THUNDER PEAK, page 17
Taliko stood straighter. “You have used jevaling magic in this realm as well. How is that any different?”
The great wolf stared at him, green fire flaring in his eye sockets. “I submit to no law but those of my own instincts. Such is my right as Cree Chieftain.”
Sensing he was about to sway, Taliko drove his staff to the ground as if to emphasize his point. “Indeed, and so I ask you again. Cree Chieftain. Lord of your own people. Of what concern is this child to you? Why embark at all on this mission of murder? Let alone return from the edge of death to take it up again so many years later?”
Green eyes flickering, a menacing growl in his throat, Nightblade peered at the shell warrior for a long moment, saying nothing.
“You assume the bargain that sent you here still binds you in some way.” Taliko nodded in understanding. “I know what foul outcome the aril seek. The mystery, is what is so valuable to the mighty Cree Chieftain that he committed to such an ill-fated pact for himself instead of sending a trusted member of his pack.”
“I do not assume,” Nightblade snorted, raising his nose to catch a distant scent.
The human is on his way, but…he comes alone! Thrice curse that cowardly unicorn for daring not to face me! Nightblade choked down an angry growl so as not to alert the shell warrior to his thoughts.
“After all this time?” Taliko asked mildly. “And no way of knowing if the terms of your agreement survive? Certainly you must.”
In that instant Nightblade felt an alien sensation fill his heart.
Fear.
Could this cursed jevaling be right? The aril are long-lived; no doubt his ally was still in position, perhaps even risen to a more powerful place of prominence. But the passage of time did create uncertainty. The girl’s death may have become meaningless.
No, not meaningless. In time, even if by accident, she will be able to open the gate herself, and the aril are too possessive and self-serving to allow that. Still, his ally may seize the time variable as an opportunity to renegotiate the agreed upon terms…
“Have my thoughts been useful to the Cree Chieftain?” Taliko asked.
Useful…Nightblade mused silently, his thoughts racing through new calculations of leverage and deceit. The hunt had changed direction, but such was his predatory edge that already the Cree Lord was compensating for it.
“Yes,” Nightblade replied, snarling each syllable with distinction. “Yes, they have proved useful,”
They have convinced me you are more useful to me alive. If his ally foolishly sought to use the time variable to change the terms of their agreement, he needed leverage, and as an instrument of banned magic, the jevaling provided that. Taliko’s creation alone was punishable by death. Knowing the aril, that meant they would try to hide it from the rest of Leutia—presenting him another chip to bargain with.
If he killed Taliko now, he would disappear into the ether, robbing him of the proof of his existence.
There was no way around it. Both the girl and Taliko must live. For now, at least until he could reaffirm the terms. The question was how to manipulate the delay into an advantage…
“The years have indeed been many,” Nightblade mused aloud. “Perhaps you are right.”
The Cree Chieftain fixed his eyes on Taliko. “My frein is filled to bursting with a power beyond even my ken. So as now an immutable fate-victorious aligns with me, and this thanks to you, I shall offer you a mercy, and a vow, in compensation for your usefulness.
“The blood of the unicorn will be mine. However, should the witchling agree to open the gate so I can go home, we shall part for now in peace. Shall she refuse, then I destroy the witchling, her sire, and you, and begin a reign of terror from this mountain the likes of which Earther has never seen.”
Nightblade vanished.
Taliko blinked in surprise, then crouched into attack position when the Cree reappeared hovering over Casey’s prone form. Despite his menacing aspect, however, Taliko’s heart raced with fear. There was simply no way he could get to the enemy before he struck a lethal blow on the unconscious girl.
“Urge the humans to choose wisely…Taliko.” Nightblade looked down at Casey and placed a heavy paw on her chest. “My fangs have returned to the shadows, and continued conflict with me will surely lead to your destruction.
