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Topiara - Chapter 16
For five days, the storms howled through the camp, blowing the snow into drifts that had to be cleared away from the tent entrances daily. But the time finally arrived when the morning dawned clear and warmer; and Lyara quickly made it known to her host that she fully intended to move on. Jilan carried a mid-morning message to Lyon-Khan's tent extending an invitation to share her fire one more time before her departure, which was accepted. Together they had decided to make one last offer for Sidon, but Lyara had not yet informed Jilan of the ruse Topiara had suggested.
Lyon-Khan seated himself grandly on the offered pile of blankets and robs and accepted a warm mug of brewed herbs. "I understand you still wish to trade for my slave boy," he re marked, motioning in the direction of Sidon, who remained behind him. "I fail to see why you would want to burden yourself with another package, when your own slave has been so much trouble to you." It was not an uncommon opening for bargaining.
"But then," Lyara retorted, shooting Jilan a glare to keep him quiet, "your slave has yet to sound one tiny complaint - an admirable trait, in light of this one's actions, wouldn't you agree?"
Lyon-Khan looked over a Jilan, who squatted near the tied bundles of robes with his eyes trained on the floor, with a disgusted air. "In truth, High-born, I don't see why you keep that one with you at all."
Topiara warmed on Lyara's breast, and Lyara began to smile slowly. "I've been thinking on much the same line as you, Lyon-Khan. I think I have a new offer that may be of more interest to you than my last." She took a deep breath and prayed quickly to the Wolf-faced One that Jilan would have the good sense to remain quiet. "I offer a trade. My slave for yours, as well as an amount of specie to be agreed upon."
Jilan indeed kept silent, but Lyara could not help but read astonishment and fear in his eyes as he looked up quickly at her. Lyon-Khan, who had turned to give Jilan an appraising gaze, scowled angrily at the young man's reaction. "I think you seek to trade your troubles to me for very little, High-born. Why should I take a known trouble-maker into my camp in trade for one who has done a valuable service?"
"I am neither blind nor deaf, Lyon-Khan," Lyara said royally. "It has not escaped my notice that your slave makes no complaint because he in unable to do so. My slave may indeed be a trouble-maker, but he is in full control of his faculties; as compared to this fragile, damaged youth you so highly prize. I only seek to repay your hospitality by offering you an honorable way to display your skill as leader by showing a strong, intelligent captive as your prize rather than a damaged one. You deserve the honor of such."
"While I am most grateful for your consideration of my honor and reputation when my testing time is done, I still fail to follow your logic, Lyara-Chivan. By your own admission, then, you would be giving up ability for defective goods." Lyon-Khan shook his head. "This one," he nodded at Sidon, " could not possible be of any aid to you as you continue your journey westward. Your actions do not make sense."
Lyara stretched languidly and put her arms behind her head. "You cling tightly to this boy, Lyon-Khan, tighter than one would expect a leader to cling to a slave. Why?"
Lyon-Khan blushed at the question. "It was my own raid ing party that stole this one, my very first raiding party." He conquered his embarrassment and looked the tall young woman directly in the eyes. "Defective or not, this one is living proof to my father that I am fully capable of being a strong Kauwlut warrior. It is tradition to allow a warrior to keep his first captive, is it not?"
"Defective or not?"
"What raider asks his captive if he is defective or not before snatching him?" Lyon-Khan snapped.
Lyara laughed suddenly, startling Lyon-Khan and Jilan, who threw her a fearful and questioning look. She gaily pointed out her "slave's" look to the young leader. "Look at him. I think he now knows how a Kauwlut will treat an unwilling and complaining slave if pushed too far." Her laughter died, but the mirth remained on her face. "You are right, Lyon-Khan, that it would be illogical for me to undertake a long journey with a defective slave in attendance. The truth of the matter is that I have a fondness for the Pride of the South and enjoy taunting them with proof of our Kauwlut endurance. I see a challenge in making those same proofs to one who understands little of what goes on around him."
Lyon-Khan relaxed slightly. "You mean, you don't really care if I want to barter for this little one or not?"
"On the contrary, I would much like to barter for him. But I would have been much disappointed if you had accepted such easy terms in your barter." She sobered completely and brought out the heavy pouch of specie. "My original offer still stands, Lyon-Khan."
Lyon-Khan relaxed completely and then shook his head. "I don't think I wish to barter for this one, High-born. I also am interested in how well this one will adapt to Kauwlut life and want to be present as the process takes place." The young leader leaned forward. "This one has shown signs of being a great healer; the honor of a camp with one such as he will be great regardless of defect."
Lyara narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as Topiara spoke to her again. "In that case, I must repeat my former question to you: why to you cling so tightly to that one? Healer or not, defects such as he bears must not be tolerated without offending the Wolf-Faced One. It diminishes the strength of the Kauwlut spirit to allow one such as he to become so honored."
