Battle For Tristaine Part 2

"I know. She was on Tristaine's high council. She led your warriors. She was Kyla's blood sister and Shann's wife. And Camryn's hero, and your best friend."

Jess straightened and lowered the hatchet to her side. She raked her damp hair out of her eyes and looked at Brenna.

"Jess, I don't mean to preach about this. But I think Camryn's back there blaming herself for what happened to Ky, because she thinks she's not living up to some standard Dyan must have set for all of-"

"Ah, Cam's beating herself up because I half-fl ayed her in front of her sisters." Jess grimaced and rested her foot on the log.

"Dyan would have s.n.a.t.c.hed me baldheaded if she heard me pop off at a scared kid like that."

"Look, that's what I mean." Brenna rested her elbows on her knees. "Dyan's memory is all around us. She's like a ghost you're afraid of disappointing."

"Bren, it's not Dyan." Jess swung one long leg over the log and sat, gingerly. "Aye, she was one of the best of us. We love her, we grieve for her, and we'll miss her forever. But no one here is trying to walk in Dyan's boots, la.s.s. It couldn't be done."

"Okay. You're not trying to live up to some impossible standard, then." A breeze blew Brenna's hair across her forehead as she surveyed Jess clinically. "But I can swing that hatchet almost as well as you, Jesstin. And either Shann or I could have helped you carry Kyla back to our camp. So why do you insist on pus.h.i.+ng yourself like this right now, when your back's killing you?"

Jess sighed. Hiding the occasional twinge was diffi cult when married to a psychic healer.

Brenna pushed herself off the rock and went to the log. She swung around and sat behind Jess on the rough bark, clasping the broad shoulders.

"I've got a pa.s.sing familiarity with this body now, so even if I weren't a brilliant physician, I could tell you're hurting by the way you move."

She slid her hands beneath the thick hair and wrapped them around the base of Jess's neck, probing the dense muscle carefully.

* 25 *

"You don't have to do everything yourself, Jesstin. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this feels an awful lot like empty Amazon macha."

Jess didn't answer for a moment. She studied the glen, unwilling to give in to the pleasant warmth Brenna's hands were coaxing into her rigid neck. When it fi nally seemed reasonable to believe that no Government troops were going to leap from the trees at any moment, Jess lowered her shoulders beneath her lover's gently insistent touch.

"Aye," Jess said slowly. "Maybe it is Amazon macha. But it's not Dyan we're trying to live up to, adanin, me and Cam. Or not only Dyan. You called us warriors...You know what that means to us?"

Brenna's hands smoothed the planes of her upper back now.

"Well, I know you and Camryn are pledged to Tristaine's warrior guild, and Dyan was your leader. That means you're part of your village's fi ghting force, your army?"

"We fi ght," Jess affi rmed, s.h.i.+vering with the tendrils of pleasure spun by Brenna's strong fi ngers. It was important to her to get this right. Jess talked to Brenna as easily as she prayed to her Mothers, but the complexities of Tristaine's culture were diffi cult to explain. "But an Amazon warrior is more than a soldier. We protect Tristaine's women in times of peace too. We make sure they're safe. Whether the threat's a fl ooding river, or rabid bats, or a mad Government scientist."

"Or a charging boar," Brenna fi nished. Her hands stilled.

"There are rabid bats in Tristaine?"

"Aye, they have their own guild." Jess grinned when Brenna tweaked her ribs. "Camryn and I, we're the only warriors here, Bren. Shann's our queen, you and Ky are both dear to us. We have to stay alert."

"Jesstin, that's s.e.xist as h.e.l.l." Brenna moved her hands lower on Jess's back. "I saw Shann put a bullet through a man's head before he could kill you, and both Kyla and I have been in Caster's talons and escaped whole, just like you and Cam. We're not delicate little-"

Her probing thumbs. .h.i.t a particularly painful kink, and Jess tightened, her left shoulder rising.

* 26 *

"You found it," Jess pointed out.

"Sorry," Brenna murmured, smoothing the stiff muscle with the fl at of her palm.

"I'm not calling any Amazon frail, Bren." Jess rose, shaking off Brenna's restraining hand. She reversed herself on the log so she sat facing her. "You're strong, and you have a brave heart. I know that. I love that."

She lifted Brenna's hand and held it, sifting through her fi ngers. She opened them and held her palm to her damp chest. "But this-you-are precious to me, adanin. I'd give my life to protect you. That would be true even if I'd never taken a warrior's oath."

Jess searched Brenna's face. "Let me do what I think I must to keep you safe."

