Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)(101)
A woman approached, adorned in an antler crown and carrying a spear that she recognized as kin to Serapio’s bone staff. She was flanked by a half dozen women with painted faces, carrying the same spear. She knew who and what they were.
Nuuma met the spearmaidens in the middle of the field, flanked by her own Shield. Xiala was too far away to hear their conversation. Minutes passed. Five, and then fifteen. The great birds flapped their wings in agitation, wind rippling across the mound top. She could see people gathering at the edges of the grounds, and behind the spearmaidens, through the broad open doors of the palace, figures moving in the interior shadows. Her rider had stayed behind, as had the two rear guards, and she could sense their tension, ready to strike and save their matron should the command come.
Finally, Nuuma turned and spoke their hand language, and Xiala felt her rider relax.
“They are well met,” the woman told her. “All is at peace. The matron goes to feast with our allies now.” She began to maneuver her eagle around.
“Are we not joining them?”
“We will house our mounts just there, over the river.”
Xiala looked. “Just there” was at least five miles away. “Is that safe?” she asked. “I mean, it’s so far. What if there’s trouble?”
Her rider lifted a brow. “Do you expect trouble?”
“Always.”
That earned her a laugh. “Suhtsee and the honor guard will stay here for now, but this mound is no place for an eagle. It is best to bunker them outside the city where they might roost.” She eyed Xiala. “You are to stay with me.”
Xiala watched the matron, Terzha, Iktan, and the majority of the Shield disappear within the palace, the grand doors closing behind them. She bit at her lip, unable to shake her concern but helpless to do anything about it. And then they were airborne again, and she was clinging to the woman’s back, her worries reduced to not plummeting to the ground below.
* * *
They arrived at their destination in a matter of minutes. What had looked distant from the mound was quick work on eagleback, and that, at least, was reassuring. There were only four of them tasked with setting up camp and providing for the eagles, so Xiala offered to help.
“We have it in hand.” This Shield was a man, as slender as a blade and half as friendly. “You can make yourself comfortable until you are needed.”
In other words, get out of our way, Xiala thought. Well enough. She understood she was not one of them and should not confuse herself over it. She wandered away a bit, admiring the trees that surrounded them. She could hear the river rushing in the distance, the gurgle of water over stone, and a light breeze stirring through the giant elms. Unlike Tova, Hokaia was on the cusp of spring. No snow dotted the ground here, and the air smelled of pollen, not ice.
She found a shaded spot on the far side of a tree large enough to fit inside and sat down with her back against its massive trunk. She picked at a new blade of grass sprouting up between the winter yellow.
The Shield behind her worked at setting up camp, and she closed her eyes, listening to their chatter.
“What will happen?” the woman who had been her rider asked. “Will they give us soldiers to fight the Crow?”
“It is not just the Crow we fight now. All the clans have united under the Sun Priest.”
The woman scoffed. “I could have told her Abah would fail to kill her. She was always overconfident, even when she lived in the Great House.”
“She left at twelve. You didn’t know her.”
“I knew her enough. And her brother, too. That family is…” They moved away out of hearing.
Xiala huddled frozen against the trunk of the water elm. Iktan’s suspicions had been right. Xir friend lived and, moreover, had united the clans of Tova. Surely that would change Iktan’s feelings about this impending war and xir commitment to Golden Eagle. No wonder the matron had kept the news from xir.
And what of Serapio? If the clans had united behind the Sun Priest, did that mean they had abandoned him? Or did it bode something even worse? She knew he did not need her to defend him physically. His crows and his god were guard enough, never mind his own fighting skills. But she knew Serapio bore a great wound of another kind inside, and she feared that when provoked, that wound would prove to be the more deadly of the two.
She could not aid Serapio against the Sun Priest, but she could find Iktan and tell xir what she knew. That might crack Golden Eagle from within and remove their greatest strategist. Then she would steal one of the tidechasers she’d seen in the lagoon. With a ship like that, she could be back at the mouth of the Tovasheh in a matter of days.
She left camp quietly, moving through the forest. She thought she heard one of the Shield call her name, and she hurried her pace. But no one followed, perhaps not thinking her valuable enough to chase, or assuming she would wander back on her own accord since she had nowhere to go.
But she did have somewhere to go, and she crossed a small wooden bridge and found herself at the outer gates of Hokaia. There was a steady flow of foot traffic, and she blended in easily. The city was more diverse than even Cuecola. Nevertheless, she kept her blue hood up, but no one looked twice at her. Perhaps Teek were not such a strange sighting on this side of the Crescent Sea, after all.
It was easy to know her destination; the great mound towered above all else. Her only hindrance was her legs. They still ached, especially after two days without her makeshift sea broth, and they made her slower than she liked, but eventually she came to the lagoon at the base of the mound that she had spotted from above. She passed near the black ships, and a mix of emotions flooded her when she confirmed they were indeed Teek. Longing, hope, a wild panic that she might be found out. She imagined herself at the helm of one of those swift beauties, and her heart sped up. She spied a woman lounging on the captain’s bench, no doubt there to make sure no ships were stolen. She would have to get around her, but she’d find a way.