“You’re enjoying this entirely too much,” I said a few minutes later as we ate our bread and cheese.
“And you my sweet man are jealous,” she shot back.
“Hardly, I could make the horse fly over you just as easily, but I am too concerned for the poor mare’s feelings to put her through that,” I replied grumpily.
“If you two are done eating, it’s time for my pupil’s next lesson. She obviously needs to burn off some excess energy,” Cyhan interjected.
The two of them squared off in a small clearing beside the road. I was interested to see the outcome. Penny showed every sign of having far more strength and agility now than any person, man or woman, had a right to possess. My bets were still on the older warrior though, there’s something to be said for experience and his constant training had made him just about as strong as any normal human could hope to be.
They were sparring barehanded. Cyhan felt it would be far too dangerous to do any weapons training until she had acclimated to her new abilities. That was as much as an admission that he feared she might injure him, or perhaps that he might be forced to go too far in defending himself. I wasn’t too sure which.
As soon as he said, ‘ready’ she went after him, faster than a jungle cat. She moved almost too quickly for me to follow but a moment later she was sailing past him to land sprawling in the grass. I thought she might pause for a moment after that, but I was wrong. She had barely struck the earth before she bounded up again and headed for him. He was ready for her, and seconds later she was flying off in another direction.
“Pay attention damnit!” he shouted at her. “In a real fight you or Mordecai could wind up dead with all the time you waste charging about and landing on your ass!”
That got her goat; she came off the ground as if it were a trampoline. She twisted as she came up, perhaps she planned to somersault as she came up but she overdid it. She nearly flipped all the way over again, to land face first, but her reflexes saved her. Putting out both hands she caught herself and pushed off again. The end result was a combination tumble and somersault that sent her flying over his head. She landed lightly behind him, but before she could swing at him his back kick caught her squarely in the stomach. I winced as I heard the air driven forcibly from her stomach. She flew back several feet and collapsed, choking and gagging for air.
Cyhan was ‘hopping’ mad. That would have been a great joke to make, but he truly was angry, and she was in no shape to appreciate my humor either. He took two quick strides and jerked her to her feet by her hair, “That was the dumbest shit I have ever had the misfortune to witness!”
Penny tried to say something but she wound up vomiting on him instead, a nasty concoction of bread and cheese. If I hadn’t been so worried about her I might have laughed then too, instead I ran over to help her.
“Goddammit!” he shouted at her. A long string of expletives followed and I wish I had paid better attention, some of them I had never heard before. I was surer than ever that he must have spent some time as a sailor, or perhaps a marine. Quite a bit of his swearing was pure nautical genius.
“Maybe we should take a break from our break...” I suggested.
“You stay out of it!” he roared at me. He looked as if he were ready to beat her and call it ‘training’ just to get vengeance for the noxious substance she had spewed all over him. Instead he stomped off toward the horses looking for a towel.
“Are you ok Penny?” I tried to help her stand up straight.
“Get away from me!” she shouted, pushing me back. I don’t think she intended to push me quite that hard but I wound up flying back several feet to land on my ass. “I don’t want your help Mort! I can handle this on my own.” She went in a different direction and soon I was left alone, sitting in the clearing.
“What the hell did I do?” I said to myself. Some days it just doesn’t pay to try and help your homicidal girlfriend after she’s been hurt. Honestly, homicidal isn’t too strong a word either. By her own admission she’s committed murder before. Granted the circumstances were exceptional.
Marc walked over, he had been watching silently during the bout. “She’s always been proud Mort. The best thing to do when someone’s pride is injured is to give them space,” he commented.
“I only wanted to help.”
He sighed, “Listen, ever since you turned up with your magical talents everything has been about you. Then you discovered you were the heir to not just one, but two fortunes; not to mention being a nobleman. How do you think that makes her feel?”
“Happy?” I ventured.
“No, dumbass... inferior. She went from being your equal, to being the girl that just got lucky enough to have her claws in you first,” he replied sharply.
“I can’t help my birth... or any of the rest of it. None of it matters to me anyway, not without her,” I said emphatically. “You know that!”
“Sometimes knowing isn’t enough. People think with their heads, but they live by their hearts. This is the first thing she’s had to call her own... to make her special. It might be just a burden to you, but for her this bond is an honor. It gives her something to feel good about. Getting her ass handed to her by that great hulk of a trainer is embarrassing. The last person she wants to see it is you.”
“Why me?” I complained. “I’m the one person who’s cheering her on the most.”
Marc shook his head, “How did you get so far in life without understanding the first thing about women? Why you? Because you are the person she wants to impress the most! Not the one she wants to see her being humiliated.”
I had to admit, Marc always understood people better than I did, women especially. “So what should I do?” I asked.
“Nothing, if you do watch any more of their sparring bouts keep your mouth shut and your hands to yourself. Give her plenty of space.”
“What if she does well? If she’s successful I should compliment her right?”
He snorted, “Not now... later maybe. Compliment her on some small achievement now and she’ll think you’re mocking her. Her self-esteem won’t let her believe you anyway. She’ll be her own worst critic for a while.”
