The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy) (50 page)

“She’s a scientist, not a
warrior,” Aik said dryly. “I’d be happy to accompany you, Ashlyn.”

“Oh good. Well- hurry, because if
I had it my way Aaron wouldn’t even touch down before we turn around and head
back to North Camp.” Ashlyn whirled and started running again.

The airship was just landing when
she reached the town square, and she danced impatiently around the clearing,
wanting nothing more than to jump into the ship and order an immediate
take-off. The engines cut off first, and then the ramp began to descend slowly-
way too slowly- as Ashlyn dashed up to it and waited impatiently for Aaron to
exit.

“Hi!” she said excitedly when the
pilot finally appeared at the top of the ramp. “How’s my father? Is he okay?
Can we go back now? Do you need to recharge the airship or anything?”

“Calm down, kid,” Aaron said,
holding up his hands as his heavy boots clanged on the ramp. “What’s goin’ on?
Last I saw there was a big battle brewin’.”

“Oh.” Dang, she’d totally
forgotten that when Aaron had left yesterday, Kou’s army was about to attack.
She supposed she did owe him an explanation. “Everything’s fine. Everyone’s
fine- well, Vargo was hurt but he’ll make it, thank Drago. Kou and Tag got
away, along with a few of their soldiers. For the most part…they’re all dead.”
She frowned. It didn’t sound so great when she said it out loud. If there had
been any way to save those ninjas, or if they had surrendered rather than
fighting to the death, she certainly would have welcomed them back into Toryn
with open arms, but it hadn’t happened that way.

Aaron looked vaguely impressed,
and took his unlit cigarette from his mouth. “So why ya so desperate to get
goin’?” he asked, sticking the cigarette behind his ear.

“I don’t want my dad to be
alone,” Ashlyn said. It was the truth, but not the whole truth. “I just talked
to Restlyn and she’s handling everything for now. I’d like to stay with my dad
at least until my coronation- and hopefully by that point he’ll be well enough
to come back anyway. How is he? Is he doing okay?”

“Better than Sara expected,” the
blond pilot replied. “Even woke up on the way to North Camp. Askin’ after you
somethin’ fierce though.”

“When can I go to him?” At the
moment, the simplicity of seeing her dad again, holding his hand and seeing him
smile, was so overwhelmingly necessary that Ashlyn felt like she might just
jump in the ocean and
swim
to North
Camp.

Aaron sighed. “Kid, if you’re
really that desperate, just let me touch base with Skye, and then we’ll go.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank
you!” Ashlyn stood on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his stubbly cheek. “Let me just
get my stuff, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Aaron turned to head back up the
ramp, no doubt going to tell his crew that they weren’t done flying just yet,
and Ashlyn took off for her house. “Oh! Aik!” she said, skidding to a halt as
she passed the wolf. “We’re leaving in a few minutes! Do you need me to carry
anything for you?”

“No, thanks,” he answered. “I’ll
meet you inside.”

Ashlyn sprinted to her house and
wiped off her feet at the door, shoving her sneakers back on before she
entered. She took the stairs to the basement two at a time. The strong smell of
ammonia hit her when she reached the bottom, and she paused for a moment to
look at the corner where Vargo had been attacked. The women of Toryn, so
grateful to help out their future Lady, were nothing if not thorough. Her floor
looked cleaner than it ever had, with no trace of the carnage from the night
before.

She shuddered, and whispered
another brief prayer of thanks to Drago for the otherworldly calm and
determination that had steadied her hands as she had struggled to keep Vargo
alive with
heal
. She was perfectly
capable of healing minor wounds, but had never attempted anything more than
cuts, scrapes and bruises, or at worst a few gashes. A shredded stomach was
something else entirely, and she’d never been so scared as she was when she
kneeled in a pool of Vargo’s blood, clutching his hand and hoping against hope
that her
heal
magic would save his
life.

