THE HORN
Cuillean grit his teeth as he lifted the stuck wheel out of the snow…It had rolled or slid rather into a trench and become stubbornly immovable…The dileans pulled as Aliba cracked the whip.
"We good," Aliba called over to him behind the wagon, "…Come up front, Cuillean!"
Melanctha listened to Aliba and Cuillean assessing the damage to the wagon up front, "…I hope it is not too bad," she whispered.
Lithous huddled in his fur coat, his niece and nephews between him and Cagney and Melanctha, "…Would not be the news I'd want to hear, wagon gone been broke…This storm is picking up and we need to get out of the mountains."
The wagon started to move…The sound of sliding, the wagon wheels protesting…Cuillean and Aliba remained outside, working with the dileans and guiding the wagon-bearers towards the path's middle.
"Papa going to be okay?" Cagney asked his mother, standing up and putting his hands on her warm neck to keep his fingers from chilling…Melanctha shivered, but held Cagney tighter…
"Papa's going to be fine…You know how strong he is…He lifted the wagon with all of us inside it!"
"I think it's high time we made for Nabator," Lithous said, "…Should have gone there to begin with…but I suppose it was such a good offer to stay with Nefen Lela…That was a mighty secret place…I wonder how those thanes found it…"
"She gave them the way," Melanctha said quietly, "…She gave away Cuillean so he could do whatever was needed by his former masters…and she gave me away."
"How?…That's despicable…and I can't believe it!…She was such a nice woman!…"
"She has her objectives, and we are easily cut out if we hinder her from reaching those," she bit the inside of her mouth, remembering Talaith's calling her a simpleton…
Does Cuillean really think that of me?…In truth, let's face it…It is not far from what I am…
She looked at their son in her arms, his smooth flared crests so small and undeveloped…He had his father's eyes and color.
No…Cuillean would never think that of me…Not cruelly like Talaith made it sound…
She closed her eyes, blighting the memory…
She was an Ilori supposedly, not some trash found in the street, but a gold monet found in a dry gutter.
Pilar Sousan wanted her in his chamber…No, she was something special that no decent drell save for Talaith would ever declare out loud…
But she was a simpleton…
Melanctha wiped her nose and swiped at her eyes as it hit her…She made shoes, she was stupid, she an orphan, and Cuillean had taken her to a place where she could be alone and wait for him…Now they were running to keep their family together…
She was not a simpleton…She was a fool.
Cuillean and Aliba climbed in back after taking the snow off their shoulders and crests…Cuillean crawled to the back of the wagon—they had pulled up the cover and closed the rear and front with heavy leather panels. "How are you, Melanctha…" He could see her hands still stained with Eluk's blood…
He had never thought Melanctha the sort to resort to violence, but then he had never believed himself capable of killing…
Melanctha would be skewered by Pilar and Nelwyn if they knew what she had done…but he had thrust the knife through the drell's skull…He told him he would if he touched Melanctha again.
He warmed her and Cagney with his presence, everyone else welcoming the added bodies though they were freezing when they first entered.
Lithous turned on a flame-holder glass and took it to hang from the rib overhead, "…That might do us some comfort," he said to the children.
"Not too long, Lithous," Cuillean said, "…There may be scouts tracking us."
"In this storm?" Lithous laughed and waved his warning off, "…Impossible…They'll be sitting on their hindquarters trying to stay warm…"
"Thanes do not intimidate very easily from weather and challenge…They, we, are taught to ignore discomfort."
"I do wonder how they made it to this place…Traveling on foot would have been hard."
Cuillean considered, "…They may have some animal that helps them to travel here…Pilar has an alien species living under the city that he has bonded with…Rachni."
"Rachni?…What are those?"
"Burrowing creatures that remind me of upside-down crickets…They like to dig."
"Could they be digging tunnels to the Horn's Nest?"
Cuillean shrugged, "…It is not impossible."
"That does not sound possible," Aliba snorted, "…No such creature exists…"
"Did you learn this for a fact?" Lithous asked…
"I have seen the rachni, and Pilar, on making me his steward—"
"You were a what?" Aliba retorted.
"A steward," Cuillean repeated.
