Honor Bound Trilogy Box Set

by Jon Kiln

  “Is there a reason you know which rooms voices do not carry from?” Nisero asked as he followed her.

  “Because I live my life in a cautious manner. Which does not leave my face drawn on notices all over the kingdom.”

  They entered a flagstone floored room that stretched over the entire back of the house. The dwelling was larger and deeper than it appeared from the front, hiding some of its depth.

  She sat down on a stool by one of the counters. Nisero stood on the other side with his palms resting on the counter.

  “Your husband leaves you alone in the home with child?”

  The muscles along the sides of her jaw tightened. “We have people that service the land. I am watched after as much as is needed. Dreth saw to my care before leaving to answer his call into service.”

  “They are not here now. What if I had been an outlaw in truth?”

  “Did you come all this way to demonstrate the unworthiness of my husband, searching for you in his duty to the King, by your very ability to arrive at my doorstep, former Lieutenant Nisero?” Her faced flushed from pink to red as she finished speaking.

  “No, I came to find your father,” Nisero said in a conciliatory manner. “He and you are the only ones I can turn to in this moment.”

  “What sort of daughter would I be if I allowed you to drag my father into your trouble? What sort of wife would I be were I to abed you in this while my husband is committed into the loyal service of his king and country?”

  If you were to abed and to bed me? Nisero thought. He shook his head. Exhaustion was addling his brain.

  Nisero ran his finger over the cracks in the counter top before he spoke. “I just ask the opportunity to find him and explain what I know and what I saw. Your father is a wise man. He will know the right choice to make in moving forward.”

  “My father is loyal unto death,” Arianne said. “He will join you and follow you to the gates of the underworld to help you, just because of who you are, no matter what you have to tell him. It is a done matter from the moment he sees you. I know him, I know you, and I know your bond.”

  “That is likely true, but I do believe the kingdom is under the manipulative hand of those seeking to shift power and bring war,” Nisero explained. “I think there is a deadly conspiracy in motion that began with slaying the Elite Guard and the crowned prince of our eastern neighbor. I can’t believe that is where it ends though. Stirring war or the distraction of the threat of war may be part of it. Taking away the King’s guards and then focusing the regular forces to the east, while the threat comes from another source.”

  “You think the King is the target? And they weighed you with the mantle of guilt to cover their crime?”

  Nisero turned away and stared at the far wall. “I don’t know. There may be designs on the eastern throne at play, especially for eliminating the direct heir. I do not believe I was meant to live at all. All the Elite Guard were cut down in a precise attack. I escaped by the most hapless of chance. I think the swift and organized campaign to flush me out and see to my capture is an attempt to rectify that error in allowing me to live. Any authority might bring me in once captured, but once I am within the reach of someone in the know, I will surely be cut down to stop me from telling my story to anyone else.”

  “So, the threat must be within our kingdom and from our side,” Arianne figured.

  Nisero turned back toward her. “I have thought so, but explain your meaning to me—as you see it.”

  Her eyes traveled around his face before she spoke. “If they can coordinate so swift an attack, spur so swift and complete a search, and believe they can reach you once captured, then they must be in power within our kingdom.”

  Nisero’s eyes lost focus and he stared beyond the blur of Arianne’s shape. “Money is power. Most anyone with wealth enough and any manner of title might potentially be behind this corruption.”

  “If it was just anyone, they would not have let your picture be pasted up anywhere. They would have tried to hunt you down that night at all costs, to keep you from telling your story and potentially getting out of their reach. They must believe with confidence that they have the reach within the existing system of authority.”

  Nisero nodded and walked away from the counter. “I had not pieced that together. You are truly your father’s daughter. Perhaps if you had been part of the Elite Guard we would have been wise enough to avoid our own demise.”

  “If I had been, I suppose I would be dead too like all the rest… including my mother and brother.”

  Nisero’s eyes stung and he bowed his head.

  He heard the stool bark along the flagstones but he did not turn. When she touched his back, his body shook like her touch carried some powerful form of magic. He fought to remain still.

  “I spoke too harshly,” she said softly. “My emotions are tied up in all of this. Even more so with the pregnancy.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for,” Nisero stated. “Truth is truth no matter how harsh it may sound. Your father blames himself and his years in the Guard for the death of your mother and brother. Part of his effort to hide himself is to protect you as well, I know. It is a terrible thing I ask to expose him by letting him attach himself to my doomed mission, but this is bigger than saving my own skin. If it were just that, I would cast myself to the mercy of the King and let my enemies come at me. I think there is greater danger for all the kingdom and allowing myself, the only true witness, to be cut down would serve the purposes of our enemies. I need Berengar. The kingdom needs him, just as you feared.”

  Her hand pulled away from his back and he missed the touch. Nisero still did not turn.

  When she spoke, her voice came from a distance that told him she was a few steps farther away. “When my father found our village and our family burned, you joined his doomed mission and saw it through to success. In so doing, you saw that I was still alive and now my unborn child. If I had perished, my father would likely have never recovered, so you are responsible for his continued life as well. It would be a terrible disservice to not help you in seeking my father’s council in this. You have earned that much and more.”