"Talandri customs have permitted this one to survive until he attained his soul, High-born. He has already proven his worth to the people of this camp. The Wolf-Faced One would be offended if talent such as this were wasted upon the plains. I argued this very point with the shaman weeks ago. Only the non-persons belong by rights to the Predator."
"And you claim that this slave is not a non-person?"
"He communicates. He has performed remarkable and valu able service to the camp. There is intelligence behind those silent eyes. He has a soul, of that I am certain."
Lyara hefted her pouch and let the tinkle of specie tell the young leader of the fortune contained in the leather bag. "There is more to this issue than price and honor and philosophy of the Predator."
Lyon-Khan swallowed and nodded. "My father has only me as his heir, High-born. I have long waited for one I could claim as brother. My clan also has the tradition of adopting worthy outlanders into the clan if they prove their worth. This one I hope my father will accept as his own son when I return to the Khan Circle in the season of thaws. I have seen this happening in my dreams, I must be sure that it is so."
Lyara nodded slowly. "He is so great a healer that you would barter your own personal honor for this right for him? In front of your whole clan and the Kauwlut peoples?"
Lyon-Khan looked at Sidon with pride and affection, an expression that struck Jilan to the quick. "His talent is great and his works miraculous, Lyara-Chivan. I am in no danger of losing my honor by my actions on his behalf."
The woman replaced the pouch in a partially packed bundle, careful not to look at Jilan in case it would cause him to make an outburst. "Then I must abide by your choice, Lyon-Khan, and wish you well with that one. I am impressed by your loyalty, even though disappointed that I shall not have the chance to see these proofs myself." She rose gracefully to her feet. "I promised that we should depart at the end of the storm cycle, and that time has come. If your warriors could saddle our ponies, this one and I will take our leave of you."
"I will see to your wishes myself, Highborn," Lyon-Khan said, getting to his feet quickly. "I cannot convince you to remain with us until the thaws?" The traditional words rang false, and Lyara shook her head firmly.
"No. We have appreciated the hospitality of your camp, but can remain no longer."
Lyon-Khan raised the tent flap for Sidon, then looked back at the tall woman. "I will have Sparrow-Song prepare a food bundle to ease your journey, then." He nodded his farewell and stepped through the flap and left Lyara and Jilan staring at each other.
"You did understand correctly," Lyara answered Jilan's questioning rendition of the visit. "I was afraid that you would cause a scene if you knew what was being said. You do well with the Kauwlut tongue these days."
"We can't take him, can we?"
"Do you really want to try, Jilan? Is his life with his family at home all that much better than what he has here?" Lyara queried sharply, making Jilan drop his gaze and turn away.
Jilan remained silent as Lyon-Khan brought out Surefoot and Fleetwind to the front of the tent and the bundles were secured behind the saddles. "Good and safe journey, Lyara-Chivan," the young leader said grandly as his guests mounted and kneed their ponies into a walk. Cloud-Rider came to the door of his tent to watch and wave silently as the two rode by, wondering briefly if he would ever again see the daughter of his former leader again, but thanking the Wolf-Faced One for having allowed him to see the girl once more.
Behind Lyon-Khan, dressed in new, warm leather clothing and furred cloak, Sidon watched his favorite cousin ride away without understanding. For the first time since Jilan had appeared in the camp, he felt completely abandoned and alone.
"You warned me once that Sidon might be better off with the Kauwlut than at home," Jilan said sadly as soon as the ponies had put several hundred paces between them and the edge of the camp. "You were right, too. I couldn't take him away from a better life just for my own peace of mind."
It was a strain for Lyara to return to the Talandri tongue Jilan was using, so accustomed had she become to the language of her childhood. "Then you do not wish for us to steal him back tonight?" She turned to look at his steadily. "It will be as you wish."
Jilan kneed Fleetwind until he was riding side by side with Lyara. "Tell me the truth, Lyara," he said emotionally. "After you had adjusted to Talandri life and made a place for yourself, would you have wanted to be stolen back? Especially if you knew that you were being stolen back into a life where you would be merely tolerated and never appreciated?"
Lyara refused to look at Jilan, keeping her eyes on the broad plains ahead of them. "I don't know that I can answer that, Jilan," she managed finally. "I was appreciated in both lives eventually, once I had made peace with my fate. I know nothing of how Sidon was treated in his former surroundings, other than what you have told me."
"I told you the truth then," Jilan muttered bitterly. "His father, and everybody else but me, treated him as if he weren't there at all. That Kauwlut leader has more compassion for him than all of us put together."
