Blood Ties (Noble of Blood Series Book 2) (5 page)

Convincin
g
Tynen to let them come with him to deliver the message was not easy. Even if he did like Friesa, he was afraid of Nikka's father. Rightly so. He was a dangerous man. And Victor was an added danger.

But she knew that her father would never let her go even if she asked him. She so wanted to know more about their kind. Wanted to know more about the Slumber, the Chamber and even her grandfather. She figured it was only fair for her to know, since she was the Princess. Whatever that truly meant.

Her habit of rising just before sunset served them well that day. She rose and woke up Tynen and Friesa. Most of their stuff was ready to go, they just had to saddle up and head out. It would be a while before anyone noticed them gone. Her father and Victor were off to the village again, and most of the rangers were on another hunt. But just in case, they rode out as early as possible.

The trek shouldn't be too difficult, a couple nights over scrubby plains and onto the grasslands that would lead them to the rivers just before her Grandfather's Village.

Victor had spoken of the Village, Noble's Rest, only a couple of times before. It was called that because her Grandfather had trekked all over the lands to find a place to establish a new foothold for the war-torn humans to feel safe, and begin rebuilding their lives. He said it had started as a small fishing village but was now a very large hamlet and center of trade for the outlying villages.

She loved hearing about the amazing things her Grandfather had done to help the humans after the Ancient War. Her father did not speak much of The Patriarch, the village or his past. Victor was the only one who would tell her anything of her family. And that only came in odd bits and pieces

They had not gotten too far away from the keep when the odor of goblins hit them. Dismounting they led their horses down into a rocky wash and waited as the smell grew stronger. Poor Friesa had no idea what was going on, but was smart enough to keep quiet.

Nikka and Tynen looked out over the grasslands, their eyes following the scent, searching for the enemy.

They spotted a large group north west of their hiding spot, traveling through the tall grasses. A few of their bald heads and spear tips were all you could see. But Nikka could smell more than a few. There were at least a couple dozen of them, looking to be heading north into the Lothnau Forest. They didn't seem to have any of their wolves along, which was good for them, they were out of range for the goblins to sense them... but the wolves could have smelled them easily upon the breeze.

They stood still in the wash for a good thirty minutes after the goblins had finally passed, their odor gone with them.

“Come now,” Tynen said. He led his mare up and out of the wash.

“What was it, why did we stop?” Friesa asked quietly.

“Goblins. We could smell them from a ways off. Looked to be twenty to thirty of them. No wolves though. Come on, we have to make up some lost time.” Nikka finished double checking her mounts saddle straps and led the horse up and out.

Tynen was mounted and waiting for them. “Come now, both of you. Let's make haste to the other side of the river. Then we will seek shelter and rest.”

After the girls mounted, Tynen turned and trotted off leaving them to follow quickly behind.

The rest of the night was quiet, yet full of life. Crickets chirped in the grass. Hawks and owls swooped and hunted the fields for mice. You could hear frogs croaking as they neared the river.

“Looks like the old bridge is washed out. No one has come through here in many years to see to its repair. We will follow the water down and find a shallower crossing.” Tynen turned his horse to follow the water downstream.

They rode a ways before finding a wide and shallow area to cross, the horses picking their way through with sure feet. Nikka kept a close eye on Friesa, but her friend was as sure of herself as her horse was. Nikka was always impressed when she thought of her friend's adaptation to their lifestyle. She seemed to fit in with them perfectly.

Looking over at Tynen, she knew Friesa had plenty of reasons to want to adjust and fit in. She watched as Tynen kept a close eye on Friesa as her horse waded through the water, watching but keeping his distance. As he always did. She knew it was frustrating for her friend that this man liked her so much but kept his distance. She could not understand why on earth he would torture himself like that.

They came up and out of the river, checking to make sure all of their packs were still attached to their saddles. Once they reached the grasses again they dismounted to check their horses’ shoes. Having a rock lodged in a shoe would be disastrous for their mounts should they have need to run.

Freeing a small stone from her mare's hoof, Nikka smiled to herself. Not too long ago they didn't venture very far with their horses, not having any shoes to spare. Now they were all fitted with well-made shoes, thanks to the girl her father brought home to them.

She looked over to Friesa and smiled at her. As she looked at her she also noticed the skyline was just beginning to lighten. Placing her horse's hoof back to the ground she looked to Tynen.

“We had better move on. We may get caught in the sun, and I don't fancy setting up a tent in these short grasses. We will be seen too easily.”

He nodded her way, having already been done with checking his horse's hooves. “If we ride west and south, we will intersect the road and make faster time.”

Nikka did not think that they needed faster time rather than a place to camp, but he had traveled much more than she so didn't argue. They all mounted up again and galloped on in the direction Tynen led them.

“
Wel
l
I must say, Mortul has done a fine job swelling his ranks with our kind. It must have been hard work doing all this alone. I can only dare to think what we could have accomplished had we stayed to help him.” Hudreia lounged on a recliner on the shared balcony of the set of rooms they were given.