Brenna stared at her silently for a long moment. Then she smiled, the love in her eyes rich and tender, and cradled Jess's face in her hand. "I accept your protection. And I thank you for it. But just know this, Jesstin. When I was ten, this bully at the Youth Home pushed my sister Sammy down, twice. I broke the b.i.t.c.h's nose. Does that tell you anything?"

"I should always be nice to your little sister."

"Nope." Brenna skated her fi ngers up Jess's throat and wrapped them lightly around it. "I'll always have your back, Jesstin.

In any fi ght, you won't need to look around for me. I'll be right beside you."

Jess covered Brenna's hand with her own and leaned in to kiss her. They were getting better at this now, with weeks of sweet practice.

Brenna's lips moved, warm and pliant beneath Jess's searching ones, then parted to admit the slow sweep of Jess's tongue. They breathed softly, drinking in each other's taste, their mouths warm and pliant.

"Yer sure you've got no use for Amazon macha now?" Jess drawled and kissed her again.

Brenna explored the planes of her face. "You're gonna tell me. . .that's who's kissing me, right? The macha Amazon?"

"Ah, no, la.s.s." Jess skated her lips over Brenna's lifted * 27 *

chin and down her taut throat. "It is indeed yer own sweet Jesstin, smoochin' you here on this log. But it's the macha Amazon warrior doin' this."

Strong hands gripped the front of Brenna's blouse and ripped it open with one yank, baring her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Jess lifted her gaze from naked cleavage to blue sky and grinned. "Thank ye, Lady Gaia, for this bounty I am about to receive!"

Brenna laughed, a high, breathless sound that was equal parts surprise and pleasure. Jess s.h.i.+fted closer to her, and the soft fabric of her s.h.i.+rt warmed her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s. A fl ush rose in Brenna's cheeks.

"I'm makin' ye blush." As always on such occasions, Jess's brogue was deep as syrup. She leaned forward slowly and Brenna leaned back.

"Maybe it's aggression you're seeing, and I'm getting ready to pop you one in the nose," Brenna suggested, leaning further back.

"Hey, Camryn taught me that base-of-the-palm-to-the-nose thing. It looked real, real, painful-"

Brenna sputtered into silence as Jess employed her best time-honored technique for shutting her up. Jess's kiss grew forceful, as she bent Brenna down on the log. She covered her with her upper body, holding her down against the rough bark. Her hands found Brenna's b.r.e.a.s.t.s and circled them lightly, their erect nubs tickling her palms.

Jess squeaked, and Brenna lifted her head.

"My back," Jess gasped.

Brenna frowned and began to sit up. "d.a.m.n it, Jesstin, I told you-"

"All better now." Jess's grin was gamine, and her body relaxed instantly, pressing Brenna back down on the log.

"You rotten punk," Brenna snarled, slapping Jess's shoulder.

"Amazons heal fast." Jess lowered her head and continued healing.

O.

"I'm not the one who brought up pythons, Jesstin. Shann brought up pythons."

* 28 *

"Brenna?" Jess scanned the snarled branches overhead. "If you're eaten up by a rabid lion, or ambushed by a giant snake, I'll make Camryn suck the poisoned blood from your-"

"Blech. You and what army, Amazon?" Camryn yanked on the vine Jess pointed to and snapped it free of the branch above.

Brenna measured the coil of vines looped over her shoulder, frowning. "You really think these things are strong enough to catch an adult female in free fall? Of average height and weight?"

"We'd best stop at the canyon on the way back to camp and test them." Jess threw Camryn a bland look. "Cam, you and I are still too shaky from our battle wounds, so Brenna will have to tie these to her ankles and jump off the-"

"You're having a good time with me, aren't you?" Brenna slapped Jess's shoulder. "I'd like to see you navigate gridlock City traffi c at rush hour, Jesstin."

"Blech." Jess shuddered. "I'd rather test the vines."

She began kicking a path through the high gra.s.s of the thicket, and they started back to camp. Brenna waved a hand to disperse the small winged creatures scattered by their progress. She stifl ed a yawn. Her dreams had been especially vivid the night before, and sleep had come in discordant s.n.a.t.c.hes.

More important, though, Kyla had pa.s.sed the night well. Her wound showed no sign of infection, and the pain was localized and manageable with Shann's mild herbal tea. Camryn was still quiet this morning, but that wasn't unusual. Brenna had come to recognize silence as her natural state.

"I'm not sure how we'll fi nd Tristaine, Bren." Jess rested her rough hand on Brenna's arm and guided her around a snarl of brambles. "But if the village is quiet, we'll do what we can to get a message to Samantha in the City."

Brenna drew in a quick breath. "Hey, I'd like that, Jess. A lot."

"We'll have to be careful. They might be watching her. But we still have some people in place in the City. One of them can contact her eventually."

