The first urge to open her eyes came as Ashlyn was telling herself that Drake would be fine- a sword to the shoulder wouldn’t kill a vampire. In fact, Ashlyn wasn’t quite sure what, if anything, would kill a vampire.
She resisted the abrupt desire to wake up, suddenly scared of what she might find when she returned to the land of the not-snoring. Worst-case scenario would be, obviously, that Kou was gone and she was stuck with Vargo. If the Toryn man managed to make it back to their hometown to tell Devlyn she was coming, the element of surprise would be nonexistent and Ashlyn would pretty much be screwed.
The best scenario? Kou had given her some confidence when he had chosen to side with her instead of Vargo. Maybe he'd be willing to listen to her story.
That hope was squashed when she finally pried her eyes open, and promptly realized that her hands and feet were bound. And her entire body ached from the currents of electricity that Vargo had sent shooting through it.
Great. So much for being optimistic.
Ashlyn, trying to be subtle about it, felt around with numb fingers for the ropes that encircled her wrists. She knew something about rope knots - it would be impossible not to with all the nifty traps and lures she'd rigged up in her home back in Toryn.
She set to work on the knots. Kou had known what he was doing, that was for sure. Her ankles and wrists were stretched out in front of her, tied loosely on the other side of a sturdy stalagmite with a length of thick, frayed rope. Glancing up, she noted that first of all, she was in a cave (duh), and second of all, the stalagmite was way too tall to simply shimmy up and sling her ropes over in an effort to free herself.
The fraying rope was the worst kind to try to untie, because there were strings and tendrils all over the place, but the knot itself was fairly simple- two half-hitches conveniently located within reach of her fingers.
"About time you woke up," Vargo's voice broke her concentration, and Ashlyn started. Glancing over to see him leaning against the wall, with his hands tied behind his back and his bound legs stretched out in front of him, she groaned. Worst-case scenario.
"Dude, what is your problem?" she said tiredly. Her voice echoed in the empty cave. "Every time I turn around, there you are. It's like you're attached to my hip or something. Did it ever occur to you to maybe be a tiny bit more subtle about stalking me, you moron?"
Vargo looked distinctly uncomfortable, and she had a feeling that she'd hit upon at least one aspect of the truth.
"I'm tied up, just the same as you are,” he said finally. “It's not like I can give you personal space when I've got three feet of rope wrapped around my arms and legs."
"You know I'm not talking about right now!"
His eyes shifted from her to the floor in front of him. "I can't help it if we happen to be in the same place at the same time," he said lamely, and Ashlyn snorted.
"Sure. You couldn't help that you were there at the stable in Storim, you couldn't help that you happened to be hanging around when Skye and I got into the argument on the airship, you couldn't help that you were the most convenient person to carry me up the stairs to Aik's house. Not to mention your sudden appearances when I was fighting the ninjas and just now, outside of Eastern City. We've been traveling together for less than a week and I can't get rid of you. Frankly Vargo, it's starting to get annoying."
His eyes glittered in the dim light - which, Ashlyn noted in passing, was coming from a low-burning fire sitting to her left. Judging from the darkness lingering outside the cave entrance just a few feet further, she guessed it was still nightfall.
"You're just riled up because I told your ninja friend who you really are," he accused, sounding as immaturely distraught as a little kid who'd lost his candy bar.
She paused in her knot fiddling to give Vargo an irritated look. "Sure," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I know being ticked off at you is rather selfish of me. I mean, just because you've blown my cover and any chance I had of sneaking into Toryn, why should I be angry? I'm sure it was all in good fun." She managed to loosen the first half-hitch and quickly pulled the rope ends apart, struggling with the more extreme angle of the second knot.
"You're awfully arrogant for a traitor," Vargo snapped.
"And you're awfully stupid. Why don't you just go, like, get a haircut or something and leave me alone?"
He growled something under his breath, then continued loud enough for her to hear, "Seeing as how your plans seem to involve joining Devlyn in taking over the world, I can't say that idea holds much appeal."
