WindLegends Saga 9: WindRetriever (55 page)

Occultus turned an inquisitive eye to the old woman. He, like any male seer from beyond the Inner Kingdoms, could not feel the sensitive vibrations nor use his enormous powers in this land. He quirked a brow at his fellow Mage. "There is trouble, Mistress?"

Meggie turned her head and spat on the ground. "Wherever that boy goes, there's trouble."

She stepped from behind Shalu. "I take it the nomad just found out about all this awhile ago."

"Just this morning," Rupine answered. He smiled endearingly at the old lady.

"Found out what?" Legion asked, looking from Meggie to Balizar who was avoiding his look.

"It's not the trouble we've been seeing," Meggie told Occultus as she stepped up beside him,

"but it's trouble enough."

"What?" Legion repeated.

Occultus was annoyed that he could not read the woman's mind any more than he could fathom the mysteries of this ancient land. He was useless to the group except as an advisor. The entirety of any magical solution would have to come from Meggie. It galled him that he had to ask what Conar had gotten himself into this time.

"Has he created a further problem, Mistress Ruck?" he asked.

Meggie's face had a sour expression and her lips were tight with anger. Up until she had come within spitting distance of Sajin Ben-Alkazar, she had been as oblivious to what had happened as those magi with her. But from the moment she had heard the fury rattling around Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 245

inside the Kensetti Prince's mind, she knew there was going to be more trouble from Conar than just the dark cloud of Raphian hanging over his golden head.

"He's gone and allied himself with another female," Meggie spat as though the words were bitter in her mouth. "A Sister of that rogue sect, the Amazeen."

"Conar," Occultus swore with exasperation. "You young fool." He looked to the heavens, then glanced at Ching-Ching who was staring back at him with a pursed mouth.

"What the hell is the Amazeen?" Legion asked, but no one answered him.

"Unless I dreamed it, wasn't that the group that Raja was initiated into when she was traveling here, trying to get away from the anger of the Multitude?" Chase asked.

"Witches," Meggie growled. "They're just witches!"

"Witches?" Legion groaned. What had his little brother done, now?

"You remember correctly," Ching-Ching told Chase. "It is rumored that is where she hid while she carried Conar's child in her womb." He cocked his head at Occultus. "The Wealdzone, is it not?"

"Yes," Occultus replied. He was beginning to feel a darker cloud rushing toward the young McGregor than any of them had suspected. "I have heard the Amazeen have no love for those connected with the Multitude."

"And with good reason!" Meggie snarled. "We have been, and always will be, the bitterest of enemies."

"And how does that effect Conar?" Teal asked. He knew so little about the netherworld of magic and though his gypsy blood often allowed him to see things and hear things and perceive things normal people couldn't, he didn't understand how he did it and really didn't care to know.

"It means his ass is in serious trouble if he's mixed up with such women," Shalu snapped.

"They'll not harm him," Meggie stated with confidence. "Not now." She fused her gaze with Occultus. "Not when he's gone and done it again to one of theirs."

What color there was in Occultus' face faded and twin spots of crimson infused his high cheekbones. His lips came together so tightly there was no discernible line there beneath his hawk-like nose. He swung frigid dark eyes to Ching-Ching.

"Done what?" Legion asked in a hopeless voice, thinking he probably shouldn't ask and didn't want to know.

"Sajin was furious," Balizar explained as he saw Meggie looking his way. "Not that he's of a mind to do anything about it, you understand. He's just mad 'cause neither the brat nor the Princess told him about the marriage."

"Marriage?" Shalu gasped. "What marriage?"

Chase sighed heavily. Sabrina had warned him that she had sensed Conar doing something he was going to bitterly regret.

"To your sister, right?" Paegan asked, pointing at Asher.

Asher shook his head. "That was months and months ago. Before Khamsin disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Legion echoed.

"He'd been getting worse," Rupine mentioned, not sure how much these people knew of the situation. At the puzzled looks, he shrugged, looking to Balizar for help.

