Elvenbane

'I'll bet you are,' the voice said, with just a trace of mockery.

'No, really...I'm looking for my sister, my foster sister, I mean, and I've come a long way,' he said, babbling desperately. 'All the way from the desert. I've been looking for her since fall. She was taken by humans...'

'The desert?' The point digging into his ribs eased up a little. 'What's her name, stranger?'

'Shana,' he whispered, relaxing as the pointed object was removed from his side entirely. 'She's been gone for months and months...the others didn't want me to look for her because they were afraid of the elven lords finding out about us, but I had to come. I've been looking for her for so long, and there hasn't been a trace of her anyplace and...'

'That's because she's been with us for months and months,' the voice said dryly. 'You're not in the clear yet, stranger, but you're closer. Let's just move into camp, and see if Shana recognizes you.'

Keman stepped carefully from behind the tree trunk and picked his way across the branch-strewn, root- rutted, uneven ground towards the circle of firelight. As soon as he got a little closer, he saw Shana, who appeared to be deep in conversation with one of the human children. That was when he noticed something interesting...most of the halfbloods were in their late adolescence, and there wasn't a single human that could be called anything but a child. Although Keman was no kind of expert, he judged them to be no more than ten, and several were younger.

Although Shana had every appearance of being engrossed in talk, Keman saw her taking quick glances about her out of the corner of her eye. Watching for him, he had no doubt. He did not reopen his mental contact with her, though. If she didn't know when he was going to appear, her surprise would be more genuine, and more believable to his captor. Keman also had no doubt that this was the one to convince of his veracity. This one was woods- and worldly-wise. He had been keeping watch while the others huddled about the campfire. If Keman slipped, he'd catch it.

A twig snapped under his foot just as he entered the circle of firelight, and everyone looked up, variations on alarm and surprise on their faces. And a fraction of a heartbeat later, Shana leapt to her feet, and flung herself at him.

'Keman!' she cried, as he caught her awkwardly. 'Oh, Keman, Keman...'

Then she burst into tears, which was not something he expected at all; he held her awkwardly, while the owner of the voice chuckled, and came around the two of them, into the firelight.

'Looks like you're what you say you are,' the young halfblood said, tossing long, dark hair out of his eyes, and bestowing a half smile on his erstwhile captive. Keman had the oddest feeling, looking at the young man's deep, troubled eyes, that a half smile would be all anyone would ever get from him...

'Look, family reunions are wonderful, but we've got a problem here, Shana,' said another young man...not with the kind of disparaging self-importance that would normally accompany words of that nature, but as if he was genuinely afraid. 'We've got a dozen human kids with wizard-powers, and nowhere to take them. So now that we've got them loose, what are we going to do with them?'

One of the youngest girls snuggled up to him, and he put his arm around her as she looked up at him with frightened eyes.

'He's right, Shana,' Keman's guard said soberly. 'You know we can't take them to the Citadel, and they aren't old enough to survive out here on their own...and even if they were, the elven lords would track them down in a season. They've hardly even seen the outside World, they certainly don't know how to take care of themselves in the wilderness!'

One of the other children began to cry softly, and a halfblood girl got up to comfort her.

Shana stood away from Keman and wiped her eyes, becoming all business. 'Why can't we take them to the Citadel?' she asked, challenge in her voice and stance. 'Why not? Who told you that? Who made the rule that we weren't to let full-humans in?'

The second young man spluttered for a moment, and the one who'd caught Keman moved back a step, startled. 'We can't' the second managed to get out. 'It's never been done. The wizards would never...'

'The wizards did, back in the old days,' she said triumphantly. 'And there's no rule against it, either! That's one of the reasons why the Citadel's so big...half the people there were full-humans with wizard-powers, and not halfbloods at all! And there's records in my room that prove it!'

The second boy's mouth fell open...and Keman thought he caught a glimmer of approval from the first one. She really was leading them all, he thought with surprise. She was the one making the plans and doing the thinking.

Shana had changed; she'd been rebellious in the Lair, but in a disorganized way. She was still a rebel, but now she had battle-plans to get where she wanted to go...and Fire and Rain weren't going to stop her.

'Look,' she said, dropping her voice. 'Right now the real problem is getting the elven lords off the track. They're definitely hunting us; Zed's caught them trying to find us with magic, and I've been watching them too. So let's split the party. If you take the children back to the Citadel, and smuggle them in by night, the masters won't have a choice about letting them in or not, because they'll already be there. Use one of the escape tunnels I showed you, instead of the front entrance, and they won't know until it's too late.'

'And meanwhile you'll be doing what?' the first wizard asked, in a matter-of-fact tone that suggested to Keman that he already knew the answer.

'Keman and I will be decoying the pursuit,' she said confidently, though he could feel her trembling. 'Between the two of us, we can convince them that you're all still with us, I think. It'll take some work, but in some ways it will be easier than if we were all still together.'

Keman nodded, feeling that some sort of show of agreement was called for at this point. 'Shana and I have done things like this before, losing enemies. We've been at it all our lives,' he said truthfully. 'We'll confuse your trail, and make ours the only clear one. Really, it's easier for two people to look like two dozen than for two dozen to look like two. We'll lead them north, I think, then lose them.'

'How?' the first one asked, skeptically.

Shana smiled. 'Oh, trust me, Zed; they'll think we sprouted wings and flew away.'

Keman coughed to cover the fact that he almost choked on that statement. When they looked at him curiously, he flushed. 'There...there's dozens of one-horns farther on,' he improvised hastily. 'Shana's always been able to control them. If we drove them down our backtrail, not even a demon would be able to pick it up again.'

Zed shrugged, but Keman caught admiration in his eyes for a moment. 'All right. If you can do that, I guess I can take on the masters when they find out about these kids. Maybe I can get Denelor and Agravane to take our side; neither one of them can resist a kid. When do we start?'

'At dawn,' Shana said with determination. 'Especially if a storm comes up to wash out your trail.'

-:Well, Keman,: the young dragon heard in his mind. :How good are you at calling rain these days?:

:As good as I have to be,: he told her, soberly. :You're not the only one who's been learning things.:

:Neither are you. That idea of using the one-horns is a good one, and we might as well do it if we get the chance. Well then,: she replied, with the same seriousness, something that seemed alien to the Shana he had known, :it's about time we showed each other what we've learned.:

Keman hugged her shoulders, a two-legger gesture he had observed, but never had a chance to use. To his surprise, it felt good. Very good. It made him feel... no longer alone.

:I agree,: he said, some of that warmth spreading into his thoughts and coloring them with confidence. :Let's show them all.:

She looked at him in surprise; then, slowly smiled.

Valyn crouched on his heels and stared at the muddied ground for a moment, rain dripping from his hat-brim down his back. He saw no reason to use magic to keep himself dry; there was too much magic in use out here as it was. And he wasn't supposed to be in these wild lands in the first place; if anyone detected him, they'd know in a moment that there was an elven mage out here, and the hunt might switch to him. After all, there had been rumors for decades that there was an elven lord acting as a bandit leader, operating out here with a band of collared