Warsworn by Elizabeth Vaughan Page A

must warn Simus and Othur and Eln. The more information we have, the better prepared—"
    "No." Keir cut me off and started to pace, moving with his usual grace. His horse watched us carefully. Mine had fallen asleep again, his head hanging, ears flopping over, eyes closed. He'd put all his weight on his left leg, his right hind foot cocked behind him.
    Keir cut through my line of sight. "We must be at the Heart of the Plains as soon as possible.
    Your confirmation must take place as soon as possible. If we delay, we lose our advantage."
    "Keir, these people swore an oath of fealty to you, an oath you demanded. Winning Xy as a fiefdom doesn't just mean taking the spoils. It also means taking responsibility for the people of Xy." I pulled the uncomfortable helmet off, letting the bandages fall to the ground and ran my fingers through my hair to untangle the braid. "The oaths flow both ways."
    "We pass it by, flow around it as the stream flows past a stone. Acknowledging their sacrifice, but keeping clear of the danger."
    "We can't do that. We need information. The army may already be exposed since you've traded with the farmers that we have passed. I am a healer; I have sworn oaths to aid those in need. I have to go in there." I smiled at him. "A healer goes where she is needed. To a Warlord's side or into a stricken village."
    "That's insane. You are the link between our peoples; the only Queen of Xy and the only Warprize. I will not risk you."
    "I swore oaths when I claimed my Mastery. As you did when you became a Warlord. They require me to serve these people."
    "It's more important for your people that you become the Warprize."
    "Keir, Xy was a nation of traders and merchants in my great-grandfather's time. But the plague swept through the land and decimated the people. It killed so many that the trade routes through the mountains were closed. The Xy you conquered is a far cry from the rich land of the past."
    He turned, looking down at the gates, radiating fury.
    I stepped next to him. "If plague has returned, we must give them aid, and learn as much as we can. We need to send word back to Water's Fall."
     
    "What need?" Keir looked skeptical. "It will stay where it is, caught within those walls."
    "No." I rubbed my hand over my sweaty neck. "If they are that sick, they can't even tend to the dead, Keir."
    He grimaced, knowing all too well what that meant. "We will send for aid from Water's Fall.
    They can be here within five or six days."
    "We can't wait that long. If we wait for help from Water's Fall, we may only have dead bodies and no one to tell us what happened and how. I must go, Keir, and now."
    He glared at me.
    "I am a healer, and these people, your people , need my help."
    "These people are not worth one drop of your blood."
    I looked at him steadily until he looked away. "You are thinking as a lover, Warlord."
    His head snapped back, and his eyes flashed. "I am a lover, Warprize."
    My cheeks flushed at that, but I didn't give ground. "If your people had the healing skills, you would aid them."
    "Do you understand what you are saying?" Keir growled.
    "I understand exactly what I am saying, Keir. My people need yours, for protection now that our forces have been exhausted, for links to trade, for our future. My people have enough to see them through this winter but they will need every bit of harvest that can be salvaged from the fields to survive. If it is plague, if it spreads from here…" I closed my eyes against that possibility. "Why do you send scouts out, if not to know what you are going to have to deal with? We have to know and the only way to know is if I go in."
    "There must be another—"
    I glared at him. "And if it gets to the Plains? What of your people? Will the warrior priests aid them?"
    He stopped, jaw clenched, shoulders tight, his hands in fists. He started to curse and the words that poured from him at that point were not ones that I knew. He stopped, breathing hard.
    "There must be