"It's a long story. We'll explain back at the camp," Balizar told them.

"He's married Sajin's sister?" Chase wanted clarified. He saw Legion swing his head toward him, heard Shalu's grunt of disbelief.

"Aye," Balizar admitted. "When, we don't know. But the woman is pregnant with his child."

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"Son-of-a-bitch!" Shalu exploded, swinging around to roar his disapproval to the heavens.

"It will be," Meggie muttered. The thought of an Amazeen bearing a child of her bonny boy's put a wicked and fierce hatred deep in Meggie's heart.

"Let's go on to the camp and we'll …," Rupine began, but Legion cut him off.

"Why was the Kensetti in such a hurry to get to my brother?" A'Lex demanded.

"If you're thinking he means to do the brat harm, don't." Balizar lifted his hands to his shoulders. "The two of them are too much alike and Sajin has never cared for the things his sister does. If she got herself pregnant, she meant to do it and the brat probably had little to say about it."

"As if he ever does!" Shalu snorted. He scowled at Meggie's look of reprimand.

"Besides," Asher commented, "your other brothers are waiting back at camp for you."

Legion's brows came together. "What brothers?"

"Nicholas and Nathan," Meggie answered, ignoring the surprised looks of the men. She turned and headed for her horse, flinging an impatient hand for Teal to help her mount. "I'm thinking there's more to this than just my bonny boy marrying that tart." She grunted as she struggled to get on her horse. Once in the saddle, she glared down at the men who were still standing about. "Well? What are you waiting for? I've not met Nicky and Nate and I'm of a mind to do so before I'm too old to see them!" She dragged on her reins and turned the steed in the direction from which the others had come, kicking the bay in the ribs lightly with her heel.

"We should have castrated the little bugger," Shalu said as he put a heavy foot to his stirrup.

"That is what we should have done in Chrystallus!"

"I am inclined to agree," Ching-Ching mumbled as he swung lithely into the saddle.

"Sooner or later," Paegan quipped, "someone just might!" He laughed at Teal's shocked expression.

Occultus shook his head as he mounted his horse with decorum and grace. "What could he have been thinking of to ally himself with a witch?" He wished his powers were of use to him here in this arid land, but the only glimmer of the preternatural he felt was the danger to Conar.

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Sybelle dug her heels into her mare's flanks and easily outdistanced Chaim and Kanan. Her long black hair flew behind her, whipping in the dry wind of her passing, the lush locks tangling wildly. She scanned the deepening night around them for sunset was only ten minutes away and the air was growing cooler. Before long, it would be too dark to see the hoof prints of the Serenian's horse.

"How could you have let him steal one of the stallions?" she had thundered at the stable keeper before lashing out at the unfortunate man with her quirt. She had caught him across the bridge of his nose, drawing blood and an agonized yelp of pain. "Why didn't you stop him?"

Fedura, the stable keeper, cowered before his mistress, crossing his arms over his face as she lifted the quirt again. He moaned as the rawhide lash stung a line of pain across his forearms.

"I did not see him, Highness!" the poor man cried. "Before the Prophetess, I did not!"

"Nor will you ever see anything again!" she shrieked at him as she swung onto her mount.

"I will see to that when I return, you worthless dog!" She jerked viciously on the reins and pulled her screeching mare's head around. Drumming her feet against the horse's ribs, she shot out of the corral and was a good five lengths ahead of her two guards before the men could take chase.

It had been over two hours now since the Serenian had been found missing. Two hours since Sybelle had worked herself into such a frenzy that her jaw ached from grinding her teeth.

She had dug her nails into her palms so relentlessly that there was an oily, sticky residue of her own blood on the reins she gripped so fiercely in her hands.

"She's going to either kill us or the horses at this pace!" Kanan yelled across to Chaim as they prodded their mounts up a high sand dune.

"Mosen help him," Chaim muttered. His mistress would do more than apply a few well-aimed lashes to the Serenian's back for this. She was likely to kill him for deserting her.