  “I thank you, Arianne.”

  “I will map it out and give you detailed instructions on how to get a message to him where he resides,” she said. “He has made locating himself complicated, as you can imagine. But I will get you there, Nisero.”

  Nisero turned and faced her where she leaned against the counter. “Thank you again.”

  “You’ll stay the night and leave before light in the morning. You can be on the road before any workers or travelers would see you.”

  “I should go now, Arianne. My presence here puts you in grave danger. I do not know if anyone that seeks me might know I would come to you to find him.”

  “You will stay the night,” she insisted. “You will eat. You will be provisioned. You will take a horse. I will not give you the direction you need until all those points are met.”

  Nisero tilted his head. “Then, I am a captive to your hospitality. I thank you for the prison of your generosity.”

  Arianne rolled her eyes and turned away from him. “You are part of a high minded breed of warrior that is as sharp and deft with the tongue as you are with the blade.”

  Nisero smiled. “I learned from the very best.”

  “That you did.” Arianne lifted a hard loaf and a short-bladed cutlery knife. She slammed both down on the counter, raining crumbs off the crust of the bread with the resounding impact. She withdrew her hands and crossed the kitchen. “See how deft you can be slicing bread for us while I fetch wine for you and wine-laced water for myself.”

  Nisero stepped forward taking the knife and the bread in hand as ordered. “Why not just drink the wine yourself?”

  “Dreth wants me to drink more water. The wine makes the water healthier. That’s what his mother told him.”

  “Seems like if the wine makes the water healthier then the wine alone would be
that much better,” Nisero said.

  Arianne approached the counter again with a bottle, a pitcher, and a wheel of cheese. Nisero stood and took the pitcher and wheel from her. They set the items out on the counter. She tapped the wheel with one knuckle. “Cut.”

  Nisero took up the knife again to obey. She took out two tankards and brought them to the counter. Nisero set down the knife to fill one tankard with wine and the other with water. He set down the pitcher and lifted the wine again. “How healthy?”

  Arianne took the bottle from him and poured in a drab. She set it back down. “I do not trust a soldier to not try to get me drunk.”

  Nisero pushed a slice of bread and cheese toward her before taking up some for himself. “You were the one that offered wine. Perhaps I should be careful of your intentions.”

  He took a bite and his stomach tightened. He had to focus to keep from devouring the slices whole. As he ate and drank, Arianne cut him more from the wheel and the loaf. “I have dried meat as well. There are dates and figs too.”

  Nisero spoke over another bite. “Do I look that starved?”

  “You have been on the run. I remember what that is like still.”

  Nisero swallowed his mouthful before replying. “Without a doubt, I have accidentally survived more than my share of close calls.”

  He remembered jumping off the side of a cliff to escape a bandit army and sliding down the rock face with Captain Berengar, Arianne’s father, by his side. After they reached the ground, the sword he had been holding but lost hold of, had speared into the ground.

  Arianne said, “It was not haphazard survival.”

  “What?” Nisero shook himself from his thoughts.

  “You said earlier that you had survived the attack on the Elite Guard by happenstance—some form of chance. You implied just now that your survival when you came to rescue me was haphazard. But I don’t believe that. You survived for a reason.”

  Nisero took another long drink of wine and poured himself some more before he answered. “You think destiny has seen myself and your father through until now.”

  “I don’t know much about destiny, but I know you and my father have survived where others haven’t by more skill than accident. Accidents are when people get hurt. Survival and completed missions come from purpose. You act with purpose, Lieutenant Nisero, not happenstance.”

  Nisero took another swallow of wine and looked away. “Some dates and figs would be good, if you are still offering.”

  Arianne patted his hand, giving him the same shock through his body that he associated akin to magic. She turned and went to retrieve his request from the pantry.

  After he had eaten his fill, she brought him blankets and he slept on the floor of the pantry, staring up past the shelves in the darkness. He was exhausted, but it took him longer to fall asleep that night as thoughts of conspiracy swirled through his head, along with deep emotion at the thought that Arianne slept only a few feet away across the cottage.

  Abedding me with a bed, Daughter of Berengar.

  Chapter 4: Well Hidden

  “Do not move.”

  Nisero’s eyes flew open at the words. He was ready to come up from the floor to fight, expecting full well to be brought back down quickly and soundly. He saw that Arianne was the one standing above him and she had been the one that had spoken the words.

  “Okay,” he whispered.

  “The workers arrived early. I’m setting up supplies and a horse for you now and will get you out undetected.”

  Nisero took hold of the shelves on both sides of him and pulled himself up.

  “Stay where you are, I said.” Arianne rested her hands on her hips.

  “I am, but what is your plan for getting me out unnoticed, if the property is occupied?”

  “I’m going with you.”

  Nisero sat bolt upright and struck his head on the underside of a shelf before turning around. “That’s out of the question.”

