Traitor's Moon

48 AN UNEASY TRUCE

Beka waited for nightfall before coming out onto the main road again. Cold, hungry, and footsore, she hummed ballads under her breath to keep her spirits up and her mind clear of questions she had no answers for.

Just before midnight she reached a village and helped herself to a horse. She hadn't seen a dog since she'd arrived in Aurenen. A good thing, now that I'm turning thief, she thought, grinning wryly to herself as she led the horse away.

When she was out of earshot, or at least bowshot, she mounted it bareback, wrapped her hands in the mane, and urged it into a trot, hoping it would respond to leg pressure since she had no reins. When it did, she kicked it into a gallop, laughing with relief.

Further down the road, she snagged a clean tunic and sen'gai from a washline and attempted to make herself a bit less conspicuous, binding her long red hair out of sight and making the best job of the sen'gai that she could.

By dawn she guessed she might be within a day's ride of the city, barring trouble. It was a

chancy thing, staying on the road, but a growing sense of urgency drove her on. Her place was at Klia's side.

The bay mare was as good as any she'd ever ridden. Horse thieving would be a profitable profession here, she thought, if every nag stolen hastily in the dark proved as fine as one you'd have to raid a noble's stable for in Skala.

She encountered more people on the road as the morning wore on, but most were intent on business of their own and didn't waste a second glance on a poor, barefoot stranger. When there were more than a few people together, she turned aside and waited behind the shelter of the trees for them to pass. She kept a lookout to the rear, as well, but no one seemed in any hurry to overtake her.

This plan worked well enough until just past midday, when she struck a stretch of road that wended through a deep cut. Rounding a bend, she found herself faced with a pack of armed riders less than a hundred yards away, coming on at a canter. There was nowhere to go but back, and that was bound to attract notice.

At least they wore the colors of Akhendi, she noted with relief. Keeping to the side of the road, she continued on at a steady pace, praying that they'd go single file and keep their distance.

She was nearly past when one of them suddenly reached out and snatched the sen'gai from her head. Her red hair tumbled down over her shoulders, damning as any uniform.

"It's the Skalan!" the man shouted. Dropping the sen'gai, he drew his sword and raised it to strike.

Ducking low over her horse's neck, Beka grasped its mane and kicked hard. The mare bolted forward, then reared as two horsemen angled to block her escape.

Hands snatched at her tunic. For an instant all she could see was a circle of leering faces and glinting steel. Another man struck at her with a cudgel, bruising her arm through her mail shirt.

Suddenly a fierce yell sounded from somewhere overhead, followed by the sound of falling rock. Still wheeling her horse, Beka caught a glimpse of another horseman plunging down the steep slope to her right. Then he was among the Akhendi, laying about with the flat of his sword.

"Go!" he shouted, urging his horse forward to block one of her attackers. "Break out, damn it. Ride!"

Beka knew that voice. "Nyal?"

"Go!"

Looking around, she spotted a young rider who'd been startled by

Nyal's sudden appearance. Screaming an Urgazhi war cry, she barreled into him, knocking him off his horse as she surged past to the open road beyond. It was the wrong direction, but it would have to do for now.

She heard another wild whoop behind her, then the sound of pursuit. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Nyal galloping after her with the Akhendi close behind.

He caught up with her and thrust something at her: her sword, hilt first. She wrenched it free, letting the scabbard fall away, and slapped the flat of the blade across her mount's rump, urging it on.

"This way," Nyal shouted, pointing to a side road ahead.

Caught up in the moment, she followed without question.

"It's no use. They're still with us!" she cried, looking back to see the Akhendi still in full cry behind them. "We can't outrun them. Turn and fight! There are only five of them now."

"Beka, no!" Nyal cried, but she was already slowing.

Turning her horse, she let out another yell and galloped back, sword held high. As she'd expected, the sudden turnabout startled her pursuers. Three veered off, but the others charged her. The road was narrow here, so she aimed her mount between them. Ducking the leader's swing, she came up in time to catch the second a blow to the head with her hilt. He toppled off his horse and she rode on toward the remaining three. One turned tail and ran, but the other two closed in on her.

