A Battle Lord’s Heart (27 page)

           
He lifted the child onto his broad
shoulder and started patting the little back. Before long, a loud burp issued
out of the baby’s mouth, along with a bubble of milk.

           
“Did that come out of him?” she
whispered.

           
In answer, Mattox opened his eyes
again and stared up again at his mother. Atty shivered involuntarily.

           
His eyes were red. Not reddened in
the way eyes become after excessive crying, but fiery red. Both entire eye was
the color of new blood—the sclera, the iris, and the pupil. As if someone had
taken out the orbs and replaced them with smooth, perfect rubies.

           
“He’s...”

           
“He’s Mutah, Atrilan. Like you.”

           
She looked at her husband. She
wanted to apologize, to tell him she was sorry their firstborn had to turn out
like this, when Yulen smiled.

           
“We knew the chances, but it doesn’t
matter, my love. In the brief time we’ve been together, you’ve taught me that
the differences between us are for the better. That being Mutah is like having
an extra specialness inside you. Watch. I want you to see something.”

           
Holding up his son, Yulen began to
nuzzle Mattox under the chin. Nuzzle him, tease him, playing with the baby as
he crooned softly. Atty watched in fascination when her husband laid their son
in her arms, and she looked back down into the baby’s face. Mattox’s eyes had
gone from bright red to a warm, soft, pinkish hue.
 
          

           
“His eyes reflect his emotions,” she
breathed. She felt Yulen combed his fingers through her hair.

           
“His emotions. His soul. His
happiness. His sadness. You need to notice them when he’s hungry. Or when he
needs changing. Boy, he hates being wet. His eyes could practically set you on
fire.”

           
“When did you find out?” she asked.

           
“Find out what? That he’s Mutah? The
moment he took his first breath. He squeezed up his face and just yelled like
you wouldn’t believe,” Yulen told her.
“
He was frightened and cold. His
eyes were the color of rust. He’s our son, my beloved, and we’re going to have
to give him all the strength and love we can as he grows up, because you know
how the world will react to him the first time they learn of his specialness.”

           
“And you...you’re...” She licked her
lips, trying to find the courage to ask him. “How do you feel about that, Yul?
Does it bother you he’s not Normal? Not perfect?”

           
“Does it bother you I’m Normal? That
I’m not a Mutah?”

           
“That’s a stupid question,” she
snapped back heatedly.

           
“And so is yours,” he smiled.

*
* * *

           
“A penny for your thoughts.”

           
Atty’s eyes flew open. Mastin was
grinning as he pulled up beside her. “Yulen sent me up here to see how you were
doing. I can watch Mattox if you want to go lie down for little while,” he
offered.

           
“Thanks, but no. I was just
thinking.”

           
They rode a little ways in
companionable silence, when Mastin chuckled, shaking his head. Atty gave him a
sidelong glance and smiled. “What?” she asked.

           
“That was some shindig those people threw
last night,” he commented. “You know, Atty, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise
that Mattox turned out like he did.”

           
“Oh? How so?” She wasn’t wary. Just
curious.

           
“You know. A Mutah Battle Lord over
all these Mutah compounds Yulen plans to accumulate. Those people back there
weren’t just happy to know their future leader was one of them. They were
ecstatic.”

           
“How do
you
feel about it,
Cole?” She watched closely for his honesty.

           
The Second shrugged. “It doesn’t
bother me, if that’s what your asking. In fact...” A grin spread over his lips.
“I’d really like to hold the little Battle Prince, if you don’t mind. I didn’t
get the chance to last night, what with everyone else vying for the chance.”

           
Atty smiled. The man had commented
twice now that he’d like to hold her son. Last night plenty of other people had
held Mattox, cooing and fawning over him. Mattox had watched them with quiet
disinterest as he was passed from one person to another, while his mother
stayed close by nervously watching, protecting, and guarding. The baby’s eyes
had been wide open, their color like wild strawberries. However, it wasn’t
until Yulen snatched him away for himself that his son’s eyes changed. They
softened, literally fading to all shades of pale pink as the Battle Lord cuddled
him along his neck. The sight had melted her. Without reservation, father and
son were bonded.

           
Carefully, Atty lifted the sleeping
infant from her shoulder and passed him over. Mastin took the baby in his large
hands, holding him out in front of him so he could look upon the child.

           
“Hey, Matt! Glad to finally have you
all to myself!”

           
The infant opened his eyes to stare
at the strange person grinning at him. Awakened from sleep, his eyes looked
like russet velvet, softened and drowsy.

           
“Where’d you get that dark hair,
boy? From your grandpa Rory?”

           
“You knew Rory?” Atty asked. She
suddenly realized there was so much she didn’t know about Yulen’s right-hand
man.

           
“I entered the military a year
before he was killed.”

           
“Who was his Second then? Yulen?”

           
“Of course. Who else?”

           
“Then how did Tosh Karv get to be
Yulen’s Second? The man was abysmal.”
  

           
Mastin shot her a cautious look. He
knew too well what the man had done to Atty when she’d first been captured.
When she had killed him, he had threatened Yulen’s life and was prepared to
take over as the new Battle Lord of Alta Novis. There had been a lot more
justification to her actions than just protecting the man she loved.

           
“Karv had been a lieutenant. Yeah,
the man was an animal, but he also had a cunning, analytical mind. Given
another couple of years, I’m pretty sure the Battle Lord would’ve appointed
another Second. Well, actually, he did. But what I meant was, Yulen kept him on
a short leash. He needed him, but he knew from the beginning he couldn’t trust
him. Yulen was still mourning his father when he tapped him. He made a bad
choice at the onset, and he knows that now. Hey, look at this! His eyes are
pink! Just like when Yulen holds him!”

