Gorinthians Read online

  "Don't tell me we have another Elemental behind us,” Des said, half seriously.

  "No," Ferrich said as he swung around the bed and began pulling his boots up. "I think that there are some soldiers about an hour away, though."

  "How many?” Des asked quietly.

  "Close to a hundred,” Ferrich replied, grunting as he pulled his pack on. "They split their forces twice, once when they reached the first road, and again when they reached the main road."

  "Go wake up Seranova,” Des told him, still talking quietly. "Jesha and I will purchase some horses and meet you out front in half an hour."

  Jesha could feel Ferrich's reluctance as they left his room, almost as strongly as she could feel his attraction to Des. She could not feel anything at all from Des, except that she was there. She must have learned to hide her feelings from the strange sense that Jesha had, as well as from her face.

  They made their way down the stairs and through the common room to the front door without meeting anyone. As they entered the street out front, the sky to the west was just beginning to lighten. Jesha wondered if Des knew she could sense things without her eyes. "Do you know where they will be selling horses at?” she asked Des in a soft voice. She had learned in the village that speaking softly made her seem younger, matching her physical size.

  "Just follow the smell,” Des instructed her, just as softly. "Stables always have a strong enough smell to guide you to them from anywhere in a town this small."

  Jesha looked around at the large two-story buildings around them, wondering what a large city must look like if this was a small town. There were several people beginning to make their way into the street as the western horizon continued to grow lighter. Des led her down a side street where the buildings began to change from stone to thick timbers that had only one floor. They followed the side road until they came to the outer edge of the town where they found a large stable with several horses grazing on lush green grass surrounded by a log fence. A young man was just making his way over to a shack next to the fence when she and Des arrived.

  "Excuse me," Des addressed a young man that probably had not seen his first shave yet, "we would like to purchase four horses."

  The young man stood gaping at Des, unable to say anything for several moments before he finally stuttered several times, asking them to wait a moment while he disappeared back into a large house by the stables. Jesha looked up at Des with an impish smile on her delicate face, "I think that he is smitten."

  "Wonderful,” Des said dryly, unconsciously brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

  Jesha had not really noticed how beautiful Des was before because they had spent all of their time trying staying alive or running, but she did now as the sun crested the mountains to gleam off the dark hair that ran down her back. She was slimly fit with a delicate jaw line that almost looked Zeran, and a fluid way of walking that reminded Jesha of her mother.

  A short, chubby man was exiting the house with the boy closely following. The boy could not seem to keep his eyes off Des and his mouth was still slightly slack. The short, chubby man bowed in front of them. "Master Delton, at your service Mistress,” he said at the bottom of his bow, "I understand that you wish to purchase some horses.” As he unbent, smiling ingratiatingly at Des, his eyes also widened slightly, and he bowed once more. "Forgive me mistress, but you are a woman of rare beauty."

  "Thank you,” Des replied without blushing. "Indeed, I am in need of four horses."

  The two of them walked over to the stables and Master Delton showed her what he said were his finest horses. The two of them haggled for several minutes, with Master Delton finally telling her that for a woman of her beauty, he could accept the counter offer that she had made.

  "Kenthon, get them horses saddled,” Master Delton commanded the young man who was still gawking at Des. When he did not respond to Delton, the chubby man cuffed him on the side of the head. "Come on now, they don't have all day."

  Blushing to the roots of his hair, Kenthon hurried over to the tack room and began pulling saddles and bridles out for the horses. When Des began helping him saddle the horses, both Master Delton and Kenthon protested that she need not trouble herself. Ignoring them, she continued saddling two of them in the time that it took Kenthon and Master Delton to saddle the other one. Handing Master Delton several silver coins, Des led the horses out of the stable and they made their way back to the inn.

  As they made their way through the streets that were quickly filling up with people, Jesha looked at the large horses doubtfully, wondering how she was going to stay on top. Ferrich and Seranova were waiting in front of the inn with their packs at their feet. Ferrich was gesticulating with his hands in front of him as he tried to explain something to Seranova. She watched him with a somewhat resigned expression on her face, commenting occasionally. When she saw them moving toward them, she cut him off, pointing at them. As he turned and saw Des, his face broke into a wide grin that Des could not seem to help returning.

  "Load the packs on this horse," Des told them as she secured her own pack to it. "Jesha and I will ride this one. You two can fight over which one you want."

  Ferrich held his hands out in front of him, miming a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors at Seranova.

  "You go ahead and choose, Ferrich,” Seranova said, shaking her head. "I don't know enough about horses to care which one I ride."

  Ferrich made show of studying the two remaining horses, but Jesha could tell that he knew no more about horses than Seranova did. Des rolled her eyes at Jesha and pulled herself into her saddle. She offered her hand down to Jesha with a smile of encouragement. Swallowing, Jesha took hold of her hand and was pulled up into the saddle in front of Des as if she had no weight at all. Ferrich and Seranova were climbing onto their own mounts, Ferrich having finally grunted in satisfaction at the dark brown mare, as if he found something that differentiated her from the other.

  "Let's ride,” Des said, digging her heels lightly into her horse’s ribs. They walked at a stately pace to the other end of town, where the gate was already open and farmer’s carts were making their way into the town.

