Sword Bound

Epilogue

ON THE REST OF THE RIDE HOME, Del and I traded off putting Sula in front of us, in our saddles. She wasn’t big enough to interfere, and was too light for the horses to notice. The only problem was that Sula wanted to ride with whomever she wasn’t with. This occasioned much back-and-forthing as we continually traded her, until finally Del grew annoyed and suggested that spoiled little girls might not get for their birthday what it was they wished for. Sula subsided and fell asleep with her back against my chest.

“That’s blackmail,” I said. “First you condone bribery, and now you descend to blackmail?”

“Do you have any suggestions?”

“Well, no.”

“Then be quiet.”

We left the desert behind and entered Mehmet’s canyon. Just seeing high stone walls, lush green grass, and a stream running through brought a sense of peace. As always, Mehmet’s aketni was scattered here and there doing chores. As always, they waved and shouted greetings. We waved back and rode on, then turned past the rocky shoulder to enter our canyon.

Del, who had taken Sula again, tipped her head back to look up into the sky. “Eagle.”

I looked up. A second eagle joined the first. “Must be a clutch up there somewhere.”

“Remember the first time we came here? Eagles flew.”

I smiled. “So they did.”

Alric’s and Lena’s corral lay ahead, their house just past it. “I need to give Alric back his horse. I’ll be home shortly.”

Del nodded, rode on past. Sula asked something in a high-pitched voice. Del answered, but I don’t know what she said. I watched them go, thinking about the baby she had lost. Wahzir, when he was merely a healer, had said it was likely she’d have no others. I hoped Sula was enough to ease that pain.

In front of Alric’s and Lena’s house, I reined in and stepped off the buckskin. I called to them both. Lena came out immediately. Alric came more slowly, favoring his leg.

I smiled. “We’re back. All of us. Even this big boy.”

Alric visibly inspected the horse. “Used him a little hard, did you?”

I shrugged. “He had something left.”

“Ale by the pool?”

I nodded gravely. “Ale by the pool would be almost the very best thing I can imagine.”

“You can’t go there,” Lena protested to Alric. “So far on that leg?”

“Ale,” Alric said, “has medicinal properties.”

Lena scowled. She reached inside the door. “Then use this.”

I shouted with laughter. “A cane! A cane!”

Alric glared at me. “Coming?”

I heard Del’s raised voice. She was calling me. It wasn’t from fear; just a summons. “Go on ahead,” I told him. “I’ll see what she wants, then join you.”

“Tiger!”

“I’m coming, bascha!” I walked on over, found her standing outside the front door. “What?”

“Come with me.”

“Come with you where? We just got home.”

She grabbed a hand and yanked. I followed. She took me around behind the house to the small corral.

Out of shock, I stopped. “Where did he come from?”

The stud, seeing that I had at long last arrived after so many delays, exhaled a noisy, prodigious snort. I didn’t mind. I was too relieved to do so. I went to the corral and put out my hands. The stud came up, snuffled at them.

Tears stung. And I didn’t even mind if Del knew it. “Did he make it here on his own?”

A voice other than Del’s answered the question. “No, he didn’t make it here on his own. I found him in Julah. Someone’s young daughter was riding him.”

I spun. Saw Neesha. Who grinned at me in a mixture of delight and triumph.

He answered the unspoken question. “My parents talked me into coming. They hired two men for the farm and told me to go on back to my lessons. Rasha wanted to come, but they said no.”

I felt a strange little lift in my heart. “They may have talked you into it, but is it where you want to be?”

After a moment of overdramatic consideration, he told me yes. “I’m only third level. And barely that. Besides, you’ll need help with the students.”

“I apparently don’t have any students at the moment, remember?”

“Two,” he said. “Besides me. Eddrith and Darrion.”

“Who?—oh. Those two from Istamir.”

Neesha nodded. “Eddrith says you owe him a sparring dance.”

I had some memory of that.

“Darrion says his grandmother sent him.”

And I definitely remembered that grandmother: sharp-tongued Tamar.

“They’ve taken one of the little houses by mine.”

My grin was slow, but huge. “Then go get them. We’ll all drink ale.”

Del’s tone was elaborately resigned. “Sula wants to eat. It appears that once again the woman must do the work while the men drink spirits.”

Neesha went off to gather Eddrith and Darrion. Smiling like a fatuous fool, I began a comfortable stroll down to the pool where Alric, and Alric’s ale, waited.

Del’s voice followed. “Save some for me!”