by K. J. Nessly
By this time Daniel was running flat out. Building up speed he timed his strides so that he just cleared the fence as he hurdled over the top railing. Unfortunately, the toe of his trailing leg caught causing him to tumble and land flat on his back in the sheep pen. Before he could gather his dignity he had to quickly roll away to avoid being pecked by several birds that had poked their heads through the fencing. In a strange and almost mesmerizing dance, all of the birds stomped their feet in unison, creating a large dust cloud while bellowing and hissing in perfect rhythm. Two curious sheep sauntered over and sniffed Daniel’s face as he pulled in deep breaths while curled around a rather large mound of dung. Meanwhile Matt, had entered the pen, pushed his way through the gang of birds, and was peering down at him with a big grin on his face. To add insult to injury, one of the pribbles rubbed his head against Matt’s neck, rested it on his shoulder and gazed back lovingly into his eyes. Matt said something to Daniel, but the girls couldn’t make out what he said.
“Looks like he’s getting his exercise in for the day,” Cass snickered. All of the girls laughed except for Lindsey.
“Do you think he’s all right, is he hurt?”
“He’s ok,” Jenna replied. “Look, he’s getting up”
“He’s definitely ok, but his manhood may have suffered a mortal wound.” Amy’s eyes sparkled as she said it to no one in particular. This time everyone laughed.
After a few moments, the girls returned to their seats and continued to discuss their planned activities for nearly a half a radian.
Finally Natalie seemed content that enough projects had been taken on and asked, “Is there anything anyone else would like to add?”
Kathryn spoke up as she stood. “Before you make monumental changes or completely cover the walls and beds with projects, you might want to let the boys know so they have at least some say in this,” she advised, then seeing that Natalie wanted to protest added, “It’s their home too.”
The girls watched as she turned and left the room. Once she was gone Natalie huffed, “What’s her problem?”
Amy shot her a look. “Kathryn has plenty of her own problems to deal with, you just make sure you don’t add to them,” she said fiercely.
Natalie stuck out her lip. “Just because she’s second in command doesn’t mean she has to be so bossy,” she complained.
Elizabeth spoke up. “She wasn’t trying to be bossy, Nat,” she replied gently. “She listened to your ideas and offered her weaving skills. Her advice to you was sound. The boys live here too.”
“Whatever,” Natalie huffed. “I’m just glad I’m not on any of her shifts.”
Kathryn escaped from the house as soon as she could. Destiny flew after her, ecstatic to be free of the confines of the building. Never in her life had Kathryn revealed to anyone her fear of close quarters, especially close quarters involving other people.
She slipped into the forest and made her way through the underbrush. As she walked she wasn’t sure where she was headed but of one thing she was sure, it was better than being back at the house. It was taking all of her self-control to try and be civil to Natalie and Lindsey. Lindsey was sweet enough but far too impressionable. She followed Natalie around like a lost puppy, hanging on her every word. Kathryn had sworn to herself that she would never, ever put herself into such a state of dependency. Dependency makes you vulnerable and being vulnerable can make you an easy victim. She’d been victimized enough in this lifetime already.
She had been on the move for several radians when Destiny let out a hunter’s call, the call Kathryn had trained her to use when they weren’t alone.
Already as silent as the dead, Kathryn went into stealth mode, picking every step carefully, taking care not to leave a discernible trail. As she traveled forward, she heard the sound of voices, which steadily increased as she grew closer until she could discern the conversation.
“What’s the news?”
From her position behind a large boulder, Kathryn couldn’t see how many figures were in the small clearing, but the owner of this voice sounded like he’d spent his life inhaling smoke—probably a blacksmith.
“Damaan has granted the Violet Stag membership.” This man’s voice was smoother, more like that of a nobleman used to talking his way out of trouble.
The first man grunted. “Was that wise?”
“Damaan does not act unless he thinks it is wise.” To Kathryn it almost seemed as if the second man was reminding the first of who exactly their leader was and where the power lay.
“So when do we act?” The first man sounded anxious, possibly even excited. Kathryn would have to keep an eye out for him once they started patrolling the towns.
“Patience,” the second placated. “We cannot move until we are ready.”
“I say we are!” The first hissed.
“Damaan does not agree,” his companion returned harshly.
“I am tired of all this secrecy! I am ready to fight!”
“You will have your chance, friend,” the second returned. “And when we do, not even the Guardians will be able to help.”
Stunned at his words, Kathryn was taken aback and struggled with the thought of apprehending them, but realized that these two were only part of a larger organization. It would do no good to arrest only two. The second would never talk, and the first would fight until he was dead.
They began to move away and Kathryn made her decision. She would let them go, for now. She knew their voices. While patrolling the villages she would listen for them and once she found them, she would pay special attention to keeping track of them.
Chapter 9
Sunrise the next morning heralded the beginning of the Dragon’s new role as Guardians of Rima. This first shift would be different from the following shifts as it would include only two members and last all day.
“Kathryn, are you ready?” David pulled his mask on and checked to make sure he had everything in place.
