Harvest of Dreams (The Gods' Dream Trilogy) (36 page)

Sadie wondered if, like the warriors of Scotland, they wore nothing underneath those tunics.
Might be interesting to find out.

One man and one woman wore silver circlets around their heads.
They must be the rare warrior priest and priestess
. Sadie did a quick head count. Fifteen from Zacatlan, ten soldiers from Ocean’s Glory, the eighteen from Seagem who’d been healed, plus her, Philan, and Thaddis.
Forty-six.
“Philan’s right. Hardly an invading force
.
”

Philan made a waved a hand between him and Thaddis. “But what a force, Sadie,” he said, his tone only half ironic. “The finest fighters in the land. Trained by my esteemed grandsire.”

Sadie raised her eyebrows. “No disrespect to your esteemed grandfather… But Seagem’s fine fighting skills weren’t enough when faced with superior numbers. Nor did those skills save Indaran or you from—” she looked at Thaddis “—from Ontarem.”

“I know,” Thaddis said, his voice heavy. “But now we have what we did not before.”

Boerk tilted his chin. “The Goddess Withea.”

“And not just Her,” Thaddis’s voice hardened. “Besolet can no longer aid Ontarem.” He clenched his fists. “And unlike before when I blindly allowed myself to be taken…this time I will fight to the death before I’m captured.”

Philan shot Thaddis a skeptical look, studied the former king’s expression, and nodded, appearing to accept the truth of his words.

The female soldier from Zacatlan, whose silver circlet around her head proclaimed her warrior-priestess status, stepped forward to join the conversation. “And Guinheld will lend her efforts to the cause of overthrowing the Evil One, as will I.” The woman towered over Sadie, at perhaps six feet one or two inches. With her strong features, she wasn’t beautiful, but she possessed a regal bearing that gave her an air of elegance. Her short silver curls feathered around her head. She gave Thaddis and Boerk a neutral nod of greeting and a brief bow angled toward Sadie and Philan.

Philan returned the gesture, and Sadie waved her hand in acknowledgment.

“I am Meleda, captain of Zacatlan’s guard. I regret I was away from the city on the Goddess’s business and did not earlier bid you welcome, Sadie of Earth and Philan of Seagem.”

“Perhaps it’s just as well,” Sadie said dryly. “Guinheld’s already kept me busy fighting day and night. If you and your contingent—” she nodded toward the warriors from Zacatlan “—had been around, I’d probably be…” She shook her head. “I don’t even want to think of what I’d be. Flat on my back maybe.”

Meleda laughed. The sparkling gray eyes and amusement softened her face, making her look attractive. “Guinheld and Devore have caught me up on all the excitement.” Her expression grew sober. “I hear we are to prepare for war. I look forward to expanding my fighting repertoire as well as giving my people additional training. I only wish we had months instead of one day.”

“One day?” they all echoed.

“Guinheld and Withea have been in contact with Arvintor. He believes Ontarem’s army is about to launch a major strike against the nomads, both to decimate them and to capture the powerful ones and enslave them in His temple.”

“Did Arvintor say which powerful ones?” Thaddis asked.

Meleda glanced from Philan to Thaddis. “You will find this welcome news. Both heirs of Seagem live. The king and princess, as well as their mates, are reunited.”

Sadie watched Thaddis’s face infuse with apparent joy, with relief, before sadness darkened his golden eyes. Her heart ached for the estrangement between the two men who once loved each other as brothers.

~ ~ ~

Meleda’s news hit Thaddis like a blow. He rocked back on his heels, trying to absorb what the warrior-priestess had said. Dare he rejoice? “Indaran?”

“Aye,” Meleda nodded. “Seagem’s king is free from Ontarem’s bondage.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you, God, Goddesses!
Thaddis wanted to fall to his knees and weep with joy and sorrow. Indeed, the emotion bubbled up in his chest and into his throat. With great effort he contained the feelings. Now wasn’t the time to break down. “You’ve just lifted an fourteen, nay, almost fifteen-year-old burden from me, Meleda.” His voice sounded hoarse.