"A steward…of who?…Who is Pilar Sousan…"
"He is perhaps the founder of our culture on the eastern line of land by the water before Rakha…Pilar Sousan, Bor Kratos, my own father, Eufemiusz Kiross, Autemat Ladar, Refolca Mierumtak, and many others brought to fruition a dream that Pilar had…The Terje Tierra, and its enforcement by Mercede…"
Aliba stood up, "…You said you were belonging to some important masters when first we met, but not to the originators of a continent's entire socio-political system!…"
"My father was of the first thanes," Cuillean said, looking at her with a patience of a thousand years, "…I was free when I was born and then put into captivity, trained and tortured until I broke and killed six men with my bare hands…I was nearly killed in their trying to restrain me…I woke and I was promoted for the sheer fact I was difficult to kill and could beat drell ten times my experience…"
Aliba snarled, "…We'll be running across the world to evade your masters…"
"Your mother," Lithous asked tentatively, "…What is her role in this?…It sounds as if she was willing to give you and Melanctha up…"
Cuillean sighed, "…My mother…" He fell silent…What of his mother…
Undoubtedly she had her plans…The tear stones of S'syalah that she would not let him look into and develop his knowledge of…Not until it was time…
Something in the back of his mind told him it would not be the last he saw of her…and that worried him.
"…My mother has some alliance with Pilar Sousan, or she would not have welcomed those thanes to the Nest," he finally said.
"What I'm trying to wrap my head around is that you had the opportunity to work for them, and you chose to run away—"
"My wife was going to be used by Pilar," Cuillean said, "…She was pregnant with my son…" He looked coldly at Aliba, "…Did you enjoy being used by Lossa?…"
She grit her teeth, "…No…Never…"
"My wife would echo your sentiment, I am sure…" He took Cagney down from his neck, the boy having hugged to him to stop him from being angry, "…Cagney," he glanced to Melanctha, "…my wife are all I have…"
"What about us?…"
Cuillean and the other adults looked at Lithous's niece, Thwilka, who sat with her brothers, Pheldis and Nakera, "…We are Cagney's brothers and sisters, no?…And we are important no?"
Thwilka's voice was a surprise to all of them…She had always been considered a mute, owing much to the lack of parenting in her life and Lithous treating her as stupid.
Cuillean looked at Aliba and the others, "…She speaks the truth, and I will call you little Ashera, mithra of wisdom, from hereon," he nodded, "…You have all been with Melanctha and I since Karmuta, and you have faced the same dangers as we since we left that place you once called home…Now here you are, speaking for the first time in a snow storm outside the Horn's Nest, fleeing in peril with us again…We are all family, and I feel richer for it."
Aliba's cold expression faded…She looked at "Ashera" and reached over to put a hand on her small crests, "…You've been listening a long time, haven't you."
Melanctha stood and went to kneel in front of the children and hugged each of them, Ashera the longest…Then Lithous and finally Aliba who started to sniff.
"We have never had a family before," Melanctha said, "…except for Cuillean and his was lost…What sad and happy times these are," she held Aliba's face in her hands, "…I would like to call you Sister."
"You two are a pain in my behind," Aliba said, turning away and crossing her arms, but in her stare to the side of the inner wagon, she smiled and wept a tear.
"We must find them," Relind said.
He paced, second in command now that Eluk's body was found and the thane determined dead…The knife was pulled from his skull with great difficulty.
"You'll not be able to track them," replied Naour, "…The snow will kill them first, and for you to search for them would be suicide."
"Eluk's passing must be reported," Relind said, ignoring the bannon drell, "…Take the passage back to Nuru and report to Sered Sousan, Neslauc," a thane nodded and left. He refocused on Naour, "…You know the ways of these mountains, don't you…"
"Like the back of my hand," Naour nodded.
"You will come with us as our guide…"
"I am sworn to protect Talaith Lela…I cannot go with you," he replied.
"Talaith Lela's clan here is alive only at Sered Sousan's will," Relind stepped towards him, "…Dismiss my order, you dismiss the papir'aya's to his face…It will be personal for your mistress…"
Naour looked at the bodies of his men that Relind opened his hand towards, "…You wish for me to kill more?…Perhaps starting with the little ones in the living quarters?…"
"Not necessary," Naour answered, "…I will speak to her mistress and be advised…"
"Do not keep me waiting," Relind said softly, "…If I must, I will enter the living quarters and turn it into a tomb."
