by Tanya Huff
Gyhard couldn’t take his eyes off her as she sucked the finger clean. That her action was more fatalistic than sexual didn’t seem to matter at all. He shrugged into his clothes, needing their camouflage. “You haven’t answered my question.”
“Am I still sane?” She moved close enough to bring her features out of shadow. For an instant, Gyhard thought he could see the storm breaking behind the surface calm in her eyes. “I’ll trade you. Why are you going after this old man? And don’t tell me it’s because of the prince; His Highness is no good to you dead.”
I don’t know.
Because Prince Otavas was mine and I won’t have him taken from me. Because Kars shouldn’t be an old man, he should be dead and he’s lived emotionally crippled far longer than he should have and I’m responsible because I taught him about the fifth kigh. Because chasing a ghost from my past delays the moment when I have to deal with the present. Because I find that loving you makes it impossible to continue to deny that I loved him and abandoned him to madness.
I don’t know.
Morning moved a little farther into the room.
Vree nodded as if his silence was all she’d expected. “I’m going down to the stableyard to loosen up. All this riding is twisting me into knots.”
“I know the feeling.”
“I thought you might.”
He closed his eyes as she left the room, but he wasn’t able to hear her footsteps on the stairs. If she does decide to kill me, to sacrifice all three of us just to see me dead, I won’t even know she’s coming. Once he’d been sure that Vree would never harm her brother’s body. He wondered if it would please her to know how little he was sure of now.
“You know that there’s no way you’ll find a happy ending in all of this.”
Gyhard glared down at Karlene, who raised herself up on one elbow and stared levelly back at him. “I thought you were asleep.”
“You were supposed to. I don’t want to know what you’d intended to do with His Highness were he alive …” Her tone quite clearly said that she thought she did know and had no intention of admitting it. “But why are you going after the old man?”
He squatted beside her pallet, forearms balanced on his thighs, careful not to meet her gaze too directly. “I’m going to tell you something that Vree said to me once. It always struck me as succinct and to the point.”
The bard lifted a heavy strand of hair back off her face and waited.
“Sod off.”
* * * *
*Are you still sane?*
*Stop it. Bannon. Don’t you start.* Saddlebags slung over her shoulder, sandals dangling from one hand, she padded barefoot across the stableyard to a secluded corner between the sandstone wall that separated the inn’s property from the road and the small corral. Dropping her sandals onto the packed earth, she hung the bags over the top rail and peered in at the horses.
*Then am I still sane?*
He sounded so frightened that she stood where she was, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Bannon had never been afraid of anything. Not the things small boys were often afraid of. Not the training that killed one candidate for every two assassins it produced. Not what they were ordered to do, no matter how difficult. He’d never even been afraid of losing her, as she’d been afraid of losing him. She felt her palms rubbing together and as gently as she could, forced her hands apart.
*Sister-mine?*
*You’re as sane as you ever were,* she told him. *Not that anyone who once carved his name on the wall in Commander Neegan’s quarters just to prove he could should be considered sane.*
She felt a smile begin. *I couldn’t do it now.*
*That’s because you’d never get this body into the commander’s quarters, especially not when he was asleep in them!*
His mood swung as high as it had been low. *Remember how impressed Neegan was?*
*I remember he made you sand it out of the wall.*
*Slaughter that! He told me I had more balls than the whole Sixth Army!*
*And that was a compliment?*
Instead of answering, he murmured, *You had a dream about me last night.*
Vree’s heart skipped a beat, but she managed to keep near panic from scattering her thoughts. *How do you know?*
*I was there.* He sounded smug. *I’ve been dreaming your dreams for a couple of nights now. I just never mentioned it before.*
Heat and the kind of sex that seared its mark on the skin for everyone to see if they only know how to look. Arms and legs entwined, bodies slick with sweat, and a final, ultimate fulfillment.
*I was flattered.*
Except that it wasn’t Bannon. She’d had dreams about Bannon since she was old enough for desire and last night, while she’d dreamed about her brother’s body, it was not his life controlling it.
She opened her eyes. *It’s getting lighter. If we want to work out, we have to do it now.*
He settled, complacent, into the back of her mind, secure of his place in her life if nowhere else. As she stretched flexibility back into muscles and joints, she wished she could feel that same security. Was he sane? She didn’t know. Even ignoring his attempts to take over her body, his mood swings were extreme and his habits were blurring together with hers. It was becoming harder to determine which was her and which was Bannon but no trouble at all to determine which was Gyhard.
Was she sane? It didn’t really matter. If one of them went off the edge, the other would follow.
A short time later, skin beaded with sweat, breathing just hard enough to prove she’d put effort into the exercises, she slid her dusty feet into the heavy leather sandals and knelt to buckle them.
*Vree …*
*I see them.*
Two sets of footprints, pointing away from the fence, the indentation deeper toward the heel.
