Chapter Five

“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” – H. G. Wells

Damnation, I went north to escape the storm and it bloody well followed me…  Katya’s mood had not improved since being unceremoniously escorted off of the Emthes manor.  The temperature had dropped with every passing hour, and the snow crunching underneath Ardeen’s hooves augmented itself just as quickly.  Hellfire, damnation, mother of all trials, great sweet goddess…  A trail of epithets coursed through her mind as she crossed the yard to the stables.  Disappointed at the late hour, Katya blamed the storm entirely for the fact that she arrived in Arlas at twilight rather than noon.

When she led Ardeen into the stable, she did not see any of the usual boys ready to receive the animal into their care.  She sighed and trudged to an open stall.  “Alright, boy…” she said, throwing a blanket over his grey hide.  “Out of the snow… isn’t this nice?”  The boys had all gone home on account of the storm, she supposed, and the stablemaster must have gone to dinner.  Patting Ardeen’s neck, she looked about for a feeding bag.  After a moment of searching, she located one along with some relatively fresh oats.  “Here we are, Ardeen… don’t you feel lucky?  You’re eating before me, and I’m half-starved.”  Ardeen twitched his ears, apparently unimpressed by this privilege.

Once she’d seen to her mount’s care, Katya readjusted her cloak and headed towards the small village, looking forward to downing some hot broth and tossing herself onto a straw mattress.  Going for several days without good rest had not lessened her temper in the slightest, and she had no real desire to cross the Miath while still in such a foul mood.  I’d be liable to take someone’s head off by the time I reached the other side… she mused, scuffing her boots on the worn mat outside the door to the inn before swinging open the door.

~~*~~

When Adros awoke, he realized he was on the floor next to a bed.  Under normal circumstances, this would not have perturbed him – although he might’ve preferred to be in the bed, hopefully with a comely wench beside him – but as his vision cleared and the annoying ringing in his ears came to a halt, Adros recalled precisely how he came to be in that position, and felt anger bubbling inside him.  He had not expected the girl to do that.  Moreover, he suspected that she had not expected herself to do that.  The trouble was, it proved that Adros had underestimated the chit.  Doing so a second time could prove fatal, if he had made such a gross miscalculation of her prowess before.  And Adros dearly liked living.

He shook his head groggily and pulled himself to his feet.  “Damnation…” he muttered.  Looking around, he noticed that what few possessions Rhisaba had brought with her were now gone.  What’s more, the light through the window was no longer a muted gold.  Twilight had fallen, and it would be full-dark before long.  The force of whatever Rhisaba had done to him had been strong enough to knock a grown man out for several hours.  Impressive… he thought.  Entirely too impressive… Adros chided himself soundly for misjudging the noblewoman’s ability.  A mistake I do not mean to duplicate…

The shaming defeat had intensified Adros’s resolve to lay claim to the spirited blonde warrior.  Adros liked challenges, but he preferred to deal with them swiftly so he could reap the rewards.  And Rhisaba is a prize too sweet to let pass… 

He was getting ready to leave when he heard voices on the other side of the door. 

“—looking for me?  Who, did you say?”

“Some girl.  Young.  Blonde.  Noble, by the looks of her – and her money.”

Katya stared at the innkeeper, her blue eyes quite wide.  “Tell me you have her name.”

“No, no… just know she was asking around about you.  She was staying right in that room there.”  He pointed at a nearby door.  “Left a few hours ago.”

“What do you mean she’s left?  Well, I’m having a look, if you don’t mind—“

Adros, still a tad on the groggy side from being knocked out, did not have time to react before the wooden barrier swung open, and the small but energetic form of Katya Courel burst through, only to start backwards again.  “You!” she shrieked, and reached immediately for her broadsword, which was slung on her back.  “What the devil are you doing here?” Katya shouted.

“Trying to get to that pretty little recruit of yours,” he confessed irreverently.  “I must say, I was expecting one of the Lady’s cloistered, plain girls.  Your Lady Emthes is quite more comely than I had been anticipating.”

“You keep away from her,” Katya commanded.

Adros smirked, the only effect of which was to make Katya very much want to harm him.  “And how, precisely, are you planning to stop me?”

“I’ll cut your bloody heart out, that’s what I’ll do!”

Adros gave her a maddeningly calm glare.  “She’ll be mine, Captain.  She’s too good for your doomed cause.  She has greatness in her—“

“And I will see it achieved!” the clear voice roared.  “Not under your banner of darkness, Adros!”  He let out a barking laugh.  “But for Ixia!”

“Your zeal is impressive,” he drawled.  “But ultimately futile.  I’ll have the girl, my dear Captain.  And what a sweet victory it shall be.”

“She’s not yours to claim.”

“Rather yours?” Adros asked, arching an eyebrow.  “What do you aim to do with her?  Put a sword in her hand and send her off with the infantry?  When she’s capable of so very much more under the proper… tutelage?”

