Warlord

the never ending sky. The grass was still afire, extending out in a thick carpet of reds, oranges, and golds. The sheer immensity of it took my breath away, and I found myself looking down into the grass below me just to keep my sense of balance.
    As we rode, Keekai would sometimes move close and we would talk. But we were very conscious of our listeners, and so our topics were of Xy, and how we lived. Keekai was fascinated by stone tents, and city life.
    But at night, each of us on our pallet, the brazier burning between us, she'd focus those bright blue eyes on me and ask deeper questions. "All I know of you is what is whispered on the winds," she said, her eyes bright. "What makes a city-dweller leave her lands to venture onto the Plains?" So I told her, about the war and the tents of healing and Simus's wound and Keir. She listened intently, occasionally asking a question or two, but mostly listening, her eyes sparkling with her interest. She didn't criticize, or condemn, just listened. I talked about Anna the cook, and the kitchens under her control, of my Master Eln, and how he'd taught me everything I know. I even described the old cheesemaker and her cart in the market back in Water's Fall.
    "Which reminds me." I dug around in my satchel. "I have a jar of joint cream here. It might help your hands."
    "Eh?" Keekai leaned forward and reached across for the jar, settling back into her blankets as she looked at it carefully. "Some of your magic?"
    I shook my head. "I don't have any magic, Keekai. Just herbs and knowledge of their uses." Keekai sniffed at the contents, then looked at me with half-closed eyes. "So, you claim no magic?"
    "None," I said firmly.
    She grunted, dipped into the jar, and started to work the salve into her hands. We sat in silence for a mo ment, the flames in the brazier crackling. I looked up where there was a smoke hole cut in the tent, and saw the stars above us. It was late.
    "I thank you." Keekai made as if to return the jar, but I gestured for her to keep it.
    "I hope that it will help." I looked at her for a moment, then bit my lip. She snorted, softly. "Do you wish for my token?"
    "I might need it," I responded. "Keekai, why does Keir hate the warrior-priests so much?" Keekai sighed. "That is a long tale, and not easily told." She yawned. "Still Waters will have us up at dawn yet again. But this time I will stop us at the nooning and tell him that a hunt is needed." She cackled.
    "They will hunt, and you and I will talk." She rose to give me privacy. I shook my head at her. "What kind of name is that? And how can you tell them apart?" She wrinkled her nose. "When they become warrior-priests, they take on a new name, not the one that the elements gave them, but a name to signal that they are warrior-priests." She snorted again, reminding me of Marcus. "They take them from the plants and animals or the elements. Still Waters, Gentle Breeze, pah. Why not Dead Deer, or Rutting Ehat?"
    I laughed out loud at that, and she grinned back at me. "As to telling them apart, look at the tattoos around their left eyes. There the pattern always differs." She raised the flap of the tent. "Get into your bedding and close those eyes, Lara. The sun will be up before we wish it." Still Waters had us up even before the sun rose.
    I stood, holding Greatheart's reins, sipping kavage as the camp was broken. Keekai was talking to one of the warrior-priests, announcing her craving for fresh red meat.
    I ignored it, and watched the sun rise. Truly rise, on a horizon as wide as my eyes could see, seeming almost to leap up into the sky. No wonder these people worshiped the elements, and swore by the skies. It was such an enormous part of their lives, affecting everything that they did, every moment of the day. Living in a castle, in a city, I was not attuned to it the way they were. I watched in awe, and wondered. What would a storm be like?
    What would winter be like?
    My stomach tightened. It was all so new and frightening. I gazed out at the horizon, and wished for some nice, safe mountains to cut the openness. I felt so exposed....
    "As frightening as a land where one is constantly surrounded by huge mountains of stone that restrict your sight and block the sun." Keir's words came back to me, and I smiled. Was he watching the sunrise? Or hassling his warriors to work faster so that he could follow us?
    I had to chuckle, since both Keir and Marcus were probably driving everyone around them to work as fast