"I met your grandparents and then was put to sleep for seventy years," I began. "To keep my body … alive and unhurt during the time, someone put the … uh, magic in my blood. It's slowly leaving my body now. Soon, I won't be able to heal anyone."
He listened while his restless eyes took in our surroundings. "Who is Taylor?"
Jolted by the name, my breath caught.
Batu glanced at me. "You spoke to him in your sleep."
My jaw clenched. I stared at the sky without really seeing it for a long moment, my emotions churning. "What else did I say?" I asked tersely.
"Not much. You said, Forgive me, Taylor, over and over."
My heart ached in response to the sorrowful sentiment.
You made a difference, Josie. Taylor's final words killed me to recall. I did make a difference - but an awful one I'd do whatever I could to fix, if I ever had the chance.
Batu took the milk back. I shifted, returning to my physical body. "I don't want to talk about him," I said. "Please."
"He is dead."
I didn't respond.
"You were too sad for him not to be."
"Batu!" I snapped, trying his grandmother's way of dealing with a warrior since asking him nicely didn't seem to work.
"Very well, goddess."
We rode in silence until the weather grew warm enough for me to shed my outer layer. Batu appeared to know the direction despite there being no road or trail guiding us. The hilly plains were beginning to level out, though patches of trees, streams and ponds continued to punctuate the landscape at intervals. We were never far from water, and it dawned on me he was using the water sources as his guides.
"You said something about herding last night," I said, breaking the quiet. "Did you herd sheep?"
"I was raised in a war camp. Every child of the steppe is taught the skills of our forefathers: the bow, horses, herding and hunting. The army travels with its own herds of horses, sheep and goats. Children take care of them until they are old enough to learn to fight."
"You were serious last night about a fussy lamb," I said. I was almost disappointed not to have been … special for a moment. Did he really think of me as a sheep or some other animal?
"If a lamb is lost or left by its mother, the herder must find it and care for it. Placing it here helps." He patted his chest. "It appears to work on fussy goddesses as well."
"I wasn't fussy." The image of him caring for a lamb and then loping over the horizon to collect ears almost made me smile in bafflement. "You are nice to a lamb but you kill everyone else."