Rebel Fay

Chapter Seven

Four days passed without incident. The forest's monotonous sounds droned in Leesil's ears, but his mother was never far from his thoughts. Their routine was little more than breaking camp at dawn, trudging all day, and stopping only when dusk ended and night settled upon them. Every time Leesil asked how much farther they would travel, Sgaile only answered, "Days… more days."

Chap ran with the majay-hi, returning often to pace close to the procession, at which point Leesil noticed the other dogs vanished. But the last time this happened, the white female stayed in sight among the trees.

Osha tried steadily in broken Belaskian to coax Wynn into talking, as she ignored him completely when he spoke Elvish. Little by little she relented. If their conversation carried on too long, Sgaile halted it with a single look. But today, he was less vigilant, and the two continued, often slipping into Elvish. The longer Leesil listened to them shifting between tongues, the more he picked out words here and there. He wasn't certain what was a verb or noun, but perhaps one of two "root words," as Wynn called them, began to sound familiar.

"Wynn," he called out, "none of our stuff has gone missing since we left Sgaile's village. Ask Osha if he thinks we've lost that tashgalh."

She craned her head around at him, slightly troubled. "I already have. He said it may have found something more interesting in the enclave. The Coilehkrotall will not thank us."

"The Co-il-ee… the what?"

"Sgaile and Gleann's clan… people of the 'Lichen Woods'."

"Well, they can't blame us. We didn't invite that overgrown squirrel along."

Though Sgaile didn't turn, Leesil saw the man shake his head as he continued onward.

"Osha, what are these?" Wynn asked as she pointed to a large clear space between two silver birches.

Leesil stopped beside her and leaned over to examine a strange patch of flowers. Normally, Wynn's fascination with plants bored him, but he had to admit these were odd.

The pearl-colored petals-or leaves by their shape-looked fuzzy like velvet. They seemed to glow under the bright sun filling the small space. Their stems and base were a dark green, nearly black where sunlight didn't touch them. Leesil crouched down as Wynn reached for one.

Soft booted feet appeared beside Leesil, and a dark-skinned hand grabbed Wynn's wrist. Leesil rose quickly, nearly knocking over Leanalham standing too close behind him.

Osha shook his head, releasing Wynn. "No."

Leanalham took Leesil's arm, trying to pull him away.

Magiere came up behind them. "What's all this about?"

Sgaile hurried over and looked down at the flowers. "You cannot touch these. They are sacred," he said pointedly. “Osha should have explained before you tried to approach."

Osha’sjaw clenched. Clearly he was growing tired of being blamed whenever one of their charges broke some unknown rule.

"Sacred?" Wynn asked.

Questioning Sgaile was futile from Leesil's perspective, but it seemed an especially bad idea whenever he looked displeased.

"They are sacred," Sgaile repeated. "Do not disturb them."

He motioned everyone to start moving again.

For the first time, Leesil had some idea what it must feel like to be Wynn. Maybe he was sick of Sgaile's evasiveness, or maybe he just wanted a real answer for once. The notion was interrupted by a burst of chittering overhead that sounded oddly like laughter. To Leesil's surprise, the elves all looked up with brightened expressions. Wynn tilted her head back so far that Leesil thought she might topple right over.

"Now what?" Magiere asked.

The trees seemed to come alive with movement as small creatures jumped from one branch to the next, making the leafy limbs shudder as if they too were laughing.

"Good fortune," Osha said in Belaskian, his lilting accent so thick the words were barely recognizable. He called Wynn over with the wave of one finger, pointing above as he spoke to her in Elvish.

The little creatures tumbling and hopping among the leaves had arms and tails longer than their thin furry bodies. Their heads had flat snouts and wide mouths between rounded ears, making them look almost human. Soft cream-colored bellies and faces broke their overall rusty coloring and matched the tuft of light hair springing from the ends of their long, curling tails. Oddest of all, they had feet like long hands.

"Fra'cise!" Wynn smiled widely. “Osha says they are filled with the playful spirits of the forest and bring good luck to those they follow. They are similar to a type of monkey."

"A type of what?" Leesil asked, as he'd never heard of such a creature.

Wynn started to reply, then simply shook her head and went back to watching the antics among the branches. One fra'cise hung upside down by its feet and swung so wildly back and forth that Leesil started to get queasy.

"They don't look fortunate to me," Magiere said. "More like a tashgalh that's been sneaking someone's ale."