“I’ve been ready for ten minutes.” Her annoyed tone clearly spoke that she’d been the one waiting for him. He briefly wondered if she was annoyed because he was taking forever to get ready or was annoyed because she had to spend the day with him. Well he could look on the bright side, at least he wasn’t spending the whole day with Natalie. The woman was starting to annoy him. And it had only been two days. He was not looking forward to a lifetime of her whining.
“Here’s your lunch and dinner.” Cass handed both of them a small satchel about to burst its seams.
David took his, looked at it, and then raised an eyebrow at Cass. “Are you sure you put enough food in here?”
“Just get going,” Cass laughed as she shooed him out the door. David chuckled as he headed towards the stables. He saddled his horse then joined Kathryn who had already finished and was waiting out front.
The first thing he noticed was the absence of her sword. “Where’s your sword?”
“I wasn’t planning on bringing it today.”
He paused. The sword was the preferred method of defense by nobles and thieves alike, although he knew some preferred the mace or club. Unless you were several paces away a bow was not the best choice for defense and using fighting knives to defend against a sword required different techniques, excellent timing, and a lot practice. “Are you sure?”
Even with her face obscured by the mask, David could tell she was giving himThe Look. The Look was one he had gotten every day of their trip to Rima from the school as he had tried to engage his second-in-command in conversation. She had rebuffed his every attempt at friendship and remained cold and distant from the group. When he had mentioned his frustration with her to Jasse one night, the older man had sighed and promised to talk with her as well as warned David not to expect to gain her friendship right away. “I’ve known her for six years and she still doesn’t trust me,” Jasse had reminded him. Even at the time, David hadn’t found that particular information very heartening. On the other side of the coin, Natalie had hounded him ev
ery waking moment, wanting his opinion on this or his thoughts on that. She’d listen with rapt attention to his every word…as if what he said was keeping her alive. Most noblemen would have been flattered by the attentions of a beautiful woman. David found it irritating.
“I think I know what I’m doing,” Kathryn replied, somewhat stiffly, jerking him out of his thoughts.
He wasn’t in the mood to argue. If she wanted to leave the karcing sword behind, he would let her leave it behind. This time. “Okay, let’s go.”
Together they rode out of the glade, Destiny leading the way as she soared through the clear blue sky.
“Do you have any suggestions on where to start?” David asked, wondering what had put his companion in such a dark mood. It wasn’t as if she was up late at nights, worrying about making a mistake that led to the death of one of his family members…or worse, bringing the Council down on his family. No, those were his nightmares.
“No.”
“Do you mind if we start near Leneal?” he asked, referring to the town only twenty-eight kilometers east from their current position. He’d spent hours the night before, pouring over the local maps and reading reports from the family before them, trying to decide on a good location to start their new lives. He’d settled on Leneal because all previous reports had indicated that it was a mildly prosperous town with a friendly and accommodating populace.
“No.”
David gave up any attempt at conversation. She wasn’t in a talkative mood and he wasn’t in the mood to hit his head against a wall all day. Ten minutes out of the clearing, David shifted slightly in his saddle, angling his left knee into his horse’s shoulder. His horse responded to the trained motion and quickly broke into a gallop. David had missed feeling the wind in his hair and the rhythm of the horse’s hooves beneath him and judging by the tightness he could feel radiating from Rumer’s muscles, his horse was angling for a good hard run.
He’d been told by his instructors that he was one of the best horsemen they had ever seen, almost becoming one with his mount. Not once had he been out-ridden by any of his classmates, anyone who challenged him to a race quickly fell behind. Obstacle courses presented no challenge for him…or for Rumer.
He pushed Rumer, knowing the horse was as desperate to release the stress of adjusting to a new home just as badly as he was. David really wished he could run for kilometers, but riding Rumer was just as good.
It was a full quarter of a radian before he remembered that Kathryn was with him, he turned to look over his shoulder, wondering how far behind him she was.
He was startled to find her shoulder to shoulder with him, for all appearances looking as if she were simply walking her horse. Reining Rumer down to a gentle trot, he noticed that Kathryn reacted almost instantly, matching his move.
“You’re very good,” David commented, studying her form. His love of riding had been a gift from his mother at a young age. They had ridden together every chance they’d had. From Jasse’s story, he hadn’t expected Kathryn, an ex-slave who had probably never touched a horse let alone ridden one before six years ago, to ride as well as someone born in the saddle.
She looked at him, a confused look on her face. “Good at what?”
“Riding. Not even Luke can keep up with me.”
He watched her jaw twitch but noticed she didn’t say anything. “Were you always this good?” Maybe she’d been taught to ride before she’d become a slave? Jasse had never mentioned how long she was a slave for…
She shrugged. Wealth of information she was. Was she always this obstinate or was it just him?
He tried again. “What’s your horse’s name?”
“Lerina”
The name sounded familiar. David paused a moment, searching his memory. “That’s an old Elvish word for freedom, isn’t it?”
She nodded.
