Accidental Sorceress (Hardstorm Saga Book 2) (30 page)

Even with the badly healed fractures rebroken, I still had to do some softening. Pain flowed into me like a flooding river, washing away thoughts, our surroundings, whether it was night or day.

I knew nothing but pain.

And even as all that agony filled me, my strength flowed out. I had some of my healing spirit back, but not enough.

Handhold by handhold, I took Lord Karnagh’s injuries upon me, knitting his bones and muscles. Healing the injuries once they were inside me was easier than in another body, but far more painful for me.

I did not mind giving my strength. Batumar was gone. My unborn babe was gone. In my numb grief over Batumar, I had not felt the new life inside me that early. I would have felt it in a handful more days, I thought. But more days the babe had not been given.

I wanted to go and be with them, the ones I lost but still loved. Lord Karnagh would be a better leader of troops than I, and I was certain that after freeing his own lands, he would hurry to my people’s aid. So I healed him.

At that point, if Tigran returned and ripped me apart, it could not have hurt more; indeed, death would have been a welcome release from the pain.

When the chapel began spinning around me, I fell back and closed my eyes. In my heart, I sang to the spirits. Or tried. For the first time, I could not think of the words. Too much pain filled my mind.

The long climb up the frozen mountain had left me weakened. I had not eaten well since…
I have overestimated my strength
, I thought, even as darkness claimed me.

When I woke, Marga stood over me, licking my face. Lord Karnagh peered at me with an anxious expression. He spoke, but I could not hear his words. Behind him, Tigran looked at me solemnly with the eyes of an ancient spirit.

I could see the dark sky through the doorway. Night had come. I blinked. I had not felt the passage of time.

My legs felt as if they had been chewed to shreds, even the bones—as if some wild beast had sucked out the marrow.

My head spun. Darkness tried to claim me again. And I realized at last that I might not have enough strength to heal myself.

“You must leave me,” I whispered to Lord Karnagh. “It is more important that you return.”

He pushed to his feet, having to hang on to the altar for support, and scowled. “Not without you, my lady.”

And then nothing but darkness again.

The next time I woke, I lay across Lord Karnagh’s shoulders. The sky was light, and we were climbing down the mountain, his steps unsteady. I might have healed his bones, but he had to rebuild the strength in his muscles. He should not have been carrying me. But I did not have the strength to tell him this.

The world fell away again.

The next time I opened my eyes, I lay on Tigran’s back. After that, I woke on Marga, who walked with me most gently.

Then I opened my eyes, and I was in a cave. Only for a moment, I thought we were back in the Beast Lords’ Chapel and I had imagined the whole journey down the mountain. But no, I could hear children. We were in Brooker’s cave. I was lying by the fire in the small chamber.

Orz stood at the opening with his back to me, his sword unsheathed, growling in warning like a tiger.

Beyond him, I spotted Tomron’s shape.

“My lady?” Tomron called when he saw my eyes opened.

Past him, the cave was nearly empty save for a handful of mothers and their children. Marga padded by Orz, ignoring his sword and growl, and came to lick my face, then lay down next to me.

“My lady?” Tomron said again.

“Orz. Please let him in.”

Orz came and sat by my feet, letting his naked sword rest on his folded legs.

Tomron carefully edged in and stayed far away from him, as if Orz had turned into a wild creature. I wondered what he had done while I had been sleeping.

People stopped by the opening, stared at me, then moved on. But then more people came.

“Why are they looking at me like that?”

Tomron smiled, keeping a careful eye on the hollow. “They had heard of sorceresses, my lady. But few have ever seen one. And they had neither seen nor heard of a sorceress who could bring a man back from the dead.”

“Lord Karnagh was very much alive when I found him,” I assured him weakly.

But Tomron shook his head. “They all believe he had been but a spirit. You have gone up the mountain, through the forest of the wild tigers, to the Beast Lords’ Chapel, a place no man had dared approach in an age. And there you made a deal with the spirits for his return. You gave the spirits your strength for his life.”

