“Insolent yet amusing,” allowed Wedin with a chuckle of her own as I looked upon Chaldrin with annoyance. “Once he has been taught the proper manner with warriors and war leaders, he will surely be in great demand among those who follow you, Jalav. Should his ability to please prove a match to his size, you will undoubtedly find it necessary to command rest for him.”
“I will not see him used beyond his limits to endure, Wedin, of that you may be sure,” said I, grimly pleased with the instant annoyance which took Chaldrin. The male disliked the manner in which warriors discussed him, yet had it been his choice alone to follow me. “For this journey the question will scarcely arise, for the male is free and may sleep in any warrior’s leather he chooses—or none at all. As for the male Mehrayn”—and with these words I looked straight upon Chaldrin—“he may sleep in any leather save mine. Should he make the attempt, my dagger will taste of his blood despite any question of honor. Are my words clear to you?”
“Indeed,” said Chaldrin, the vexation having returned to fill his eyes. “You welcome me to a place you deny to the Sword, perhaps believing Mehrayn a generous man. In most things is he generous indeed, yet not with you; to learn what was done to you by Aysayn and myself would perhaps do no more than bring an itch to his palm for the hilt of the Great Sword of Sigurr, the blade he alone may wield. To see me with my arms about you and my manhood deep within you would put the hilt of any sword in his fist, and thereafter the blade in my belly. Should you persist in this foolishness I may well take a length of leather to you despite the displeasure of the gods; I cannot stand beside you if my life is uselessly thrown away.”
“You would have me believe you fear the sword of Mehrayn?” I demanded angrily. “That male may say naught to the one I choose to take for pleasure, else shall he find himself facing my sword! As I fail to fear him, for what reason would you not feel the same? Are we not nearly of a comparable skill?”
“Indeed are we nearly of a comparable skill,” said Chaldrin, and again a dryness had entered his tone. “I am sure, however, that you have never witnessed the full skill of the Sword, else would you speak with less derision at mention of my reluctance to face him. He won his place shortly before my condemnation to the Caverns, and never, before or since, have I seen one to match him. I was the best of the Caverns, girl, and I fell to the magic of your swordplay through ill luck; as well matched as we are, it might as easily have gone the other way about. Give thanks that Mehrayn will not raise sword to you, my fine Midanna war leader; were either of us to face him in true battle, we both would fall.”
The eyes of Chaldrin looked directly upon me, demanding a belief in the words he spoke, refusing to see how angry I was. Wedin attempted to question me upon the strangeness of a male believing he might share a war leader’s sleeping leather, yet was it beyond me to discuss the matter. I assured the Summa I meant no insult, then did I put heels to my kan and take myself from the midst of others, into the forests where my thoughts might be calmed without distraction.
I rode for perhaps three hands of reckid at high speed before coming upon the small glade, and once through it I slowed my kan and turned about, then reentered it and dismounted. I had felt a great need for speed and solitude, yet the speed had done naught save tire my kan, and the solitude had done naught in any manner. The light of Mida had brought the high heat of the land, and once dismounted I was again able to feel it, its presence underscoring my longstanding need to bathe in cool, cleansing waters. I pushed away the agitation within me as well, yet the effort was useless. An unexplained fury blazed high within me, and no thought or deed seemed able to quench it.
Leaving my kan to feed upon grass and leaves I began to circle the glade, attempting to force my left hand from my sword hilt, attempting to allow the peace and loveliness of the glade to calm the swirling disturbance which turned my pace to a furious stride. What disturbed me most was that I knew not why I felt such fury, save that the actions of Mehrayn had had much to do with it. He had given my body great pleasure the last darkness, yet when I had attempted to leave him and ride as Mida demanded, he had given me humiliation equally as great.
“Where do you think to go, wench,” he had asked as I reached a hand out toward my breech, which lay beside the lenga pelt. His palm touched my back beneath my hair and stroked its way down, the broad strength of the hand nearly reawakening the heat in my blood.
“I go where I have been bidden to go,” I gave answer, quickly denying my reluctance to depart. “The sooner I depart, the sooner I shall arrive at my destination.”
“And the sooner find the necessity for facing those other savage wenches,” said he, pulling me from the place where I reached toward my breech, back onto his chest. He lay flat upon the lenga pelt, both hands now holding me to him, a defiance in the green of his eyes which boded ill for both of us. “Yet have you forgotten that you are forbidden to ride without my presence, and that punishment has not yet been given you. I would see the manner in which a chosen of the gods accepts punishment.”
“One accepts a punishment of the gods in silence,” said I, of a sudden more than eager to be away. “It is a method of acceptance deplored by males, yet demanded by the gods. Should Mehrayn continue to insist upon defying the gods, it is a thing he will learn of his own self. Release me now, for I must be gone from here.”
“Must you, indeed,” he murmured, those green eyes upon me, his arms remaining metal-like about me. “You speak of my defying the gods, yet do I see no one other than you whom I defy. Do you fancy yourself a god, wench? To me you seem no more than a willful girl child, one who has earned strict punishment with her willfulness. Had you listened to reason your life would not have been nearly lost, and now you again turn a deaf ear to the voice of reason. Remain here this darkness, and with the new light we shall ride out together, having put all thoughts of punishment behind us.”
“Mehrayn forgets that his thoughts are not the ones to be considered,” said I, beginning to squirm against him in an effort to free myself. “The punishment of the gods may not be avoided by putting thoughts of it from one’s mind. I have not been healed so that I might dally through another darkness with a male, therefore are you to release me now!”
“Sigurr is my witness, I made the effort,” said Mehrayn with a sigh, and then did he straighten himself to sitting without releasing his hold upon me. His gaze was stern and impatient which would indeed have been fitting if directed toward an erring warrior-to-be, and I felt a flash of anger that he would look upon me so. Jalav was a war leader, not the child he had named her! Again I attempted to deny his strength, yet was the effort as futile as ever.
“Apparently you spoke with truth when you said the punishment of the gods may not be avoided,” said Mehrayn, wrapping his great hands about my wrists as I beat at him with useless fists. Without effort were my arms put behind me, both wrists then held in a single hand, the struggle I attempted doing no more than rubbing my bare flesh upon his. “Also did he speak truth when you said you are not to dally further with a man. There will be no dalliance in what now comes to you, wench, and should you find yourself able afterward to take to the trail as you insist you must, I will not fail to see it as the will of the gods. For now it is I who dispenses the will of the gods, and my own will as well.”