Shattered Assassin (20 page)

She had a job to do, and it was more important than ever that she finish it now. She changed from her dress to her black tunic, pulling the hood over her face and fastening her belt with her sword at her side. She didn’t hear the door swing open behind her until it was too late.

“What are you doing?” Luke asked. She didn’t answer. “Kazia,” He grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him. “Kazia, what are you doing?”

“I’m going after Braydton.” She jerked her arm from his grasp, flinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Are you insane? After the last two days? You’ll kill yourself!”

She glared at him. “Not until he’s dead first.”

“Kazia, I can’t let you do this. As the Captain of your Royal Guard, I can’t let you do this.”

She went to the window. “You can’t stop me, Luke.”

“If you go, Kazia, consider this my resignation. I will not pledge my life to a murderer.”

The words, any other day, would have sliced through her heart but her heart was numb now, beyond hurting. “That is your choice. But it doesn’t change my decision.” She threw her leg over the windowsill. “Goodbye, Luke,” she whispered without looking back at him. She vaulted to the ground, landing lightly and rolling before springing to her feet and sprinting through the darkness. She wouldn’t put it past him to send the other guards after her, but she had a head start, and that was all she needed.

Getting her horse out without being seen was a little more complicated. She let two of the king’s horses loose, waiting until the stable boys chased after them before slipping inside to her big mare. “Let’s go, horse,” she whispered, digging her heels into her horse’s flanks. The dark horse reared and Kazia cursed having to ride while she grabbed onto the mane for dear life. And then they bolted, bursting out of the stable doors and racing through the dark pasture. The smell of smoke still hung thick in the air, blotting out the sliver of moon and the many stars.

The horse didn’t hesitate when they neared the fence, and Kazia ducked low, burying her face in the silky mane as they leaped, the mare tucking her legs under her and clearing the fence, landing cleanly on the other side. They were enveloped in the shadows of the forest immediately and Kazia slowed her horse. It was very dark and running into a tree or tripping over a root and breaking a leg would be a huge problem. “I should give you a name. I can’t keep calling you ‘horse’,” she muttered. She ducked under a branch to avoid getting smacked in the face. “How about… Harousse?”

The horse gave no indication that she heard Kazia at all and she was hit with a sharp pain as Nakomi’s kind eyes flashed across her mind. She gasped against the hurt, struggling to distract herself. “Ha—Harousse it is.” One ear flicked back and Kazia smiled — a broken, wobbly smile that was barely real, but a smile nonetheless. “Okay then. I’m glad we understand each other. We have to get out of this forest as quickly as possible. And then I’ll let you run to your heart’s content. We’ve only got the night’s ride ahead of us.” Leaning forward to pat Harousse’s neck, she whispered, “It will all be over by morning.”

She was not used to traveling without the safety of Nakomi’s imposing presence. There were dangers in the forest that, without Nakomi, she would not survive. She could only pray that she heard them first and had time to run.

She held the reins loosely in one hand while the other rested on her crossbow, strapped to her side. Wolves that would have left them alone with Nakomi nearby could be heard howling in the distance. And bandits, of course, could be lurking anywhere. And her cousin, who for all she knew hunted her as she hunted him. Although if she had to wager a guess, she’d bet he didn’t even know of his mother’s death, let alone his father’s. He was probably waiting for them to send word that she and Randolf were both dead so that he could step in and take over the throne.