"Then you go back and face your father and uncle empty-handed?" she asked, her voice even softer in light of the bitterness in Jilan's tone. "Will you have not lost your own honor by failing in your mission?"
"Nothing is clear anymore," Jilan mused to himself, not answering Lyara's question. She shrugged and urged Surefoot on while listening carefully. "We were always taught that the Kauwlut and Vryies cultures were nothing but two sets of savages roaming lands that by rights should belong to Talandria. But that young Kauwlut with Sidon, he makes our aristocracy seem petty tyrants in comparison. A Talandri would never consider adopting a Kauwlut captive into the family."
"They set out handicapped newborn to starve or be eaten," Lyara pointed out softly, and was rewarded by a slow nod.
"But even so, they seem to reward a person according to his worth to the whole. Talandri reward with little consideration to anything but station, or just how much a particular service will make inroads into their specie-pouches."
"I don't know that your bitterness will be welcome when you return home, Jilan," Lyara commented somberly. "Your trip has taught you much, but you will have to come to terms with your past and future life in Tandri before you will have a chance of being happy with your fate again."
"That's the point," Jilan exclaimed, reining in Fleetwind and grabbing Surefoot's reins to bring them both to a halt. "I've learned more than I had ever imagined, but none of it is acceptable in Tandri. When I left, I thought that I would return and continue in my more-or-less tolerated life as schol ar, never leaving the university or learning more of the truth than what those books claim. What I never realized was how empty and useless such a life could be." He looked at Lyara, a new light shining in his eyes.
Topiara spoke softly in her mind and warmed on her breast, but the thought and warmth brought Lyara only shivers. "What are you saying?" she asked, knowing full well what he was going to say and wishing that it were not so.
"I can't go back to being what I was, and" he added with a sly smile, "I know you never intended to go back either. So why should we?"
"Now wait just a moment," Lyara barked, grabbing her reins out of his hand with a jerk. "If you are suggesting that you stay and travel with me, think again." She shook her head emphatically. "You don't know . . ."
"That's right," Jilan agreed quickly. "I don't know, and I want to know. And I will never know if I go back to being a third-rate scholar amidst a stack of dusty books that nobody cares about anyway. You," he began and then stopped, a pale blush warming his cheeks. "I want to know you better too."
Lyara shook her head again, this time more sadly. "Where I am going and what I must do will be dangerous enough for me, perhaps fatal for you. I am . . . I have . . ."
"A secret," Jilan guessed, pointing accurately to the faint lump under Lyara's tunic, "and I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with whatever that thing is that hangs in that little pouch you wear."
"Yes, and that particular little secret could very well get me killed!" she exclaimed. "I can't explain it to you any more than I can expect you to understand the reason why I must do as I am led."
Jilan was crestfallen. "Do you not trust me then, after all this?" he asked sadly.
"That's not it," Lyara snapped, " and you know it." She was silent for a moment, and then exploded. "Damn you, Jilan! I can't explain it to you because I don't really understand it myself!!"
"Explain what?"
Lyara sighed in frustration and exasperation. "If I knew, then I could explain it now, couldn't I?" She looked over at him, eyes full of pleading. "If it were known, men would kill me for what I possess. I would not be the first." A vision of Karlo's body passed before her eyes and then was gone. "The danger is mine. I don't want it to be yours as well."
Jilan reached out a hand to her, but Lyara's kick made Surefoot sidle out of the young man's reach. He dropped the hand in defeat and slumped in his saddle. "I've lost Sidon to the Kauwluts; I've lost all respect for my old way of life. And now you take the only thing I still value out of my reach."
"Jilan!" Her tone dripped with agonized frustration.
He straightened, suddenly filled with a perverse resolve. "I can follow you, and chasing me away will only slow you down on your journey to wherever it is you're going."
"I can't be responsible for your getting hurt or killed," she pleaded in a lower voice, her determination flagging.
Jilan continued speaking as if she hadn't said a word. "My only regret, should I die, is not know what it was I was killed for; but the responsibility will be my own."
It was Lyara's turn to slump in defeat, and then turn to glare at him. "You're damned right the responsibility will be your own! You'd better pray to whatever god you profess that your Fleetwind didn't get too fat and complacent in the Kauwlut camp, because I won't slow Surefoot just so you can keep up with me."
Jilan threw his hand up in the air and gave a shout of triumph.
Lyara shook her head in disgust at the display and kicked Surefoot into a startled canter. "I'm sure I'm going to regret this," she muttered without looking back.
"Think of it this way, Lyara," Jilan shouted as he brought his mount back up next to hers, "at least you won't be alone in this . . . whatever it is . . . quest?"
Topiara made a quick comment, and Lyara shot Jilan a covert glance over her left shoulder. There were times she wished her feelings about this likable young man were clearer, for it would make her decisions easier to live with.
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