Read Online Deepwood: Karavans # 2 by Jennifer Roberson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jennifer Roberson
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to the horses.”
They were couriers. Horses were necessary for their duties. But also helpful for hunting.
TO RHUAN’S RELIEF, Audrun stopped asking questions. She lost herself in tending the infant, wrapping muslin between and around her legs, criss-crossing it and tying it in place with a long piece of cloth. He left her to that tending, to a mother’s joy—though he had, in the creche, changed many clouts himself—and set about giving thanks to the dreya, asking their support. This was their home, this ring; one did not remain within without permission, if one had manners at all. Unlike the human
hell
, where no good dwelled, not all of Alisanos was poisonous to humans, dangerous to others. Dreyas, unlike various demons, devils, and beasts, were not murderers, did not feed upon flesh. They took strength from the soil and suns. Born in and of Alisanos, they were nonetheless benevolent.
Rhuan, taking a step to the queen tree, grinned.
Rather like me.
“What are you doing?”
Questions again.
He turned, standing at the foot of a tall, pale, widecrowned, thick-trunked tree entangled on either side with the silvery branches of others. In the ring, dreya shared hearts and souls and blood; the latter humans called sap. “I intend to ask for protection tonight, so we may rest without concern for our lives.”
Audrun blinked. “They can protect us? The trees?”
“The dreya, yes. A ring is sacrosanct.”
She was astonished. “And demons respect that?”
“Well,” he said, “not always. But mostly. Sometimes.” He shrugged, placing a hand against the trunk that was formed of thousands upon thousands of small, thin, silken scalelike plates of silver-hued bark. Each trunk bore a narrow cleft from ground to lowest branch. “Occasionally.”
“That,” Audrun mused absently, stroking her daughter’s pale-fuzzed head, “is not particularly reassuring.”
“They chose to admit us.”
She looked up again, brows arching in startlement. “They could have kept us out?”
“Oh, most certainly. They allowed us to enter. In a way, they’ve granted us sanctuary … but I owe them gratitude, devotions, and my name. Your name.” He smiled. “And Sarith’s.”
“It matters to them, our names?”
“Names define us, Audrun. Among other things.” He turned then, turned away from her to face the tree. He placed both hands on the patterned trunk, and leaned in to rest his forehead against the wood as well. With eyes closed, he exhaled through his mouth and let the breath gust against the smooth trunk. In the tongue the dreya queen would know, he told her his name, the name of the woman, the name of the child; asked safety for the night; explained their need, and what brought them here. Then he offered her and her sisters all the respect of his soul, trained into him from infancy. He honored the ring, honored the dreya.
He might have used his sire’s name, but he did not.Alario had many sons, though only Rhuan remained of his
dioscuri
-born. The others were ascended, or neuters, or dead. And he, well, he would choose to be none of those things, but human. To live among the humans in the human world.
He wondered if his sire knew that. Alario might, if Darmuth had said anything after the Hearing. He was enjoined from such, but demons were not always dependable. And they could be tricked by beings who were gods.
Rhuan told the queen:
My mother was human, born into and reared by that world. Alisanos took her, as did a god—but her sap has quickened in me. The heat of Alisanos runs in my veins; I answer to the suns. But I answer also to the heartwood of my mother dwelling within me, the soul and the bone; and to the pull of the human world, the human people. This woman is one of them. She has young saplings in her world, growing straight and strong. She has a new-sprouted one here, stalked by that which, and by those who, would kill them
They were couriers. Horses were necessary for their duties. But also helpful for hunting.
TO RHUAN’S RELIEF, Audrun stopped asking questions. She lost herself in tending the infant, wrapping muslin between and around her legs, criss-crossing it and tying it in place with a long piece of cloth. He left her to that tending, to a mother’s joy—though he had, in the creche, changed many clouts himself—and set about giving thanks to the dreya, asking their support. This was their home, this ring; one did not remain within without permission, if one had manners at all. Unlike the human
hell
, where no good dwelled, not all of Alisanos was poisonous to humans, dangerous to others. Dreyas, unlike various demons, devils, and beasts, were not murderers, did not feed upon flesh. They took strength from the soil and suns. Born in and of Alisanos, they were nonetheless benevolent.
Rhuan, taking a step to the queen tree, grinned.
Rather like me.
“What are you doing?”
Questions again.
He turned, standing at the foot of a tall, pale, widecrowned, thick-trunked tree entangled on either side with the silvery branches of others. In the ring, dreya shared hearts and souls and blood; the latter humans called sap. “I intend to ask for protection tonight, so we may rest without concern for our lives.”
Audrun blinked. “They can protect us? The trees?”
“The dreya, yes. A ring is sacrosanct.”
She was astonished. “And demons respect that?”
“Well,” he said, “not always. But mostly. Sometimes.” He shrugged, placing a hand against the trunk that was formed of thousands upon thousands of small, thin, silken scalelike plates of silver-hued bark. Each trunk bore a narrow cleft from ground to lowest branch. “Occasionally.”
“That,” Audrun mused absently, stroking her daughter’s pale-fuzzed head, “is not particularly reassuring.”
“They chose to admit us.”
She looked up again, brows arching in startlement. “They could have kept us out?”
“Oh, most certainly. They allowed us to enter. In a way, they’ve granted us sanctuary … but I owe them gratitude, devotions, and my name. Your name.” He smiled. “And Sarith’s.”
“It matters to them, our names?”
“Names define us, Audrun. Among other things.” He turned then, turned away from her to face the tree. He placed both hands on the patterned trunk, and leaned in to rest his forehead against the wood as well. With eyes closed, he exhaled through his mouth and let the breath gust against the smooth trunk. In the tongue the dreya queen would know, he told her his name, the name of the woman, the name of the child; asked safety for the night; explained their need, and what brought them here. Then he offered her and her sisters all the respect of his soul, trained into him from infancy. He honored the ring, honored the dreya.
He might have used his sire’s name, but he did not.Alario had many sons, though only Rhuan remained of his
dioscuri
-born. The others were ascended, or neuters, or dead. And he, well, he would choose to be none of those things, but human. To live among the humans in the human world.
He wondered if his sire knew that. Alario might, if Darmuth had said anything after the Hearing. He was enjoined from such, but demons were not always dependable. And they could be tricked by beings who were gods.
Rhuan told the queen:
My mother was human, born into and reared by that world. Alisanos took her, as did a god—but her sap has quickened in me. The heat of Alisanos runs in my veins; I answer to the suns. But I answer also to the heartwood of my mother dwelling within me, the soul and the bone; and to the pull of the human world, the human people. This woman is one of them. She has young saplings in her world, growing straight and strong. She has a new-sprouted one here, stalked by that which, and by those who, would kill them
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