Naour turned and left the hall, heading to Talaith's chambers.
Talaith held her hands closing together at the sound of her captain entering her stone habitat, "…Nilessen," she murmured, "…You will go with them…"
Naour Nilessen stood quietly in the doorway of the carved timbers that could open and close so silently…These did now as he stepped forward towards her, "…I think I must," he said, touching his knee to the fur on the ground and looking up at her, "…and if you give your blessing, I shall…"
She turned, the glow in her eyes departing as the doors clicked and locked, "…Naour Nilessen, you will see to it that Cuillean escapes…I have done what I can to get them moving…"
He rose to his feet, "…I will see it through, Nefen…A Drugi lives to see his Ilori's life and descendants continue on…"
She smiled at him, "…I will miss you, Naour," she passed her hand to his cheek, "…You will not return to me, understand?…"
He glanced at the gems in her other hand, "…If that is the path I must follow," he whispered.
She smiled less and took her hand away, "…Go before Relind kills any more."
Pilar Sousan sat quietly in his receiving hall, tapping his fingers to his brow, "…Eluk, you say, was driven through the head with a knife?…By who," he asked.
By the drell you seek, the wavering feelers twitched, the curled rachnid moving with an undulating shiver through its abdomen curled in front of it, …the mate was in peril, the male angered…We could hear his colors of rage and regret…Her colors were less regret and more exhilaration…
Pilar stood, walking behind the throne, "…I am aggrieved by this news, but Eluk would never have been able to replace me…Nelwyn and Kama remain…Can you find Cuillean and those he escaped with?…"
Yes…
"Hold off until I demand their collection…We will let Mercede show its fangs…Cuillean did train most of those thanes I have dispatched through Narcissus…Perhaps he might not have harmed Eluk if Eluk had not posed a threat towards Melanctha…but the little wife has a mean streak in her, doesn't she…" his voice murmured aloud to himself.
He turned back to the rachnid, "…Thank you for relaying your queen's message to me."
The rachnid backed up with a coordinated locomotion among its four legs, two claws and tendril pair moving to turn it about and follow the seeking graspers and feelers. Pilar felt the effect leaving his head, the soft whispers and oily hues drifting out of his mind's sight.
He looked to the left exit hall of the room, seeing Nelwyn and Kama appear, "…You both have heard that Eluk is deceased."
"Yes, Sered," the women whispered.
"See that Cuillean's nephew is slaughtered," Pilar said, "…A life for a life, they say," he turned and went back to his laboratories, "…I will be busy for the rest of the day, see that you both can tend to the city while I study."
Kama looked at Nelwyn, "…Shall we do it together, or shall I take care of it," Nelwyn asked her.
Kama gazed at her half-sister, "…We can do it together, but I need to take care of the city," she said, "…Nefen Sousan, please, take care of the task…I know you will keep it swift…"
Nelwyn turned and walked away from her down the hallway with gleaming blue metal and flecks of light reflecting off the surfaces from glowing sconces.
She turned left and went down a stairwell, following its spiral to the lower quarters of sponsored help living in the cottus and serving the head family.
Removing a knife from her dress, she went straight to the rooms containing the children being sat for by other drellahnas.
She opened the door and saw Cuillean's nephew, looking up at her with blood-red eyes.
He was the only one in the room.
Nelwyn paused, looking at a patch of white on his crests, "…By Kala, you are shedding."
Tucking the knife away, she went to the boy and knelt, removing the skin…More of the blues and blacks came off, revealing white skin underneath…Melanctha picked up the boy and brought him to a basin full of cold water and let him sit.
