Lady of the Star Wind by Veronica Scott Page A

there were no signs of skull fracture, no indication of more than a mild concussion. His vitals are good.” She showed Mark the readout, though the figures meant nothing to him. “He could go on if he doesn’t try to travel too fast.”
    “He’ll be glad to hear the news. I’d have to knock him out to keep him in bed, if those were your orders. He’s determined.”
    “We can go today?” Tia looked from one to the other, not comprehending a word of the rapid Outlier dialect.
    “Yes, my lady, but we’ll have to go with caution,” Mark told her in High Chetal.
    Eyes wide, Tia said, “You’ll come with us?”
    He was surprised at himself. He hadn’t made a conscious decision to leave the oasis with these people, but plans revolved in his mind, all centering around a journey. Now he backtracked a bit. “I need to discuss the subject with the Lady of the Star Wind. Will you excuse us?”
    As Rothan stirred groggily and Tia bent to tend to him, Mark took Sandy by the elbow, leading her out of the room. Mark strolled in silence across the central chamber and into the oasis, Sandy following his lead and not attempting to talk. Djed and one of his archers were preparing breakfast over a small fire.
    The chief archer saluted as Mark walked onto the patio. “My captain is well this morning?”
    Returning the salute, Mark nodded. “I think you may be able to continue on your journey today. Are the horses rested enough?”
    “They must be,” Djed said with a fatalistic shrug. “Will you share our breakfast?” He pointed at the frying fish and some kind of journeycake, spread out on one of the glossy green leaves.
    “Later, thanks. The Lady and I need to have a conversation.” Mark led Sandy away from the living quarters, stopping at the lake. Even though the locals didn’t understand Outlier, he had a longtime aversion to being overheard.
    She laughed at him as she seated herself on a big flat rock at the water’s edge, dangling her toes in the clear water. “Afraid the Nakhtiaar got hypno training overnight?”
    Mark frowned. “We need to make a decision.”
    “Did you find out more about why these people are fleeing?”
    Skipping a rock across the calm surface of the pond, he said, “Pretty standard stuff. Rothan was conscious enough to talk a couple of times during the night, and I pieced the situation together from what he shared. In a nutshell, Tia’s brother is the rightful king, but one of his late father’s wives seized the throne. This brother strikes me as not the brightest strategist.” Mark laughed. “Before he’d fully consolidated power after his father died, he departed on a previously planned two-year expedition to explore the region to the south, which gave this woman Farahna her chance. She acted as regent and then took over completely.”
    Sandy plucked a yellow and red variegated flower and began idly pulling the petals off, one by one, dropping them into the water to drift away. Frowning, she said, “So far this reminds me a lot of Outlier politics. I didn’t expect to get ensnared in this kind of scheming and backstabbing here.”
    “Oh, it gets worse. Rothan and the real king recently came home in triumph from the trip, and on the night of the welcome-home banquet, the king falls mysteriously ill.”
    Tossing the final petals into the pond, she sighed. “Don’t tell me—poisoned?”
    “Rothan and Tia suspect foul play. The queen’s personal doctors are treating him. No one can get in to see him, not even his sister. Who, by the way, scheming Queen Farahna intends to marry to her own son without further delay.”
    Sandy pulled her feet from the water as tiny fish came to investigate her wriggling toes. Drying them on the hem of her gown, she said, “Which explains the pursuit we saw and the attempt to kidnap Tia.” She grimaced. “I can relate. Rothan must not like the queen’s idea much either, since he stole her away. But why this mad dash to the lost city? I don’t