"Yeah, you'd like to think you're so noble, wouldn't you?" She bit her lip, cheek braced against stone as she worked furiously at the ropes. "Darn it. Where's the rest of the gang? You'd think they'd have the decency to come and free us once they found out you were missing."
Vargo glared at her, obviously weighing the satisfaction of lying to her against the embarrassment of having her figure out the truth herself. Finally he looked away. "They're not here," he said grudgingly. "They only dropped me off to keep watch."
Ashlyn guessed that Skye was probably planning on posting at least one or two FLD members at each potential crossing point along the coast. He'd more than likely considered Eastern City too dull for Ashlyn, seeing as how she'd expressed her extreme dislike of the place on more than one occasion. Ha. She had changed enough to surprise him.
The knot came loose at last, and she quickly untied her feet before standing, wincing a bit as her joints protested the sudden use.
To his credit, Vargo didn't bother begging her to free him; he probably knew that it'd be pretty useless to ask Ashlyn for any favors. He also kept silent as she ventured out of the cave.
As she looked around, she suddenly wanted to kick herself, realizing that if he had wanted to, Kou could have taken Suki with him over to Toryn. The man better not have stolen her horse. If he had, there was going to be some serious butt kicking headed his way.
She paused once beyond the reach of the firelight, listening. Was that…footsteps she heard?
Ashlyn immediately dropped to the ground, belly-down, mindful of the advancing intruder. Her eyes searched the darkness intently.
"I see you managed to free yourself," Kou said from behind her.
She rolled over and stared up at the Toryn ninja, feeling incredibly dumb when he extended a hand to help her up. "How did you…" she began, glancing from the cave entrance to where he stood, behind her, but trailed off. It really didn't matter. "Thanks," she muttered, accepting his hand and standing, brushing bits of grass and dirt off her shorts.
He held out a package wrapped with brown paper and thick twine. At Ashlyn's wary glance, he smiled apologetically. "I bought you clothes," he said.
After a moment of hesitation, Ashlyn took the bundle, staring at her kinsman skeptically. When he said nothing, she cocked an eyebrow. "You bought me clothes? That's it?"
Kou glanced at the cave entrance, where Vargo was quite obviously watching them with rapt attention. Lowering his voice, he said, "I only restrained you to keep you from fleeing if, by some chance, you woke while I was in the Eastern City." Giving her a purposeful look, he continued, "I see that my efforts were in vain, but I’m glad I returned in time."
She propped one hand on her hip, slapping the package against her opposite thigh. "So I guess now that you know who I am, you want to drag me back to Toryn so Devlyn can chop my head off, is that it?"
His brows knitted. "Of course not, Lady Li. We will return to Toryn as planned. You will have your audience with Lord Devlyn, and we will see what can be done about this war." At her incredulous expression, he couldn't help but look slightly offended. "Don't act so surprised. I knew all along that you had deceived me about your name. There was never any question about that."
"What? Why the heck not?" Personally, she thought she'd done a fantastic job of coming up with a false identity right on the spot.
He rolled his eyes. "Yasu is a samurai clan."
Those five words spoke volumes.
Ashlyn suddenly felt immensely stupid. The shinobi and samurai, while not exactly hostile towards each other, had kept their distance for centuries. That was probably why she'd remembered the name Yasu - she had more than likely read somewhere in her studies. At any rate, it didn't matter where she'd heard about it. A ninja claiming to be from a samurai clan was utterly ridiculous.
"Oh." When she looked at Kou sheepishly, he grinned, obviously enjoying her discomfort. For just a moment, the sober propriety and heaviness of his attitude disappeared, and he reminded her of herself at the same age.
Ashlyn sighed. She probably owed him some sort of explanation for the deception. "I didn't…think you'd help me if you knew who I was," she said, stepping past him and glaring at Vargo, who was still unabashedly trying his best to eavesdrop. "And knowing my identity might have put you in danger. It might still put you in danger, but it's not like I can shove those words back into Vargo's big ol’ mouth now."
