Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy) (21 page)

Kou, always astute, followed her gaze to the worn saddle, his eyes skipping down to the girth cinched
tightly around Suki’s belly, and said, "An exchange."

For
the livery owner's silence, Ashlyn thought but did not say, because a horse, even a crappy one, was worth three times as much as any saddle. But it was unlikely that anybody would hide information from FLD without a darn good incentive.

Suki nickered
sweetly and nuzzled Ashlyn's shoulder, glad to be out of the stable. Ashlyn immediately felt guilty. Until just a few days ago, Suki had been free to roam just about anywhere, and now she was being transported from cramped stall to cramped stall and forced to run all day in between. Yet here she was, nuzzling Ashlyn and nickering like she was the happiest horse on the planet.

Ashlyn
felt like a jerk as she stroked the little mare’s nose. "I hold the reins this time," she told Kou, for no particular reason at all except that she wanted to reassure herself that she was in control of what was happening.

Kou didn't seem perturbed in the least.
"Of course, Lady."

Oh joy, a point of conflict for her to pounce
on. "Stop calling me Lady," she said. "My name is Ashlyn. Or you can call me Tomiko, because it really is one of my names. But I'm not the Lady of Toryn just yet, and I probably never will be, so you can just-" She saw the incredulous expression on his face and her indignation deflated like a popped balloon- "Not…call me...Lady."

She st
opped, feeling very stupid. "Let's go," she mumbled, taking Suki's reins from Kou. She hiked up her skirt, put her left foot in the stirrup and swung up on the horse's back, then took her foot out of the stirrup again so Kou could do the same. He mounted easily behind her, his hands settling around her waist for balance and still keeping enough distance between them to avoid contact with her shuriken.

Ashlyn
took a moment to realize that she felt absolutely no zing from his touch, no electricity at all. Which meant that her raging hormones probably weren't to blame for all the lousy angst she'd been feeling.

Which meant that there really was something between her and
Vargo.

And Skye
.

And
Drake.

I'm completely out of control,
she thought bleakly.
A dead man, a wise-ass and an amnesiac with a hero complex, and I'm infatuated with all three of them.

She fe
lt positively murderous as Suki carried them out of Industry, and she was pretty sure that Kou could sense her grouchy attitude, because he didn't say a word.

Until, "We are being followed," he told her softly, hands tightening almost imperceptibly on her waist.
"Stalked. Perhaps he is hoping to overtake us."

"What?" She turned her head slightly to her left, searching out of the corner of he
r eye. There was another horse not far behind them. It would have been invisible in the darkness but for the horse’s gleaming white coat and the rider's almost-matching hair. "Skye," Ashlyn grumbled, clutching a hand to her abdomen and stupidly wondering if she might be turning green- or maybe some sickly blue-green combination from both the cold and her churning stomach. "I thought he was in his room at the inn?"

"Apparently not," Kou replied. "I would assume that it was a diversionary tactic to cause us both to come out of hiding."

"Great." Gods, she felt awful, and this wasn't helping. She might as well have socked Vargo and forgone the kiss completely, for all the good it had done her. "What are we going to do?"

Kou shrugged; she could feel the movement against her shoulder blades. "Run?" he suggested, sounding as if he really had no clue whatsoever.

Run. Fantastic. The fate of the world was in their hands, and their brilliant plan was to run like hell.

Well…whatever.

"Hold on," Ashlyn said, and urged Suki on. The mare leaped forward, digging in with her hooves and dashing across the wet grass exuberantly.

Ashlyn
had never had a chance to race Suki at the Silverbell Theme Park, being that she'd bought the mare during her whole I-walk-alone-I-need-no-one phase. But she had always imagined that if she did, her little horse would trounce the opposition so soundly that the rest of the field would never think of racing again.

She looked ba
ck once to see the other horse struggling to keep pace behind them. The distance between them had increased only slightly. He wasn't going to stop. She hadn't really expected him to, not
really
; asking Skye to give up a mission was like telling the sun to retreat behind a mountain until further notice. It just wasn't gonna happen.

Ashlyn
had always admired that about him, before. Now she had to grit her teeth to keep them from chattering with fear and cold. Rain, wind, nausea and being stalked by one seriously pissed-off swordsman who thought you were a traitor to his faction did not make for a secure, comfortable journey.

She wasn
't sure how long they ran. Suki's gait lengthened and smoothed as she began to sprint; when they reached the shore and turned north, Ashlyn could hear the slapping of water beneath the horse’s hooves, Kou's breath on her neck, the cold shock of each raindrop as it hit her face and slid down her skin like icy pinpricks.

The dock came into sight through the gray mist, and she could feel Kou fumbling for the keys behind her. Ashlyn urged Suki onto the wooden dock. “Which one?” she shouted.

Kou jumped down, staring at the keys in his hand, and pointed. How he’d figured it out, she had no idea, but Ashlyn didn’t stop to consider it. It was a tiny speedboat- just large enough for two people. She dismounted from the horse and yanked at the latigo, loosening the leather strap and dropping the cinch to dangle beneath Suki’s belly.

“Get in!” she shouted to Kou, yanking the saddle off Suki’s back. Quickly she unbuckled the throat latch and slid the bridle over the mare’s head. Tossing the saddlebags into the boat, Ashlyn turned back, a lump in her throat as she looked at the little horse standing before her.

Years ago, she’d trained Suki to return to the stable in the tiny, ramshackle town of Rode if they were ever separated. Ashlyn had tested it numerous times, but recently she’d gotten lazy, hadn’t bothered to follow up and make sure Suki remembered. Ashlyn touched a hand to her horse’s velvety nose, praying that this wasn’t the last time she would see her dear friend.

