Pixilated Page 5

  The trail Chana picked up led into a box canyon. Crouched low over Sirocco’s neck, Kree let his prized stallion fly down the rock-strewn gully and hoped like the very hells that the horse did not catch a hoof. Chana followed behind at a more careful pace. He saw what looked like a lightening flash ahead, then another flash and another. Sirocco balked, reared.

  The captain steadied his skittish thoroughbred with a firm hand and kneed Sirocco forward a few more steps before another burst of light caused the horse to refuse again. Kree put his spurs to its flanks. Logic told him where the mage-fire was, the elf was, and where the elf was, Kayseri was. Outraged by this abuse, Sirocco shot forward, and suddenly Kree was riding a thunderbolt.

  Three men had Kayseri and the elf pinned against the rocky canyon wall. Kree wrapped the reins tightly around his left hand. Sirocco was not combat trained. If he met resistance, the stallion was going to be hell’s own to control. He drew his saber and gave himself up to fate. Everyone excels at something. Fighting was Kree's something. Everything about it appealed to him. Battle was his birthright. The garrison’s battle cry echoed off the canyon walls. His damaged larynx made the sound all the more eerie. Startled men turned to meet him, and he sliced through their feeble lines of defense before they quite figured out what had come howling out of the gully.

  Kree slid off his horse and stalked toward the elf with his saber clutched in a bloodied fist. Bloodlust burned in his eyes. He stopped about a foot away from the prince and pointed to the fallen men with his saber. "These are awfully persistent highwaymen, elf. Do you suppose they're looking for this?" He tossed the porcelain doll at the elf’s feet.

  Eldren scrambled for the doll, but Kree grabbed him one handed and slammed him up against the rocks.

  "I hate killing men when I don’t know why I'm killing them or even if I should." Kree’s forever-soft voice became a menacing whisper. He brought his saber up under the elf’s chin. "But once I get started, it's damned difficult to stop."

  "My Captain!" Kayseri shrilled.

  "Shut up, Katie."

  A slight movement of Kree’s wrist produced a bright spot of blood under the elf lord’s chin. "Listen up, elf, you’re going to tell me what’s really going on, and you had better pray I like the story."

  Chapter Five

  Eldren, Prince of Thallasi, collapsed the moment Kree let go of his tunic. Kayseri squatted beside the elf and dabbed at the blood running down his neck.

  "My Captain," she cried. "What are you doing?"

  Kree shot her a fierce, quelling glare. He was not to blame for the elf’s weakness. Magic had a price. The universe demanded balance. He had seen it all before. Hell, he had lived it. The year plague blew down from the mountains, healings so weakened Lathan Kree had to carry his theurgist friend from house to house to lay hands on the sick. The miserable elf just needed rest and nourishment. He would recover.

  On the other hand, there were three men, whose blood even now soaked into the porous canyon floor, who would not recover. A cursory examination indicated the men were farmers. There was not a warrior among them. While Kree found dredging up pity for the used up elf difficult, he pitied these men. As he often did, he longed for the numbing buzz of Goddess nectar, so he could see the dead as enemies without faces, without wives and children who would go hungry because no one would be there to bring in the crops.

  Fetching a wine skin and bag of fruit from his saddle pack, Kree tossed them to Kayseri. He paced, kicking loose rocks out of his path while she forced sips of wine and bits of fruit down the elf prince’s throat. Before long Eldren was alert and sitting up.

  Kree hunkered down in front of him. "All better?"

  The elf eyed him wary realizing his vulnerability and took his time chewing over his answer or thinking up more lies. "Thank you for your help."

  "I didn’t do it for you."

  As always, the battle cry had left Kree's voice raw. He coughed, clearing it, reached out, and plucked the elf doll out of Eldren’s lap. The elf had used the last bit of his failing strength to repair it. "What’s so special about this doll?"

  The prince of Thallasi waited until Kree glowered at him before he answered. This elf had a death wish.

  "What do you know about elves, Captain?"

  "I know I don’t like them."

  "My Captain!"

  "Shut up, Katie"

  "I see." Eldren sighed. "Besides that?"

  "Talk to me about the doll."