Leanalham put her hand over her mouth to hide her smile. "These are not thieves, just playful ones of our forest."

The fra'cise didn't come closer. They continued to swing and chatter overhead. Then as quickly as they appeared, they were gone, lunging from one tree to the next and off into the forest.

Wynn's barrage of Elvish erupted so fast that Osha looked overwhelmed.

The appearance of these idiotic little animals seemed to cut away Leanalham s wary shyness. She dashed out into the forest, following them and pointing ahead to the branches above. Wynn jogged after the girl, a little less gracefully in her oversized clothes, and they slipped from sight among the tree trunks.

Magiere took two steps after them. "Both of you get back here!"

From somewhere in the brush, Leanalham cried out, "Sgailsheilleache!"

Leesil lunged off the path behind Magiere. Then he remembered they were unarmed. He ran on with the chest slamming against his back. Magiere dropped her pack, trying to keep up with him.

Sgaile was already five paces ahead, running through the trees, smashing his way through underbrush around stout cedars and oaks.

Far off to the left, Urhkar outdistanced all of them. Osha came up quick on Leesil's heels as they broke the edge of a bare ground clearing with patches of long-leafed yellow grass.

Wynn and Leanalham knelt at the center before two adolescent elven males, bare to the waist… or were they elves?

They were shorter than even Wynn, if she were standing. Their bodies and faces were marked with strange symbols in blue-black ink or paint.

They had the pointed ears, triangular faces, and amber eyes of elves but wore no shirts or boots-only loose breeches of rough natural fabric frayed off below the knees. Their wooden spears with blackened and sharpened ends were pointed at the women on the ground. One had an ivy vine wreath around his neck, and he stared at Wynn in horror. When he lifted his gaze to Magiere entering the clearing, his reaction grew to trembling outrage.

Sgaile froze at the clearing's edge. He raised a quick hand for his own comrades to halt. When Magiere didn't stop, he grabbed her by the arm. She turned on him, but he shook his head.

"Please stay," Osha whispered behind Leesil.

And more of these short elves appeared from behind all the trees around the clearing.

Some carried bows with arrows drawn. Like the spears, these ended in sharpened points without heads. A few carried cudgels of polished wood shaped as if made from gnarled tree roots. Most had wild hair pleated back or bound with cords of twisted wild grass.

Chap burst from the brush at the clearing's far right.

Two of the small newcomers leaped out of his path. One more ran up the side of a tree trunk and clung to its lower branches. None appeared worried by the dog's snarling, only startled as they watched him.

Chap worked his way toward Wynn, still rumbling with teeth exposed.

Urhkar stepped forward with both hands open and empty at his sides. He crossed the space slowly and placed himself before Wynn and Leanalham. The first savage short one steppedback, and the second lifted his spear.

Sgaile barked one word of Elvish, and Chap stopped growling.

One of the pair facing Urhkar snapped something at him, nearly shouting, and Wynn cringed back, pulling at Leanalham. The girl looked as frightened as the sage, but her eyes turned toward her uncle in confusion, as if she had no idea what was happening.

"Sgaile…" Leesil whispered harshly, "do something, damn you." Sgaile's eyes never left the scene before him. He rapidly placed a finger to his lips and that was all.

Leesil's frustration vanished in dull surprise-Sgaile was afraid.

Sgaile had too many people to protect, a mission to complete, and now Wynn had made things even worse. He could not allow violence to break out here but hesitated to speak.

Although Sgaile had authority over this mission, Urhkarasiferin was clearly the eldest among them. Such distinction was all that these people-the old race of this land-would respect as authority. Sgaile let him take the lead.

Then Chap glanced his way.

A memory of grief-enraged En’nish rose suddenly in Sgaile's mind. He did not know why this came to him now, and he pushed it aside.

One of the diminutive pair before Urhkarasiferin was called Rujh. Sgaile had seen him before as a messenger sent tothe an'Croan by the man's own people-the Aruin'nas. They had been in this land long before Sgaile's people, or so it was said.

Rujh spat an accusation at Urhkarasiferin. "You break faith with the trees!"

The elder elf shook his head with steady calm. "No. We are in guardianship of these humans and act on behalf of Most Aged Father."

His words had no impact on Rujh. "Your aged leader has no right to such a choice. We do not answer to him or your kind. Theforest's own law is above his wishes-and yours."

"We escort these humans to him for questioning," Urhkarasiferin explained. "We must know how they entered this land… before others follow in their path."

