Uprising

by H. M. Clarke

  Ryn waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. You’ve made up for it since. I couldn’t have asked for a better Pairing. I feel like we’ve been made for each other.”

  “You really think that?”

  Ryn nodded. “Don’t let that go to your head. You may be handsome and domesticated, but you are also stubborn like me and I like you in spite of that.”

  “Is that so? You like me in spite all of that. You make them all sound like bad traits to possess.”

  “No, a bad trait to process is to be a pompous ass like Banar. One Banar is enough in my circle of friends.” Ryn’s grin quickly vanished as she grew serious. “There is something about you that fascinates me, Dagan. Something that makes me know that you will always be there for me, no matter what you say about breaking the Pairing.”

  “I do not want to do that, Kathryn. No anymore.” Dagan let a smile tug as his lips. “You’ve grown on me.”

  “I know. But a girl like to hear that she appreciated once in a while.”

  “I appreciate you,” he said, reaching out to clasp her hand. His skin was warm and soft. A memory of that hand pressed against the skin of her side flashed through her mind, triggering a flush of warmth to rush through her. She shivered.

  “Are you okay?” He asked, the smile disappearing from his lips. Dagan must have felt the shiver through his hand.

  She nodded. “Just a little tired, I think.”

  He stared at her with that Magister look of his, and Ryn knew he was assessing if she was telling the truth or not. She smiled at him and gripped his hand that still clutched hers. That distracted him and his smile returned.

  “Once you’ve rested, we’ll all get together before dinner and come up with a plan of action.”

  “Yes, Dagan.” And then as an afterthought Ryn added. “The Link will take some getting used to. Especially for someone who hasn’t been mentally prepared for it. I’m sorry for putting you through that again.”

  This time it was Dagan’s turn to wave the comment aside. “I’ll get used to it, just as long as you stop getting yourself into trouble.”

  “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try, just for you.”

  “Huh.” Dagan tapped his fingers on the back of his chair. “I’d better go check on the others.”

  Ryn waited until he disappeared through the door, then she blocked the Link and leaned back in her chair. She had only been awake a couple of hours, but exhaustion dragged at her. The only thing worse than being weak was being seen being weak. She wanted Dagan to have confidence in her, not worry about her collapsing. She was beginning to worry that she was not giving Dagan the best impression on what it was like to be a member of the Blackwatch.

  She turned and looked at the soup pot sitting on the sideboard. She hadn’t felt hungry when she ate before, but now… Ryn picked up her bowl, served herself some more soup and sat back at the table to eat.

  CHAPTER Fifteen

  “What in blazers are you doing?”

  Ashe turned to the hearth at the sound of Ryn’s voice. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

  She glared at him in response as if saying isn’t that obvious?

  “Of course I woke you… how are you feeling?” he asked as he placed the upended wooden crate next to the table.

  Ryn put out her arms and stretched while her mouth opened in a deep yawn. Her toes poked out from under the blankets as she stretched those as well. Ashe tried not to, but found that he could not help himself from watching her. He drank up the sight of her alive and well and stretching like a cat before the fire. He shouldn’t be staring….

  “Careful or you’ll roll off of your pallet and into the fireplace,” he said. This was the first time they had been alone together since the others arrived last night.

  “That won’t happen while you’re here to rescue me.” She smiled and threw back her blankets and sat up on her pallet. She then pulled a black woolen cloak that was laid on top and wrapped it around her shoulders. “Thank you for that, by the way. If you hadn’t come when you did, I might not be here for you to wake up with… what exactly are you doing?” Ryn’s smile turned to a frown as she stared at the wooden crates interspersed with the chairs around the table.

  “There are not enough chairs for all of us to sit together, so I’ve bought in some crates.”

  “Are we going to have the rest of Dagan’s soup for dinner?” she asked.

  Ashe tried not to grin as he shook his head. “I was as shocked as you when he said he’d made it and you liked it. He’s never made anything palatable for the rest of us before. But he’s reserved that soup only for you. The rest of us get slops. Donal’s trying to make it edible.”

  “So, you’re saying that he only cooks well if you are sick or injured? Perhaps we all need to get injured more often.”

  “I think you will be the only one he’ll be that nice for,” Ashe muttered. He finished with the crate and then came and sat on the floor by Ryn’s pallet. “How are you feeling?” he asked her again.

  She opened her mouth to say something light-hearted but then thought better of it. “I’m tired and stiff, but apart from that I feel like I normally do.”

  “Normally do? What you normally feel like doing is getting into trouble.”

  “You’ve been spending too much time with Donal, Ashe. I think you need to spend some more quality time with me in the practice yard to bring you round to my way of thinking.”

  Ashe could not help the smile that slipped to his face. “That is a date… when you are up for it.”

  “A date, huh? I thought dates were supposed to involve dinner and dancing, not bashing each other with shields and swords.”

