by Jon Kiln
“My husband rides that way,” Arianne said with her lips drawn out stiff.
Nisero glanced at her within his hood. He sighed and sat up straight, but then felt exposed. He leaned back forward again.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I meant no insult to you or your husband. I am not adjusting well to my life as a wanted man.”
Arianne smiled at him. “I’m sure you’ll be very good at it in time.”
“I’ll need to find fur lined cloaks and metal crowns donned with animal heads so that I can be a proper bandit king.”
Arianne’s smile vanished and the color drained from her face. Nisero saw her jaws clench in tight lines along her cheeks and her eyes looked glassy with moisture. At first he was going to ask her if she felt all right physically or if she needed water. Perhaps they needed to stop more frequently with her riding pregnant.
Then, he realized what he had done. He remembered her held in a cage suspended above the grounds of a ruined castle. A dark and vengeful bandit king with a description much like the one he had just given had held her prisoner.
Nisero had dealt with dozens of bandits before and since those days. Most had been far easier to dispatch. Arianne only had experience with that one mad bandit king who had caused the death of her mother and brother, burned in front of her. It had nearly been the death of her father as well. Nisero had made a jest that was a part of her darkest, most haunted nightmares.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have jested that way. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You and my father pulled me safe from the grasp of such a person.” Her voice was strained and raspy. It had a shake to it that Nisero did not like to hear, especially since he evoked it. “You have earned the right to laugh in the face of it all. I should not have joked about you being a criminal. You were framed and lost all your men for the treachery. I should not jest about that.”
“The jesting does not change it. You are putting yourself out to save me, Arianne. You have nothing to apologize for in that or in anything else. I’m nothing but grateful.”
They rode in silence for some time. Two parties passed them looking like traveling merchants. They did not appear to recognize Nisero, but they were traveling southward and may have been too far north to yet receive the news. It was only a matter of time.
Their attention seemed most focused on Arianne and her belly. Both gave a common salute of mutual travelers and Nisero waved back. Her pregnant belly appeared to be the ideal cover and distraction.
Nisero considered that were the Elite Guard ever to be rebuilt and reformed, they might consider filling out the ranks with women.
“We need to have a story to tell anyone we might have to engage,” Arianne suggested.
“How is that?” Nisero blinked and brought his attention back toward her.
“We need to know who you are before someone asks.”
Nisero sniffed. “I know who I am.”
She chuckled. “That’s good, but we should agree on another identity for now, I think.”
Nisero chewed at the inside of his mouth. “Do you have a suggestion?”
“Traveling with me in this condition,” she said, “it might do to have you claim to be my husband. We can still say we are traveling to see my father who is not well.”
“That sounds like a good enough lie we can sell. What name should I take as your imaginary husband?”
Arianne shrugged. “Dreth will do. It will be easy for me to remember since that is my husband’s name.”
“Good enough then.”
They avoided the next village by riding around the outside along a trail that followed a shallow, dark creek. Nisero waited for Arianne to say that he was riding with too much suspicion on that trail, but she said nothing and they continued onward.
She took dried fruit from her saddle bag and began to eat and drink from one of the waterskins as they rode.
“Do you want us to stop and rest while you eat?”
Between bites, she said, “We will probably do better to keep riding as long as I am able. If you are feeling weary, old man, we can stop to rest your back and hips.”
Nisero frowned. “Have it your way. We will need to rest the horses eventually, even if you are somehow able to ride without end.”
“Of course, it is for the horses,” she said, amused. “Good of you to care so deeply for the horses.”
“I’m wishing more and more that you had just drawn me that map and let me go alone.”
Arianne laughed. “Then you could have taken all the rest breaks you liked with no one noticing. Is that it?”
“As you say.” Nisero turned away, but smiled to himself.
He ate and drank a little. Eventually, he patted the sides of the horse and motioned off to a clearing through the trees at a deeper section of creek off the road.
“Time for us to water and rest the horses as an excuse for this old man to rest his bones.”
Arianne grinned. “As you wish.”
They weaved between the trees and the horses began to drink before they dismounted. Nisero moved around to help her, but she was already off the horse and on her feet. Even in her dress and pregnant, she was managing to move with dexterity. Nisero pulled off the saddles with the heavy loads and dropped them on the ground beside the horses and creek. Arianne took up a brush and started brushing down the horse over his short, sweaty fur.
“I can do that so you can sit and rest,” Nisero offered.
“I’ve been sitting all day.”
“You know what I mean, Arianne. Just sit down and rest. If you insist on coming along on this adventure, take care of yourself so that I can tell Berengar I took care of you, at least.”
“If I sit down, I’ll have trouble standing back up,” she contended.
“I’ll help you up.”
She moved to the other side of the animal and began brushing down its haunches. “I’m almost done. If you are worried about my condition, stop engaging me in pointless arguments.”
“The gods help your husband through this time,” Nisero said, exasperated.
“You better watch your tongue. You might be delving into more than you are prepared to handle.”
