The Road To Kalbakar, Wyrms of Pasandir #1

CHAPTER 4 - RECLAIMERS

Kellani leaned back into the invisible support of her broom, holding Eskandar with one hand. His racing heart slowed down under her fingers and his breathing turned to normal while he slept.

He's such a small guy, she thought. How did he do it? Freezing that birdcat, fighting those parasite fish. Where did he get the power?

She had seen enough to know Eskandar had saved the Tipred, for the ship's crew had been useless. Vanhaari don't make good sailors; they're farmers at heart, and they had panicked. Eskandar defeated those fishbeasts singlehanded. And if he hadn't somehow lured all of those parasites to him, they would have lost the coaler as well. The memory of Eskandar dancing over the sloop's deck, waving and stabbing his shiny spear into exploding parasites, made her smile.

But not for long. Uncle Yarwan won't be pleased with my whisking the guy away from the navy, she thought. Nor will Mother and Dad. Of course, it was part of a broomer's duty to watch out for wild talents. Untrained mages could be dangerous and had to be enlisted if possible or taken into custody should they prove troublesome. Only I wasn't supposed to do broomer things yet. For a whole year I was to study and train, with no gadding about, no riding and certainly no fighting. The broom on my back was part of the uniform, but while underage, I was not allowed to use the thing. Until my eighteenth birthday, I was to be as useful to the Service as a dead cat. I gave my word I would be good. Then, at the first hint of action, I broke that promise. Mother won't like that at all.

She slapped her knee. What else could she have done? She fought the octicalvo to stop it sinking the Ahaude. Captain Malkim couldn't have done it with his little guns. And Eskandar needed to be away from that dull ship of his.

Eskandar. What a strange background, and with that funny fellow talking to him... Look how the birdcat went straight for him. That first parasite did the same, if she could believe Captain Malkim's words. Why did they want to kill him?

On impulse, she sent out a thought to the butterfly guy. 'You, Teodar or whatever your name is; are you there?'

'Yes.'

She blinked, surprised he answered her. 'Can we talk?'

'What about?' He sounded wary.

'Eskandar. You. What the heck is going on.'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'I don't know you.'

She grinned. 'You wanna go by the book? I'm Kellani of Kell-Spellstor. Broomrider Officer of the Weal of Four Nations. Daughter of Queen Maud of the Kells and niece to the Lord Spellstor of Vanhaar. Enough?' Of course, she was only a cadet, not a proper officer, but he didn't need to know that.

'I don't know these names.' He sounded unsure and surprisingly young. Before, she'd pictured him in his twenties, but he couldn't be much older than her.

'You don't know? Where do you come from that you don't recognize the most powerful names in the lands?' Then something surfaced that Eskandar had said earlier. 'You're from the Borderlands, aren't you? The barren mountains.'

'The Pasandir Peaks. Eskandar told you they're not barren.'

She smiled at that. 'So he did. Was he born there? He looks somewhat like a Vanhaari or Unwaari, but not entirely.'

'Those names...' He hesitated. 'So long ago. Very long ago. No, he's not one of those two tribes.'

She sat up straight. 'You're saying there are people living in those mountains that look like Vanhaari but aren't?'