Halcyon (The Complete Trilogy) by Joseph Robert Lewis

Author:Joseph Robert Lewis [Lewis, Joseph Robert]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Joseph Robert Lewis
Published: 2011-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

Day Five

Chapter 12. Qhora

The ride out from Algora was quiet and grim. Qhora sat astride Wayra, for once taking no pleasure in the sensation of traveling the world as a proper lady, free and proud, striking fear and awe in the eyes of all who saw her. Now all she could think of was the poor boy back at the inn in Algora with his cheeks sown shut with only an innkeeper’s wife to care for him. And after she brushed away a few tears of rage over young Enrique, she twisted the reins in her fist at the thought of the stitches in her Enzo’s arm. She’d done them herself and knew he’d be fine in a few weeks, but a few weeks was a long time, especially as he was riding up into the north and not back to their home.

“Faleiro’s dead and you have your journal. The stone is safe. Can’t we go home now?” she asked. “We should be taking Enrique home where you both can rest.”

“I wish we could, but Magellan’s probably going to be looking for our Mazigh friends for quite a while and home may not be safe. Besides, we now have the illustrious Salvator Fabris who wants the stone for the Italians, so the sooner we have it locked away someplace safe, the better,” Lorenzo said.

“You should let me take care of it,” she said. “Let me take care of him.”

Lorenzo smiled atop his horse beside her. “As much as I would love to see you again in all your Incan finery, tearing across the snowfields with Atoq roaring at your side, I’d rather have you here with me. After all, I need a bodyguard now.” He touched his arm.

She gazed at him a moment. He was taller than her, but Wayra’s shoulder was higher than his saddle, which put her at eye level with him. She glanced back at the others, all riding and walking more than a few dozen yards behind, and she said, “Was he really better than you?”

“Sword to sword, I would probably have to say he’s the better man. He certainly has the better weapon. But he’s not terribly creative. I put my fist in his eye and my elbow in his jaw. He may be the greatest fencer who ever lived, but he’s only a fencer. Last night all it took were a few dirty tricks I learned in the army to bloody his face and shake his confidence.”

“He cut you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. He didn’t mean to cut my arm, I’m sure. It was an accident.”

“Oh really?”

“Absolutely. I’m quite sure he was aiming for my throat.”

“Don’t joke, Enzo.”

“It wasn’t a joke, love. Just proof that he isn’t quite as good as he’d like me to believe.”

As they plodded down the muddy lane beneath a gray sky, Qhora continued to glance back from the top of every rise and hill to scan the miles behind them for a lone man on foot or a rider quietly pursuing them with a rapier on his hip.

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