Exiles of Forlorn (21 page)

“We’re just working a few things out, is all,” said Ferun.

“Stop it immediately.” Arn stepped between us. I sheathed Red and went to Antioc’s side. Gargath joined me, quickly examining his wounds. Reiwyn ran to us as well, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fell to her knees beside our fallen champion. I hadn’t ever seen her cry. It made me feel knotted up inside.

“Is he going to be fair?” asked Blackfoot as he and Uller joined us.

“I need to get him to the infirmary,” said Gargath. “Help me carry him.”

Uller took one arm and I took the other, and together we hoisted him up while Arn and Sharkhart chastised Ferun.

“What were you thinking, fighting with them?”

“They attacked me,” he snapped back.

“We were protecting Reiwyn!” shouted Blackfoot.

“He grabbed her,” I said, laboring under Antioc’s weight. “We came because we heard her cry for help.” That wasn’t quite true, but it was true enough.

“They’re lying,” snarled Ferun. “I wasn’t attacking her. I was just touching her arm. We were having a private discussion . . .”

“Private enough that we could hear it all the way in the mess!”

“Quiet, both of you!” Arn turned to Reiwyn, who was standing off to the side with Zin and Hratoe. “Is this true? Did he have his hand on your arm?”

Reiwyn was red with embarrassment as she nodded. I wanted to run to her side and take her in my arms, but I doubted she would appreciate that. My river woman was proud, and this had to be a humbling moment that she wanted to end. I needed to end it for her, somehow.

“She’s lying,” said Ferun.

“You’re the liar!” I shouted at him. He fixed me with that tiger’s glare. That’s when it occurred to me . . . 

“Ask Zin. She saw the whole thing.” I pointed at her. Zindet’s eyes widened as all the attention went to her. She was a perfect choice as a mediator. She was a priestess, bound by a code set forth by the Adonai to never utter a falsehood. What’s more, Arn knew her personally, and therefore trusted her word. Regardless, she did not appear comfortable with any of this.

“Is this true? Did you see everything?”

“I saw what we all saw when we came to investigate the shouting.” She looked at Ferun for a second, then looked away quickly. “He had his hand on her. It did not look gentle, and it appeared as though she were trying to pull away. At least, it seemed so. Only the Daevas know the truth of it.”

“I wasn’t grabbing her!” shouted Ferun, advancing on Zin. He was intercepted by Sharkhart. “She was being a fool! I was just trying to get her to listen to reason.”

“I think we’ve all heard enough,” said Arn. He looked at Uller and me, still straining to hold Antioc up. “Take him to the infirmary, and stay there.” He turned and looked at Ferun. “I want you in my yurt. Immediately.”

Ferun faced off against Sharkhart, throwing every angry glare at him he could muster. It didn’t seem to stir anything in the savage, who remained stalwart, staring down at the patch-eyed fighter with his stony brown eyes. After a few moments of that disquieting exchange, Ferun snorted, wiped blood from his mouth, sheathed his dagger, and stormed off. Boran and Stree followed.

17.

W
e hauled Antioc to the infirmary, where Nol tended to his wounds quickly. He remained unconscious the whole time. We stood at his side, me and Reiwyn closest, as Gargath assisted Nol.

“What happened to him?” asked Nol with his thick Umbrish accent.

“He got into a fight,” I explained, “and he lost.” I couldn’t believe what I’d just said. I’d never met a man who could take Antioc. He always seemed indestructible. The idea of losing him shook me inside.

“He’s going to be fair,” Gargath declared at length. “He just needs to rest.”

“Rest?” moaned Antioc as he woke. We all crowded around his bed. “I’m ready for round two!”

We laughed, nervous mostly. Antioc looked in no state to fight, but that likely wouldn’t stop him if given the chance. Fortunately, Ferun and his goons were far from us, presumably on the receiving end of a stern lecture from the Sand King.

I leaned in close and whispered in my friend’s ear. “You need to rest. I have big things planned, and I can’t accomplish them without you.” Antioc smiled and patted my hand.

Nol shooed me away from him. “Open your mouth,” he said, holding a piece of swollen pink fruit over Antioc’s head. He squeezed the juice from the fruit into Antioc’s mouth. “This should make you sleep, despite the pain. You’ll have some very inspired dreams, but otherwise be fair.”

Antioc nodded.

“I’m so sorry,” pleaded Reiwyn, taking his hand.