As even shaking my head was beyond me, I could only groan at such nonsense.

“There are already songs being sung about your great deed around the campfires,” he said as if that was that. Once something had been sung in a song, it could not be refuted.

“Will you live?” he asked after a while.

Orz stilled, listening intently at my feet.

I checked the pain. Better. I did not think the darkness would claim me again. I tried to move my legs. They shifted under the furs, although I did not feel it wise to test them yet with trying to stand. “I will.”

“Good.” Tomron nodded solemnly, some of the furrows on his forehead smoothing out. “For the people believe you are a sorceress sent by the spirits to save the world.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

(Leader of the Free People)

The fire burned low in Lord Brooker’s small cave chamber, but it filled the space with warmth. I lay on my bed of furs that protected me from the cold, hard cave floor, two more furs piled on top of me—the pelts of silver wolves.

“More water, my lady?” a striking young woman asked, slim as a doe, graceful, her ebony hair a mass of curls, her eyes full of compassion.

“Thank you.” I sat up and accepted the cup, and she went back to her cooking at the fire.

Orz sat by my side, within reach. Marga was out hunting.

I had been back from the Beast Lords’ Chapel for seven days.

A few steps away, Lord Brooker, Lord Karnagh, and Tomron sat cross-legged, discussing strategy. They were talking about the secret tunnel that led inside Brooker’s Castle.

“The opening of the tunnel is in a copper mine a day’s march from here,” Lord Brooker said. “If we leave the women and children, the old and the sick here, the fighting men could reach it even faster.”

Tomron and Lord Karnagh glanced my way.

Lord Karnagh said, “We cannot leave anyone behind unprotected,” at the same time as Tomron protested, with full respect. The other two were lords, Tomron but a captain.

Next to me, Orz stiffened.

“But if we leave part of the fighting force behind,” Lord Brooker responded, “we might not have enough strength left to retake the castle.” Then he added, “And if we all go, we will go more slowly. We might have to spend the night in the open.”

At this, the men fell silent. The north wind blew outside. An icy chill ruled the cave everywhere but near the many fires. Out in the open, few could survive the long, dark night if we caught a hard freeze.

“When?” Lord Brooker asked.

Again, Tomron and Lord Karnagh looked at me.

I sat up to prove my strength, then stood on shaky legs.

“Three days hence,” Lord Karnagh said. “We bring nothing but our weapons, furs, and blankets.”

Lord Brooker nodded. “And a day’s worth of food and water.” He looked toward the mass of people who filled every nook of the cave. “In the meanwhile, all able-bodied men must hunt, every time the weather allows it.”

Then they discussed what would happen once they breached the castle, the position of guard posts, the location of the armory, what our men would have to take over first, all while the women and children, the old and the sick, kept hidden in the tunnel.

Lord Karnagh came to me once their meeting ended. I had sat back down by then, and he sat next to me. “You had promised me that my healing would not damage you badly.”

His voice was roughened, his eyes filled with worry.

“I will recover.”

“Why would you take such a risk?”

How could I explain? “Have you ever heard the Shahala myth of our world’s creation, my lord?”

He shook his head.

“In the beginning, there was nothing,” I began. “And in this nothing, the Great Mother floated. To ease her loneliness, she gave birth to the planets and the stars. They floated from her body and scattered across the universe.”

In my mind, I could hear my mother’s voice as she had told me this story many times over.

I continued. “Tired she was from her labors and slept for the first time. And when she slept, she dreamed. She dreamed of plants and animals and people, nations and races. And when she woke, she saw that all she dreamed had come into being.”

Lord Karnagh listened.

“But as time passed,” I said, “all she created did not please her, for her creations lacked spirit. So like a mighty wind, she rose and swept through all there is. And all who breathed her gained spirit, until the last of her was gone into the last of her creations.”

We sat in silence.

At last, I said, “It is not that I do not know that overusing my healing spirit is harmful to my own body… I am not, on purpose, wasteful with the gift. But the Guardians think I am the one to end this war. Even if the last of my spirit has to go into my people and those I care for, those who can bring about the Emperor’s defeat… I would but fulfill my destiny.”