The sun was almost kissing the dark lips of the mountains beyond them. It hovered above the peaks in a burst of fading radiance and already the sky around it was a deep, majestic purple color signaling the end of day. For one brief, dazzling moment, it flared and then dropped quickly behind the mountain range. With it went the warmth.

"We can't see anything now!" Kanan complained as he raced beside Chaim. "Our horses could step into a hole and ...."

Chaim held up his hand. Their lady had stopped at the top of the high dune and was standing in her stirrups, scanning the vista before her. He saw her glance back at them, point off to the left, then kick her horse in that direction.

"She's heading for the caves," Chaim said. If the Serenian was hiding, it would be there.

Sybelle had no patience to wait for her servants. She kicked her horse viciously and bent over the mare's neck. It mattered little that she could barely see where she was going or that her hair was whipping painfully against her face. All she cared about was finding McGregor and making him sorry he had ever decided to defy her.

He looked at Meggie. "From Hern's letters, I suppose the lad's always been a bit headstrong."

"Headstrong!" Shalu guffawed. "Retarded is more the word!"

"I can understand him not wanting to be a burden on you," Legion remarked. "If his Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 248

eyesight was failing him and he had reached the point where he couldn't care for himself, he'd have gone to a monastery rather than put himself off on those he loves."

"Retarded," Shalu repeated.

"You insult the mentally challenged, Taborn, by comparing Conar to them." Ching-Ching commented wryly.

Shalu nodded, somewhat chastened at the reprimand. "Aye, I suppose you're right."

"We were planning on going back to our main camp in the morning," Balizar said, "but now I think we should stay until we know what occurred between Sajin and the lad."

Asher groaned. "I'm in no great hurry to tell Rachel about any of this." He winced. "She's going to be furious."

"And with good reason," Rupine said dryly. He knew his niece as well as her brother did.

"I would imagine she'll be heading this way to challenge Her Grace."

"Oh, that's all we need!" Shalu thundered. "Two women fighting over his ass!"

Meggie threw him an annoyed look. "Watch your mouth," she warned him. She looked at Asher. "I will handle your sister. She is one with the Multitude."

Legion's brows shot up. "She is? This other woman Conar married?"

Meggie nodded. "Aye." She squinted at him. "Didn't Catherine tell you that?"

A'Lex shook his head. "No, she did not." He wondered why.

"It's late," Rupine reminded them all. He got up from the campfire and dusted off his robe.

"We can do nothing until morning anyway." He bid them a good eve and left.

"You really don't think there's been trouble between Conar and the Kensetti?" Legion wanted clarified from Balizar.

"No," the warrior answered, emphatically shaking his head. "Sajin's been worried about the lad and now that he knows for sure where he is, he couldn't wait to see him." He grinned as he poked a stick at the fire before him. "Oh, there may be words, but that'll be all there is to it."

"I agree," Asher said. He handed a chunk of apple to Paegan. "I would imagine he feels as I do about having Khamsin for a brother-in-law."

From the deep shadows behind the wide tents, two gleaming brown eyes shot sparks of fierce fire at Asher's words. The face in which those angry orbs was set grew bitter and cold and rigid with hatred. A low, soft growl of rage came from deep within the watcher's throat and the knuckles of the hands which gripped the striped tent canvas were bleached of their normal dark color.

It had taken Chand Wynth most of the evening to find the encampment to which Legion and the others had gone. He had hidden himself well, slinking from shadow to shadow to keep his presence from being suspected. He had seen Meggie Ruck looking around her several times during the course of their evening meal and knew the old woman was feeling vibrations in the air that boded ill for Conar McGregor, but she had yet to discover Chand's whereabouts. He knew she was only aware of a threat, but knew not from which man there that threat was coming.

"The keep is at Djebel ed Kjinn," he heard the man who bore such an uncanny resemblance to Hern say. "Near Helix. It's about a two hour ride from here."

"We'll set out at first light." Asher leaned back on his blanket. "The road north is easy to travel, well marked, and we will make good time."