Vio sighed. She’d known the answer to her question even before she’d asked it, but somehow she wanted to hear the reality of it from his mouth.
“Then I will indeed stay here on Noble Island, if they will have me, and study to become a Tar.”
“You will make a great one,” Gwaynn answered, sad but relieved that they had past the barrier that had so long stood before them. Without a word he reached out and took her uninjured right hand in his. He squeezed it and she squeezed back hard.
“Stay with me?”
Gwaynn nodded.
ǂ
Gwaynn stayed with her all that afternoon and evening. Late that night she held him captive with her large brown eyes and nearly begged him not to leave her. Her pleas reminded him so much of his twin sister Gwynn that he could not help but relent and stay the night. Alynn, Pugg’s wife, brought Gwaynn a blanket and he moved a second cot close to Vio’s. Lying there, he held her hand as he had his sister’s, back when they were younger and he was so afraid of the dark.
He was surprised how nice her hand felt in his and in the dark he was extremely aware of her breathing and any tiny movement she made, which given her injuries, where few. Despite her pain and injuries Vio fell asleep quickly. Gwaynn rested quietly beside her thinking and listening to her slow even breathing. He was tired himself but it took several hours for him to finally relax and follow her in the world of dreams.
He woke suddenly and fully, at first unaware of where he was exactly. Vio’s hand was still loosely in his, and for a long moment he believed it to be Gwynn’s. He lay still; at a loss as to why he had awakened so quickly, but then he became aware of another presence in the tent. At first he suspected it was Pugg, or perhaps Alynn come to check on Vio, but whoever was present was moving too carefully, too stealthily to be a friend. Without thinking Gwaynn grabbed his kali from under his cot and jumped to his feet. It was not completely dark; the interior of the tent was lit very dimly by the large gibbon moon, which allowed Gwaynn to see the dark outline of the attacker.
“Who is there?” Gwaynn challenged loudly, as he moved from the cot to stand in between Vio and the stranger.
No answer came except for a quick attack from the dark figure before him. Gwaynn sensed rather than saw the blow coming. He sidestepped and parried it with his left hand. Two more quick blows came at him, one missed completely and Gwaynn instinctively blocked the other. He could still see the vague outline of his enemy though only his arms and head stood out against the relative brightness of the tent walls.
“Gwaynn!” Vio whispered urgently through the pain in her mouth, awaken by the clash of swords.
Gwaynn made no answer; his entire concentration was on his dark, nameless opponent. Another blow came and again Gwaynn blocked it, not moving away, not giving any ground, stubbornly remaining between the attacker and the helpless girl behind him.
The assassin before him attempted to circle past, but Gwaynn moved easily to block his way. But when the next attack came it was relentless and though Gwaynn managed to block many of the blows, one grazed his chin and another hammer blow fell against his right thigh. He grunted as it landed and fell off to the left, not feeling pain, but knowing that he had taken a serious injury to his leg. He knew he was in trouble if the fight continued for much longer.
His attacker, however, did not press his advantage but instead darted past Gwaynn and made a lunging attack at Vio.
“Gwynn!” Gwaynn yelled, confused.
Vio saw the attack coming, gasped and lunged from the cot and onto the floor. She landed with a yelp of pain, but the blow missed her and she was safe for a moment, the cot shielding her from her assailant.
Gwaynn moved forward as the attacker reached down, and roughly tossed the cot aside, then prepared the killing blow to the girl at his feet.
Gwaynn must have made some noise, however, because at the last minute the dark shape turned to face him. Gwaynn did not care. It was his turn to attack. He was suddenly wide-awake and very angry, tired of having those who cared for him killed and taken away. He moved in with no fear, no hesitation. His attack came in three furious blows, the first throwing his opponents left kali from his grip the next ringing strongly against the right and the third slicing threw the neck of the dark shape before him.
In the darkness, Gwaynn saw the figure before him stagger. His lone kali fell with a thud to the grass floor of the tent. A strange sucking sound could be heard, as if someone was trying to pull a boot free from the mud, then the head of the stranger flopped back as if on a hinge. The body wavered for a moment then fell straight down and slightly on top of Vio. She screamed…loudly.
Gwaynn stood completely still, staring at the dark mass lying before him, as Vio continued to scream, though how long it took him to become aware that she was screaming his name, he could not have said. He had killed. He had taken someone else’s life. It was a shock and the feel of it was completely different from the way he had always dreamed it would be. Throughout his early childhood, he’d played at war; played at battle and killing. As a child, he’d saved countless damsels, slain more enemies than could be counted, and always in his daydreams he had felt victorious, strong, and happy. Now, however, in the reality of the event, he felt slightly nauseous, dizzy, and….happy.
The tent finally came into the light and Gwaynn realized there were people around him. Pugg and Alynn were suddenly there bending and helping Vio from beneath the corpse. Tar Kostek and Amon silently studying him, and Tar Nev, one hand on Gwaynn’s shoulder and the other running through his own bushy hair. As always, there was a slight smile on the face of his teacher.
Gwaynn moved forward as if in a dream, wanting to know the identity of his attacker, wanting it to be Navarra as he never wanted anything else in his life, for then some of the pain in his life would be over, behind him. He limped forward, bent and saw instantly that it was not the Executioner; it was instead B’dall of the Deutzani, this year’s katas champion.
XI
The following morning Gwaynn found himself bandaged up and on board the Carol-Anne, on his way to Lato Island. As he suspected, he had a serious stab wound in his right thigh, but Alynn cleaned it and carefully placed a poultice of moss and other herbs directly on the wound to pull out any possible infection and to aid the healing process, then she wrapped his thigh tightly.
“You clean this every other day, and pack it in tightly,” Alynn instructed giving him a small bag filled with bandages and the wet moss.
“We’ll see he’s taken care of,” Nev said and Gwaynn noticed the shy look of respect Alynn gave the Tar.
Gwaynn thought he might have some deep reservations about boarding another trireme after his last experience, but now as he lay comfortably in a hammock on the bustling deck he felt no such apprehension. He was not surprised to find that he had complete confidence in Jon, for it was obvious that the man knew his way around his ship. Gwaynn watched as the crew loaded the last of the goods and supplies that they would be taking with them. The pace was a bit frantic because the launch was a few days early, but Jon, at Nev’s urging, quickly made arrangements for their departure. They could have made the trip by Traveler, but Jon would not hear of it, and insisted that he be allowed to ferry them the thirty miles east to the island of the Scholars.