  “I don’t recall asking you a question, lieutenant.”

  Arianne pushed the pantry door toward closing, but Nisero threw a hand out and caught it.

  “Arianne, wait.”

  “You seem determined to be found out. Trust me.”

  “I trust that your father will kill me himself if I ride into the mountains with his pregnant daughter. What will your husband say?”

  Arianne spoke through the gap in the half closed door. “My husband is not here and my father decided to live in the mountains as a hermit. There is no way for you to find him without me. Even if I drew you a map, he will only reveal himself to my messages. It is his own fault for setting up his self-imposed exile this way.”

  “If you knew this before,” Nisero gritted his teeth, “why didn’t you tell me last night?”

  “I knew you would argue,” she said, “and you did not drink enough wine to make me think you were ready to hear the news then.”

  “I didn’t think it wise to get drunk while the entire kingdom was searching for me. So, you did intend to get me drunk after all.”

  “Well, now you know. I have a cloak and hood you will need to wear as we ride out.”

  “I can’t let you,” he said determinedly. “I would rather turn myself in and spare you this ride and further involvement.”

  “I’m not giving you that choice. If what you say is true, the fate of the kingdom is at risk and my father would want to know. Even if you allowed yourself to be sacrificed, I would still ride out to see him. Only then I will be a pregnant woman riding alone, so if you are truly concerned for my safety, then you must ride with me.”

  “You are as stubborn as your father, and more stubborn than when I first met you, if that is at all possible,” he grumbled.

  “You are one to talk, lieutenant.”

  “This is a terrible idea.” He rubbed his face.

  Someone knocked at the front door.

  “Just a moment,” Arianne called. She lowered her voice to speak to Nisero again. “They are searching for a man traveling alone, based on a terrible drawing. This far north they would not know an Elite Guardsman from a bandit. If you are traveling with a woman, and a pregnant woman at that, no one will place you as the man they seek.”

  “That’s a good point,” Nisero agreed.

  “Of course it is. This would have gone faster if you had just left it at my telling you not to move and trust me like I first said.”

  She closed the pantry without waiting for a response. The door did not latch, so Nisero saw a sliver of light and heard her footfalls approaching the front door.

  He could hear most of what she said, but the other half of the conversation was the low, muffled mutter of a man’s voice. He heard Arianne say, “Are they ready… my father is not well. I must go to him… no, I need you to stay here and see to the land. Keep the animals fed and keep us from being robbed in my absence… if I had wanted that, I certainly would have said so… he is a man my husband hired and trusts for the task. That is all you need to know… yes, please, with haste. I am quite worried and want to be off…”

  Nisero heard the door close and the footsteps approaching. The pantry door swung back open and he squinted against the light. She tossed a wad of material at him and he caught the cloth against his chest.

  “Put on your cloak, Nisero, and hide your face. But do not look as if you are trying to hide your face.”

  He unfurled the light blue cloak and swung it around behind him to clasp it at his neck. “How exactly do I do that?”

  “You and my father played the part of bandits as you rode along western mountains in search of me,” she noted. “Employ those same acting skills.”

  Nisero pulled up the hood and paused. “We did not act. We just rode until we found you.”

  Arianne shrugged. “It probably would have been far easier if you had played the part, don’t you think?”

  “Perhaps.”

  Another knock at the door drew her eyes away. “That is my husband’s man with our horses
and supplies. I’m going to task him with something away from the house so that we can ride off without eyes close to us. Again, let’s ride quickly to be clear the town where I am known, but don’t appear like we are riding away quickly. Got it?”

  Nisero pulled his hood up just a little further. “Stay here until you call me. I understand the plan up to that point.”

  Arianne smiled and left the kitchen. Once the muttering at the door began again, Nisero started to worry that she would call out his name and then he would be found out. He was relieved when she walked back to the kitchen to get him.

  They exited together.

  Chapter 5: Know Who You Are

  “You look like a man trying to hide his face,” Arianne said.

  Nisero pulled the hood back slightly. “Better?”

  Arianne shook her head as she rode on the horse next to his. “I didn’t say to uncover your face. It has to do with stature. Posture maybe. Just ride like you are confident that you are not a wanted criminal. Straight back and casual confidence.”

  “I’m not a criminal.” Nisero pulled his hood to cover his face again, and continued to lean forward in the saddle. “I’m innocent. I just need everyone else to know it too.”

  “You are, in fact, wanted though,” she pointed out. “That, we can’t change at the moment. So we’ll need to deal with that on this ride. Sit up straight, like I said.”

  “I don’t ride that way even when I’m not wanted,” Nisero protested. “That’s how men ride in parades and when they are flitting about lording over their land and people who work for them. I ride because I need to get somewhere or because someone else needs me to get somewhere.”

  They clopped across a bridge over a shallow creek and continued north. Arianne held her belly and took deep breaths. Nisero took a moment to look her over before turning his attention back to the road. He did not like having her along for a journey in her condition, but she had very effectively given him no choice.