injured?”
“I don’t know,” she answered for him. “If someone would help me get this blasted draconian off-”
Mariana sprang lightly down the bank, and with Linsha’s help from underneath and the aid of Sir Hugh’s strong arms, they lifted the heavy stone baaz off Linsha and heaved it aside.
With a grin Sir Hugh pulled Linsha to her feet. As she came upright, she tried to put her weight on both feet and was immediately reminded of her injured ankle. The damaged joint refused to hold her. She gasped and fell forward against Hugh’s chest. His arms automatically went around her, and they clasped each other close. She wondered briefly if she should pull away, then he looked into her eyes and in the same breath they started laughing in relief and in the pleasure of being alive.
Mariana studied them both for a minute in her cool, detached way and rubbed the sweat from her face. “Linsha, go soak your ankle in the cold water for a while until I can attend you. Sir Hugh, stay with her and try to wash some of the blood off so I can see to your injuries.”
“What of the others?” Linsha asked.
“They’re alive. Your warning alerted us in time. Most of our attackers were human and not skilled. Falaius thinks they were just bandits. You had the greater number of draconians.”
“Just lucky I guess,” Sir Hugh said, still holding Linsha and still grinning like a lunatic.
Mariana raised an elegant eyebrow. She had seen this reaction before. People sometimes felt drunk after a mortal battle. “Fine. I have a few other people to attend to, then I’ll be back.” She strode up the hill into the firelight.
Sir Hugh’s head dropped to Linsha’s shoulder. “Is she gone yet?” he groaned. At her reply his whole body seemed to sag into her arms.
By fits and starts and careful hops, Linsha and Hugh worked their way over to a grassy patch by the water’s edge and collapsed side by side.
“By Helm’s sword, Hugh, where did you learn to fight like that?” Linsha said while she pulled off her boot.
He splashed water over his hands and face and pulled off his padded jacket to make a pillow for them both. “The streets of Palanthas,” he replied, stretching out on the grass beside her. “I used to run with a gang before the Knights saved me.” His voice dropped as his energy seemed to be draining away. “Thank you for saving me.”
Linsha sank her ankle in the cold flowing water. She lay back and closed her eyes. “I still owe you, Hugh.”
Her ankle was cold, her entire body hurt, and the grass was chilly beneath her. But the exuberance of relief was gone and in its place flowed unadulterated exhaustion.
“Linsha?”
“Hmmm?”
“Who is Ian?”
“He’s dead, Hugh.”
“Oh.”
The last word was barely a sigh.
Mariana came back half an hour later and found them both asleep in the grass. She propped her torch up between several stones and moved among them to check their condition. Except for the old bruise on her face, Linsha looked well enough. She slept peacefully and barely moved when the half-elf lifted her ankle from the water and shifted her back enough to rest her foot on the land. The ankle looked bruised and a little swollen, but it was not broken, and the cold water had helped. Mariana wrapped it tightly and left her friend to sleep.
For a moment she paused by Hugh’s head and let her gaze dwell on his features. He looked so relaxed in the innocent pose of sleep, so peaceful and boyish. If she had not seen him fight the draconian barehanded, she would not have believed it of this young man. She brushed a hand over his forehead where his light brown hair had stuck to a bloody swelling. He was a well-built man, strong, and handsome enough with the heart of a true Knight. Would he and Linsha ever-?
No, the half-elf corrected herself almost as soon as the thought surfaced. Linsha’s heart belonged to someone else. Of that Mariana was certain. The Rose Knight might not realize it yet, but her love’s eye looked somewhere beyond the men at hand. As for Hugh, Mariana suspected he bore an attraction for her. Looking at him now, asleep, battered, bruised, bleeding in several places, dirty, and sweaty with just a hint of that lunatic smile still on his lips, she decided that was not a displeasing notion. Perhaps in the months ahead when this war was over they could spend time together that didn’t involve fleeing, fighting, and burying the dead. They could find someplace quiet where they could just be together. Until then, Mariana thought with a sigh, they would have to be patient.
Carefully, so as not to disturb him, she examined his limbs and his torso for wounds that needed mending. She found cuts and scraps, a black eye, a bite that would need careful observation, bumps and bruises, and two slashes that needed stitching, one on his forearm and a second on his ribs. He had been very lucky. Using warm water she had brought down from the campfire and a small healer’s kit, she washed the slashes and gently stitched them closed by torchlight. He did not move through either stitching, and she assumed he slept through the whole procedure. But when she finished the last knot on his side, his hand caught hers and pressed her fingers to his lips. She looked down in the dark planes of his face and saw his eyes watching her.
Mariana smiled.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “You’re a woman of many talents.”
She brushed her lips over his forehead. “Sleep now, Hugh. Morning is coming.”
He blinked at her, then his eyes slid closed and he dropped back into sleep, still holding her hand.
Mariana waited a little while before she slid her hand free. She snuffed out the torch in the water, and in the darkness she found the long sword and the rapier on the graveled bank and the poniard resting in a heap of dust. She placed them carefully by her friends’ sides. Satisfied, she sat down on the large rock nearby to keep watch.
19
Linsha awoke to sharp points digging into her skin and a small weight bouncing on her chest. She opened bleary eyes and looked directly into round, golden brown eyes surrounded by a ring of creamy feathers. A sharp beak clacked a greeting.
“Oh, good. You’re awake,” chirped the owl, bouncing up and down again for good measure.
“Varia,” Linsha croaked. “Where have you been?”
“Yes, I see you had a busy night.”
Linsha pushed herself up to a sitting position and looked around. The mists of night had vanished. The sun was shining brightly on the water. She was still lying on the bank, but there was no one else in sight.
“Where is everyone?”
“Getting ready to go,” Varia replied, hopping up onto Linsha’s shoulder. “Messengers arrived at dawn. Centaurs.” The owl bobbed again in excitement. “The tribes and clans of Duntollik are already meeting. They heard we were coming and wanted someone to come now to talk to the chiefs. If they agree, we’re supposed to go the Grandfather Tree for the gathering of the warriors.”
Linsha’s forehead wrinkled in thought. This was a great deal of information to force into a brain that was still trying to work out what time of day it was.
“The Grandfather Tree? What is that?”
Varia’s eyes glowed gold with delight. “I will not spoil the surprise. It is one of the true wonders of these Plains.”
Linsha felt too lousy to argue. “Fine. So where have you been?”
