Jabone's Sword (13 page)

"You're sure she isn't one of you? All the men say . . . "

"All the men are a bunch of idiots. Jestia flat out asked her if she was and she said no."

"Jestia asked her?" Jabone said in disbelief.

"Yeah, you know Jestia, never let good manners keep her from getting . . . Well whatever it is she wants."

"Why would she ask her? She knows how they view it here."

"She wanted to know. Who knows with Jestia? She might have figured she could wrap her around her finger like she does everyone else who's physically attracted to her," Ufalla said, a bitter edge creeping into her voice. "Anyway she asked her and Kasiria said she was not. So I'd say it's clear sailing for you." She walked out of the outhouse pulling up her pants. "I miss having someplace to wash my hands." She made a face. "I'll race you; I'm freezing to death."

She beat him back she always had been faster than he was unless he was in his other form. Jabone went right to his cot and crawled in however Jestia reached over and grabbed Ufalla's pants leg, She stumbled and almost fell. She glared down at Jestia and whispered, "You liked to scared me to death."

"I'm sorry, but I'm cold." She looked appealingly up at Ufalla, not that it wasn't wasted on everyone but Jabone. He smiled as he snuggled into his bed.

"What would you like me to do about it?" Ufalla asked in a harsh whisper.

"I'm cold," Jestia said. Ufalla grabbed her bedding, threw it over Jestia's and then got in bed with her.

Jabone nearly laughed as he saw the look of pure bliss on his friend's face as Jestia moved up against her back spooning her.
I don't think she's as cold to you as you think, Ufalla,
he thought. He looked over at Kasiria and could have sworn she was looking at him. He blinked his eyes quickly and when he looked again her eyes were closed.
Maybe we'll both find the love we want.
He heard Jestia mutter something to Ufalla that even he couldn't make out.

Ufalla whispered back, "It's just a dream."

"Do you people ever sleep?" Kasiria asked with a hint of laughter in her voice.

They all started laughing, even Tarius, who Jabone had been sure was asleep. When it was quiet again Jabone wondered fleetingly what Jestia had dreamt and then he fell asleep and dreamt of his mother.

* * *

"If you dream of your mother what does that mean?" Jabone asked in Kartik, riding his horse up along side Jestia.

"Your madra or your mother?" Jestia asked carefully.

"My mother," he answered in a whisper, glaring at Jestia and then looking to where Kasiria was riding well ahead of them.

Jestia rolled her eyes. "Do you think she has learned our language in a day?"

"What does it mean that I dreamt of my mother?" he asked again.

"That you're a huge mama's boy," Jestia said with a smile, and Ufalla laughed from where she was riding on the other side of the princess.

"Come on, witch, I know you know how to interpret dreams."

Jestia shook. Yes she did, and that was why the one she kept having terrified her.

"You all right Jestia?" Ufalla asked.

"Fine just cold." .she pulled her cloak more tightly around her. She looked at Jabone. "What was your mother doing?"

"Sewing me this shirt. That's why I wore it, I thought it might be an omen," Jabone said.

"Did she say anything?" Jestia asked.

"She just kept saying over and over that it's cold here."

"What exactly did she say in the dream?"

"Remember it's cold in my home land."

"The dream means that your mother's love will protect you while you are here." Jestia smiled at the thought. Her own mother, so distant, cold even. Her father quiet and reserved and boring in ways that couldn't be imagined. She had been raised by the servants mostly and the only attention her parents ever gave her was when she was "acting out." Which of course was basically what drove her to 'bad behavior' time and time again, because bad attention was better than none at all. Oh she knew that they cared for her on some level but they didn't actually love her. She envied her friends, especially Jabone. While she'd had virtually no parents he'd had four. She was jealous most of all of his mother Jena, for Jena's warmth could always be felt and her love for him shone from her eyes when she looked at her son.
Even now she warms him with the shirt she made him with her own hands. My parents never loved me like that. I'm just the middle child of a couple bound together for the sake of the kingdom. They don't really love each other so how could they ever really love us?