“Oh yes, because we would have been so much better off living like Lords, taking whatever we wanted from those around us.” Yosan snorted. He had several books open on the table In front of him. One of which was the lineage book showing his ties to Mortul's granddaughter. Her name was not in the book, since no one here knew it. The branch just ended in a blank lined space, with the symbol for “female” in front of it.

“You are so dramatic, even after all these centuries. Yes I am sure we would not have been much help at first. But maybe we should have checked on things here after the first couple hundred years. Or even after the half millennia mark! Think about it Yosan, the things we had learned...we could have added strength to his armies much earlier on.” She rolled a glass of red wine between her palms, deep in thought.

She knew that Yosan knew of what she was thinking. About five hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a few decades, they had been living as horse breeders, their chosen trade of the time. Their herd of horses were large and swift, and made them a small fortune.

It had been a relatively peaceful time then. Not much was heard of the Enemy, leaving them to live in a quiet state. Without goblins to fight it left their minds to wander in other directions, such as perfecting their then current breeding techniques.

Once they had succeeded in breeding the best horse possible via natural means, Yosan believed they could improve upon them further using their own blood. She had went along with it, out of boredom, out of curiosity. They knew that their kind could not procreate so they gave the mother horse injections into the womb from the early stages of pregnancy on. Hudreia always made sure she kept the mares calm using a bit of magic, ensuring they caused them no pain. She may be an immortal magic wielding blood drinker, but she was no monster.

They did not test it too much, thus only two horses were born from these experiments. They were incredibly intelligent creatures, strong and swift. They were both about eighteen hands tall and could outrun any other horse put next to it. They ate incredible amounts of food, as they put out quite a lot of energy that constantly needed replenished.

Their horses are what earned Yosan his nickname, The Dark Horse, as their mounts cast quite a long shadow in the day light. And in the night they were completely unfettered by the darkness, and moved with the surety of cats.

It also just so happened that the horses were immortal as well.

When she turned her head she found Yosan staring at her. She rose and set her glass down on the small marble table next to her recliner. Sauntering over to him, he watched her the entire way.

“Even if it were only a few years ago, darling, we could have bred an entire herd of dark horses for his warriors.” She strung her hands around his neck, lacing her fingers together. “Think of the advantage!”

He stood suddenly, and she almost broke her hold as he rose up in front of her. He was much taller than her. As she was rising to her toes to keep her hold he swept her up in his arms and strode over to her bed.

“Well there is one good thing about being in a Lord's manor. The beds are exquisitely comfortable.” He leaned in and kissed her slowly, intimately.

She knew he was just trying to quiet her. This was typical of him. She usually let him get away with it, too. Mainly because she adored when he showed his softer side to her. But she was much too distracted by all they had seen and learned over the last few days to be easily dissuaded.

Hooking her leg behind his knee she flipped him over onto his back and straddled him.

“We could still do it. We could still begin the process of breeding a herd for the army.” She leaned in and kissed him deeply. Drawing back she unbuttoned his shirt and drew it open. “We could borrow from Mortul's resources here, he has several breeders we could pull stock from to start with. I'm sure the humans would sell more breeders or even pregnant mares to the Patriarch if he asked.” She leaned in and licked around his right nipple, nipping at it as her tongue passed it by. “We could hand select the breeding stock, instead of taking years to breed them up ourselves.” She licked around his left nipple, biting a touch harder this time.

Yosan sucked in a sharp breath each time she bit.

Smiling to herself she traced her tongue down to his navel. “We could bring several Nobles with us, to help get things started and to continue it after we have need to be elsewhere.” Her tongue moved in circles around his navel, while she undid his belt and loosened his pants. What do you think, darling, yes or no?” She looked up at him with a pleading gaze, seeing in his eyes that her foreplay had him well turned on.

“Alright. It sounds reasonable enough, but you will be the one negotiating with Mortul for the resources,” he said to her, his voice husky.

Hudreia smiled widely. “Oh no worries, darling, I'm quite good at negotiations,” she said breathily as she bent forward and moved her mouth further down his body.

A
s
they neared the road, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. Friesa knew that Nikka and Tynen would be exhausted by now. She spied a small waft of smoke down the road, just far enough for the owners of the campfire to remain unseen.

“Come on ya two, there be a campfire up ahead and maybe some folks ta help us out so you two can rest.” She spurred her horse past them.

“Wait up Friesa! You do not know that they are humans!” Tynen shouted, protectively.

She sighed, wishing he would show his protective side more often than when they were out in the open. “Goblins won't be here, by the side of the road when dawn's a breaking. Hurry!” She heard them galloping up behind her and she urged her horse to a run.

She could tell they were humans from a ways off, a hunting party in fact. They were crating up salted chunks of meat, most likely deer. Since she didn't smell the stink of entrails, she figured they were at least smart enough to gut the animals far away from camp.

She spied several men and one woman near the fire. And about five more men away from it tending horses and tack.