She turned to face Kou, and a flicker of movement over his left shoulder caught her attention. Her eyes narrowed. It wasn't small enough to be a man.
The creature stalked into the light, and she took a step back, automatically shifting her feet shoulder-width apart, bringing one hand up in front of her in a defensive motion - as if that could stop the huge, drooling monster that now stood before her. She recognized it as a draynor, one of the two-legged dinosaur fiends that prowled the Eastern Mountains.
"My sword," she said calmly, allowing herself a moment of elation at how wonderfully mature she sounded as she stepped to the side, away from Kou. "Bring it to me."
Kou quickly unbuckled the harness that was slung across his chest. "Here," he said, tossing it to her. She caught the leather contraption, noting that her sword was securely strapped into it.
She turned back to the draynor. They were big, intimidating fiends, but fairly weak opponents. Two or three good hits with a weapon- maybe just one with her sword- and even a full-grown draynor would be down for the count.
She circled the beast slowly, noting the hungry look in its eyes. This would be a good opportunity to prove herself to Kou. He'd seen her in action before, but Ashlyn knew that the younger ninja wasn't completely won over. There was also the nagging problem of his possible loyalty to Devlyn, who- at least as far as Ashlyn knew- wanted her dead. But it wouldn’t do her any good to worry about that now.
It didn't take long for the draynor to charge.
Ashlyn waited, bouncing from one foot to the other as she anticipated its attack. She forced herself to stay in one place, focus, focus-
When the draynor was within a foot of her, snarling, jaws dripping with saliva, Ashlyn sprang up. Her feet danced nimbly along the draynor's upper back as she sliced the sword sideways, cutting cleanly through the fiend's spine.
The monster dropped to the gray grass, convulsing.
Ashlyn straightened up, wrinkling her nose as she backed away from the draynor’s death throes. “I’m glad that thing didn’t come along while I was tied up,” she said. “Vargo and I would be history.”
Kou glanced backwards into the cave, where Vargo was still staring at them, unsubtly craning his neck in an attempt to make out their conversation. "We could leave him here to starve," he suggested slyly.
As appealing as the thought was, Ashlyn felt a slight pang of apprehension. She didn't want Vargo to suffer, as despicable as he was sometimes. Besides, he was one of the few guys on the planet who found her somewhat attractive. (Well, he did; even if the way he showed it was entirely disgusting and irritating, Ashlyn was still kind of flattered.) The numbers of that type were meager enough that she wanted to preserve what she could of them.
"I could get a message to Skye, let him know where Vargo is," she said. "That would make me feel better about leaving him here …tied up and alone." Even as she spoke the words, she knew it wouldn't work. Back before the Conservation Act, while Lord Angelo’s power plants were still functioning, there had been plenty of gadgets that would have helped her to contact the former DEMON soldier. But now, the only way to get a message out was to send it by post, and since she didn’t know where Skye was, even that wasn’t an option.
"Never mind that," she added before Kou could say anything. "Dumb idea. But I can't leave him here to die." At a loss, she glanced over at the redheaded Spartan, remembering the sudden flash of insight she'd had when he was binding up her scraped hand. He wasn't her friend, but she did care about him. Sort of.
Kou sighed. "We could take him with us," he said wearily, rubbing his hand across his forehead.
"You'd do that?" Ashlyn asked, surprised.
"What other option do we have? We cannot leave him for dead. Enough people have suffered in this war. I have no wish to contribute to the demise of another."
She liked that answer, although Kou’s formal speech in Merchant Tongue was disconcerting. "We need a boat. Maybe we could find a captain here who’d be willing to sell."
"Do you have credits?"
"Yeah."
Kou returned from town an hour later with a docile old gelding. "No ship owners here," he said tersely at Ashlyn's questioning look. "We'll have to try again at Industry."
He looked at Vargo. The Spartan was now leaning back against the cave wall and humming languidly to himself through his gag.
