The Sixth Discipline

  ***

  Late in the morning, Isayah Jahanpur called out to the warriors as they came over a rise of land.

  Ran-Del looked up and saw the edge of the Sansoussy Forest.

  The other warriors let out a cheer, and Ran-Del joined in.

  Francesca jerked her head up, as if she had been dozing. “What? What happened?”

  Ran-Del grinned in triumph. “We’ve reached the forest.”

  “Is that all?” Her head drooped again. She looked very tired, considering she had done nothing but sit on a lamel all day.

  After a few minutes, Isayah dropped back in the line and ran beside Ran-Del for several paces, looking him up and down. “You’ve held up well. Your grandmother probably won’t fuss over you more than two or three days.”

  Ran-Del laughed, half from amusement and half from being so near his home. “I’ve missed Grandmother.”

  Isayah gave a quick nod of approval. “Remember that she’ll be a little testy. We had to send a message to the Ramakdawala that you were missing. You know how much your grandmother hated that.”

  Ran-Del nodded. In spite of the fact that it had been his grandfather who had fetched him from his mother’s village when he was ten, his grandmother was most often the target for his mother's animosity. The jealousy between the two women had been like a sharp stone in Ran-Del’s moccasin for more than ten seasons.

  “Keep that in mind,” Isayah said, dropping away from Ran-Del to pick up his pace and resume his position at the head of the line.

  The group entered the forest at mid-day, not stopping to take a break until they were well into the trees. Exhilarated to be back under the leafy canopy, to smell the rich aroma of the forest, the mixture of trees and plants, and the forest floor itself, Ran-Del reached out to grasp the lamel’s saddle pad. He grinned up at Francesca. “It looks as if your father overestimated his ability to get us back.”

  Francesca stretched wearily, then shook her head. “No, I doubt that’s it. I hope nothing’s happened back in Shangri-La.”

  Ran-Del didn’t feel qualified to venture an opinion about the city in which he had spent only a few days. He let go of the saddle pad and left Francesca to fret about what might be wrong with the House of Hayden.