He knew she’d seen plenty of fighting in the past week. She’d seen blood on the creature Theron had killed in the Emperor’s woods, as well as his own. Looking around, he suspected she’d never seen quite so much of it. It was a rare thing for anyone. Her hands were starting to tremble and her face grew paler and paler. He took a step forward, worried she was going to faint. To make things worse, Mako’s horse was still alive, lying on his side. Its weakening movements, noises and rolling eyes, said it was suffering. Moving over to Ria, he turned her to face away from it while making eye contact with Mako. Nodding grimly, the man went over to the animal.
“Ria.” He put his hands on her shoulders, leaning down to look into her face. He could feel her shaking.
“What were they? Why?” Her eyes were too wide, her breathing too quick.
“Shh … Take a slow breath for me Ria.” She did. “Again.” She was looking at him now, that was good. “Listen to my voice, Ria.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Mako ranging quickly through the bodies, nudging one of them over onto its back. “I don’t know why they came for us, Ria. But we’re okay for now. We have to leave quickly. I need you to calm down.”
Kit moved over to the one he had killed, pulling his knife free with an angry little wrench. It came loose with a wet squelching sound. Mako knelt down to examine the one the Protector had dispatched. Theron saw his eyes narrow and heard his sharp breath.
Theron looked back to the young woman in front of him. “Can you do that? I’m going to talk to Mako a moment.” Over her shoulder, he could see the guard watching them. Keeping his voice low, he asked Ria, “Will you be alright?”
She looked up at him, taking a shaky steadying breath. “Yes. I’m okay.” He stood with her a moment more, ignoring the little voice that was screaming in his head that they needed to leave, now. She gave him a small smile. “Thank you.” Nodding, he let her go and moved over to the guardsman.
“What is it?” He lowered his voice, partially for the girl’s benefit, but also not wanting to make any more noise than necessary.
Mako’s response was clipped as he tipped his chin towards the dead creature in front of him. “Take a look.” Theron did, and immediately saw what Mako meant. In a color closely matching their scales, lying flat and bound tightly around their torso were thin straps, nearly invisible. A harness. Now that he’d picked it out, his eyes traveled quickly to the others and saw they were also similarly tied.
So. These things belonged to someone. Were possibly sent by someone. No, were likely sent by someone. His mind flashed to the pens under the castle. What other nightmares were hosted there? If he hadn’t been so bent on escape, he might know already (or, a small voice said, he might be dead). Regardless, that hindsight wouldn’t help him now. Though he thought he had a good idea of how many more winged monsters lay down there, he had no idea what else there was.
Taking Ash’s reins, he led him further down the trail, motioning to Mako to bring the other horse. He didn’t want to be in that scene anymore, with its unnatural silence and smells of death.
They needed to get out of this area. Find a safe place to camp. Then get back to the palace. He had to find a way to get Lynea away from the Emperor and damned be the consequences.
But now, they were down a mount. Two of them would have to ride double. The gray couldn’t take two (it was too delicate) and though Ash would be more comfortable handling Mako’s weight, he wouldn’t be able to handle the bulky guard and another rider for long. The only real option was to have Mako ride the gray and Ria ride with Theron.
They’d have to rest the horses more often, but there was no helping it. The guardsman had already come to the same conclusion, apparently. With a quick nod at the Protector, he walked over to the gray. Smoothing a hand over her neck, he checked the saddle to make sure it was secure, and adjusted the stirrups for his height.
Theron moved with Ash toward Ria, absently hearing the huffing snort the horse made as they started walking. It wasn’t until he reached the girl and saw her watching Mako working the gray’s saddle, that it occurred to him she may not have come to the same conclusion the men had. Her eyebrows were drawn down in confusion, her head tilted and lips twisted unhappily. He smiled a bit at that. Had she gotten attached to the gray? Being from the village where horses were rare to begin with, Ria probably hadn’t spent much time near them. In fact, she’d probably never seen anyone ride double. Hm. Let alone a man and woman. It wasn’t a common thing, usually only when you were a child and couldn’t handle the horse on your own, or if someone were injured.
