The Maiden Read online

  She resisted the urge to touch him. “We must return,” she said softly, and turned away to finish dressing.

  He kissed her once before they returned to the others but she managed to control her reaction to him and keep her head cool.

  “It will be easier to conquer Lanconia than to conquer you,” he said with a sigh. “Now go on, get up the hill. I fear to leave our brother with Brita too long or she may persuade him to put a knife to my throat as I sleep.”

  “You misjudge him!” Jura snapped as she began the climb. “He has been trained from childhood, as I have, in the policies of Lanconia.”

  “I know hatred when I see it in someone’s eyes. Will you protect my back from your brother’s knife? Who would you choose if it came to a choice between the two of us?”

  Jura stopped at that question for she had no idea what her answer was. Rowan kept climbing and after a moment she followed him. Of course it would not come to a choice, for Rowan would no doubt get himself—and perhaps the rest of their group—killed before he reached the Fearens’ city. Once again, Jura felt a little ache inside her breast at the thought of the loss of Rowan, but she managed to control it. She must steel herself for the time when he would be gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  AS THEY RODE that day, each step taking them closer to Fearen territory, each person grew more watchful. The road became steeper and in places so narrow the horses shied at having to travel it. They were traveling east toward the rising sun, with the mountains that hid the villages of the Poilens and the Ultens to their left in the north.

  No one spoke as they stayed alert for any noise not of their own making. Twice Jura saw Brita looking at Geralt in a hungry way and thought with disgust of the woman’s appetites. One day Brita wanted Rowan and the next she wanted Geralt.

  Perhaps it was Rowan’s words that made her doubt her brother, but she looked at Geralt with appraising eyes. He sat stiffly on his horse, never once glancing in Brita’s direction, but something in the way he carried himself made Jura think Geralt was very aware of Brita’s gaze.

  Jura looked up to see Rowan’s eyes on her. He gave her a level gaze that for some reason embarrassed her and she looked away. The man was treacherous! He knew that his words had made Jura watch her brother and now he was making her doubt him.

  They camped that night in the crook of the river that was the boundary of the Fearen territory. They did not build a fire but ate cold food then put their blankets onto the rocky ground and settled down to sleep. Geralt had the first watch.

  No sooner had Jura gone to sleep than suddenly she was awake. The river was noisy and masked a great deal, but her senses told her something was wrong. She eased onto her elbow and looked about. Brita and Cilean seemed to be asleep and she looked toward the deep shadows in some rocks where Geralt hid and guarded. Rowan had moved his blankets away from the others and she could not see him. She looked at Daire and knew he was awake.

  Daire lay where he was but his hand moved to point toward Rowan’s place in the trees then toward the narrow trail leading into the Fearens’ land. Jura felt her heart begin to beat faster. For some reason the Englishman had ridden alone into enemy territory.

  Jura eased out of the blankets, signaled Daire to stay with Brita and Cilean, then crept toward the horses. She knew Rowan would ride directly toward Yaine’s city, so she mounted bareback and began to ride, slowly and softly at first then with more speed and vigor the farther away from the camp she got.

  She had not gone far when Rowan shot out of the trees on his horse with the fury of anger.

  “Damn you, Jura!” he yelled at her. “You are worse than a possessive mother. Go back to the others now!”

  “You left without protection,” she said, her horse dancing about. “And you are in enemy land. Yaine’s men will kill you and they will not question whether you are a king with a noble purpose or not.”

  He seemed to be trying to calm his temper. “I am looking for the messenger I sent. He was to travel along this back road, the road the Irials use to steal the Fearen horses, and he should have reached us by now.”

  “The Fearens will not let your messenger live—that is, if he ever reached their king.”

  “I am king. Yaine is—Hell, Jura, I don’t have time to argue with you. I know you won’t return, so ride with me. And watch my back,” he called over his shoulder.

  She smiled in the darkness as she began to follow him. Perhaps he was learning some Lanconian ways after all.

  They rode along the rocky path for an hour, the moon their only source of light, when Rowan raised his hand to halt. When he dismounted, so did she, and as silently as possible they led their horses down the steep ridge and tied them to a tree.

  “I saw the light of a fire ahead,” Rowan whispered. “Stay close to me and do not do anything foolish.”

  “You have ridden alone into enemy territory,” she reminded him. Even in the darkness she could see his warning look.

  For such a big man he could certainly move silently, she thought as she followed him along the ridge. And his eyesight was excellent, since they were some distance from the flat place in the trail where the fire burned.

  She and Rowan hid behind trees and surveyed the scene for a while before moving. Three men squatted around the fire, gnawing on the remains of a rabbit. They looked tired and their clothes were torn and patched and repatched, as if they had been wearing them for years.

  Jura recognized them for Fearens. They were small men, half a foot shorter than the Irials, but as anyone who had fought them knew, they had a wiry strength that was formidable in battle. They were dark men with brows that nearly grew together and their legs had the characteristic bow of the Fearens. It was said that at three years of age a Fearen child was set on a horse and never again allowed off. They were said to love their horses more than each other and that if an Irial on foot met a Fearen on horse, the Irial should pray for a swift death.

  Jura turned toward where Rowan was hiding. He was staring at her and he nodded his head toward the distant trees on the far side of the Fearens’ fire. She could barely make out the outline of another person, and as she stared, she thought the person seemed to be tied to the tree. She looked in question to Rowan and he nodded. So, here was his messenger, trussed like a goose for Feastday. She couldn’t tell whether the man was alive or dead.

  For all that Rowan was an Englishman, Jura was beginning to be able to understand him. Without saying a word, he directed her to the other side of the Fearens’ camp while he stealthily made his way through the trees toward the man they held prisoner.

  It seemed to Jura that Rowan was gone for a long time and she jumped a bit when he at last moved into the shadows beside her.

  “They have Keon,” Rowan whispered.

  Jura could not see Rowan’s face but she knew the anguish he must be feeling. Keon was the son of Brocain, the prince of the Zernas, the boy Rowan had pledged his life to keep safe. She thought it was a foolish thing to have sent this valuable young man into Fearen territory as a messenger, but she did not tell Rowan this. For now she would hold her tongue.

  Rowan motioned to her that he wanted to take the three Fearens so he could rescue the Zerna boy, and for a moment Jura thought he meant to try to take them by himself. Jura gave him a level look that told him what she thought of his plan.

  He grimaced in resignation, then said, “No killing,” under his breath and disappeared into the trees.

  She sat absolutely still and waited for him to give a signal that they were to begin. Her heart was pounding as it always did before any contest of skills, but now there seemed to be something else. She was worried that Rowan would be all right. She prayed that now was not the time when he would be killed. She offered a prayer to the Christian God, then, just to be safe, she asked the Lanconian god of war, Naos, to watch out for the well-meaning Englishman.

  Rowan did not attack in a subtle way, but stepped forward into the circle of light of the fire, his swo