She was loyal to her father, but where there was a way to disobey him without provoking retaliation aimed at her, she would use it…Such had she done when she revealed the child Cuillean brought to her in Dahna's body, explaining the benefit of the Kratos heir…Such she had done when Melanctha pleaded for Cuillean, letting her out of her father's bed chamber to throw herself in front of her husband…Now, there was a chance she could hide the child again, but this time from her father…
She worked hurriedly to remove all signs of the old blue and black skin from his body, an amazing white color taking its place wherever it peeled…His eyes were blood red and she held him up in the basin, the boy standing, "…You are reborn, Child…We must away with you if you have any hope of surviving…" She took the white child and put him into clothes, then reached into a fireplace and took soot from the walls, smearing this over his face and crests and any part of him exposed, "…You will be Idonis, my dear child…Born of the white skin, changed in the time you were to be slain for the loss of the master's illegitimate son…How things have a way of repeating," she smiled, holding his hand, "…I will show you a place to run and hide, Idonis…May you live to see the day your mother's promise bears fruit."
Cuillean cut a path through the snow, bearing the excess to the side with his arms like shovels. The storm gently blew about them, his eyes less blinded and the fall peaceful.
The dileans traveled behind him, following at the guidance of Aliba. She wore an extra coat of fur to keep the chill air away from her body, but her eyes could feel the bite.
Cuillean carved the way ahead, his body steaming.
A tear bothered her eye and Aliba rubbed at it with the back of her sleeve trimmed with dilean fur. She heard the children playing inside the wagon behind her, Lithous talking with Melanctha.
So many thoughts were going through her mind.
Aliba had not had family since her sister was raped and murdered on the plains with her brother-in-law tortured beside her…She could never forget the faces of those men who kept her bound while they beat her and her sister's husband, taking not one life but the child's in her womb as she lay dying.
They reminded her of the thanes that had shown up in Karmuta, of the ones who came to the Nest…She was sure they were thanes…They had beaten and raped her sister, then cut her throat…
The pain of the memory was nearly as painful as the real experience…
Adiqui, her brother-in-law, was a gentle drell…No way he would have been able to stand up to the monsters…
Why they had not raped her was due to their lack of interest in something ugly, but Ela was the prettier and so punished for being blessed with the attractiveness that pulled many eyes her way—passed Aliba's face, who cared not for it…
She only got the likes of Lossa to fill her womb…and what a fool drellahna she had been to listen to the only man who showed interest in her…He had no other desire than to slake his lust on a willing victim, then slink away when she became pregnant…and when she had miscarried after the attack, her stupid lefern just standing there while she and the others were beaten into submission or death or…
She felt her tears freeze on her eyelids and wiped the crusts away.
She was glad to be up front, and Cuillean out of sight nearly as he cut a path for them…He was a thane, she should hate him…He had probably known the men who killed and hurt her sister, who destroyed Adiqui and her pregnancy…
Ela had told her to forgive the child for it was not the child's fault…
To forgive those who would have done her so much harm…
Aliba could not forgive…She intended to kill the child once it came out…but after losing it, everything had changed…It was as if the loss of the child in her womb for so many months had driven a blade through the lock she kept on a chest with all her sentiment and conscience inside…
She spit out the snow, the tears falling freely now…
Melanctha had called her Sister…
What if these thanes caught them, her and Cuillean, would the same transpire?…She thought it less likely to go so easy for the drells as when such men had attacked Adiqui…but they were strong and big and trained to kill…
The children would surely die, "…Never," she hissed suddenly, so passionately, so harshly that the dileans both turned their gold and black-feathered eyes.
Why was she giving her trust to a thane who had killed like those men had?…They wanted Cuillean…So what if they took him?
Aliba blew out…
Cuillean had saved her, saved all those women…He could have only taken Melanctha, but he saved everyone…He might have taken herself because she knew Lithous and needed to flee to Nabator…
He had saved everyone…
That was why he was different…Wasn't it?…
He was a thane, surely he had killed innocents.
Cuillean plowed ahead.
At the turn of the path they were to follow, there was a high-sloping cliff…The dileans would be tightly driven through, but since they had adjusted the wagon wheels to sliders, it would be easier without the wheels and she was getting the hang of working the animals and the unwieldy sled behind her through the mountain terrain and snowfall.
She could urge the dileans ahead and shove Cuillean off the cliff into whatever lay below…What if it was too shallow?…She could also say the dileans drove on and lost control, adding an excuse to the possible calamity for the thane, and if he survived and accused her, she could also press that story…It might break their trust some, but they all needed each other…
Aliba considered the plan.
