Kaelyn woke with a start. She’d been dreaming something and the sense of danger she’d felt in the temple had returned. There was something important she needed to remember, and yet the rays of early morning sunlight were already dissolving the images from her dream.
She gazed into the verdant quilt of leaves and branches above, feeling empty, yet with the frustrating nagging that everything she knew was still there, locked away. She didn’t know if she could bear it. And certainly not forever. Her throat constricted and she swallowed hard against it. Self-pity wouldn’t get her anywhere. She was, at this very moment, on her way to find her memory. Besides, Mac Theselon wouldn’t have given up. She sat up and stretched, every muscle in her body aching from sleeping on the ground.
“Glad to see you’re finally up,” said Mac.
She paid him no heed and rubbed her face with her hands. “Does this count as up? I’m not sure I can stand.”
He laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I’d rather not.” She gave him a cold stare. He was stripped down to breeches and boots, revealing a broad chest covered in a mass of thick grey hair and many more scars.
“What are you doing?”
He shrugged and nodded at his sword which leaned against a fallen tree trunk. “I need to get back into practice.”
She wasn’t sure what that meant.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll just finish up here, and we can be on our way.” He picked up his weapon and swung it in a slow pattern.
She shifted, trying to find a position that didn’t hurt, but it was more uncomfortable just sitting there, watching him. He wasn’t as tight-lipped this morning as he’d been before, but his silence now made her fear he’d revert back. Given that she didn’t know who she was and he wasn’t inclined to talk about himself, she needed to find something else to discuss. What they needed was something in common.
She chewed her lip, watching Mac. He made a quarter turn and repeated the pattern. The only thing she knew about him involved fighting, and there wasn’t much of that. But if he intended to continue these exercises for any length of time, she’d get bored just watching him. She supposed she could join in. In the very least, it might loosen her up a bit for the day’s walk. It couldn’t do any harm and it didn’t look that difficult. Just swing the sword–hopefully not that heavy piece of metal–up, down, and around a few times.
“So how long are you going to keep this up?” she asked.
“Don’t know,” he said without pausing.
“Then can I join in?”
He jerked around. “Excuse me?”
“It’s no fun watching you.” She offered a slight smile. In some ways Mac reminded her of the ship cat. If she approached too aggressively he’d run away–or in Mac’s case, clam up.
“Why not. I’m sure I’ve seen stranger things.” He picked up a stick and tossed it to her.
It slipped through her hands and bounced on the ground.
“We’ll work on that,” he said with a shrug.
The stick was about as thick as her forearm and, if she planted one end on the ground, it came up to her hip. And thankfully wasn’t the heavy weapon Mac wielded.
He gave quick instructions on how to hold her stick and they went through a simple pattern. After a few times through, she found a comfortable rhythm and let her body take over. Mac said little, even when he stepped back to watch, but now they had something in common and they could talk about it later. He made some comments on her grip and stance and they did a few more repetitions then he glanced at the sun.
“Time to head out and see if there’s anything to salvage from the cart.”
She swallowed her protest. It felt good to let her body take over and her mind to relax. But they did have a journey to continue. She dropped the stick and followed him through the underbrush.
By dark they hadn’t found the road or their cart. For the tenth time that day, Kaelyn contemplated saying something, but decided silence the prudent choice. Even the cat, who’d trailed after them all day, had disappeared.
Suddenly Mac stopped and slipped behind a tree, crouching. Kaelyn scrambled to his side.
“What?” she whispered, peering into the gloom, trying to see what he’d seen.
They hunched at the edge of a steep embankment with a roaring river at the bottom. On the other side, a large campfire illuminated the surrounding forests and three colorful tents.
“The bandits? Can we steal our stuff back?” Maybe they could replace the donkey and cart with something faster.
“I doubt those are bandits. And even if they were, we wouldn’t be sneaking into their camp to steal our equipment back.”
“Mac Theselon would.” The words spilled out before she could stop them. She bit her lip. Theselon would have, but reminding Mac of someone he was jealous of wouldn’t help the situation.
“We are not living some story,” he said, his voice gruff. “You’re an invalid and I’m an old man. Even Theselon would agree that charging into a bandits’ camp is pure stupidity. Besides, does that look like a bandit camp to you?”