Her jaw tightened as her eyes narrowed. She would never let that happen. They were nearing the edge of the forest when she heard the distinctive snap of a branch behind her. She spun, nearly sliding off Harousse without a saddle to cling to, and squinted into the darkness, but even her night-accustomed eyes couldn’t see anything. “Something wicked this way comes,” she murmured, turning slowly to face forward but keeping most of her attention behind her. It was several steps before she heard it again, but this time to the side of her, and seconds later, to the front. Their golden eyes glowed in the darkness as they surrounded her, at least five wolves, slinking through the underbrush toward her. “Hee-ya!” She drove her heels into Harousse’s flanks, and the mare leaped forward, needing no further encouragement. As they raced through the undergrowth, Kazia jerked her crossbow from her belt. “Please,
please
don’t make me kill you.” But they kept coming, so she held on tight with her legs, praying Harousse wouldn’t choose this time to run under a low-lying limb, and aimed backward. The first wolf fell with a yelp that tore Kazia’s unthawing heart. The second stopped by its comrade. Kazia spun around in time to see the one in front leap from the bushes and she grabbed her sword, swinging it wide and hard, the momentum of their run making the blow ferociously fatal. The wolf’s head rolled to the side, still foaming at the mouth as its body collapsed behind them. There were still two, somewhere, one on each side, and Kazia’s wild eyes flew from left to right, waiting for the attack. But it didn’t come. They burst out of the forest and into the valley, Harousse fighting for her head in terror, so Kazia hurried to strap her crossbow down and slid her sword into its sheath on her belt, then bent low and let the big mare go. They flew across the plain, the wind making Kazia’s eyes tear, tugging the hair from her braid. Finally, lathered and exhausted, Harouse slowed to a walk. “Good girl.” Kazia leaned forward to rub her neck, resting her forehead against her tangled mane. Harouse flicked an ear back, which Kazia was learning meant the same thing as that long glance Nakomi used to give her.

“We’ll be okay. I’ll take care of us,” Kazia murmured.

Without the rush of adrenaline, it didn’t take her long before she was fighting to keep her eyes open. If she remembered the maps correctly, there was a town just a bit out of her way. She was tired enough that fighting anyone, especially the cousin who had been able to overpower her brother, probably wasn’t in her best interest. “Would you hate me if we took an extra day to finish this?” she asked Harousse. The horse flicked that same ear back and whapped her with the black tail. “I’m pretty sure that was a yes, but I’ll pretend you meant no.” Yawning, she mumbled, “We’ve still got a while. Keep your eyes sharp.”

She didn’t want time to think, but the valley was wide and empty and Harousse was too tired to run, so Kazia had nothing to do
but
think. She went over her plan several times, but it was amazingly simple. Find her cousin, kill him, and go home. She checked over her shoulder for the ten thousandth time, certain someone was following her, but there was no one there.

He should have followed her. If she had ever been right in believing he loved her, he wouldn’t have let her go alone, no matter how capable she was. But he didn’t love her now, if he ever had.
I will not pledge my life to a murderer
.

Oh yeah, now that her heart wasn’t quite so numb, those words hurt.
But you wouldn’t have pledged your life to me, anyway.
It was ironic, really, that he had given her up all those years ago to keep his career, and now he had given up his career because of her. Ironic, but not ironic enough that she felt like laughing at all. However much it hurt, thinking about Luke hurt far less than thinking about Nakomi, so she let her mind wander everywhere but there.

At the moment, her kingdom had no royalty. No one was ruling. It had no Captain of the Guard. And if she didn’t return, there was no one who could claim the throne. There would be a war, probably, other kingdoms fighting for her land and her people, because it was a beautiful land and a beautiful people. She couldn’t do that to them, put those she was sworn to protect through a tug-of-war for their lives. So she had to make it back. There was no other option.

I’m my father’s finest assassin. I will return to my throne.
Again she glanced over her shoulder, but now she wasn’t sure it was because she thought someone was following her or because she
hoped
someone was following her. Either way, there was no one there. Her only companions were a few small coyotes in the distance, not a threat at all as they watched her curiously.

And Harousse, of course.

So she started having conversations to combat the loneliness. She pretended her family was there, riding along with her. She pretended they told her they loved her, and that she was doing the right thing. She pretended her father lectured her on how to be a good ruler, and her mother made her promise to give her grandchildren. She pretended her brother teased her about crying and about begging the wolves not to make her kill them and about what she named her horse.

“
Don’t you realize all the royal horses are named when we get them?”

“No, Brodi. I didn’t realize that. No one ever told me her name, so what choice did I have? And anyway, what’s wrong with Harousse? It’s a fine horse name.”
She didn’t realize she was crying, but the tears felt warm, like loving fingertips against her skin.

