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livestock to the spring would form a milling mass of thirsty, impatient
animals all insisting they deserved to drink first. Much safer to do it this
way.
When I got back to the camp, I found Nayyib standing near his bedroll, staring
at mine and
Del's as if he had no idea who they belonged to. He heard me coming and turned
sharply.
Momentary alarm faded.
"Oh," he said.
"Yes, oh. It's us. Or did you forget what happened yesterday afternoon?"
"I think I have forgotten all of yesterday, not just the afternoon." He
scooped up a bota, unstoppered it and took a long pull. The last mouthful he
turned and spat out. "Yeilkth," he remarked or something like it. He
backhanded excess moisture from his jaw and looked at me. "What happened?"
"We rescued you."
"Oh." He nodded vaguely. "Good."
Near-black hair stood up in clumps all over his head. Stubble darkened the
hollows beneath his cheeks, enhancing the steep, oblique angles of the bones
above them. He had the look of a slightly disreputable but appealing young man
coupled with boyish innocence down to perfection. But the honey-brown eyes, I
saw with a stab of satisfaction, were bloodshot, and his color was slightly
off.
"Bright day," I commented cheerfully.
Nayyib squinted.
"Feels like it'll be a warm one." I set down the sword, then gathered up my
bedding and began to shake it out.
Nayyib very carefully sat down on his own and squirted more water into his
mouth, then soaked his hair and let droplets run down his face.
I spread my blankets, began rolling them up. "You probably won't feel much
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like riding today, huh?" He scrunched up his face thoughtfully as he slicked
hair back into the merest shadow of obedience.
"Probably better if you stayed here, waited another day." I tied thongs around
my bedroll.
"No reason to get in a rush. Del and I'll make our goodbyes and head on out."
That got his attention. "Head out?"
"We've got business to attend to." I set the bedroll by my saddle, checked the
condition of the saddle blankets. Dry. "Del and I." Just to make it clear who
the "we" meant. "I imagine you've got things to do, too."
"Not really."
Figures. "Well, I imagine something will come up."
Del was back with the buckets. Nayyib immediately stood up, took a somewhat
wobbly sideways step to regain his balance, then gallantly offered to assist
her.
She took one look at his face and smiled. "No, but thank you. Tiger can help
me. Why don't you sit back down or lie down and rest?"
Recognizing an order disguised as casual comment, I took one of the buckets
from her.
"He's a little worse for the wear this morning," I remarked cheerfully as she
and I hiked over to the horses. "But he'll get over it by tomorrow, and then
he can be on his way."
Del set the bucket down in front of her gelding. "Why don't we have him come
with us?"
Startled, I nearly tripped over my bucket as I put it down in front of the
stud. "What for?"
"He said he wanted to take lessons from you."
"Yes, but I never said I wanted to give them."
"But that's what you're going to do. Give lessons. Remember?" She patted the
gelding's neck. "The plan is for you to resurrect Alimat and take on students.
At least, that's what you told me. Has that changed?"
"No." Though I wasn't certain when it might come to be, since we were a bit
busy trying to keep me alive.
"Then you've got your first student in Neesha." She grabbed the bucket,
shoving the gelding's nose away, and lugged it over to Nayyib's horse.
"That sounds like a very tidy arrangement from your point of view but maybe
I'm not ready to start lessons yet."
"Why not? Aren't we heading to what's left of Alimat? Couldn't he help us
rebuild it?"
I glanced over my shoulder at Nayyib and saw him lying on his bedroll with an
arm draped over his eyes once again. I lowered my voice. "What is it with you,
Del? Why do you care so much about someone who's practically a stranger?"
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Her face was set, though her tone was pitched as quiet as mine. "I told you,
he helped me when I was ill. I would have died without his help."
"Does this mean we have to adopt him?"
She cut her eyes in Nayyib's direction, then stepped close to me. Since Del is
six feet tall, you tend to notice when she gets that close. "Why don't you
just say what's on your mind, Tiger?
That you'd rather he didn't ride with us because you don't want a good-looking
man my own age spending time with me."
I ground it out between my teeth. "That's not it."
"Then what is it?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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