“But,” the Cree Chieftain’s tone softened, and his eyes rose to meet Taliko’s, “this ending need not be sung. You live well here. Don’t waste what remains of it. Convince the humans to sacrifice the unicorn and send me home. Do as I ask, and I shall leave to you the fate of the lizardlings. Egg-born like you, they are the closest thing to a pack you shall ever have. Much closer than the humans could ever be. Do as I ask, and all of you finish your lives as fate decrees. Do it not”—the growl seeped back into Nightblade’s throat—“further my exile in this forsaken realm, and the numbering of every Earther’s days is left to me.”
Nightblade’s eyes flared a moment, then he disappeared.
Taliko sucked a startled breath through his teeth and leaned into a ready stance. When the wolf lord did not return, he exhaled sadly and scampered over to Casey as fast as his weary limbs would carry him.
A quick check revealed that though the girl had been battered, bruised, and burned during the clash of sabers unfolding around her, she was still breathing normally. Taliko surmised that being unconscious and limp may have actually helped her ride out the sonic wave without serious injury, and being blown to the clearing’s edge had miraculous taken her out of the path of the flaming embers racing around the Gategrove.
The shell warrior shook his head and sat. When he and the Maker had laid their trap for Nightblade, his sonic wave had powered her frein so she could remain hidden long enough to perform a complex spell that normally took many casters to weave. Taliko had asked then if it would also not energize Nightblade, and she assured him it would not. That it could not, because his powers came from the shadow frein while hers came from the golden frein. The two could not mix. And yet, somehow, today, Taliko had aided Nightblade. Something that should be impossible.
A noise from the ruined shelter drew his attention. Recalling that one of Nightblade’s minions had been hurled into it by his shell blast, Taliko vaulted over to it in several long strides. A moment later the lizardling with the broken kneecap limped forward and fell to the ground before him.
“Master,” the lizardling began, but suddenly Paal was beside him and said, “His name is not master; his name is Lord Taliko.”
Taliko looked at Paal for a moment, absorbing the honorific he had just been given. With it Paal was making a clear distinction between “leader” and “master,” the former implying choice and the latter servitude. It made sense, and perhaps he should reflect on it himself as it regarded his own Maker. Time for that later. The rebellious lizardling had to be dealt with now.
“Lord Taliko,” the lizardling began again. “I ask for mercy.”
“Why did you abandon your brothers and join Zil?” Taliko asked.
After staring at the ground a moment, the creature raised its aqua-colored head and regarded him sadly. “This I did not want to do, but Zil forced his companions to take me.”
Taliko glanced at Paal skeptically and then back at the lizardling before him. “And why should he choose you? Or force you at all? Unlike Paal, you seemed to me a very willing combatant during the conflict.”
“He said he would destroy me if I did not come. Zil chose me because I am one of only three who could help him start a new clan.”
“A new clan?”
“Lord Taliko, this is Liss,” Paal offered. “Back in the cave, Zil and I argued. Then it was that his followers struck me from behind. Believing I was unconscious, they dragged me into a corner. I was but dazed, yet lied still to recover my strength and decide when best to strike. While I did so, what she says I saw with my own eyes before trailing them here to the Gategrove. True it is as well that she is one of but three females in our clan.”
Taliko’s eyes widened. He had been totally oblivious. “I see,” he said simply. After a moment he added, “Zil was certainly craftier than I gave him credit for. Brave of you to set out after him. Without your help this battle may have gone very differently. You have my thanks. What do you say, Paal, as regards the fate of Liss?”
Paal stared hard at Liss for several long moments. Then redirected his serpentine gaze toward Zil lying sprawled on the ground, and finally back to Taliko. “I think there has been enough killing today, Lord Taliko.”
Taliko nodded and stepped forward, helping Liss to her feet. “Well said Paal.” Taliko agreed. Then he placed Liss’s hand in Paal’s. “I place her in your charge Paal. If you deem she becomes unworthy of the clan, it will be up to you and the others to decide her fate, be it death or to climb the mountain and live out her days in solitude. Do you accept the charge I give you?”