And here, well. There were three of them and two horses. Survival took priority over social niceties. Someone (likely the Emperor), wanted them dead. So while the girl looked a question at Mako’s obvious intention to use her ride, Theron settled Ash nearby, mounted and reached a hand down to help her up.
She didn’t react to that very well.
“No, I can’t,” she stammered, her eyes startled and brows creeping up in dismay.
Theron frowned, head tilting to one side. “It’s not like we have another option. Come. We need to be away from here.”
She looked back down the path. Even from where they stood, the devastation was plain. Nature was quick. Flies had already begun to swarm on the bodies and an errant breeze brought the smell of churned earth and blood. Theron watched her eyes flicker uneasily, finally settling on the ground at her feet. “I can walk.” He didn’t even need to respond before she realized how ridiculous that was.
He did anyway. “It will be at least another day’s ride before we reach Eiji Forest. We can’t spare the time to move slowly.” He looked over at the guardsman who now stood, one hand frozen on the edge of the gray’s saddle, one foot in the stirrup and taking in their conversation with a smirk on his face. For some reason, that grated on the Mamoru. “We need to go. We’ve been here too long. There’s only a few hours of daylight left.”
Lips turning down, she nodded. Theron resisted a sigh and reached down again, giving her the stirrup to push off of, pulling her up behind him. He nodded to Mako and they started off. It wasn’t until they had ridden for a several minutes and that scene of death was long behind them, before he finally started to relax. As much as he was able to carrying a passenger, in any event.
It was a different story for the girl behind him. She was seated rigidly, as far back as possible, barely touching him (from what he could tell). She was barely shifting with the movements of the horse. He smiled a bit and twisted in the saddle. “Are you okay?”
“Um. Yes?” She was avoiding his eyes, seeming to find the surrounding trees of Mistwood fascinating. His smile turned into a grin. He knew how she felt. Even though they were barely touching, it was disconcerting, feeling her sitting behind him. What she was doing wasn’t safe, though.
“You need to sit closer. You’ll make Ash uncomfortable, as well as yourself.” He could already see that because she was sitting so far back, the horse’s gait was making her jolt with each step. That would cause a bone-deep ache for her in short order and would fatigue his horse. “We have a long way to go.”
Sitting so far back risked startling his horse as well, if she moved unexpectedly. It would be a long way for her to fall if the large horse reared. With a tug on the reins, he pulled Ash to a stop. Hesitantly, she moved forward, off of the horse’s hips and further into the saddle. She still hadn’t relaxed. And since she hadn’t set her hands on his waist, if the horse moved suddenly she could still fall. Knowing her reticence was only natural, he resisted his impatience. Instead, he covered his own discomfort at the seating arrangement and reached back, taking her hands and placing them at his waist. “I won’t bite, I promise.”
She gave a nervous laugh. “You promise.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She finally put her hands on his waist, holding on so lightly he could barely even feel her touch. He knew that meant the ride would be more strenuous for her, but it was something, at least. With a g
entle nudge of his heels, they set off again.
˜ ˜ ˜
“He is coming here. He intends to take her.”
The Emperor stood by the window, looking out over the grounds. Looking at the glistening emerald on the morning grass. The dark voice was an unwelcome interruption. “He won’t succeed.”
“He may not. But he intends to. It cannot be allowed.”
“You have made it known,” Tatsuo informed the voice, “what can and cannot be allowed.”
“Why have you not stopped this? You still do not know how much he knows, nor what he has planned. The ceremony is near.” A sound full of hunger and twisted desire followed the mention of the upcoming wedding. Tatsuo told himself it did not bother him.
“Why does he even trouble you? You know he does not have access to the true power of the Isao clan.”
“And yet, how did he escape? How did he find his way to the tunnels? It had been sealed by the first Protector, you know this.”
“There are other ways in, he must have found one. What do you … do we have to fear? He is young and mortal.”
“Fool. He has discovered the truth, now, at this critical hour, reached the tunnels and escaped them. There is something else at play here. With such knowledge, assuming he is simply ‘young and mortal’ begs for disaster.” That cold voice continued, “There is too much at risk. You have the former Mamoru. Use him.”
