Hatchling (Tameron and the Dragon) (15 page)

"Let me protect you, Dorena," Tam said. "I won't be too proud to strike him from behind if I get the chance. I don't plan to die or even get hurt. I want to come back here and know we can live here without having to be afraid all the time." He shook for a moment, feeling the acrid taste of poison on his lips from one of his nightmares. "Do you want Jorry to grow up working himself to death to make Tigran rich? Or let Honnold get him?"

That worked. She sighed, wiped her eyes, and gave him a small jar with a stopper. "Take this, too. It's sal
ve made from fireweed, and good for burns."

Then Jorry came in with a small load of kindling. "Where are you going, Da? I want to go with you!"

"No, lad, not this time. Perhaps in a month or so, when the weather's better," Tam said. It made him feel warm inside when the child called him that. He vowed to earn it.

He looked out the door the boy had left open. It was a bright, sunny day. Snow-melt might make the path more treacherous, and he'd have to watch his step.

"Tam, come back safely," Marysa said. She went outside with him to show him the way. "Don't get hurt. If you don't find a chance to do it, come back and try again later. I won't think any less of you."

He smiled, glad she was so concerned for him. "When I return, he'll be dead. His own greed will destroy him."

Marysa walked him to the beginning of the trail to Bogatay, marked by blazes on the trees on either side of it, then went back. Tam began his journey trudging through the soft, deep snow.

He suddenly heard hoof
-beats, and ran back to the cabin. He'd waited too long. If only he'd gone yesterday, or the day before. He rushed inside. Jorry hid in a chest out in the barn, while Tam barred the back doors. Dorena pulled out long kitchen knives for her and Marysa to hold. Tam put the chair against the front door, drew his sword, and wrapped the cloak around his left arm for a makeshift shield. He peered out of a nearly closed shutter.

Two men on horses
rode through the forest and towards the house.
Honnold wouldn't need anyone else if I weren't here,
Tam thought. He whispered, "Keep one busy while I go after the other. I'll finish him off as quickly as I can, and help you with the second."

The women nodded silently. Then Dorena said, "Tam, you and Marysa can be bound together after death if we don't live through this." She took her daughter's hand and laid it on top of Tam's arm underneath the cloak. "I'm the eldest member of the family present," she continued. "We don't have a candle flame, a bowl of water, or a clod of earth, but we have this window for air to witness your oaths, even if it's half-shut. There's a lot more to the ceremony, but we don't have time. Tam, do you take Marysa for your life partner, to love, to cherish, and everything else?"

"Yes," he gasped. Even though this marriage might be short, he didn't care.

"Marysa, do you take Tam for your life part--" Dorena's voice was cut short by her daughter's whoop of joy. One of the men suddenly flung back his hood and revealed his face.

They were close enough that Tam saw the fellow's dark hair, beard, and a pair of piercing blue eyes. Like Jorry's. Marysa ripped her hand away from Tam's arm, dragged the chair away from the door, and flung herself out into the yard. "Jarrett, Jarrett, I never thought I'd see you again!"

The other man pulled back his own head gear to show gray hair and a short gray beard. Dorena's face lit up with joy, and she followed her daughter out the door to the horsemen.

Tam stood there, stunned with shock. His chest hurt, as if someone had torn out his heart. He numbly sheathed his sword and watched them.

Aylar--it had to be him, Dorena was too happy for the man to be anyone else--dismounted and led his horse around to the barn. Tam went through the inner door and unbarred the doorway to the stalls. Jorry
climbed out of his chest and jumped into his grandfather's arms, babbling about everything he'd done since who knew when. "We don't have much time," the older man said gruffly. "We aren't the only ones on the road. We barely avoided them when we crossed the outskirts of Bogatay."

"Who?" Tam asked. He felt shaky, but tried hard not to show any weakness.

"You're still alive! Good. That damn mage and two of his bullies are on their way here. I told Jarrett about you, and we both hoped you were still alive and could stand with us. It won't hurt to have another sword when they show up. I hope you can use that thing."

