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Lost and Confused

Chapter 27

When the light faded again, they were back in the grasslands. The stone of Xanta sat dully in Motsumi's paws, and after blinking at it a moment, Ettoras realized they were still in the carriage. They climbed out, and Motsumi directed the others to back away. As they watched, he used the stone to burn the carriage to a pile of ash. Ettoras was flabbergasted by the sheer power that was contained in the little egg-shaped pebble: the carriage was gone in a flash of light, leaving only smoke and ash in its wake.

For the first time, Ettoras was beginning to understand just why it was so important that the Guides take the stone far away. He shuddered to imagine someone like Jule's horrible cousin Tabitha le Frey having an artifact of such power. And as he helped Motsumi cover the ashes, he noticed the way Wilmer winced at the sight . . . and the way Palesa frowned in sympathy and touched the Dalmatian's shoulder.

The sun was still setting, and in the watery pink and golden light, the sparse trees stood silhouetted against the sky. Crickets were already chirruping, and predators already growling, preparing to set out for that night's prey. The chill wind ruffled Ettoras' fur, and he was surprised to find himself wishing he was back at Canderly, if only for the warm bed and the good food. He hated the grasslands and wanted to be out of them. He wanted to go home. Something was happening in S'pru, and now that he'd found Kayya, perhaps he could use the artifacts to save it. He expressed his concerns to Motsumi, but the older fox only apologized, insisting that their priority must be to lock the artifacts away in the SummerValley.

They entered an abandoned burrow for the night, and as they sat down to supper around the fire, the others recounted their meeting to Ettoras. Wilmer and the Guides had come to an old shrine dedicated to Ayni out in the grasslands. They were intent on inactivating it, as they had recently been attacked by Ayni's agents. It was then that Zeinara, Kayya, and the white vixen appeared at the shrine, stepping out of the portal just as Motsumi was going to use the stone to destroy it.

As Ettoras and the others continued supper around the fire, Zeinara expressed her worries that she should return to Wychowl, least Maret harm her father, and the white vixen - who Palesa had addressed as Yeneneshe - suggested that she should come along. Zeinara seemed surprised by the request.

"Would you _really_travel with me again? Must like me a lot more than you're letting on, darling. Warms the heart, it does," Zeinara said with an amused smile.

The white vixen scowled at her bowl. "Don't play games with me, dog. You know why I wish to come. If Mogethis is in Wychowl, that's where I will go. I wish to see her."

"Mogethis," Palesa said darkly, and everyone looked at her - except Motsumi, whose only response was to tighten his lips. Palesa looked at Yeneneshe, her eyes glancing up and down. "I thought there was something about your face that . . . angered me."

Yeneneshe's response was to give Palesa a searching look that was otherwise expressionless. She slowly turned her eyes back to her bowl and continued to eat. Palesa continued to glare at her long after she had dropped her gaze.

"You know Mogethis?" Zeinara looked at Palesa curiously and her ears pricked forward in her long golden mane.

Palesa let some time pass before she finally answered. She bowed her head over her bowl and poked its contents with a hard expression. At last, she said in a low voice, "We have . . . crossed paths . . . on occasion."

"Well, that was specific," Zeinara said sarcastically and returned to her bowl with a shake of her head.

"Palesa will not cross paths with Mogethis again," Motsumi said, lifting his face. "And we shall leave it at that." He glanced around the fire to make it clear.

Ettoras didn't think he could leave it at that. "But who's Mogethis?" he blurted into the silence.

Motsumi sighed wearily.

"Ettoras!" Kayya scolded and slapped his knee. She was sitting beside him, and on her other side, Zeinara sat between her and Yeneneshe.

Ettoras winced from the blow. "Kayya!" he complained. "I just . . ." His voice trailed away when Yeneneshe looked directly at him.

"Mogethis is my sister," said the white vixen, and without further explanation, she returned to her meal. Though Ettoras thought she looked a little sad.

"And you know her sister?" Ettoras asked Zeinara. "How?"

Zeinara smiled sadly at her brother. "I was raised by her."

Ettoras frowned. "No . . . you were raised by Etienne. Our father."

Zeinara's sad smile didn't vanish. "No," she patiently corrected. "I was raised by Mogethis."

Ettoras shook his head. "I don't . . ."

"If the Guides insist on approaching the valley, we will have to go our separate ways," Yeneneshe interrupted, and gave Ettoras a glinting look that told him to drop the issue. She dragged her eyes to Zeinara. "I agreed to help you so that I might see Mogethis again. Keep your end of the arrangement, dog."

Zeinara smirked. "Sure you didn't help me just so you could finally meet a certain someone?" she sang, her bright blue eyes passing momentarily over Ettoras.

Ettoras saw the blush creep up Yeneneshe's neck and he smiled.

"No," Yeneneshe said through her fangs. "I wish only to see my sister."

Zeinara glanced at the white vixen guilty. "Yen . . . I've got something to tell you."