"The forest has its way to deal with such!" Rujh nearly shouted. "It has no need of your assistance. You defile it with no remorse, and it is offensive enough that we now find mixed-bloods walking here."

He gestured to Leanalham and then to Leshil. Sgaile crept slowly inward, blocking Leanalham from Rujh's sight.

"They have the blood in them," Sgaile insisted. "And the forest has not seen fit to reject them."

Rujh turned his head toward Sgaile, and frustrated reluctance filled his angry face.

"We accept those who have blood that should not be spilled, but the other two…" He pointed to Wynn and then Magiere. "If you will not kill them, then we will do it."

"Do not attempt to violate guardianship," Urhkarasiferin warned.

Rujh tilted his spear slightly toward Urhkarasiferin, but the elder elf did not move or flinch.

Sgailes stomach began to tighten. No doubt Urhkarasiferin and Osha would follow his orders if violence broke out, but it was the last thing he wanted. They could escape Rujh's numbers, but getting Leshil and his companions out would be a harder fight.

En’nish’s face flashed again in Sgaile's thoughts. He pushed the image away. Why did he keep thinking of her? Then came a memory of Rujh appearing out of the forest at Crijheaiche.

It startled Sgaile. He could not clearly remember which occasion this memory came from or why he thought of it now. But it made him study the short man.

Rujh had spotted Leshil too quickly as half-blooded. Had he known before Leshil appeared?

A flash of En’nish came again. It flickered in and out with the memory of Rujh appearing from the forest. Sgaile felt dizzy, and then he realized…

There were too many Aruin'nas here at once. Not a hunting party or even an envoy to one of the elven clans. They lived to the northwest, where the forest thickened against the range. How had Rujh known to come here?

Someone had sought out the Aruin'nas, or sent word to them.

En’nish’s blind anguish and hunger for vengeance went further than Sgaile had thought possible. Perhaps Urhkarasiferin should not have dismissed her from his tutelage but kept her close and watched.

Urhkarasiferin sharply backhanded Rujh's spear aside. "You are not a judge of the forest's natural law."

"Neither can your Most Aged Father take exceptions upon himself," Rujh answered.

"You will do nothing without the will of all blood," Urhkarasiferin warned, "that of your people and of mine."

"Have your clan elders agreed to allow humans to walk among the trees?"

A ray of hope grew inside Sgaile. "Nor have they agreed to execute them."

"Speak when spoken to!" Urhkarasiferin snapped, and Sgaile clenched his jaw.

He watched Rujh's face. Only clan leaders decided such weighty issues for Sgaile's people. Rujh knew this, for it was much the same among his kind. The small man scowled.

"There is a judgment to be made," he said, and turned away. "We will meet at Crijheaiche… where all will hear of this matter."

Sgaile quickly reached down and pulled Leanalham to her feet, her innocent face still full of fear.

"Up," he said to Wynn. "Everyone return to our path."

Magiere grabbed Wynn's arm and turned back with Leesil close behind. Urhkarasiferin took the lead as Sgaile pulled Leanalham along. Not one of the Aruin'nas remained among the trees. They had all vanished from sight.

What fuel of lies had En’nish used to kindle this fire in her hunger for vengeance?

"Do not stop and do not look back," Sgaile said to the others.

He knew where En’nish would head next. The same place he must take his own group in order to shorten the journey. Traveling alone and unburdened, she would beat him to the river and passage down to Crijheaiche. Leanalham's hand trembled in his grip.

"You are safe," he whispered, pulling her close.

An anmaglahk's duty, by life oath, was to protect his people. Sgaile had one failing in this. Leanalham's safety came before all others.

Chap trotted beside Wynn, longing for the lost talking hide and the privacy to use it.

He needed to speak with Leesil, and he did not know how else this could be done.

Chap had never met the Aruin'nas-had never even heard the word until it rose from Sgaile's memories. But now, Chap had things to tell… things he'd seen in Rujh's memories.

En’nish, for one.

The instant he realized what the female anmaglahk had done, he pulled upon Sgaile's memories, until he felt Sgaile reach a realization. But Chap could not shake off his puzzlement over the tone Rujh used when speaking of Most Aged Father.

In youth, Chap had known but a few of the Anmaglahk. Most Aged Father was no elder of a clan, for Anmaglahk were a caste apart and servants to their people, but their patriarch was still held in high esteem. His word carried the weight of a clan elder, if not its authority. His word held power among the elves. Was that now changing?