  The color quickly drained from Ashe’s face. He had said it as a joke, but she seemed to have taken him seriously. And she hasn’t rejected the idea…yet.

  “I can take you to dinner and dancing if you want, though I’ve been told that I have two left feet.” Ashe spoke slowly, as if afraid that anything more would scare Ryn out of whatever mood had bought this on.

  “They will go well with my two right feet then.” She smiled again. Ashe could not help the stupid grin that came to his face. His body flushed with joy and he felt an answering tingle through his Link from Donal.

  “Right then, next time we both are able to, I’m taking you out to dinner and dancing.”

  “Do I have to wear a dress?” Ryn asked, the smile now a cheeky grin.

  “Do you even own a dress?”

  “I could get one.”

  Ashe felt both his eyebrows rise at this comment. Ryn in a dress? “Really?”

  “Of course, I want to feel all swishy and swirly.”

  “And where will you hide the weapons?” he asked. At her raised eyebrow, he said, “I know you, Ryn.”

  “A dagger in my garter belt, and a stiletto down the front of my corset.”

  “You’re going to wear a corset as well?” Ashe’s question came out as a squeak. Talking about Ryn’s undergarments was not where he imagined this conversation was going.

  “Of course. If I’m going to go out, I want to look pretty.”

  The door opened as Ryn was speaking and Ashe felt Donal’s presence through the Link.

  “Ho, ho… what has been going on in here then?” Donal said as Ashe glared at him to keep his voice down. The last thing he wanted was everyone else knowing about this. But Ryn had no such qualms.

  “Ashe has asked me out for dinner and dancing.”

  “What? He did?” Donal’s eyes grew wide, and he began to pantomime that hand flapping thing that Lily and Geia did when they were discussing boys.

  “Donal, if you start squealing, I’m going to throw my sword at you.”

  “Don’t be so uptight, Ashe,” Donal waved a hand at him. “I’m just excited because my best friend is going on her first date!”

  “What’s that?” Ashe had to stop himself from hitting the heel of his palm against his forehead at the sound of Lily’s voice. “Someone is going on
a date?”

  Then Lily, with Banar close on her tail, tumbled into the room.

  “Yup. Ashe offered to take me out to help me feel better.”

  “Ah.” Not quite what he had in mind when he asked her.

  “Maybe we can all go out together for a night on the town,” Banar piped up. “Food, music and dancing is the best cure for all that ails us.”

  “No!” The word came out of Ashe’s mouth before he could stop himself. This was supposed to be just Ryn and himself, not everyone and their dog.

  But none of the others paid any heed to him, instead listening to Banar tell them where they could go, since he knew more of Kaldor than the rest of them. Ashe looked at Ryn, who gave him an apologetic shrug while silently mouthing ‘later’.

  Then the last person Ashe wanted to see at this moment walked in.

  “What has everyone so excited? Have I missed something?” The Magister ducked his head as he came through the door, though Ashe noticed that his golden eyes moved immediately in Ryn’s direction. In his hand he carried a steaming bowl and Ashe could smell the aroma of beef soup from where he sat. And it galled Ashe that Ryn was wrapped in Dagan’s black cloak.

  “We are planning on going out together if we get a free night in Kaldor. It was Ashe’s and Ryn’s idea,” Donal information him. “Banar’s just telling us what would be a good place to start.”

  “If he suggests going to The Randy Doe, then you need to get a new event organizer… And maybe give him a flea bath,” Dagan said as he took the bowl of soup over to Ryn and went down on his haunches beside her.

  “Here, eat this, it’s the last of the soup. It’ll make you feel better.”

  Ryn smiled up at Dagan as she took the bowl and spoon. “Thank you. Everyone has taken such good care of me, I hate being so much trouble.”

  “Then you need to stop getting hit by things,” Donal piped up from the table.

  “Ryn, it wasn’t your faul-” Ashe tried to say, but Ryn cut him off.

  “Of course, this is my fault,” she said brandishing her spoon at him. “When I saw that door had been forced and called for you, I should have waited for you and we both go in. Calling out like that also alerted that bloke to my presence, so he was ready for me.”

  “Ryn, don’t be silly,” Donal said as he quickly claimed one of the chairs at the table. “You didn’t know you two had come across some Caester’s hiding spot in the middle of the woods? If you ask me, that thug got what he deserved. He shouldn’t have been lurking in the rooms of the inn if he was supposed to be keeping an eye on what’s in the barn.”

  “You probably disturbed him as he was trying to find something of value to pilfer,” Ashe said. “Though, when we went back to look this morning, those rooms looked to have been cleared out long ago, so I don’t know what he thought to find there.”

  Ashe noted the mulish set to Ryn’s jaw as she jerked her gaze from Donal back to him.

  “Don’t start talking yourself into guilt, Kathryn,” Dagan’s voice slipped softly into the exchange. “That’s a path hard to quit once you start.” He placed a reassuring hand on Ryn’s shoulder. “Just be thankful that you are here, and he is not. And learn from it.”

