“Who else should go? The kyree will recognize me, at least. Who else could be spared? Certainly not any of the guards. Duty roster’s thin enough already, with Jeatha gone with the outriders. Unlike the other trainers and horsefolk, I at least have a little bit more than the rudiments of training with the sword. It’s not so far-fetched as you think.”
Meros looked at her long and hard in the growing light, then finally nodded. “I’ll help you gather what you’ll need.”
The sun was not even fully risen when Laeka returned to the forest, this time mounted on the intelligent coppery mare that was her favorite, the lead lines of another mare and a gelding tied to the pommel of her saddle. She wore a leather jerkin and breeches now, and a sword hung at her side. It was an unfamiliar weight, a reminder of the reality of what she was attempting. When she practiced with the horses that would be sold to fighters, she never actually bore the weapons for very long.
The kyree had not moved from the clearing, although she sat half up on her side when Laeka approached. Dismounting, Laeka dug a small jar and a larger, wrapped package from one of her saddlebags and came forward to the kyree. In the stronger light, she could see the matted blood in the animal’s fur and was glad she had made sure to bring the jar.
“I brought food and some of our strongest healing ointment for you,” she said, unwrapping the raw meat and laying it on the ground before opening the jar. “It will only take a few minutes to apply, and you will be much the better for it.” While the kyree ate, Laeka used swift, gentle strokes to spread the sharp, clean-smelling salve over the barely healed cuts and gashes, kneading it into the muscles where she noticed swelling. Even as she worked, she could see the kyree lifting her head, becoming more alert as the pains eased.
“Now, can you stand and walk, even just a few steps?”
:Thank you, yes. The rest has been good.: The kyree shifted her legs beneath her, then pushed to her feet, swaying only slightly.
Laeka stood and walked over to the horses, pulling at the lead line on the chestnut gelding to bring him to where the kyree stood. He shied at first from the strange scent, then quieted, and Laeka noticed a look of concentration in the kyree’s eyes.
:It is only to get past their first fear.:
Laeka nodded her understanding of the kyree’s manipulation of her animals’ minds. “Speed is more important.” She gestured, and the gelding bent his knees and folded halfway to the ground. With Laeka’s guidance, the kyree walked over and climbed onto the gelding’s lowered back, settling herself on the pad that Meros and Laeka had rigged onto the gelding’s saddle. One hand on the kyree to steady her, Laeka tugged at the gelding’s bridle, and he rose back up.
Remounting her mare, Laeka turned to look into the kyree’s eyes. “Where?”
:West, and north after a bit. I will recognize the path I took.:
Laeka nodded and tightened her knees. The mare headed out at an easy jog, and the other two horses followed into the deeper forest.
For a long time, they rode in silence through the twisting deer paths, alternating periods of walking with a loping run. It would never match the ground-eating pace of purebred Shin’a’in horses, but she had bred the best of the mares she had acquired from Liha’irden to the strongest stallions she could find to replicate that trait. She noted landmarks as the horses moved deeper into the Pelagiris Forest, marking them in her mind just in case.
Each time the kyree Mindspoke to her to change their direction, her Mind-voice seemed stronger, but still tinged with anger and pain. Laeka ate waybread in the saddle, bringing the gelding up next to her mare to place some on the saddlepad for the kyree, who gulped it down whole.
Early in the afternoon, they came upon a small clearing where traces of recent occupation remained. New scorch marks blackened a long-disused fire-circle, and the grass was freshly cropped. Laeka dismounted to examine the area more closely, stretching her leg as her knee protested the long candlemarks in the saddle.
:The smell is still fresh.: The kyree’s nose wrinkled as she sifted the air. :My cubs were here, and not long since.:
“Perhaps they stopped for nooning.” She walked the perimeter of the clearing, her eyes following the patterns of crushed grass. Bending, she pushed some branches aside and found several clear hoofprints. “They’re heading almost due east, now. Definitely going toward Ruvan.”
She swung into the saddle on the other mare, a dark gray, absently rubbing her knee as she settled herself and turned the horses east. The kyree kept her head up, her nostrils flared in the breeze, seeking the scent of her cubs or the men who had taken them. As the afternoon wore on, traces of both became more frequent, and Laeka kept the pace slow, not wanting to either lose the trail or alert the bandits.
:Stop.: Laeka pulled up the gray and turned to her companion. :They are very close. I smell smoke, too.:
“They must be making camp for the night. We will wait until they are settled, then move in. We could not take them all, so we must be sure to act when few of them are able to respond. We need only a few moments to get to the cubs and then flee.” The kyree bared her teeth in a silent snarl, clearly unwilling to be so cautious, but Laeka held up her hand. “My abilities with the sword will not stand a true test, and you are still injured. Full revenge will gain us nothing, and could lose us much.”
She dismounted and flipped the reins of the gray mare over her ears, so they hung down to the ground. The mare stood for a moment, then bent her head and cropped at the rich grass. Leaving her, Laeka moved over to the gelding, gesturing for him to kneel as he had before. This time, the kyree required no aid to jump off the saddlepad, only holding up her left foreleg as she landed. Again, Laeka pulled out some meat for the kyree, who settled to feed while she tended to the horses. She loosened the saddle girths, reaching underneath the tack to test for swelling or heat, running her hands down each of the horses’ legs, checking their hooves. When the horses were as comfortable as she could make them, Laeka retrieved the jar of salve, returning to the kyree and reapplying the ointment. The wounds seemed to have improved after the day of travel, not worsened as she would have guessed. Laeka raised her eyebrows but kept her silence. The kyree had Healers of their own, after all.
:I will scout their camp,: the kyree said. :Even wounded, I can move more quietly and in smaller places than you. And I will know their thoughts.: Laeka nodded, and the kyree stood, shaking herself and stretching, then trotting into the underbrush with only a little stiffness in her stride.
Dusk was beginning to settle when the kyree slipped back into the clearing, sitting on her haunches in the bracken.
:They are confident. Only one guard sits to the south edge, looking toward where they will meet their buyer at the main road tomorrow. There is a tent, where most of them sleep. My cubs are in a woven cage to the east, just on the other side of the fire. One bandit sleeps on each side of the cage.: The kyree paused, then bared her teeth in a fiercely lupine grin. :They are mine.:
“Their horses?”
:Loosely hobbled in a separate clearing. Unguarded.:
Laeka smiled. “We’ll take care of them first.”
Laeka went back to her horses, tightening the saddle girths and fastening the stirrups securely up underneath the saddles. She untied the lead lines from the two mares, flipping their reins back and tying them to the pommels so that they would neither constrict the horses’ movements nor drag and catch in the brush. She pulled the rigged saddlepad off the gelding’s saddle, stowing it in one of the saddlebags that she had filled with meat for the kyree, and mounted. She held out her hand, and the two mares followed the gelding into the trees as surely as if she still held lead lines.
She kept the pace slow, letting the horses choose their way carefully, guiding them where the grass was still soft and avoiding brush and deadfall that would give away their approach. The kyree moved noiseless through the trees, a shadow in the twilight.
:Over the crest of this hill. The horses are in the clearing on this side.:
Laeka dismounted, ground-tying the gelding with his reins as she had earlier, then slipped into the trees