Katya finally lost her temper and swung her sword at him, but before the blade could reach him, the dark-haired man had disappeared in a burst of flame.  Katya blinked, bewildered, then cursed loudly.  She turned back around to the stunned innkeeper, who had witnessed the entire scene, and roared, “Where did she go?”

“I-I don’t know…” the bewildered man stuttered.  “Left… a few hours ago.”

An aggravated sigh escaped Katya.  “Any idea which direction?”

“If she’s gone for good, she’d’ve gone to the stables.  Maybe th’ lad there saw where she went.”

Without bothering to thank the stout little man, Katya slung her sword back into its place and stalked out of the inn.  A thunderous temper was mounting, though she wasn’t entirely certain where to direct the furious energy.  Adros would have been a natural choice, had he not possessed the annoying habit of vanishing whenever backed into a corner.  She would have liked to have blamed the weather, but didn’t surmise there was much of anything she could do to make the climate pay for its transgression.  Indeed, it seemed entirely unrepentant, as the snow was falling faster and heavier even as Katya crossed towards the stable.  “Idiot,” she hissed to herself.  “Should have tracked down Liam and asked him if he’d seen her… Liam!” she bellowed.  “Hellfire and damnation, if you’re not—“

“Easy, lass,” a calm voice said.  “I’m right here.”  A pale-haired form slipped out of one of the stalls.  “What’s the trouble, Miss Courel?”

“There was a girl – young, blonde – who left town recently.”

“What, the one who was asking about you?”

Katya nearly hissed.  “Yes!  Did you see which way she went?”

“Towards the Forest, miss.”

She froze momentarily, calloused hands curled into fists at her side, sapphire eyes blinking in temporary confusion.  “Oh, sweet mother of hell!” she cried, and then let loose with a string of blistering curses against Adros.  Liam simply stared at her and waited for her to finish.  Anyone acquainted with the feisty Captain quickly became accustomed to her fits of temper.  “Liam!” she shouted after a moment.  “What are you standing there for?  Saddle Ardeen!  I’ve got to leave as soon as possible!”

Liam cleared his throat.  “All due respect, ma’am… but didn’t you stop in Arlas for supplies?”

“Yes.”  There were few other reasons to stop in Arlas, as the small town hardly merited a tourism industry.

“Have you got them?”

“…No.”  Liam gestured a small circle with his hand, prompting Katya to follow his logic.  “I can’t wait that long!  The girl could’ve gotten herself into all sorts of trouble by this point!”

“And you’re not going t’ help the lass none by charging into the Miath with nothing but the clothes you’re wearing and a riled temper.”

“You and your damn logic, Liam…” Katya muttered, pacing in an irritated circle.

“Rest the night.  Supply yourself.  Head out in the morning.”

“You’re right.”  Katya heaved a huge sigh.  “You’re right.  And if she’s got a lick of sense, she’ll stop herself, and sleep somewhere on the skirts of the Forest, rather than charging all the way in…”

~~*~~

I must be mad… Rhisaba thought.  Or, at the very least, I’ve gone daft…  Gripping Brianna’s reins fiercely, Rhisaba urged the horse onward along the narrow path.  Though it was the primary road through the Miath, the route was little-used and ill-kempt.  Frequently Rhisaba found herself having to disentangle her clothing or hair from a stray branch, or guide Brianna around a patch of brambles.  Night had long since descended, making the forest even darker and fearful.  Rhisaba swallowed and blinked, trying to clear her vision and her head.  Exhaustion had begun to take its toll on the young woman, though some inner pride refused to allow her to admit this failing.  What was I thinking?  The Miath in the dead of night… I must have gone well and truly out of my mind… Something in a nearby tree decided to move suddenly, causing a racket in the branches and thoroughly spooking both rider and horse.  I’m going to get eaten, Rhisaba thought as she tried to calm Brianna.  I am going to get knocked off of the horse and torn open and eaten and they will never find my body…

She managed to convince Brianna to settle down, and they continued along the path.  The only light now came from the shimmering moon, filtering through the canopy above their heads.  Rhisaba felt that the illumination, however scarce, should have been a comfort in the nearly impenetrable darkness, but in truth it only enhanced the forest’s surreal ambiance.  Whenever a wind rustled the trees or the moon partially dipped behind a cloud, the resulting shadow-play further convinced Rhisaba that she had accidentally wandered into one of her childhood nightmares.  I am going to die in here… she thought dismally.  Some grand adventure, some brilliant idea, Rhisaba, running off to your doom!