Brot'an and Eillean had believed they took great risks in defying Most Aged Father. The patriarch believed an Ancient Enemy would return, as did Chap's kin. It was the reason they had sent him to Magiere-to keep her from falling into the hands of those who searched for her.

But what of Leesil?

His own mother and grandmother had conspired to create him, to train him, in order to kill this same enemy Most Aged Father feared. The thought rankled Chap, and he growled.

Leesil was no one's tool. Why had Nein'a wanted a half-blood for the plans of her dissidents? And what did Most Aged Father really want with Leesil?

Chap steeled himself for what would come at Crijheaiche, and what he might have to do to protect Leesil, Magiere, and Wynn from all sides.

His thoughts were broken as the white majay-hi loped toward him from the trees. Wynn had once compared her to a water "lily."

Chap agreed.

Lily kept her distance, glancing hesitantly at those walking with Chap along a wide-open way through the forest. Whenever the breeze shifted Chap's way, he caught her earthy scent.

His thoughts tumbled through memories passed between them in the night outside the elven enclave. He wanted more of this-more of her. He wanted to run with Lily among the pack.Or without them.

Was this what passed between Magiere and Leesil? A depth of longing he had not felt since Eillean had taken him from his siblings?

Lily yipped once in a standing pause, watching him. He did not need touch, as the other majay-hi did, to see her memories. Images of leaves and brush and grass and trees whipping by in the night filled his head. He caught a flash of silver gray running beside her.

A memory of him.

Chap remained beside Wynn, but he often turned his eyes to Lily.

Past nightfall, Leesil sat staring into the campfire that Magiere stoked with more wood. Wynn sat on the ground and struggled with a hay-bristle brush Leanalham provided. But try as the sage might, she couldn't get the last mat out of Chap's coat. The dog's restless fidgeting didn't make it any easier.

At a light footfall, he turned to find Leanalham approaching. She crouched near him, her expression uneasy. Perhaps the encounter with the aruin'nas still troubled the girl. It certainly troubled Leesil.

Leanalham watched Wynn's efforts and Chap's scant tolerance with fascination. The girl obviously hadn't known what the sage intended with the brush.

Osha had gone in search of food, and Sgaile stood at the clearing's far side, speaking in low tones with Urhkar.

"Magiere, come and hold him down," Wynn called, and Chap tried to belly-crawl out of reach. "He is a mess, but he will not let me finish."

"You hold him, and I'll do it," Magiere said.

Chap saw her coming. With a rumble, he licked his nose.

"I saw that," Magiere warned.

"You lose again," Leesil said to Chap. This resulted in another tongue-and-nose gesture just for him.

Leanalham leaned forward. "Why are you talking to the majay-hi?"

Before Leesil could think up an answer, Wynn pounced on Chap and grabbed his neck with both arms. Magiere dropped on her knees, pinning the dog's hindquarters as she took up the brush.

"Oh… you stink!" Wynn said, wrinkling up her face.

The sight of the two women wrestling the dog into submission, and getting as dirty as he, was almost amusing enough for Leesil to forget the day's troubles.

"No! Do not treat him that way!"

Leanalham's thick accent made her words hard to catch, and she jumped to her feet indignantly before Leesil understood. She grabbed for the back of Wynn's coat, and Leesil shoved his arm in her way.

"He is a guardian of our forest," the girl shouted. "Let him go!"

Both Magiere and Wynn froze and stared at Leanalham.

Chap's ears perked as he ceased struggling. He rolled crystalline eyes and huffed once in agreement with Leanalham's outrage. It sounded a bit too pompous to Leesil.

A way off, Sgaile and Urhkar looked on, and neither appeared pleased.

"It's all right," Leesil said, pulling Leanalham down on the log."Chaps a bit of a pig. If we don't clean him, he gets unbearable… and he knows it."

Chap growled at him.

"Oh, be quiet!" Wynn snapped, and clamped the dog's snout in her little fingers. "Magiere, finish it."

"And if he didn't really like it," Leesil added, "he wouldn't make it so easy for them."

Leanalham's face filled with hesitant wonder. "He… understands?"

Chap shook his snout with a grunt, nearly toppling Wynn forward into the dirt.

Leesil sighed. They couldn't hide Chap's unusual intelligence forever, but perhaps it was best not to answer too many questions.

"Done," Magiere said and got up. "It might have gone quicker if you'd kept your butt still!"

Chap wrinkled a jowl at her and slunk off to the clearing's far side. He flopped down to clean himself. Wynn picked herself up, brushing dirt from her breeches.