“Mates? What mates?” Philan asked. “Withea told me Daria had chosen a husband, but with everything else, that fact didn’t penetrate my mind.”

Meleda glanced at Sadie. “The royal heirs of Seagem have taken mates from Earth—brave of heart and strong in othersense.” Her expression turned solemn. “Tomorrow we leave for Ocean’s Glory. From there, we will sail to the islands to free Yadarius.”

Boerk frowned. “Will the Goddess Guinheld allow us to go through the temple window to Ocean’s Glory? If not, by the time we ride through the desert to the city, provision the ships, set sail….”

For the first time, a shadow briefly crossed Meleda’s face.

Thaddis wondered if the warrior-priestess felt any apprehension about leaving the safe cocoon of Zacatlan and venturing out into the wider world. The
dangerous
wider world.

Meleda resumed her air of calm composure. “The Goddesses will allow us to travel through the temples.”

“Good,” Thaddis said. “We’ll add soldiers from Ocean’s Glory to our team, pick up supplies… We can’t just set sail for the islands. We must divert Ontarem’s attention from our mission. We’ll send the fleet against the seadogs. That will keep the Evil One occupied.”

The warrior-priestess directed a level look at Thaddis. “If we free the SeaGod, we are to sail from the islands to Louat to help Arvintor.”

Thaddis lifted his eyebrows. “That will be quite a journey. We must come up with a plan to ensure the greatest possibility of success.” With a tick of gladness, he realized if all went well he’d soon see Indaran again. Then dread smothered his good feelings. His foster brother probably wouldn’t feel the joy when they came face-to-face.
Better not think about our reunion.

Thaddis glanced around. “Enough talking. We have little enough time to prepare. We’ll start with warm-up drills, then break into two groups composed of…” He circled his hand to encompass the people from three different lands. “Everyone will work together. Philan, you’ll take one group. I’ll take the other. Then we’ll switch.” He stared at Philan, daring the man to challenge him.

Philan glowered but didn’t object.

Relieved, Thaddis turned to the soldiers and began dividing them into two groups. Without saying anything, Philan walked over to stand in front of the farthest bunch, which of course included Sadie. A spurt of jealousy made Thaddis turn away.
No sense pining for what I can’t have. It’s probably just as well that Philan is interested in her…
But his heart didn’t agree with his logic. To distract himself, Thaddis began directing his people into workout formations.

Everyone obeyed with promptness that spoke well of their discipline.

As Thaddis led his group through basic open-handed warm-up drills, his thoughts raced. He tried and discarded different ideas for the day’s practice. He needed to assess each person’s abilities, help him or her achieve the highest level of fighting skill possible in one day, and build cohesiveness as a single army.

All formidable tasks to accomplish in so little time.

~ ~ ~

Sword in hand, Sadie worked through the various exercises, both familiar and unfamiliar. The grip for Ganawen, as she’d named the blade, felt comfortable and right in her hand, and from the last few days of training, she’d become accustomed to the heavier, shorter swords used on Kimtair. As she moved in formation with the others a sense of power arose within her, twining with a connection to each individual. She was part of this team in a way that felt far different from how she’d felt on the Olympic team.

My life will be in these people’s hands, and theirs in mine.

Philan called for a break.

Sadie sheathed the sword, grateful for the rest.

White-robed Zacatlan teenagers moved though the crowd handing out towels and glasses of a tart, thirst-quenching beverage.

Sadie took one and drank deeply.

Thaddis’s group hadn’t stopped, and an Ocean’s Glory/Zacatlan pair struggled to do a partner exercise everyone else seemed to have mastered.

Unable to look away, Sadie observed Thaddis working with his team. He never lost patience, never raised his voice. When his demonstration of what he wanted the pair to do didn’t work, he swung around and touched Philan on the arm.

A head jerk, hand signal, and spoken word was all it took for Philan to fall into a defensive position that allowed Thaddis to show the stab/block/slice/parry routine he wanted the pair to learn. The two leaders flowed through the drill, as if they’d worked together countless times. Everyone else stopped their activities and turned to watch.

