by Linda Mooney
Yulen shook his head. “No. Not anymore.” He glanced up. “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Still think of me as your enemy?”
“Only when you make one of your crappy statements,” she said.
Yulen snorted softly. “Liam said you called me an asshole.”
“I sure did, and I will. Every time you act like one.”
His eyes raked over her, noting her ease with him. “Fair enough. And whenever you put on airs, I’ll be the first one to bring you down a peg or two as a reminder.”
Her eyes widened. “Me? When have I ever put on airs?”
Yulen checked the cloth again to see if the bleeding had stopped. It had, and he dropped the rag into his lap. “When you try to prove to my men that you are superior in the art of hunting.”
“But I am.”
“And we are superior to you in the art of warfare, and in how we can protect our homes and loved ones. But I don’t go lauding that over you. If my men are going to learn from you, first you have to gain their trust. I’m doing all I can to make them see you the way I see you, so that they’ll listen to you and follow your lead when it’s time.”
Atty gave him a long look. “And how do you see me?” she asked in a small voice.
Immediately memories of her in his arms flooded his thoughts, and Yulen dropped his head. “I don’t see you as Mutah any longer, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Then...if I’m no longer the enemy...and no longer Mutah...what am I?” she asked, her voice even softer.
Lifting his knees, Yulen leaned back against the tree and rested his hands on them. Once the ferret had been killed and the caravan had continued on its way, they had not spoken a word to each other until tonight. But what had occurred back in the forest, what they had felt and done, sooner or later he knew they had to discuss it.
Taking a deep breath and keeping his eyes locked on his hands, Yulen wondered how to broach the subject. “Atty—”
“I want...I want to stay with you,” she admitted in a feathery voice.
He glanced up. Her face was lowered, her hands clasped in her lap.
“You’ll be able to remain at Alta Novis until you’ve fulfilled your duty—”
“I meant tonight.”
Her admission rocked him. “You can’t,” he whispered.
“Why?” She lifted her face, and he could see it shining wetly in the firelight. He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, noting they smelled slightly of onion.
“When we get to Foster City, the Battle Lord there will assign us lodging for the night. You’ll be able to have your own room with a real bed and—”
“And what?”
“Annnd...you won’t have to worry about someone sneaking up on you and maybe attacking you. At least, I won’t have to worry about that happening to you,” he amended. He listened to the sounds of the men in the camp as they prepared for sleep. It was a comforting, familiar scenario.
“Yul?”
He snorted, smiling slightly. “My mother is the only person to ever call me that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Don’t be. You’ll get to meet her when we get home.” Home. Funny how the word had suddenly obtained a double meaning. “Be careful, though, how you refer to me in front of my men. Liam calls me by my first name because he used to work under my father’s aegis. He’s known me since I was born.”
“How old are you now?” she asked.
“I’m almost thirty. I took my father’s sword after he died two years ago. And you?”
“I’ve seen twenty springs.”
He saw her wipe her cheeks as the salty tears stung her abraded skin.
“Yul? Before we say anything further, I must ask you. For my sanity’s sake. Is there someone waiting for you in Alta Novis? A w-woman? A...wife?”
He started to open his mouth to answer when she interrupted him, speaking quickly before she lost her courage.
“I can’t forget what you did to me back in the forest. What we did. I can’t erase how I felt or what...” She took a shuddering breath as her tears began to fall again. “So if there’s someone else, if you have claimed a wife or a mistress, or there is another woman who’ll claim you for her own once we reach your compound, I need to know now. I need to you tell me the truth, so I can be ready for it when I see her.”
Hiding his anger, Yulen softly asked her, “Do you believe I would have touched you if I’d already given my heart to another?”
“What am I supposed to believe?”
He could tell she sensed his irritation, and it seemed to give her hope. Maybe she was hoping his anger wasn’t sparked from guilt.
“Why can’t I stay with you tonight?” Atty insisted.
Awkwardly, Yulen got to his feet. His muscles protested from sitting prone too long. In fact, his whole body ached. “I think we’re through talking for tonight,” he snapped, keeping his voice low as he tossed the bloody rag at her. “As for my life’s history, and what you can expect when we get to my compound, why don’t you ask Liam? He won’t lie to you, any more than I would. No, I have no wife, because I’ve never cared for that kind of relationship. Yes, I have a mistress. In fact, I’ve had several mistresses. Now, those are uncomplicated, yet satisfying relationships. Is that what you wanted to know?”
He watched as she lowered her face in her hands, but she never made a sound. Irritated, the Battle Lord left the fire and returned to his own bedroll a few yards down the road. He knew he’d have to face MaGrath in the morning, but right now he didn’t care.
The warrior girl was getting under his skin, and it was a feeling he didn’t particularly like at the moment. What difference did it make if he had a mistress?
It had been a trying day for all of them. Thank heavens Foster City was just another half-day’s ride. Perhaps there he would be able to get a clearer grasp on things in order to sketch out a more definite plan of action for when they arrived home.
And maybe by then, Yulen realized to himself, he would be able to face the truth about Atty.
Atty.
Atrilan.
“Damn.”