He seemed to be full of good news. “So when will this get better?”
“When he compliments her,” Marc replied.
Something about having her waiting on another man’s approval didn’t sit well with me. “So if I encourage her it’s mockery, if he does she’ll be giddy with happiness?”
“Of course,” he replied smugly. “In my wild and loose days, before my new vocation, I used tactics like that to woo women all the time. You start off aloof, disinterested... cold even. Then, when you show them a bit of kindness they get weak in the knees. This is the same sort of thing. Quickest way I know of to get a woman into bed too,” he paused for a second, considering what he had just said. “Not that this is going to lead to something like that of course. You’ve got nothing to worry about with Penny,” he amended.
“Whose side are you on here?” I snapped.
“Yours my friend, always yours,” he answered, smiling.
An hour later we were back on the road. Our trip was greatly improved by the fact that no one was talking anymore. A sullen silence hung over us like a pall. It was turning out to be a grand journey.
At dusk we made camp. After a quiet meal Cyhan announced that there would be no training that evening. I wasn’t sure if he felt Penny needed more time to recover or whether he might not trust himself to spar ‘nicely’. In any case I didn’t mind the chance for a little extra rest.
“Have you sensed anyone nearby?” he asked me, probably for the tenth time.
“Nope, not a soul all day,” I replied.
“That worries me,” he said. Big surprise, he’d be worried no matter what I told him. “I’ll feel better when it’s over. The waiting is the worst part,” he added.
That made two of us, although for different reasons. I didn’t bother reminding him I would tell him
as soon as I found anything. He would keep asking anyway. Personally I was of the opinion that the bankers hadn’t bothered to set up anything as sinister as an ambush. “Are we going to set watches?” I asked. I’m not sure why I asked, the answer was obvious.
“Ordinarily I would say let your Anath’Meridum take one watch with Marcus and you take the other with me. Her senses are keen enough now that she should be able to detect any foe almost as quickly as you could,” he replied. That surprised me; I hadn’t known her senses were heightened as well. He went on, “Frankly though, I don’t trust her enough yet so you’ll be taking the first watch with Marcus. I’ll stay up with her to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“I’m not deaf you know,” she responded gruffly.
“I wanted you to hear that. Maybe you’ll learn something,” he replied.
“Alright, alright... I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you two up after midnight,” I spoke quickly. I wanted to head off the beginning of another war between them.
They staked their territories on opposite sides of our small campfire and soon they were both laying still, backs to the fire. Marc and I talked for a while, mostly about the old days, but we had to keep it quiet to avoid disturbing our sleeping companions. Eventually we stopped talking and sat silently on opposite sides of the fire. That left me with a lot of time to think.
I already had an idea of how I wanted to handle the possible thieves, if there were any. But I wasn’t sure how well it would work. I took the opportunity to work on the idea and plan out the words I would use when, or if, the time came.
Time went slowly and I soon ran out of things to think about. I got up and walked around the camp a few times to ward off sleep. As I walked I gathered small stones from the rocky ground near our camp. I would need them later if we did get ambushed. I was definitely getting drowsy. Eventually the moon reached a point that told me my time was done, so I went over to wake up Penny first.
I shook her shoulder gently, “Wake up sleeping beauty.”
Her eyes opened slowly in the dim light, “Mort?”
“It’s me,” I said softly.
“I’m sorry about before. I was angry with myself, not you. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that.”
“Don’t worry about it. You were under a lot of stress,” I told her.
“I just want to learn quickly. We don’t have much time.”
I knew what she was referring to, “Yeah. Just don’t make yourself miserable for what time we have left.”
“I can do this Mort, it isn’t a waste of time,” she said intently.
“I know, but we only have a few months left anyway,” I replied hastily, a little too hastily perhaps.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked suspiciously.
I would have thought that was obvious. I never have understood why women always look for some deeper meaning in a simple statement. “I mean I understand. It’s just that what you’re trying to learn isn’t easy. You shouldn’t push yourself too hard.”
“You think I should just give up?” She sounded angry.
How did she get from apologetic to ticked off? “I never said that Penny...” I started, trying to keep my tone reasonable.
She rose from her bedroll in a smooth fluid motion. Her speed was such that she almost tripped stepping out of it. That didn’t help matters. “There’s your bed. I don’t think this conversation is going anywhere,” she bit out.
I didn’t bother responding. There was little doubt her warped sense of self would turn anything I said into another challenge to her competence. I watched her stalk over to wake up Cyhan before I lay down. I had a bad feeling sleep would be slow to come. Stubborn girl, I thought to myself.
Chapter 16
It did in fact take me quite a while to fall asleep, and no sooner had I done so than Cyhan began shaking me awake. “What?” I said groggily.
“It’s morning. Time to get moving,” he told me.
That didn’t seem possible, but the brightening sky confirmed what he said. If morning ever had an accomplice it was Cyhan. The two of them were definitely conspiring to rob me of sleep. I rose and began packing up our things. I wasn’t grumpy in the slightest. Honestly.