  "What is her name?” Jesha asked Des, reaching out to stroke their horse’s neck as they passed through the gate. The guards only looked at them with a cursory glance before moving their gazes on to the rest of the traffic.

  "Why don't you give him a name?” Des suggested, nudging the horse into a gallop as they left the town.

  Jesha creased her forehead together in concentration as she tried to think of a name. A moment later she smiled, "How about Nenstle?"

  "Nenstle?” Des asked, tasting the name. "That sounds good to me."

  "That was my father's name,” Jesha said with a sad smile, "He was strong and graceful like a horse, so I think that he would be happy with the name."

  Des hugged her with her free arm reassuringly as they sped up the road in the morning light. The landscape around them was filled with grassland and occasional stands of sagebrush. A small river paralleled the road as they moved south, toward the distant mountains. Des would stop and walk the horses more frequently than they needed, casting an appraising eye at their two companions that seemed to be riding a horse for the first time. Ferrich had a wooden look on his face, as if he were trying to ignore the jolt on his backside, while Seranova just wore a resigned expression as she bounced around in her saddle.

  "How far is it to Chasel Ri' Aven?” Ferrich called to her, wincing slightly as his mount jumped over a small log in the road.

  "About four days,” Des called back to him with a grin. "By then you should be used to the saddle."

  "By then, my backside will look like a saddle,” Ferrich shouted back as his horse bounced him around.

  Chapter 21

  "Duck!" a voice shouted behind Li as she yawned in front of the fire. At the urgent shout, she immediately dropped flat to the ground, just in time to dodge a horse-sized boulder that flew over where she had been sitting. Slowly
rising into a crouch, Li prepared several shields in case any other obstacles flew at her out of the slowly lightening sky. She reached out with her yar, looking for the cause of the abrupt disruption. She felt Lendel slither over next to her as the others awoke from his shout.

  "You owe me one, sis," Lendel said, nodding toward the spot where Lori was tossing and turning on the ground. They could both feel her yar lashing wildly out of control, followed by chunks of earth that exploded in the distance, and sudden bursts of storm clouds over a ten-foot radius.

  "I would rather owe it to you than cheat you out of it," Li muttered distractedly. She did not even dare to try shielding the strange girl that slept several feet away from her. The raw power that was groping around her would break Li like a reed. A moment later, Lori's yar seemed to shrink around her until it was only reaching out an inch or two. It seemed to twist and writhe, as if it were suddenly trapped and blind.

  "What happened?" Lendel asked in surprise. "Did she do that to herself?"

  "I did it to her," Lochnar's voice replied coldly behind them, causing them both to whirl around in surprise. Neither of them heard him approach from behind and his yar was completely hidden from them. He was swathed in his usual black shroud of clothing, with nothing but his face visible. Li noticed again how alien his face looked, with the strong cheekbones and black eyes that seemed to hold the entire chill of the Mountain winter.

  Looking around, Li noticed that Thistledown, Terrance and Selindria were gone. "Where are the others?" she asked Lochnar in alarm, wondering if Lori had somehow done something to them.

  "They left an hour ago," Lochnar replied shortly, his dark eyes studying Lori's sleeping form. "They will return soon."

  Celdic made his way over to where Li was, glancing curiously at Lori as he passed her. In the light of dawn, they could see that she was younger than she first appeared. She could not have seen more than fourteen years. "What happened?" Celdic asked Lendel, still watching Lori closely. He had slept in his sturdy boots, like the others from Chasel Ri’ Aven. If something attacked them in the night, they did not want to have to defend themselves in their skin.

  "I woke up when Terrance left with Selindria and Thistledown.” Lendel was watching Lochnar as he silently disappeared at the edge of their camp, continuing his interrupted circuit. "A few minutes after they left, Lori started reaching out with her yar in her sleep. At first, it just seemed like she was floundering around without actually grasping anything, but a few minutes ago she changed slightly. Trees started coming out of the ground and a boulder flew over our camp, just about flattening Li.” Lendel looked uncomfortable, "I was going to wake her up earlier, but she looked like she had been through quite an ordeal, so I just tried to keep anything from flying into our camp. I didn't realize that she would be so strong."

  "Next time, just knock her out," Cha'le said dryly as she joined them quietly. "She won't be using her yar if she isn't dreaming."

  Celdic looked at Cha'le disapprovingly, to which she just returned a bland look. Li thought she understood why Cha'le had suggested the most brutal solution. Cha'le had more talents than any other ten women Li knew, and a mind to guide those talents. Matched with her innocent beauty, she should have had everything a woman could want; but for some reason she still had a tendency toward jealousy. Lendel’s obvious concern over the new addition to their party was definitely having an effect on Cha'le as she stared down at Lori dispassionately.

  Jalorm had been sitting on his bedroll watching the exchange with an amused expression. "You know, I think that it is very sweet of Lendel to be so concerned about her.” His tone had the sweetened pitch Li remembered him using to mock her when she had been unable to stick an arrow into him on the combat field.