Chapter Sixteen
Gone
He sensed the person behind him before he opened his eyes. Training and reflexes took over, and he had his short dagger at the man’s throat before he’d drawn a second breath. In the dim morning light, Yulen stared at the brown eyes giving him a definitely dirty look.
“You know, you take asshole to a whole new level,” MaGrath said scathingly. “You wanna get that thing away from my neck?”
Yulen glanced around. It was barely daylight. The men were beginning to stir, readying themselves for when the Battle Lord would order them back on the road.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, not bothering to mask his irritation. This was not a good way to get on his good side, and MaGrath knew it. No one snuck up on a trained soldier when he slept, especially when they were still outside the safety of a compound. Yulen re-sheathed his dagger and sat up.
“I leave you two alone together for, what? No more than an hour. And when I get back she’s huddled up in a little ball with her back turned to me. She won’t say anything. Won’t tell me what’s eating at her. Won’t tell me if she needs medication. And things were just fine when I went to go check on the men. Which leaves only one logical conclusion. You said something to her, and you didn’t care what the consequences would be.”
Yulen rolled to his feet and grabbed his bedroll, shaking it out before folding it to pack. MaGrath knew the silent treatment all too well. Whenever the man was confronted with the truth, he wouldn’t deny it. But neither would he own up to it. It was like prying out teeth to get the Battle Lord to admit to being wrong.
“Since when am I supposed to be careful what I say around a prisoner?” Yulen finally commented.
MaGrath crossed his arms over his chest before he used a fist to knock some sense into the younger man’s head.
“Oh, so she’s a prisoner again? Well, here’s a news flash for you, oh great and powerful Battle Lord. She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Yulen froze.
“Which would mean you have an escaped prisoner now.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?”
“Since when haven’t you understood the concept? Gone. Vanished. Ran away.”
“When?”
“Last night or early this morning. How the hell can I tell?”
Yulen stepped over to the physician. Suddenly his anger and irritation were melted away with the knowledge the warrior girl had fled the protection of the caravan. “Did she take the horse?”
MaGrath shook his head. “Nope, but she took her bow and quiver. She’s on foot. Oh, sure, go ahead and try to look for her,” he commented, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he watched the Battle Lord preparing his mount.
“What do you expect me to do?” Yulen shot back.
“Do you honestly think you’ll find her? Use your head, Yulen. She could survive in these woods for the rest of her life if she needed to. This is her world. Her element. Hell, she could be hours away by now, heading back to her compound.”
Yulen emphatically shook his head. “No. She’d never make that mistake. She knows if she returns my men will know she’s broken the treaty.”
MaGrath couldn’t help but laugh—a short, humorless bark. “Oh, this gets better by the minute. A great and powerful Battle Lord who can no longer think for himself, who has severely underestimated the enemy, and a girl for that matter! Yulen, she killed sixteen of our best men! She faced down a bull ferret and lived! Not to mention pulled your fat out the fire. Do you honestly think she’s going to let a handful of our representatives stop her from returning to the only home she’s ever known? For once, get that sense of self-righteousness out of your butt where you’ve shoved it and start listening to your advisors. Screw them, listen to me!”
He walked over to where Yulen continued to buckle the saddle around his horse’s girth. Slamming a hand down on the pommel, he stared over the animal at the man. “Okay, say you find her by some miracle. What do you plan to say to her that you haven’t already said? How much more damage do you think you can do that you haven’t already done? What did you say to her, Yulen? Why did you drive her away?”
“Me?” A dark cloud descended on Yulen’s face, turning his mood black. “I have to find her, Liam. She has to listen to me.”
“Why? So you can have her teach the troops all her marvelous tricks with a bow? Hey, it was a good plan in the beginning, Yulen, but it can’t be your only excuse anymore. Not anymore. I know you too well, and I’ve known you too long. You can fool a lot of people, but I know better. And when we get to Alta Novis, so will Madigan. She’ll see right through you. You were going to tell her, weren’t you?”
The dark cloud didn’t disperse, but Yulen’s tone of voice became guarded. “She wouldn’t approve.”
“Oh, yeah? Since when did you become such an expert mind reader?”
“She’s my mother.”
“Yeah, and she’s my closest friend, next to you,” MaGrath shot back. “Dearest God in heaven, Yulen. Admit to yourself how you feel about her! It’s okay to be terrified over the fact that she’s a mutant. Are you thinking the men are going to mutiny when they learn?”
“Learn what, Liam? Tell me, since you think you know everything,” the Battle Lord snapped.
MaGrath refused to back down. “Learn that you’ve finally found the one woman you can’t beat. The one who is your equal. The one who haunts your sleep. The one you can’t stop thinking of when she’s not with you, and can’t stop looking at when she is.”
Yulen slapped the reins over his horse’s neck so hard the animal jerked and nearly reared in fright. Realizing he was taking out his anger on the poor beast, he murmured a few soothing words to the stallion and petted it on the neck. MaGrath watched as the Battle Lord calmed the animal, and waited for him to make the next move.
“When did you know?” Yulen finally asked him in the same tone of voice he was using on the horse.