“Go,” she said, pushing Suki’s head away and giving her a slap on the neck. The horse remained where she was, the whites of her eyes showing as she bobbed her head.

Ashlyn turned and climbed into the boat. “Go,” she said again, this time to Kou. The ninja had the keys in the ignition already and was starting the engine. On the second try, it roared to life. They pulled away from the dock and into the ocean. Ashlyn didn’t look over her shoulder. She didn’t want to see if Suki was still waiting for her.

The steady thrum of the engine reverberated through the boat, rattling deep into her bones.
Tears squeezed out the corners of her eyes and streaked back to her temples, and Ashlyn's breathing became shallow, the stitch in her side letting her know that although it may have felt like a short while, the chase had gone on for a considerable length of time. Minutes, hours- they melted into each other as the moon alternately revealed itself and hid its face behind the ominous thunderclouds overhead.

Ashlyn
looked back, noting without surprise that Skye had managed to access one of the other boats and was following them, much further behind than he’d been originally. He’d probably had to hotwire the damn thing.

She
began to feel light-headed. She blinked several times and shook her head, then immediately regretted it as her stomach lurched. Oh Gods. Kissing Vargo was like developing a permanent sense of motion sickness. The discomfort in her stomach intensified, and she slumped forward, grimacing.
Don't pass out don't pass out don't pass out.

"
Ashlyn," Kou said, shaking her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"No," she mumbled irritably. "My life sucks."

Wordlessly, he pulled her up to a sitting position again. "Try to stay awake," he said, and Ashlyn wondered if it was just her lethargic state that made it seem like his tone was concerned. She fought to maintain her own grip on the reins, kept her eyes wide open, tensing every time another cramp zigzagged through her abdomen and growing more and more angry with Vargo. (Although in all likeliness and considering her history of motion sickness, this probably wasn't his fault, Ashlyn still felt better having somebody to blame for her pain.)

"How are we going to get past the
Toryn forces?" she asked at length. "Jackson- I mean the, uh, president- said that he's been holding the army on the island for the past three months."

"Is that what he said?" Kou
muttered, so low that she could barely hear him. "How nice for him." He paused for a moment, and continued, "The invading Toryn forces have been restricted to the southern half of the island. We only have to be concerned with shore guards, this far north."

Ashlyn
nodded and fell into silence again. When the sky lightened just a shade or two, the night nearer to sunrise than sunset, she squinted, barely able to make out Toryn Island just in front of them. She felt a spurt of relief- followed by a sudden wave of nausea, and on the tail of
that
, a sense of impending doom. Not only was she supposed to meet Devlyn and challenge him, but she was sick, getting sicker, and unless Devlyn had a serious gross-out reaction to her vomiting all over his shoes, she doubted that the duel would end well for her.

She was so focused on their forward m
omentum that when another boat suddenly veered towards them from the left, Ashlyn overreacted, grabbing the steering wheel and yanking it so hard to the right that the tiny boat nearly capsized. Kou cursed and slapped at her hands, trying to regain control.

Ashlyn
stared at their assailant, unable to look away from him. A shore guard stared at them from the other boat, dressed like every other ninja she'd encountered in the past week, and staring suspiciously at them, the whites of his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Ashlyn swallowed hard, trying to fight her nausea, and closed her eyes-
no sea sickness-
then heard the distinct
shhhhink
of a katana being drawn from its sheath.

"Stay your weapon
." Kou's voice rang out, clear, concise and with an unmistakable air of authority. He somehow managed to pry Ashlyn's hands off the steering wheel and eased down on the throttle, letting the boat coast to a halt in the water. Another boat suddenly slammed into them from behind, jolting them forward, and another ninja leaped onto the back, much too close for comfort.

Okay, this sucked,
Ashlyn thought, clamping her hand over her mouth as she lost her balance and fell forward, struggling valiantly to keep from tossing her cookies. She felt like her dinner was going to make its grand, post-consumption debut any minute now.

When
Ashlyn raised her eyes to look at the cloaked ninja in front of her, she found him staring back at her, his moonlit eyes above the mask unmistakably shocked. She didn't recognize him, but he seemed to know her. Or maybe he just recognized the greenish tint of her skin. Lis weren't exactly known for their love of traveling. (What, did people think she came by this motion sickness thing on her own? Please. It was another trait that ran in her family, right up there with indecisiveness, procrastination and sticky fingers.)

The n
inja finally dragged his gaze from hers, eyes flicking to Kou. "My apologies," he said, inclining his head and sheathing his sword again. "I did not recognize you."

He started, grabbing for purchase on her seat as the boat ran ashore, but his eyes remained locked on Kou.

The hum of an engine grew louder as Skye pulled up beside them, grim-faced and wet, his hair plastered against his head in dripping spikes. He was flanked by two ninjas in the boat with him. And if looks could kill, Ashlyn had a feeling she'd be swimming with the fishes.

"I have brought the Li
heir," Kou said.

"The Li heir?"
Ashlyn exclaimed, just a little late in her realization. She scrambled out of the boat and landed on her knees in the shallow water, the impact jarring her teeth and her upset stomach painfully. She looked up at Kou, using one hand to scrape her wet bangs out of her eyes, the other clutching her shuriken, "Oh, no. You're not bringing me here just to turn me over to the Toryn army so Devlyn can take some kind of perverse delight in severing my head from my body."

The guard behind her burst out laughing, and she craned her neck around to glare at him, in turn only making him laugh harder. "She's feisty, all right," he said, sounding- what
?-
relieved,
of all things. "I should have expected as much from the Elder Lord’s heir." He smiled down at Ashlyn. "I should extend my welcome, Lady Li. Devlyn-" here he inclined his head towards Kou- "has been searching the world over for you. I am glad to see he has found you at last."