Chapter 29

THE group was silent as they followed Storm along one of the roads that led out of the valley of First Home. They paused on the ridge as the woman stopped her animal to look back. Drawing her two-edged sword, she held it up in a salute, murmuring something in another tongue before lowering her eyes. She then slid the blade back and wheeled around. The other drizzen followed the larger beast without their riders' urging.

"What be that about?" Emil wondered curiously, glancing back the way they came, then towards Storm up front.

Even Mureln was perplexed. "I do not know. I have never heard that tongue before."

"It is a Swordanzen ritual of farewell," Radisen stated tonelessly as he passed near enough to the Sevmanen and Vodani to hear them. "She asked the Totani to watch over the people in her absence."

"But what language did she speak?" Mureln looked at the Desanti woman's back. "I thought I had heard all languages, but that sounded... very old."

"It is the holy language of the Swordanzen." Before Mureln could ask more, Radisen spurred his drizzen forward to ride nearer to Storm and Sumalen. The bard narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

By noon, the heat from the sun was scorching and the light was nearly blinding. The welcomed relief of the setting sun was short lived. It was only a few more hours until the sun fully sank below the horizon, the land cast in the twin moons' silvery blue glow. The day's warmth seemed to vanish with the sun, bitterly chill breezes blowing around the travelers.

Almek pulled gloves on calmly and urged his drizzen up next to Storm. Unhappily, Sumalen and Radisen fell back out of respect for the Guardian. "How long until we reach our destination?"

"Three, perhaps four days if we encounter nothing to delay us." Storm pulled her face wrap down, looking towards Almek. "I could make it there alone within two, but none of your outlander students would be able to manage the pace or the terrain."

The Guardian nodded, giving her his complete trust. After a moment of silence, he glanced over his shoulder at the pair of Desanti men. "Your suitors are persistent."

Storm looked sideways at Almek. "You were not entirely truthful to the elders. Not all of the outlanders are your students," she replied, avoiding the topic.

"You noticed that, did you?" Almek was bemused. "I suspected you were quicker than you let on. I let the warriors who challenged us assume they were. The elders accepted their assumptions as fact. I thought it prudent to let them continue believing so."

"Understandable." Storm shrugged. "And wise. Desanti like things to be simple. They would claim they thought they were attacking one of the tagalongs, not a student, to get around the edict not to attack your students." Carefully, she maneuvered her mount around a small rock protrusion. "Know my oath extends only to your true students, Lord Almek. I will not protect the others. Especially not the other two defilers. It is enough I have to protect one at all."

"Storm." Almek watched her as he spoke with quiet emphasis. "The loss of any who are here would distract my students from our purpose. It would please me if you would include them in your protection."

The woman made a face and glanced at him. "You ask much of me, Lord Almek."

"No more than I know you can give, Storm."

Sighing, rolling her eyes, Storm acquiesced. "Very well, my lord, if it is your desire, than I shall protect them all." She paused. "Even the defilers' get."

Almek shook his head, flicking a glance over his shoulder towards the Forentan contingent. Balancing the pride and egos of the mage and the Swordanzen was certainly a challenge he had not expected. He changed the topic entirely. "The drizzen you ride. It looks like a fine animal. Is it a different breed from ours?"

A small smile touched Storm's lips as she looked at the beast fondly who bobbed his head, as if knowing he was being discussed. "Not at all, Lord Almek. The ones gifted to you and your students are females or males that failed to mature. My companion is a drizar. A full male." She reached forward to scratch at a patch of hair on the beast's neck. "One of the tests of a Swordanzen is to find a wild drizzen as a companion. I am the only one who has been able to achieve a drizar."

"It must have been difficult to tame him."

"Tame?" Storm looked over in surprise. "My lord, Swordanzen do not tame their companions. Taming breaks the spirit. Necessary for those untrained to handle the true spirit of the land. But it would be an atrocity for a Swordanzen to break the spirit of a brother or sister creature."

"Ah, I see." He glanced over his shoulder. "I must make the use of the time of our journey and give my students more instruction."

Storm smiled faintly as she pulled her face wrap back in place. "Do not worry, my lord. I will not permit Radisen or Sumalen to distract me from my duty to you."

Almek nodded and dropped back. Almost immediately, the two Desanti men flanked Storm. He sighed unhappily as he fell in beside Taylin.

"There is something different about those two men, Master Almek," Taylin commented. "But... I am not sure what."

"Each race has a special... quality to them." Almek looked at the three Desanti a long moment. "But even in my five hundred years, I have not learned much about the Desanti." Taylin looked over at him in astonishment. "I am beginning to see the prices their people have paid in the time since the lands were sundered that I and other Guardians have carelessly overlooked."

Taylin frowned, studying the backs of the three Desanti in the front. "Prices?"

Almek nodded. "I used to be a weapon smith's apprentice when I was a boy. It was not nearly as fine an art then as it has become now." He sighed wistfully. "I still remember some of my first attempts. One blade was too soft. The first time it came in contact with something hard, it bent and had no effect.

"Another blade was hard and sharp. But brittle. It withstood nearly all things, but when it came into contact with something hard, it proved to be too brittle and shattered." He looked at Storm again. "The men are difficult to see clearly. I cannot read our Swordanzen at all. But not because I do not have the ability." Taylin blinked in surprise at Almek. "But because she does not allow it."

"She can do that?" Taylin whispered in awe. "Is she a-a Guardian?"

"Yes. No." Almek frowned. "The world will provide when there is a void. Not only did the Desanti shut out everyone from their lands, they shut themselves into it. But that which Guardians protect against knows no borders. The Desanti must have forged themselves into weapons to survive and protect Desantiva from the likes of temporal shifters, whether they knew them as such or not. But Storm is something more, even among them."

"She frightens me," Taylin confessed, looking ashamed.

"She should," Almek replied crisply. "The Desanti have nicknamed the desert at the hottest part of the day the Forge. She is no meek desert flower. Storm is a weapon forged and tested, but I have not yet determined her mettle." He smiled at the healer. "Now then, we should continue your lessons." Taylin looked relieved to get her mind off the troublesome topic of the Desanti.