The Danu (14 page)

"If anything happens
to my
wife
because of your thirst for revenge," he said coolly,
reminding them of the claiming.  "The magic users will be the least of
your worries."  It was both a threat and a promise, and his brother narrowed
his eyes at hearing it.

"Think you can take
me little brother?" Ansgar asked.  One hand tightened on the pommel of his
sword.

"I think if you get
my wife killed, I will die trying."

"Enough!"  The
King gave them both a withering look. "If my sons are done with their
squabbling we have business."  He pointed beyond the black gates. 
"They come."

Khalon forgot his brother
instantly, his eyes going to the three figures stepping out of the wilds.  They
all three stopped at some invisible line that separated the wilds from the
North Road.  All three were Danu by dress.  One was a man that stood a head and
shoulders above the two small figures beside him.  The second was a lithe
feminine version of the man, and the third, standing between them looking very
much not a prisoner and dressed and armed in the same fashion, same garnet red
hair braided and twisted in a similar fashion as the other female, same glowing
Danu green eyes, was Katrine.

He was walking before his
brain caught up to his feet.  He did not even notice that his father motioned
both Ragnar and Ansgar to follow; he was too busy studying Katrine.  She looked
good, better actually then he had ever seen her.  The spark of power that clung
to her was snapping and sparking around her only got more pronounced the closer
he came.  He did not like how close she stood to the male, nor the way she
stayed put when she should be coming to him.

"She does not seem
all that pleased to see you little brother," Ansgar said snidely. 
"Mayhap she has found something she likes better."

Khalon did not bother to
respond to the taunt, his hands fisted at his sides, and his jaw felt like
granite.  He gave Katrine one more searching look, and then turned his attention
to the other Danu with her.

***

"The look on his
face," Quain said low, his hands nervously on a hidden knife at his back,
carefully not moving his eyes away from the oncoming threat.  "I do not
think your Prince cares for me."

"I am not sure which
one will kill us quickest," his sister agreed dryly.  Elena's eyes went
from Khalon to Ragnar to the crowned prince.  "Never mind," she said
with a dramatic shudder.  "That one definitely."  Since she was
looking at Ansgar the Bloody, Katrine could not disagree.

Taking in the impressive
sight, of three of the most dangerous warriors known, walking toward them,
about a thousand more dangerous men standing at attention just beyond, not to
mention the wall of archers, and the King, known as witch killer, standing, legs
braced apart, with his hand on his sword just beyond, Katrine was more
concerned with the glitter in Khalon's eyes.  Which said something about just
how angry he was.

"I need to go to
him," she said.

"Leaving the wild
weave is not a good idea," Quain said.  We might have to leave
quickly."

"Look around
Quain," his sister said.  "How far do you think we would get anyway?"

Katrine did not wait for
them to argue further.  She took her first step out of the weave and felt the
pull of it like taffy before it snapped back and became a shadow under the
paved road she traversed.  When Quain cursed and would have followed, she
stopped him.  "Stay there."

With his sister’s hand on
his arm holding him back, he was briefly delayed, but not for long.  Katrine
knew Khalon was watching the man’s move to follow her, and from the way his
already grim mouth tightened, and his eyes flashed glittering shards of ice at
Quain, he did not care for it.  At all.

Then Quain made the
mistake of grabbing her arm and pulling her back toward the safety of the
weave.  His sister hissed at him, following and trying to pull him away from
Katrine.

Feeling the flaring of
hostilities from both the warriors in front of her and the ones on the wall she
talked fast.  "Don't be more of an idiot that you already are.  Let
go!"  If she did not stop this soon, this was going to go very badly for
all of them.

One second Katrine and
Elena were struggling with Quain; the next Elena shoved him back and took a
knife in her shoulder.  Katrine was looking into her startled eyes when she
fell back into her brothers shocked arms.  Then Quain got a look at his sister
and his eyes flashed green fire.

"Oh, no,"
Katrine gasped, seeing it on his face, just as the wilds behind the twins
erupted.  Branches shot out over the road shooting past Katrine and towards the
three warriors coming at them.  The ground beneath their feet rumbled.  The
warriors on the wall saw an attack on their Princes and followed orders, firing
at the first sign of hostility.  Flares of fire suddenly rained down on the
attacking wilds, and with a tearing screech that Katrine could feel more than
see, the Wilds fought back.

