She’d been born to rule and she hated it. Ever since she’d come of age, her entire life had been dictated by that destiny and she hated it. The lowest peasant in the kingdom had more freedom than she did. True, she had many privileges that those peasants lacked or, at least, she had before the Reaper’s Supper and then Qoth’s mad bid for power. For a moment, she hated her eldest sister and her husband for taking advantage of the chaos that followed in the wake of her family’s murder. Then her hatred for her father replaced it. If her father hadn’t been such a son of a bitch, then the Reaper’s Supper would never have happened. If her father hadn’t played his children off each other only to ignore their maneuvering and select his second-youngest daughter as his heir despite all the laws and traditions surrounding the succession to the Primach’s Seat, his death wouldn’t have resulted in a civil war.
“You’re heavier than you look,” she muttered to the unconscious man she carried over her shoulder. Her talent for magic was the only reason she could carry him considering he was a foot and a half taller and nearly seventy pounds heavier than she. However, in a few hours, she would have to stop and sleep since using magic was just as exhausting as swordplay. More, in fact, since it wore on the mage both mentally and physically. She thanked the Thunderer that he was out cold and she didn’t have to manipulate his emotions to keep him docile since that would drain her emotionally as well. “Why in the name of the gods did you have to come to Patoga, Ranger?” she groaned. “You could have left well enough alone and stayed in the wilds of Estalia. But no, you had to come to Patoga and you had to stumble across those guards and get caught. Of course, I’m just as big a fool for saving you and carrying you even deeper into Patoga but then, my whole family is known for its foolishness which is seconded only by the foolishness of the fools who continue to insist we rule them!”
“Well, maybe you could consider abdicating?” a deep voice said from somewhere around her waist. She could feel the vibrations of his words in her shoulder. “And you can set me down, now. I’m awake.”
“I’d rather carry you. Makes it much less likely there will be stray tracks for others to find,” she replied.
“Fair enough. I suppose you wizards can do that even better than us Rangers. I’ve always hated trying to track your kind. Why the vines, though?” he asked, checking his bonds. The woman had bound his wrists, arms, and legs with vines wrapped around them. They gave slightly, preventing him from losing limbs by cutting off his circulation but held fast and tightened temporarily whenever he tried to escape. “I thought silk or gold chain would be more your style. Isn’t that what they teach you to use at the Sorcerer’s Isle?”
“I’m not a wizard.”
“Oh, sorry. Magic-user. I know how you rogues hate it when anyone confuses you for Congress members.”
“Not that either. I’m a druid. I belong to the Sisterhood of Menesla and serve at the rank of Guardian.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Yeah, a druid kidnapping a ranger. It’s like the start of every joke this side of Waldvalen,” she felt him snort and chuckle. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for the ‘share a drink at the tavern and swap jokes’ type, Llhersian.”
“I’m not.”
“My mistake then.”
The two of them continued in silence a while longer. The night grew deeper and the woman felt Kass turn his head to try to glimpse the stars. She smiled to herself knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see up through the thick canopy of leaves. The moons were likewise obscured by the trees so he could not tell how long he had been out cold. The frustration he felt was evident in the tension that continued to build in his muscles and the way he ground his teeth. “All right,” he said at last, “where are we going?”
“When we get there, you’ll know.”
“Lady, I can put up with you manhandling me and kidnapping me. However, I’ll be a lot less cooperative than I have been if you insist on keeping me away from my brother. So, either you tell me where we’re going or I will force you to put me down right here, right now.”
“I would pay good money to see you do that,” she snorted. “I’m not maintaining the enchantment on your bonds — it was set and forget. I’m obviously not keeping you unconscious or manipulating your emotions though I could. I am Ximaron’s daughter.”
“That you are. Though I’m surprised he would let one of his become a druid, my Lady.
“I have a name, Lhersian.”
“A name that would cost me my tongue for using, Lady.”
“Call me Blade.”
“Blade?”
“Yes. Blade. It beats the hell out of the name my bastard father gave me or the name I took when I became a Guardian of the Forest.”
“Then Blade it is,” he said tonelessly. “How the hell do you know me?”
“My sisters find you endlessly fascinating and infuriating.”
“They would,” he snorted. “Wait, which sisters?”