  Ashe watched as Ryn’s gaze swung from his blue eyes to Dagan’s golden ones and a moment later, that mulish look disappeared, and she nodded. He felt a spear of jealousy run through his innards, and then a tug on the Link made him turn his gaze to Donal. His Pair looked at him, a note of worry in his eyes. Ashe gave him a shake of the head and knew that Donal will want to talk with him later once they were alone.

  After a moment more, Dagan removed his hand, rose to his feet and moved to the table, taking the chair at its head. The others spread themselves around the surrounding seats, but Ashe moved to sit on the wood box by Ryn. Except Banar, who handed out bowls of stew to everyone accompanied by a couple of slices of bread. Ashe looked down into his bowl and dipped his spoon into the thin liquid. The beef chucks looked okay, but fat floated in globules on the top and the smell that rose from the bowl smelt like something the kennel master would boil to smear on dog bites to stop them festering. This was an improvement over Dagan’s previous meals. Ryn grinned at him before taking a sip from her soup. She knew she had the better end of this meal.

  “Tomorrow morning, we will all go back to Kaldor-”

  “You no longer think that any of Henley’s group followed us?” Donal asked.

  “We’ve seen no sign of them, though that might be because we got what was left when they attacked the prisoner transport.” Banar slumped down on one of the upright crates and dropped his bowl onto the table.

  “That may be, but for now we will go on the premise that there are members of the group in enough numbers to give us trouble. After all, we still have to investigate if what he said about a traitor in the Tribunal is true.” Dagan dipped a slice of his bread into his bowl, using it to sop up the watery stew. “Banar, I will still need you to act like you are my Pair.”

  “Sure thing, Magister,” he said, throwing Dagan a cocky salute.

  “Why hide that I am your Pair?” Ryn had put her bowl on the floor and had tucked the cloak tightly around her.

  Ashe quickly put his own bowl down and took some wood from the box he was sitting on and placed it on the fire to build it up for her. She smiled up at him and Ashe swore he saw a twinkle in her eye. That made him forget the jealousy he felt earlier.

  “Because Henly also implied that they were targeting me.”

  “And you want them to hurt Banar instead? Understandable.” Donal received a hard thump on the shoulder from Lily for that comment.

  Dagan gave Donal a cold glare. “Banar is a member of a Caester family. And with People believing that Banar is my Pair, will allow us access to people and places that we would otherwise be denied.”

  “He’s right there. The Caester’s and Equestrians are more like to talk to me than to any of you,” Banar said, pointing his index finger at everyone around the room.

  “But that means you’re assuming that the Traitor Henly talked about is a noble? Why do you think that? Why can’t it be a pleb like us?” Ryn asked.

  “Henly said that the traitor arranged for me to be sent out after him. For someone to do that would mean that they held a high position within the Tribunal. And to hold a high position within the Tribunal, you need to be of noble blood.”

  “Are you now going to tell us why you’re so special that you need ‘higher’ authorization to be reassigned?” Ryn leaned forward on her pallet, an eager expression on her face. Ashe saw Dagan’s grin as he looked at her.

  “No.”

  “Are you ever going to tell me?”

  “Yes.”

  She slumped back within the folds of Dagan’s cloak and picked up her bowl to finish eating her soup. But Ashe caught the smile that tugged at her lips, and he started to lose the happiness he felt earlier. Who was he kidding… how can he compete against a Pair?

  “Ryn, can you ask Peck if he will deliver a message to Vannik in Kaldor tonight? I want the brothers Osega to meet us outside the Blackwatch Barracks just after noon. They will know the best place for us to go to be able to talk together in private. Once we share what intelligence we have, we can then come up with a better plan of attack going forward.”

  “Yes, Peck will complain about it, but he’ll do it.”

  “I’ll write the letter after we’ve eaten and then we’ll need to gather our gear together and get a good night’s sleep, we’ll be on the road at dawn.”

  CHAPTER Sixteen

  They all just grabbed a quick bite to eat in the refectory after arriving back in Kaldor the next morning and had just met with Bron and Vannik outside the Barrack Gatehouse when one of the Gate Constables approached them.

  “Magister Drake!”

  Dagan turned at the sound of his name and offered the man an obliging smile.

  The man stopped with a snap of his heels and gave him a crisp salute before speaking. “
Thank Bellus you are back, Magister. A messenger came this morning from the palace looking for you. The King Regent wants to speak with you. Urgently.”

  “The King Regent? Thank you Constable, we’ll go straight away,” he replied. The man nodded, turned smartly on his heel and strode back to his post in the gatehouse.

  “What do you think he wants?” Donal asked, voice pitched low even though the Constable was now out of earshot. “Has the King Regent got wind of trouble within the Tribunal?”

  “I doubt it,” Dagan replied. “For one, we don’t know for sure if there is, and two, the Crown usually keeps its nose out of Tribunal Business.”