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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."

 

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