"Wait...and risk getting caught?" Brenna's hope dimmed. "If * 29 *

Caster found out I tried to contact Sam, Jess, it would be bad for her and her husband. She's about to have a baby. I'm not sure I want to take any chances."

"I bet she'd want you to take a chance." Camryn walked a few steps behind them. "Your sister, I mean. She's probably real worried."

They stopped and waited until Cam reached them. Brenna noted she was limping slightly.

Jess's palm was gentle on the back of Camryn's wiry neck.

"I think you're right, adanin. Your Lauren would want to know the truth, if it was you missing."

Camryn nodded. She'd given Brenna her only picture of Lauren for safe storage in her journal. Cam's younger sister had been lost in the same ambush that killed Dyan.

The sun was touching the western ridge by the time they reached the meadow adjoining their camp. Even in fall, the golden gra.s.s was still fl ush with the rich growth of high summer, and they waded through knee-high waves of it.

Brenna heard the faint screeing of some new species of gra.s.shopper-probably carnivorous-and scanned the ground uneasily. Her ears p.r.i.c.ked again at a new sound, a musical trilling whistle that rose from the far end of the meadow.

She looked up to see Shann, standing on a large rock near their base camp. She was too distant for Brenna to discern her expression, but her head was tilted, and she seemed to be searching the skies.

"Hey, do you guys...?" Brenna turned and saw that Camryn and Jess had stopped several yards behind her. They looked like mirrors of their elder sister, their eyes trained on the cloudless blue expanse above them. The soft screeing sounded again, and this time Brenna followed their gaze skyward.

"What is it, Jess?" Brenna frowned. "Are you hearing a plane?"

"No, a gyr."

"You're hearing a jar?" Brenna squinted.

"A gyrfalcon, Brenna," Jess answered. "It's a kind of bird."

"Thank you, Jesstin. I know a falcon is a bird-"

* 30 *

"I see her!" Camryn pointed.

Brenna tried to follow Cam's fi nger. She picked out the tiny silhouette before many City women could have. Her weeks in the mountains under the Amazons' tutelage had sharpened her senses.

She heard Shann's eerie musical whistle again.

At fi rst the falcon was a tiny, dusty thread fl apping against the blue bowl of sky above them. It circled, descending in lazy spirals toward the far end of the meadow. Brenna shaded her eyes and traced its path.

"Watch your footing." Jess's hand brushed Brenna's back in pa.s.sing, making her jump. "The fi eld's pocked with gopher holes, and a twisted ankle won't bring Tristaine's tidings any faster."

This cautionary lecture was lost on them all, including Jess.

Brenna wasn't sure yet why they were running, but her own tension matched the sense of urgency emanating from the two Amazons. For one thing, she wasn't wild about watching a bird of prey dive-bomb the unprotected head of Tristaine's queen, who waited motionless on the distant rock.

Brenna jumped over a furrow, then caught her breath as the falcon slowed its descent. Its glossy silver wings sent up a backdraft of chill mountain air as sharp, curved talons stretched toward Shann's upraised arm. The gyr touched down with surprising gentleness, leather tethers trailing from its leg.

By the time they reached Shann, she was smoothing its breast feathers with the backs of her fi ngers. She spoke to it in a low, crooning tone, her eyes s.h.i.+ning with pleasure. Brenna, ever practical, noted with relief that beneath the falcon's fi erce claws, Shann's forearm was wrapped in several layers of thick denim.

"Isn't she beautiful? Her name is Talfryn, Brenna. It means 'the high end of the hills.'" Shann smiled proudly. "Look at her wingspan, Jesstin. She was just an eyas when you were taken!"

"Aye, she's lovely, Shann, really." Jess clawed her tumbling hair out of her eyes. "What does she say?"

Shann handed her a small folded paper, then gathered the bird's trailing jesses and wound them around her wrist. Jess shook open the parchment carefully and studied it. Brenna felt a stab of * 31 *

misgiving as a look of unpleasant surprise fl itted across Jess's rugged features. She handed the tattered square to Camryn and Brenna.

The creased parchment felt like soft cloth in Brenna's hands.

Red lines interlaced with black to form a twirling symbol that covered a third of the worn sheet. The drawing made no immediate sense to her. No eventual sense either, to be accurate, but something in the strong, blocky design chilled Brenna. The news wasn't good, whatever it was. She looked up to see Shann studying her face.

"Lady, we should leave for Tristaine tonight." Cam looked like she wanted to bolt.

"It's only a secondary alarm, Cam. There's no immediate danger. Jesstin? My arm's wearing out." Shann waited while Jess wound her jacket around her forearm, then transferred the large falcon to her with the ease of long practice.