“ I am not going to kill you. I am going to free your hands,” Ashinji explained. He reached behind the man and severed the cord with a single cut.
The human sat for a moment, rubbing his chafed wrists and staring thoughtfully up at Ashinji. “The girl…she’s my cousin. Please…tell me. Is she alive?” His eyes, a clear vibrant blue, glimmered with fear, but not for himself.
“ She lives, but she is badly hurt, and I am entirely at fault,” Ashinji answered.
“ My lord, that is not…” Gendan interrupted indignantly, but Ashinji silenced him with a raised hand. The human glanced briefly at Gendan’s face, uncomprehendingly, then returned his attention to Ashinji.
“ I believed your cousin to be part of the gang of bandits we came here to deal with. She ran; I chased her. She fell in front of my horse, and I could not pull up quickly enough to avoid running over her. I am sorry.”
“ May I go to her?” the human asked.
“ Of course.” Ashinji stepped back as the man rose to his feet. He stood a few measures taller than everyone in the company, well built and strong. Gendan was right. This human, unlike the pathetic creatures lying dead and scattered on the riverbank, clearly was no bandit.
“ Gendan, give this man his kinswoman,” Ashinji ordered in Soldaran, so that the human would understand and know that he was sincere. Gendan complied, transferring the injured girl as gently as he could into the arms of her cousin. The poppy juice was exerting its effect, for the girl hardly stirred. The man whispered in her ear and cradled her close, closing his eyes and resting his bloody cheek against hers.
Ashinji felt torn. There was no question in his mind about the girl. He would take her back to Kerala, but what about the man, her cousin? Ashinji knew that the human would never permit his kinswoman to be carried away while he remained behind. The troops stirred restlessly.
Gendan stepped up and spoke softly. “What are we going to do with these two, my lord?” he asked.
Ashinji fixed Gendan with a determined look. “Have the troops gather some wood so we can burn these bodies,” he said, pointing to the three corpses lying on the stones. “We don’t know if they carry the plague, but we can’t take any chances, so don’t anyone touch them with bare hands. Also, make sure that everyone who handles them keeps their noses and mouths covered. After that’s done, we’ll camp down by the fords. Hurry, it’s almost full dark.”
“ With respect, Lord Ashinji, but you didn’t answer my question. What’ll we do with these two humans?”
“ I’ve decided that the girl is coming with us. Without a proper doctor, she’ll most likely die. The man, well, I’ll give him the choice of accompanying her, or returning to his home.”
“ My lord, you can’t be serious! You can’t bring humans back to Kerala Castle!” Gendan’s voice crackled with disapproval.
Ashinji rounded on him. “Look at her, Gendan. She is badly hurt, and I caused her to be in this deadly state. I can’t abandon her now! Besides that, she is hikui, and that makes her one of our people. She and her cousin are obviously not bandits. Their clothes are clean and well made. I suspect they are from Amsara Castle, most likely retainers of the duke. I will offer them my help. Now, stop arguing with me and do as I say!”
“ As you wish, my lord,” Gendan bowed stiffly and turned to go. As he stalked off, Ashinji heard the captain muttering in irritation.
Ashinji sighed and turned his attention to the man and girl. The man had settled on a patch of turf with his cousin’s head in his lap. Ashinji could just make out his features in the last glow of twilight. Somewhere in the dark woods, an owl screeched. The crickets were beginning to trill brightly in the tall reeds by the water’s edge.
Ashinji knelt down in front of the two. “My name is Ashinji Sakehera. My father is Sen Sakehera, Lord of Kerala, the province just across the river from here.”
“ Magnes Preseren,” the man replied. “This is my cousin, Jelena.”
“ What are you doing out here, Magnes Preseren? You are a long way from the nearest human settlement I know of. Are you servants of the duke?”
The man named Magnes laughed, and Ashinji thought he detected a bitter note. “Yes, we are from Amsara Castle, and yes, you could say we are both servants of the duke.”
An unpleasant suspicion began to nag at Ashinji. He stood up. “I want to offer you my help for your cousin, Magnes Preseren, but if you are a wrongdoer fleeing the justice of your master, you must tell me now, or I will take the girl and leave you behind.” His voice was hard, the threat behind his words clear.
“ I am no wrongdoer, Lord Ashinji, but my cousin and I did flee Amsara Castle because it was impossible for us to stay.” Something in the human’s voice, a quality of sadness and loss, convinced Ashinji that, in this, he spoke the truth, although Ashinji felt certain that there was much more to the story than the man seemed willing to tell.
“ I believe you,” Ashinji said, relaxing and hunkering back down so that his face and the human’s were on the same level. The girl stirred and whimpered, and Ashinji’s heart skipped a beat. Involuntarily, he reached out and touched her shoulder. He could feel the human’s eyes boring into his skull like a surgeon’s trephine.
Slowly, he withdrew his hand. “I will take your cousin back to my father’s house. Kerala Castle is about two days’ ride to the northwest, but it may take us longer since we have two extra to carry and no spare horses. We have an excellent doctor there. I suggest you allow me to do this, since she does not have much of a chance otherwise. You, of course, are welcome to accompany her.”
A sudden flare of bright orange light splashed outwards, illuminating a broad stretch of the riverbank and woods. The pyre was lit. The hungry, cleansing flames rapidly consumed the bodies of the dead bandits. In the morning, Ashinji would order the ashes and bones to be scattered.
“ I won’t leave my cousin,” the human stated flatly.
Ashinji nodded. “I did not think that you would. When my troops are finished, we will move upstream to the fords and camp for the night.” He stood up again and turned to go.
“ Lord Ashinji,” the human called out. Ashinji turned. “Thank you.”
Ashinji nodded wordlessly and went to find Gendan.
Chapter 13
"Are we your prisoners?” Magnes asked bluntly.
The elf named Ashinji Sakehera smiled slightly and shook his head. “Quite the contrary. You are my guests, and under my protection. When we arrive at Kerala, you will be my father’s guests. Perhaps you were expecting us to be… not so hospitable.”
“ I really don’t know what to expect of you, Lord Ashinji. So much of what I have been taught about your people, I’m ashamed to say, is very negative.”
“ Do you believe what you have been taught…about my people?”
Magnes answered without hesitation. “No,” he said.
“ How is your head?”
“ It aches a bit, but that salve you gave me took away the worst of the pain.”
“ Good. I have tried to make your cousin as comfortable as is possible under the circumstances.”
“ I’m grateful,” Magnes replied.
After the elven soldiers had finished their gruesome task of burning the corpses of the slain bandits, the entire party moved upstream and made camp by the fords. Lord Ashinji ordered one of his troopers to see to Jelena’s injuries. Magnes was impressed by the man’s gentle handling of his cousin, and some of his apprehension began to dissipate. Now heavily sedated, her arm splinted and her torso tightly bound in order to stabilize a suspected rib fracture, Jelena lay close by the campfire, cocooned in several blankets with another folded beneath her head as a pillow.