"Thirteen of you?" The captain at the table had already counted us as Dragon gave him our information. He said we were of the Wildcat tribe, whatever that meant.
Veykan's lending us his tribal affiliation; Dragon Taylor gave me mental details. If Dad used his, it might raise suspicions. Well, I could see how that might be a problem. Former Warlords who'd been dead to these people for thousands of years didn't just pop in on a normal day.
"Are the females sufficiently trained?" The captain asked Dragon, squinting critically at Devin and me.
"I'll match either against anybody here," Dragon replied, signing his name on the register. "They deserve the black they wear."
That sounded like a challenge to me, but then I wasn't Falchani, so what did I know?
* * *
"You did not say anything about riding a horse." I was giving the horse the same look the horse was giving me—if horses are capable of incredulity. Drake stood at my shoulder, trying to convince me to get on.
"Haven't you ridden a horse before? I thought you were from Oklahoma."
"I am from Oklahoma and believe me when I say that not all people in Oklahoma are experts on riding horses."
"You don't think you can stay on?" Drew walked over, grinning as usual.
"I can stay on. I just don't know what shape my ass is gonna be in when I get off." I slapped Drew lightly on the arm. He and Drake had dressed me that morning, showing me how to strap on my new blades, which were beautiful—the workmanship was amazing. I almost hated to use them; I didn't want to mess them up. I also had throwing knives—three of them—in side sheaths. I'd never thrown knives and I always had my claws if I needed to slice something.
"We'll take care of your ass," Drake's hand was now on said ass. They'd seen to it the night before, too. "Now, get on your horse."
"Fine." I jumped onto the horse without using stirrups. Drake cleared his throat at my inappropriate antics. "Hey, you didn't say how you wanted it done." I stuck my feet in the stirrups and nudged the horse with my boots, as I'd seen the others do. He moved off. Drake and Drew climbed into their saddles and came after me.
Dragon arranged us in neat rows of four each, riding behind him. Crane, Caylon, Devin and Pheran Tiger rode in the first row, Turtle, Veykan, Dragon Taylor and Crane Trevor were in the second row and Rik, Drake, Drew and I came last. We were a smaller army somewhere in the middle of the Warlord's much larger one, and rising dust became a problem quickly. All of us had kerchiefs over our nose and mouth before long and the horses didn't like it much either, I could tell. My horse was a gelding, a bay, Drake informed me as we rode along.
"We'll be stopping to water the horses in a little while," he added. A wagon pulled by oxen rumbled along behind us, and much of their burden was water barrels. "We won't get to a river for two days, so we won't get baths, either. Just a wet cloth to wipe ourselves off at the end of the day."
"And you wanted to come," I shook my head in disbelief.
"Don't you want to know how your ancestors did things?" Drew chided.
"I think I could bend time a little, if I wanted to know that."
"Well, you're stuck here, now," Drake was grinning under his kerchief—I just knew it.
The horses were glad to get a drink at midday, as was I. I'd taken Kifirin's advice earlier—before breakfast, in fact, and turned to energy. I'd floated away, going here and there before coming back to Falchan and going off to the cooking tents. Devin drank the strong brew that Falchani called tea—I settled for water.
A thick layer of pale, brown dust covered all of us by the time we stopped for the night. I was wishing for a bath when I slid off my horse. My ride stood patiently while I learned how to groom him that night—he got cared for first and was eating while I brushed the dust off him and cleaned my tack. Crane came along and showed me how to check his hooves. I was stiff, too—just as I thought I'd be—but it could have been worse.
My grooming came next—I unbraided my hair and got as much dust out of it as I could with a brush and then wiped my face, arms and leathers off. I had two more sets of leathers in a small saddlebag that someone brought for me; they'd thought of everything, looked like. I also had underwear and several thin cotton tanks to wear under my leathers. I was grateful for the underwear and tanks—it kept the leather from sticking to important parts. After the horse was cared for and picketed, Drake and Drew showed me how to raise our small tent and that's where I sat to clean myself up. They did the same.
Dinner was simple—some sort of stew. Devin got vegetables and rice; there were a few vegetarians in the army, it seems. "We're going to spar after dinner," Dragon announced while we were eating. He lifted an eyebrow in my direction. Joy.
"Come on, baby, strap those blades back on," Drew hugged me inside our tent later. Honestly, I wanted to just flop down on my flat mattress and close my eyes for a while. I strapped on my blades.