*Those are my prints, Vree.*
*I know.*
*Why was the carrion eater out here in the middle of the night, leaning on the rail?*
*Probably talking.*
Bannon sighed. *No slaughtering kidding. Talking to whom? He doesn’t know anyone here but you and that bard.*
That bard. Vree slowly straightened and turned toward the inn. The common room stretched the length of the east side of the building and overlooked the stableyard. One of the tall, narrow shutters had been thrown open and Vree thought she could see movement in the depths of the window well. Had Gyhard and Karlene formed some kind of an alliance? They were from the same country after all. Perhaps in Shkoder they thought nothing of stealing another’s body.
*Don’t be an ass, Vree. If they did this all the time in Shkoder, Karlene wouldn’t have had to ask how it happened.* He paused then continued. *Besides, she wanted to be your friend, not his.*
Secure in the knowledge that he was first in his sister’s life, Bannon had never been jealous of Vree’s few friends the way she’d been of his multitude.
Karlene had asked for her friendship. So why the companionable chat with Gyhard in the middle of the night?
*You know, she’s not bad looking for all she’s got to be—what, thirty? Maybe they were …*
*Shut up, Bannon.*
*You could still …*
*No!* She didn’t know which of the two Bannon was suggesting she sleep with. Nor did she care. Gyhard remained off limits for an increasingly complicated number of reasons, and she couldn’t accept the comfort of a few hours with Karlene as long as Bannon remained in her mind.
*Hey, don’t cut my tongue out.* He sounded sulky. *I just think it would be slaughtering unfair to go back to my own body without once experiencing sex as a woman.*
*Why don’t you think about a way to get us out of this alive, instead of worrying about getting laid?* Vree snapped and headed back to the inn and food. She could feel the stablehands staring at her as they tossed fodder into the corral and, uncomfortable with her suspicions, only barely resisted giving them something to stare at.
* * * *
“Marshal? Squad l
eader Zefra reports a city guard at the gate who says she has something important to tell you.”
Marshall Usef sighed and rubbed a little scented oil into his hands. Many of the Imperial Court found sword calluses exciting while at the same time they objected to rough skin. Commanding the First Army had complications he’d never anticipated during his climb to the top. “Commander, I don’t see city guards. If you think she has something important to say, you see her.”
“Sir, according to the squad leader, she said it was about His Highness.”
“His Highness?” Usef had spend every moment of the past three days and nights coordinating search patterns and arranging for the questioning of suspects. A few of the more highly placed suspects, he’d questioned himself. Couriers brought back news of failure after failure from the companies he’d sent out along the Great Roads, the prince remained missing, and the Emperor was beginning to lose patience.
“Yes, sir. And she had this.”
Usef stared down at the black sunburst. “Neegan’s?”
“Yes, sir. She says he gave it to her and told her to speak to you.”
“And where is Commander Neegan now?”
“Gone, sir. He requisitioned a new horse late last night. Apparently, he’d ridden his nearly to death getting here.”
“Gone?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And he’s sending me a message by way of this city guard?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The bugger.” A familiar pressure began to build in Usef’s temples. The moment the prince was found, he’d retire to that villa by the sea and spend what was left of his life watching sunsets. “All right,” he said at last, rubbing the square between his fingers, the oil on his skin giving the leather a greasy sheen, “I’ll see this guard of Neegan’s. But she’d better have something intelligent to say or she’s going to pay for his insolence.”
* * * *
“First Army.”
“What?” Gyhard raised a hand to shield his eyes. Marching toward them, just at the edge of identification, came a troop of soldiers.
“One sunburst on the pennants,” Vree snapped. “First Army.” The First Army left the Capital only under Imperial orders. An assassin who deserted committed treason, an Imperial offense. Obviously, someone in the Capital had recognized them. *How did they get ahead of us?*
*How the slaughter should I know?*
The grazing land to both the north and south offered no cover and no excuse to leave the road. Suddenly taking off cross-country would solve nothing. *We can’t run …*
*We sure as shit can’t fight!*
*We haven’t any choice.* Blood roared in her ears as her body prepared for battle.
“They must’ve looked right by His Highness when they passed the cart,” Karlene muttered. “Just like everyone else.”
“Probably went as far as the Third Army garrison at Shaebridge,” Gyhard agreed.
His Highness. Of course, the First Army had been ordered along the Great Roads hunting for the missing prince—on the morning after, they’d met a company searching the South Road. Now, four days later, this company would have reached the territory of the Third Army and be returning home. *We should’ve known they weren’t looking for us.*
*Guilty conscience, sister-mine.*
*If they come for us, they’ll come as a dagger in the night.*
*If Emo kept his mouth shut, they’ve no reason to come for us.*
*If we’re recognized …*
*Like Avor?*
*We can’t kill everyone who knows us, Bannon.*
“Vree?” Karlene reached over and touched her lightly on the shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“She’s talking to her brother,” Gyhard said shortly. “You get used to it.” He took another look at the approaching soldiers. The military blur had begun to separate into individuals. Or as close to individuals as the military allows, he thought, shooting half a glance at Vree. But the whole mass moved with a jerky vehemence that suggested they were none too pleased about their failure to find Prince Otavas. “I think we’d better expect trouble and take the time we have remaining to decide what our business is along this road.”
