Vengeance Born (The Light Blade #1) (16 page)

The
Lady’
s teachings absolved no one of bad behavior. He couldn’t undo what had happened but he could try to make it right. Acknowledging Annika was
Na’Chi
, not a demon, would be a start, though he doubted anything he tried to say to her now would be believed. Perhaps the morning would bring calmer circumstances.

And somehow he had to combat the attraction he felt for her. Denying it existed would be reckless, and giving in would only complicate an already difficult situation.

Kalan raked a hand through his hair.
Merciful Light
, the journey
She
had tasked him with seemed filled with hazards and pitfalls. Was he destined to stumble over every one of them?

In the past he’d accepted
Her
will, eventually, knowing
She
’d never test him beyond his endurance but this time he wondered if he would survive the experience.

Chapter 10

T
HE scent of spring flowers gave away Lisella’s presence a moment before she appeared in the mouth of the cave. Varian remained motionless in the shadow of the boulder where he kept watch. She wore a hooded cloak but her lithe form was one he’d recognize anywhere. Her posture seemed stiffer than normal and he sensed an aura of tension. She spent a few moments peering out into the darkness, searching. He suspected it was for him, not Barvi, the other scout on watch duty.

With the moon yet to rise the shadows were thick, hard even for
Na’Chi
eyes to pierce. She’d see very little other than the outline of rocks and the stunted shrubs that grew among them and beyond that the forest.

“Varian?” At least she kept her voice low.

“Over here,” he replied.

She turned in his direction and came toward him. He admired the confident, graceful way she walked. The ghost of a grin shaped his lips. She looked nothing like the skinny-limbed, gangly girl he remembered from their childhood. Her clumsiness had provided a source of amusement to other girls her age and so she’d taken to hanging around with him and an older group of
Na’Chi
youths.

He understood the need not to draw attention, especially after the
Na’Reish
guard had marked his face. The small differences in them both had set them apart. He’d earned respect by standing up to anyone who’d dared disparage him because of his scar, and Lisella’s tenacity to master her coltish body during scout training finally won the others over.

“Everyone’s asleep.” Her soft voice brought him back to the present. She sat on a rock beside him, the hem of her cloak brushing his boots with a soft rasp as she arranged it around her. “The children almost fell asleep during the meal.”

“You should join them,” he murmured. This close, he could see the weariness darkening the skin beneath her eyes. “Tomorrow will be another hard day.”

“Varian, we all need more than a night’s rest. Even you.” She turned her head and he saw the faint glow of her eyes. Violet ringed with green. A very familiar reaction from the past he’d just been remembering. “Four days of hard traveling has taken its toll on all of us, particularly the children.”

“We can’t fall any farther behind.” Her lips thinned. He sighed, his breath frosting in front of him in a white cloud. “A day’s rest. It’s all we can afford.”

“We need three, minimum.” Her words were pitched low, her voice as hard as rocks they sat on. He shook his head in silent disagreement. “Have you even looked at your scouts’ eyes this evening? The children? They’re bloodred. We’ve used all our energy reserves escaping
Na’Reish
territory. We need to hunt, feed, and sleep.”

“If we lose Annika’s trail then we lose hope of finding the human city.”

“If we keep going as exhausted as we are then you can guarantee the humans will notice us. We’ll make a mistake when we can least afford it; it might even be you.”

A tremor of genuine fear underlay her words. Her blunt truth wasn’t one he wanted to hear but he could always rely on Lisella to tell it like it was. Another trait he admired in her.

“Do you think we’ll remain undetected in human territory if we stay in one place that long? They’re more vigilant than the
Na’Reish
.”

She shrugged. “Then we move every day.” Her gaze met his. “Send out a scout to track Annika, have them leave markers.” Her tone was hard, determined. “We’ll follow once everyone’s recovered enough to travel.”

He peered toward the cave mouth and heard only the breeze rustling the leaves of the bushes around him. The sweet odor of wood smoke wafted to him on the next puff of air. There was no quiet murmur of voices or soft singing to lull the most reluctant child to sleep. Exhaustion had been persuasion enough.

He inclined his head. “All right. We’ll hunt and rest but not for long.”

“See how our people recover first.”

He nodded once and in his mind sorted through the names of the scouts asleep in the cave. “Let Zaune sleep through the night. At first light I’ll send him out to find and mark a trail. He’ll need a hearty breakfast and a pack of supplies.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Varian.”

The tension he sensed in her when she’d come looking for him eased. He scrubbed a hand over his face and rolled his shoulders to loosen muscles that had remained motionless in the cold for too long.

“I didn’t mean to make things more difficult earlier today. I’m sorry.” Her apology came out of nowhere. He knew he’d revealed his surprise when she smiled. She reached out to place a gloved hand on his forearm. “We’re all scared. There’s talk about turning back.”

Varian frowned, already suspecting the identities of the doubters. “We can’t do that. They’d prefer to live half-lives back in the compound, hiding and scavenging, living in constant fear of being discovered by the
Na’Reish
?”

“They’re scared. It’s natural to want the security of the familiar, even when it’s dangerous. The uncertainty of our new future is frightening them.”

“Hesia warned us it wasn’t going to be easy.”

“I know.” Lisella smiled sadly. He knew what she was thinking: the old healer should have come with them instead of staying behind but Hesia had known she’d have only slowed them down. “She saved each of us. I keep reminding everyone that we have to trust what she told us and keep going. You rarely spend time with the others so I thought you should know what was going on.”