Ashlyn went to the cabinet in the
corner and keyed in the long combination to unlock it, grateful that Kou hadn’t
accessed her weapons during his stay in her home. She grabbed a knapsack and
loaded it with several small throwing knives, along with one large hira
shuriken that she’d never much liked for its lack of balance. Her sword was
already strapped to her back, and she planned on using that as her primary
weapon.

She put the book in the knapsack
as well, reminding herself that she would read it on the ship once they were on
their way.

As an afterthought, she went
upstairs to her dresser and shoved a handful of clothing into the knapsack too.
After this war was over, she would definitely start paying more attention to
her wardrobe.
And I’ll definitely be
getting a haircut,
she thought as she tucked an errant lock of hair behind
her ear. Skye’s chop job wasn’t doing her appearance any favors right now.

When she went outside, she saw
Aaron and Skye at the bottom of the ramp, deep in conversation.

“…Move him to Cosmea,” Skye was
saying as she walked up. “He should be stable enough within a day or two.”

“Poor kid,” Aaron said. “Takes
some guts, attackin’ a bear unarmed. Glad he’s gonna be okay.”

“It’ll be a long recovery,” Skye
replied. “Drake did as much as he could, but there were some injuries that were
just too precise to attempt. He’ll need time, and a real healer to keep an eye
on him.” He nodded to Ashlyn as she drew closer. “Are you ready to go? Aaron
tells me you’re pretty anxious to see your father.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I hope you
don’t mind me bailing on you like this.”

“Why would I mind? Restlyn’s got
everything under control. Besides, you’re leaving in broad daylight and you
already told me where you’re going,” Skye said, and she smiled guiltily.

“Later, boss,” Aaron said, saluting
Skye as he turned to follow Ashlyn up the ramp.

“Be safe,” Skye called after
them.

Ashlyn stood beside Aaron as he
pushed the button to fold in the ramp. “Hey, Aaron?” she said, staring out at
the city below them.

“Yeah?” The pilot closed the hatch,
sliding the bolt into place.

“You think we could swing by Rode
when we come back from North Camp?”

“It ain’t exactly on the way.”

“I know, but…well, when I came to
Toryn in the boat with Kou, I had to leave my horse. I trained her to go back
to Rode if we ever got separated. I’d…like to see if she’s there.”

Aaron scoffed as he straightened
up, dusting his hands off on his pants. “No promises, kid. We’ll see.”

“Thanks.”

He left for the bridge, and
Ashlyn headed for the bunkrooms, knowing that Aik would have gone to his usual
sleeping place there.

“Hey,” she said to the wolf, who
was curled up on his mattress, looking for all the world like a domesticated
dog. (She would never tell him that.)

“No air sickness?” he said
mildly, and Ashlyn stumbled into the wall as the ship lifted off the ground,
her stomach plummeting in response to the ascent.

“You jinxed me,” she said with a
grimace, and slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. “I think
I’ll be okay. When we flew here from the southern part of the island I was
pretty proud of myself for not barfing even once.”

“The gods be praised,” Aik said
wryly.

One side of her mouth curved
slightly. Why was everyone in FLD so sarcastic? She remembered that month
they’d traveled together, and the hilarity that often had her in stitches even
during dangerous and deadly situations. This time around hadn’t been nearly as
much fun. The players were the same, but
she
was different.

“What’s that?” Aik asked when she
pulled the book out of her knapsack.

“It’s a book on Toryn customs
from the gong library. I’m trying to figure out if I can designate a non-Toryn,
or even a half-Toryn, to take over for me if something should happen to me. I
don’t want to kick the bucket and leave Toryn in a big mess like the one it’s in
now.”

“I found something about that
during our research in Cosmea,” Aik said.

Ashlyn’s head shot up. “Really?
About successors to the throne?”

“Yes.” The wolf yawned, his pink
tongue lolling. “It wasn’t of any use to us at the time, but I do remember clearly
what it said. Non-Toryns can only lay claim to the throne if they married into
the bloodline.”

Ashlyn wrinkled her nose. “So if
I wanted Skye to be my successor, I’d have to marry him? I can’t think of
anything less appealing.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him you
said that.”