She slowed to a walk before she got too close and dismounted before she reached the first tent. The woman was cooking something, and Friesa realized she was starving since they had not eaten all night.

“Hail there!” She yelled towards the folks at the fire. Most of them were already watching her approach. She stopped walking and raised her hands. “Can a few weary travelers share your campsite? We've ridden all night and need a safe place ta sleep.”

One of the older men looked her over. “Why ya ride all night? Runnin' from somethin’?”

Thinking quick and hearing Nikka and Tynen dismounting behind her, she said “We came acros'd a band o' goblins earlier in the night. Luckily we were downwind and hid quicklike. But we daren't stop out in the middle of the grasslands, 'fraid there would be more of 'em. So we rode all night ta reach the road.”

The woman at the fire waved towards a couple of the younger men, boys more like, and they began to walk towards them. She looked up at Friesa and then at Tynen and spoke, “Well, let us feed those horses some grains then, they deserve some rest, too. My boys will take good care of them. Pile your stuff over there.” She pointed to the big tent on the far side of the camp. “And come eat with us. Fresh venison this morning.”

“My deepest thanks. If you do not mind we will set up our tents real quick, we are quite exhausted,” Tynen said to the woman.

The woman nodded and went back to cooking.

They relinquished their horses to the boys, who took them out to the field beyond the camp. Then they carried their gear, saddles and bags over to the backside of the large tent and dumped it there.

“You two set up the tents and crawl in. Get some sleep, I will stay awake a bit and talk with them. Be gracious with our hosts.” Friesa winked at them and walked away, feeling Tynen's glare at her back until she rounded the large tent.

She approached the campfire slowly, assessing the group of people around her. There were several boys, around fifteen or sixteen. Several more men in their twenties and thirties, and one older fella. He was probably in his early fifties if she could judge right.

The woman looked to be in her mid-thirties. Muscular and lean, narrow hipped. It didn't seem as though she had born any children. Friesa immediately decided she liked this woman.

“My thanks again,” She called out as she neared the fire. “I'm afraid my two companions were just too tired ta join me. My name is Friesa.” She sat down on a stump near the fire, across from the woman.

“Esther is my name. Tad and Cole are the boys who are taking care of your horses. The old man is my father, William. We run this rowdy rag tag group of hunters. We bring in the meat, and my brother, who is no good with a bow or trap, sells the meat back home in the village.” Esther forked a slab of sizzling venison onto a tin plate and passed it to her.

Friesa's mouth was practically watering as she eyed the plate coming near her. She accepted the plate from Esther and sat down with it. She drew her smaller dagger from her belt to cut it up into bite size pieces.

“That be a fine blade for such a young girl ta have,” said one of the unnamed men by the fire.

Swallowing the chunk of meat she had been chewing on, and savoring, she looked down at her blade. She hadn't meant to show off her dagger, but she had been so darned hungry.

“Aye, well, I am glad ya think so. I forged it maself. T'was one of the first blades I made, so there be a lot of hours spent pounding on this blasted thing.”

“You know how to forge blades?” Esther asked her.

“Short blades yes. Long blades I am still practicing on. But I'm quite a good farrier. Shoes, buckles, bits. I'm darned good at those. If you want, I could check yer gear and yer horses shoes while I am here. Ta repay ya fer yer hospitality and all.”

Esther smiled. “You are a good lass. And truly some of our gear is old and in need of repair. I know a couple of the horses need new shoes as well.”

Setting her empty plate on the ground in front of her, she stood up. “Well I can see ta the horse shoes now, but then I must catch a few hours of sleep. Will ya be out hunting today?”

Esther nodded. “Yes, the men will be out today. And we thought we might try our luck catching a few wild hare tonight. We never catch many of those, but the lords of the village pay good money for rabbit and fowl.”

“Well then, when we wake t'night, I will repair some of yer gear while my friends help ya with yer hunt.” Friesa nodded at Esther and turned to grab her farrier tools from her packs.

- - -

When she awoke that night, she opened her eyes to Tynen staring at her. He had such beautiful eyes. Ever since the first time she met him, she couldn't get enough of his eyes.

Shaking herself mentally, she rose up on her elbows. The short tent didn't lend room for more than that. “Tynen. Why are ya staring at me?”

“You slept longer than we did. You ate their food. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Oh, Tynen. They ain't gunna poison me. And speakin' of food, I told Esther you and Nikka would go huntin' with 'em tonight.”

“Who is Esther, and why?”

“Why? Really?” She yawned and rubbed her eyes with one hand. “Esther is the woman who was cookin’ yesterday and because humans trade services, that's why. We took of their hospitality, and we help them with their huntin’. They hunt ta sell the meat in their village, ‘tis how they make a living.”

Tynen just continued to stare at her.

Friesa sighed. “Just go 'n help them, please? I be needin' ta get up. I have some tack ta fix for them.” Tynen stared at her for another few seconds, then turned and walked away. She sighed again and fell back against her blanket. At least he had his bow with him. She hoped he would play nice.