He was appreciative of what she’d done to avert a potential problem. He’d been so caught up in keeping them safe he’d never even noticed the unrest she’d spoken of.

Lisella laid a hand on his forearm and squeezed. “You don’t have to shoulder the responsibility of this all on your own, Varian. Share your plans, talk to us. We’re all capable, even the young ones. You’ve trained us for this venture for years.”

She read him well. Her quiet words struck deep. Slowly he nodded. “I just want us to succeed.”

“
Lady
willing, we will.”

He envied the complete faith he heard in her voice and wished he could feel certain that things would go well. So much hinged on Annika, and she didn’t even realize they existed.

Lisella squeezed his arm again. “A day at a time, Varian.” He lifted an eyebrow at the familiar saying, one they bandied around as children. “I recognize that blank-faced expression. You worry too much.”

He grunted. “You care too much.”

“It’s what I do best.” She pushed to her feet. “Good night.”

“’Night.” She deserved something better than a generic send-off. “Lisella, thank you. I couldn’t do this without your help.”

Her smile was wide and he felt the warmth of it deep down in his soul. No wonder people responded so well to her. She nodded and entered the cave. Her reminder was timely. For the moment, their survival relied on them getting through one day at a time.

He would do well to remember that in the future.

THE winter sun was barely an hour old when Annika followed Kalan from the farmer’s croft to begin another day of traveling. Heavy frost crunched underfoot and the forest around them held an anticipatory stillness broken only by the occasional birdcall. The air was fresh enough to help shake the vestiges of sleep from her head.

Securing the hood of the cloak over her head, she sent a prayer heavenward, thanking the
Lady
for a peaceful start to the day. Other than a brief greeting from Kalan morning conversation was non-existent. Not that she minded after what had happened the night before.

Her cheeks flamed at the memory.
Mother of Light
, the enticing odor of dark spiciness and heated male still clung to her nostrils. With her knowledge as a healer she could categorize hundreds of scents, all important when diagnosing an illness but Kalan’s arousal had been beyond her realm of experience. She hadn’t been able to identify it at first. Until he’d leaned in to kiss her.

Her stomach knotted hard. Why had he done that? Her mind came up blank. She didn’t understand how he could go from hating her to wanting to kiss her to conveying shock as if he hadn’t anticipated his own actions, to insulting her. She had been so careful to hide her attraction to him but somehow she’d betrayed herself and he’d used it against her. Why else would he have tried to kiss her?

Chills shivered over her skin. Did it really matter now? He was just like Savyr, taunting her, playing on her weakness. but for what purpose?

Back at the ferry, Vash had suggested Kalan hand her over to the Blade Council for information. Did he think by toying with her emotions he could control her? Having an unresisting captive would make the journey to Sacred Lake easier for him.

Why did he feel it necessary to manipulate her? After revealing her sordid history, couldn’t he see she held no allegiance to the
Na’Reish
?

The knot in her stomach twisted. Annika stroked the leather shoulder strap of her healer’s pouch and considered ingesting a little
vaa’jahn
to ease the feeling. If only.

Whatever his reasons for the previous night’s actions, now that she understood what his scent meant she could preempt him if anything like last night were to happen again. Adapting to circumstances was one thing she could claim experience with. He wouldn’t catch her off guard again.

“We’ll use the traders’ road.” Kalan’s voice drew her back to their surroundings. The air frosted in front of his mouth as he wrapped one of their blankets around his shoulders. He waited until she drew level with him before starting along the compacted trail.

“What about
Na’Hord
Patrols?” she asked. “If they cross the river they’ll spot our tracks.”

Ahead of them fog ghosted the ground and battled for dominance with the pale beams of sunlight beginning to dapple the trail.

“The risk is offset by the advantage of speed. We can cover quite a distance today using the road. By midday I want to be in the foothills.”

“The Lower Crags,” she murmured.

“You know of them?”

“My father has a map on the wall of his chambers. I’ve only seen it a few times but I know scouts add information to it after every foray into human territory.”

Kalan said nothing further for the next half hour, seemingly content to walk beside her on the trail. Had he engaged in conversation just to be friendly? Given her earlier thoughts, pumping her for more information about what she knew of human territory would fit with his plan.

Useful for the knowledge she could provide his precious Blade Council. If that was his strategy, it was the more likely scenario. The idea left her heavyhearted. It shouldn’t. She’d been disappointed so many times in the past that once more shouldn’t make a difference. Hesia was the only person she considered a friend. The old healer had never betrayed her or offered false promises.

She didn’t need Kalan’s friendship. She’d survive without it. Even as she thought the words, Annika knew she was fooling herself. Shooting a furtive glance in Kalan’s direction, she couldn’t ignore that the tall warrior walking beside her was coming to mean something to her. She shied away from exactly what, not willing to go there just yet. It was unsettling enough to know she couldn’t control her emotions around him.

“Who taught you the skills of the trail?”

His sudden question drew her back to the present. “What?”

“You’re deep in thought yet you just skirted that puddle to avoid breaking the ice and marking your trail.” He waved a hand at the trail behind them. “You’re trail savvy.”

She cast a brief look back at the puddle then shrugged one shoulder. There was little harm in telling him. “As a child, I watched the
Na’Reish
instructors teaching the trainees. It helped fill in my day. The skills came in handy when I didn’t want to be found by my father or his friends.”

A grimace flickered across his face. “You say that so matter-of-factly.”

“So?”

“Hiding from a father is not something a child usually does.”

She met his eyes, her gaze level. “You do if you want to survive.” Her childhood was as far from normal as he could probably imagine.