Page 39 of Fate and Revel

“Not when it could be used as an excuse to break out the weapons,” Lyric said wryly.

Austri waved her reasoning away. “Revel was just a young buck back then, but he made a name for himself. The Valians prevailed as usual. Let’s see.” Austri rubbed his red beard stubble in thought. “He earned his second bead at the Great River War when my team of scouts discovered that the Regna had dug a tributary and dam in the Lexley River, the one that we crossed going into Norvale. It’s a main water source for all of Troikana, but the greedy Regna decided they wanted more. Revel and Kya fought so well together.” Austri looked up starry-eyed at the misty gray sky. “What a team they were. We won that, too, mostly because those two led the charge. Regna couldn’t compete.” Before I could ask about Revel’s warrior mate, Kya, Austri was off describing another battle. “Now, the third bead is from the Battle for Amaranth.”

“So those fields I saw on the way here were amaranth,” I said.

“It’s a staple grain here in Norvale,” Lyric said. “Oh look, Madi’s coming this way.” We both waved excitedly.

I turned back to Austri. “Then it was a battle for grain?”

“Sure was. It was a terrible winter in Troikana. Brutal wind, ice, floods. The crops were destroyed, and only small amounts of grain made it through in each region. Valians won that, too.”

“Thanks to Revel and Kya,” Madigan noted as she sat down on the seat in front of us.

“We shared the plants that survived with the other regions. Still, the Solamites and the Regnas were tired of the victories always going to the Valians. We never lorded it over them or started a territory war. We could have, and we’d have won that, too,” Austri beamed. “But the two regions conspired together to destroy our lion’s bane crops.”

I held up my hand. “Hold on, you’re losing me again. Remember, I’m a newbie to all of this and to things like lion’s bane.”

“Oh!” a unified gasp rang out, and people, including Madigan, who’d been watching below, got to their feet. The three of us stood as well. One of the warriors had taken a bad blow to his side. Blood poured from a gash. Revel was the first one over with a bundle of white rags. He helped the man stretch out on the muddy grass as he pressed the rags tightly against the wound.

“Sometimes they get carried away out there,” Lyric said.

“I’ll say. Maybe some protective gear?” I suggested.

The trio turned in unison to look at me as if I’d just suggested that they wear flowery tutus out to battle.

“Right, no protective gear.”

Several men came running out with a crude stretcher. Revel helped them lift the injured man onto it, and they carried him toward a small hut at the end of the practice field. In the meantime, I’d forgotten all about what we were discussing. That might have been due to the fact that after he’d helped get the man on the stretcher, Revel had taken time to find me in the risers. At first, I thought he was just surveying the crowd, but when those hazel eyes landed right on me and stuck, I knew I wasn’t imagining it. He reluctantly dragged his gaze away from me. Madigan turned around, and a few more conspiratorial winks were exchanged.

“Told ya so,” Lyric said to Madigan.

“Last thing that boy needs,” Austri said.

“Uh, why do I feel like there’s a whole conversation, in which I’m an integral part, going on around me, only I’m not included?”

Lyric wrapped her arm around mine and leaned against me. “Sorry if sometimes it’s hard to follow the conversation. Besides, we’re just being silly.”

“It does sometimes feel as if I’m listening to a foreign language. By the way, what is lion’s bane, and why is it so important? And who is Kya?” The second question just popped out. I hadn’t meant to ask it or sound so ridiculously jealous as I blurted it, but suddenly I pictured Revel fighting alongside a beautiful warrior like Madigan.

Another small exchange of smiles.

“All right, enough secret club stuff,” I said. “I don’t like him.” My attempt to sound insistent fell flat. “And it’s all right if Kya is a woman. None of my business. No biggie. Don’t tell me. That’s all right.” I sat back and crossed my arms.

Austri snickered next to me. “Oh boy, are we in fecking trouble now or what?” he muttered to himself, then looked at me. “Kya is not a woman.”

I shrugged. “It would be fine if she was or he was or whatever.”

Lyric sighed. “Oh, my friend, you poor thing. But you won’t be the first, and you certainly won’t be the last.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Even as I said it, I was inadvertently searching the field for the tall, dark-blond head. “If anything, there is a lot of tension between Revel and me as if there’s some big explosion that has to happen between us to relieve that tension.”

Lyric looked at me with a sympathetic smile. “Bestie, you’re only making it worse.”

Madigan turned around. “Alright, let’s drop this subject. It’s meaningless and can’t go anywhere and it’s bothering Rafi.” Madigan looked up at me. “Kya is Revel’s dragon.” She blurted it as if the statement was perfectly normal and made complete and reasonable sense.

I looked at Lyric for confirmation. She nodded. “They were inseparable.”

“And unstoppable,” Austri said.