“I’m sure he’d agree with me!
What about half-Toryns? Don’t say anything, but I was considering naming
Restlyn as my successor. I mean, she’s doing such a great job as interim Lady
right now.”

Aik’s ears twitched as he laid
his head on his paws. “There was nothing about half-Toryns in the book. I’d
definitely have remembered that.”

She frowned, and looked down at
the book in her hands. “Well, maybe there’s something in here. Not like I have
anything else to do right now, anyway.”

Chapter 9

My Sweet Girl

“I don’t get it.”

Aik stirred on the mattress,
blinking his yellow eyes sleepily. “Pardon?”

Ashlyn scratched her head,
realizing too late that her ponytail probably looked like it had barely
survived a tornado with all the head-scratching she’d been doing over the past
several hours. Oh well, it wasn’t like Aik cared how her hair looked anyway.

“I have read this book cover to
cover,” she said, “and it has no mention of half-Toryns whatsoever, which is
annoying. But it does say the same thing you mentioned earlier- that a
non-Toryn can ascend only if they’re married to the reigning Lord at the time
of the Lord’s death.”

“Lord or Lady,” the wolf replied
diplomatically.

Ashlyn grinned. “Well, yeah. But
see, here’s the thing. Up until about twenty-five ago, there were laws
specifically saying that only men could lead Toryn. There was no such thing as
Lady of the Pagoda. And actually, there hasn’t even been one yet. I’ll be the
first.”

“Toryn is progressing, much like
the rest of the world,” said Aik. “Does that seem unusual?”

“It does, because my grandfather,
at the recommendation of my father, is the one who changed the law,” Ashlyn
said. “It happened just before my father ascended the pagoda. Actually, they
changed two laws together. The first law my father threw out was the one saying
that Toryn lords could only marry fellow Toryns. He made it so that Toryn lords
can marry outside of Toryn blood- Landians, Northerners, anyone they want. The
second law he changed was the one about women being able to take over
leadership.” She shrugged, flipping through the pages of the book. “I guess it
wouldn’t seem so weird, except that as far as I can tell, my dad hasn’t lobbied
to change any other laws since he accepted Lordship of Toryn. Isn’t that…weird?
Why those two laws? Why did he do it right after he ascended the pagoda? It’s
like he was planning something that never came to be.”

“Perhaps he did it for you?” Aik
suggested. “You are his firstborn, and you’re clearly female.”

Her mouth dropped open in mock
horror. “Seriously? I’m gonna be nineteen in a few weeks, not twenty-five. I
wasn’t anywhere close to being born when he did this. Actually, I don’t think
he was even married to my mom then. I wonder…” She paused, the idea occurring
to her for the very first time. “Do you think my dad had a secret love? A
non-Toryn?”

“You can ask him yourself,” Aaron
said, appearing in the doorway. He braced one elbow high up on the doorjamb,
leaning against it casually. “We’re about to land at North Camp.”

“You think he’s awake? And
talking?” Ashlyn put the book down and set about finger-combing her hair into a
less rumpled ponytail.

“No idea, kid, but he’ll be glad
to see ya if he is, I know that.”

Her heart warmed at Aaron’s
comment, but she covered her rush of emotion by scoffing. “Right. I’m sure
he’ll have all sorts of lectures for me on how I’m a disgrace to the Li
bloodline, shirking my responsibility for three years to run around and fight
monsters-”

“Ya came through when it really
mattered,” Aaron interrupted. “Don’t forget it.”

“Thanks.”

She remained seated as the
airship began its descent. Aik got up off his mattress and padded out of the
room, but Ashlyn was clinging to the rails of the bunk beside her, trying
valiantly not to throw up.

She tried to focus on something
else.

It didn’t appear that she was
going to have any luck choosing Skye as her successor, but Restlyn was still a
possibility, considering her half-Toryn heritage. Or Ashlyn could follow in her
father’s footsteps and change the laws herself…but that meant more research.
She leaned her forehead against the cool steel of the bunk and closed her eyes
tiredly. Would this be her life now? Books and laws and politics? How had her
father managed for so long?