           
Smiling, Atty told him, “That means
he likes you. He accepts you.”

           
“Of course he accepts me. Me and
Matt are gonna become good buddies, aren’t we, Matt?”

           
“Ah, yes. Nothing turns a grown man
into a blubbering idiot faster than a newborn baby.” MaGrath rode up to join
them and gave the Second a nod. “Just wait until he pees in your face the first
time you have to change his nappie, and we’ll see if you two are still ‘good
buddies’.” The dry comment elicited a good laugh from them all.

           
Handing her son back to Atty, Mastin
watched as she nuzzled the baby’s cheek before kissing it, and safely stowed
him back into the carrier. “What are you going to do when he gets too big for
that thing?”

           
“I don’t know. I refuse to think
that far ahead anymore,” she replied. “Life is too precious to concentrate on
what might be, or what might happen. My world is now. Today. I’ll think about
tonight, and maybe tomorrow, but Yulen and I can’t dwell on months or years
from now. Not like we used to. Not anymore.”

           
She stared straight ahead at the
rutted, overgrown road they currently were on. It was synonymous to her life.
What mattered right now was where they were. If they concentrated too much on
their destination, they might miss the signs of possible danger. And then what
good would the next bend in the road be to them?

           
“But he has to,” MaGrath argued
softly. “He’s the Battle Lord. His priority is the compound, or com
pounds
.
He has to consider their growth, their protection. He has to think constantly
about the future, and be prepared for it.”

           
“Actually, you’re both right,” Yulen
said, riding up in time to hear their conversation. “But you have my priorities
skewed, Liam. Atty has and always will be my top priority. And you can add
Mattox now to that short list. Alta Novis and the other compounds are a distant
second. I’m going to do my duties faithfully, keeping them protected. Preparing
them for future growth, and all the problems that come with it. But with
Atty...” He shook his head. “We won’t be making any future plans. We have right
now, and we’re going to share it to the fullest. We don’t expect you to
understand because you haven’t been through what we’ve had to endure.”

           
Staring at his hands gripping the
reins, MaGrath did understand. “Very well, Yulen. You have my blessings. None
of us can even begin to imagine what kind of horrors you faced. But I know the
damage it did to you. I’ve doctored the massive injuries in and on your
body.
 
I’m glad to know you’ve managed
to find a way to cope. Remember, though, if you ever need me, to talk, or for
anything else...”

           
“Wellll...now that you’ve brought it
up...” Yulen glanced at Atty, who lowered her eyes and listened. MaGrath tilted
his head in expectation. “Liam, how do you think Madigan’s going to react when
she finds out her grandson is Mutah?”

           
The physician paused just long
enough to blow out an explosive sigh. “Gee, you had to give me a hard one right
off the bat? Yulen, Atty, you know she’s accepted you with her whole heart. But
I truly believe having Mattox will bring her so much joy. She was already
elated, knowing that the D’Jacques dynasty will continue. However, I promise
that if I hear her say one derogatory word about our grandson, I think I’ll
personally throw her in the nearest watering trough. Don’t worry about your
mother, Yulen. She’s my problem now, not yours.”

           
“Yulen?” Cole bent over slightly,
looking around Atty to the Battle Lord riding on the other side of her.
“There’s a bigger matter we haven’t discussed. Something we need to talk about
before we get back to Alta Novis.” By the square set of the man’s jaw, Mastin
had an idea Yulen already knew what he meant.

           
“The dead at Bearinger,” Yulen
softly said.

           
“Yeah. Are we going to leave them
there? Or do you think we need to go back and retrieve what we can?”

           
Reaching across the gap between
them, Yulen waited for Atty to take his hand before replying. “We were just
talking about that earlier. In my opinion, it would be a waste of time to try
and gather and identify all our men who died there.” His face paled as memories
came back to him. Atty squeezed his hand, reminding him she was there, sharing
his pain. “We need to finish burning Bearinger to the ground. Completely raze
her. Then bury her. After that, we’ll rebuild her.”

           
“Rebuild her?” both Mastin and
MaGrath said simultaneously.

           
“The location is prime. She was a
grand compound before Collaunt sunk his claws into her. And there needs to be a
resting point between Alta Novis and Grenadier. No. She flew my banner. It’s my
responsibility to bring her back.”

           
“On the same spot?” Mastin asked.

           
Yulen shook his head. “We’ll put the
new compound on the other side of the roadway. We’ll call her New Bearinger,
and we’ll sanction off the grounds of the old compound. Make that area a
shrine, to honor those who fell defending her.” He lowered his head, struggling
with himself as the nightmare of that night started reemerging bit by bit. Of
the sight of over a thousand screeching Bloods pouring through the compound
wall they’d managed to hack open, flooding the inner courtyard and overtaking
the barely four hundred soldiers attempting to hold them back, regardless of
the odds.

           
They’d lost good men. Good friends.
Brothers, sons, and fathers. MacIntyre was gone, leaving MaGrath to wonder who
he would get to apprentice under him now. Verris had been slaughtered not ten
feet away from where Yulen had been standing. That left Mastin as his only
Second.

           
A hard squeeze on his hand brought
him back to the present. A warm, loving look watched to make sure he was
coping. He gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed back.

           
They rode for another mile, each
lost in their thoughts and silent mourning, before Yulen called a halt for
midday meal.

Chapter
Twenty