Fighting on horseback without a saddle or stirrups to brace against was dangerous at best. Instead, she slid off the far side, using the horse as a momentary shield, and ducked under its neck to slash at the hocks of her closest opponent's mount. She managed to nick it, and the animal reared, throwing the rider. Then she was turning to block a blow from his companion, who'd outflanked her. Caught between two horses, she threw herself under the belly of her attacker's mount and rolled to her feet on the other side. She slashed him across the thigh, then smacked his horse on the rump, sending it hurtling into the man she'd knocked from the saddle.

Another horseman bore down on her, and she braced for an attack, but it was Nyal, yelling for her to get up behind him. Grabbing his outstretched hand, she thrust her foot over his in the stirrup and let him haul her up behind his saddle. He wheeled about and took off at a gallop, leaving their wounded ambushers in the dust.

Beka had no choice but to wrap her free arm around his waist, clinging to him as they galloped further down the overgrown track. Some part of her mind registered how good he felt, pressed against

her, but she pushed the thought away angrily, recalling instead the coldness in his eyes when he'd captured her.

They rode on in silence for a few miles, then stopped to let the horse drink at a stream. Beka slid quickly off, still grasping her sword, and took a few steps back.

Nyal dismounted but didn't try to approach her. He just stood there, sword sheathed, arms folded across his chest.

"Where did you come from?" she demanded. "Were you tracking me down again?"

"After a fashion," he admitted. "I saw where you'd been ambushed. I was certain I'd find you dead, but instead picked up your trail where you eluded the others. I figured you wouldn't be happy to see me, so I kept back, shadowing you to make sure you were safe. You did well, until the Akhendi jumped you. I wasn't expecting that, either."

Beka ignored the compliment. "If you wanted me safe, then why track me down in the first place?"

He gave her a rueful grin. "It seemed the best way to distract my fellow searchers from following your friends, whom I guessed rightly had business over the mountains."

"You found them?"

He nodded. "So did a gang of bandits, but we dealt with them. I sent Seregil and Alec on their way and came back to make certain you reached Sarikali safely."

"So you say," she growled.

"Talia." He stepped closer, and she spotted a dark stain on the front of his tunic, near the lower hem. It was blood, but too dry to have come from today's fighting.

"So you let them go, did you?" she said, pointing.

"Alec was wounded, shot through the leg," Nyal told her, rubbing at the stain. "I bound the wound for him."

This was agony. She wanted to believe him, even had some reason to do so, but caution still held her back. "Why did the Akhendi attack me?"

Turning away, Nyal sat down on a large stone next to the stream. "I don't know," he said, and she knew then that he was lying.

"It has something to do with Amali, doesn't it?"

This time there was no mistaking the guilty flush that suffused his face. Seregil was right about him all along, she thought miserably. "You're in league with her, aren't you?"

"No," he said, resting his elbows on his knees and hanging his head wearily.

She stared down at him, and her traitorous heart summoned memories of how his bare skin felt beneath her hands. She'd told Alec she wasn't love-blind; now was the time to prove it. "Give me your weapons," she ordered.

Without a word, he unbuckled his sword belt and tossed it at her feet, then did the same with the knife at his belt. She hung them over her shoulder, and checked his boots and tunic for hidden blades.

He was so patient, so passive, that she began to feel guilty. Before she could stop herself, she'd reached to brush a hand against his smooth cheek. He turned his head toward it, making the touch into a brief caress. She pulled back as if she'd been burned.

"If I've wronged you, I'm sorry," she said through clenched teeth. "I have my duty."

He looked away again. "So you've always said. What do you want to do now?"

"I have to get back to Klia."

"At least in that, we are in agreement," he replied, and she was certain she saw him smile as he turned away to mount his horse.

Somehow, she doubted whether the ride would be any easier from here.