Ice Eagle
Chapter 1
*
Icefire was sitting on one branch of the huge tree, with her back pressed back securely against the tree trunk. Technically she was on duty, but this was not much like work, although she kept the crossbow in her lap cocked. Just because they never saw a single outlander didn't mean there weren't other dangers around.
And it annoys the elders no end that I risk the few dangers that there are, she thought bitterly. "You are a mage, a valuable asset of our clan - you can't go risking yourself like any common scout!" Valuable asset, my arse! At least here I can do something useful!
She scowled as she thought about the mage elder who had all but forbidden her to work magic. And all because I completed the training faster and better than his son did - and because it rankled to have a girl being more powerful than he is! There had been bad blood between her and Adept Moonstar from the start, when she had bonded to one of the rare, white and silver ice eagles - the beautiful bird gave her the look of an already experienced mage, one whose bond bird had been bleached by exposure to magic.
Just then a white eagle winged in. :Herd of dyheli to the east,: Dellan reported, landing on the branch at her feet.
Icefire grinned as she climbed swiftly to the ground. Let her clan, K'Drena, disapprove to their heart's content. Let them call the non-humans "Advanced Change-children" - she would still continue associating with them.
:Greetings, my fine young rebel.: A creamy stag greeted her cheerfully when she found the herd.
"Devren!" she called in delighted surprise. "I haven't seen you in ages!"
:My herd have been visiting with the more "non traditional" Tayledras clans,: the dyheli stag told her dryly. :Some of them have "deviated" so much they actually let non-humans share their vales.:
"Oh, my." Said Icefire, her lips twisting in an effort not to smile. "Imagine Moonstar's reaction to that little revelation! He'd have a fit!"
:Indeed.: Devren mindspoke. :Just like the fit he'd have about the outlanders being accepted into K'Sheyna.:
Icefire smiled nastily. When, as a rebellious, unwanted, adolescent mage, she had started her friendship with the dyheli and the other denizens of the Pelagirs, they told her stories about the outland mages coming into the vales. She had thought those clans that Moonstar denounced as "evil" and "unprofessional" sounded wonderful.
K'Drena was a "traditional" clan. They had isolated themselves deep into the Pelagirs, and it was doubtful that the other clans even knew of its existence. K'Drena did not let the non-humans that other clans cultivated anywhere near them, and outlanders were killed as a matter of course.
But someday, she would leave the clan, and visit the outlands. Valdemar. She thought, savoring the strange word. Yes, someday, she promised herself, she would visit Valdemar.
:You don't know the language.: asserted the practical Devren. He saw her droop slightly as she considered this, and cursed himself for disappointing his friend. : . . .But -: he hesitated.
"But what?" she replied, her keen curiosity lifting her again.
:I could teach you.: he told her. :I could put the language straight into your head. All of it.:
"You can do that?" She asked in surprise. "Would you, please?"
He nodded, and began to concentrate, initiating a mind link between the two.
:Ouch!: she cried mentally. :That hurt!:
:Sorry, Icefire.: Devren apologized. :I should have warned you.:
She didn't hear. Her mind was dancing through plans of leaving K'Drena forever.
*
"Icefire." A voice acknowledged her coldly. "Still as pettily rebellious as ever, I see." She turned to survey the speaker. It was Starshine, Moonstar's equally arrogant son. "You know, in mage robes instead of those scout - rags - you might actually be quite pretty. I might even be inclined to offer you a feather." He advised her, smiling patronisingly.
"Is the prospect supposed to thrill me?" she asked, in a coldly amused tone. Starshine infuriated her, but she never let him see that.
Dellan flew in, silver beak and talons flashing in the sunset as her landed on her shoulder. He hissed at Rattan, Starshine's fat and pampered crow, and the stupid creature almost fell off his perch on Starshine's shoulder. A faint smile touched Icefire's silver-blue eyes, but she said nothing, merely returning to her isolated ekele, and the hot spring that flourished nearby.
As she dropped her scout leathers on the pool's edge, she wished that K'Drena's refusal to acknowledge the non-humans did not extend to the hertasi. She could really use one of the lizard-like creatures to pick up after her. As it was, she had to tidy her own ekele.
She left the pool and sat in her ekele, wearing the blue silk lounging robe she preferred, when there was a knock at her door. It was Stonefall, the leader of the scouts.
"I was lonesome." He smiled in response to her query. "I thought I would offer you a feather, silver hair." He tugged one of her snowy locks as he spoke.
It was an old endearment, referring to the fact that, in spite of the fact that most scouts cut and dyed their white hair, hers was still bleached a shining silver-white and fell to her waist.
He held out a tawny bronze feather to her, and she stifled a stab of alarm as she looked at it. The beautiful feather had obviously come from his bondbird, a beautiful hawk of unusual coloring.
"I can't take that, Stonefall." She told him gently. "Another feather, yes, but not one of Borden's." She did not like rejecting the man so much for no reason, but he would never understand her antipathy for K'Drena, and her desperation to leave. So, instead she accepted different feather, knowing inside that this would be the last time.