“I do Lord Taliko.”
“Very well. Go now and return to the cave. Be sure the others are safe and well. I shall join you when I can, after I have seen to matters here.”
Paal and Liss nodded and left the grove.
Taliko glanced at Casey. Best not to disturb her before she awoke and could tell him if she was in pain. Instead, he retrieved the bedroll from the smashed shelter and made her as comfortable as he could.
Taliko took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.
Jonas and StarFall would be here soon. Then he would have to tell his story. How ironic, he thought, that just a week after Jonas had to confess, it would be his turn.
Taliko could see no other way. Not after this. He would have to break his promise to the Maker and tell Jonas the truth.
About how he’d truly come to be here.
About Nightblade.
And how he’d just put them all in graver danger than ever.
10
Unexpected Guests
Jonas had just finished rubbing down Rebel and getting him into his stall when he heard the distinctive sonic thunderclap that he knew could only be Taliko.
The rancher took three steps toward the barn door, then stumbled when a surge of pain struck him behind the eyes. Shaking his head to clear it, he looked in the direction of the Gategrove and a strong sense that something was wrong settled over him. But what? Casey in the Gategrove? Taliko battling the lizardlings? Or had Thunder Peak just thrust some new danger upon them?
StarFall came up from behind and steered him out the door. One glance at the steed and he could see the panic in his eyes. He could also see the wound in his forehead, oozing and bubbling now as if it were under a low campfire boil.
“Whoa, whoa!” Jonas said urgently but without raising his voice. “Hold on.” he raised his hands in a stopping gesture. “StarFall, wait.”
The fledgling unicorn rose to his hind legs in irritation, knocking Jonas to the ground. Bending low, the animal nudged him several times with his forehead, snorting and whinnying, not letting him stand and conveying his anger.
When StarFall finally retreated, Jonas was furious. “Are you done?” he yelled, getting his feet under him. “That’s my little girl out there, and you are wasting my time!”
Jonas strode up to StarFall, and when the horse did not back up, their faces bumped.
Jonas drew a hand across his forehead, smearing it with StarFall’s blood, and held it up to the steed’s silver eye. “You see this? This is you! Bleeding! Look at this!” Jonas held out his shirt, red with the unicorn’s blood from the head butt StarFall used to knock him to the ground. “StarFall wait! Jonas go!”
The filly he had brought back with him from Widow Dorn’s barn wandered out behind them, and Jonas pointed at her. “StarFall. Heal!”
StarFall looked at the other horse, then back to Jonas, and lowered his head softly on Jonas’s shoulder.
“I know,” Jonas said, patting his neck. “You’re worried about Casey. So am I. But you can’t help her, or us, if you don’t take care of yourself first.”
Jonas stepped away.
In the next instant, he pulled his pistol, sighted a tree some twenty yards away and fired upon it, striking the bark nearly center twice in a row.
StarFall snorted in surprise and cantered back.
Jonas drew a deep breath. Then, holding the smoking gun in the air for him to see clearly, he turned around to face StarFall. “Jonas. Ready,” he said firmly.
StarFall looked back at him with a mixed gaze of fear and confidence.
“Don’t worry.” Jonas twirled and then holstered his gun. “Jonas ready.”
“Now,” he continued softly. “Jonas go. StarFall heal and get better.” He pointed back and forth between StarFall and Bonnie several times.
With a resigned snort and a shake of his head, StarFall turned and whinnied softly to Bonnie, who followed him back into the barn.
“Right then,” Jonas said, scampering into the woods at a quick trot. “Good luck to both of us.”
Since arriving in Storm Town, Jonas rarely wore boots. To him they seemed cumbersome and uncomfortable. When Sheriff Tanner deputized him, he put on boots and spurs because they just seemed expected, but most all other times he wore the moccasins Mae had given him.
They were comfortable and magical, just like Casey’s.