Katrine saw this and
heard Khalon's enraged roar to "Hold Your Fire!" 

Katrine knew it would be
too little too late.  They could all die here, the Danu, the wilds, and Khalon.

Katrine reached for the
weave, and without any choice, knowing what she chanced if she could not stop
the fire, knowing what it would mean, she still through herself totally and into
the weave, and claimed it as her own.  As if it had been waiting for her to
come home, the wilds weave claimed her just as completely.

Khalon was running with
only one thought in his head.  Get Katrine to safety before the rest of the
world came down around her.  He did not realize how true that worry was until
he saw the world literally explode all around her.  Before he could reach the
road and Katrine, it erupted under her feet, and rocks and dirt geysered up,
blocking his path and knocking his back a good ten feet where he landed on his
brother and Ragnar taking them to the ground with him.

The ground shifting
beneath his feet kept the three of them bouncing around on each other, while
the skies above them opened up and rain poured down turning what was left of
the North road to mud and blinding him further.  Until suddenly everything
stopped, the rain, the earth shaking, the sounds of battle, and Khalon looked
up enraged at the thought of what he would find, only to see through the softly
drifting dust and swirling smoke, his wife, glowing green from the tips of her
feet to the top of her head. Roots and vines that had pushed through solid
stone hard enough to obliterate it wrapped thigh high up her legs.  The fires
were out, the troops frozen in fear and awe, the two Danu looking shell shocked
and as muddy as the rest of them at the side of what had once been the North
Road.  The wilds grew up around her reclaiming the road that had been free of
wilds for as long as anyone had memory.  It was a statement none of them could
miss.  Nor was the clap of thunder that echoed across the vast clearing sky. 
Khalon stood carefully, disentangling himself from Ragnar and Ansgar who both
looked cut and muddy but otherwise unharmed.  He did not spare them more than a
passing glance.  Besides them, no one else moved.

Katrine turned her head
and looked over Khalon briefly, her serenity so deep he could not guess what
she was thinking.  There was an alien untouchable look to her that kept him
standing where he was, instead of moving to her side.  After a quick inspection,
she moved her eyes beyond him to the black gates of Haven.  She spoke, and some
trick of magic amplified it so that Khalon was sure every person ducked down in
fear beyond the walls of Haven heard it.  Katrine spoke only for his father. 
"The Danu wish to talk Alliance with King Rek Morten.  Will you speak with
us?"

A fraught with tension
moment later, his father sauntered out of the gates without a man at his back. 
His hand on "witch killer," and his great black furred cape swinging
heavy behind him.  There was no fear in his and certainly no indecision.  His
face was the cold of a warrior going in to battle, and when he passed, Khalon
automatically took his left flank, and Ansgar his right with Ragnar following
behind.  As a unit, they made their way through the rubble and stopped before
Katrine.  This close she almost blinded them with power.  The two Danu had
stood and came to stand on either side of her.  The female with her hand raised
to press against the wound and around the knife that still protruded from her
shoulder.  Khalon recognized the knife, as did his father, and they both turned
to give Ansgar a look.

He shrugged.  "I was
aiming for the boy."  Both of the Danu behind Katrine glared at him. 

The king turned to give
his attention back to the Danu; Khalon could not take his eyes off his wife. 
She too ignored Ansgar.  At first, her words seemed to be of ancient history,
but as the story progressed, he understood why she spoke of things long past.

"It has come to my
attention that while my father went into peace talks with noble intentions,
other younger, and hotter heads decided a show of force would bring about a
more satisfactory end to the dealings.  Without my father’s knowledge, they
gave the approaching dignitaries a show.  This was taken as an attack, and
hostilities escalated until both sides lost much, the Danu arguably
more."  She stopped here, and some of her serenity made room for sadness,
both emotions beat at the men standing close enough to feel it, so that even
Ansgar the Bloody did not doubt her words held truth.  "Our people are
united in marriage.”  Her eyes flickered to Khalon briefly.  “I am here to see
if we can set aside our anger at the wholesale killing of our people, and you
can set aside your hatred and fear of magic users," at this she looked at
Ansgar the Bloody pointedly, then back to the king.  "And we can finish
what my father started."  Her glowing eyes were only for his father’s dark
ones in open challenge despite her words.  Khalon did not doubt that Katrine
wanted peace, but it was more than clear that she was not coming to these talks
to surrender.  She was coming from a place of strength.  "It will mean
compromise on
both
sides."  She said reaffirming that this was
indeed a talk of alliance, not a ceding of control.