“The ones I chose. The only other one I have would find you fascinating but not in that manner,” Blade laughed softly. “She’s seven.”
“So, our destination?”
Blade sighed and tugged on the braid flung over her shoulder. “I have a hideout near the coast. It’s a three-day journey to Artra from there.”
“Artra? Blade, I am not going to swear to the Pact!”
“It’s the only way to help your idiot brother and stay out of the clutches of my baby sister’s well-meaning army. It will also keep you from being imprisoned and tortured by my Thunderer-be-damned brother-in-law.” Kass fell silent for several minutes before groaning softly. “You see it, too, don’t you?”
“I can’t believe it. I came to pull my brother’s chestnuts off the fire…”
“And now it’s yours that are roasting,” Blade laughed. “The irony is delightful, isn’t it, Cousin Ranger?”
Sokan awoke to find himself lying on a cot almost as comfortable as his old bed. The satin sheets were cool against his back. A quilt covered him from chest to feet. He felt cleaner than he had since leaving the inn back in Culodan. Sitting up and glancing around, he saw his clothes had been washed and folded neatly on top of his packs. Even his sword was left in the tent with him. Obviously the young princess had given orders that he was to be treated as her guest. Why, though, was something of a mystery. His stomach rumbled and he flushed, glad that he was alone in the tent. He swung his feet out of the bed and padded over to the wash basin to scrub his teeth and splash cool water on his face. A folded razor and cream stood to one side of the ewer and a small easel held a mirror. Shaving quickly, Sokan wiped the foam away and then hurried over to his clothes and dressed. By the golden light spilling through the tent flaps and the chill but slightly damp feel to the air, he knew it couldn’t be much past sunrise. Back home or with Kass, this would mean he’d slept late. On the road, though, it was an early morning. Listening closely, he could hear the sounds of the camp waking up.
“Master Llhersian,” a young, childish voice called out to him as soon as he ducked out of the tent. Sokan was surprised to find the young princess, Lady Bassina, stirring a cook-pot and scooping out her own breakfast. “It’s a bit thick,” she continued in her bell-like voice, “but if you add brown sugar and honey, it’s not so bad.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, my Lady,” he said politely, bowing slightly as he took another bowl from a nearby table and scooped out his own porridge. Moving back to the table, he took her advice and stirred in some brown sugar and honey. He hummed in appreciation. It was better than the porridge Kass made. “A question, my Lady?” he asked when she gave him an impish grin as she wolfed down her own porridge.
“Go ahead,” she said brightly. “And you may call me Basa if my name is too holy for you to use.”
“Of course, Basa,” he chuckled. “Why do you wish to have my brother track down the Lady Kelsa?”
“So she can take command of the army and tell me stories again. I miss her.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“A few nights before the Pact was called. Aria never stayed with the us for very long and but she did visit more often. I’ve been begging her to take the Seat that belonged to our father for over a year now but she won’t and I don’t know why. The last time she was here, I called her some bad names and told her I never wanted to see her again. But I didn’t mean it,” the girl pleaded, her clear blue eyes tear-bright and beseeching him to understand. Sokan thought the young princess had never looked more her age than she did at that moment.
“She knows you didn’t mean it,” he said quickly. “She might have another reason for staying away so long. Isn’t she a member of the Sisterhood of Menesla?” Basa nodded quickly, her long hair pulling free of her bun and curling around her face in ringlets. “Then the Conflux is a time of silent contemplation and isolation for her. That’s probably why she hasn’t been back to visit in the past half-cycle.”
“She took me with her last cycle’s Conflux,” Basa protested. “And the Conflux dances only last a fortnight, not six months!”
“I’m sure there’s a reason for her absence, princess. Don’t look so glum,” he sighed.
“I’m worried about her. What if she got hurt or is sick? The guards went to her grove and talked to her other Sisters. None of them know where she is.” That was unusual. Sokan had to agree that there might be something to the young girl’s worries. He didn’t think that Lady Kelsa stayed away out of anger but she could have been ordered to remain out of reach of the army or sent to another forest as part of her training. Sokan knew little about the various orders of druids. All he did know was that it was very unusual for a member of the Primarch’s family to be permitted to join them. The only thing stranger than being a druid would have been her becoming a ranger. Warriors and wizards were the more usual course for royalty, after all. “Your brother is the best tracker in all of the rangers in this part of the world,” the girl continued. “He’ll be able to find her. I just know it.”