She looked at Ufalla and shook again then tried to clear the image from her mind. She didn't have to interpret her dream; she knew what it meant. She had to find some way to stop it, but how?

"Jestia, are you sure you aren't sick?" Ufalla asked with concern.

"My own dream is not so sweet," she said, as the thought of it darkened her features.

"What have you dreamt?" Jabone asked.

"She can't tell you stupid. If a witch repeats her dream it will come true," Ufalla spat back at Jabone as if it was something she hadn't just learned herself. Jestia smiled in spite of her troubles. For weeks as she was trained by the sadist that was Tarius the Black and even as they had been on the ship coming here she had wondered why she was really going. Tarius had tested her. "Don't go if you aren't going for the right reasons," she'd said, and her words had given Jestia real pause.

And yet she had come. In fact, there had never even been a real question in her mind that she would, but if anyone would have made her tell them exactly why she was going she couldn't have given them any better answer than she just felt she needed to be here. The first night she'd had the dream she'd put it off to being in an strange place and eating bad food but now she'd had it almost every night and she was sure that it was why she'd had to come. Either that or her being here caused the problem in the first place and fate had brought her here which meant there would be no changing events. No, she couldn't think that way she had to stop it from happening, but how, when she didn't know the when or where of it? How stop it, not with her sword she wasn't good enough with it, and none of the spells she knew . . .

"Invisible shield," she said out loud with a smile, her eyes wide. Ufalla and Jabone just looked at her. She smiled broadly and answered their curious faces. "It's a spell I was never able to learn and Jazel just kept pressing me over and over again. She told me it was an important spell for me to learn, but I stupidly decided it was better to run off across the countryside on a drunken toot. I must master invisible shield, that's the answer." She looked at Ufalla, who shrugged.

"If you say so."

"I need to practice all my spells, perfect them, but I must learn that one. I have to."

"When?" Ufalla asked.

It was a good question. Not even Derek had been told she was a witch because of the Jethriks open distaste of the craft. And all day long they were doing something.

"I'll just have to find a time and a place." Jestia swore.
Wow! Sudden enlightenment. That's what I am. Who I'm supposed to be. I am a witch. I'm not just supposed to dabble in spells and potions for fun, I'm supposed to be a full-blown, potion-making, spell-casting witch of the caliber of Jazel herself. I've never been sure of anything and now I am because everything hinges on me learning this single spell. This spell which was the only one that eluded me. Every other spell Jazel taught me came easy, but not this one. Because I couldn't do this one spell, because it didn't come easy, I lost interest and took off without learning all I needed to know, without perfecting invisible shield. Now it's the spell I'm sure I need most. What a giant pain in the ass.

"Jestia, why don't you sing something?" Ufalla suggested. "I haven't heard you sing at all since we got off the ship."

Jestia realized it was true.
Because I haven't felt like singing. She thinks singing will take my mind off my troubles.
She looked over at Ufalla again.
I will learn the spell; I must.
She started singing her favorite song but it didn't make her feel any better.

Kasiria had been riding in front when Tarius rode up beside her. "I didn't know Jestia could sing," she said.

He nodded. "Oh yes, she's got a wonderful voice."

"What is she singing about?"

"It's the story of a woman who didn't love her garden until it was destroyed in a storm. My godmother said when she was a girl they used to have horrible storms in the Kartik but there haven't been any in my life time so it's an old song. The woman in the story had everything and took it all for granted 'til it was all destroyed in a great storm. She realizes only when all she had is gone how much she loved her garden."

"Well it's beautiful," Kasiria said with real appreciation and a little resentment. She couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

"Tell me again what we'll be doing?" Tarius asked.

"Looking at plant and wild life. Most of ours is different from yours and I want to show you all which plants can be used for food or medicine in case . . . "
"In case we get stuck out in the field or the supply line is broken. Yes, we were trained for survival. Of course where I come from everyone has to learn it not just warriors. It's a good idea. We call it readiness training at home," Tarius said.