He pulled out a brush and began working down his mount as well. “I’m almost certain that I am.”
“Maybe that is the real reason my husband is away on his mission,” she said, “to get away from his argumentative, pregnant wife. Do you think so, lieutenant?”
“I have no opinion on that subject.” He pulled down the hood from his cloak and continued brushing.
She finished with her horse and moved to the other side of Nisero’s to brush the animal with him. The horse snorted and went back to drinking as Arianne’s mount started pulling up grass and chewing.
Arianne dropped the brush and sat down against the saddle on the ground. Nisero saw her struggle to get back to a reclined position. Her face was red and splotchy by the time she achieved it.
He dropped his brush and reclined on the saddle next to hers. Arianne twisted to reach for something on the other side of the saddlebag. She gritted her teeth and let out a haggard breath. “Oh, I was more nimble in the saddle. Sitting on the ground is not ideal for women with child. Would you be so kind as to retrieve the waterskin.”
Nisero sat up and leaned over. “Of course.”
The short blade of the dagger hooked underneath Nisero’s chin and rested dangerously against his Adam’s apple. He could smell the sweat off the man’s hand and the bite of the sharp edge. Nisero froze in place at an awkward angle. He fought the urge to swallow with the blade flush to his throat the way it was.
He saw Arianne’s eyes go wide. “Nisero,” she breathed.
A harsh voice behind them growled out. “Don’t move. I know who you are.”
Arianna stammered out. “He… he is my husband Dreth. We are on a journey to see… to see my sick father.”
“Shut up or I will slice open your belly for your lies,” the man snar
led. “He is coming with me back to the capital alive and bound or sliced and drained dry like a prize hog. Either way gets me paid. Alive pays more, so let’s plan on that for both our sakes. Move your hands behind your back and hold your wrists together, criminal.”
“You have us confused with someone else,” Arianne maintained. “Please.”
“Silence your mouth, you lying wench, or I will put a rag in it. Now put your hands behind your back, traitor, or I-.”
Nisero grabbed the wrist of the man with both his hands and held the blade in place instead of pulling it away. Trying to remove the blade would draw the sharp edge along his neck and do the work of the bounty hunter for him. Nisero pushed off with his feet and flipped over backward into the man’s arm and body.
As the man grunted in surprise, Nisero’s weight came down on the man’s back and head with the arm twisted up around Nisero’s side. He felt the shoulder socket of the man’s knife arm crack and shift unnaturally under him. The fingers folded open and the dagger fell away to the ground.
Nisero rolled and twisted around, still holding the man’s arm, driving the break further. He let out a shrill scream and bucked up, giving Nisero his back.
“He’s going for the knife!” Arianne warned.
As Nisero clutched the man’s broken arm and shoulder at an impossible angle behind his back, the man clawed at the ground beyond Nisero’s saddle with his good hand to try to retrieve the hilt of his dagger.
Nisero wrapped his arm around under the man’s chin and bent his arm at the elbow, contracting the man’s airway and the arteries on both side of his neck. The man had a long, black beard that bunched up around Nisero’s arm as he choked the bounty hunter.
The man still fought and reached for the dagger. Nisero locked the hand of his choke arm over the bicep of his other arm. He then hooked his other hand around the back of the man’s skull and pushed his head down into the choke. Nisero constricted and flexed, tightening his grip.
The man brought his hand back from trying for the dagger and pulled at the triangle of Nisero’s arms trying to break the choke, but failed. Nisero leaned back, pulling the man to the ground on top of him as he squeezed tighter.
The man tried to claw at Nisero’s face, but the lieutenant turned his head to guard his eyes. The man then tried to drive his head back to headbutt Nisero’s nose, but Nisero held him around the head and throat controlling his movement and prevented the attack.
“Snap his neck and let’s away before someone finds us,” Arianne said in a panic.
The man squirmed in response to Arianne’s threat. He hissed and spittle spewed out over his lips, beard, and Nisero’s forearm. The fight began to drain out of him as he was robbed of air.
The man went limp in Nisero’s grip and he held tight for a few moments longer to be sure he was really out and it wasn’t a ploy.
“Finish him off, Nisero.”
Nisero rolled the bounty hunter’s unconscious body onto his belly in the grass before he got up. Nisero lumbered up to his feet as the horses raised their heads and stared.
Arianne looked at the man on the ground with fear. “Nisero, are you going to let him live?”
“He was following the law. We’ll be away before he awakes.”
“He was following the law threatening to cut open my belly and put something in my mouth to silence me?” she asked. “This does not seem to be a law worth defending.”
“Fair enough,” Nisero conceded. “Maybe he does deserve to die and I have broken his shoulder for his threats, but it will be far easier to defend my innocence for murder, if I actually refrain from murdering.”
Nisero hauled his saddle and bags up onto his horse and strapped it in place. The animal snorted and tugged against Nisero’s efforts, but he patted its side and calmed it.
He took Arianne’s hands and brought her up slowly to her feet again.
“Are you good to ride, Arianne?”