Breathing deeply, she tried to regain a grip on her good senses.  Panicking certainly would not help her see the other side of the forest alive.  The thought that she should lie down for a rest niggled at the back of her mind, but she brushed the notion aside.  Better to sleep during the day… I’m sure there’s some logic to that thought, at least…  Rhisaba’s mind made this decision, but her eyelids were loathe to comply.  They drooped lower and lower, only to startle wide again when a noise from the shadows reminded her of the precarious grasp she currently had on survival.  Brianna seemed to be feeling the same way; the horse plodded along slowly, slogging through the wet snow with faithful determination.

Some hours passed, though Rhisaba lost track of them.  Her nerves were too shot for either rest or action, but she forced herself on, pinching her cheeks whenever she felt her resolve waning.  Just when she felt ready to collapse against Brianna and sleep right in her saddle, the unmistakable sound of a horse whinnying pierced through the other eerie noises of the night Miath.  Rhisaba looked at Brianna, whom she was quite sure had not uttered a sound, and then cast about in the darkness for the source of the noise.  When she heard it a second time, she drew her sword, though her hand shook with fatigue.  “Show yourself!” she cried with a bravery she did not feel.  A rumbling laugher came from somewhere not nearly far enough in the distance.  Oh, goddess… she thought.  This is how I’m going to die.  Not eaten.  Murdered.  By madmen.  If men they are… Rhisaba held her blade aloft.  “I said, show yourself!  Or do you mean to prey on a woman in cowardly fashion?”

“Put down your sword, m’lady,” came the reply, somewhere ahead of her on the path.  “For you’ll not have the opportunity to use it.”  The voice certainly seemed human, and almost warm.  It bore a chuckling tone, as though the speaker were faintly amused at her resistance.

“I—I’ll not!” she shouted back, endeavoring to keep the waver in her voice as slight as possible.  She wheeled Brianna around, thinking that she heard a noise from behind and to the right as well as from the front and left.

“D’you really think you can fight us, girl?”  A second voice, from behind, harsher and deeper.

It seemed to Rhisaba that the owner of the first voice sighed.  “We’ll not harm you, lady, if you simply put down your sword.  But ‘tis obvious you’re both exhausted and frightened.  No match for skilled fighters who know these woods.”

“I am not frightened!” Rhisaba declared.

Barking laughter from behind.  “Shaking like a leaf in a breeze, you are,” said the second voice.

Rhisaba rounded Brianna about again as a figure appeared on the path in front of her – a man on a horse, mostly obscured by the darkness, but obviously tall, strong, and armed.  “Lady, you’ve my word we’ll not hurt you.”

She snorted.  “And I am supposed to take the word of a… a common highwayman?”

“Ah!  You’ve wounded me, lady!  I do like t’ think of us as rather rare brigands, myself,” he exclaimed.  Rhisaba blinked wildly.  The theif was joking with her.  She resisted the urge to slap herself to ensure that she had not fallen into a very odd dream.

“That does not change the fact that you’re telling me to trust someone who is out to… to…”

“To rob you, lady, aye.  But naught else.  Honor among thieves.”

“The fact remains,” said the still-hidden man, “that you don’t stand a chance of fighting’ your way past us.  We outnumber you, and…”

“And we don’t look as though we’ve not slept in some days’ time.”

Rhisaba had to concede that point.  She doubted if she could walk for more than a few steps, much less engage several enemies in combat.  With a heavy sigh, she relinquished her pride and made a choice in favor of her safety.  “You-You promise not to hurt me?” she ventured.

“On m’ word, lady.  You’ll get worse scratches from the trees ‘n from us.”

She squeezed her eyes tight, unable to watch as her hand opened and allowed the sword to fall to the ground.  I am well and truly doomed… she thought, opening her eyes as the man in front of her dismounted and stooped to pick the blade up from the dirt.

“I’ll have your bow an’ quiver, too, m’lady,” he said, taking it upon himself to divest Brianna of them.

Rhisaba sighed.  “Can’t you just take my purse and let me go along my way?”

The man handed her weapons off to his comrade, who had just emerged from the trees behind her.  “’Fraid not, madam,” the second man said.

“We’ve been watching you for some time now,” continued the first.  “An’ it’s become evident to us that you’re… a worthy investment of our time.”

“Wh-What d’you mean?”

“I mean,” he went on, taking hold of Brianna’s reins with one hand and offering the other to help her out of the saddle, “that we are kidnapping you, m’lady.”

Rhisaba’s feet hit the ground with a leaden thud.  She opened her mouth to speak, but the moon chose that moment to shed its cloudy garb and show itself in full force.  The brightness shone through a break in the trees, lighting up the area in which she and the two men were standing.  Rhisaba could not get a word of protest up, for she had looked up at the precise time the moon came out, and realized that she was being absconded with by possibly the most handsome man she had ever seen.

[Authoress’s Notes:

[Those of you who know who he is, keep your mouths shut!  The rest of you… ::girlish giggle::  The next chapter’s going to be fun.]