Leanalham was still watching Chap.

Leesil studied her face. A small loop of her light brown hair was pulled through a wooden ring and held there over a crosswise wood peg. From there, her hair fell down her back in a tail. Her skin was a bit lighter in tone than his, which was strange considering he had more human blood. She turned to warm her hands by the fire, her expression suddenly too serious.

"You all right?" he asked.

She only nodded.

"If elves don't spill the blood of their own," he asked, "why did you cry out?"

"I have only seen the Aruin'nas a few times," she answered, "but never so many at once… and so angry."

This was the most Leesil had heard the girl say to anyone but Sgaile or Gleann.

"They wanted to kill your companions," she added, "humans, but… they hated me the same way… and you. The words they spoke… terrible things… before my uncle came."

Leanalham went silent, staring into the fire.

"People say terrible things about me all the time," Leesil answered. "Don't let it bother you."

He heard a hiss, and looked up. For an instant, he thought Magiere's vicious expression was aimed at the girl. She stepped slow and steady in front of him, until she stood beside Leanalham while facing away from the fire. Leesil couldn't see her face.

Magiere's fingertips gently touched Leanalham's shoulder. The girl jumped slightly, but Magiere headed off across the clearing toward Sgaile and Urhkar.

What was she doing? Leesil was about to go after her before she stirred up another conflict.

"You are fortunate to have the right hair and eyes," Leanalham said.

"What?"

"Your hair is light," she said. "And your eyes are amber. You look more like our people than I do, and you are half human. I am… I wish I had hair and eyes like yours."

Her words were sickeningly ironic. Leesil wanted to tell her that in his world, growing up, his hair and eyes cut him off from everyone but his parents.

"There's nothing wrong withwho you are, Leanalham," Wynn replied. She sat on a folded blanket at the fire's far side, fingers laced around her pulled-up knees.

"Leanalham," Leesil asked slowly, "how did you come to be here?"

"I wanted to tell you that first night you came to our home, but my grandfather and uncle are always worried."

She watched the fire for a while, and Leesil waited in silence until she spoke.

"My grandmother was not only bond-mate to my true grandfather, the brother of Gleanneohkan'thva-or Gleann, as you call him. She was also under Gleann's tutelage to become a healer. I call him grandfather because he is the one who raised me. It is the closest word in your tongue for the title.

"My grandmother traveled with Gleann as needed, helping those who had no healer among their own enclave. Illness spread through another clan's settlements to the southeast, and they went to assist. Grandmother was gathering basha weed in the hills near the shore, which helps lower fevers. She was attacked… by human men."

Leanalham paused and did not look at Leesil. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," Wynn whispered.

"She was badly hurt when Gleann found her and brought her home. In another moon, they knew she was with child. My grandparents did all they could to make certain their coming child would not be treated as an outsider."

Leanalham's voice broke with a painful breath. Firelight glistened in the tears running down to the edge of her triangular jaw.

Leesil understood. Even if Leanalham's grandparents had accepted and shielded their half-blood child, some among their people still wouldn't accept it.

"Grandmother died the night my mother was born," Leanalham went on. "Grandfather was broken inside, as happens among many who are bonded. He left my mother for Gleann toraise. No one saw him again.

"My mother was… not right in her mind. She wept often and seldom left the enclave's dwelling trees. Except at night, when she might sit alone in the forest. It was difficult for Gleann, as he never found a way to make her feel like one of the people.

"By the time my mother was of age, Gleann was a most respected healer. A young man with the Spirit awareness came from clan Chiurr to ask that she bond with him-but only if Gleann took him under tutelage as a healer. I think Grandfather was desperate to see my mother have a normal life. He agreed to the bargain. But my parents' bonding was short and then broken by my father, as my mother did not change. He left after I was born and returned to his own clan. By then it was clear that he had never truly loved her, or he would not have been able to leave."

Leesil knew better. Love didn't always last-and sometimes it wasn't enough.

"Not long after," Leanalham continued, "my mother disappeared one night. Some in the southwest say a woman was seen heading for the mountains. She evaded all who approached. Perhaps she found a place among humans."

Leesil waited for more, but Leanalham went silent.

"You grew up alone with Gleann?" he asked.

She nodded. "Except for Sgaile, but not until after my mother left… and his last testing to be Anmaglahk. He was then free to see family again and to live where he wished, though most of hiscaste live in Crijheaiche."