If his memory was serving him correctly, Lerina could be translated as freedom in the sense of not being guarded or owned. He wondered if she chose the name as a testimony to others of who she was, or at least, had been. If that was the case he suspected she had never lived life as a free woman before the Guardians. Freedom and Destiny, she certainly knew how to choose interesting names. “I like it.”
She didn’t comment.
They reached the village without uttering another word to each other.
Dismounting in the forest on one side of the village they left the horses grazing, entering the village on foot.
“I’ll take the south end, you can start in the north.”
Kathryn nodded and quickly moved away. David watched her go, wondering what type of a girl she would have been had she not been forced to live the life she had. At the very least, he supposed, she would have been easier to live and get along with. Shaking his head slightly, he moved south and aimed to enter the village next to the blacksmith’s shop. As he walked he began to wish that he’d brought along a heavy cloak. A brisk fall wind was blowing and it had that sharp bite that indicated that winter was fast approaching and his cirin armor wasn’t quite blocking the chill from seeping into his body. He suppressed an involuntary shiver. He knew that the two weeks needed for the cirin to form the symbiotic bond hadn’t elapsed yet, but he also knew that it couldn’t be much longer. Mentally he counted backward. No, it had. Yesterday.
He sighed, at least the cirin blocked most of the chill, and ambled into the village.
Part of a Guardian’s job was to form a sense of trust and reliance with the people they protected so David paused to spend a few minutes chatting with the blacksmith and his two apprentices. “Good morning.”
The blacksmith looked up and gave him a smile. “Good morning, sir. I take it you’re here about the thefts.”
“I’ve heard a few things. What can you tell me about them?” Of course, being so new to the region, David knew as much about the thefts as he did about Kathryn’s past, but one of the lessons that had been driven into the potential Guardians was,never let the people know you’re clueless.The people like to talk, let them inform you.
“Two horses have been stolen in the past few weeks and travelers are reporting bandits along the road stealing their purses.” The old blacksmith waved his rough hand around. “You’d think you Guardians would have stopped this by now.”
“Rima is a large province,” David replied calmly. “We cannot be everywhere at once and investigations do take time,” he reminded the man.
The old manhumphed as he turned back to his work.
“Have there been any strangers or locals acting suspiciously?”
The blacksmith shook his head. “Not that I know of,” he said emphatically. “Not that anyone would tellme if there was,” he added under his breath. It was a rare town or village that would hand over life-long locals, even if they were acting a little odd, to sheriffs or Guardians without some coaxing. David admired their dedication and solidarity, but knew that someday it would end up being an exasperation.
One of the apprentices, a younger lad with red hair, and two front teeth missing, spoke up. “There were a minstrel. He come through about a fortnight ago. He stayed about two week and move on.”
“Was he of a suspicious character?”
The boy paused, as if trying to translate what David had just asked. “He ask lot of questions,” and after a few moments as if he were in deep thought he finished with, “when he weren’t performin, but we’re all thought he was just curious about our village.”
“Most of them are,” David assured him, no sense in making the locals paranoid. “Thank you for the information.”
“Always a pleasure to help a Guardian,” the old man said as he hammered a horseshoe, “Just doesn’t forget.” The boy grinned widely at David and made a grunting laugh-like sound.
Promising to look into it, David moved on. An elderly woman was sitting out front of the healer’s shop and he greeted her warmly. “Good morning, grandmother. I think it’s going to be a beautiful day.”
“Good mornin
g, young sir. I believe you are correct.” She paused, peering at him as if she was studying a master painting. “You are new here, aren’t you?”
“Just to the village,” David assured her. Another important part of Guardian training was never let anyone know just how inexperienced you were…that kind of information would lead to increased difficulties in not only getting people to trust you, but also in convincing lawbreakers to surrender.
The grandmotherhumphed and sat back in her chair. David wasn’t sure if it was the wood creaking or her bones.
“Are there any problems that concern you grandmother?” he asked politely.
“Just the missing horses and the outrageous price of bread at the southern bakery,” She replied, turning to help a young mother and her irritable child who had just arrived.
David nodded towards the women and moved on. As the grandmother had predicted, the baker’s prices were extravagant and David managed to talk him down a little, and even bought two rolls to help win the baker’s confidence, all the while praising the workmanship of the admittedly delicious rolls. He visited with several more shop owners and the local washerwoman, listening to their concerns and complaints. As he walked about, continuing to make small talk with the villagers and note the ones who looked prone to trouble, he noticed that he couldn’t feel the wind any more. Nor did he feel the slight stinging chill that was indicative of numbness. He fought down a grin. So the cirindid block the cold, it just wasn’t instantaneous as he had originally believed. Feeling much happier, he headed toward the largest hostelry to have a chat with the proprietor about the thefts and to see if he could learn who the usual troublemakers were.
When he met up with Kathryn a radian later, she too had learned about the thefts, although how she had learned about them David wasn’t sure. Kathryn wasn’t exactly the type to invite someone to confide in her. However her information suggested an exit vector the thieves might have taken so he trusted that she knew what she was doing.