Yeneneshe set her spoon in her bowl and regarded Zeinara coldly, almost as if she had expected Zeinara to make some confession.

Zeinara bit her lip. "Mogethis isn't actually in Wychowl. The truth is . . . I don't know where sh--" Zeinara's sentence choked in her mouth when Yeneneshe viciously slapped her.

Kayya cried out in horror, nearly upsetting her bowl in her scramble to stop what was happening. She touched Zeinara's face and frowned sadly, then glared at Yeneneshe. "If you _ever_touch her again --!"

"You'll what?" Yeneneshe said calmly, her dark eyes flashing derisively. "I do not fear you, Child of Eden. Will She of Rapture rain endless giggles upon me?"

Kayya scowled, and Ettoras thought she looked as if she was going to rain something on Yeneneshe.

"It's alright, Kay," Zeinara said quickly and placed a soothing paw on Kayya's shoulder. She laughed. "Yen isn't the first female to slap me . . . remember?"

Kayya looked at Zeinara guiltily and seemed to calm down, though her brown eyes flashed a last glare at Yeneneshe that said she wouldn't soon forget what had happened.

Watching Kayya and his sister, it slowly dawned on Ettoras that there was affection between them. His ears pricked forward and he didn't know what to think. Or say. They caught him staring, and Kayya took her paw from Zeinara's face; Zeinara returned to her meal.

Yeneneshe ignored everyone and returned to her own meal.

Motsumi cleared his throat. "If the rest of you insist on returning to Wychowl, I must caution you to avoid Ayni's shrines at all costs. Palesa, Wilmer, and I have already destroyed the one nearby, and we will destroy all others we find as we continue to the valley."

"So much for returning to Conwil," Zeinara said.

"Not that way anyway," Motsumi confirmed. "You have no idea the danger involved in using Ayni's shrines. They are all connected and intertwined. If she became aware that you were using them, she could interfere, reroute the portal, and cause you to emerge wherever she desired. Imagine if you woke up among the desert dogs. They impale the heads of outsiders on the cacti as decorations." Motsumi shook his head. "Your life would be forfeit."

Zeinara rolled her eyes to the ceiling nervously. "Alright. I get it. Using Ayni's shrines is a no-no." She looked at Yeneneshe. "Thanks for risking our lives, by the way."

Yeneneshe scowled. "I didn't know that Ayni - I didn't know such things were happening!" She dropped her eyes to her bowl and poked her food so sullenly, Ettoras wanted to comfort her.

Motsumi seemed to pity Yeneneshe as well. "It's alright, child," he said soothingly. "I could easily use the stone to send you to safety. You have but to name the place."

"No place is safer than the valley," Ettoras said, and everyone looked at him. "We should all go together."

Motsumi shook his head. "You should return with your sister to Wychowl. You'd be safe there with your father until you could return to S'pru."

"Why should I want to be with the father who gave up on my mother?" Ettoras demanded with sudden fury.

Zeinara's ears pricked forward. "Ettoras!" she gasped sadly.

Ettoras scowled. "It's true! If you were able to find a way to S'pru," he said to Zeinara, hating the sudden tears in his eyes, "then there was no way in hell Etienne couldn't have come for my mother if he truly loved her. But he didn't! He left her to suffer alone! And now she's dead somewhere --"

"We don't know that, Ettoras!" Kayya cried and rubbed Ettoras' arm.

"What happened to Azrian isn't Dad's fault," Zeinara added unhappily. "It's my fault. Remember?"

Ettoras shook his head. "You didn't know any better, Zeinara. You would have known better if our father had told you the truth."

Zeinara's mouth opened to protest, but she had no retort and wound up sullenly stirring her spoon in her bowl.

Ettoras looked at Motsumi, and his jaw stood out hard in his anger. "I refuse," he said, nostrils flaring, "to sit on my tail and do _nothing_as S'pru burns! I don't care what your gods want. To hell with your gods!"

Motsumi looked at Ettoras sympathetically. "What could you possibly do, Ettoras? You haven't martial training. You barely have magic."

"He wants to try stealing the artifacts from us again," Palesa said with a weary smile. "But it will work about as well as the last time, Ettoras."

"Look," Ettoras insisted, "I need to help S'pru. You're right, Motsumi. I can't cast fire or run someone through with a sword. I'm going to need help from someone above." He looked at Palesa. "You said the SummerValley was a place of old magic. That the stair to Skkye used to be there."

"Ah," Palesa smiled from behind tendrils of gray mane. "You were listening."

"I do that on occasion," Ettoras said with a dismissive wave of his paw. "Anyway, if I'm to take back S'pru, I'll need help. And if you won't give me the artifacts," he said to Motsumi, "then I'll contact Skkye. The valley seems like the best place to do that."

"And why should I come along, exactly?" Zeinara demanded. A slow frown creased her brow. "My father could be in danger - our father. Because he's our father whether you like it or not."