"Come," Caylon Black was crooking his finger at me. Caylon wanted to take me on? He'd taught Dragon and Crane. I heaved a sigh and went toward him. I learned quickly where Dragon and Crane learned the tactics of rushing their opponent immediately—Caylon had taught them that. I was barely able to block his first blows.
Caylon was like a shredder, too, and we weren't playing around with wooden practice blades. Oh, no. This was the real thing and the metal rang out as we sparred. The others were standing there, watching Caylon push me around the little square he'd drawn out in the dust. I was going to have to wipe off again. For nearly half an hour, he whacked away at me. Eventually I wondered whether he was going to tire soon. I yawned."That's it," Caylon stepped back, holding his blades out to the side, indicating he was done.
"Thank goodness, I thought you were going to go all night," I said, lowering my blades. Now I was going to have to clean and oil them. I was already checking them over, making sure there weren't any nicks or scratches.
"It's not polite to yawn at your Sursee," Drake chuckled as he herded me toward our tent.
* * *
"We've never landed a blow either," Dragon hid his grin in a cup of tea. Devin wanted to elbow him but held off. Caylon was cleaning his blades around the campfire. Some of their neighbors had come to watch the bout and stayed to watch Dragon and Crane spar afterward. "It's the vampire in her, but Merrill says it's also the Queen in her."
"Do any of the other female vampires fight like this?" Caylon asked.
"Merrill says no. He says he has seen Susila fight and she's better than most. Lissa was humoring us, tonight. She was tired."
"It's as if time moves differently for her," Crane added. She can see our blows coming and has time to correct her grip on the blade, even, if it isn't in the right position to take the hit on the flat of it."
"Has she ever gone on the offensive?" Caylon asked. Lissa had only blocked his blows earlier.
"Not often, unless I forced her to come after me," Dragon replied. "When she helped me three hundred years ago on Falchan, I convinced her to spar with me a few times after she cleaned the dojo. If I taunted her enough she'd come after me, but only long enough to beat me back and then she'd settle for blocking blows again."
"But you weren't the enemy," Crane observed, sipping his tea. "If you were, I think she'd have your head in a blink."
* * *
"Time to get up, baby." Drake's whisper was soft and warm against the skin of my collarbone as he planted a kiss there. I'd gotten up earlier to turn to energy, but had gone back to sleep once I returned. Now Drake and Drew wanted me to wake up. I wanted to sleep a little more.
"If you want breakfast, you need to wake up, pretty girl." That was Drew, and he was rubbing a thumb gently over my lower lip.
"What is it with you guys and early mornings?" I was grumbling and stretching at the same time.
"What is it always with guys and early mornings?" Drew bent down to kiss me.
"Okay, I'll get up," I forced my eyes open. Yeah, if both of them are leaning over me in the morning, I feel like I'm seeing double for a moment. My ass was sore and my thighs were worse. "Maybe I'll carry the horse today," I grumped as I pulled my leathers on.
"I hadn't thought about that," Drake grinned. "You could, couldn't you?"
"Yeah, but I saw the looks he was giving me yesterday. I don't think he'll sit still while I haul him around." I laced up my leather vest after slipping my cotton tank on over my bare breasts. I was herded off to breakfast, right behind Crane, Dragon and the others. We ate together on plank tables and Crane and Dragon were deep in some discussion with Pheran, Caylon and Turtle when we were approached by three female warriors.
"Warrior," the tallest of the three bowed respectfully to Dragon.
"Warrior," Dragon nodded to her.
"We wish to join your company," the woman said.
"Will your company not be offended?" Dragon wore the usual scowl on his face. At least it wasn't the deep frown—that could scare children and small animals.
"Our company will not care," the woman replied.
"Who leads your group? If he verifies your request, I will consider it," Dragon replied.
"As you say," the woman bowed again and walked off. She was nearly six feet in height and muscles rippled in her arms, which were bare. A white eagle with black-tipped feathers was tattooed on one arm, but I could see no other tattoos. The two women who followed her also had the same eagle on their arms. The eagle's black-tipped feathers made it different from any eagle I'd ever seen—except for one. That Eagle was a giant Eagle—a member of the Saa Thalarr.
We were almost finished with our breakfast and I was about to go clean my teeth when the three women came back, accompanied by a male. It was the same man who'd brushed past us on the first day, asking why the women hadn't stayed home. Now I knew why these three wanted to get away from him.