  "The doll is nothing. The young lady it belongs to, Sandahl Sara el Thallasi is everything, a jewel without price. Irreplaceable. The Nhurstari envoy and I were escorting her to her betrothal when our carriage was set upon, and Sandahl was taken."

  Kree’s lip curled. He hated this story already.

  "Let me begin at the beginning, Captain Fawr. There are two Elvin nations. Thallasi and Nhurstari. I should say Nhurstari and Thallasi. Nhurstari is the mother of the People."

  "I saw that Nhurstari elf," Kree interrupted. "He didn’t look a thing like you."

  Eldren dismissed Kree’s remark with a wave of his hand. "The rift between Thallasi and Nhurstari occurred before the Stars fell into Elhar, before the founding of the Kingdoms. Nhurstari became an isolationist nation hidden by strong magic. As time went by, Thallasi fell under the influence of the Star-wizards in Elhar. We embroiled ourselves in the affairs of humans. Nhurstari remained pure. Thallasi became polluted. We are both in danger."

  "What kind of danger?" Kree smelled elfin intrigue. Goddess! He hated these people.

  "Extinction. Elfin children mature slowly, more slowly than all other Wilderkin races. Thallasi bear few and, of those we do, more than a third are of mixed race. Due to eons of inbreeding, Nhurstari bear even fewer. Of their progeny surviving to maturity, most are male. They must reunite with their Thallasi kin, or they will die out.

  "Thallasi is polluted by other races as I’ve stated. Even such a one as Kayseri here may call herself a cousin to our king. My people have lost much of our magic, our elfishness, if you will. We must reunite with Nhurstari or cease to exist as a unique people."

  Eldren pushed pale hair off his alabaster forehead. "We could not sit idly by while extinction and cross-race breeding carried us away. Nhurstari’s First House had an infant son and heir, and our seers promised a daughter heir to the First House of Thallasi. The match was set. Our princess was to have fostered in Nhurstari. Our High Council believed having her come to stasis there would make the match more palatable to the Nhurstari. The augury did not foretell we would wait ninety-six years for the birth of our princess. Rian, Sar el Nhurstari has grown into his first stasis yet he is as committed to this alliance as his father has been these many years."

  The elf lord paused in his narrative for a moment, he bowed his head and took a deep breath before he continued, "Two weeks ago an envoy arrived at my door with news that the Majority, Rian’s father, was dying. Nhurstari tradition forbids the ascendancy of a bachelor heir. I was requested to deliver Rian’s bride at once thus insuring he could assume Majority before his father’s death." Eldren smoothed the doll’s pale hair. His fine featured face was profoundly sad. "My princess is not yet the age of fosterage being but fifty years old, about the human equivalent of twelve, but what else could we do? Rian’s house must not lose the Majority, and Sandahl understands her duty well. I have made sure of that. She will live under Rian’s protection until she comes to stasis and bonds with him. Rian Sar el Nhurstari will wait for her. Sandahl is the hope of his people. She is the hope of mine. That, Captain Fawr, is the truth of the matter."

  By the time, the elf finished speaking; Kree was pacing furiously, pounding his iron hard fist into his left palm again and again. He really hated this story. Betrothed. Fostered. Pretty words for what amounted to one thing. This little elf girl was a pawn in the political games of her elders, a young girl, for Goddess sake, who still played with dolls. The very idea twisted Kree's stomach into knots. Oh, he accepted that politically advantageous mar
riages happened. From time to time, his people made them. And it was a solid fact, the Addiri did. His first lieutenant's father sent his man marriage offers on a monthly basis, but damnation, Kree did not have to like it.

  Worse, now that he had a few facts to go with his theories, Kree felt certain this poor little elf princess had been in Tarburg. Probably, at the same time he had. It explained why the townsfolk were so hostile. They feared getting involved in the affairs of their betters. Missing an opportunity to rescue the child because of Eldren’s evasiveness made Kree angrier. It was some time before he trusted himself to speak.

  "That explains why you’re desperate to find her. It does not explain why humans took her, or why they attacked you here. Who opposes this arrangement?"

