upon them, and thought to buy myself sanctuary, or at least safe passage, with their freedom.' Her head came up, and she looked defiantly into his eyes. 'You owe me safe passage, at least, Birdkin. Even though I thought to trick Mornelithe and set him on you. You have defeated him many times. I am but a small thing, and could not even defy him, and escaped him only with guile.' He looked sideways at Treyvan, who nodded ever so slightly. Everything she'd said was the truth, then. It was probably safe enough to give her what she asked for.
'We do owe you that and a place to rest until you can journey again,' he admitted, softening his icy expression a little. He caught the glint of scales out of the corner of his eye, and Mindspoke Nera, watching her closely to see if she detected the thoughts. 'Nera, this Changechild seems friendly, and she's going to need your help; shelter for a week or two at least, maybe more. Have you got any tunnels no one is using?' The hertasi forgot whatever it was that had brought him, now that Darkwind had invoked his authority again. 'Hmm. Yes. The old one at the waterline that belonged to Rellan and Lo'm, that flooded this spring.
Again. They finally listened to me and moved out. Unless we have three or four weeks of rain, it should stay dry.' And it was right on the edge of the bluff, with the swamp on one side, a hillside too steep for someone in her condition to climb above, and all the hertasi between herself and freedom. That should do.
'Perfect,' he said.
And Nyara showed no signs of having heard the conversation.
'We will make it ready,' Nera told him, full of self-importance, and content now that he was a major part of whatever was going on. 'the creature can walk, but slowly-my Healer says that there are half-healed bones and torn muscles. Send her in a few moments and there will be a bed and food waiting.'
'We can give you a place to stay for as long as you need it,' he told her. 'And I will see about getting you safe passage, once you're fit to journey again. I-don't think you can hope for sanctuary. The Elders of this Clan hate Changechildren too much.'
'But you do not,' she replied, her voice a caress.
'I-don't hate anyone,' he said, flushing, and averting his eyes, much to Treyvan's open amusement. 'But I don't determine what the Elders will say or do. At any rate, Nera and the others are moving some basic things in now, and as soon as you are ready, one of them will come show you where it is.'
'I am grateful, Darkwind,' she said, bowing her head a little and looking up at him from under long, thick lashes. 'I am very grateful.' He felt his blood heating from that half-veiled glance, and wondered if she knew what she was promising him with it. Then he decided that she must know; sex was as much a part of her weaponry as her claws.
'Don't worry about being grateful,' he said gruffly, while Treyvan hid his amusement. 'Just get yourself healed up, so we can get you out of this
Mornelithe's reach. The sooner you're gone, the safer we'll all be.'
They removed themselves to a place farther along the bluff, well out of earshot of the hertasi village, before any of them said anything.
It was a golden afternoon, near enough to nightfall for things to have cooled down, sunlight as thick and sweet as honey pouring over the gold-dusted grass of the bluff, with just enough breeze to keep it from being too warm. The gryphons fanned their wings out to either side of themselves, basking, their eyes half-lidded, and beaks parted slightly. Treyvan's crest was raised as high as it could go, puffed out.
They looked extraordinarily stupid. Darkwind had to fight off gales of laughter every time he looked at them.
and his chest feathers were Vree, on his good behavior now that both Darkwind and Treyvan were ready for his tricks, joined them on the grass. He had just taken a bath, and looked even sillier than the gryphons. Even though he was behaving, he kept eyeing the quills of Treyvan's crest with undisguised longing.
'Will the little ones be all right with you gone so long?' Darkwind asked with concern.
Hydona nodded, slowly and lazily. 'The ruinsss are sssafe, temporrrarrrily.
We caught the wynnssa. They were wild, masssterless.'
'What about that serpent you thought moved into the ruins this spring?' he asked. 'The one I found the sign of. It's certainly large enough to make a meal of one of you, let alone Lytha or jerven.'
' It made the missstake of bassssking on the sssame ssstone alwaysss, Treyvan replied, his voice full of satisfaction. 'It wasss delicioussss.'
'The little onesss will be fine,' Hydona assured him. 'Their Mindssspeech isss quite sssstrong now, and if they are threatened, they will call. We can be there verrrry quickly.' Having seen the gryphons flying at full speed once, he could believe that. They were even faster than Vree, and that was saying something, for Vree was faster than any wild bird he had ever seen.