Chapter 1
*
Icefire was sitting on one branch of the huge tree, with her back pressed back securely against the tree trunk. Technically she was on duty, but this was not much like work, although she kept the crossbow in her lap cocked. Just because they never saw a single outlander didn't mean there weren't other dangers around.
And it annoys the elders no end that I risk the few dangers that there are, she thought bitterly. "You are a mage, a valuable asset of our clan - you can't go risking yourself like any common scout!" Valuable asset, my arse! At least here I can do something useful!
She scowled as she thought about the mage elder who had all but forbidden her to work magic. And all because I completed the training faster and better than his son did - and because it rankled to have a girl being more powerful than he is! There had been bad blood between her and Adept Moonstar from the start, when she had bonded to one of the rare, white and silver ice eagles - the beautiful bird gave her the look of an already experienced mage, one whose bond bird had been bleached by exposure to magic.
Just then a white eagle winged in. :Herd of dyheli to the east,: Dellan reported, landing on the branch at her feet.
Icefire grinned as she climbed swiftly to the ground. Let her clan, K'Drena, disapprove to their heart's content. Let them call the non-humans "Advanced Change-children" - she would still continue associating with them.
:Greetings, my fine young rebel.: A creamy stag greeted her cheerfully when she found the herd.
"Devren!" she called in delighted surprise. "I haven't seen you in ages!"
:My herd have been visiting with the more "non traditional" Tayledras clans,: the dyheli stag told her dryly. :Some of them have "deviated" so much they actually let non-humans share their vales.:
"Oh, my." Said Icefire, her lips twisting in an effort not to smile. "Imagine Moonstar's reaction to that little revelation! He'd have a fit!"
:Indeed.: Devren mindspoke. :Just like the fit he'd have about the outlanders being accepted into K'Sheyna.:
Icefire smiled nastily. When, as a rebellious, unwanted, adolescent mage, she had started her friendship with the dyheli and the other denizens of the Pelagirs, they told her stories about the outland mages coming into the vales. She had thought those clans that Moonstar denounced as "evil" and "unprofessional" sounded wonderful.
K'Drena was a "traditional" clan. They had isolated themselves deep into the Pelagirs, and it was doubtful that the other clans even knew of its existence. K'Drena did not let the non-humans that other clans cultivated anywhere near them, and outlanders were killed as a matter of course.
But someday, she would leave the clan, and visit the outlands. Valdemar. She thought, savoring the strange word. Yes, someday, she promised herself, she would visit Valdemar.
:You don't know the language.: asserted the practical Devren. He saw her droop slightly as she considered this, and cursed himself for disappointing his friend. : . . .But -: he hesitated.
"But what?" she replied, her keen curiosity lifting her again.
:I could teach you.: he told her. :I could put the language straight into your head. All of it.:
"You can do that?" She asked in surprise. "Would you, please?"
He nodded, and began to concentrate, initiating a mind link between the two.
:Ouch!: she cried mentally. :That hurt!:
:Sorry, Icefire.: Devren apologized. :I should have warned you.:
She didn't hear. Her mind was dancing through plans of leaving K'Drena forever.
*
"Icefire." A voice acknowledged her coldly. "Still as pettily rebellious as ever, I see." She turned to survey the speaker. It was Starshine, Moonstar's equally arrogant son. "You know, in mage robes instead of those scout - rags - you might actually be quite pretty. I might even be inclined to offer you a feather." He advised her, smiling patronisingly.
"Is the prospect supposed to thrill me?" she asked, in a coldly amused tone. Starshine infuriated her, but she never let him see that.
Dellan flew in, silver beak and talons flashing in the sunset as her landed on her shoulder. He hissed at Rattan, Starshine's fat and pampered crow, and the stupid creature almost fell off his perch on Starshine's shoulder. A faint smile touched Icefire's silver-blue eyes, but she said nothing, merely returning to her isolated ekele, and the hot spring that flourished nearby.
As she dropped her scout leathers on the pool's edge, she wished that K'Drena's refusal to acknowledge the non-humans did not extend to the hertasi. She could really use one of the lizard-like creatures to pick up after her. As it was, she had to tidy her own ekele.
She left the pool and sat in her ekele, wearing the blue silk lounging robe she preferred, when there was a knock at her door. It was Stonefall, the leader of the scouts.
"I was lonesome." He smiled in response to her query. "I thought I would offer you a feather, silver hair." He tugged one of her snowy locks as he spoke.
It was an old endearment, referring to the fact that, in spite of the fact that most scouts cut and dyed their white hair, hers was still bleached a shining silver-white and fell to her waist.
He held out a tawny bronze feather to her, and she stifled a stab of alarm as she looked at it. The beautiful feather had obviously come from his bondbird, a beautiful hawk of unusual coloring.
"I can't take that, Stonefall." She told him gently. "Another feather, yes, but not one of Borden's." She did not like rejecting the man so much for no reason, but he would never understand her antipathy for K'Drena, and her desperation to leave. So, instead she accepted different feather, knowing inside that this would be the last time.