"I'm assuming you wanted him quiet for a reason," Kou said.
"He wouldn't shut up," Ashlyn answered, and that was all the explanation she offered.
They left at first light, Ashlyn riding with Vargo on Suki. She made sure to adjust the sword lower on her back so that it would prevent Vargo from getting too close.
He kept a respectable distance all day.
Chapter 9
Deliberation Face
Industry.
Ashlyn didn't frequent the place. The people of Industry…hmm…Industrians? Industrialists? What was the correct term? And what exactly was the town called before Lord Angelo built the power plant there? And why was it still called Industry even though the power plant was long gone? Well, anyway, the citizens of Industry were exceptionally star-struck, or maybe just FLD-struck, because every time Ashlyn set foot in the place, she was immediately swamped by old men wanting to recount their own moments of bravery, little kids requesting autographs, and rolly-polly grandmother types who always pinched her arm and demanded that she "put some meat on your bones! I could see through you if I had a mind to!"
Ashlyn highly doubted that. She was by no means a large person, but what there was of her was pretty darn dense. She didn't think she was in any danger of becoming transparent.
The last time, less than a year after the sun was saved, Ashlyn had sworn that she would never return to Industry. At least not without some kind of disguise to avoid the chaos that came with being billed as a savior of the world.
They were just outside the town now- more of a village, really, barely big enough to earn a dot on the map- hidden behind a large outcropping of rock about fifty feet out. Ashlyn was staring at the brown-shingled houses and debating how she was going to get inside without being recognized.
Kou had already gotten himself a room at the inn, returning for only a few brief moments to inform them that no one of FLD fame was in the town and also that the only boat available for sale was large enough for two.
Ashlyn leaned against the boulder behind her and pulled her tank top over her head, debating what to do with it before she finally just dropped it on the ground.
"Anybody coming?" she asked Vargo, who was sitting with his back to her, still bound at his wrists but minus the gag.
"I can't see a thing," he said cheerfully. "Not that I would tell you if I could."
His mood had improved considerably since she'd removed the gag. He now seemed to be regarding this whole kidnapping scenario with childish delight rather than irritation- a big switch from his attitude when she'd first come to after their short-lived battle.
Of course, it could have something to do with the fact that he was trying
to ogle her out of the corner of his eye, but Ashlyn didn't mind…too much. Her underwear covered almost as much of her as her regular clothes did anyway. But she wasn't about to let him know that.
She kicked her shorts off in his direction. One of her sneakers went with them. "Pervert."
The sneaker hit him in the shoulder. "Ow! Give me a break here! I'm not the one stripping in plain view. You could always walk around the other side of the rock."
"But then I'd be letting you out of my sight, and I still don't buy that you're as helpless with those knots as you seem to be."
He raised his hands above his head, still soundly tied together with the frayed rope. "I'm completely at your mercy, I swear."
"Don't sound so happy about it. I've got to figure out a disguise to get into this darn town without anybody noticing me."
"Nothin's gonna help, babe. Believe me. You’re a Toryn. Your people don’t get out much."
She chose to ignore the babe comment, and pulled the white cotton petticoat over her head. "Don't be such a pessimist."
"Hey, I'm the hostage here. I'm allowed to be a buzzkill if I want to."
"Gag," she threatened.
"Panties?" he returned hopefully.
"Oh, grossness! You're disgusting!" She threw her other shoe at him. "That's the grossest thing I've ever heard. Ever. Okay, you are officially the most revolting-"
"Geez, relax," he said, raising his hands to rub at his sore shoulder. "I was just trying to rile you up. I wouldn't let you gag me with your underwear if you were the last virgin princess on the planet."
"I am not-"
"A princess?"
He was thoroughly enjoying this, she could see.
Ashlyn gritted her teeth as she struggled to fasten her corset. Vargo had annoyed her three years ago, but at least then she could justify beating him up. Now that they were kind of on the same side, it was more difficult to figure out how to channel her aggravation.
The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy) Page 10