"How do I know you
can control your people any better than your father before you?" he
growled, mildly enough for Rek Morten.

She motioned to the
female with the knife in her shoulder.  "As you control yours?" she
asked pointedly, her brow going up.

His father growled, sent
one more frosty glare at his oldest son and clenched his jaw.  "Point
taken."  Then he spread his legs and crossed his arms at his lower back in
a stance Khalon recognized.  He closed his eyes briefly as the tension drained
from his shoulders.  That was his father’s talking stance.  The fighting was
apparently over.

 "What are your
terms?" King Rek Morten asked cementing it.

His wife, recognizing the
change, slowly faded until she was only glowing softly, only marginally more
than the other Danu beside her.  The roots and vines crawling up her legs retreated
into the ground, and indeed the wilds slipped back from the breached boundary
of the North road.  Katrine's eyes continued to glow and a soft trail of leaves
and vines settled around her with a small trail leading back to the rest of the
wilds, as if some part of it would not let her go.

"The wilds belong to
us," she started, and kept going when he would have cut her off.  "I
am aware that you need more lands than are currently being claimed by your
people and why.  The wilds will cede to you another area big enough to build
another city of comparable size to Haven where the wilds will not encroach.  We
will clear the roads necessary for trade to and from this new city and assure
that the crops you choose to grow there will bear fruit."  Even Khalon
held his breath at that.  Coming from the South where nothing grew in the hot
sands to be assured good growing was a heady thing, and a good deal.

"Four cities, the
size of Dunsen," his father countered.  "With guaranteed crops in
all
the cities, old and new."

Katrine laughed, as if he
was telling a good joke, and Khalon nearly smiled.

"Two cities the size
of Haven."  She held up a hand when he started to growl an argument. 
"The wilds would never allow more than that.  I will agree to two
guaranteed growing seasons for the two new cities.  That is the best deal I can
offer.  Now I am waiting to hear what you offer."

The King narrowed his
eyes.  "Why no guarantee of growing for the old cities?"

"Because they are
too big, and too cut off from the wilds.  Danu could not survive there, even on
a rotating basis and there are not enough of us to work the land of all the
cities regardless.  The new cities we can work together to build in such a way
that the Danu can live, and thrive there, at least for short periods, while
leading the land to highest production."  She shrugged.  "If that is
agreeable to you, what we want in return should be easy enough."

"And that is,"
he asked warily.

"Equal citizenship
for the Danu while they are in your cities, a guarantee of protection when they
travel outside the wilds, and the pay for their work that is equal to the
important work only they can do." 

Rek Morten grunted. 
"You intend to gouge us," he muttered darkly.

Katrine smiled. 
"Why yes, yes we do."  She lost her smile.  "And the wilds are
Danu land.  Cutting into them, or crossing over without permission will be the
same as crossing territory lines of another province, and it will be considered
an act of aggression.  The wilds will react accordingly."

Ansgar hissed.  His
father held up a hand, he quieted, his jaw clenched, and his eyes glittered
with his anger.  "What if there is problems from the North.  One of the
reasons we needed more land was to patrol the borders to North Eastern Sea
ports.  There has been rumblings of war from our neighbors beyond the North
Mountains.  Geographically it would be the Danu wilds that took the first
attack if we are not allowed at least an outpost in that area."

Katrine studied him, and
then her eyes flickered briefly to Khalon.  Then she looked behind her at
Quain.  "You know more than me what lies in that direction.  Is an attack
possible from the North East?"

Quain narrowed his eyes
on them and then answered with obvious reluctance.  "There is very little
green along the coast.  Mostly rock and high cliffs.  The Danu does not have
the man power to patrol all of it, and it is inhospitable."

