patted my arm. “No worry. Raohah and Murrah save you.” She meant Handsome and Kitten. “That night, you camp Black Rocks. Always first stop on long trip East. You lay down. Guards lay down. Then quick, you get up, carry,” She pointed at Sai. “And...” She made a hopping motion with a hand. “Find rock like uklan’s head. Raohah and Murrah wait. Take you.”
“What’s an uklan?”
Sai spoke up. “A desert lizard. Fear not, mistress. I know its shape.”
I had a lot of other questions. Were these guys really going to wait until we were asleep to kill us? What if they didn’t camp in the usual spot? What if they caught me before I got Sai to the uklan rock? I didn’t get to ask them. One of the guards looked in and barked at Queenie to get out.
She barked back, gathered up the bowls and the bones, then gave me a sad motherly look and one of her rib-cracking hugs. She put me down and touched my cheek. “Keep eye open and claw sharp, Jae-yin.”
She was out of the tent before I could do anything more than nod. She’d knocked me for a loop. She’d used my name. I didn’t know she even knew it. After all that stuff about “good girl” and “bad girl.”
Sai got all nosy. “Is something wrong, Mistress Jae-En?”
“Mind your own business. Just dusty around here, that’s all.”
CHAPTER NINE
ESCAPE!
I had to hand it to the chief. He’d solved his little problem neater than a CIA cover-up. By agreeing to let me go he’d satisfied Queenie’s faction, but by naming One-Eye’s pals as our escorts, he’d let the other side know that we were going to die once we got out of camp. Sure Queenie’s side realized what was going on, but you can’t just call the chief a liar. He’d tied them up but good. Luckily, Queenie was one smart, brave mama, or Sai and I wouldn’t have known the score until their swords were halfway through our necks.
About an hour after Queenie’s goodbye breakfast, just as dawn was seeping through the seams of the patchwork tent, the door flapped open and our two escorts popped their heads in, grinning, and motioned us out.
The ugly bastards acted like a couple of pederasts taking cub scouts to a football game. They led us to their pack krae with way too much chuckling and backslapping. They couldn’t wait to get us out of camp. Sai and I exchanged uneasy glances, but what could we do?
You’d think that the Aarurrh would be their own mules, being built like they are, but they’re too proud. They don’t like to carry more than their weapons and a light pack and they never take riders. Queenie had been going way out of her way putting me on her back during the krae stampede. No warrior would have done it. The Aarurrh use the krae the way the purple guys do, for meat and as pack animals and cart horses. Our escort saddled up two of them for us, but hobbled them so that we couldn’t high-tail it.
Sai had no problem mounting up; he’d been riding these things all his life, but I was a little nervous. I remembered the whole wild-eyed herd of them going off the cliff and thought maybe I’d just walk. When I stalled, one of our guards picked me up under the armpits and plopped me on the saddle like a dad putting a kid on a horsey ride outside a supermarket. I flailed around for a second before I found the reins and stirrups and settled in.
Riding a krae felt kinda odd to somebody who’s only rode horses before. The saddle sat in front of the wings, practically on the krae’s neck. And since the thing only had two legs, the stride was more like a human’s side-to-side stroll than a horse’s four beat roll. It wasn’t bad, just different and it took a little getting used to.
As far as the big birds being temperamental, turned out I had nothing to worry about. These were pack animals, and pretty beat-down pack animals at that. Our captors didn’t treat their livestock any better than they treated their slaves.
There was no official send off. Queenie was there, sad
“What’s an uklan?”
Sai spoke up. “A desert lizard. Fear not, mistress. I know its shape.”
I had a lot of other questions. Were these guys really going to wait until we were asleep to kill us? What if they didn’t camp in the usual spot? What if they caught me before I got Sai to the uklan rock? I didn’t get to ask them. One of the guards looked in and barked at Queenie to get out.
She barked back, gathered up the bowls and the bones, then gave me a sad motherly look and one of her rib-cracking hugs. She put me down and touched my cheek. “Keep eye open and claw sharp, Jae-yin.”
She was out of the tent before I could do anything more than nod. She’d knocked me for a loop. She’d used my name. I didn’t know she even knew it. After all that stuff about “good girl” and “bad girl.”
Sai got all nosy. “Is something wrong, Mistress Jae-En?”
“Mind your own business. Just dusty around here, that’s all.”
CHAPTER NINE
ESCAPE!
I had to hand it to the chief. He’d solved his little problem neater than a CIA cover-up. By agreeing to let me go he’d satisfied Queenie’s faction, but by naming One-Eye’s pals as our escorts, he’d let the other side know that we were going to die once we got out of camp. Sure Queenie’s side realized what was going on, but you can’t just call the chief a liar. He’d tied them up but good. Luckily, Queenie was one smart, brave mama, or Sai and I wouldn’t have known the score until their swords were halfway through our necks.
About an hour after Queenie’s goodbye breakfast, just as dawn was seeping through the seams of the patchwork tent, the door flapped open and our two escorts popped their heads in, grinning, and motioned us out.
The ugly bastards acted like a couple of pederasts taking cub scouts to a football game. They led us to their pack krae with way too much chuckling and backslapping. They couldn’t wait to get us out of camp. Sai and I exchanged uneasy glances, but what could we do?
You’d think that the Aarurrh would be their own mules, being built like they are, but they’re too proud. They don’t like to carry more than their weapons and a light pack and they never take riders. Queenie had been going way out of her way putting me on her back during the krae stampede. No warrior would have done it. The Aarurrh use the krae the way the purple guys do, for meat and as pack animals and cart horses. Our escort saddled up two of them for us, but hobbled them so that we couldn’t high-tail it.
Sai had no problem mounting up; he’d been riding these things all his life, but I was a little nervous. I remembered the whole wild-eyed herd of them going off the cliff and thought maybe I’d just walk. When I stalled, one of our guards picked me up under the armpits and plopped me on the saddle like a dad putting a kid on a horsey ride outside a supermarket. I flailed around for a second before I found the reins and stirrups and settled in.
Riding a krae felt kinda odd to somebody who’s only rode horses before. The saddle sat in front of the wings, practically on the krae’s neck. And since the thing only had two legs, the stride was more like a human’s side-to-side stroll than a horse’s four beat roll. It wasn’t bad, just different and it took a little getting used to.
As far as the big birds being temperamental, turned out I had nothing to worry about. These were pack animals, and pretty beat-down pack animals at that. Our captors didn’t treat their livestock any better than they treated their slaves.
There was no official send off. Queenie was there, sad
Similar Books