Leanalham turned to face Leesil fully.

"Sgaile's grandfather was bond-brother of my grandmother's father, though he calls Gleann his grandfather in respect. Sgaile and I share blood. He is often away, but his acceptance of me weighed greatly. Sgaile never knew my mother, but he stood for me among our clan, and he is Anmaglahk."

She nodded slowly, as if remembering something.

"He has traveled many lands, but other mixed-bloods are unknown. So you are the first half-blood he has ever met."

Osha stepped from the trees with two gutted and cleaned rabbits ready for roasting. He also carried a bulging square of canvas tied up by its corners. Leanalham took a long breath and stood up.

"I should help prepare the meal, as it grows late and we are all hungry… yes:

Leesil nodded to her. He had no notion what else to say, no matter how much they shared. Words would weigh nothing against the life she had led and the one he had lived. He glanced across the clearing to where Magiere faced Sgaile engaged in some talk he couldn't quite hear. Chap was with them as well. Leesil couldn't help studying Sgaile for a moment.

The man must have more immediate relatives than Leanalham and Gleann. Yet he chose to call the dwelling of a mixed-blood girl and an eccentric old healer his "home" and these two people his "family."

Leesil didn't believe he would ever understand Sgaile.

Magiere approached in quick pounding strides. Sgaile's tension rose and he broke off his discussion with Urhkarasiferin.

After their confrontation with the Aruin'nas, it had taken a long and heated argument with this woman to keep her and Leshil from reclaiming their weapons. Apparently that debate was not yet settled.

"No more," Magiere growled at him. "Give me our arms… now!" Sgaile took a long breath. "I understand your concern, but if you had been armed today, we might not have talked our way out. I gave you my word. You will be protected."

"You can't," Magiere insisted. "We saw that today. What if those people hadn't listened? I won't risk those I care for, whether I believe you or not. It's not about your word or keeping it… it's about failing, regardless."

Sgaile was not certain how much insult hid beneath her words. He had his ways and customs to follow with faith, and his oath of guardianship to fulfill, and arming this human woman would make neither easy to accomplish.

"You couldn't even keep Leanalham safe," Magiere whispered.

Sgaile fought down rising anger. Her voice carried no malice, but his frustration made it seem so.

"Get me my weapon, or I'll get it myself," Magiere threatened. "Choose!"

Sgaile hesitated too long, and Magiere took a step toward him. A snarl rose up, and she halted.

Chap stood between them, braced in Magiere's path against her legs, but his crystalline eyes looked up at Sgaile.

"Get out of the way!" Magiere snapped.

The majay-hi only growled and would not move.

Sgaile felt a moment's relief that this Fay-touched creature shared his concerns. Then the dog trotted around him, skirting Urhkarasiferin, and headed straight for the bundle and pack that held the weapons and armor. Sgaile went cold inside as the dog sat down next to the arms and stared at him.

Did Chap not understand anything he had tried to make this ill-tempered human accept? Now the majay-hi appeared to side with her.

Ever since the time Sgaile went to kill a half-blood marked as a traitor, this unique being's presence had shaken all he believed concerning the ways of his people.

A memory surfaced in Sgaile's thoughts, of Magiere, her white face aglow, standing by her companions in the forest the night he and his brethren had come to take them. Sword out, she stood ready to defend them from whatever came.

The memory snapped away, replaced with one of a terrified Leanalham huddled next to Wynn amid the Aruin'nas.

The majay-hi lifted its paw and shoved the pack over.

Urhkarasiferin whispered in Elvish. "What is it doing?"

Still Sgaile hesitated and glanced at Magiere. She folded her arms, waiting, as if the dog's action required no explanation.

How could Sgaile explain to Urhkarasiferin what he saw and felt? How could be justify relenting to the majay-hi's request?

Sgaile was bitterly forced to admit that Magiere might speak the truth.

They had escaped the rightful anger of the Aruin'nas, but it had come too close to bloodshed. Leanalham had suffered for it, despite the final outcome.

Sgaile knelt before Chap with uncertainty. He unbound Magiere's heavy blade and lifted it with the rest of the arms still in the pack. He held out the sheathed sword, and Magiere wrapped her hand solidly around it.

Sgaile did not let go. His gaze drifted across the clearing to Leanalham. The girl was assisting Osha in spitting rabbits to cook over the flames.

Magiere followed his glance and then turned her hard eyes back on him.

"No one will touch her," she said. "That's my word."

Sgaile released Magiere's sword.