“My Lady, my brother is a skilled tracker and one of the best rangers in all of Estalia,” he agreed, “however, he is bound by the rules of his own order and he is not the most…personable ranger in the land,” he added diplomatically.
“I’ve heard reports of your brother,” she giggled. “My guards say he can swear to make even the saltiest sailor blush.”
“He can,” Sokan laughed. “And he does, quite often. He’ll claim it’s only when people irritate him by wasting his time but it seems to me that everyone irritates him.”
“But you’ll help me find him?”
“I will, my Lady,” Sokan promised easily. “I will.”
Kass studied the “hideout” and was impressed despite himself. He’d imagined that a princess would turn any living space into a palace but Blade defied that stereotype. Her hideout was tucked up in a tree overlooking the Sunrise Cliffs. Artfully and skillfully hidden using both natural and magical camouflage, it provided shelter and safety as well as giving a strategic overlook of the area. The scant furniture inside was well-made and not ostentatious. Of course, that was only to be expected from a druid. He glanced at the timekeeper and wondered just when Blade was finally going to wake up. He’d resisted waking her when he woke. Carrying him through the night until the sky pearled with false dawn must have been exhausting. However, it was deep-night now and, unlike druids, rangers required more than a few bars of dried fruit to keep them going. His stomach rumbled angrily reminding Kass that it had been nearly two days since he’d eaten anything substantial. He could feel his strength waning and his head was starting to pound, the skin of his forehead felt like a drum that had been tightened a hair too much. If his hunger wasn’t satisfied soon, he wouldn’t be able to control the instincts that came as part of the ranger package. Treading heavily, making certain that his normally-silent footfalls echoed through the small tree-house, he walked back towards the one bedroom. Pulling back the thick leather drape that separated it from the main room, Kass was stunned to find his hostess had vanished.
“Blade?” he called out, wincing at the way his voice seemed to echo throughout the entire shelter. “Blade? Where are you, woman? Don’t make me come hunting you, dammit!” A ringing sound, that of another curtain being pulled back roughly, made him turn his head to look at the part of the room he’d assumed was a closet. His sapphire glare was met by a slightly watery blue-crystal gaze. He blushed when he saw the scrub-brush wedged in Blade’s mouth and the foam on her lips from where she had been cleaning her teeth. She raised an eyebrow in askance and he waved his hand to indicate that it was not so important she couldn’t finish her wake-up ritual. She turned back and spat into a basin and then rinsed out her mouth. He heard more splashing sounds and saw her reach for a towel to pat her face dry. Another moment passed as she brushed out her hair and then pulled it back in a serviceable bun at the nape of her neck. When she turned around again, she studied him openly before reaching down and pulling off her nightshirt. Kass blushed and whirled around so his back was facing her. “Sorry,” he muttered.
“No problem,” she said. He could hear her moving in the room behind him. She opened a chest and rummaged through it. Some more rustling followed and then she cleared her throat. “You can turn around now. I’m decent. Unless you consider ‘barefoot’ indecent in which case I’m horrifically naked.”
“I never knew druids could be such smart asses,” Kass said sourly as he turned around to watch her pulling on a pair of soft leather boots.
“You’ve never had much to do with us, Kassrylon Llhersian.”
“True enough,” he admitted with a wry half-grin. “Do you have any dried meat? I looked through your larder and couldn’t find anything.”
“No, you didn’t,” she said calmly.
“That’s what I just said.”
“No, you didn’t look through my larder. I doubt you could find it even with your keen ranger senses. You haven’t been out of this part of the shelter and the larder is in the root cellar.”
“A bit high up to have a root cellar, Blade.”
“Ha!” she laughed. “That’s very true. That’s also why the root cellar is underneath the tree. C’mon. Follow me,” she gestured. He followed her as she tossed a rope down and then slid down it gracefully. At the base of the tree, she made a series of gestures that caused a false panel to slide away, revealing a hole and ladder. He followed her down and was amazed at the size of the cellar. She must have been working on this for years. She moved to a metal box that let out a savory smell when she opened it. Kass’s stomach rumbled again and she laughed. He glared at her until she tossed him some jerked meat. “That should tide you over,” she grinned. Tucking more meat into a sack she pulled over her shoulder, she quickly climbed up the ladder, Kass and his stomach in her wake. “I imagine you’ll be better company when you’re not hungry,” she explained when he gave her a questioning glance as she conjured a fire.
