you again, Byren.'
'Indeed,' Seagrass marvelled. 'When Unace rides into camp on this unistag no one will doubt the gods are with her!'
'No.' Byren's lips twitched. 'But there is one small hitch. You'll have to take this disreputable goatherd with you.' He nodded to Piro, who beamed through her dirt.
Piro brought the unistag to a halt in a hollow just before the first camp lookout. She patted the beast's neck as Unace climbed onto the healer's cupped hands and gently swung onto the unistag's back. The beast shuffled, made uneasy by the sudden weight. Piro had accustomed him to carrying her on the journey to the spar. Luckily, he was sturdy despite his forty years. Piro suspected the unistag would never have lived so long in the wild.
'I feel strange with no reins to hold,' Unace muttered. Piro could tell she was still awed by the beast, which had walked beside them all afternoon on their way back to camp.
'Use your knees to guide him,' Piro explained. 'He's gentle really, but if he gets frightened he'll try to gore his attacker.'
Both the healer and Unace looked worried.
'That's why I'll be just to one side, in front of you,' Piro reassured them. 'He knows me. If he can see me he'll stay calm, and I can help if he gives you trouble.'
Unace nodded. 'Very well, Pi — Depiro.'
It was one of those sunny winter afternoons when the snow seems sprinkled with sparkling diamonds and shadows are so rich a blue it made your eyes hurt to look at them. Piro never felt happier.
Unace wore her woolen cloak of emerald-green, and carried a hastily embroidered emblem, the white unistag on the green background. She had confessed to Piro that the white material was made from Ostronite silk and had been cut from her best chemise.
'Ready?' the healer asked.
Unace met Piro's eyes. 'I am, if you are.'
Piro nodded, repressing her uneasiness, for if the unistag panicked, she would have to call on her Affinity to soothe it and she feared the healer would notice. As one of Halcyon's monks, he had been trained to recognise and deal with untamed power.
Piro pressed her forehead to the unistag's cheek, to whisper soothingly. While she spoke, she concentrated on warm, safe images. 'It is a beautiful afternoon, King Unistag, and after so many years you are coming home. Stand tall and proud. No harm will come to you.'
Then she pulled back and smiled up at Unace. 'Ready.'
Piro and the healer fell into step ahead of the unistag. As they rounded the bend a greeting cry echoed across the rocks, followed by a startled exclamation when the lookout spotted the unistag.
Piro straightened her shoulders and inhaled deeply, smelling the camp's cooking fires: roast lamb with sage tonight. Her stomach rumbled. She was hungry, but first they had to get through this.
The lookout had been waving madly and, when they breasted the crest, people already lined the path. Beyond them, she saw the camp spread across the steep slope. It was hard to pick because their shelters were snow-caves, only the smoke of cooking fires giving them away.
The healer began to hum under his breath. Piro recognised the tune, a spar song of praise for their icon, the unistag. She took up the words, thankful for her mother's tutoring.
In awe and wonder, Lady Unace's warriors dropped to their knees, some in the snow, others on the bare rocks, and a deep-throated version of the song sprang from many fighters' lips, embroidered by the high voices of the shield-maidens, who harmonised around them.
Piro glanced behind her. Unace sat astride the unistag, black hair dark against the vivid green cloak, pale skin glowing in the afternoon sun. She carried the spar's emblem so proudly, no wonder her people responded.
The sound of their voices carried across the deep valley to the castle opposite where helmeted heads bobbed and pointed. Piro nudged the healer. 'Look. They've seen her on the castle battlements.'
'They'll be sending for Steerden now.'
After that it was all a blur. When Lady Unace reached her snow-cave, an area was cleared for the unistag. Then her supporters crowded around. While Unace debated the best course of action with her supporters, Piro cared for the unistag, rubbing him down and sneaking him treats. The unistag was unsettled by the many visitors.
The healer joined her, studying the unistag with great interest. 'I find it hard to believe this is the creature King Byren the Fourth captured thirty… nearly forty years ago,' he whispered. 'The beast looks so well. I'm sure they don't live that long in the wild.'
'Good food and a safe life,' Piro said, growing uncomfortable.
'We should all be so lucky,' he said, with a grin.
She smiled. She liked him, couldn't help it. With his crooked back, he was only a little taller than her and he reminded her of a fragile but clever bird.
'The unistag is an Affinity beast. I suspect that he needs more than food and a warm stall.' Seagrass stepped closer, offering his palm to the unistag who snuffled hopefully. 'I've read of rare people who could share Affinity with the god-touched beasts.'
Pretending she did not understand what he was hinting at, Piro yawned and stretched. 'I'm tired. Where do I sleep?'
The healer glanced down to the carpet-covered ground. 'Here, beside the unistag would be best.' He lowered his voice. 'Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.'
Her guilty gaze flew to his face, then she realised she had given herself away.
'In Rolencia all those with Affinity must serve the abbey or choose between death or banishment,' she whispered. 'The warlords all agreed to follow father's law on this. Why risk yourself to keep my secret?'
'I have seen Unace and her brothers grow into adults, seen their children born.' Tears glistened in his old eyes and his chin trembled. 'I never thought I'd see the day they were all murdered by a kin-slayer!'
Tears of empathy blurred Piro's vision.
He managed a sad smile. 'Sleep, little goatherd. You can trust me.'
Piro nodded. It would kill her to lose her family.
'Sleep,' he repeated.
Piro made herself comfortable with a rolled-up blanket for a pillow. The unistag knelt beside her and dozed. The drone of the adults' strategy discussion echoed in her ears but Piro did not mind. She was finally living out an adventure as she had always longed for.
It felt as if she had only just fallen asleep when there was a distant but ferocious clashing of metal and yelling.
Piro rolled to her knees, calming the unistag reflexively. Unace opened the canvas flap. The healer lit a lamp and joined her at the entrance. Piro went over to peer into the night.
'An uprising in Unistag Stronghold,' Seagrass said.
Around the camp, people came out of their snow-caves, trying to see what was going on. But, though the stars were bright enough to cast shadows, events in the Stronghold remained obscure.
'I can't tell what's going on,' Piro whispered in frustration.
'They deal in death,' Unace replied with a shiver. 'I've known the Stronghold men-at-arms and servants all my life. I'm guessing they've turned on Steerden and his warriors.'
'Will they succeed?' Piro asked, then cursed herself. How would Unace know the answer?
'We'll know tomorrow,' Seagrass said softly as he draped a blanket over both their shoulders.
'Thank you,' Unace whispered.
'It is cold, you haven't had much sleep, Unace,' he said.
'I can't sleep, not while my supporters are fighting for their lives,' she replied.
Like Unace, Piro felt she couldn't sleep. So they huddled under the blanket, watching the Stronghold. Light gleamed in a row of high windows.
'Those are the warlord's private chambers,' Unace whispered. Her small son woke and cried. She fed him.
Piro let his tiny fingers curl around her little finger. He was a marvel. 'So small but strong.'
'He will have to be, with his father and brother dead,' Unace muttered.
