Chapter 10 #4
feet away when the distinct, human cries of sexual release had
echoed in the quiet of the night. His heart in his throat and
terrible gut-wrenching images in his head, he silently prayed to
every god and goddess he knew to keep Sahar’s body and spirit alive
while he slowly snuck up on the camp, and then let his breath out
in a ragged sigh.
The gods had answered his prayers. She was
alive.
From what he’d heard of the Jackal’s vile
threats while creeping up on the camp, she hadn’t been violated,
though as he took in the cuts and scrapes and bruises that were
visible all over her, it was obvious that they had beaten her
regularly. His tigress had fought back.
He grinned, recalling her threat to bite off
the Jackal’s cock.
“My fierce, fearless tigress,” he whispered
as he cut the ties on her wrists and then the rope tying her to the
tree.
Her fiery spirit had held, even if her body
had finally succumbed.
She slumped into his arms, and Aleksi scooped
her up. He glanced down at the Jackal’s smashed face, at his
bloodless lips and fixed eyes. The corruption of a man was dead,
and good riddance. Aleksi kicked the corpse for good measure, and
startled as he heard a groan. The groan didn’t come from the
Jackal, It’d come from the mound of blankets closer to the line of
horses. A mound with two heads.
Aleksi slipped behind the tree and peered
back over at the mound that had to be Yago and Taweel, torn between
slitting their throats as they slept, and getting Sahar safely
away. He wasn’t one to murder people in their sleep, but if anyone
deserved to die that way, it was those two. If they were dead, she
would be safe. That settled it. He started to lay her down, when he
heard movement and low voices. Yago and Taweel were sitting up and
looking around.
“Damn.”
He could stay and fight or he could leave and
get her to safety. Yago and Taweel were princes, both of them well
taught in the art of sword fighting, and it would be two against
one. If he was injured, or killed, he’d leave her to their cruelty
and certain death. Holding her closer, he did something he never
would’ve thought possible: he turned and ran from a fight.
Sahar was not a small woman, and carrying
dead weight was always harder than a person who could hold onto
you, especially when silence and stealth were needed. Aleksi had
only made a hundred paces or so when he heard the sound of voices
and maybe another twenty before the voices grew loud and
insistent.
“The bitch is gone.”
“The Jackal is dead.”
“These boot prints are too large to be the
Jackal’s.”
“Curse the whore and her whore-mongering
bastard.”
Aleksi moved deeper into the surrounding
brush and hunkered down on a fallen log as the snapping of twigs
and crunching of leaves grew louder.
“I can’t see a thing,” Taweel whispered
loudly, no more than a stone’s throw from where Aleksi hid with
Sahar.
“Me neither,” Yago said, not bothering to
whisper. “You can bet they’re long gone. Still, it doesn’t matter.
We’ve done enough. My father will have his war.”
At the sound of Yago’s voice, Sahar’s eyes
flew open. Aleksi clapped his hand over her mouth, and she bit
down, hard. Gritting his teeth, he held her tight as she twisted
and turned in his grip, her nails clawing at his hands, as feral as
a wild cat caught in a snare. She was strong and sleekly muscled as
a cat as well, and it was all Aleksi could do to keep hold of
her.
“Shh,” he whispered. “Shh. You must be quiet,
my tigress.”
Her eyes widened and she stopped her
thrashing as they focused on his face. He shifted her on his lap
and took his hand from her mouth, putting a finger to his lips as
he motioned with his head toward the sound of retreating boot fall.
She calmed and settled into his hold, nestling her nose into the
crook of his neck, and burrowing her way straight to his heart.
Aleksi sat bolt upright at the thought, and
gently peeled her arms from around his waist.
“I don’t hear them anymore,” he said. “We
should move.” He stood and held her close as her long legs unfolded
and her feet found the ground. “Can you walk?” he asked, taking a
step back, still holding her by the arms. She nodded and grasped
his upper arms and took a step, and then another before letting go.
“Good,” he said, his hands at the ready to grab her as she swayed,
but she stayed upright. “Z is not too far away.”
At mention of Zolotoy, she started and made
to turn back around. “Lasair,” she said over her shoulder. “We must
go back for Lasair.”
“We will,” he said, grabbing her by the arms
and holding her still. “We can’t tonight. We aren’t in any
condition for a fight.”
She nodded, still and silent and staring at
him with her big, unblinking eyes.
“Sahar?”
“They told me you were dead,” she said, her
voice a mere wisp of smoke, her eyes welling with tears. “Every
day, every night, over and over…”
Aleksi pulled her to him and held her tight.
“You should know by now that it would take more than a drop or two
of dream flower to kill an arrogant ass like me,” he murmured into
her hair.
I would come back from the grave for
you.