me. I thought I was going to be crushed.”
“Well you survived somehow. How did that stone surround you like that?”
“I think that stone woman did it. When the wall collapsed she saw me, and I think she made the floor rise up around me…or something like that. I’m not really sure, it all happened so fast,” she said.
I glared at Cyhan, “My sleeping mind again I’m sure.” I don’t know why I kept trying sarcasm on him; he seemed completely oblivious to it.
“Most likely,” he replied.
I wasn’t buying it. Whoever the woman had been she was no fragment of my unconscious mind. She was real, and if her actions were any proof, she could not be malignant. Of course by that logic Marc’s goddess was a sweetheart as well. She had a pronounced proclivity for healing the sick and similar good works. I decided I would reserve judgment for the time being. The stone lady might have ulterior motives just as the gods did.
James Lancaster appeared at last, “Is it safe to come in yet?” He looked in through the shattered door-frame. “Damn! Mordecai every time I let you into my home this happens. I suppose you have a good excuse this time as well?” He was projecting mock anger but I wasn’t fooled.
“Sorry, Penny was holding hands with me and I got a bit too excited your grace,” I replied. Inappropriate? Sure it was, but after everything else that had happened I figured no one would care.
James stared at me blankly for a moment, and then Cyhan started snickering quietly. I had never heard him laugh before, but it set off a chain reaction as everyone’s nervous anxiety sought release. James laughed loudest of all, as usual. A great belly laugh, I made more mental notes so I could mimic him better next time.
Chapter 15
We started out bright and early the next morning. I offered to pay James for the damage to his home but he declined saying he owed me enough already for saving his life. I argued with him, but we had too many other things to do for me to put much energy into it.
We rode at an easy pace. We might have made better time but the mules carrying the gold couldn’t manage anything faster. Penny was back in her ‘traveling warrior’ garb, chain byrnie over padded gambeson. She wore her sword proudly now, the bond seemed to have improved it. I hadn’t enchanted it before but now it was every bit as sharp as the one I had done for Dorian.
I thought about that as we rode. Without being enchanted I assumed that the magic that gave it its sharpness must be continually renewed by the bond between us. That meant that the bond had some perpetual cost, a slight drain upon our personal energies would be needed to maintain it. I wondered what other costs there might be, but I knew too little to have any good guesses.
Penny was in a good mood. Exuberant would be the best description for it. She had been ever since the bond was formed; her new strength and energy had filled her with a joyful zest for life. I’m pretty sure she was looking forward to the evening’s training session with Cyhan. She had as much as said she had a score to settle. I hoped the two of them didn’t inflict any injuries I couldn’t heal.
Cyhan nudged his horse closer to mine, “Keep your eyes open, if they have anyone after us they’ll probably make their move tonight or tomorrow.”
I hadn’t forgotten our previous discussion, “I know. I’ve been scanning the hills around us. When they get close I’ll sense them. We should have plenty of warning.”
“Warning would be good, but I won’t count on it. Men can surprise you, they may think of some way to avoid detection you haven’t come across before,” he replied.
Typical, I could have told him they would attack us naked, armed only with spoons and he probably would have warned me how dangerous a spoon could be in the hands of a desperate man. I think he lived in a state of constant paranoia.
Marc leaned over to me, “You need to relax Mort. You seem tense.”
“I’m not the one that’s tense… or rather I wouldn’t be if he wasn’t such a worrywart,” I replied.
We rode until noon before we stopped to eat lunch. When we stopped Penny made a point of leaping down from her horse, the she remounted with a standing jump. The action delighted her so much she repeated it several times. She was about to try vaulting completely over the horse before she had to stop. Her poor mare had spooked at her strange antics and nearly started bucking. She spent several minutes talking to her to calm her down.
“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