Losing Cuillean and leaving him behind would give the enemy what they wanted…They would track them down eventually, but here they might find his body…It would be an easy death, falling and dying in a chasm…She would need to leave evidence of him somewhere…
She looked at the seat beside her…
Cuillean had set his cloak on the seat at her right to keep it dry…He was ahead in his clothes and coat, moving through the three feet of snow, the dileans plodding along and pulling, straining towards the cliff.
Aliba gnawed her lip, …Dare I do it?
She would be able to protect Melanctha and the children a while longer without Cuillean drawing thanes and bandits after them.
She urged the dileans harder towards the drell between their necks from Aliba's view, "…Go," she whispered, flicking their withers, "…Move, you dumb animals."
Cuillean was reaching the middle of the angled passage.
He stopped suddenly and looked up…There was a tremendous thundering crack, like ice breaking, "…Cuillean…" Aliba hissed, "…Run back!" Her voice screamed.
The avalanche poured down in slow motion, hitting the sloping passage and sliding downwards, taking the ledge's contents with it.
Cuillean disappeared.
Aliba got out of the wagon seat and ran towards the trickling balls of snow, wading into the cold powder and shouting, "…Cuillean!…Cuillean!"
Melanctha and Lithous undid the tarp, having heard the thunderous cracking and the roaring fall, and through the calm snow drifting, they saw beyond the dileans the small lithe figure of Aliba making her way towards the middle of the cliff, "…Where is Cuillean," Melanctha heard Lithous rasp.
Melanctha unhitched the dilean on the right yoke and led it forward, running as hard as she could over the packed snow, "…Where is he!"
"He's buried under it," Aliba sobbed, digging with her arms, "…The fool was buried under it…I don't know if he went over the ledge!"
"Cuillean," Melanctha hissed out in steam, then tugging the dilean towards the side, she set the animal to digging…
Aliba stumbled forward, looking around, unable to find anything, then made her way to the ledge. The dilean was only too content to do something other than pulling a sled and took to drawing its claws at the snow with a fervor…They naturally made their dens underground, but domestication brought them to living in stalls…Give a rooker a choice, she would hide her dileans in the soil.
And she would be able to smell what was down there, the more she dug up.
Aliba made it to the edge and looked downwards, hoping it was a shallow drop…
Blackness looked up at her…
They would have never found the body, she thought.
Sitting down suddenly, Aliba grasped her crests, rocking from side to side…
I had wished this…The mithras answered…What have I done?
"Help me, Aliba!" Melanctha called, "…Help dig!…What are you doing sitting there!"
"I did it," Aliba whispered, "…I made it happen."
"No, I can't hear you!"
Cuillean was still not found.
"Aliba!…Lithous, stay with the children!"
The rooker stopped digging and snorted out powder, then sniffed, sticking its head into the hole it had tunneled.
"Cuillean's gone because I wished it," Aliba cried, pulling at her crests, "…I wished it…"
"Aliba," Melanctha threw a fit and waded over to her, grabbing the drellahna by the shoulders, "…Help us!"
She saw the face turn to her…Aliba's patak was covered with crusting tears, "…I was going to try and run him…" Her voice faltered…
Melanctha stared at her, slowly grasping what she had intended to say…Her hands bunched into fists, "…Did you call on an avalanche?…Did you mentally move the ground?…"
"Nn-no…" Aliba's eyes darted about, "…I was thinking it would save you, Ela…"
Melanctha's eyes widened and she straightened…
Her hand swung and slapped the side of Aliba's face.
"You are crazy and having a memory slip, Aliba!…Get up, come out of it, and save Cuillean with us!"
Aliba's color seemed to drain back into her tebris and she blinked up at the drellahna.
She followed Melanctha back, and this time showed her and the rooker where Cuillean had been standing…
Melanctha, Aliba and the rooker began to dig anew.
Cuillean looked up from the hole in which he had curled himself up inside, seeing the snow clear out of the way like a window opening onto a black and white beak with a hooked claw and luminous gold eyes, a churring, and then black and white claws tearing another gap in the ice packed snow.
"Good job," he heard Melanctha saying, "…I can smell him, he's here…Oh, oh, careful not to scratch him," she could be seen at times, trying to peer around the dilean's efforts.
