The Unfinished Song - Book 6: Blood (15 page)

The entrance to the place he sought was hidden by a wall of briar, which made him pay for passage with a dozen cuts from knife-like thorns
. Those were merely annoying. It was the scorpions, nasty little black things, smaller than a thumb, which were deadly. Vio killed three of them and flung away several more with the end of this staff.

Behind the thorns was the Pass of Sneezes. Only two amblers abreast could squeeze between the sheer walls of striated orange rock that led into the Hidden Canyon. Halfway through, there was a spot where even one man found it hard to squirm between the
stone walls. Vio knew the secret, which was to climb up two spans and then down again. He was nimble enough, still, to manage this. He grinned.

Old Hoof, indeed! He’d like to see Hegaro do
that
.

Past the Narrows, he wrapped his mantle around his mouth and nose. From above, a strange red snow floated down upon him. Despite the cloth, the pepper flakes made him cough. His eyes stung, and the pain increased until he had more tears streaking his cheeks than an auntie at a funeral. His precautions meant that he could still breathe, however painfully, and he jogged forward until he outpaced the pepper snow and burst into a bucolic river valley, secluded by steep slopes that formed a perfect bowl. A lake pooled at the center of the basin, and, on many sides, lovely waterfalls descended the cliffs to feed the lake. Goats grazed the meadows of the bowl in the distance, too far away for Vio to judge their size. There were no buildings in the valley; the houses were carved out of the crater wall itself. Without doubt,
those cliff dwellings had been made by Aelfae, but the denizens of the valley in this age were human.

Archers encircled Vio with a hedge of arrows. Of course they had known since he entered the briars that he was coming. Members of their clan had shaken the pepper flakes down on him. Vio pulled away the material hiding his face and held his arms out to indicate he intended no harm. The archers barked orders at him, and he let them march him deeper into the valley to one of the dwellings in the cliffs.

A crowd gathered around the perimeter of warriors. Children squealed and pointed; maidens covered their lips and giggled; old aunties speculated about how many women a man of his stature had bedded and how many children he had fathered. They dressed in orange, thickly embroidered with black cord-work. The women wore multiple skirts over their legwals in the Orange Canyon style. Unlike other Orange Canyon folk, however, whose attire was strictly regulated by caste, feathers never mixing with fleece, these men and women had feather collars fringing their fleece capes.

Their chieftess was a mature woman with black eagle feathers braided in her salt-and-pepper hair. She wore seven skirts and a crown of seven ram horns. Her face was beautiful like old leather, stained and textured, softened by time. He remembered when that skin had been smooth and clear, but he did not think her less magnificent now. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

“Teeva the True Star, Chieftess of Hidden Crater,” he said gravely. “I am honored to once again stand in the presence of the children of the Raven Maiden.”

“A pity you’ll never leave,” scoffed the sept leader of the archers, a bright-eyed young man who puffed out his chest. “Alive.”

His band of archers laughed.

Vio felt his heart sink. He did not want to hurt these people. Nor fight them; they were fierce warriors. But if he had to take what he needed by force, he would do so. Of course, he’d have to escape the valley and summon his army first….

“Keep your silence and be mistaken for wise rather than bark your foolishness to the world, Bello,” reproved Teeva the True Star. “You do not know to whom you speak.”

Bello rolled his eyes. Vio apprehended from this exchange of reprimand and response that Bello was Teeva’s son; that she loved him but found him vexatious and impatient; while he deemed her overly cautious and tedious. Vio smiled to himself. If fate had woven his life differently, when Teeva had made her demand all those years ago, Bello might have been
his
son. Teeva had been feisty and quite vexatious herself in those days. He doubted that Teeva had ever told her son
that
story.

Teeva snapped her fingers, and the bowmen lowered their weapons.

“Maze Zavaedi,” she said. “Have you come to help us fight the Black Well?”

The humans seemed to have accepted that the half-breed girl belonged to them, as some sort of capering Fool, so Vessia gave in to the inevitable and allowed her to trail after them.

They arrived at the Guest House after seventy paces of eternity. Vessia showed the others the bed mats softened with blankets, and the bowls rich with nuts, with dried meat and with black, frozen potatoes. Four buildings (two elongated and two squat) surrounded a courtyard created by two deep steps of depressed earth, one within the other. The lowest level was paved with flat stones. A cistern provided water. The rectangular design mimicked the Great House on the other mountain, where Xerpen himself lived.

It was impressive in its way, but all so very human.

“Are we really meant to sleep here?” Hest asked. “Why can’t we just camp under the stars as we usually do?”

Vessia shrugged. “It’s Xerpen’s idea. It earns the respect of the humans to behave as if we were powerful and wealthy in their understanding of the terms.”

“Who cares about impressing humans?” demanded Kia. She gave the human girl a vindictive little pinch, which Kia imagined Vessia didn’t notice.

Vessia noticed but didn’t say anything directly. She told the human, “My blankets need to be folded.”

They didn’t, but the girl scurried over at once and refolded the blankets. She glanced at Vessia from under her eyelashes.

The other Aelfae sat down to eat. The food provided was one thing they appreciated without reserve. While they were distracted, the human girl nudged closer to Vessia.

“Do you have something to say to me?” Vessia asked.

The human girl darted a look at the others. “Vessia, you aren’t
really
helping the Bone Whistler are you? What about Vio? What about Kavio?”

“Who is the Bone Whistler?” Vessia asked. “Who are Vio and Kavio?”

The girl’s jaw dropped.

There was no mistake. Vessia had no idea who the Bone Whistler was. She had no idea who Dindi was. She had no clue, even, that she was married and had a son.