“Since that night when you went alone into the shop and cut the ropes from her wrists.”
The physician didn’t flinch under the returning glare. “You were watching?”
“I didn’t get much sleep that night, not that you ever noticed. I couldn’t take the chance of another soldier taking his anger out on her.”
Another full minute of silence passed between them. Mastin approached and informed the Battle Lord the men would be ready to travel in five minutes, to which Yulen nodded his approval. Once the Second had left, he turned back to MaGrath.
“What do you suggest I do, then? Just leave her here?”
“We’re only a few miles from Foster City. She knows that. Give her some time to decide if she wants to tag along, remain here, or go back to her home. It gives you two out of three chances to see her again. And if my hunch is correct, you’ll get at least one last try to make amends.”
“Amends?”
“Yeah. And try not to screw it up this next time, would you? You may not get another chance, even though she’s willing to do the unforgivable.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Yulen accused him.
“Hey, well, consider it a perk of the profession. Whenever I find something I want answers to, I can always use my soothing bedside manner to find out. Besides, she asked me a thousand and one questions about us...about Alta Novis...about you. I felt it only fair I asked a few in return.”
“You’re an extremely obnoxious man when you want to be,” Yulen growled.
This time MaGrath’s responsive laughter was genuine. “You sound just like your father when you talk that way. Okay, bluntly? I asked her why she was still a virgin. Want to hear her reason?”
MaGrath was right, and Yulen knew it. There wasn’t anything the young man could hide from the physician. “Tell me.”
“She’s considered by her people to be unobtainable. She’s hands-off material. They firmly believe that if she gives herself to a man, that her skills, her ability to find game when no one else can, her extraordinary sight, her uncanny hearing, her unerring accuracy, her...uniqueness...will disappear.”
Yulen hesitated. “Would it?” he asked.
MaGrath shrugged. “If she were a Normal, I’d say hogwash. But she’s not a Normal, so who’s to say? Maybe they know something we don’t. After all, how many women in your lifetime have you known who can do what she does? Who else would’ve face down a bull ferret with one arrow?” He leaned over the saddle and dropped his voice. “How many men could have done that?”
“So why are we having this conversation?” Yulen asked, sounding completely exhausted. To make matters worse, a cloud had settled overhead and was beginning to drop thick droplets of rain on them. “Why go after her when...when there’s not a chance to ever have her?”
“What did you say to her, Yulen? What triggered her to give up?”
The Battle Lord leaned against his horse and pressed his forehead against his hands wrapped in the reins. “She wanted to stay with me last night but I turned her away.” Lifting his face, he told him, “That’s when she wanted to know if I already had a wife or a mistress in Alta Novis.”
“I can already guess what you told her,” MaGrath grimaced. “No to a wife, and yes to a mistress, correct?”
“Liam...”
“You stupid cretin,” the physician whispered heatedly. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll ride somewhere in the middle of the line today until we reach Foster City. I need some space and fresh air to get rid of this rather sick lump in the pit of my stomach.”
Yulen watched his dearest friend walk slowly away, head bent against the coming storm. As the wind picked up, he threw himself into the saddle and went out to signal the caravan to begin down the road. As they passed by where he remained on alert, he couldn’t help himself from scanning the roadside, hoping to catch some sign, something that would tell him sh
e was there watching as well.
Could he apologize if he saw her again? Could he accept her for what she was? Could he accept what she was offering?
What if she did lose her “special gift” by giving herself to him? Would he still care about her? Would he still think of her in the same way?
Gritting his teeth, Yulen pulled his horse around and galloped to the front of the line. They would reach Foster City by afternoon at the earliest. Maybe by then he’d have sorted things out.
Then again, maybe things wouldn’t get any better until she came back.
You know, you take asshole to a whole new level.
Like always, the physician was right on the money.
Chapter Seventeen
Tins
They didn’t stop for noon meal, but instead went straight into Foster City, passing through the huge double oaken gates at little after two in the middle of a brutally cold downpour. Zane Batuset, the compound’s Battle Lord and ally to Alta Novis, welcomed Yulen and his men with open arms, warm blankets, and a table already set with enough food to feed thirty men.
For the next few hours Yulen fielded questions over their late lunch about the mysterious Mutah woman who had slain so many of his men, and the reason why D’Jacques had decided to spare her life and bring her to Alta Novis. When it was made known the girl had escaped just before morning, Batuset offered to send a platoon of men with Yulen to help search for her, but Yulen declined.
“She’s in her element now,” MaGrath interjected into the conversation. “You won’t ever find her unless she so wishes. Besides, if you piss her off, she just might put an arrow through your eye or ear or mouth, or any other orifice you show her.”
The room tittered with laughter until Mastin spoke out unexpectedly. “I think the Battle Lord’s interest in the maiden may have become more than a passing fancy,” he commented.
Yulen shot him a look that would melt metal, but the Second shrugged.
Batuset cleared his throat and chuckled. “What would make you say that, Cole?”
Instead of turning to the leader of Foster City, Mastin instead looked at his commander. “During the ride we saw the girl shift her allegiance to him when she saved him from the bull ferret.”