Shinn, Sharon - Samaria 1 - 1996 by Archangel

Author:Archangel [Archangel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-05-29T14:20:24+00:00

step ahead of Matthew, and haughtily stared down the half-naked Jansai. “We’ve come from the Eyrie to inspect conditions at your camp, and we’d appreciate a little civility,” she said in an icy voice. “You are only here on sufferance, after all.”

The tone surprised them; so did the clothes, the face, the whole package. Not the troublesome merchant’s wife they had expected. They came to a halt a few yards away and inspected her, some of the menace dying away from their lean faces and bunched muscles.

“Pardon, mistress,” said one, suddenly flashing her that wide white smile that she also very clearly remembered. “We don’t like strangers meddling in our campgrounds.”

“We weren’t meddling,” she said very coldly.

The second Jansai jerked his knife-hand at Matthew. “Who’s he? Edori stay out of our camps.”

“He’s with me. For protection.”

This second man was less easily cowed by a tone of voice. He stared back at her insolently. “And who are you?”

“I am Rachel, wife to Gabriel,” she said with heavy emphasis. “I assume you will allow that I have the right to be anywhere in Velora I choose?”

She had expected the name to mean something to them—she had learned, in Velora, it always did—but she hadn’t expected the sudden interest that leapt to both Jansai faces. Inexplicably, she felt she had made a mistake. The second man gave a small laugh; the first one kissed his fist to her, the only gesture of respect known to the Jansai, but the expression on his face was mocking.

“Two Edori, after all,” the first Jansai said, smiling that white smile again. “So you still remember our camps with fondness?”

Instinct warned her against explaining her real motive. “Just curious,” she said, still in that frigid voice. “I see they haven’t improved any.”

“Maybe they have,” the second man said. “You’re welcome to stay and look around. I’ll be glad to show you where I pitch my tent.”

“Thank you, no. I believe I’ve seen enough to remind me just what an unpleasant place the camp can be.”

And she nodded regally and stepped forward, brushing past them with an odd sense of unease. Matthew was close on her other side, close enough for her to feel the heat of his bare arm against her woolen sleeve, but that did not make her feel any safer. There had been more Edori than Jansai in camp that night on the Heldora plains, and it had not been Edori who prevailed

But the two mercenaries drew aside to let them pass. “Angela one of them murmured as she drew away, but she did not look back to acknowledge the word. Only willpower kept her from breaking into a run when they were a few yards away. She kept walking in a fast but measured pace, and within minutes they were safely back inside the city limits, and unharmed.

“So I guess the Jansai mikele survive without us,” Matthew said finally, when the camp was far enough behind she couldn’t even imagine that she still smelled it.

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