“Assuming he got the name right,” R’shiel added. “She could have said her name was Adrina, for all we know.”
Tarja’s eyes narrowed. “Adrina... Damn!”
“What?”
“The Fardohnyan captain I faced yesterday. He begged me with his dying breath to warn his sister that they’d been betrayed. In the heat of battle, it never occurred to me...”
“What are you talking about?” R’shiel asked impatiently.
“Let me guess,” Damin said. “His sister’s name was Adrina?”
Tarja nodded. R’shiel looked first at Tarja and then Damin with growing annoyance. “So?”
“Hablet’s bastards are usually sent to serve in the army as officers once they’re old enough,” Damin explained.
“So Tarja killed one of Hablet’s bastards?” she said, throwing her hands up. “What of it? This is war.”
“He wanted me to warn Adrina that they’d been betrayed,” Tarja reminded her.
Damin glanced at R’shiel then turned to Tarja with a frown. “And suddenly there are two court’esa crossing the battlefield from Karien? Something bothers me about this. I think we should look into it.”
Tarja nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps we should, at that. If Adrina is attempting to send a message back to her father, and she thinks the Kariens have betrayed her, she couldn’t risk sending the message by normal means.”
“Well, that’s nice!” R’shiel declared. “You ask me to wait around so you can say goodbye, then as soon as my back is turned, you’re off chasing a couple of floozies in see-through dresses on the off-chance they’re Fardohnyan spies.”
With a tired smile, Tarja put his arm around her and pulled her close. “I’m only going along to keep Damin out of trouble.”
“I think you need someone to keep you both out of trouble!” she complained unhappily. “You look terrible, by the way. Both of you.”
“Speaking of trouble, here comes your watchdog,” Damin warned, as Brak strode across the field toward them.
R’shiel glanced at the approaching figure and then turned to Tarja. “I have to go. Promise me you’ll take care.”
“I’ll take about as much care as you will, R’shiel,” he said, so softly Damin could barely make out the words. Damin turned away, to give them at least the illusion of privacy.
“It’s time we were gone, R’shiel,” Brak said when he reached them.
R’shiel drew away from Tarja with some reluctance. “I know.”
“Keep her safe, Brak, or you’ll have me to answer to.”
The Harshini laughed sourly. “You, Tarja? There’s more than a few gods who I’d have at me, if I let anything happen to the demon child. You’d have to line up for a chance at what was left of me, I’m afraid.”
R’shiel frowned. “I wish you would all stop treating me like a fragile doll. I can take care of myself, you know.”
“He’s knows that, R’shiel. Go and save us all from the Sisterhood, while we stay here and skewer Kariens like fish in a barrel, and when you get back we can all tell each other what heroes we’ve been.”
She smiled at Damin and leaned forward, kissing his cheek lightly. “You are just as bad as he is. You take care of yourself, too. And don’t go leading him astray when you find your court’esa. The captain is already spoken for.”
“What court’esa?”
“Don’t ask, Brak. Let’s just get out of here before Garet decides to leave without us.”
With a final kiss for Tarja and a wave for Damin, R’shiel followed Brak to the horses he had waiting for them. He glanced at Tarja.
“Don’t worry. She is the demon child. She has forces watching over her that you cannot imagine.”
Tarja nodded and seemed to force himself to shrug off his apprehension.
“I’m not worried. Anyway, I thought we were going to investigate some floozy in a see-through dress?”
Damin nodded and swung into his saddle. “Meet me by the fletchers’ tent. I have to see about burying some Fardohnyans first, then we’ll find out what two very expensive court’esa were doing looting a battlefield full of dead Kariens in the middle of the night.”
Chapter 32
“What time is it, Tam?”
The slave looked up at the heavy, overcast sky and shrugged. “Breakfast time.”
Adrina’s tummy rumbled in agreement. She was rather disgusted that she had not thought to ask Filip to pack any food. Adrina had never had to worry about where her next meal was coming from. It had not occurred to her to think of such mundane things when she planned her desperate flight from Karien. Perhaps when they reached the tents of the camp followers, there would be a stall or a tavern where they could purchase a meal. And supplies for the journey south. As she rode, Adrina tried to calculate what they might need and what it would cost, but she really had no idea. She had never had to buy her own food, either.
They had made little progress since leaving the battlefield, hemmed in as they were by the other travellers on the makeshift road. Adrina fretted at the delay, but knew the crowd was her best protection. Among these peasants she was just another looter returning home from a long night robbing the dead. Once they reached the followers’ camp and had equipped themselves for their journey, they could make up for lost time.
She wondered if Cratyn had discovered her missing yet. Even if he had, she realised with some relief that she was safe from him now. He could not follow her into Medalon, and would not suspect it had been her destination, in any case. More likely he would send troops searching the road back toward Yarnarrow. By the time he realised where she was, she would be in Cauthside, perhaps even on a boat, sailing the Glass River south for home. The knowledge invigorated her and some of her exhaustion fell away.
She was free of Karien.
Nothing would ever entice her to go back.
Adrina glanced at Tamylan and smiled encouragingly. Mikel slept in her arms and Adrina led his riderless horse. The poor child was exhausted and Tamylan had offered to hold him while he slept, for fear he would fall from his saddle.
Adrina was not certain what to do with the child. He was a sweet boy, but he was so fanatically devoted to his damned Overlord, he was liable to do anything. She felt a twinge of guilt over her plans to abandon him. Perhaps she could find some Medalonian peasant who would take him in. She could pay for his keep – she had enough jewellery on her to buy him a commission in the Defenders, for that matter.
The thunder of hooves brought her out of her musing and she glanced over her shoulder as a dozen Hythrun Raiders rode by them with a red-coated Defender in the lead.
Probably off to celebrate their victory, she thought sourly.
A little further on the riders slowed and then wheeled their mounts around, heading back the way they came. With a stab of apprehension, Adrina stared steadfastly forward, as if by refusing to look at them they would not notice her.
At a sharp command the Raiders reined in beside her, expertly cutting her and Tamylan out of the crowd. With no choice but to do as they indicated, she turned her mount off the road to confront the Defender and a grubby, unshaven Raider who wore nothing to indicate his rank.
“Ladies,” the Hythrun said as they approached. “What a pleasure to find members of your profession out here.”
Adrina glared at him with all the withering scorn she could muster, which was considerable. “Don’t even presume to think I would entertain the likes of you!”