Katrine turned back to the
King, obviously thinking.  "It would be acceptable to the Danu if you set
up a military garrison along the coast North East.  Your men could patrol the
coast easier than the Danu could, and it would give you Seaports much like you
have at Horth to house and train your warriors.  The Danu have no Sea industry
calling, so you take nothing from us, and it would provide more homes and food
for your people as well.  Is that acceptable?"

King Morten looked bored. 
Khalon knew his father well enough to be assured of his satisfaction.  "I
find the terms acceptable."  He finally said loudly.  He looked from her
to the other Danu around her.  "It seems my son was not such a fool when
he chose his wife."  Then he chuckled at his own joke losing his stoic
face while Khalon gritted his teeth.  "Shall we retire to Haven and get
this all written down and signed, and find medical help for the girl before she
bleeds to death."

Khalon watched her
hesitate and then she looked more like the Katrine he was used to, and less the
newly appointed leader of the Danu.  "I'm afraid I cannot leave the
wilds.  In order to stop the battle it was necessary to..." she stuttered
here, her eyes going to Khalon with a searing regret he felt in his chest. 
"Claim my rightful place in the weave.  Somehow, I have more control of
the wilds than any Danu for generations.  It also means I am irrevocably tied
to the green, even more than most Danu."  She sucked in a deep breath, her
eyes telling him a story of pain, even before her words communicated the truth.

"What does that
mean?" Khalon asked, stepping forward, long past needing to touch his
wife, and knowing with sudden clarity that there was more going on here than he
knew.

"It means," the
Danu female said from beside and behind her, her eyes open wide and on Katrine,
while she answered Khalon's question.  "She has somehow combined all the
weaves into what they once were.  A single wild weave across the whole of the
land.  She is truly queen of the Danu."

Khalon was finally close
enough that he caught Katrine in his arms and pulled her against his chest. 
His eyes though were on the other female.  "What does that mean for
Katrine?"  He growled.  Only slightly eased by finally having her in his
arms again.

"It means," his
wife said. Burrowing closer to him.  "That I cannot step upon the North
Road, or any other place outside the boundaries set, not without the wilds
reclaiming it."

"And any injury to
the weave is injury to her."  The boy Quain said the words and they
reverberated in Khalon's skull.  It dawned on him then what his wife had
sacrificed to end the battle.

Katrine raised her chin,
glared a warning look at Quain then looked to his sister.  "Go with them. 
See to your injuries, and see that whomever the king chooses is brought safely
through the wilds.  We will have to choose agreeable sections of wilds to clear
for the new cities, and whatever other decisions need to be worked out."

Elena nodded her head and
went over to Ansgar the Bloody despite her brother’s protestations.  She
silenced him with a look, and stood next to the crowned prince that towered
over her, with her head held high.  For his part, he was looking her over as if
she would strike out at him, not used to so little fear from women.  Then his
eyes fell on the wound he had inflicted and turned decidedly grim. 

The King looked from the
injured female to Khalon with Katrine in his arms and got a glint in his eyes
that Khalon did not appreciate.  "You realize you will be giving up your
right to the throne, your lands, and title, possessions, and will no longer
have armies of your own to command.  You'll grow bored in a week."  The
King's face showed him nothing of what he felt about this.

Khalon glared at his
father.  "So be it."

"It seems my son
will have to learn the ways of the green," he said mildly enough.  Then
his eye held him.  "I expect to see you occasionally...and my
grandchildren when that happy day occurs."

Khalon nodded solemnly. 
"As long as you don't mind a small amount of travel, we will figure
something out."

His father snorted and
walked away, Ansgar falling in at his back, his hand taking the uninjured arm
of the Danu female as he kept her with him while he waited for his King, and
then fell into step behind him.  She did not look pleased to be so manhandled. 
Nor her brother who watched them all with narrowed eyes, clearly unsure of what
to do.  Khalon could not have cared less, he was about to dismiss everyone but
Katrine from his thoughts when Ragnar moved away from the others and took his
usual place at Khalon's side.  When Khalon gave him a considering look, trying
to decide if he could send him away.  Ragnar snorted.  Apparently, he was not
going to be talked out of coming with Khalon.