and boots. Her features bore the unmistakable look of a
She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
At that moment, Ashinji felt the world shift beneath him, as if the mighty tidal forces shaping his life had suddenly changed, pulling him in an entirely new direction. He had no idea why, but he knew with the bone-deep certainty of a man of faith that this was meant to be, that he and this girl were meant for each other. He could not-would not-let her die.
He looked up at the sound of approaching hoof beats. Gendan had returned.
“ Lord Ashinji! Are you hurt?” the captain shouted in alarm at the sight of his young lord on his knees. He jumped down from his horse and ran over to where Ashinji knelt beside the injured, unconscious girl.
Ashinji waved his hand in reassurance. “No, Captain. I’m unhurt, but this girl here is, and badly. It’s my fault. She fell, and I rode over her. Gendan…look at her. She’s no bandit.”
Gendan squinted down at the girl’s drained, slack face and shrugged. “If you say so, my lord…We had to kill a few of the others,” he reported laconically.
Ashinji looked at the captain sharply. “Was there no other way, Gendan?” he questioned, dismayed.
“ I’m sorry, my lord, but I tried, I really did, but the miserable dogs wouldn’t listen!” Gendan replied, clearly exasperated with his young lord. “I told ‘em they could lay down their weapons, such as they were, and we’d let ‘em go, but their leader just spat at me and then he threw a knife at my face!”
“ Goddess’ tits,” Ashinji muttered.
“ Once the three biggest ones were down, the others gave up. We let ‘em go, and they all ran like rabbits back into the forest, all ‘cept one.” Gendan paused and looked thoughtfully at the unconscious girl. “He’s not a bandit, either, I reckon. Dressed too well. Says he and his cousin were set upon in the woods by the others. Think this one must be the cousin? He said it was a girl. Hikui, by the look of her. Fancy that!”
“ Help me with her, Gendan. Where is the man?”
“ We’ve got him a ways down river. Tied up, just in case he’s lying. I figured you’d want to question him yourself. Here, my lord, I’ll carry the girl.” Gendan stooped down and gathered the girl up into his arms. The jostling of her injured body stirred her partly awake, and she cried out in pain.
Ashinji felt a flare of anger. “Be careful with her, Gendan! She’s hurt, and I don’t know how badly yet.”
“ Your pardon, my lord,” Gendan apologized, a look of puzzlement on his face. He settled the semi-conscious girl more gently in his arms and began walking. Ashinji gathered up the reins of the two horses and followed. His stomach was a swirling pit of anxiety. The girl might be so hurt that she would die before he could get her back to Kerala Castle.
A short walk past the bend in the river brought them within visual range of the rest of the company. Several of the troops stood in a cluster around a kneeling figure. They seemed loose-limbed and relaxed, as if they perceived no threat from their captive. They all snapped to attention when they caught sight of Ashinji and Gendan.
“ This is the human, my lord,” Gendan indicated the kneeling man with a lift of his chin. Someone had bound his hands securely behind him. An ugly bruise purpled the skin of his forehead just above the left eye, and a deep laceration had made a gory mask of his face.
The human’s eyes fastened on Gendan’s burden and widened in alarm. “My cousin! What have you done to her? Is she alive?” he cried, struggling against the leather cord that secured his hands. He attempted to regain his feet, but two of the soldiers roughly pushed him back and held him down.
“ Enough! Leave him be,” Ashinji snapped. The men obeyed immediately with murmured apologies, stepping back from the human, who ceased struggling and fixed his eyes upon Ashinji. Handing off the reins of the horses to a waiting soldier, Ashinji stepped up to the man and drew his knife. The human’s eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared; his entire body went rigid.
“ I am not going to kill you. I am going to free your hands,” Ashinji explained. He reached behind the man and severed the cord with a single cut.
The human sat for a moment, rubbing his chafed wrists and staring thoughtfully up at Ashinji. “The girl…she’s my cousin. Please…tell me. Is she alive?” His eyes, a clear vibrant blue, glimmered with fear, but not for himself.