“I have. While you slept. I know now who the Mamoru visited. It explains his actions since. Your fears are baseless.”
Dispassionately, Tatsuo remembered the guards’ time with the old man. Master Isao had been as stubborn as his former ward, but innocent at least, of deceit. It had been fascinating to witness the conflict in the elder between honoring duty and protecting his family. In the end, duty won.
Though irritatingly, it had taken more time than it should have. In truth, the elder might not recover from it, but that did not concern him.
It was enough that he had what was needed.
A string of images ran through his mind, distorted. A forest, a cottage. A woman who had hidden herself in time, someone he recognized. Seeing her, even through the eyes of another, brought back memories. Memories that were the key to everything, the heirloom of his family and what his sister had told him about it, so many years before. Before shadows had taken over his mind.
And now he knew that was the key. The missing piece he’d been looking for all of these years. As those thoughts spun through his mind, the guest of his mind and body took them. Replayed them. A growl that was not his, echoed in the empty places of his consciousness.
Yes, the Emperor’s shadow drew the same conclusion from that final image of translucent green. That was why this endless cycle had never been anything but a stop gap measure. “Five hundred years of agony,” the shadow said, and there was a growing satisfaction as it continued. “Finally, my imprisonment is at an end.”
With a grim smile, the Emperor knew his thoughts had been read and were already being acted upon. He could almost hear the grating sound of metal across the gravel strewn floor of the tunnels, as handlers brought out the otokage. It would take two days to reach the monastery, but what were a few days in the span of five hundred years?
Soon. Soon, the demon would have its way. Once they had the stone, they would both see an end to their captivity.
Chapter 14
They found a suitable campsite a few hours later. It was small, but that is all they needed. The sky was visible through a break in the trees above them. Theron watched as Mako dug down to dirt for the campfire, clearing dead leaves away from the center of their claimed area. The fire would come in handy, they were deep in trees that sheltered the ground here from the sun during the day. Summer or not, there was a chill in the air.
Ria came trotting back from where she’d been exploring, a grin on her face and three eggs in her hands. “Momma bird was away,” she licked her lips. “These will go nicely with the rabbit Kit brought down.” Theron smiled. The fire wasn’t even going yet and they had food for dinner. He turned to see how Mako was faring. The other man had his back to them, bent studiously over his pile of dry brush. Before he could ask, smoke began to curl into the air and yellow flame sprang to life. Ria let out a little whoop and beckoned Kit to follow her.
Theron looked over the three of them, travel-stained and blood-spattered from their earlier battle. The weather was still brisk, but it wouldn’t do to have the smell of blood suffusing the camp while they slept. They should have found a stream to wade across on the way to the camp. As it was, if they didn’t want wolves or other predators gnawing on them tonight, they’d better do something now. Fortunately, they’d chosen this site because there was a river not too far off.
“Mako.” Nodding his head in the direction of the clean water, he said, “You should head downstream a little ways and get cleaned up.” Stepping over to the other man and jerking his chin at the injury, he asked, “Do you need help with that?”
Mako shook his head, making an aborted shrug when the movement pulled at it. “It hurts, but that’s about it. I’ll survive.” He had removed his shirt. The otokage’s acid had gone all the way through the thick leather and much thinner under-shirt, leaving a nasty looking burn just below the guard’s collarbone on the left side. As Mako mentioned earlier, the acid had spread. A far cry from the two-inch circle Theron had seen in the leather, the wound was palm-sized and ragged along the bottom – like it had begun to run down the man’s chest before it ran out of steam. The Protector winced in sympathy. Thankfully, it wasn’t very deep.
It was good Mako had still been wearing his armor. It would have been bad, otherwise. “Looks as though you’ll have a scar.”
Mako rolled his eyes. “Not exactly a badge of honor.” Huffing a breath, he grumbled, “You managed to avoid getting hurt.”
Theron snorted. “This time, at least.” He indicated the way to the stream again. “You should go before it gets too dark.” When the other seemed about to protest, he said, “Even if it’s not bleeding, you should clean that out. It might infect, otherwise. Go. I’ll watch the camp.” Looking longingly at the campfire where Ria sat warming her hands, the other man sighed, finally giving a short nod and heading to the water.