He shook his head, lips pressed together.

I held his gaze, willing him to understand. “If I die, but the world should live free, would that not be a victory?”

* * *

As the days passed, while I regained more strength, the others prepared for the journey. Lord Karnagh, Lord Brooker, and Tomron trained the men from the villages along with the warriors and patiently explained what breaching the castle and taking it back would entail.

By the time the morning of our departure arrived, we were ready.

I rode at the head of the column in a contraption Orz had made for Marga, an odd-looking saddle that helped me stay on her back. Orz stood by my side as always. Lord Brooker and Lord Karnagh walked with me, then behind us the warriors. Tomron walked at the end of our long column, protecting the rear with men from the villages. In the middle traveled the women and the children, along with the older people.

Only when we were halfway up yet another incline and I looked back at our long column snaking behind me in the fresh snow did I realize our true number. I could scarcely believe that I had left Ker with but Marga and Orz, not so long ago.

Now two lords, several captains, and the beginnings of an army followed behind me.

The mothers shushed their children; the old helped each other. Bitter winds blew over us, but not one person complained about leaving the cave or the dangers they would soon be facing.

They were from different Seb tribes, some who’d been enemies over the centuries, but they did not quarrel now. In Lord Karnagh and Lord Brooker, they had good leaders.

I smiled at the two Selorm lords with gratitude. “The people will follow you anywhere,” I said, pleased.

Lord Brooker shook his head.

Lord Karnagh smiled. “They are following
you
, my lady.”

“They do no such thing.” I was no imposing figure. I needed straps just to keep me on my tiger’s back.

Mayhap in the beginning, when they had no one else, they had looked to me. But they had proper warlords to lead them now, and I was but a woman so weak I had to be carried.

Lord Karnagh said. “If you would keep going, my lady. We need but a moment.” And he walked to the side and stopped, Lord Brooker doing the same, the two of them quietly talking at the edge of the woods.

Marga walked on with me, her head down against the wind. The column walked after us without slowing, even if a few men and women cast curious glances at the two talking lords by the side of the road.

Soon the two lords ran to catch up with me, both of them grinning like boys.

“Now you stop, my lady,” Lord Karnagh suggested.

With a pat on her shoulder, I directed Marga toward the trees. She went as I asked, then stopped when I asked, but the two lords kept on walking.

All alone, since the entire column stopped as soon as I left it. All eyes were upon me, as if they awaited instruction.

I sat in place, stunned for a moment, then I waved them on and urged Marga to walk the length of the column. Orz came with me.

I smiled at the men and women, looked them over, made sure the elderly had not become overly tired or the children too cold. Then I rode Marga back to the front of the line and caught up with Lord Karnagh and Lord Brooker.

“You are the leader of the free people, my lady.” Lord Karnagh punctuated the words with a small bow.

And Lord Brooker said, “If you but wished, they would crown you their queen today.”

A faint echo blew on the wind.
Have you come for power?

“No!” I swallowed. “Thank you, but no.” My heart racing, I urged Marga forward.

We marched until we found a sheltered spot surrounded by thick woods. Here we rested and ate but did not start any fires. All the dead branches around us were frozen deep under the snow.

I moved through the camp, checking for frostbite or other injuries, but found none. People huddled together for warmth. Hope shone on every face. Wherever I went, they blessed my name.

My people
, I thought. And smiled—I could do that with my face, just not with my heart. I smiled as if I knew for certain that victory and safety awaited mere steps away.

As we started out again a while later, I prayed to the spirits to keep my people in their care and deliver us to our destination safely. This they did, for we reached the copper mine shortly after nightfall the following night, without being overcome by enemy troops or a snowstorm, or any other major difficulty.

Half-frozen and wholly exhausted, we crowded into the front section of the mine shaft. As long as we had a roof over our heads, nothing else mattered. We had no fire, but we huddled together for warmth.