And would be queen of that realm in truth, then, after they destroyed that sorcerer.
“Toleh, then,” Maddek decided.
Kelir grinned. “And would you shave your beard as a Tolehi man does?”
With a bare chin. “I could not. My bride would have nothing to yank when she wants my attention.”
“I think she would,” Kelir said dryly.
So she would. And did often. Maddek grinned.
Flushed and happy, Yvenne rode back from the ridge that overlooked the plain. “Shall I hunt our suppers?”
As she had every day since they’d been off the ship—for themselves and the dozen other riders who’d remained in their group. “You should.”
Her gaze swept the nearby grasses and flowers. “What do I look for here?”
“Many animals are underground, so require a stick instead of an arrow,” he told her. “Those aboveground are small, so many times all you will see is the shivering firebloom.”
“There.” Ardyl pointed.
Yvenne aimed, loosed. Within range, she always hit. Danoh rode over and swept up a grass rodent.
Murmurs came from watching warriors. They had seen that display many times on this journey, yet never did it fail to impress, nor did they grow tired of it.
With a grin, Yvenne looked to Maddek. “I should try for a drepa next, and boast a claw around my neck.”
He shook his head. The simple kill was not why their claws had such significance, because drepa were no harder or easier to hunt than any other dangerous animal. Instead the drepa claw boasted either surviving a pack—or being such a stealthy hunter that the pack did not know what happened. “Make certain to count your arrows first.”
“What do you mean?”
“Drepa are not like other animals we have hunted. If you injure or kill one, the rest do not flee. The drepa will attack. So be certain that you have enough arrows to fell an entire pack.”
“I see.” She eyed the claws around his neck. “Did you have to fight off a pack?”
“I did not fight them off. Three of these, I happened upon one and it was surprised as I was.” Then he survived as many Parsatheans did. “If you ever have not enough arrows, lie upon the ground as if dead. They will ignore you.”
“You have done so?”
Maddek nodded. “Many times.”
Her gaze turned to the horizon again. Faint creases formed in her brow. “How far to the Scourge?”
“Four days’ ride. You see it?”
“The head and shoulder, I think.”
“It is turned on its side.” Silver-fingered Rani had done so when she’d split its belly open to retrieve her dragon.
Yvenne straightened slightly. “There are riders coming from that direction.”
“How many?”
“Two. A woman and a girl. The girl is even younger than Toric, I think, though she is dressed as a warrior. The woman is perhaps the same age as Banek—and is a warrior. She wears drepa-skin armor and her hair in braids. A ragged crescent scar is on her right shoulder.”
Kelir let out a whoop that nearly startled Yvenne out of her saddle. “That is my mother and sister,” he told her when she looked at him in surprise. “Toric must have sought her out and told her we are following behind.”
They met Kelir not long after with laughter and embraces.
Nami approached Maddek more soberly. Her embrace was tight. She was the leader of the firebloom tribe—a position his own father once had. Many times in his childhood, his family had visited hers. “No words were left unsaid?”
His throat thick, Maddek told her, “There were none.”
She patted his arm. “That is the most we can ask for.”
He nodded, then introduced her to Yvenne, who had carefully dismounted and joined them. “My bride.”
Nami took Yvenne’s hands in her own, met her gaze briefly. “I have seen those eyes before. You are Nyset’s heir.”
“I am.”
“And you are to unite us against the Destroyer.”
“I will try,” Yvenne said.
Maddek asked, “Toric has told you of our journey?”
“I would hear more,” Nami said.
“I will tell you as we ride,” he promised.
Seri took place beside Yvenne, Maddek noted, with Banek on the other side. When he lifted her into the saddle, Yvenne’s attention had already been captured by the girl.
“I have heard that you are a better warrior than even your brother,” Yvenne told her.
Kelir’s sister grinned. “So I am.”
“I am learning to hunt,” Yvenne said. “But I am not accustomed to the plains or detecting prey. I need someone to be a guide for my eyes. Will you do me the honor?”
Seri flushed with pleasure. “I will.”
A good match they made. A young warrior eager to demonstrate her skills, and a new warrior eager to learn them.
Nami’s solemn voice drew Maddek’s gaze away from the pair as they rode ahead. “Is it truth that she spoke a lie?”
If Toric had told her that, then no doubt he’d also told Nami the circumstances of it. Yet Maddek knew that when he stood before each tribe’s elders, he would have to explain it again and again, and would have to find the words to sway them in Yvenne’s favor.
As one of those elders rode beside him now, he might as well begin practicing those words. “She lied to an enemy to save her life and the lives of her people.”
Nami huffed out a laugh. “You would take your enemy as a bride?”
“I would have no other. And she is no enemy now but a fierce and clever ally.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So you would make a mere ally our queen?”
“She will be one of the finest warrior-queens that Parsathe has ever known, and our marriage will strengthen both of our realms.”
“A warrior-queen?” Nami scoffed. “She sits her horse uneasily and a girl teaches her to hunt. She is not the bride your mother would have chosen.”
What did that matter now? “Yvenne is stronger than she appears.”
Dismissively she said, “Then you are clearly blinded by your love for her.”
“No.” Other emotions had blinded him. “Love has made me see her more clearly.”
Her expression softened. Yet her gaze was still sharp, her inquiry not done. “Then tell me of that strength, and why she would be a fine queen.”