Black Jade by David Zindell Read Free Book Online Page B

don't like the sound of that, not at all. What do you mean, yet ?'
    'I believe,' Bajorak said, 'that these are not the only companies of Red Knights or Zayak that Garthax has allowed into our country.'
    At this Maram craned his neck about, scanning the horizon. And all the while he muttered, 'Oh, too bad, too bad!'
    Bajorak ignored him and looked straight at me. He said, 'Until Karimah came to me asking us to escort you, I could not imagine what these companies were seeking in our lands.'
    I said nothing as I watched the Red Knights, who seemed to be waiting for us to remount so that they might renew the chase.
    'But I do not understand,' he went on, 'why they are seeking you.'
    'Surely that is simple,' I told him. 'We are Morjin's enemies. Surely he would pay much gold to anyone who brings him our heads.'
    I rested my hand on the hilt of my sword; I looked into Bajorak's eyes to see if he desired this gold badly enough to betray us. But I saw there only a blazing hatred of Morjin and a fierce pride.
    Then Bajorak looked away from me toward our enemy. 'Perhaps they do want to kill you. But perhaps they are seeking the same thing as you.'
    His perceptiveness vexed me, and I told him, 'We have not said that we are seeking anything.'
    He smiled as best he could and said, 'No, you say little, with your lips, Valashu Elahad. But your eyes sing like the minstrels. I have never seen a man who desires as you do.'
    'Perhaps,' I told him, 'we desire nothing more than to cross your lands.'
    He pointed at the snowy peaks in the west, 'To go into the wild mountains where no one dwells?'
    'Perhaps we wish to dwell there.'
    He held out his hand toward Estrella and Daj. 'It is strange that you take children with you on such a journey.'
    'Is it strange to want to find a place where they might come of age in peace?'
    Bajorak's face softened as he said, 'No, that is not strange - if any such place exists. But if it did exist, surely you would not seek it in the Sarni's lands so close to Sakai.'
    'We go where we must,' I told him. 'Will you help us?'
    'We would help you better if you helped us.'
    'We ride together,' I said. 'If our enemy attacks you, we will fight them.'
    'That is good. But I would be even better if you trusted us.'
    'We've trusted you with our lives.'
    'Yes, but not with that which impels you to risk your lives.'
    'As Kane has told you, that would be an unnecessary burden.'
    'You say. But the greater burden is not knowing where we are going or why. It puts my men at risk. And I do not spend their lives as readily as I do gold.'
    As the sun's light broke upon the fillet binding his forehead, I pressed my finger hard into the little zags of the scar that cut mine like a lightning bolt. And I said, 'You have pledged to ride with us, even so. Will you keep your pledge?'
    Bajorak looked back and forth between Pirraj and Kashak as anger clouded his eyes. He shook his bow at me and snapped out: 'We Tarun are no pledge-breakers! Hai, but you are a hard man, Valashu Elahad. And a willful one! Let us ride then, if that is your wish!'
    And with that, he jumped back on his horse, and with Pirraj and Kashak, galloped back to the bend in the river where most of his warriors were gathered.
    Liljana stood with her arms thrown protectively around Daj and Estrella. And she scolded me: 'You were barely cordial to him. I've never seen you be so hard.'
    I watched as Karimah returned to the Manslayers, who were getting ready to ride again, fend I said, 'We know little of this Bajorak and his true intentions. And you've been able to tell me little.'
    She clapped her hand to her pocket where she had secreted her blue gelstei. 'Would you have me try to tell you?'
    'As you tried with the Red Knights?'
    Liljana's heavy eyebrows pulled into a frown. 'You're hard with me, too - cruel hard. What have I done to make you so?'
    The hurt in her eyes stabbed straight into me. I took her hand in mine and said, 'My apologies, Liljana. You've done nothing. Now why