I raised my arms and waved the stick, yelling, “Hyah!”
The reptile in front of me lowered its head and hissed before making a clicking sound. The reptile circled around me.
I put my hand to my tsali stone. It was neither hot nor cold.
Great. What did that mean?
I looked at the reptile, then at a tree. The lizard looked stable enough on the ground, but I bet it wasn’t much of a climber. The reptile saw the motion and crept closer, putting itself between me and the large old tree.
I broke and ran. With a staccato cry, it chased. As it closed the distance, I grabbed an overhanging vine, flipped myself up and over, and actually landed on part of the beast’s tail as I ran back the other way. As it tried to turn, and I ran for the tree, five more monsters darted from the underbrush and rushed me. I jumped up, grabbed another vine, and pulled myself up enough to hook my foot over a branch. One beast jumped and snapped at me, but missed grabbing a mouthful of my hair. I swung up and clutched at the branch, pulling myself out of the reach of the pack of lizards. They looked up at me and made that clicking sound, which was starting to seem like their equivalent to a growl. One of them tried to climb the tree, but its fore-claws weren’t strong enough and it slid impotently back down.
I heard a whirring noise.
One of the snake men stood in a gap in the jungle foliage. He held a long black metal chain with a weighted end in his hand and he was whirling that chain above his head faster and faster and faster.
“Damn,” I growled, and reached for a vine.
I swear the bastard grinned as he let go of the chain.
I swung to the side. The chain missed, but my sense of victory was short-lived. He hadn’t been aiming for me, but the branch I perched upon. The wood splintered with a cracking sound as the metal sheared it. I put my full weight on the vine I held. The vine snapped.
Thanks, Taja.
I fell to the ground. Before I could do anything, one of the lizard-hounds had put a foot on my chest, lowered its head until it was almost touching mine, and made its clicking growl of disapproval. Several more snake men with spears appeared, all leveled at me. Fortunately, they seemed content to point and hiss.
I exhaled slowly.
The first snake man, the one who had thrown the chain, said something sharp and hissing in the same language Khaemezra had used. All but one of the giant hunting lizards backed away. Then the snake man said something else, and there were hissing responses and laughter. Human laughter joined it. I craned my neck and the lizard hissed again.
“Szzarus says he’ll order his drake off you if you promise not to act like a monkey,” a female voice said. The ranks of the lizard men parted, and a woman walked into view.
She was not a vané, but human, with a skin color somewhere in between the olive brown of a Quuros and the ebony of a Zheriaso. Her black hair was matted in long locks, the knots fitted with copper rings, skulls, and roses. She wore a patchwork of leather pieces cut into a tight-laced vest, a loincloth, and tall boots, over a brown and green chemise net that likely made for excellent camouflage in the jungle. Under the netting I saw a lacy outline of black tattoos. She wore two daggers in her belt, a curved sword, and the little sister of the long chain the lizard man used.
She also wore a hell of an attitude.
“Now are you going to play nice?” She cocked her head and looked at me in a way that reminded me of the hunting lizards.
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course. I could bring you back to Mother in chains.” She patted her belt. “Some men prefer it that way.”
“I’m not one of them.” I glared at her. Something about her seemed familiar.
“I imagine not, although you’re fetching in nothing but irons.”
My eyes widened. “You were with Khaemezra and Teraeth in Kishna-Farriga.”
“I was.” She smiled. “I’m Kalindra. Mother asked me to keep an eye on you. She thought you might do something foolish when you saw the Maevanos.”
“The Maev—” I stopped. “The Maevanos is a nude dance, not a human sacrifice.”*
She snorted and motioned. Two of the lizard men dragged me to my feet.
“Only Quuros would take one of Thaena’s most sacred rituals and turn it into velvet-hall entertainment.” She glared. “It is the most profound, most holy show of trust we can give our Lady: to ask for her forgiveness and blessing in her own realm, where her power is absolute and no dissemblance is possible. If a petitioner is truly sorry, she Returns them. They are purified and made free of sin.”
“And if they’re not really sorry?”
“Then they’re dead.”
“What a shame. I was just starting to like Teraeth.”
“Really?”
“No, of course not. He’s an ass.”
Kalindra smiled. “Shall I tell him you said that when he Returns?”
“If it makes you happy.”
The snake men seemed to think the situation was basically handled. Most of them retreated to the jungle with their lizard pets. The largest said something hissing to Kalindra before he joined them. I suspected he lurked a short distance away, just in case.
“What did he say?” I asked her.
“He said, ‘Be careful. He looks harmless, but the monkey moves fast when he wants to.’ I think Szzarus likes you.”
“Everyone likes me. Just ask Relos Var.” I rubbed my hands over my arms as I looked around. “Am I a prisoner here?”
She cocked her head and looked at me. “You’re on a tropical island a thousand miles from the nearest village. How well can you swim?”
“A prisoner then.”
Kalindra shrugged. “If you like. I can’t change the local geography just to make you feel better. I can’t easily leave either. Sometimes the things that protect us are the same things that limit our freedoms.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Oh well. That changes everything.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh wait. No, it changes nothing.”
“So, I should stop complaining?”
“Your words.” There was laughter in her eyes, and I’ll admit I found it hard to keep up my indignation. “Let’s go for a walk. We’ve time for explanations before Teraeth Returns from the dead.”
26: UNHAPPY REUNION
(Talon’s story)
Someone pounded on the door.
“Damn it all. Go away!” Ola shouted.
“Ola! Ola! Come quick.” Morea’s voice rang clear and loud from the other side.
“Curse it.” Ola rolled out of bed and threw on a robe, ignoring the protests of the woman she dislodged. She stomped over to the door and tossed it open. “What is it, girl? This best be important…”
Morea stood in the hallway, barely dressed. Tears streaked her face. “They … he … oh goddess … he…”
“Calm down, child. Calm down. What happened?”
“Kihrin!” Morea pointed down to Ola’s apartments with a shaking hand. “He’s gone!”