“That’s okay. I don’t dance,” he said.
“You will,” I promised.
Valek cleared his throat. “Touching as this is, we need to go. Your Story Weaver is providing us with some soldiers to aid against Alea’s people. We’re to rendezvous with them at dawn. I take it your brother…”
“Leif.” I filled in.
“…is coming along?”
“Of course,” Leif said.
“No,” I said at the same time. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Mother wouldn’t like it.”
“And I wouldn’t be able to face her wrath if I didn’t stay and help.” Leif crossed his arms over his chest. His square jaw set into a stubborn line.
“Your mother sounds like a formidable woman,” Valek said into the silence.
“You have no idea,” Leif replied with a sigh.
“Well, if she’s anything like Yelena, my deepest sympathies,” Valek teased.
“Hey!”
Leif laughed and the tense moment dissipated.
Valek handed Leif his machete. “Do you know how to use it?”
“Of course. I chopped Yelena’s bow into firewood,” Leif joked.
“You took me by surprise. I didn’t want to hurt you,” I shot back.
Leif looked dubious.
“How about a rematch?”
“Anytime.”
Valek stepped between us. “I’m beginning to wish that you were an orphan, love. Can you both manage to focus on the task at hand without trying to catch up on fourteen years of sibling rivalry?”
“Yes,” we said in unison, properly chastised.
“Good. Then let’s go.”
“Where?” I asked.
“In keeping with his cryptic nature, all your Story Weaver said was, ‘The horses know where to go.’” Valek shrugged. “It’s certainly not a military strategy I would use, but I’ve learned that the south uses its own strategy. And, strangely enough, it works.”
The horses did know where to go, and, as the sun rose over the plains, we encountered a group of Sandseed soldiers on a rocky outcropping surrounded by tall grass. A dozen men and six women dressed in leather armor and equipped with either scimitars or spears waited. They had painted red streaks on their faces and arms, creating an impressively fierce countenance.
There were no other horses. Valek and I jumped off Kiki and Leif dismounted Rusalka to join us. The two horses began to graze. I shivered in the cold morning air, feeling naked without my bow, wishing I had another weapon besides my switchblade.
Moon Man greeted us. He had dressed like his clansmen, but he was armed with his scimitar and a bow. The bow he held was no ordinary staff of ebony wood. It had been carved with symbols and animals, revealing a gold-colored wood under the black surface. And I felt that, if I could just stare at it long enough, the carvings may reveal a story. I shook my head, trying to stay focused on Moon Man’s words.
“I sent a scout last night,” Moon Man said. “He found the blood-letting apparatus in the Void just as Yelena described. Then he tracked the Daviian Vermin to a campsite about a mile east of that location. We are on the edge of the plains about two miles north of that site.”
“We’ll wait until dark and launch a surprise attack,” Valek said.
“That will not work,” Moon Man said. “The Vermin have a shield that will alert them to intruders. My scout could not get too close to their camp for fear of discovery.” Moon Man appeared to scan the horizon. “They have strong Warpers, who can hide their whereabouts from our magic.”
“Warpers?” Leif asked.
Moon Man frowned. “Magicians. I refuse to call them Story Weavers for they manipulate the threads for their own selfish desires.”
I glanced at the group of Sandseeds, noting again the array of weapons. “You don’t plan to use your magic?”
“No.”
“And you don’t plan to take prisoners?”
“That is not the Sandseed way. The Vermin must be exterminated.”
I wanted to neutralize the threat of Alea, but I didn’t want to kill her. Esau’s vial of Curare still remained in my backpack. Perhaps I could paralyze her and take her back to the Keep’s cells.
“How are you going to prevent the Daviians from using their magic?” Valek asked.
A dangerous glint flashed in Moon Man’s eyes. “We move the Void.”
“You can do that?” I asked, surprised.
“The blanket of power can be repositioned only with the utmost care. We will center the blanket’s hole directly over the Vermin’s camp and then we will attack.”
“When?” Valek asked.
“Now.” Moon Man walked over to his soldiers.
“I’d hoped to use the Sandseeds as a distraction,” Valek said to me in a low whisper. “This will work. Once Alea is dead, we leave. This isn’t our fight.”
“I think capture and incarceration would be a harsher punishment for her,” I said.
Valek studied me for a moment. “As you wish.”
Moon Man’s group shouted a war cry, then disappeared into the tall grass. He came back to us. “They will position themselves around the camp. The signal to attack will be when the Void is in place. You are to come with me.” He glanced at the three of us. “You need weapons. Here.”
He tossed his bow to me. I caught it in my right hand.
“That is yours. A gift from Suekray.”
“Who?”
“A horsewoman of our clan. You must have made an impression on her. Her gifts are as rare as the snow. Your story is etched into it.”
Mother, Kiki said with approval. And I remembered the short-haired Sandseed woman who had taken Kiki for a ride the day I had met with the elders.
I marveled at the bow. The balance and thickness felt perfect in my hand, and, despite the carvings, the black wood remained smooth and strong. By the time I pulled my eyes from the beauty of the bow, I saw that Valek clutched a scimitar and Leif wielded his machete.
“Let us go.”
I took off my cloak and made a few quick preparations before we followed Moon Man into the tall grass.
From our position near the Daviian camp, I could see some activity around their tents and campfire. The air hovering over their site seemed to shimmer and it distorted the images of the people inside as if a massive pocket of heat had been trapped over them.
The grasses of the plateau grew in small clumps and had turned brown from lack of rain. I crouched with Valek behind a small bush. Leif and Moon Man were five hundred feet to our right huddled in a slight depression. I wondered how the other Sandseeds had fared in finding hiding spots. The Daviians had chosen a wide-open area for their camp and cover was minimal.
I felt the hair raise on my arms as power pressed against my skin. Seeking out with my awareness, I felt Moon Man and three other magicians tug the blanket of power. They applied equal pressure so the blanket would not gather in one location, but would move smoothly. Their magical abilities impressed me, and I thought, if I did stay in Sitia, the Sandseeds would make powerful teachers.
The Void’s arrival felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs. My awareness of my surroundings reduced to the mundane senses of sight, smell and sound. Before I could adapt to my magical loss, another war cry sounded. The signal to attack the camp.
I jumped to my feet and followed Valek toward the camp. And stopped dead in my tracks when the scene in front of me registered in my mind.
The Daviians shield had been destroyed and, with it, the illusion. Instead of a few people milling about the campfire, there stood over thirty. Instead of a handful of tents, there were rows and rows of them. Granted most of the Vermin stared in shock at the loss of their magic, but we were outnumbered four to one.
Too late to retreat. We had the element of surprise and nineteen battle-thirsty Sandseeds, who cut wide bloody swaths through the Daviians. I could see Moon Man’s bald head above the fighting, and Leif’s powerful strikes kept a couple Daviians busy. Valek shot me a grim look. Find Alea, he mouthed to me before joining in the fray.