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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."

 

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