Seeing him there on the floor reminded her of why she had brought Jasana here, why she had bothered, why she cared.
He was so tall. Looking at him like that, stretched out on the floor, his height was so apparent. He was as tall as her mother now, with those tufts of long fur on his ankles and forearms that marked the unnatural aging he had been exposed to far away and some time ago. It seemed so unnatural, and yet it also seemed… proper, to look up into his eyes instead of having them level with hers. He radiated a strength now, an inner strength just like her mother, an aura of unshakability that would intimidate everyone around him.
So many changes, but underneath it all, he was still the same Tarrin. Her Tarrin.
It was unnatural. She knew that it was. It was completely unnatural for her to be so attached to one male, so utterly devoted to him, so ready to spend all of eternity in his company. But she couldn't deny it, even from herself. She loved him, loved him like she never thought she'd love any male, and she would win him. He was angry now, but that would pass. She could be patient. She was more than five hundred years old, so the idea of wearing him down over the course of a year or two didn't seem like a very long time to wait. Jasana would keep him from running away, so she had all the time in the world.
Of course, she wasn't the only one waging war. She had heard much of what had happened between Tarrin and his daughter, and Jesmind had to smile. Jasana was working on him too, trying to make him stay with her, and what was more, trying to break down Tarrin's anger at Jesmind and get him to accept her.
Between Jasana and Jesmind, Tarrin didn't have a chance.
Jesmind smiled warmly at her fractured little family, unable to resist the scene. She padded over and laid down on the other side of Jasana, curling up with them, feeling for the first time that her life had been completed. She had her daughter, and now she had her Tarrin. Even if he wasn't very happy with her, she knew, she felt, she was certain that he would forgive her and accept her once again. Until then, she would be content with what she could get, even if it meant curling up with him and their daughter while he was unaware.
Closing her eyes, she immersed herself in the scents and sensations of family, and then drifted off to sleep.
To: Title EoF
Chapter 23
Sunrise.
Usually it was the beginning of a new day, but to Tarrin, it represented the dawning of another chapter of his life, and one which he was not entirely prepared to accept.
Tarrin sat on the porch rail on the east side of the house, whose door faced north, watching the sun rise in relative silence, with only the chirping of the birds to interrupt the continuity of quiet. Jasana and Jesmind were still asleep, still laying on the floor in the house, and that had been the first shock of the day. Jesmind had made herself very comfortable with him and their daughter while he was asleep, and her scent had conjured up dreams not entirely suited for sleeping next to his young daughter. If that hadn't been bad enough, he had felt a curious softness inside him when he had opened his eyes and looked at Jesmind's face across from him. When she was sleeping, when she was at peace and at rest, the hardness that limned over her face and eyes was gone, revealing the true radiant beauty that she possessed. Tarrin had been moved by that beauty, a beauty that had both haunted him and aggravated him since the day she abandoned him.
He wasn't prepared to give in to that quite yet. He was still utterly furious with his former mate, and looking at her like that, remembering how lovely she was and how good it felt when they-
Tarrin shook his head, shivered his tail, then looked back at the rising sun. There were other matters than Jesmind and Jasana to deal with, though they did occupy the majority of his thoughts. It had been eleven days since the Goddess had told him that the ki'zadun would be moving. That meant that they had been on the move for six days. Six days. That put them somewhere between Draconia and Tykarthia, and that meant that soon the Dal army in Sulasia was going to be moving to set up the trap that would destroy the Sulasian army not garrisonned in Suld. Tarrin's primary concern was Suld, but he also couldn't see just giving up on his countrymen sitting out there waiting for the jaws to clamp shut around their throats. Tarrin was behind the Dal army, and that was something that Keritanima had told him over and over was the best place to be when attacking an armed formation. He was still determined to reach Suld, but this was what the Goddess had meant when she said he would know when he could break the rules. She said he would know when it happened, and it had happened.
The Goddess had sent him on this path so he could be reunited with Jesmind and meet his daughter. The part about the daughter, he very much was happy over. The part with Jesmind was not. He didn't understand what significance they played in the grand design, but he had faith that the Goddess knew what was best. She hadn't been wrong yet.
That gave him free reign. He could move any way he wished, and that meant that he could now fly to Suld; or, more to the point, fly to wherever the Dal army was at at the moment in Sulasia. Probably around Ultern, or maybe even Jerinhold. The problem was that he didn't have an army. He only had himself, and though his magic was indeed potent, it couldn't defeat an entire army by itself. He'd have two or maybe three really powerful spells, spells that would kill off a sizable chunk of the enemy army, but he wouldn't be able to do any more than that. He'd need an army working with him to take advantage of the damage he could cause, to pour into that hole in the ranks and split the enemy army in two, then crush it.
If he could extricate the Sulasian army from its mess, that was that many more men that could defend Suld. Suld was what mattered right now. If he had to throw away the rest of Sulasia in the process, then so be it.
That meant that he needed help. He had to either dig up or divert some people to use as an army, but he had to gather an army that could move fast enough to hit the Dals and still make it to Suld in time to fend off the ki'zadun. Cavalry, Rangers, mounted warriors-
– -or Selani.
Selani. Of course! The Selani moved so fast, they could hit the Dals from behind, free the Sulasian army from its trap, and still reach Suld in time to battle the ki'zadun! Sarraya was bringing them in a direct straight line to Suld, and that put them on a perfect line for Ultern if they came out of the Frontier. Keritanima said that they'd probably set the trap at the Scar, to pin the Sulasians against something that they couldn't cross, so that meant that any time now the Dals would be retreating north, and that would probably cause the Sulasians to give chase. Or maybe the Dals would drive the retreating Sulasian army north, depending on who had the upper hand. Either way, he knew where they were going, and with some confirmation and planning, he could set a trap inside a trap.
North. No, that wouldn't work. The Sulasians wouldn't abandon the Ultern Road, that ran from Ultern to Suld. There wasn't anything up in the nothern sections of Sulasia worth defending, so the Sulasian army wasn't going to abandon the three largest cities in Sulasia to chase after the invading army. So how were they going to set the trap to crush the Sulasian army? The Dals could only try to drive them north, but the Sulasians wouldn't go north. They would retreat west, back towards Suld, and that was the last direction the Dals wanted them to go. How were the Dals going to get the Sulasians in a position where they would be pinioned between two armies?
North? No. South.
Tarrin stood up. The Shacean Marquis were fractured, all but independent states within Shace. The Shacean border was much closer to Ultern than the northern border was. Could the Dals be getting support from rogue Shacean nobles, or maybe even their own army coming through Shacean lands?
It made much more sense. He knew for a fact that the Dals and the Sulasians were fighting house to house in Ultern, thanks to the reports Jenna relayed to him. They were out of position to be crushed, and the Sulasian army was too close to Suld for them to be considered out of action. That meant that the Dals and the ki'zadun had to have some kind of plan to neutralize the Sulasian army, but what was it? Were they going to try to keep the Sulasians engaged until it was too late for them to break off and rush west to defend Suld? Were they going to try to march troops in from Shace to flank the Sulasians and break their supply lines?