“It’s not your fault,” rasped Antioc, shaking his head.

“It kind of is,” I said. A hurt look washed over Reiwyn’s face, but I didn’t care. If she’d shown more sensibility in picking her lovers, Antioc wouldn’t be struggling for life right now. At that point, I didn’t care if I made her sad; I just wanted my Antioc back.

“I certainly hope you’re done with him,” said Uller, showing no less distaste than me.

“I am,” she replied with a nod. “He’s a bastard. I can’t believe he would do something like this.”

“Can’t you?” I snapped. She gave me a look of hurtful paralysis, but offered no argument.

“Leave her alone! She’s crying!” growled Blackfoot.

“No, they’re right,” whispered Reiwyn. She closed her eyes. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

“I saw it the minute I met him. We all did. He’s dangerous. But that’s what you liked about him, isn’t it?”

“I . . .” She shook her head, tears streaming down her red cheeks. “It’s over between us. I swear it. Daevas, if he comes near me again, I’ll kill him myself.”

“Couldn’t you see it in him?” asked Uller. “You’re no fool—”

“That’s enough,” said Zin, holding up her hand. “I think she understands.”

Reiwyn nodded and turned her attention to Antioc. She started stroking his long hair, sometimes touching his cheek. Uller paced while Blackfoot sat beside her, tossing Uller and me angry looks now and again.

I waited until things had calmed down to ask the next bit, “What were you arguing about?”

She took a deep breath before answering. Most of her tears had dried and the pained labor in her voiced lessened. “He’s never liked how close I am to all of you. I guess he just wasn’t comfortable with my best friends being men.” She looked around at all of us. “But you’re more than best friends. You’re my family. If he can’t understand that, then I don’t want him in my life.”

“We only came because we heard shouting,” said Blackfoot. “We weren’t being nosy, I promise.”

She smiled and patted his cheek. “I know you weren’t, dear.” She looked at all of us and said, “You’re all so brave. I should be angry with you for not letting me handle it myself, but I know that would be foolish. You did for me what any of us would have done for another.”

Arn and Sharkhart came to check on Antioc in the afternoon. After Nol assured them that Antioc would be fair, I took Arn aside for a few hushed words. “Will Ferun be punished for this?”

Arn scratched his head. “We talked to all the witnesses we could find. By all accounts, your group attacked him first and he was defending himself.”

“Defending himself? He had Reiwyn by the arm, and Antioc is half dead!”

“He was overzealous, but still it was self-defense. As to the charge of manhandling Reiwyn, we have no witnesses other than your friends to attest to this, and you are the ones charged with attacking him.”

“Why else would we have confronted him?”

Arn raised his hands. “I know, and I understand.”

“You can’t seriously believe we would attack someone like Ferun unprovoked!”

“It isn’t about what I believe. It’s about what I can prove. Everyone is given the presumption of innocence in Forlorn. Without independent proof, it’s your word against his, and you have as much motive to lie as he does.”

I sighed and cupped my brow. “Reiwyn doesn’t want him around her anymore.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. I just need to know that you and yours aren’t going to seek vengeance for what happened here, and that all of you, especially Antioc, will let this be the end of it.”

I looked him in the eye. “Can you make similar assurances regarding Ferun?”

“He has given me his word─”

“His word?”

Arn looked sternly. “I have known Ferun a great while longer than I have known any of you, and he is a lot of things, but an oath breaker he is not. Now, do I have your word?”

I hesitated, but nodded. Arn patted my shoulder and left with Sharkhart.

We sat with him for hours, skipping our evening meal and even remaining after Nol left for the day. When the evening came, it was just the five of us. Zin had returned to her barber’s station to shave and preach, and the Volteri had gone to do whatever it is they did in the evenings.

As soon as we were alone, and the stillness of the night outside the infirmary assured me no one was passing by to overhear, I turned to the matter at hand. “We’ve waited long enough. As soon as he’s well, we’re leaving for Xanas Muir.”

No one argued, least of all Reiwyn.

18.

I
remember the first time I saw Antioc fight. I’d always figured he was a formidable warrior, but I never really appreciated his grace and strength until I saw him in battle. We’d only just met the week prior, and were on a back road from Lurrip Keep on our way to Jirtdale. It was an unsafe route, but the quickest and most direct. I had heard in Larrami that the barge to Forlorn left every four months, and we were only a month away from its next departure. If we were to reach Horaceport in time, we’d need all haste.