“They have no reason to stop us,” Karlene began indignantly.
“They could come up with any number of reasons if they wanted to, all perfectly legal under Imperial law, but they don’t need any of them.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’re three of us and considerably more of them and they’re in a bad mood. Not to mention that an Imperial prince is missing and everyone is suspect until His Highness is found.”
“And what if we tell them the truth?”
Vree snickered before she could stop herself. *Bannon!*
Karlene pressed her lips together in a thin line. “And what’s wrong with the truth?”
“That we’re after a cart pulled by dead men and that cart contains the prince?” Gyhard shook his head. “Even you, Lady Bard, couldn’t make them believe that.”
“Riders,” Vree said abruptly as two of the mounted officers separated from the column and galloped toward them, a squad of infantry following at the jog. “You’d better let Gyhard do the lying while you Sing.”
“Sing? Why?”
“First Army’s garrison is in the palace. The officers, at least, will recognize you.”
“And will anyone recognize you? Us?” Gyhard asked as Karlene swore in Shkodan and began to Sing quietly.
Vree shrugged. “Shouldn’t. This is First Army, we were Sixth.”
“If they do, you’re not to kill them. They’ll have no way of knowing you’re, we’re not out …”
“Aimed at a target,” Vree supplied when he hesitated.
“I’d better do the talking. You don’t even know the words.”
“You can do the talking, if we’re recognized.”
*Don’t tell me you trust him?*
*I trust him to save his own ass and you’ve got to admit, he’s had practice at that.* Vree reined in her horse as the pair of Imperial officers stopped in the middle of the road. While sufficient room remained to go around them on either side, their intentions were plain. *Don’t do anything to attract attention.*
*Me?*
*I mean it, Bannon. Behave.* She rested both hands on the low pommel of the saddle, wondered for a moment where the scar across her knuckles had gone, realized it was Bannon’s scar not hers, and pushed the thought away.
“Names?” barked the squad leader, significantly the younger of the two officers. His expression suggested he’d taken the loss of the prince, and his inability to find him, personally.
“Albannon Magaly,” Gyhard replied with just the expected amount of challenge in his voice. He wasn’t, after all, under this squad leader’s command. “This is my sister, Vireyda Magaly.”
*How does he know Mother’s name?*
*He’s in your head, Bannon. Now shut up, I need to hear what’s going on.*
Neither officer seemed to think it strange that he didn’t mention the third member of their party. “You’re southern.”
Gyhard looked pointedly down at the dark olive skin of his arms, then pointedly back up at the peeling tip of the squad leader’s nose. “Yes.”
“Imperial citizens?”
“The Sixth Province has been part of the Empire for three generations!”
The older officer, a captain, half smiled at the indignant tone but the younger bridled. “Your business on the road?” he snarled at Vree.
“I’m guarding my brother.” Find the lie in that, she sneered silently. Officers bloated with their own importance were invariably despised by the ranks.
“From what?”
“From danger.” Vree locked her gaze over the junior officer’s shoulder. Her hearing and sense of smell grew more acute and the edges of her vision expanded. She felt the way she did going through the perimeter into the enemy’s camp when death lurked around every corner. Her wits would be her dagger h
ere.
“What danger?”
“Whatever danger there is.”
The captain raised her hand as the squad leader prepared to spit out another question. “You served,” she said quietly.
“Yes, sir,” Vree acknowledged.
*Vree, you’re sitting at attention.*
*Bannon, stop it!*
Fortunately, no one appeared to notice the twitch.
“Your brother didn’t.”
Vree glanced over at Gyhard, who was not sitting at attention. “No, sir.”
“So.” The captain swept her gaze across them, her eyes unfocusing slightly as they passed over the bard. “If you are guarding your brother, what is your brother’s business?”
“He’s a whore, sir.”
*Hey!*
She fought to keep Bannon’s protest from showing on her face—not that it would have mattered as both the mounted officers, and the infantry squad that had reached them during the questioning, were studying Gyhard with new interest.
“You’re not, by chance, heading for the garrison at Shaebridge?” the captain asked, her eyes measuring the breadth of Gyhard’s shoulders.
Gyhard shook his head. Vree thought he might have put more grace into the movement than usual for it caused the sunlight to throw rippled highlights through Bannon’s curls. “Not the garrison, no.”
“Pity.” She nodded to her left. “Carry on.” A moment later, she lightly put her heels to her horse and murmured, “An attractive pair, and who would dare take advantage of the brother with the sister around?”
“She was insolent,” the squad leader complained, yanking back at the bit.
“And you were an idiot, Orlan. Anyone could see that those three had nothing to do with the prince’s disappearance.”
“Three?”
For a moment, the captain thought she heard singing. “Did I say three? Jiir take me, I’m more tired than I thought….”
* * * *
“I thought I was to do the talking,” Gyhard complained as they moved out of earshot.
Vree shrugged. “Next time have them ask you the questions.”