Sadie couldn’t help feeling awe for what she was witnessing.

Like Indaran and Micfal in Sadie’s othersense dreams, these two had a natural strength, speed, and grace honed through years of practice. She watched their muscles gleaming with sweat, athletic grace, and powerful sword thrusts.

Breath caught, heart beating heavily, Sadie stared, longing for all that had been with Tharon.

At a word from Thaddis, the two ceased. They backed off and fisted their hands to their chests.

Philan exchanged a mischievous look with Thaddis. For a moment, the years dropped away, and Sadie saw the young men they’d been. Then, obviously remembering, Philan moved away, his expression hardening.

Thaddis stared after him with a sad look. Then he apparently shook off his sad mood, turning to work with the soldier nearest him.

Philan faced his team. “Break’s over,” he barked.

Thaddis motioned for them to gather round. “This time, instead of combining into two teams, we need to work in a different formation. Once we reached Ontarem’s city of Penutar, the plan I’ve developed calls for breaking out a small group of fighters, who’ll charge to the temple.”

With a thrill of excitement and fear, Sadie realized she’d be part of that group.

Thaddis organized the fighters into a large triangle, pointing out where he wanted each person to stand. Then he made a smaller arrow inside, with Philan at point, Boerk and Meleda at the tips. He directed Sadie to stand behind and angled to Meleda, and he took the place across from her.

For the next hours, the soldiers worked on moving in a wedge and learning to fight in formation. Thaddis had them change positions or close up ranks, depending on which soldier “died.” Then he divided them in half again, and had them practice moving against opposition. He continued to switch people in the outside triangle around. In the end, exhausted, everyone had developed into an efficient fighting wedge.

A bell sounded for dinner. Before the fighters left, the adolescents again distributed drinks and towels.

Sadie wiped her face on the towel and handed the cloth and her glass to the waiting youth. But before she could unsheathe her sword, a chime rang through the air.

Gracefully, the Zacatlanders dropped into sitting positions, kilts discretely tucked around their legs. The soldiers from Ocean’s Glory were half a beat behind. The men from Seagem awkwardly sank to the ground.

Sadie knelt and closed her eyes. She took deep breaths, centered into the core of her othersense, and offered up her essence to the Deity. In the last days, she’d grown accustomed to the practice. Now she could ease into a connection with Guinheld and send a flow of energy to strengthen the Goddess.

For someone who didn’t believe in God a few weeks ago, I’ve come a long way.

The time in the meditation session stretched on, and Sadie realized the Goddess must be drawing energy for tomorrow. Guinheld probably needed to absorb a great deal from all of her people in order to transport a large group to another country and from there, join with Withea to send them across the sea.

The Goddesses will need to replenish again before the battle. But will there be enough time for Them to do so?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

On the plain just outside the forest of Exonlah, the five clans of the Che-da-wah had pitched their gruptahs in rows that followed the curve of the trees. Those who were too young or too old to fight went about the business of cooking, mending harness and sharpening spears while the warriors trained. Jasmine, Sha-na, and the rest of the healers worked with Arvintor, tending the people who’d been injured.

After long deliberation, this morning they’d released Ontarem’s soldiers. Although the prisoners hadn’t wanted to return to their army, Indaran felt, and Arvintor agreed, that they could look for ways to sabotage Ontarem’s forces and continue to spread the dissent seeded by Jasmine and Landers, the guard she’d befriended in Penutar and who’d died in her defense.

Indaran had experienced a pang in watching the men march bravely back to Ontarem’s army. He knew only too well how it felt to be free of the Evil One’s leash, and, yet, return to take up arms against Him, knowing that you were risking possible torture and death. Even now, he sometimes spared a moment from battle practice to wonder how they were doing.

Mounted on his white stallion, Indaran watched the Che-da-wah ride down lines and throw spears at targets made of dried grass. The wind blew, hot and strong—unusual for this time of year, sometimes catching a spear in a gust and pushing it off center. As he studied the nomads, he tried to absorb what they could do and figure out how best to use their abilities in the battle he knew was coming.