“I will be fine.” She brought her fingers up to his throat and touched two spots that stung, making him hiss. “You are cut.”
He pulled away and felt the spots himself. “How bad is it?”
“They look like nicks.” She took a cloth from Nisero’s saddlebags and dabbed at the cuts. “It could have been much worse.”
“I’ll be fine.” He stepped away and took her saddle to prepare her horse to ride.
As he strapped the saddle in place, she said, “You need to let me put water on it to treat it.”
“I’ll be fine. We just need to get away.” He turned away from her horse and smiled. “But we need to not look like we are fleeing. We need to flee casually. You understand?”
“Nisero, please, let me take care of you.”
He felt a dry twinge in his throat that had nothing to do with the cuts. He swallowed several times. “If we are going to say I am your husband Dreth, you’ll need to stop calling me by my real name.”
Arianne sighed. “As you wish, husband.”
Nisero swallowed again. “Let me help you up.”
She mounted the horse without his assistance and he climbed on his horse next to her. He stole a glance back at the man on the ground before they retook the trail and rode away.
They passed other riders that gave nods or hails as they went. The other riders seemed to pay attention to Arianne’s condition still, but Nisero swore they were studying his face as they passed. It could have all been in his head or they might have been wondering what sort of man would be riding on any journey with a pregnant woman on horseback.
It occurred to Nisero that he might have taken her by wagon to spare her the roughness of the ride, although she seemed uncomfortable and uneasy while reclining. He did not know much about pregnant women and their needs. He supposed his paranoia over thinking the travelers were staring at him was from the heightened energy of having fought for his life, and less connected to the reality of any recognition on their part.
He drew the strings on the tie of his cloak tighter and up over his throat to hide the dark scars still caked with dried blood.
He thought about the travelers coming across the injured man in the clearing or on the road. He would be awake again unless Nisero had crushed the man’s throat, which was a risk. If common bandits came upon him while he was still down or struggling along with his broken shoulder, they might beat him further or finish killing him for his dagger and whatever coin he carried. It would essentially be the same as if Nisero had straight out killed the man himself.
If the bounty hunter claimed to be waylaid by the criminal, traitor, murderer, former Lieutenant Nisero, they might turn back to run him down with Arianne as good citizens would. They might alert the closest authorities and send them racing after Nisero with an accurate description and the correct route.
“Should we leave this road?” Arianne pulled Nisero up out of his thoughts.
“I do not know what roads we can and can’t take,” he said.
Arianne took a moment to consider their options. “We can move along the spur ahead of us here. It will take us wider and farther out from the main villages and travel arteries. It will be a bit longer, but we are less likely to be seen by anyone that will care who wants you or for what.”
Nisero stared at the fork ahead and the narrower spur that Arianne was suggesting. “How likely are we to come across someone that wishes us harm regardless of who we might be?”
“That I can’t answer, but I know we have come across one such man on the main road, so there is that to consider… husband.”
Nisero chewed at his lip. He thought that a bounty hunter seeking out a warrant on a wanted criminal was not quite the same as a purposeless bandit. One man overestimating his ability to bring in a bounty was a bit different from a group of desperate killers and thieves looking to rape, murder, and steal. The army had not done a sufficient job of clearing the kingdom of such threats.
He decided not to address any of these issues with her, as there was not much to be said on the sub
jects. He had two paths in the woods with unknown dangers ahead on each. He had to make a choice on what he did know from the poor choices at hand. That form of decision was not new to him by any stretch.
“Very well,” Nisero decided. “Let’s take the spur. Stay close to me and follow my instructions without delay. If I say it, I say it for a reason that I may not have time to fully explain. Do you understand?”
“I do,” Arianne acknowledged. “Now you speak like a right proper husband. We should find you a nice wife you could order around.”
“I thought…” He cut himself off as they approached the spur. He was going to mention that he had thought at one point that he had found a wife that could be a proper partner. That split in the road of his life had come some time ago and he had let her take a different path from him, without following. There was no riding back to that point now. He was not sure if he or she had been the one to take the dangerous spur, but that was the point where their lives diverged and he had let it happen.
“You thought what?” she asked.
“I thought wives were the ones that gave the orders.”
Arianne laughed. “We definitely need to marry you off, then, Niser… ugh, Dreth…”
They took the spur together and continued on their journey.
“I’m not sure I am up for that adventure any time soon, but I appreciate your concern, Arianne.”
“Of course,” she replied.
The trail proved rougher, but barren of other travelers. As far as Nisero could discern, bandits had no use waiting on a trail no one traveled. As sundown approached, there seemed to be no end to the trail.
“I’m going to need to find us a secure area to make camp, Arianne.”
“Let’s keep going. We’re getting close to the message drop.”
They rode on, but as darkness began to set in, he started to think about the ambush on the road to the eastern kingdom that had cost him all his brothers in the Guard. If there was another attack, it would just be him and a pregnant woman. He doubted his own ability to keep people around him safe more so than he ever had in all his life.