"We do here as well. Came from the same place I'm sure," Kasiria said, knowing that Tarius the Black was the Warlord of the Kartik and that "readiness training" had been something she had implemented when she was war lord in the Jethrik. No smart back talk from this Tarius, no telling her what a waste of time it was. She definitely could get used to this. "Tarius, is it true that the Katabull can see in the dark?"

"Oh aye, and their hearing is better than ours, too. Even out of the catted-up state their senses are better than ours. Nothing fights like a Katabull," he said with real admiration.

Suddenly Kasiria had a brilliant idea. "Do you have a Katabull story?"

"I have many Katabull stories," Tarius said with real excitement.

"Could you tell me one?"

Tarius thought only for a moment and then he started. "I tell the tale of Tweed, mate of Rimmy, a much-loved member of the pack of the Marching Night who died at the hands of the ignoble Amalites," he spat on the ground, "in the final battle of the Great War in the Valley of the Arrow. Now there was a time in this battle when the Amalites did realize that they were all about to die and they knew that the Marching Night did block their only chance for a retreat . . . "

They had actually gone past the spot of woods she meant to take them to before Tarius had finished the tale. She knew a little bit more about the Katabull, they were fearless, amazingly strong, and fiercely loyal. She saw a small stream and reined her horse in.

"Ah, this looks like as good a spot as any." Kasiria dismounted. She led her horse by the reins off the road, pulled out her tether rope and tied him to a tree. The others all followed suit without being asked. "Why don't we eat before we start?" She pulled a bag out of her nap sack and started walking with it down to the small stream. She sat down on a rock opened the bag and pulled out a loaf of bread and a wedge of cheese the kitchen staff had packed for her. She took a chunk of each and handed the remainder of it on to Jabone. She carefully watched them, each took only their share, seeming to first count how many of them there were and then carefully breaking off an equal share of what was left. It said a lot more about how they felt about each other than their constant squabbling would imply.

After they had finished eating she started walking them around showing them the different plants and was more than a little surprised when she noticed that Jestia had a tablet and charcoal out taking notes. She was glad but still surprised.

"This," Jabone pointed to a plant on the ground, "Is this clover?"

"Yes, but it isn't good for anything," Kasiria said, and started to walk on. She noticed that Jabone grabbed a whole handful of the leaves and stuck them in his pocket—she wondered why he was doing this and why no one in the Jethrik had thought to put pockets into their garments, they just seemed so handy. Kasiria couldn't even think to guess why Jabone was filling his pockets with clover but she didn't have to ask because Tarius did it for her.

"Jabone why are you filling your pockets with this worthless plant?"

"When my madra was here she used to keep her pockets full of clover. She fed it to her horse because it was a treat for him and then whenever she got separated from him in battle he would always come back to her because she always had clover in her pockets. In the Kartik I used to do the same thing with Lex only I used lespedeza. They don't have that here, but they do have clover."

The next thing Kasiria knew all the others were filling their pockets with clover as well. She smiled, shook her head, and moved on.

After about two hours she sent them each in four different directions with instructions to come back with any one of the plants she had shown them and tell her what it was good for. She sat down on a rock to rest wondering as they walked out of sight if it was a silly exercise that they'd be laughing about later like they laughed about coming when the horn blew or lining up and standing at attention. But at least they were doing it without question. Her old unit would have laughed her right out of the woods. She had just lifted her water botta to her lips when Hellibolt appeared in front of her and she spilled water all down her shirt.

"You know, you would have made a fine teacher," he said.

"Dammit Hellibolt!" she said in a harsh whisper, looking around to make sure none of the others were close enough to see him.

"Don't worry. They are far too busy with their own things to care what you're doing. So, what's this then? The king's daughter head of a
unit
built of four Kartik youths."

"They are good people; I like them."

"You like one of them perhaps too much," Hellibolt said.

Kasiria stood up. "I don't need you in my head, Hellibolt, and I certainly don't need you to spy on me. Tell me something useful or leave me be."