Ettoras tried to look away, but Zeinara reached across Kayya and touched his cheek. Her fingers were surprisingly gentle and soft, and when their eyes connected, Ettoras thought it was like looking into two calm pools of water.

"If Daddy knew you existed," Zeinara said firmly, "he would have torn down the gates of S'pru with his bare _paws_to find you." She looked into his eyes a long time, then took her paw away and returned to her meal.

Ettoras cleared his throat, feeling awkward in the silence that followed. He wanted to be angry at Etienne, but Zeinara was making that very hard. "If Etienne's in danger, it's all the more reason for us to contact Skkye," he said to the fire.

Zeinara shook her head. "You're assuming a lot, Ettoras. You're assuming the gods even give a crap about what's happening in Wychowl."

"Have you been paying attention?" Ettoras demanded. "S'pru and Wychowl are all they care about. Or Maret wouldn't be so desperate for you to return home - and S'pru wouldn't be under siege."

"They seem to be fighting over the places like two dogs over a bone," Kayya agreed, then glanced around the fire and muttered, ". . . no offense."

Wilmer laughed tonelessly.

". . . how do you know S'pru is in danger?" Yeneneshe asked Ettoras curiously.

"I . . . had a dream," Ettoras admitted. "Maret's disciples were in the CrystalPalace, taking it for their own. There was so much fire and death."

Kayya stared sadly at her feet, and Ettoras knew she was thinking of her family.

"Fire and death," Palesa repeated darkly. "Sounds like Ayni and Maret may have teamed up."

"That's not true!" Yeneneshe burst, and everyone looked at her in amazement. She bowed her head and muttered angrily, "Ayni wouldn't . . . Maret only wants the best for Zeinara. She and Ayni wouldn't . . ."

"Accept it, child," Motsumi said gently.

"Your father," Kayya said, her dark eyes fixed on Yeneneshe. "The black fox . . . he serves Maret, doesn't he?" Her voice was soft, even sympathetic. "I saw the statue in his home. The one of the black bird on the little shrine . . ."

Yeneneshe swallowed hard and did not answer.

Zeinara watched Yeneneshe intently. "You can't seriously be defending Maret when she's threatened your father's life! Yen . . . what do you know? What does Maret intend for me?"

Yeneneshe sneered but didn't raise her head. "I'd think it was obvious by now. She wants you to rule Varimore - she wants you to conquer the world!" She lifted her face and glared at Zeinara. "And that dog you killed so thoughtlessly was right: you don't deserve to rule the world! Maret ordered Asres to help you fulfill your destiny, and if he fails, she'll kill him!" she shouted, and Zeinara stared at her, taken aback. Yeneneshe snapped to her feet, upsetting the shabby chair she'd been sitting on and dropping her empty bowl. "But you ran from him! Just as you ran from your father!" She glanced at Kayya and shook her head derisively. "For your _selfish_desires." With that, she turned and flew from the room. They watched as she disappeared down the hall, mane and tail streaming.

"We can't trust her," Kayya said darkly. She glared down the hall after Yeneneshe. "I wish we'd never crossed paths with the likes of her."

"And then where would we be?" Zeinara said at once. "Tits up in the forest, burnt to death."

Kayya frowned. "I'm grateful for her help, Zeinara! I just . . . What if she lied to you? How can you just trust her word?"

"Lied to me? She's done nothing to help us, and I've done nothing but lie to her," Zeinara pointed out.

Kayya's eyes darkened and she glanced at Ettoras. "I think we both know why she agreed to help us."

Zeinara bowed her head and pinched the flesh between her eyes. "Back off her, alright? She's lost and confused." Her blue eyes peered thoughtfully at the fire and she whispered listlessly, "Just like the rest of us."

Motsumi cleared his throat. "Kayya is right to remain cautious of Yeneneshe, Zeinara. Returning to Wychowl may not be the answer. Yeneneshe is a child of Yfel, the goddess who opposes all and sews chaos for the sheer pleasure of it. She could be under Yfel's wing, guided by her even now, and completely unaware. It may be the reason she isn't totally aware of what is happening with the gods. . . . Maybe Yfel doesn't want her to know."

"I think you lot are being a bit hard on the girl," Wilmer said, his eyes sympathetic as he thought of Yeneneshe. "Like Zeinara there said, she's done nothing but help."

"It would be like a child of Yfel," Motsumi gently explained, "to pretend to help before they finally hurt. But I will not turn her away based on mere suspicion. We can only watch and remain on our guard."

Wilmer nodded with hesitation. Ettoras thought he still seemed uncertain that all the suspicion toward Yeneneshe was warranted.

Palesa darkly shook her head. "I say we should be rid of her at the first opportunity. I know what her sister is capable of. Make no mistake: Yeneneshe is no friend of ours." She looked Ettoras in the eye a long moment before she dropped her gaze.

Ettoras swallowed hard and stared down the hall, in the direction Yeneneshe had gone.