  Eldren sighed again. The elf was so tired he could hardly hold his head up. "I know nothing of what motivates humans. Why do your people do anything? Some Nhurstari would rather die as a pure race. Some Thallasi fear Nhurstari magic will reduce us to second-class citizens. But both our peoples value children highly. I find it hard to believe either faction would harm Sandahl."

  Kree spat. "Well, someone sure as hell would." He walked over to the bodies of the dead men Chana had lined up in the shade by the canyon wall. "Someone hired farmers to keep you pinned down while they, whoever they are, moved your princess."

  Eldren jumped to his feet, his weariness forgotten. "You know where Sandahl is?"

  "I know where she was. Chana, ride back into Tarburg. Pose as a hired sword looking for work and see what information you can uncover." Well aware his physical presence and soft voice drew all eyes to him, like as not the citizens of Tarburg would not remember whether his companion had been male or female. "I’ll bring the bodies in early tomorrow."

  "Aye, My Captain." Chana tucked her ponytail up under a slouch hat, took off her garrison issue jacket and sword belt, and strapped her sword on her back after the mercenary fashion. "I’ll see, you in the morning."

  Throughout Eldren’s discourse, Kayseri sat wrapped in private misery. Kree had said only three words to her since he charged into the canyon like an avenging spirit. "Shut up, Katie." Six, if you counted that he said it twice. She hugged her knees tighter, tears welling up in her eyes. The tears were for her dashed dreams. They would not help her with Kree, not this time. He settled himself on the other side of the narrow canyon without once looking her direction. Eldren’s long fingered hand touched her hair, and she gazed up into the elf’s beautiful face. His chime-like telepathy filled her mind.

  "I regret that I have caused you trouble with the man."

  Kayseri wiped her cheeks with the heel of her hand. "I have never seen him so angry, Eldren. He will never, ever, forgive me."

  "Yes. he will."

  She chanced a glance at Kree’s thunderous visage. "I wish I shared your confidence."

  "I will tell him I coerced you. He will want to believe it and so he will."

  Kayseri smiled at him, tears drying on her cheeks. She shook her head abandoning telepathy. "I think we’ve told My Captain enough fibs. Isn’t lying how I got into this mess in the first place? No. I'll confess and throw myself on his mercy."

  "The man is a Temple demon. There is no mercy in him."

  "Oh, you're wrong, Eldren." Kayseri sniffled. "My Captain is kind and good. Once, when I was a little girl, he took me to a carnival in Koppras. On the way back, we found a crow with a broken wing. He took it home and nursed it back to health. He taught it to talk. He still has the bird. It flies freely now." A wistful smile tugged Kayseri's mouth. "And he keeps a little blind dog."

  "Really?" Eldren dropped out of mind-speech gazing thoughtfully at the captain. "I would not have believed it."

  "Well, you're not exactly seeing his best side." Kayseri wiped her face with her fingers and fluffed up her curls. "How do I look?"

  The elf prince smiled at her. "You are very beautiful, Kayseri Marea Bruin, daughter of Lathan of Elhar and Lethea a pixie of the Leafy River Clan, as you well know."

  Kree sat a few yards away on the hard stony ground with one long leg stretched straight out and the other bent so the back edge of his saber rested between his instep and his knee. Crunching gravel warned him of company and he glanced up. Seeing Kayseri, he went back to rubbing harder than necessary to clean the blood off his saber.

  She sat across from him, not too close he noticed, but close enough to make him twitchy just the same. Another quick glance showed him, eyes like a frightened fawn’s—if the fawn had been crying. He hardened his heart. Tears were not fair.

  "I guess you’re pretty angry, huh?"

  How perceptive she has become. Kree seethed. He blew out a sharp breath he had not realized he was holding. "Katie, three men died today, and somewhere out there a little elf girl is in danger because I could not trust you. Don’t you think I have a right to be…" he paused for effect, "angry?"

  "You can trust me."

  "Do you think so? Because, I don’t." Kree raised his gaze from the weapon and stared at her. "Last night you promised me in tears you would not run away from me again, and all the time you planned to slip off with that damned Prince of Thallasi."

  "I didn’t plan that."

  Kree laughed, but it was not a happy sound. "It didn’t just happen, Katie." Kayseri started to protest, but he raised his hand silencing her. "Maybe it did. Maybe it was like the time Molly’s favorite vase got broken, and you swore to me you weren’t even in the room when it fell off the table. Was it like that?"

