I was freezing, huddled in on myself behind Leilani on her huge warhorse. We'd been in the mountains for days and I was starving, thirsty, tired and sore on top of so cold I was losing feeling in my toes.
Every couple of hours, Lani would assure me we were almost there and not to worry, but I was worried.
For years I had heard her tell stories of how she had left home after her father died because she feared for her life. She'd become a fighter, powerful and brutal until she became my bodyguard when I was born. My father had put her in charge of protecting me and she had.
Even when I had wanted to stay and try to save my parents when the Miovians came. They had come enmass, overwhelming the gates immediately and there had been no time at all, no one had known they were coming at all.
As soon as she got word, Lani hadn't hesitated, she had taken me through the escape tunnels and ridden away with me. I knew why. I'd just had my birthday and the same day, nobles all around the country had put forth their names to be considered. Miovia had sent an emissary and my father had sent them away without even seeing them, saying he would only allow me a husband from Mareshomese. Lani said they had come to claim me and the throne for themselves and we had been riding hard for days.
She came from one of the high mountain clans, a noble herself. She'd run when her uncle took over their house and she knew he'd marry her off and be rid of her as soon as he could. As soon as he invited an older man with a foot in the grave, Lani knew she was being used and she refused it, opting to go to the lands below instead. Her fighting style was mountain clan style and new and different below. She made her way by taking jobs as a mercenary and learning to fight in new ways until she was taken into the king's guard, then given as my guardian. She'd told stories of the mountain clans and how ruthless they were, how violent. How she would never go back. How she COULDN'T go back. Her cousin would be in power in her house now and her uncle had had designs on the throne for her cousin. He was likely on the throne and would not appreciate Lani showing up with a claim to the house herself.
I couldn't help but feel as though we were running from one danger into another.
Lani slowed, suddenly, looking around warily, so I followed her gaze. There were people in the trees with bows, guarding the only path up the mountain. Lani kept going, but she was moving more slowly now.
"We should go back!" I whispered.
"Too late now, Button," she whispered back.
I scowled at her back, still hating that nickname. "They are about to shoot us!"
"We are two women, what harm could we do? They are meant to stop invaders, not two women who are harmless."
"You are NOT harmless," I snorted.
"They do not know that! And you will say nothing of it, no? Remember, you may only call me Lani and you will not speak your name at all. You are Button, my child."
"I won't answer to that!"
She chuckled. "It is easy to remember and you answer to it as readily as you do your own name. We need to be practical."
"I'm not a child anymore, Lani!"
"So you are not, Isola, and that is why we had to flee. You are no longer a child and many men want the power you would bring them. Here, you must let them see what they think they see. Keep your chest and hips covered and your head down, and they will think you are my child."
"You can't be serious?"
"It is not uncommon for a child to have their fathers coloring and not their mothers. They would think I was with one of the men from below and had myself a pale little one. Hush now, we are almost to the waypoint. Heed what I say, Isola. You are my Button, keep your head down and your eyes on your toes, yes?"
"Fine, I don't even care so long as there is a fire and food! And then a bed!"
Lani chuckled again and patted my foot. "Remember, also, do not be bossy. Servants are not the way of things here and none would look kindly on demands. You must do for yourself, yes?"
"When have I ever been bossy?"
"Sometimes it is a thing you do not realize, Button, to ask another for a drink. You are polite, but it is still not done here. If you are asked, you may agree or decline, but do not ask. Once you are welcomed into a place, you may do as you please. Eat, drink, sleep. But only if you have been formally welcomed. Being invited inside is not a formal welcome. Being handed food and drink is not a formal welcome."
"How will I know?"
"You will know."
I sighed and peeked around her, looking ahead at the gate across the mountain trail. Soldiers were coming out of a hut-like doorway, like there was a room carved in the cliff face there.
Lani sighed, but kept going, reining in when one of the men held a hand up.
"State your business!"
"I am returning home," Lani called, pulling her hood back. "My husband died and I am come back to live with my brother and his wife, my child and I."
"Name?"
"Lani Bearclaw."
Bows were drawn quickly and Lani went stiff as the man held a hand up to forestall the archers.
"How long since your last visit, downworlder?"
"I am not a downworlder! I was born among the peaks!"
"I said how long?"
"Twenty five years. Perhaps more, perhaps less."
"Things have changed here, downworlder."
"I am not...!"
"You have spent more time there than here!" the man interrupted. "And you do not know the way of things here now or you would not have come! Take them," he commanded as soldiers surrounded them.
"Do not harm my child!" Lani called quickly as we were both pulled off of the saddle in opposite directions.
I felt panic well up as I was carried inside. The heat from the fires wasn't even a comfort as I looked around, trying to see Lani. When I was dropped onto a bench, she was pushed down right next to me.
"It's fine, Button," Lani murmered quickly. "They don't hurt children here, they take them and raise them as their own. It is the way of things here. Stay quiet and be good."
"What's happening?" I asked fearfully as the large man came in and shrugged off his heavy fur coat.
He looked over Lani as she sat up straight and squared her shoulders, showing no fear. "We see few travelers through here anymore," the man smiled. He had the same burnished bronze coloring as Lani, but lacked her freckles covering her entire body. His hair crested in a silken black spike that flipped down over one side and the other side of his head was shaved. I stared at the elaborate tattoo there, not understanding what I was seeing. "But it wasn't long ago that we did," the man continued. "We've all been trained to take note of everything and spot lies," he smiled grimly, pulling a knife out of his sheethe. "Hold her," he demanded, stepping close as two men grabbed Lani and jerked her head to the side.
I stood, alarmed, and a woman soldier behind me took hold of my shoulders, firmly, but not painfully.
The man began cutting away Lani's hair on one side and he kept cutting and shaving until an elaborate lotus was uncovered, tattooed into the side of her head, the same way his was.
