Free [Lanen Kaelar 03] - Redeeming the Lost by Elizabeth Kerner

thought of its life
or its laws, without even troubling to ask why it has come among us?” I
resisted my own anger and the temptation to shame Rinshir further. “You are
weary, my friend, weary and hungry and unsure of what lies ahead, as are we
all. Let us not begin our lives here in our ancient home by murdering an
innocent.”
    “Hardly innocent, Master,” interrupted the
Gedri from Idai’s shelter. I could have cheerfully swatted it myself. Stupid
creature! Just like Lanen, I thought, no sense of when to hold its peace. Are
all the Gedri so foolish, I wonder?
    “Shall we let all the demon-touched pass
unharmed, then, that they may murder us at their ease?” snarled Rinshir. “I do
not like your reasoning, Hadreshikrar.”
    “I do not appeal to reason, Rinshir,” I
replied as calmly as I could, “but to mercy, and to patience. Remember,
Raksha-trace can linger where the soul has been attacked as well as when it has
had traffic with the creatures themselves.”
    “If you would just bloody well listen to me, I
could explain!” cried the Gedri, its voice muffled by the protective cage of
Idai’s hands. “I am not a demon-caller! Name of the Lady, I’ve spent half my
life fighting the damned things. It’s the Farseer you feel, I swear it on my
life!”
    And finally, I heard the voice that uttered
those words, even though I could not see her face, and my resolve sharpened. “I
will have your word, Rinshir, that you will not harm this daughter of the
Gedri, that you will keep silence and let her speak in safety,” I said quietly.
“I will take it upon my own soul to vow that she will not call the Rakshasa
down upon us.”
    Varien had reached us then, and came to stand
near Idai. He glanced at the Gedri in her hands and drew in his breath in
surprise.
    Rinshir moved away slightly, his Attitude of
Concern warring with that of Anger. “Shikrar, don’t be absurd. Your souls
pledge for a demon-tainted Gedri? What could make you do such a th …” He drew
back, standing in Amazement, but only for a moment. Then his eyes widened in
realisation, and he moved in the instant from Amazement to Fury. “Surely she
bends your will even now, Eldest!” he cried, and faster than thought he drew in
a breath to flame the evil where it stood.
    I could do no more than stare at Rinshir,
astounded at such hatred, entirely unprepared. Idai, blessedly, was ready for
him. When he arched his neck and aimed at the creature Idai was protecting, she
knocked his head back with her own, so that his flame scorched only air. I was
most impressed; I had never seen Idai move so swiftly. While he was recovering
from that blow, she knocked his wings aside with her own, loosed the Gedri
woman, and wrapped her right hand around his throat, just under the jaw where
we are most vulnerable.
    I kept well out of it. If anything, I’d have
assisted Idai.
    “You fool, Rinshir,” she hissed, her talons
poised at the great vein in his throat. “How do you dare to attack that which I
guard?”
    “It is demon-stained, Idai!” he yelped in his
own defence. His voice was none too clear.
    “Thrice fool and blind,” she snapped, her
teeth worryingly close to his throat. I began to fear a little for Rinshir’s
life, but there, defying Idai was the act of one who cared little for life in
any case. “And did you not see this other Gedri standing here, who would also
have died in your flame?”
    Rinshir looked down, but he did not recognise
what he saw.
    “Good morrow, Rinshir,” said Varien quietly. “I
had hoped that your travels might have stretched your mind as well as your
wings, but alas, I see no evidence of it.”
    Rinshir flinched at that voice, distorted as
it was through Gedri throat and
tongue. Varien, for all the changes that had beset him, was still our King and
held our fealty.
    “I have lived eight hundred winters longer
than you, fool of a dhraisek,” hissed Idai. “Are you then grown so very wise in
so very short a time that you