The God Decrees by Mark E. Cooper

Author:Mark E. Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Impulse Books UK
Published: 2013-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

29 ~ Foundling

Jihan cursed under his breath. Ahnao must have ridden all night to catch him. “You can’t come with me!” he said, desperately. “It’s too dangerous!”

“You said you’d wait two days. You lied to me!”

He winced. “I didn’t lie... not exactly. When I said that, I meant to follow through, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised I couldn’t wait. I’m sorry.”

Ahnao shifted in her saddle, and self-consciously pulled her skirts down to cover her legs. Her horse shifted, and the hem rose to expose them again. He tried to keep his eyes on her face—not a hardship under other circumstances, but he couldn’t help noticing how pale and smooth they looked.

“You shouldn’t have followed me. I’m being hunted, Ahnao, you saw what I’m facing. I can’t let you come with me.”

“I ain’t going with you. I just happen to be going the same way is all. I’m on my way to Athione to ask for work.”

“Don’t give me that! You followed me.”

Ahnao rolled her eyes. “You think a lot of yourself don’t yer? This is the quickest way, lots of people use it.”

Jezy picked up his frustration and sidestepped. “I can’t let you come. You double my risk. Go back.”

“Oh thank you very much! Just a burden now am I? I wasn’t a burden when I took them arrows out of yer! And you bawling like a littlun, and carrying on—”

“I did not!” he retorted, but then he realised that she was trying to distract him. He calmed himself. “You must see the danger we’ll be in, and what about your house?”

“I ain’t stupid! Of course there’s a bit of risk, and the house wasn’t really mine. I’m just a foundling. When ma died, Ricol should have thrown me out, but he couldn’t coz the others said it would be shameful.”

Too right it would be! “What did Ricol have to do with your mother?”

“He’s her brother. He gave me this horse in trade for the house.”

Ahnao patted her mare affectionately.

He eyed the horse doubtfully. She’d been robbed, but Ricol wasn’t all bad. No horse a peasant could afford was worth a house and its contents, but this one looked sturdy. It had been well cared for at least.

“What are we doing tonight?” Ahnao went on. “We should split the watch between us.”

That idea had merit. He hadn’t forgotten his first night alone on the hill, but the danger to her made it out of the question. He was just about to tell her no, when she stiffened in alarm. With a sinking feeling, he turned to find what had scared her, and found two mounted figures. He couldn’t make out details, but he didn’t doubt that his enemies had found him.

“Can you tell if they have bows?” he said. His bow wasn’t suited to shooting while mounted, but it was all he had. He fitted an arrow to the string, leaving it slack for now.

“The one on the right does. The other has a sword.

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