Chapter 1
Late winterin the south of Elista could be quite mild, when there wasn’t a strong easterly wind off Dyren’s Bay. This morning a warm, southwesterly wind tousled my hair as I stood on the bluff looking out to sea. A small fleet of ships was weighing anchor off the coast.
“This will work, won’t it?” I asked my companions. The sun, pulling higher into the sky in front of me, glistened off the sea and warmed me just a bit more than was comfortable, since I still wore a layer of bandages over most of my body under my clothes.
Maverick grunted, non-committal. I could tell he didn’t like this sight at all. He could do little to stop such a force from walking over him and taking these lands.
“Yes, it will work,” Alvere, Prince of Vauphan, said beside me. There was something in the quick look and the flash of a smile — perhaps it was the clear depths of his blue eyes — that warmed me just a bit more than the sun did.
I returned his smile, just as the wind blew my brown hair across my face in a mess of wavy curls.
“It better,” Amber said. She was still tense and uneasy — also probably exhausted — after tending to the extensive wounds on Ant, her sometimes lover. It was a miracle he was alive. He was a lot tougher than he looked, and he looked massively tough to begin with. He had abilities to heal himself and others, but he needed to be conscious, with reserves of strength to do it, and he’d been delirious this past day; weak as a kitten.
Fin, the heavy-set yet surprisingly light-on-his-feet senior member of Maverick House was also with us. He’d be needed for his ability to transport himself — and anyone touching him — to any place he’d been before. If this all went well, he’d be going back with the Vauphani troops to set up a route to their palace so the prince could go back and forth with ease.
But first, the five of us had to convince an angry army of perhaps three to six thousand men to go home peacefully.
The first ships were disgorging longboats, sending troops ashore.
“Shall we go down then?” the prince asked.
Maverick grunted again, nodding. He led the way, the prince and I came next, with amber behind us and Fin last.
“He doesn’t say much, does he?” Alvere whispered to me, indicating Maverick.
“He can. I think he’s just got other things on his mind right now, like surviving this morning.”
The prince nodded at that. There was a look on his face. I hadn’t known him long, but his expressions seemed easy to read. This one, tight-lipped, back rigid, eyes a bit distant, seemed to say:I didn’t want any of this, but all of you forced my hand. Then with a breath, he stood just a little taller, slightly more relaxed with the barest hint of a hard smile. This look seemed to say:time to take control.
A part of me wanted to reach out and take his hand, tell him all would be well, but I didn’t. And in truth, I should have been more worried for myself. To the army below, he was their prince, an ally, I was the enemy.
“This will work,” he whispered. It seemed mostly to himself, so I didn’t say anything.
The rough path gave way to a sandy beach, my boots sinking into the shifting grains.
I was surprised how well I was doing. I should have been exhausted and in pain. Two days ago, I’d been shredded — and nearly killed — by The Mistweaver, Hazra. The same madwoman who’d killed Alvere’s parents, the king and queen of Vauphan. Ant had healed me a little, but beyond that I’d been healing on my own. Also, I’d had trouble sleeping this past day. I’d dozed a little, sleeping for a few hours at a time through the past day and night. Yet, somehow, I wasn’t particularly weary or sore.
I think it’s your spirit-gift, Auwei said. Auwei was the Lumani spirit who dwelled within me. She gave me the ability to shape-shift into a spider, my avatar form, along with other spider-based powers.
Oh? I was curious to hear why she thought that. A spirit-gift was a rare thing that only certain True-Bonded — the pairing of human and Lumani — possessed. Maverick could summon fire; Amber could instill simple commands in people’s minds; Fin could teleport; Ant could heal.
I’ve been in many hosts, Auwei said. That was true; I was her tenth True-Bonded. She’d lived nine lifetimes bonded to people before me.And none have had your… stamina and energy. I think you… I don’t know how to put it exactly, but I think your sheer determination and drive has turned into a spirit-gift that allows you to simply… keep going no matter what. I don’t know what you’d call that, but… Legs, you should be laid up, fatigued and healing, yet you’re not. This has to be… something.
It would explain a lot. Just remembering the trip out from the palace of Vauphan, there seemed far too much I’d done that just… shouldn’t have been possible. I’d been thoroughly thrashed by the mistweaver and near to dead. The only reason I’d survived at all was because Ant had healed me. But he’d only healed my major wounds. After that, I should have been a weak and quivering mess, but still I managed to subdue the prince — that was when I’d discovered that kissing someone without passion in my heart meant I poisoned them — then somehow lowered him carefully down the cliffs on my spider-silk, holding his weight. And since then, I hadn’t slept much, even if I had been taking it easy. I should have been exhausted, but here I was.
You might be right.
We spread out on the beach, two of us to either side of the prince, but keeping our distance, hands out, clear that we had no weapons.
The men landing in the boats looked us over, and luckily one of them recognized the prince.
“My prince?” the man said, rushing from the boat, drawing his slender rapier. He had a shock of blond hair and a rather prominent nose.
“It is well, Philipe, put your weapon away, these are not our enemies.”
“But, Your Highness! The palace, your parents. Have you seen what they did? They declared war upon us and—”
“That is enough, Philipe!” the prince said with stern clarity, though he did not raise his voice.