“ She lives, but she is badly hurt, and I am entirely at fault,” Ashinji answered.
“ My lord, that is not…” Gendan interrupted indignantly, but Ashinji silenced him with a raised hand. The human glanced briefly at Gendan’s face, uncomprehendingly, then returned his attention to Ashinji.
“ I believed your cousin to be part of the gang of bandits we came here to deal with. She ran; I chased her. She fell in front of my horse, and I could not pull up quickly enough to avoid running over her. I am sorry.”
“ May I go to her?” the human asked.
“ Of course.” Ashinji stepped back as the man rose to his feet. He stood a few measures taller than everyone in the company, well built and strong. Gendan was right. This human, unlike the pathetic creatures lying dead and scattered on the riverbank, clearly was no bandit.
“ Gendan, give this man his kinswoman,” Ashinji ordered in Soldaran, so that the human would understand and know that he was sincere. Gendan complied, transferring the injured girl as gently as he could into the arms of her cousin. The poppy juice was exerting its effect, for the girl hardly stirred. The man whispered in her ear and cradled her close, closing his eyes and resting his bloody cheek against hers.
Ashinji felt torn. There was no question in his mind about the girl. He would take her back to Kerala, but what about the man, her cousin? Ashinji knew that the human would never permit his kinswoman to be carried away while he remained behind. The troops stirred restlessly.
Gendan stepped up and spoke softly. “What are we going to do with these two, my lord?” he asked.
Ashinji fixed Gendan with a determined look. “Have the troops gather some wood so we can burn these bodies,” he said, pointing to the three corpses lying on the stones. “We don’t know if they carry the plague, but we can’t take any chances, so don’t anyone touch them with bare hands. Also, make sure that everyone who handles them keeps their noses and mouths covered. After that’s done, we’ll camp down by the fords. Hurry, it’s almost full dark.”
“ With respect, Lord Ashinji, but you didn’t answer my question. What’ll we do with these two humans?”
“ I’ve decided that the girl is coming with us. Without a proper doctor, she’ll most likely die. The man, well, I’ll give him the choice of accompanying her, or returning to his home.”
“ My lord, you can’t be serious! You can’t bring humans back to Kerala Castle!” Gendan’s voice crackled with disapproval.
Ashinji rounded on him. “Look at her, Gendan. She is badly hurt, and I caused her to be in this deadly state. I can’t abandon her now! Besides that, she is hikui, and that makes her one of our people. She and her cousin are obviously not bandits. Their clothes are clean and well made. I suspect they are from Amsara Castle, most likely retainers of the duke. I will offer them my help. Now, stop arguing with me and do as I say!”
“ As you wish, my lord,” Gendan bowed stiffly and turned to go. As he stalked off, Ashinji heard the captain muttering in irritation.
Ashinji sighed and turned his attention to the man and girl. The man had settled on a patch of turf with his cousin’s head in his lap. Ashinji could just make out his features in the last glow of twilight. Somewhere in the dark woods, an owl screeched. The crickets were beginning to trill brightly in the tall reeds by the water’s edge.
Ashinji knelt down in front of the two. “My name is Ashinji Sakehera. My father is Sen Sakehera, Lord of Kerala, the province just across the river from here.”
“ Magnes Preseren,” the man replied. “This is my cousin, Jelena.”
“ What are you doing out here, Magnes Preseren? You are a long way from the nearest human settlement I know of. Are you servants of the duke?”
The man named Magnes laughed, and Ashinji thought he detected a bitter note. “Yes, we are from Amsara Castle, and yes, you could say we are both servants of the duke.”
An unpleasant suspicion began to nag at Ashinji. He stood up. “I want to offer you my help for your cousin, Magnes Preseren, but if you are a wrongdoer fleeing the justice of your master, you must tell me now, or I will take the girl and leave you behind.” His voice was hard, the threat behind his words clear.
“ I am no wrongdoer, Lord Ashinji, but my cousin and I did flee Amsara Castle because it was impossible for