It was evening, as we passed through a patch of forest darkened by an overgrowth of fat oak trees, when we were waylaid by brigands. The first of them stood in the middle of the road, his head down, face covered by the brim of his hat, and his hand on the hilt of his sword. Antioc slowed our approach, gripping the shaft of his spear.

The brigand looked up, half his face covered by a cloth mask. “Well, what do we have here? Passersby!”

Antioc stopped me behind him and lowered his spear. “What’s your business, stranger?”

“My business is warning travelers. You should be careful. There are rough men on these roads tonight.”

“Is that so?” I asked, incredulous.

“Oh, indeed.” He took off his hat, revealing scraggly brown hair crowning a bald scalp as he bowed. “And I’m afraid you’ve just met one of them.”

“Just one?” said Antioc.

The brigand chuckled and shook his head. Four more figures emerged from the woods on either side of us: three men and a woman with a crossbow, all masked and filthy. They wore piecemeal armor and clothing, and held rusted weapons that looked like they might have once served in the royal army. Whether these were the original owners, having taken them upon desertion, or they’d scavenged them from their corpses, I couldn’t say. And they didn’t seem in the mood to answer questions.

“We’ll take your gold,” said the brigand, drawing his sword slowly. It was the only one in the lot that looked to have been properly cared for, but was still pitted with use and age. “We’ll also take your weapons. And your boots. And anything else we like in the interim. And then you may live.”

“Come take them,” said Antioc. I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Let’s not be hasty,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder and stepping forward. “I think we can come to some kind of arrangement so nobody needs to get hurt.”

The brigand stuck the tip of his sword in the earth at his feet and leaned on the blade. “An arrangement?”

“Yes. You see, we don’t have any gold.” That wasn’t a lie.

“I understand. In this economy, who can blame you? War on and all that.” He sighed. “We’ll just take your weapons and boots and be done with it.”

“And this one’s armor,” said a fat one, eyeing Antioc’s chain mail shirt. He looked as though he might be able to squeeze into it, if he didn’t mind never getting out of it again.

“No, see, we need those. Like you said, there are rough men out.” I looked around with a smile. “Present company excluded, of course.”

The brigand leaned forward. “Your boots, weapons and armor won’t do you no good if you’re dead.” He somehow made it sound like a friendly suggestion.

The rest of them laughed. I heard the shrill of the female’s laugh over all the others. I choked back the fear taking me and forced a chuckle of my own. “A fair point. But, I propose that I give you my weapons. Here . . .” I drew my dagger, and was interrupted by a flurry of action as the woman’s crossbow came up and aimed at my head.

“No need for that,” I said, slowly tossing the dagger to the ground. It embedded in the earth between the brigand and me. He barely even regarded it. “Would you like my boots as well?”

“Don’t give him your boots, Lew.”

“It’s fair.” I looked back at Antioc. “I can walk without them. A small thing, compared to our lives.” I reached down to take them off.

The brigand threw back his head and laughed. “You’re new at this, eh, boy? You don’t offer us anything. We
take
it. Not a little. All of it. Take off your boots and tell your man there to lay down his arms and do like we ask, or we’ll slit your throats and leave you on the road to rot.”

My hands shook. “Shouldn’t there be a more reasonable way to settle this?”

“Surrender is reasonable.”

I backed away slowly, expecting Antioc would do the same. What hope could he have against five highwaymen? Sure, Antioc was big, but he was just one man, and I was next to useless in a fight. But he stood his ground, gripping the shaft of his spear with white knuckles. The woman’s crossbow aim went from me to him, and so did the brigand leader’s eyes.

“Drop the spear,” she said with a voice that in the dark I’d have mistaken for a man’s.

“Best do as she says, big one,” said the leader. “She’s not much of a shot, but at this range she can’t miss.”

“Neither can I,” Antioc replied. And with that, he came to motion, throwing the spear into the woman’s chest. She screamed and the crossbow went off, but Antioc had already spun out of the way. The bolt landed in the brigand diagonal from her, sending him to the ground clutching his throat as blood poured from it. Antioc drew a dagger from his belt and jumped into the fat one, stabbing him in the gut. When his hands went to the bloody wound, Antioc finished him with a slash to the throat. He hadn’t even hit the ground before Antioc spun and hurled his dagger into the fourth one charging him, axe held high. The blade took him square in the chest, staggering him enough that he stumbled and fell.