"I'll get his cloak," he heard Aliba say.
Cuillean opened and closed his eyes.
Melanctha's face appeared, "…Oh, Mithras!" She coaxed the dilean to dig lower…Slowly he could feel his legs being bumped by the dilean's efforts to move the ice off him.
Warmth fell on his face as the rooker was guided in by its head and Melanctha's hand, the hooked claw grasping his shirt and pulling him out.
"Cuillean," Melanctha checked his head, "…Cuillean, can your hear me?"
He reached forward and pulled her onto him, kissing her with all his strength…
"I did not know which way to dig," he whispered, holding onto his wife, "…I remember being covered and turned about until I could not tell which way was up…"
"We found you," Melanctha wept, "…I didn't see what happened, but we heard the sound of the snow…You are so lucky," she clutched at his damp skin, drying in the heat of the wagon.
Cuillean stirred some, nursing his back where a lump of ice that would have crushed him were he less the drell he was had glanced and slid off him with the rush of ice and snow falling.
Melanctha took the cup of broth that had been heated on the wagon seat at the front, and looked at Aliba.
She handed Cuillean the cup and he drank.
Cagney was on the front seat with Lithous, throwing snow at Ashera and her brothers.
The tension of the hours before seemed to have gone out with the joy of playing in the snow for the little ones…Even the rookers were let off the yoke to play and romp.
Cuillean heaved a deep breath, expressing his gratitude to be able to breathe in fully…The snow had been suffocating, oppressing, and while he had been under it he had been visited by memories of his training in Mercede…
The same oppressive, suffocating feeling.
"Thank you for freeing me from my grave," Cuillean said, looking at his wife and Aliba, then beyond at the rookers reacting to the children tossing snow onto their beaks, "…We must name those two creatures…I would like to call the one on the left Tille, and the one on the right—"
"That was the rooker I used to dig you out," Melanctha sniffed…
"I will not forget her face, Wife," he kissed her, a warm, long kiss that Aliba had to roll her eyes and look away from, "…I would like to name her after the rooker who caused my life after Thorolf…Perhaps it is her spirit that saw to redeem her through that creature and be useful today…"
"Kalare?" Melanctha asked…
"You remember…Yes, I would like to name this one Kalare."
Melanctha nodded, then covered his face with multiple pecks by her lips, and nothing dainty…She was terrified she had almost lost him, and Aliba's panic and slip into her past trauma had unnerved and angered her…She would not let anyone, not even the mountain, take her husband away from her and Cagney.
Aliba stirred the pot over the flame catch in the front seat and poured another cup of broth for the thane.
Cuillean had to rest, and the wagon would not go anywhere for a bit until more snow had been removed from the filled-in passage, which Melanctha and Aliba would have to oversee…They went out into the snow to guide the rookers, Tille and Kalare, up to the avalanche fall and put the beasts to work.
"I will not speak to Cuillean of what you told me," Melanctha said, her voice hard but gentle at the same time, "…Who is Ela…"
"She was my sister."
"She died?"
"Yes."
"Why did you call me Ela…" Then realizing as she said it, "…Never mind."
"She was raped and murdered near where I was beaten alongside her husband," Aliba said, confessing finally the truth of why she had thought to get rid of Cuillean, "…The thanes that attacked you…They reminded me of the men who killed her and her husband, and my unborn."
Melanctha's eye ridges were heavy, flecked with clinging snow as she redirected Tille after Kalare, "…That is terrible."
"It wasn't heaven."
"Why did you want to drive Cuillean off the ledge…"
"To keep you safe…I was unable to do it for her."
"You will never do such a thing again, not even think it…We are family, Aliba," Melanctha said stiffly, "…Do not betray us…I will not hesitate to kill you," she added darkly. "I am learning quickly from being around you and others, my husband's former colleagues and now adversaries…If I wish to protect my family, I will need to use bloodshed or other like device…" She raised her eyes to look at Aliba, "…You are bitter, I understand, but you cannot allow your bitterness to cloud your judgement…We cannot survive without it and I would never call you family if you brought harm to Cuillean…He is a weapon, I know what he is…He is also a drell, a father, a man trying to break from the mold he was forced into…Do not jeopardize him with thoughts about…about leaving him behind to feed to the monster that created him."
