Lucien snorted. “How long did it take for them to finally accept you?”
“When the Bloods destroyed Bearinger and kidnapped your father, Atty wanted me to be part of the rescue party to find him and bring him back. She let the soldiers know she trusted me explicitly, and from that moment on I was one of them. It was like, once I got her seal of approval, all doubt vanished.”
“Tell me about Echo.”
Renken raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re wondering about the age difference, right?”
“I was told she was kept as a slave by Mink when that self-proclaimed Blood goddess overran Alta Novis. That she was twelve when she stabbed Mink in the neck, which enabled my Mom and Dad to finally defeat her.”
The grin that split Renken’s face reflected a mix of emotions. The man bowed his head as he reminisced. “Funny thing, Bloods don’t call themselves that. They call themselves the New People. Echo’s family and compound had been razed some years back, but for some reason Mink decided to spare her and use her as her personal slave. Echo was beaten and starved, and God knows what else. She won’t tell me. But she survived. And when they arrived at Alta Novis, and she realized your parents might be her only hope of salvation, she took matters into her own hands. And, yes, she was only twelve at the time. To me, she was this pathetic little kid, all skin and bones, but with these big brown eyes. No telling how long she’d been with the Bloods.
“Fortune and Tory took her in as one of their own to raise her, and right off the bat you could tell she was a fighter, all full of vinegar and piss. Fortune told me she’d have these horrific nightmares at night, when she’d wake them up with her screaming. She still does, but only every once in a while.
“Like everyone else in the compound, we watched her grow up. She’d hang out with the soldiers, just to listen to them tell their tales, but mostly she’d go out into the field and watch them during practice.
“Then, one day, I was cleaning my sword, and a pair of boots planted themselves right in front of my nose. I looked up, and there was this beautiful young woman with huge, brown eyes staring down at me. She wanted me to give her lessons using the sword, and I realized, ‘Oh my God. She’s grown up.’ She wasn’t this gangly little slip of a girl anymore.
“So I gave her lessons. Every day, she challenged me. Asked me all sorts of questions. She never stopped being spunky and sassy, and very demanding. But then she showed me a side of her I’d only suspected was there. She was lonely and still afraid.”
“Afraid of what? That she’d fall back into Blood hands?”
Renken shrugged. “She wouldn’t tell me, even after I questioned her about it.”
“And that’s when you fell in love with her,” Lucien finished for him.
The grin widened, and the man’s expression softened. “Yeah. I did. What I didn’t know at the time was that she’d already fallen in love with me. She later told me she’d been wanting to approach me, but she needed to screw up her courage first. Her asking me to give her sword lessons was twofold. So she could learn, and be with me.”
A pale blue light appeared and disappeared from below. It lasted a fraction of a second, but Lucien knew Paas sometimes flashed it to let her husband know where she was. Out here where voices could carry for miles, signals were used exclusively for communication.
“Guess Paas is getting ready for her shift,” Renken remarked, voicing what Lucien was thinking.
“Looks like it. Garet, do you ever wonder why your kids chose not to be part of the military? You and Echo, and Cole and Paas. You’re part of this army, but your kids aren’t.”
“I did at first. After Shala told us she wanted to apprentice with Martiff, and learn how to sew and make clothes, I went and spoke with Cole about her decision, since his son and daughter also chose not to join the battle lord’s ranks. He told me he and Paas had come to the conclusion that, in a way, they were happy that Nevo and Valena never took up the sword, although both their kids have been skilled in using it, for their own protection, just in case, you know. That way, whenever he and Paas had to leave the compound to accompany the battle lord, they were assured their kids were left in safety. It was one less thing for them to worry about.”
Renken eyed him again. “I’ve seen Yulen and Atty watching over you like two protective hawks. Right now, Yulen’s nearly worried out of his mind, even though you’d never know it just by looking at him. He’s terrified he’s going to lose Atty. I gotta say this, even though you don’t want to hear it, but if she dies, I don’t think he’s going to make it, either. Your parents are connected, like their souls are tied together. I’ve witnessed stuff happen between them that defies all explanation. You gotta be prepared for it, Lucien. You understand me? For your sake, your father’s, and for all the rest of us who’ll be under your leadership if something should happen to the both of them.”
A figure climbed the rock steps, up to the catwalk where the two men were located. Paas came over to join them. “Luc, your father is needing you over in the main hall.”
Lucien felt his heart speed up, when he realized there hadn’t been any sense of urgency or dread in her tone. Without replying, he hurried down to the ground.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ideas
The battle lord was holding a meeting with his captains and the two seconds when Lucien entered the dining hall. The men were gathered in a circle around Yulen, who was kneeling in the center. Holding a burnt stick from the small fire burning nearby, he used it to draw on the floor.
His father glanced up briefly to acknowledge his arrival as he continued with what he was discussing. Taking a stance next to Mastin, Lucien looked down at what was already there. A crude rectangle represented the compound, with a ragged line drawn on one side to signify the ridge, and a straighter line on the other for the road. Yulen tapped the crooked one.
“This gorge is too wide and too deep to cross. If worse came to worse, we could climb down to the bottom, but that would mean leaving the horses behind. Even if we did that, we don’t know if it’s wide enough at the bottom, where it may lead, or if we’ll be able to climb back up.”
“It looks as though they used the fields on both sides of the compound for practice,” Grimsy remarked.
“They’d have to,” Paxton responded. “There’s barely twenty yards of clearance between the rear of the compound and that drop-off.”
Destino cleared his throat. “You gotta admit, abutting this place that close to the ridge puts a serious crimp in any enemy’s plan of attack.”
“Not to mention having nature provide you with a wide open easement to enable you to see them coming for miles,” Yulen added. “But, by the same token, there’s no escape route for those trapped inside this compound. Not like we have at Alta Novis.”