The Road To Kalbakar, Wyrms of Pasandir #1

CHAPTER 7 - A RECLAIMER'S TROUBLES

A gentle caress stroked Kellani's cheek. She opened her eyes, her hands clawed, ready to strike at the unknown girl whose ponytail dangled inches from her face.

'My, you're fierce.' The girl stepped back hurriedly. 'I'm Leiha. How do you feel?'

'Fine.' To Kellani's surprise, she did, too.

'Nurse is great at restoring people's strength,' the girl said.

Kellani studied her face. Good bones, middling-gray skin; a capable Vanhaari face. Some three years her senior, she guessed, so she was either a student or a very junior reclaimer.

'What time is it? And where's Eskandar?' Kellani sat up in bed and grinned at the older girl's surprise. That nurse may be good, but she was half of warlock stock, with all of their natural healing powers.

'It's thirty minutes to the noon,' Leiha said. 'The kid is up and away with Naudin. They begged some food from Cook first. She loves feeding people, so that's all right. Then they went off to the ruins.' She shook her head. 'He should have kept to his bed for another two days at least.'

'That guy's a sailor; he's tough.' Kellani jumped from the bed. 'I must report first. Who's your communicator?'

'Mage Ander, the man who picked up your emergency call. He can connect you.' The girl looked worried. 'Are you alright to get up?'

Kellani did some quick exercises to loosen up her muscles. 'No problem.'

'You're really fit,' the other girl said, and she sounded a bit jealous. 'Muscled, too.'

Kellani was used to this reaction. Even though she wasn't as tall and massive as a full-blood warrioress, she was way bigger than most non-Kell and a lot more muscular.

She grinned fleetingly. 'That's what you get when your mother is a Kell lioness. She trains daily and I joined her when I first could pick up a sword.' She looked around. 'Did anyone rescue my broomstick?'

'Naudin brought it. He said you've been very, very lucky.' Leiha reached under the bed and produced the damaged broom.

Kellani's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the handful of remaining twigs. 'Darn birdcat...' She took a deep breath; they had been even luckier than she'd thought. The brush made the broom; without, it was just a stick and the spell wouldn't work.

Every broomrider carries a spare brush, so it was only a few minutes to swap the old one for a new. But it took much longer to lose the hollow feeling under her midriff.

She pocketed the damaged brush and returned the broomstick to its sheath on her back. 'Let's go.'

They stepped out of the tent into the full heat of the day. Kellani paused and mustered the circle of tents, the looming walls of the dead city and the endless desert beyond. Kells are plains people. The lands around their villages and castles teem with life, and these dead hills depressed her.

'An awful place,' she said.

'Yes,' Leiha said grimly. 'It is now. Can you imagine? Five centuries ago, these were all lush cornfields. We found documents, rolls, going back a long time.'

Cornfields. Kellani could barely believe it. 'What happened?'

'Greed. Stupidity. Asking too much of the ground. Stacking fertilizer upon fertilizer to coax three grain harvests a year from the same acres. Using too much water, so the rains stopped and the soil dried out. The land is exhausted. And why? What did they need those immense amounts of grain for? We don't know, but they couldn't possibly eat it all.'