"Dorena!" Aylar shouted through the inner door into the cabin. "You, Marysa, and Jorry, go hide near the privy. They won't look there first. Drop the boy in if they come close. Better to have him smell than to let him fall into their hands."

The women and the boy left. Jarrett walked in and said, "There you are. We'll all take up positions around the house, but not inside. They'll waste time attacking it, while we strike them from behind."

Tam hated him on sight, but listened anyway. As long as Marysa and her kin were in danger, he'd cooperate.

Jarrett directed Tam to hide behind the woodpile at the side of the house, while he and Aylar became part of two clumps of high, snow-covered brush on either side of the clearing in front of the door. The younger man took out a bow and some arrows, but didn't ask if Tam knew how to use them.

Just as well,
Tam thought. He didn't know which way he'd aim if forced to choose between the mage and Jarrett. He heard more hoof-beats, and crouched down out of the wind behind the stack of firewood.

Three men rode into the clearing. One got down and looked at the prints left by Aylar and Jarrett's mounts. "They're here," the man said. "At least their horses are." Then he edged away to one side.

The leader pulled back his cowl and smiled. He was heavy and dark-haired, with a curly black mustache and no beard. "I thought I sensed
him
again, along with the old one. How convenient to have them all together!" He gazed at the door. "Come out, come out, wherever you are. You can't hide from me. I know you're here. Why, if you send Marysa out first I may be generous and let the rest of you live."

Tam gritted his teeth in anger and began to rise, so he could rush out and pierce the wizard through with his blade. Then he heard noise behind him.

The man who'd checked the hoof-prints drew his sword and lunged at him. Tam threw a piece of wood and started to draw his sword, then fell to the ground as the second man tackled him from behind. He struggled, but stopped when the first man held the point of his sword against his ribs.
Your enemies won't stop,
came the old woman's whisper in his mind, along with a ghostly prick of pain against his throat.

The second man dragged Tam out to the clearing, while the first one followed them, the sword he'd taken from Tam in his other hand.

"They told me you were dead!" the mage said, who looked angry.

Tam tried to
wrench his sword-arm free, but the second man pulled it behind his back. He
knew
better than this! He never should have been caught so easily!

Aylar spoke from his hiding place. "Don't hurt my son!"

Of course! The mage must think he was Darin. A good thing he'd tied the strings on his hood, or they'd see how different his coloring was. His eyebrows were probably darker than usual from his fall into the dirt by the woodpile. Tam defiantly glared up at Tigran and shouted, "Leave my sister alone!"

"You idiot. Now you're going to lose everything. I gave you all a chance to behave sensibly, and you threw it away." Tigran's face went red. "I'm tired of being so generous. Tell me where the little boy is, and he won't get hurt. Keep him hidden and he'll die along with the rest of you."

"I don't think so," said Jarrett, who rose out of his blind with an arrow fitted to his bow. "The Guardian herself said Marysa was free of her ties to Lord Honnold. Your little game is over. Let us all go, or pay the price."

"You're bluffing," the wizard said, then motioned to his soldiers. "Take this overgrown brat to the window so the women will see,
and kill him. Maybe they'll be reasonable once they know I'm not bluffing."

Tam twisted out of his captor's grip, butted him in the stomach with his head, and hoped the other one wouldn't move fast enough to stop him. The man who'd held him bent over gasping for air, while the other one howled with pain as an arrow with white fletching pierced his right shoulder. Tam ran for the woods,
and then circled back when it appeared no one was after him. Now he was unarmed. He bent down and started making snowballs with the wettest snow he could without moving from cover. A pity he couldn't find any stones to put in the center, but there were enough lumps of ice to sting if he had to throw them.

"Very impressive," Tigran said, then yawned. "This has gone on long enough." He made a gesture, and the arrow in his henchman's shoulder disappeared. The other man stanched his comrade's wound.

