Leeanne had come back from the hilltop in time to hear this last; she said: “There is no sign of pursuit so far; not even a sand-rat seems to be stirring between here and Shainsa. As for your daughter’s nurse, Lady, she sleeps past any waking; I do not like to kill women, but she came at me with a dagger. I was sorry to kill her before the child’s eyes, but I had little choice.”
“I will not weep for that one,” said Melora with a grimace. “Indeed I think there will be small weeping for her, even in Jalak’s house. She was my chief jailer before Jaelle was born, and I hated her worse than Jalak’s own self. He was cruel because it was his nature and he had been reared to be so; but she was cruel because she found pleasure in the pain of others. I trust Zandru will delight in her company in hell; to be sure he will be the only one who has ever found such pleasure. Had I ever been trusted with a weapon again, even at table, I would have sunk it into her throat before turning it on myself.” She turned to Rohana; for the first time there was a moment to exchange a quick, awkward embrace. “Breda … I am still not sure this is no dream, that I will not waken in Jalak’s bed.”
With the touch of Melora’s swollen hands in hers, Melora’s wet face pressed against her own, the rapport wakened again; Melora’s mind lay open to her, and more: sharp physical discomfort, pain. Rohana thought, panicked, Can she ride? Will she go into labor here and now, in the desert, jar from help, delaying us . . .?
Gently, Melora loosed Rohana’s hands and the contact lessened. “It is easy to see you know little of the Dry Towns. May you never have cause to know more! I would have been expected to ride, even nearer to my time than this. Don’t worry about me, breda.” Her voice broke in a sob. “Oh, it is so good, just to speak to you in our own tongue. …”
Rohana was desperately uneasy about her; she was not highly skilled in midwifery, but as mistress of Ardais she had seen many births; she knew Melora needed rest and care. But the Amazons, at Kindra’s signal, were already mounting again, and indeed there seemed no choice.
Kindra came to inspect, briefly, Nira’s bandaged wound. “So far there is no sign of pursuit, but with dawn someone will certainly find Jalak-or his corpse. And I would greatly prefer not to fight Jalak’s men, or end my days chained in a Shainsa brothel.”
Even in the dim light Melora’s smile was perceptible. “It may be there will be no pursuit; most likely Jalak’s heirs have found him dead and are already squabbling over his property and his wives, and the tenancy of the Great House. The last thing they would want would be to recapture a son of his with a valid claim!”
“Aldones grant it be so,” said Kindra, “yet some kinsman of Jalak might seek kihar by avenging him- or some rival might want to make very sure any son with a valid claim did not survive him.”
Melora gave Rohana’s hands a convulsive squeeze, but her voice was calm. “I can ride as far as I must.” Her eyes went to her sleeping daughter. “Can I have her with me on my own saddle?”
“Lady, you are heavy; your horse should not carry such a doubled weight,” Kindra said. “Those of us who ride lightest will take turns to carry her, so that she can sleep a little longer. Can she ride? We have a spare horse for her, if she can sit alone on a saddle.”
“She could ride almost as” soon as she could walk, mestra.”
“That will do for when she wakes, then; for now, she can sleep,” said Kindra, and lifted Jaelle, still sleeping, to her own saddle; she clambered up beside her, while Rohana assisted her cousin to mount. She was fearfully clumsy, and seemed unsteady in the’ saddle, but Rohana said nothing. There was nothing to say; Kindra was right and they both knew it. She gathered up her own reins, took the reins of Melora’s horse to lead it onward across the desert.