Penny had a nice hot pot of porridge going over the coals of our fire. My first taste told me that someone had forgotten to pack the sugar and spices. I neglected to mention that to her. After last night I doubted it would improve her mood.
“How’s the porridge?” she asked. It wasn’t clear if she was addressing me or everyone in general.
“It’s passable,” Marc answered.
“I’ve had worse... once,” Cyhan said.
“Sorry, I forgot to pack the seasonings,” she said apologetically.
“It’s not bad. I rather like it,” I said, hoping to make her feel better.
“Thanks for the sarcasm, it’s bad enough without you being a smart ass about it,” she glared at me as she said it.
My mouth dropped open in shock. I truly hadn’t been trying to be sarcastic. I looked at Marc for support; clearly I was being wrongly accused. He just shook his head at me in disappointment. Cyhan started chuckling under his breath. At least someone’s in a better mood, I thought sourly.
Marc offered to help me clean out the bowls when we were done. Since there was no stream nearby we had to use sand from a dry gully close by. “You didn’t listen to a thing I said yesterday did you?”
“I didn’t think it was too bad,” I lied. “No sense in being cruel about it in any case.”
“Wrong,” he stated.
“So I should have insulted the food? Like Cyhan did?” Now that I thought back, she had actually apologized after he had said that to her.
“No, she’s already mad at you. You should have stuck with a neutral response like I did. I don’t think you have what it takes to pull off something like what he said.”
“Well if being a jerk makes you more of a man then too bad... I’d rather be...,” my words tapered off. I could see no good in finishing that sentence.
Marc was too quick to waste the opportunity, “Don’t start looking at me like that! Just because I’ve joined the clergy doesn’t mean I like men!” He was laughing as he said it.
I started to reply with something terribly witty and clever, but I was saved by a distraction. Not that it was a good one. I stopped and closed my eyes so I could focus better. I could sense several men in the distance, at the very limit of my range. When we had left Washbrook I had been able to sense things almost a mile off, if I put an effort into stilling my thoughts. Now I found that a half a mile was the best I could manage.
“Hey don’t be like that!” Marc said, “...Mort?”
“Give me a second, there’s someone out there,” I held up my hand. I strained to extend my senses further but it was no use. The figures, there were perhaps five or six of them, moved even further away until I could no longer detect them. I opened my eyes to look at my friend.
“Well? What was that about?” he asked.
“There were people on the road, about a half a mile that way,” I pointed in the direction we would soon be traveling.
“Other travelers… or someone waiting for us?”
“No way to know. Let’s go tell the others,” I replied.
Cyhan and Penny were sparring when we walked back. This time Penny was more cautious, but the results were the same. No matter how quickly she moved and struck she couldn’t touch the older warrior. She wasn’t giving him a chance to throw her now however.
“You might want to save your energy,” I told them.
“Did you sense something?” Cyhan asked as they broke apart.
I explained what I had discovered. “It could be other travelers,” I said as I finished.
“It could be,” he replied as he began checking his weapons. “But we’ll be working on the assumption that there’s an ambush ahead.”
“Perhaps we could leave the road... circle around thi
s part,” Penny suggested.
“Not practical,” Marc spoke up. “I’ve traveled this road many times. The terrain narrows at this part of the road. If we try to go around we’ll have to go several days out of our way,” he gestured at the hills which rose up steeply ahead of us. “I’m not even sure how to get back to the road if we try.”
“Better that than dead,” Cyhan said. “I know the wilderness to the north. If we circle the northern hills we’ll come to a deep gorge. It will take us tens of miles following it before we can exit, but it’s doable. We can afford the time.”
“I didn’t think you were the sort to avoid a fight,” I remarked.
“Then you don’t know me,” he said bluntly. “I only fight when the outcome is in my favor, or there’s no other option. We still have options.”
“I’d rather stick to the road,” I said, giving him an even stare.
“I don’t think you heard me,” he replied meeting my eyes.
“I heard you perfectly well. I’m taking the road. If you want to take another route you’re welcome to do so.”
The tension in the air was palpable. “You’re going to meet a bad end boy, and quite possibly hurt a lot of other good people on your way to it.”
I turned my back on him and headed toward my horse. Looking over my shoulder I replied, “I’ve already been promised a bad death, but my appointment isn’t for today.” I caught Penny’s eye as I said it. The only good thing about knowing when you’re going to die… is you can be very sure of when you won’t.
Penny spoke up again, “He’s right about that, we don’t die today.”
“One of your visions?” Cyhan asked. His question surprised me; I hadn’t realized she had told him so much about herself already.
“Yes.”
“That’s fine and dandy, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about when the two of you die. I’m more concerned with my own demise. I’ll bet your vision had nothing to say about me in it,” he responded.
“I didn’t know you then...,” Penny replied uncertainly. “He’s right Mort; we could be putting them in danger based on a vision that only concerns the two of us.”
The Line of Illeniel Page 17