don't know, Jena. I just feel like . . . Well there has to be some reason."

"Reason for what?"

"Everything that happens to us, has ever happened to us." She looked at Jena then and whispered so that no one else could here. "I think . . . We're supposed to keep this baby. I think he's ours."

Jena didn't even look surprised. She just kissed Tarius, leaned over and looked in the baby's face and said, "What should we call him?"

"Darian. Then one will be named for my father and one for yours," Tarius said. She must have been thinking about it more than even she thought because then she said, "We'll tell everyone that he's your child, and that Dustan is his fadra. Then he'll never have to know what he was born to or that he was meant to be a sacrifice and a meal. If anyone dare tell him the truth then I will split them."

"Good. Then if all that's settled, give me our new son and I'll go clean him up while you go get a bath," Jena said. She smiled brightly as Tarius handed her the baby.

"He should be yours Jena, because had I not listened to you none of them would have made it out alive. He certainly wouldn't have." Tarius smiled. The baby looked right in Jena's arms. She kissed Jena on the top of the head and then went off to get a bath.

* * *

Jena took the baby, cleaned him up, diapered him in a piece of cloth, and then wrapped him in a clean blanket, but she still couldn't get him to accept much milk from the cloth nipple she held in her hand. She sat close to the fire on a log where it was warm and he seemed content just to be warm and dry and held but she knew he needed more milk than he was taking.

Jabone walked up and sat beside her. He ran his huge hand over the baby's tiny head. "What have you got, Mother?"

"Your brother," Jena said with a smile. "His name is Darian after my father, and apparently Dustan and I are his fadra and madra."

"Father will be very surprised," Jabone said with a smile. "When she just held him through the whole battle I knew she'd never be able to let him go."

"I'm worried. He doesn't really want to eat."

"He is my brother of course he doesn't want to suck on some cloth tit."

"Jabone!" Jena slapped at him playfully. "You really are just like your madra."

He smiled happily. "You know, Mother, that's not such a bad thing to be. It's not even so bad to just always be in her shadow."

"Where is Kasiria?" Jena asked. "Your madra tells me I owe her my life."

"She is in our tent sleeping, exhausted, as we all are, and more than a little sick and sad."

Jena nodded understanding. "And you son, how are you?"
"You know Mother that I didn't want to come back here and fight this battle and now . . . " tears welled up in his eyes but didn't fall. "I know why all the stories are so grand, because as horrible as it may be there is something that happens to all of us in battle together. We become so close. To be part of something that changes the world. Those things, all those little kids, you saw how they act. They are afraid of everything. My new brother left as a sacrifice . . . "

"Oh, that's another thing. No one is to ever speak of that or your madra will split them."

Jabone nodded his understanding. "There were only fifteen babies Mother. You saw how many of them there were. Kasiria said that they must have gotten over crowded and just decided to start eating their young. To stop something like that, to give him a life, a good life with the best parents and big brother ever, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. I know Kasiria feels the same way, or she will eventually."

Jena was getting more worried about the baby's lack of interest in the bottle by the minute, and Jabone must have noticed.

"When Madra gets here she will order him to drink," he said with a smile.

"Where is she anyway?" Jena asked. "I'm worried. It shouldn't have taken her this long to bathe. Would you go and find her for me son?" Jabone had just stood up when Tarius walked over with Jestia in tow.

"Here, take this," Jestia said, handing Jena a vial.

"Why?" Jena asked.

"It's the same potion you took when Jabone was an infant so that you could nurse him."

"Tarius . . . I'm over forty. I can't be nursing a baby."

"If you can have a baby, you can nurse it," Tarius said.

"Tarius . . . I didn't really have this baby, remember?"

"Yes you did," Tarius insisted, as if Jena had been too long in the sun and didn't remember giving birth.

Jena took the vial and looked at it then down at the tiny baby in her arms. It felt good to have a baby in her arms again. It felt right that this was her child. Once again Tarius was handing her a baby and saying here this is yours. She shrugged and took the potion. It couldn't look that much more foolish for a woman of her age to nurse a baby than to just have one.

"It will take a couple of hours for your milk to come down," Jestia said.

"Ah . . . I'm going," Jabone said. He kissed Jena on the top of the head and then kissed the baby's head, too. "I finally have my brother back." Jena felt the tears welling up in her chest.

"You are the most amazing person, Jabone," Jena said with a sniffle.

"She'll be a little emotional for a couple of days. That's the potion," Jestia explained to Tarius. Tarius nodded and hugged Jabone who then took off for his own tent.

"How are you Jestia?" Jena asked with real concern. She knew the girl had over used her powers.

"Tired, and overwhelmed like everyone else. But other than that, well everyone I care about got out alive and we saved all those screaming, hateful little brats so . . . I just want to laugh out loud I'm so happy."

"That's the way Tarius has always been," Jena said.

"And do you just want to . . ."

"Yes," Tarius said with a smile.

"But now we have a tiny baby so I guess that will have to wait. After all I'm very tired having fought a great battle and given birth all in the same day."

Chapter 31

All the way home on the ship her brother Tarius, not Tarius the Black mind you, but a younger, very good looking hero of the same name, had told glorious tales of the battle and their trip, until Ufalla was wondering if she'd really even been there at all.

Ufalla had just greatly enjoyed being at sea again and to have Jestia by her side knowing that they were going home to start their lives together, the battles at least for the moment behind them.