“He’s taken your memory. Again!”

“What are you talking about? He has restored my memory!” Vessia raised her voice sharply and the other Aelfae turned around.

“What’s wrong?” asked Mrigana.

“This human girl is badgering me with strange questions. Tricks!”

“No, no,” said Dindi. “I wouldn’t say
tricks
.”

“Ruses.”

“
Not
ruses…”

“Lies,” said Vessia.

“Would you believe…jokes?” Dindi smiled weakly.

Kia jumped to her feet. She’d been waiting for her chance to kill Dindi, and perhaps she saw it. “She’s done nothing but lie since we met her! She claimed to be an Aelfae!”

“I
am
descended from the Aelfae! On my mother’s side. Yes, I have human blood too. But I’m not your enemy. I came here to help you.”

“Xerpen said you have no magic at all,” said Vessia.

Kia snorted. “Magic? She’s not even a good
clown
.”

“Shouldn’t you be less worried about me and more about the Traitor among you?” Dindi asked.

“I agree with Kia. For a clown, she’s not very funny,” said Mrigana. “Let’s not be too quick to abandon the idea of killing her.”

And Mriganna had been so nice before.

“Let me do it,” said Kia eagerly.

“No,” said Hest, “If we
must
do it, I’d better be the one. I can make it merciful.”

“No one’s going to kill her,” said Vessia. “We aren’t murderers. But I think I know why Xerpen gave her to us as a slave—”

“A
clown
,” corrected Dindi.

“—
she mustn’t run free, she knows too much about us. So we will have to take turns watching her over the next three days.”

“But she’s right about the Traitor,” said Gwidan. “The Traitor helped the Deathsworn escape. How do we know the same won’t happen again?”

“We’ll watch her in pairs. Yastara and Lothlo, Gwidan and Kia—”

“I’d like to take watch with Kia,” said Mrigana.

Vessia shrugged. “Very well. Gwidan and Hest, Kia and Mrigana. Yastara and Lothlo, you’ll have her first.”

“Marvelous.” Lothlo and Yastara rolled their eyes at each other.

Dindi didn’t think it was marvelous, either. She didn’t like that Mrigana and Kia, who both seemed eager to kill her, would be taking watch at the same time. At least it would not be the first watch.

“What happens in three days?” asked Yastara.

“We dance again,” said Vessia. “With our full power this time. Xerpen needs our help to complete the
tama
which will resurrect the rest of the Aelfae.”

“No!” said Dindi so forcefully they all turned to rebuke her with their incredulous gazes.

She stood straighter. One bark breast-cone pointed up, the other had slid to the side. A thick painted smile crinkled over her cheeks. A boot teetered on top of her head. She wore a dirty fleece cape shaped like fake wings over a silken Aelfae dress and men’s sheepskin boots several times too big for her.

“Xerpen is not the friend you think he is. He is wicked, and he is deceiving you. He will try to convince you that the only way to resurrect the Aelfae is through blood and darkness. He means to stir up war between the Aelfae and the humans, which will end in the ruination of both peoples.

“But you don’t need Xerpen. There is one who has stood in a place of power and pledged before all the High Faery Ladies to answer the riddle of the Unfinished Song. There is one who is already sworn to help you end Death’s Curse and restore your people to Faearth.
I
will be your champion.
I
will fight for you.
I
am your hero.”

Vessia and Mrigana, Hest and Gwidan, Yastara and Lothlo: they all blinked at her; then at each other; then at her.

And burst out laughing.

“I take it back,” said Kia, wiping the tears from her eyes. She slapped Dindi on the back. “You
do
make a good clown.”

The next morning, Vio returned to his men, astride a mount, as he had promised, with a whole herd behind him—as he had promised. Bello and two septs of Hidden Crater archers accompanied him, to keep an eye on the animals, which were a loan not a gift. Teeva the True Star had been firm on that point.

Vio’s warriors stared at him in shock. None knew what to say. Gidio nudged Danumoro.

“You ask. He won’t kill
you
.”

“Vio,” blurted Danumoro. “What
is
that thing?”

The “thing” bleated.

“It’s a goat, obviously.” Vio grinned. “A nanny goat.”

“But it’s as large as a horse!” said Gidio.

“It wouldn’t be much use to a man as a steed otherwise, would it?” Vio asked. He waved behind him. “I brought enough for all our Tavaedies.”

Danu and Gideo exchanged a look of dismay. This designation included them.

“He doesn’t seriously expect us to ride
goats
?” Gidio whispered loudly to Danumoro.

“I fear he does.”

Vio laughed. “Get your riding blankets and hoops out, Tavaedies. We’re riding to war!”

“Scampering to war, more like,” Danumoro muttered under his breath, but Vio affected not to hear him.

Finnadro was gratified to find his vision had returned completely by the time he woke up, but mortified to see the sun already sinking. He had wasted the whole day on sleep! He muttered invectives against the Healer.

He was still dressed at least. He hurried out of the lodge and found Amdra and Hawk in the yard. They were not speaking to one another or even facing one another. Both were listening to the sound of drums and dancing in the distance.

“Another Offering?” Finnadro asked.

“The Aelfae’s first dance for the tribe,” said Amdra.

“Why aren’t you there?”

“Do I look Aelfae to you?”

“But…”

“I don’t feel much like dancing. But you should go. Xerpen would be glad to see you.”

Finnadro shook his head. “I cannot face him until I can look him in the eye and swear I know that the Henchman of the Black Lady is dead.”

“He’s dead. How could he have survived that fall?”

“If he fell, his body must be in the arroyo; and if he’s dead, he’ll not have gone anywhere, so he should be easy to find. But let me make sure.”