And when she said everything to her family she could think of to say, she started talking to Nakomi. “
You should have told me you were sick. You should have helped me find the injury.”
Nakomi would have rolled her eyes and nudged her with her cold, wet nose. “
We could have saved you. Do you know how lost I am without you? I’ve had to resort to talking to the horse, and she just doesn’t get me like you do.”
She was nearing the village, her chin against her chest because she was too tired to hold her head up, when she asked ghost-Nakomi, “
How am I going to go on without you? How am I going to know what to do or what to say or who to trust? You took half of my soul with you when you left me, Nakomi.”

She could picture the eye roll, the tongue hanging out, and Kazia felt her answer in her heart.
You aren’t without me. I’m still here,
Kazia,
holding the pieces of your soul together. I’ll wait for you here.
It hurt, those words. Oh, it hurt, but it also healed. She felt her heart stitch together just a bit.

“I’d like a room, please.” The tavern owner gave her a slow glance, frowning as he peered behind her, looking for an escort. Kazia slid the gold coin across his counter. “And a safe place for my horse. We’ll only be staying until nightfall.”

The man frowned and picked up the coin, turning it over in his hand. “Not a safe place to be traveling alone, a little thing like you. With the royal family gone, bandits are running rampant.”

“I can take care of myself, thank you.” She paused as he handed her the key to her room. “And the royal family isn’t gone.”

“Well, nearly. Rumor has it the princess has been abducted by the assassins that killed her family.”

Kazia gritted her teeth, willing herself not to spit at him. “That rumor is ridiculous. The princess is alive and well.”

He shrugged. “If you say so. Just be careful out there.”

Kazia nodded and stalked away, knowing she must look a sight — bedraggled blond braid, wind-kissed fair cheeks, and a black tunic only a man should be wearing, and she was grateful that the tavern was empty this early in the morning. The sun would be up in less than two hours. Had she continued on instead of stopping, she would be at her destination by now. Her exhausted, aching muscles and throbbing joints told her she had made the right decision, though, so she dragged herself up the stairs, into the small, sparse room, and collapsed on the bed without even removing her boots first. Sleep came quickly and she welcomed the respite from her haunted thoughts.

She heard the commotion before she was even awake enough to realize where she was. Her hand went automatically to the edge of her bed, feeling for Nakomi, and when she didn’t find her, reality came crashing in, bringing all the pain with it. Luckily, the yelling distracted her.

“You can’t barge into my tavern like you own the place! I tell you, the princess isn’t here. Don’t you think I would have recognized her?” It took Kazia several seconds for the words to sink in, and then she swore and rolled out of bed, landing on her feet. She raced to the door, sliding the dead bolt and opening it just wide enough to peek out, but she couldn’t see anything beyond the stairs.

“You haven’t had any single woman travelers? At all? Her horse is in your stable!” Benjamin. He was yelling, and she distinctly heard the thump of a slammed fist on the tavern owner’s counter.

“There was only one female traveler, and she wasn’t the princess! She looked like a bandit or a she-devil.”

“That woman is an assassin and wanted for questioning about the deaths of several people. Where. Is. She?” That voice was one of the guards whose name she’d never learned. Kazia swore again and shut the door, sliding the bolt across. It wouldn’t keep them out for long, though. Already she could hear their feet pounding up the stairs. If she had to guess, she’d bet all nine of them were there. It hurt her heart that these men she had thought, stupidly, it seems, were her friends were now hunting her. It also hurt that Luke wasn’t there. But she shoved that aside and raced to the window as the first fist banged on her door. “Assassin! Open up!” That same voice from downstairs.
All this time with them and I still don’t know their names. What is wrong with me?

Kazia flung the window shutters open. The sun was just setting, and for that she was immensely grateful. It was a two-story drop, but a squat two stories and thick bushes would break her fall. As the lock splintered behind her and the door crashed open, she leaped out of the window. “Princess — Wait! We just need to talk to you!” Benjamin yelled from inside her room.
Yeah. Right
. She landed hard, feeling the bushes tear and scrap her skin. But there was no time to feel pain. She rolled to her feet and sprinted into the shadows, blending and disappearing as she raced toward the stables. But of course, Harousse would be watched, and she skidded to a halt just outside the circle of light from the barn.