  Kayseri blushed. Her brown cheeks turned a lovely bronze shade. "No! And it's not fair to bring up things that happened when I was a child."

  She was right. It was not fair, but by Namar’s eyes, she'd lied to him and men died for it. "You are still a child."

  "I am not!"

  "Then don’t act like one. Why did you go running off? I'm listening. Make me understand."

  "You were so unreasonable. I couldn’t think of any other way to keep you from putting Eldren in the stockade, and I couldn’t let you do that because the princess—"

  Kree’s breath hitched. "You knew?" She cut her eyes away too quickly. No matter what she told him now, he knew the truth. "Damnation, Katie! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have done something."

  "I wanted to." Kayseri rose to her knees and inched toward him ringing her hands. "I did! I told Eldren he should, but he said no. He said if word of Sandahl’s abduction got out elves on both sides would take up arms. Eldren is a Prince of Thallasi and—"

  "I am the bastard captain of a flyspeck garrison on the back side of nowhere," Kree finished for her. He stared at her though the gathering twilight. His voice was like sandpaper. "Say no more, Kayseri, I understand your dilemma."

  Kayseri’s eyes widened. "My Captain, you can’t think I’d ever compare—" Her chin quivered. "I only meant I took Eldren’s word about what elves would do."

  Damn the girl! What witchery did she possess to make him say things like that? Never had he wasted one heartbeat being ashamed of his origins. Why should he? He knew who his parents were, and privately neither denied him. He was Goddess-born, as touching Temple degrees a Gryphon, the Goddess’s highest achievement. At banquets, he sat with kings, and they deferred to him. His flyspeck garrison boasted, among other things, the finest cavalry in the world. They were The Kingdoms' combat elite. He scrubbed his hand across the lower half of his face. Without a doubt, he was losing his mind.

  Suddenly, he wanted to touch her, had to touch her. Leaning forward, Kree palmed Kayseri's cheek with his battle calloused hand and shook his head. His voice lost its rough edge. "I know what you meant. Don’t pay attention to me, Katie. I’m a stupid man." Goddess, you are so beautiful.

  A single tear slid down her cheek to pool against the dam of his fingers. "How long is My Captain going to be angry with me?" Kayseri smiled into his eyes and blinked a couple of times. "A day? A week?" Blink. Blink. "The rest of my life?"

  Whenever Kayseri misbehaved as a girl, she had been abl
e to get around him with her shy smile and enormous brown eyes. Here was an old tactic with which he was very familiar. He marveled at his continued susceptibility, but by the Goddess, her five-year absence had greatly improved its potency. Her sweetness created a swell of sensations within him that melted every other feeling. Kree knew he should hold on to his anger. It was better for her and, he suspected, much, much better for him. He gave a ghost of a smile, a slight acknowledgment of his weakness. "You sure know how to get my fur up, little girl, but hells..." Kree shrugged. "I’m damned if I can stay angry with you."

  His surrender satisfied her for the moment at least, and he returned to the business of cleaning his weapons. Wiping each one with an oiled cloth taken from his kit, he searched for imperfections along the cutting edges before carefully sharpening each blade on a whetstone. For a while, she sat quietly beside him watching him work. But before too long, she began to squirm and fidget. Kree glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and grinned. Pixies were not a people known for sitting still.

  Unable to contain herself another second, Kayseri blurted out, "Why are you wasting so much time. You didn’t use half those weapons today?"

  Kree laid the cloth aside and carefully sheathed the knife he had been working on. He gave Kayseri a hint of his usual crooked smile. "Because I don’t know what I will need tomorrow, making sure my weapons are what they should be is not a waste of time. It is my life. Do you see? "

  "Oh. Yes, I understand what you mean."

  She gave a huge yawn rising up on her knees, stretching her arms over her head, arching her back so her pretty little tits stared him right in the eyes. He wondered if she realized what a luscious picture she presented. His smiled filled out, turned into the real thing. "Your adventures are catching up to you. Get some sleep, little girl." He glanced up the canyon. "Look. Your elf prince has already turned in."