That for the time being at least their adventure-lust cured and the Amalites put down they could get married, move into their new home, and just enjoy each other and their homeland. Enjoy talking about all the great things they had done, as their parents and the older members of their pack had done as long as Ufalla could remember.

Tarius and Jena seemed very happy with their new baby and he with them. Jabone was enjoying being Kasiria's husband and having a little brother. He'd always wanted siblings and now he had one. He didn't seem to mind that there was nearly twenty years between them.

Eric and Tarius had done a bonding exchange and Eric seemed happy to just be with him and he was happy with her, so Ufalla was happy for them even though the thought of them together put her to thinking of a goat humping a horse.

Kasiria seemed as eager to be home as they all were as she stood on the deck with them, waiting for the Kartik to come into view. If she had any qualms at all about leaving behind her homeland, her rank and her title, it didn't show on her face. She just smiled up at Jabone as if he were just the most magnificent thing on the planet.

Finally they could see the Kartik and then the Katabull harbor and they were all silent as they were just watching, savoring that last few moments between still being gone and being back home again. All silent that was except for Jestia who was of course talking and what else would she be talking about but their wedding which Ufalla was actually looking forward to if for no other reason than that she just wanted to have it over with.

"We will hire dancers. I'm thinking just women because now that you've made me queer . . . "

Ufalla laughed, grabbed Jestia around the waist and drug her against her. "I didn't make you queer."

"Whatever. Anyway since I'm queer now I find that the male form is rather repulsive to me. So I'm thinking just female dancers. And singers. I'd like singers, but I don't care what sex they are, would you like singers?"

"You know I don't care, Jestia."

"Pretend to," Jestia said.

"Sorry, but I don't care about any of it but being with you."

Jestia smiled and wrapped her arms around Ufalla's neck. "But it will be fun, Ufalla. I want it to be fun for both of us."

"Are you going to be there?" Ufalla asked with a smile. Jestia just laughed and nodded her head. "Cause see if you're going to be there I'm going to have fun."

"I can't wait to get home. Get in our new house, lay around in our own private hot spring all day, make love all night," Jestia said in a dreamy voice.

It sounded like heaven to Ufalla.

The boat docked and everyone all but crawled over each other to make it to land.

Her mother and younger brother and sister and Arvon and Dustan among many others had come down to meet the boat. As expected Dustan was very surprised to learn that he was a Fadra but didn't seem to be at all upset about it.

As they moved across the deck all of the Katabull reached out to touch them, and Ufalla's heart swelled with pride. The Katabull believed that if you touched a Great Warrior on return from battle you would have power over your enemies. So the fact that they were reaching out to touch her said that they thought she was a Great Warrior.

They had just finished embracing her mother and siblings and then her father was holding her mother in a way that said that they still loved each other and didn't like to be separated. It warmed Ufalla's heart.

Jestia was just rattling at anyone who happened to be listening about all her wedding plans when the Queen's own herald broke through the crowd. He bowed low before Jestia, getting disgruntled sounds from all the Katabull assembled, and Jestia hissed, "Rise fool, how dare you disgrace the Katabull!"

The man rose and stated, "Your highness, your mother asks that you be brought to the palace immediately."

"Well that's a shame because you see all next week I have big plans," and then Jestia's voice rose a great deal, "to not do what my mother says!"

"Your highness, I'm afraid I must tell you there has been a horrible accident . . ."

"I can't do anything about what age has done to her face . . . Well I could but I won't," Jestia interrupted.

"Your highness, please." His voice caught in his throat, so he either actually cared about what he was about to say or he was good at pretending, "I'm afraid the accident has happened to your brother Katan."

"Let me guess. He strained his voice reaching for a high note."

"He is dead, highness."

Jestia laughed even as Ufalla moved to take her arm to steady and comfort her.

"Katan is dead, oh that's quite a joke. What happened, did he catch a bad cold and sneeze himself to death?"

"Jestia," Ufalla said gently, "I think he's serious."

"It's just some trick to get me to go to the castle," Jestia said, waving her hand in the air in a dismissive way.

"I assure you it is true highness. Prince Katan is no more. He fell down some steps at the palace and bumped his head, and I'm afraid . . . He went to sleep and never woke again." Ufalla could see the moment at which Jestia realized that he was indeed telling the truth and just what that meant for her because Jestia turned white. She took a deep breath and let it out. She looked from Ufalla to the herald then back again.

"Go back to the palace at once," she told the herald, never taking her eyes off Ufalla. "Tell my mother that my heart aches for her and that I will be there as soon as I get my affairs taken care of here." Jestia was quick witted but when she looked at Tarius there was a look of real panic on her face and Tarius seemed to know immediately what to do.

"Jestia must help us with some potions for our wounded. Tell the Queen that we grieve with her. Take your people back with you. As soon as things are settled here I myself will go to the castle and explain all that has happened," Tarius said, and Ufalla noticed that Tarius had very carefully not said anything about bringing Jestia with her.

"Now, go at once," Jestia said with an elaborately dismissive hand gesture towards the herald.

He bowed low again, once more pissing off the Katabull, and then he took off with the four palace guards right behind him.

"What are you going to do, Jestia?" Ufalla asked in a panic when they were well out of ear shot.

"We're going to get our things off that ship, put them onto that one, and sail out with that boat to wherever the hell it's going."

Ufalla smiled. "I've always wanted to go there."

THE END

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Jabone's Sword

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31