  Cha'le's cold gaze turned to him, one eyebrow rose, "Would you like us to leave the two of you alone?" she inquired solicitously, her sense of humor acquiring a biting edge to it.

  "I don't think that will be necessary," Jalorm assured her with a mocking smile. "Lendel?" he asked questioningly, patting the bedroll beside him.

  Lendel looked from Cha'le's humorless gaze to Jalorm's twinkling eyes. With a sigh, he turned to Cha'le and leaned close, whispering something in her ear. A moment later, a smile bloomed on her innocent face, and she took his hand, pulling him away from camp behind her. Li never ceased to be amazed at her brother's ability to change Cha'le's mood.

  "Jalorm, one of these days your mouth is going to get you into trouble," Li said in exasperation.

  "Nothing I can't handle, I'm sure," he said confidently. He had always had a high opinion of himself, but he seemed to be worse the last few days. "Why should they-" he broke off as Lori awoke, stretching and yawning.

  She blinked around at them blearily, as if she was not sure what to make of them. "Who are you?" she asked with a puzzled frown on her smooth features.

  "We met last night," Li said, talking slowly. "Don't you remember? You are from a place called Earth."

  Suddenly she was wide-awake, staring around her in alarm. "You mean it wasn't a dream?" She looked around her, from face to face, as they studied her in turn.

  "No, it wasn't a dream," Li assured her. "Are you all right?"

  She flung off her blankets and quickly stood. "No, I am not all right. I need to get back home." She started walking away from their camp, into the thick sagebrush around them.

  Li shared a look with Jalorm and Celdic. Stubborn and stupid, she thought in annoyance, quickly following the girl. "Lori!" she called to the girl fighting her way through the sagebrush. "Lori, wait! It's dangerous out there!"

  Lori ignored her and continued trying to step over some of the smaller sage, tripping more often than not. A moment later, she stepped in a rabbit hole and Li winced as she heard the sharp crack of bone splintering. Lori cried out in pain, falling to the ground to nurse her broken shin. Li felt a flash of admiration for her as she stubbornly rose to her good leg and tried to hobble forward. She winced at each jolt, but her cheeks were clean of the tears that Li knew probably would have been on her own face had they switched places.

  "Lori, please come back," Li pleaded with her. "At least let me look at your ankle. You’re going to make it worse walking on it."

  Without so much as a look back at her, Lori continued hobbling forward, as if ignoring Li was her way of denying the reality around her. Her face was white with strain from trying to ignore the pain, but her jaw was clenched tightly, making her appear more angry than hurt. A second later, she tripped over a piece of sagebrush that was lying across her path. She crashed face first into the ground, followed by a scream of pure rage. Li watched in amazement as the strange shield that Lochnar had trapped her yar with, suddenly hardened as if it were a part of the Physical Realm and then shattered as all of the brush and cedar trees in front of Lori disappeared for as far as the eye could see in a sharp detonation. For a swath twenty feet wide and all the way to the horizon, debris rained down around a suddenly clear path.

  Panting, Lori pushed herself back to her feet and began hobbling forward once more. Li stood rooted to the spot, stunned at the devastation in front of her. Celdic and Jalorm appeared next to her, alerted by the explosion, and were followed a moment later by Lochnar.

  "What happened?" Lochnar demanded angrily, gesturing at Lori's departing back.

  "She wouldn't stay," Li said with a glare at Lochnar. "She broke her ankle in a rabbit hole, and just kept going. Then she fell down again, and did whatever it was that she did."

  Lochnar's brows drew down into a glare so fierce that Li hastily stepped back. Before he could say anything, Terrance appeared out of nowhere. "What's going on?" he asked her quietly.

  Li explained the morning’s adventure quickly to Terrance, who just nodded when she finished and went down the new road Lori had made. It did not take him long to catch up to her limping form. He walked next to her, talking quietly for several minutes, until she finally stopped. He reached down and felt her broken leg, running his finger up an
d down it slowly for a moment and then stood back with his arms folded. She slowly put pressure on it experimentally, then stamped it to the ground a few times in amazement, exclaiming loudly. Finally, the two of them started back toward the camp.

  Looking around, Li realized that she and Celdic were the only ones still standing around watching them, as if it were some kind of show. Turning quickly, she and Celdic went back to the camp. Thistledown and Selindria were making breakfast with the strangely colored sands Terrance carried with him, while Lendel and Cha'le broke the tents down and folded the bedding up.

  "I suppose we could help out too," Li said ruefully, walking over to help load the blanket rolls into the traveler sacks.

  When Terrance came back into the camp with Lori, she walked over to Li. "I am sorry for treating you like that back there,” she said contritely. "I know you were just trying to help. I am just having a really hard time with this."

  Li smiled at her warmly. "I understand. I don't think I would have handled appearing in a strange world nearly as well as you have.” Li held out her hand. "I know you were a little out of sorts last night, so I will introduce myself again. I am Li."

  Ignoring the proffered hand, Lori stepped forward and hugged her. "Thanks for caring, Li."

  Li stood still for a moment, unused to this kind of affection from anyone other than Celdic or her mother. She tentatively reached her arms around Lori and patted her back. "That's what friends are for, right?"