Sword-Maker(122)

I cracked the eye again.

“Chosa Dei,” Del said softly, creases marring her brow. Fingers were gentle and deft, then she stopped examining me. “Tiger, can you hear me?”

I opened the other eye. “Of course I can hear you,” I answered. “I can hear all of you—now.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

She pressed the back of her hand against my cheek. “You’re sunburned,” she said. “And the day is blazing hot.”

I blinked. “It was raining.”

Del lifted her hand and pointed straight up.

I followed the direction of her finger. Realized Alric’s makeshift blanket-and-skin roof had come down—or been torn down, since shreds were left to dangle—and saw the sky clearly. The blue, burning sky, full of Southron sun. No rain. No clouds. No wind. It was still, very still; my skin quailed from the sun.

I moved a little. Felt weight in my right hand. Realized it held a hilt, with the blade still attached. “What in hoolies—?” I frowned at Del.

Alric answered instead. “You wouldn’t let go. And no one dared to touch it.”

Well, no; it was, after all, a jivatma—

I stiffened. Then wrenched myself off the bedding into a sitting position. “Hoolies, that was Nabir!”

“It was.” Garrod’s face was solemn. “Whoever he was, he’s dead.”

I stared at the sword. Slowly, very slowly, I unlocked stiffened fingers and set it down beside me. “He unmade Nabir’s feet—” I swallowed heavily, realizing I was dizzy; that my belly was none too content. “Then put himself into the boy. First the sword, then himself … he nearly got what he wanted.”

Adara’s voice was puzzled. “I don’t understand.”

Del barely glanced over a shoulder, watching me instead. “Do you remember the loki, Adara?”

“Yes.”

“Something very like one is trapped in Tiger’s sword.”

“Not a loki,” I said. “Something far worse.”

Adara shuddered. “Nothing could be worse.”

Garrod’s brows rose. “You saw what Tiger did … and what it did to Tiger.”

Something began to concern me. “What did it do to Tiger?”

Garrod was very succinct. “Tried to burn you up. Except you wouldn’t let it do it … you stopped it cold—in a manner of speaking.” He grinned. “The rain went away, the mud dried up, the sun came out for good.”

Lena’s voice was hushed. “It was a simoom.”

Simoom—or samiel.

I looked at Del. Neither of us said a word.

Lena’s face was troubled. “The young man came after Alric was gone to the circles, saying he wanted the Sandtiger. When I explained you weren’t here, that you’d left for a while, he asked what sword you wore.” She lifted wide shoulders. “I told him: Alric’s Vashni sword. And then he went away.”

“Only to come back later when Lena and the girls were gone.” Alric’s voice was heavy. “Who would steal a jivatma?”

“A young, proud man trying to impress his first woman. An outcast Vashni half blood trying to buy his way into the tribe.” I rubbed at my cheek, then wished I hadn’t. Del was right: I was sunburned. “He probably got word to the warriors that I had the Vashni sword, knowing it would create a diversion so he could steal the jivatma.” I sighed. “I’m sorry Nabir’s dead, but I can’t say he wasn’t warned.”

Del looked at the sword lying naked beside the bedding. “Tiger—the black is higher.”

So it was: discoloration reached nearly halfway up the blade. “Less than there was,” I told her. “It almost touched the hilt.” I glanced around, saw the harness, stretched out an arm to reach it. Del dragged it closer, then put it into my hand. I sheathed the discolored sword, then set it back on the ground. “Do you think—” But whatever it was I started to ask slid off my flaccid tongue.

Del’s voice was startled. “Tiger—? Tiger—”

“What is it?” Adara cried.

Cramps wracked me the length of my body. Toes, calves, thighs, then through abdomen and chest, until it reached my back. Pectoral muscles knotted, stretching the flesh of my shoulders. Pain crawled up into my neck, then reached out and snared my jaw.

Hoolies, but I hurt.

“What is it?” Adara repeated.

“Reaction,” Del explained crisply. “It’s because of the magic—it’s happened before … it will pass, in time; Lena, have you any huva weed? If not, could you send Alric to fetch some? I can brew a tea that will help.”