Del moved close to me. She leaned a shoulder into mine. “Tiger.”
I shifted, putting that arm around her. “What?”
She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I think we should get her a dog.”
I found that utterly baffling. “Why?”
“Because if we don’t, we’ll never keep track of our daughter. I can’t carry cinnamon and sweets with me everywhere she goes. Neither can you.”
Well, no. That was true.
“It can stay outside.”
I remembered Alric telling me their new dog would stay outside. She eventually slept in a big tumbled pile with all the children. Inside.
“Alric’s bitch has puppies.”
“I know Alric’s bitch has puppies. They keep coming over to our house.”
“If Sula had her own, maybe the others would stay away.”
“I don’t think—wait. Wait a moment—” I got up, took three long strides, caught our daughter as she left the blanket at as fast and steady a run as she could manage. Which wasn’t very fast or steady. I bent down, swept her up, carried her back to the blanket. “Your mother said you should stay right here, remember? She gave you a sweet for it.” I looked at Del. “You know, that’s bribery. Do we really want to teach our daughter about bribery?”
“Either that, or put a lead-rope on her.” Del paused. “Or get her a puppy and put a lead-rope on it.”
I set Sula down, looked for the cinnamon stick. Found it in the puddle she’d made earlier. I wiped it off on my burnous, blew at granules, but the sand was too wet to be completely evicted. I sighed and tossed it to Del.
She stretched out on her back, ankles crossed, arms thrust under her head. “Why don’t you take her for a walk?”
“Why?”
“Wear her down so she’ll go to sleep. There’s too much for her to look at here. She’s too excited. She’ll never sleep. Which means we will never sleep.”
“Can I put her on a lead-rope?”
Del laughed. I took my daughter’s small wet hand and led her off the blanket. She fought the restraint and eventually I released her, planning to scoop her up if she headed for trouble. My legs were considerably longer than hers. She did attempt to run off here and there because something caught her eye, thereupon received multiple rescues by her father. It was not a terribly productive walk. She was, as Del had observed, too excited.
But when her steps finally appeared to be a bit more unsteady, I picked her up, cradled her, lugged her back to our camp. I set her down between us and told Del, whose eyes were closed, that she was right.
Del opened her eyes. “Right about what?”
“She needs a dog. Of her own. So she doesn’t try to make friends with every damn dog at every damn oasis.”
In the deepest hour of the night, I woke up. Del slept. Sula slept. Except for insects and snuffling from various types of livestock, it appeared the whole oasis slept. I got up carefully, quietly, looked down at Del and my daughter, then walked off into the darkness.
Out from under trees I saw the entire night sky. Black and black, and so many stars. Thousands and thousands of them. But only one moon. Tonight, it was full. A single baleful eye, glaring down at me.
I drew in a deep breath. Tipped my head back. Closed my eyes.
“I’m just a man,” I said. “Just a sword-dancer. Why in hoolies do you want me?”
A starburst was born behind closed lids. I saw it slash across my vision, trailing smoke and light.
“Why do both of you want me?”
Writing rose within my eyes. Blood-red ink, yellowed page, scratches shaping words. A list of ingredients. A spell to cast.
I had a book inside me. And whatever else was sharing space with it. Light and darkness. Silence and sound.
I closed my hands into fists. Felt all ten fingers where eight used to be. That, I found good. But the rest? Who could say? I couldn’t. I am not a god. I’m just a sword-dancer.
The magics within me laughed.
Epilogue
ON THE REST OF THE RIDE HOME, Del and I traded off putting Sula in front of us, in our saddles. She wasn’t big enough to interfere, and was too light for the horses to notice. The only problem was that Sula wanted to ride with whomever she wasn’t with. This occasioned much back-and-forthing as we continually traded her, until finally Del grew annoyed and suggested that spoiled little girls might not get for their birthday what it was they wished for. Sula subsided and fell asleep with her back against my chest.
“That’s blackmail,” I said. “First you condone bribery, and now you descend to blackmail?”
“Do you have any suggestions?”
“Well, no.”
“Then be quiet.”
We left the desert behind and entered Mehmet’s canyon. Just seeing high stone walls, lush green grass, and a stream running through brought a sense of peace. As always, Mehmet’s aketni was scattered here and there doing chores. As always, they waved and shouted greetings. We waved back and rode on, then turned past the rocky shoulder to enter our canyon.
Del, who had taken Sula again, tipped her head back to look up into the sky. “Eagle.”
I looked up. A second eagle joined the first. “Must be a clutch up there somewhere.”
“Remember the first time we came here? Eagles flew.”
I smiled. “So they did.”
Alric’s and Lena’s corral lay ahead, their house just past it. “I need to give Alric back his horse. I’ll be home shortly.”
Del nodded, rode on past. Sula asked something in a high-pitched voice. Del answered, but I don’t know what she said. I watched them go, thinking about the baby she had lost. Wahzir, when he was merely a healer, had said it was likely she’d have no others. I hoped Sula was enough to ease that pain.
In front of Alric’s and Lena’s house, I reined in and stepped off the buckskin. I called to them both. Lena came out immediately. Alric came more slowly, favoring his leg.
I smiled. “We’re back. All of us. Even this big boy.”
Alric visibly inspected the horse. “Used him a little hard, did you?”
I shrugged. “He had something left.”
“Ale by the pool?”
I nodded gravely. “Ale by the pool would be almost the very best thing I can imagine.”
“You can’t go there,” Lena protested to Alric. “So far on that leg?”
“Ale,” Alric said, “has medicinal properties.”
Lena scowled. She reached inside the door. “Then use this.”
I shouted with laughter. “A cane! A cane!”
Alric glared at me. “Coming?”
I heard Del’s raised voice. She was calling me. It wasn’t from fear; just a summons. “Go on ahead,” I told him. “I’ll see what she wants, then join you.”
“Tiger!”
“I’m coming, bascha!” I walked on over, found her standing outside the front door. “What?”
“Come with me.”
“Come with you where? We just got home.”
She grabbed a hand and yanked. I followed. She took me around behind the house to the small corral.
Out of shock, I stopped. “Where did he come from?”
The stud, seeing that I had at long last arrived after so many delays, exhaled a noisy, prodigious snort. I didn’t mind. I was too relieved to do so. I went to the corral and put out my hands. The stud came up, snuffled at them.