“How would I know what a bandit camp looks like?”
Mac snorted, but she couldn’t tell if it was at her naivety or himself for forgetting she had no memory.
“Just look.”
On the opposite side of the fire from the tents, edging into a stand of firs, stood two dozen horses. Moving between the tents and the horses were people who looked an awful lot like the thugs who’d ambushed them yesterday.
“There seem to be a lot of horses for so few people,” said Kaelyn. “Why would they need so many?”
“From the size of those tents, I’d guess it’s a nobleman’s camp. Those horses would be for his guards, carriage, and wagons.”
“A real noble? I wonder who it is?” She didn’t know if she’d ever met a noble before. Probably not. She didn’t seem of the right class who associated with nobility.
“My question,” said Mac, “is where are the guards?”
“Maybe they’re on the other side of the campfire.”
A twig snapped and Mac spun around. “I wish they were beyond that campfire,” he mumbled.
Kaelyn searched the shadows for signs of people. “Maybe that’s the cat. I think–”
“I think they can come out of the bushes, because they must realize by now that we’re completely harmless.”
Four soldiers stepped out of the foliage, swords drawn, and Mac straightened but didn’t draw his weapon.
“And you can tell your bowman to stand down.”
A solider stepped closer, his gaze trained on Mac. “I would if I was certain you were harmless.”
“Oh, yeah. Were dangerous criminals,” said Mac, sarcasm dripping from his words. But Kaelyn could see what the soldier saw: an experienced warrior with the scars to prove it. She was glad he was on her side.
The soldier straightened his tabard, the color too dark to tell what it was in the fading light. “I’ll tell my archer to stand down if you promise to come quietly with us.”
She snorted. Mac would never agree to that. Any solider with any kind of merit would never let himself be captured without a fight. All the Theselon tales mentioned that.
“Done.”
“What? You’re just giving up?”
“Yep.”
“But that’s–” She glanced at the soldiers and instead saw the leering faces of the sailors on the ship. “You’re supposed to–” She yanked the dagger from Mac’s belt and stepped back, holding it ready.
A snicker rippled through the soldiers and the leader of the group smiled, just like those sailors.
“This is ridiculous. Put the dagger down,” said Mac.
She’d thought when he’d protected her on the ship his word was good. Guess there was a limit to his generosity. Although, she supposed he’d only promised to lead her to the northern temple, not protect her all the way there. So much for trusting her gut.
“Put the dagger down, miss, before you hurt yourself,” said the lead soldier.
Kaelyn adjusted her grip. She knew what those sailors had wanted and what these soldiers wanted as well. And she’d be damned it she let them take it without a fight.
“Make her put the blade away,” he said to Mac.
Mac shrugged. “Don’t you want to be warming your hands by that fire? Maybe have some hot stew?”
“This is ridiculous.” The lead solider reached for her.
She slashed at his hand and he leapt back. “I am not some man’s play thing.”
“Kaelyn.” Mac’s voice had softened, drawing her gaze. “We’re not on the ship.”
She met his stare. “I can see that.”
“You trusted me then, trust me now.” A pain filled his eyes, the same one she’d glimpsed before of someone lost, of many someones lost. In that moment she knew he couldn’t bear to lose anyone else and that included her.
“It’s not you I don’t trust,” she said, handing him the knife.
The soldiers led them along the embankment to a shallow spot in the river. The water sped by, frothing and roaring, and they waded in. Gasping at the cold, Kaelyn struggled to keep her balance. Water poured around her thighs and the current pounded at her.
She slid her feet along the uneven river bottom, fighting for stable footing. She was falling behind. Mac was almost at the other embankment and she only halfway. The water, now waist high, pulled at her. She needed to get moving. She shuffled faster. But a stone shifted, breaking free, and she plunged into the river.
Water closed over her head. Her heart pounded and she struggled to remain calm. If she could just fight the stream she could stand. She kicked out with her legs and broke the surface. Gasping, she looked for help, but Mac and the ford were rushing away and the current sucked her under again.
She thrashed against it, battling to get closer to the bank. Sudden pain lanced through her chest and an enormous rock rushed by. She smashed into another and another, flying into a dizzying spiral. The bandage around her head snagged on a branch and yanked free. Her lungs burned. She hit another rock, gasped water, and choked.