“True enough,” he agreed as he walked to the edge of the glade and plucked a small branch from a tree.
Kass was even more appreciative of the hideout the more he saw of it. He hoped that they would be coming back to it so he could study it further. He knew a few places where he could build a similar kind of set-up. Not having everything under one roof could be convenient, especially considering the way some of his fellow rangers took the tradition of guestrights to mean “an invitation to eat everything in the larder.” He munched idly on another slice of waybread while he waited for Blade to finish packing and cleaning up from their brief stay.
“That should do it. God of the Distant Fires, you rangers can eat,” she muttered as she tucked another pouch into her sack. “How many slices of waybread have you eaten?”
“S’good,” he mumbled, his mouth still full.
“I would say ‘thanks’ but the fact that you’ve had at least five thick slices makes me wonder how frequently we’ll be hunting so I can make more,” she replied. “Now, I know you want to rescue your brother, Llhersian, and I have every intention of helping you with that. However, I have no intention of letting them force my ass into my bastard father’s Seat. My youngest sister is best suited to rule and if my third-oldest half-sister hadn’t married a bastard out to out-bastard my bastard father, the civil war would be over and Gesthina would sit on the Primarch’s Seat with Hessa as regent until she comes of age.”
“I thought your sister’s name was Bassa or something like that?”
“Oh, that’s her public name like Kesla is mine. Or was mine until I cast it aside when I joined the Sisterhood. Gesthina is the name the stars granted her. If you believe all that rot about it being holy, then you know it’s Old Aelvish for…”
“Crown of Wisdom,” he said.
“Exactly. My name was Balaria or ‘sharp-edged.’”
“Hmph,” he snorted. “Blade. I guess that is your name. So, you think that if you swear to the Pact, that gets you out of being Prime.”
“It does get me out of being eligible for the Seat. Technically, becoming a druid should have removed me from the line of succession but my bastard father changed the law and named me his heir. The only way to avoid it now would be to marry a foreigner and flee the country for the rest of my life…”
“Which would just get the unlucky sod killed along with any offspring you had,” he nodded, understanding why she hadn’t chosen that route.
“Exactly. Or to swear an oath so publicly that no one can avoid having to deal with its reality.”
“Did you orchestrate this fool Search just to get out of being a ruler? I would have thought that you’d want to rule over everyone. No offense,” he added when he noticed the way her face darkened. “Just…your family and all…”
“Perhaps you’ve noticed but I’m not much like my ‘family.’ True, I loved that bastard father of mine when I was a child and had no idea how much his lust for women tainted Patoga’s reputation with our neighbors. Nor did I know or understand about all of the concubines and the women he kept around to slake that lust. As I got older, I noticed he played all of us off each other but continued to shield me and Gesthina. That nearly got her strangled in her cradle and it did cause me to be poisoned five times. As soon as I came of age, I fled to the Oakshield Grove and pledged myself to the service of Nyria.” A gentle smile softened her features at the memory. “I still had the blood of my first blossoming running down my leg. The archdruid scarcely knew what to make of me.”
“That must have been a sight,” Kass snorted.
“It probably was,” she grinned. “So, I figure less than a week to the Temple. We’ll hide out there until the Swearing and then we can be off. I’ll tell Gesthina to release your brother to my custody, escort the two of you back to Estalia, and then we can part ways and never see each other again, Llhersian.”
“So, taking the Oath and joining the Pact is just a ploy? Blade, you know how the gods curse oath-breakers.”
“Oh, I’ll keep an eye out for the Seven,” she promised lightly. “And I’m sure you will, too. But nothing in the Oath says that we have to look for it every moment of the rest of our lives. We’ll just take a resting break for…oh…say…the next fifty years?”
Kass snorted and grinned. He was really beginning to like this woman. “Sounds like a plan, my sharp little Blade. A fine plan indeed.”