Of course, Mae had never actually told him them they were magical (or blessed, as she sometimes referred to the pearlwood and the apple trees of the Tamm Orchard). He always meant to ask her, but…but he knew they were just the same. While wearing them he felt lighter and faster. Much faster. In his moccasins he could get to the Gategrove in almost half the time. The spring in his step was already strong, but while wearing the brown leather foot-cuffs he could also jump noticeably higher over roots, rocks, shrubs, and other obstacles.
So he had always guessed, but once Casey showed up wearing them, he knew for sure. Jonas didn’t know how, but they never ripped, never tore or wore out. And each day when he saw her tug them on by the door, it seemed certain that their just-big-enough perfect fit would be outgrown the very next morning. But over the course of fourteen years, it never happened, and Jonas only knew one word to describe it: magic.
Jonas wondered briefly if he could catch Casey without her moccasins on. He couldn’t catch Mae, that he knew for sure, so he doubted it. Breathing deeply and sweating under the August sunshine, Jonas crouched down in sight of Point Lookout and remembered frolicking in these very same woods and streams with Mae. How she could so easily disappear among the trees, and the delightful laugh behind him when she was ready to be found. They were some of the best memories he had.
Having caught his breath, and sighting no battle and no movement, he dashed from stone to stone across the sparkling stream diving under Point Lookout and sprinted toward the grove.
A steady burst of shift-scampering followed, and then Jonas was threading his way through the Gategrove wall and into the clearing they protected, some forty minutes after he had left StarFall.
He entered the clearing, gun drawn, to find Taliko sitting quietly, warding over Casey, who lay on the ground with her eyes closed.
“What happened?” Jonas rushed over. “Is she all right?”
Taliko nodded from the edge of the dais, scratching at the dirt with his bo~staff. “Casey is well. The bruises you see are mostly my fault. She was unconscious when I arrived. The foe and his allies were waiting for me. The tide of battle turned against me, and I was forced to use my shell blast to win the day. She awoke briefly, and I gave her some tingle tea. Now she rests.”
Jonas had been bending down, checking over Casey’s injuries for himself. Satisfied, he stood and looked at Taliko, barely containing his pent-up fury over Taliko’s weeklong absence. “Fighting off what enemies? Something came through the gate? Please don’t tell me it was those lizardlings again.”
The pair stared at each other quietly for a long moment until Jonas drew his hand over his face in exasperation. “Taliko…”
“Nightblade,” Taliko answered.
“What’s a Nightblade?” Jonas snapped.
“Just as the unicorns are to horses, the Cree are to wolves. Nightblade is their chieftain. Cunning. Powerful. And shortly after Casey was delivered to you, he came through the gate on a mission to slay her. The Maker and I thought we had destroyed the beast, but it appears we were mistaken.”
“The Maker?” Jonas’s eyes widened. “Mae? You and Mae fought this creature? And where was I during all this? Why didn’t you come for me? Why didn’t she come for me?”
Taliko took a deep breath. “It is the true story of my coming, not the lie you have believed since our meeting.”
“Lie?” Jonas echoed. “You mean the story about Mae sneaking you through the gate to bring me our baby?”
Taliko nodded.
Jonas looked about the grove for a moment, taking in the smashed shelter and upturned earth that hinted at a frenzied battle with many combatants. His eyes lingered on the oversized lizardling impaled at the top of the grove wall.
Then he looked at Casey, resting comfortably near Taliko, who was not without injuries—some of them serious, by the look of his damaged tail.
Feeling much of the anger drain from him, he took a seat on the dais near his daughter’s head. With Taliko stationed at her feet, the duo formed a pair of wistful bookend guardians. “I can’t be too surprised, I suppose,” he grumbled, “Not after lying to Casey myself all these years.”
Jonas paused to glance down at his daughter with a warm smile. “Reckon I do understand the need for secrets sometimes, and the power they can have over you.”