"I won't…" Aliba blinked back tears, "…When I saw him go under the avalanche, I regretted what I had been thinking, Mel…I couldn't let him go like that…"
"No," she nodded, "…neither would I."
"We'll have to be here until this pass is wide enough to cross again," Aliba settled into her old manner, "…These rookers clear out some more snow, we can work the edges and make a lane wide enough for the wagon to glide through, then keep heading west."
Melanctha looked at Aliba, "…That is what we must do."
Cuillean looked out between the flaps, over the childrens' heads and Lithous's form crooked by the front seat's fire and pot—at Melanctha and Aliba talking seriously to one and other.
He was relieved he had not been lost that day…He was also uncertain now of Aliba, whose voice had issued the call of warning too late…He had already been hit by the snow when she had cried for him to run…
Surely so the others would think she had tried to warn him.
Ever did he learn at Mercede not to trust in anyone completely…His own mother had offered him up, his father had hidden secrets…Dahna had her own plan, even if it involved her dying…Melanctha, sweet Melanctha…
Her attack on Eluk had surprised him.
They all were capable of doing violent things.
He shifted again on his back, testing out the soreness now Melanctha was not holding him…He stood and stretched and drank the rest of his cooled cup of broth.
Leaving the wagon through the back, he came through the side path and went towards the children, instructing them to go back to the wagon now he was not filling it with his bulk.
He lent a hand to the carving out of the path again, working between Melanctha and Aliba.
"You may go back inside," he said to both of them, "…I will handle the rookers."
Melanctha glared at him, "…Look at you, already up despite your injured self…Telling your wife what to do when I've started the clearing and handled freeing you…"
Aliba said nothing, hearing Melanctha's remonstrations.
Cuillean smiled a bruised lip at his wife, "…Melanctha, your tenderness hardens."
"I said to Lugo and his sons you needed looking after." She straightened as he neared her, "…I am going to help." The dark lusty light in his eyes made her tebral spines shiver. "Don't look at me that way," she muttered, flustered and turning back to the ice chunks, rolling one down towards the edge of the cliff, "…You like a woman working, I can see that…but you won't get pettings from me until we're good and safe out of danger…Again."
Aliba sighed and went to widen the path elsewhere.
Cuillean continued to look at Melanctha while he picked up ice and threw it over the powdered shelf.
Melanctha was grinning with embarrassment.
They worked through the morning and found their way to more even ground on the other side of the avalanche fall. Melanctha was quite pleased with the effort she had made and sat down in the wagon with the others to take some broth and drink.
Aliba and Cuillean hooked the rookers back to the yoke and went to the seat to remove the flame catch and the pot of broth, distributing some into an empty water pouch and the rest to the children to drink.
He went ahead again, taking hold of Kalare's head and stroking the dilean first before turning and guiding the blessed beast on his right, Tille on his left.
The snow had finally stopped its constant gentle fall, and barring another avalanche, remained quiet on the Mimi Cim Horn's crags.
Cuillean and the rest made for downhill, hoping to leave the Horn behind and find their way into the rolling hills of the plains.
A few miles east through the fangs of the Horn, Relind studied the tracks made by the wagon.
Naour looked out over the valley floor between the peaks, "…They followed the road," he said, looking from the shade of his gloved hand at the group behind him…
All killers of his men, soldiers of Mercede…Cuillean's former brothers.
"Then let us be off," Relind climbed onto the back of his mount…It was a pale creature with fur in black and white striation, its mouth opening and closing with its taste of the air.
Karos from the south, Relind had named them to Naour, and they were hardy creatures on rocks…They were uncomfortable with the snow, but when no ice or snow belabored their path, they could move swiftly over the rocks on two long legs with claws and two foreclaws that could grasp, pull, and tear if need be.
These animals were under each of the thanes…Naour had his own dilean, a black one that kept away from the karos.
The animals were uncomfortable with each other, but so too were the riders.
Naour lowered his gaze back over the snow from Relind and his mount, clucking his tongue to move his dilean off and down off the rock they were on, onwards into the valley…hunting for their quarry.