Empire of Ashes

Chapter LXIII - The Red Herring

No update next week because I'm camping. Sorry. Dedication goes to @charlottelakin, thank you so much for all the votes! <3

It took nearly an hour for Glyn to calm himself down.

The rest of us were left to talk among ourselves, pretend we couldn't hear him crying, and generally feel awkward. I discarded my sword and poured water over my face to cool myself down. It was then that I realised my knuckles were dripping blood, and I pressed them into the hem of my shirt, heedless that it would stain. Anlai smirked at me, so I went to sit between him and Melia.

"Ha, ha," I muttered at him. "Very funny, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes," he agreed. "But you lasted more than a minute, so you exceeded my expectations."

"I thought you did very well, Lyra," Melia added. She was trimming her hair with a knife and a mirror smaller than my palm, sawing at the frayed, uneven ends, so she wasn't even looking at me, and that lent sincerity to her words. "Samira would be proud."

I shrugged. Maybe. But then again, Sami could pose a threat to her brother when he was using his good hand, so maybe not. I found myself missing her lofty, impulsive nature and her wry smiles. Gods only knew where she was at that moment. We wouldn't know if she had taken Taiga until we returned to civilisation, and that would be weeks longer.

The three of us talked about inconsequential things — our favourite ballads and the more unusual foods we liked, with everything from spiced ginger cake to salted mackerel. I found I could name every vegetable under the sun, but nothing requiring more than half a dozen ingredients. It was the legacy of my upbringing: there had been nothing exotic or imported, only what we could grow or rear.

A few paces to our left, Saqui and Fendur played a few rounds of dice under Ark's watchful, all-knowing eye. They broke into laughter far more often than we did, which made Anlai restless, but to his credit, he didn't abandon us. He and Melia seemed to have reached an agreement of sorts — and it must have demanded basic manners on his end.

Then, much later, when Glyn had settled enough to brush down the horses, Tem returned to the group. He collected his sword from where he had abandoned it and invited his Iyrak to spar. Anlai could only sit and watch and scratch at his half-healed wounds restlessly.

The undisputed winner was Fendur, who scored a hit within the first engagement and went on to 'kill' Tem thrice before they stopped. It was obvious that Tem's instincts were all backwards, and he was struggling to parry at speed. I wasn't sure whom he had been planning to fight ... but I hoped he had a back-up plan. 

"This isn't going to work," Tem muttered. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek. Fendur let his sword tip touch the dirt and looked uncomfortable, which meant that he agreed.

Anlai wasn't so tactful. "You can say that again."

"We have some time yet..." Fendur muttered. But even he — the eternal optimist — didn't sound hopeful. "We were reckless letting you fight in the shield wall. Lyra, too. Anlai or Colloe could have commanded. There was ... there was just no need."

"There are a thousand what-ifs, and most of them end with my hand staying in one piece. Col's shield was an Anglian-made piece of shit — if you want something to blame, let it be that."

Fendur stepped much, much closer, with a glance over his shoulder at the assassins. They were out of earshot and minding their own business, anyway. I was closer, and I kept my gaze fixed on Melia weaving a mat out of daisies. They didn't realise I could hear them.

"We could try Anlai again," he breathed. "It worked at Canton, didn't it?"

Temris shook his head. "Herox has seen both of our faces, as have half of his courtiers. It only fooled the lordling because we had never met."