Catherine Asaro - The Night Bird

Ozarson was here somewhere. Could he protect her? Allegra hesitated. She had kidnapped him. He later came willingly, but this army was the closest he had to a home. He would be horrified if he knew what Yargazon was doing to her, but despite his title, she doubted he could stop the General. Too many complications existed in Ozis life, as the atajazid and now, saints forbid, as the conquering sovereign in Taka Mal. He was vulnerable. Brave, yes, and intelligent. But he was only nine. If she sought him out, the General would retaliate against her, possibly even in subtle ways against Ozarson.

Drummer was here, too. Bile rose in her throat as she recalled the blood in Yargazons tent. She couldnt heal Drummer; she wasnt a blue mage. But she could ease his pain and help him escape. If he could walk. It was probably a stupid idea; she couldnt even escape herself. But she needed to do something.

Demoralized, Allegra closed her eyes. Then she took a breath and sang, her voice soft, a ballad about green hills and sunlight. She wove a gold spell to keep anyone nearby asleep so they wouldnt catch her, and a green so she could search for Ozarson and Drummer. King Jarid had called his wife using a green spell, so it had to be possible to find a person that way, though she had no idea how.

Her spells wavered. The dodecahedron had too many sides, and she couldnt grasp its power. She lost her grip and the spells faded. She hurt so very, very much, and Yargazon had barely started with her. He wouldnt let her die, but that only meant hour after hour of pain. Nor did she know how far he would go. The marriage contract had gone on at great length about how Markus could kill any man who slept with her. But Yargazon had an army at his disposal, and he had spent decades building his power base. If he wanted the prince regents wife, she wasnt certain even Markus could stop him.

“Please, she whispered. “Help me. But no one was here to answer. She had only herself.

Focus! She concentrated on her spells and her power swirled, more than she had ever wielded. But she couldnt quite grasp it. Nothing was distinct. It was as if she stood on the shore of a lake and tried to hold the water. The spells ran through her fingers.

A sense of someones pain trickled past her, but without a warriors hard edge. This was a gentler mind. Vulnerable. Then she knew. Like recognized like. She had touched another Aronsdale mage.

Allegra climbed to her feet, hanging on to the cart. The surge of energy that had driven her escape from Yargazons tent was gone, leaving exhaustion. She leaned over the cart while her head swam. Then she took a step toward that faint sense of recognition. Pain stabbed her feet, and she crumpled against the wheel. Gritting her teeth, she pushed away from the cart and hobbled behind a line of tents. Cold wind ruffled her black shirt, and silver braid on the shoulders and cuffs glinted in the starlight. The shirt came to midthigh, with the sleeves dangling past her hands. She heard the clank of a sentry on patrol and barely ducked down behind a barrel of water before he walked past. Then she went on, searching for Drummer.

Hell be in the next tent. She needed to lie down, but she forced her burning feet to keep stumbling. She couldnt give up.

Allegra knew when she reached Drummer. Only traces of the green spell still vibrated within her, but it was enough, for he burned like a flame. She knelt behind the tent where she sensed him and hacked at the cloth until she could squeeze through the hole. Inside, darkness surrounded her. She tried to stand, but pain jagged through her feet. So she crawled. The soft rugs under her hands and knees soothed her bruises and cuts.

Her hand hit a mound.

Allegra jerked back, sitting on her haunches. She heard someone breathing, slow and ragged. Stretching out her arm, she touched a cushion, then several others. She felt farther, and her hand brushed across a blanket. She froze when she realized her palm was resting on the back of a person lying in front of her.

Turning her concentration inward, she focused on a new spell, the simplest of all. When she opened her eyes, dim red light surrounded her. A man lay sprawled on his stomach, asleep, his face turned toward her. Yellow curls fell across his eyes. It had to be Drummer; he was probably the only man in Taka Mal or Jazid with hair that color. A blanket covered him to his waistand whip marks crisscrossed his back and arms. Her tears gathered again, this time for him.

Allegra recognized him, though they had never met. The same hills and valleys she called home had nurtured his mage gifts. He looked just like the other youths where she lived, with the handsome features and boyish face. He had the slender, lithe build of an Aronsdale man rather than the height and musculature of Jazids native sons. He could have been a farm boy from down the road. Except he was here, in agony, imprisoned while invaders used him as a pawn in their machinations to wrest the throne of his adopted land away from his wife and child.

When she saw the bloodied bandage on his left foot, which stuck out from the blanket, she almost threw up. She laid her hand on his forehead, and found him burning with fever. Dismayed, she closed her eyes, concentrating. She crooned softly, weaving an orange spell to ease the misery of his injuries.

It wasnt enough. Drummer needed a blue mage who could heal, either Jarid or Iris, possibly Aron. She felt as if a weight were crushing her. He couldnt walk, and she couldnt carry him. She would have to drag herself out of here, find a cart and an animal to pull it, bring it back, put him in it, cross the great Quaaz Basin and climb up the hills to the encamped Aronsdale army. She folded her arms across her stomach and rocked back and forth, knowing she couldnt fix this, that this man with such luminous mage power could soon die.

Light flared across the tent.

Allegra froze, then shielded her eyes with her hand. Her spell died, but it was too late. Two men entered the tent, holding a torch that threw huge shadows on the walls. General Ardoz and Colonel Bladebreak.

“I dont see the light anymore, Ardoz said.

Bladebreak indicated Allegra. “It was around her.

As they walked over, Allegra felt as if she were falling off a cliff with nothing but jagged rocks below. She tried to scramble to her feet, but her movements were slowed by pain and fatigue, and she barely made it up by the time Bladebreak reached her. He easily caught her around the waist. He held her with one arm, her front against his side while he handed the torch to Ardoz.

“No. Allegras voice cracked.

“Come now, Allegra, Bladebreak murmured while Ardoz put the torch in a nearby stand. “Its all right. Youd better sit.

She resisted when he pushed her down, but her legs buckled. He set her so she was sitting sideways to him, between his legs, her side against his chest. He pushed her knees up to her chest, then put his own legs around her, one pressing her shins, the other her spine, then slid one arm around her waist and put the other around her shoulders. She had always liked it when Markus held her that way, but now she thought she would hate it forever.

Bladebreak pressed his lips to her temple. “Were you waiting for us, hmm?

“Stop it. She tried to push him away, but he brushed aside her hands.

“Why is she here? Ardoz asked. He knelt next to Drummer and laid his palm against the princes forehead.

“Maybe Dusk wanted them together. She must have been with him. Shes wearing his shirt. Bladebreak touched one of her wrists, then her ankles. “Thats odd.

“What? Ardoz unslung a drinking bag from his shoulder and uncapped a narrow spout at the top.

“She isnt restrained, Bladebreak said. “She could have just walked out of here.

“I cant walk, Allegra said. “My feet are injured. She had the desperate hope that if they thought Yargazon had left her here, they might not mention her to him.