"I am basically a kind man," the mage continued. "You will call the women and Lord Honnold's son out of the house now. If you don't move fast enough, I'll set the place on fire and they can come out on their own. Your choice."

"I'm not lying about the Guardian, mage," Jarrett said, then spat on the ground. "I have a letter with her seal on it."

Tam's head suddenly ached. Of course it hurt. He'd jammed it against the guard's ribs when he'd been going for the gut. The Guardian...he couldn't remember what she looked like, but knew she was kind...

Tigran frowned. "Then we must make sure she hears no tales. The good woman labors so diligently to maintain the proper relationship with the Earth spirit. It'd be wrong to bother her over such minor mundane matters." He began chanting a spell. The snow around his horse's hooves started melting.

He brought his arms around as if gathering energy to destroy the cabin. Tam threw his snowball directly at the wizard's head. Tigran coughed and sputtered. "Damn you, brat, I'll make sure you burn for half a day before I let you die!"

First you have to find me,
Tam thought, as he circled to the left, more snowballs in the crook of his arm.

Jarrett fitted another arrow to his bow and said, "The first man who leaves this clearing falls with one of my arrows in him."

Tigran grimly turned back towards the cabin and raised his hands, while his henchmen glared at Jarrett. A fireball blazed in front of the wizard, which flew towards the small building.

It suddenly vanished. The ma
ge opened his mouth to shout, but his face turned nearly purple as if something choked him.

Then he gasped for breath and became dead white as if all the blood had drained from him. His eyes went blank, and he spoke in a different voice. "Justice will be done," Tigran said, though he sounded more like an old woman.

Tam
knew
that voice! The woman with no face!

"Yes, justice will be done. This family will be allowed to live in peace. Lord Honnold has pledged his word on it. Anyone, and I mean
anyone
, who violates this compact will be called before a tribunal and punished. Even a mage. Those who help will be considered equally guilty."

The mage turned ashen gray and slumped in the saddle. The two ruffians who acted in his name
climbed on their horses, one with some difficulty, and led the mage between on the path back to Bogatay. Jarrett kept his bow trained on them till they were gone. Tam was glad they'd left his sword behind on the ground.

As soon as they were gone, he went to the privy to see if the women were safe. Jarrett
ran there first, and was embracing Marysa before Tam could stop him. From what he saw, she didn't want anybody else.

Th
e family went into the cabin. Tam picked up the sword and sheathed it, though he’d have to dry and oil it soon. As he went inside, Dorena brought out food and drink out for everyone. The talk between Aylar, Jarrett and Marysa washed over Tam like an avalanche, even when the younger man complimented him on the well-thrown snowball. The bowman was clearly Jorry's father by his coloring, while Marysa fluttered near the fellow like a moth to a flame. Tam sat on a bench in a corner. There was no room at the small table for him.

Jarrett looked down at his plate and made a face. "Is this all you have?" he asked, apparently considering his portion too small.

Dorena frowned. "It hasn't been an easy year," she said. "We were hoping to make it through this winter without slaughtering any of the cows."

Tam knew that task would have been a lot easier without his own appetite. Then Jarrett pulled out a pouch that looked heavy. "I brought home lots of food in my saddlebags, but Aylar and I ate it all when we were trapped in the snow cave. But I have enough coins to make sure none of us go hungry till next fall harvest. So let's have all we can, and rejoice together!"

Dorena offered him sympathy when she brought him some bread, covered with preserved fruit. Tam shook his head. "She never looked at me the way she does at
him
," he said quietly. He gave up hope she ever would.

Jarrett boasted of humiliating both Honnold and his pet mage,
and then showed everyone the paper with the Guardian's personal seal on it. "You should have seen how Honnold cowered before the truth when I accused him of his evil deeds," he bragged. "Even a boy like the Protector's son could see the sense of my case. He's got almost the same coloring as you do, lad. Your mother ever go to Kelemath during Midsummer Festival?"