Ria watched him go with a slight frown on her face. She looked down at her hands, caked with dirt (and that had finally stopped shaking a few miles ago). She looked towards the river. Theron watched her mind tracing the implications. She’d have to get cleaned up as well, and how was that supposed to work? Smiling a bit, he offered, “I’ll go with you.”
He instantly knew he’d said the wrong thing when he saw alarm spike in her expression, but as he opened his mouth to reassure her, she glanced at the darkening sky and surrounding forest. Darting a quick look at him and then at the bag she had brought from her village, she bowed her head slightly and looked down. “Thank you.”
Nervous now, Ria moved to her pack to get her things ready to go after Mako returned. Her pack was in terrible need of cleaning out. As careful as she’d been, nearly everything was soiled. Her mind wandered as she went through what clothes she had. She tried not to dwell too deeply on the attack earlier in the day, nor the horrible events of the days before that. Not an easy thing, though. Suddenly she found herself taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly. Everything had been so hard since the first day they’d met.
Even now, they were still a day away from the village and the palace. One more day of looking over their shoulders, trying not to worry about what was going to happen next. She had overheard Theron and Mako before they’d found camp. The two men suspected the otokage had been tracking them. Had been sent by someone. Memories of hissing cries, slitted eyes and the smell of blood rose up and she shuddered.
The otokage were supposed to be scavengers. She had heard stories since she was a child about them. They were intelligent enough to stay far enough away from man to survive, vicious enough to earn a spot in the tales mothers used
to scare children into behaving. She had never seen one before today. The reality of them was not too far from what she had heard, except that it had actually been much, much worse. The stench and violent intent of the creatures left her horrified. She tried to tell herself the harnesses didn’t really bother her. Perhaps the creatures had stolen them, put them on to mimic the humans around them. Or maybe they were owned (by who or for what, she didn’t know) and had gotten away from their owner. Who knew? It did not mean they were being tracked.
Mako returned then, hair dripping and scowling at the wet bundle of his shirt. He nodded at Theron and walked past Ria to the fire.
Her turn. Biting on her lower lip, Ria headed down the path, hearing the Protector fall into step behind her. Mako had looked cold. She hoped it was the walk back and not the river.
She hated being cold.
Yeah. The water was freezing. Ria moved as quickly as she could, gritting her teeth and stepping in fully clothed, the current of the stream doing a good job of getting the worst of the grime out of her clothes. She quickly realized that she’d need to take them off to ring them out. Otherwise, they would be wet for a long time, even drying by the fire. Glancing over her shoulder at the man standing guard for her on the shore, she was suddenly very thankful for the extra clothes she had brought for the trip. During the day, the heat of summer might be in full swing, but the nights could still be cold, especially so close to the mountains. She didn’t relish the thought of having to wear water-soaked clothing as it dried by campfire (it wouldn’t improve their smell to be worn while drying, either).
Self-consciously, her eyes found the Protector again, sitting on a large boulder onshore, his back to her. She could see him scanning the forest around them. Untying her hair, she grimaced as it fell, heavy around her face and down to the middle of her back. She normally kept her hair down, but all this riding in hot weather with sweaty horses and no wind and flies made that impossible. As it was, it felt awful, having gone so long without a wash. Bracing herself, she dipped her head under, running her fingers through the stringy mess. The near-freezing water felt good on her scalp, but she could feel her teeth begin to chatter when she came up. Though she longed for some of the herb-scented soap she made to scrub away the rest of the grime, she had not thought to bring any from home. She would have to make do. She used one end of her now-soaking shirt to scrub at her face and neck, not really knowing if there was any need for it, but it made her feel cleaner after what she’d just witnessed. Closing her eyes for a minute, she imagined the rush of water washing away all the unpleasant things of the last days down the stream. She breathed in deep the night air, the smell of fresh water, and listened to the call of the birds bidding each other goodnight.
Splinter (Trapped Souls Book 1) Page 22