Chapter 5. Along the River Bank

As afternoon turned to evening and the sky gradually filled with darker and darker clouds, N'rak and Maia found going through the woods along the bank of the frontier river a slow and tedious process.  Hanging vegetation snagged their faces and clothing.  Very uneven ground and fallen branches tripped them.  Their farm-bred work horses were not at all pleased to be picking their way delicately through these dark and unfriendly surroundings.  Perhaps worst of all, it became nearly impossible to accurately gauge how much distance they had so far put between themselves and the armed encampment at the ferry crossing behind them.

Although the two travelers felt very little wind deep among the trees, the scent of a coming storm did reach them and at last the waning sunlight failed them completely.

"It's no good," N'rak whispered.  "We'll have to choose the best shelter we can for the night.  A tree with broad thick leaves is what we'll want, I wager."

"If you will settle the horses, I will scout the area and get fresh water," Maia replied in a low voice.

N'rak felt for the reins she handed him, and for a moment their hands met.  Inwardly, N'rak scowled at his reaction to the touch.  He genuinely mourned the senseless murder of the girl he had loved so deeply, he had forsworn his oath to the royal heir so far as to attack and kill him, and now he was in desperate flight from all the god-king's armies.  There certainly could be no worse time to allow himself to be foolishly distracted.  More than that, he felt a new unspoken oath between himself and Maia; their joint survival might easily depend at any moment on his tactical skills being at their very sharpest.

By touch, N'rak explored his surroundings and chose two places to tether the mounts.  He removed all their gear and brushed them down in the gathering darkness.  They had wisely taken the animals down to the creek bank several times that afternoon for water whenever it seemed safe to do so.  There was plenty of tall grass and sweet vegetation for them to eat, and all in all the afternoon had taxed the horses' patience far more than their endurance.

Peering up through the overhead foliage, N'rak could see no stars at all so he had to guess where they would be best sheltered from the coming storm.  He scooped up dry grasses and leaves and spread out bedrolls against the sides of the thickest tree trunk he was able to find.  Finally, he sat down and allowed himself to loosen his clothing and boots and to perform the daily cleaning ritual for his blade.  Ordinarily, he would also have honed its edge, but until Maia's return he had no idea whether an armed patrol was close by, and the sharpening of a blade makes a very clear sound that would carry even among these trees.

And as N'rak sat silently and waited, an awareness grew in him of how very much he was trusting in Maia.  He knew nothing at all of her past life or her current situation.  She could quite easily place a message in a bottle and toss it into the creek so it could float down to the ferry crossing and tell the soldiers exactly where he was.  She could simply capture and bind him while he slept.  He couldn't think of a single logical reason he should let his guard down with her so much, but at the same time he felt certain he was right to do so.

"There are no patrols nearby, but from the water's edge," from nowhere Maia was suddenly speaking right beside him, and N'rak was struck once more by her uncanny ability to move without making a sound.  She continued, "I can still hear the soldiers at the crossing.  While I am sure they will not hear us, we cannot risk a fire for cooking or for warmth."

"There was no hope of that," N'rak agreed.

"Here is fresh water, hard tack, and meat.  We won't starve," Maia said simply.  N'rak was aware of the sleeve of her robe brushing lightly against his arm as she passed the food and water to him.  Again the memory came to him of her shimmering skin in the moonlight, and he battled within himself to stay focused on survival.  If Maia could approach him so silently in this darkness, an enemy might as well.  N'rak might fall asleep and never wake up.

The two ate and drank, each wrapped in silent thought, until Maia's soft voice spoke to him, "I have an idea that you are troubled by more than the past you seek to escape.  Has the time come to ask questions of me, N'rak?"

"No.  I have no right to pry," he answered.

"You are so very different from ... those I have met before.  There are things about myself I cannot speak of, but I believe there are things you may be told."

N'rak quietly cleared his throat and then plunged, "There is something you should know first.  I woke up last night and saw you leave.  I followed.  I ... I saw you at the water's edge.  I had no thoughts of spying on you at such a time.  I was only curious about where you had gone."  N'rak silently gave thanks for the darkness because he was sure that his face was bright red now.

He felt her hand on his shoulder now.  "You apologize for this?  You are ... ashamed?  I would never have believed it possible."

N'rak's head spun now.  He felt overwhelmed by uncertainty.  Was she outraged that he thought a mere apology would suffice?  Did she have so low an opinion of him that she did not think him capable of true remorse?  She had, after all, looked on – probably in horror – while he butchered ten unskilled men with no regrets.  He could feel a stone wall going up between them because of this ridiculous confession he had let himself blurt out.

But her voice easily conveyed her soft unseen smile as she continued, "You did not realize.  I knew you were there last night.  When I had donned my robe again, I was about to speak to you there when I saw you bow your head and – N'rak, I mean no offense and I'm not sure what might offend a warrior – but I saw the tears fall from your eyes.  I thought I must respect your privacy, and so I said nothing."

"It should have been me respecting your privacy – Maia."

The way wind chimes sounds in a summer breeze, the way a fine music box plays a child's melody, the way distant song birds call to one another, Maia laughed.  "You are a paradox, N'rak, but now more than ever I am sure you may know," she hesitated ever so slightly, "more about me."

"You honor me by your confidence, Maia, and I will tell you of my own life, such as it is."

"Tell me at least this, N'rak.  When you saw me – when you saw my eyes – you were not filled with terror?  You did not think me some otherworldly demon placing your soul in danger?"

N'rak let out a low sardonic chuckle, "You don't really understand my name, do you?  What soul I may have is already lost, forfeit."  The swordsman who had faced and killed men and women, even boys and girls, merely as practice now took a deep breath before proceeding.  "Although my heart is taken forever, in truth I admit you are the most amazing woman I have ever seen.  Terror?  No, I don't think it was terror I felt."

Maia laughed again, "Warrior!  Is there no end to your surprises?"  Her hand in the darkness had been on his arm all this time.  She now slid it off gently and then shifted her body to lean against the tree trunk shoulder-to-shoulder and thigh touching thigh with him.  "Let's sit here in the darkness and pass the time with our stories until sleep at last takes us."

N'rak relaxed and leaned his head back to rest against the trunk.  "Agreed, but I will go first.  I have a feeling yours will be the more interesting story and mine will suffer in comparison."

"We'll see."

As the storm front came nearer and the air grew cold and damp, in a low and private voice N'rak told her of his life, his upbringing, how he was chosen to be the sworn companion of the royal heir, his education, and his training.  With another deep breath, he broke through the hesitancy and spoke aloud for the first time ever of his meeting and falling in love with Tay-Vasani, of their exchanged glances and whispers, of their secret meeting with its embraces and kisses and confessions of undying love.  His tone darkened as he spoke of finding the royal heir missing, of his frantic search for the one he was sworn to protect above all else.  The bitterness nearly overwhelmed him as he told of finding the god-king's son carelessly slashing the tender throat of his secret love.  A long silence settled upon him before he was able to continue, telling of how he had betrayed his oath and savagely murdered Sur-Pashno.

"By rights I should have died, but for her I chose to go on.," he concluded.

The remnants of a chill wind made its way through the branches and leaves overhead and raised goose flesh on their arms.  Maia leaned her head close to his.  "You honor her by not giving up."

Another long silence settled upon them there in the dark, but it was not an awkward or embarrassed silence.  Instead there was a mournful quality to this silence but also the deep warm glow of bond being forged between the two travelers.  After a long while, N'rak felt Maia heave a small sigh.

"N'rak, I will tell you my story, but may I put it off until tomorrow night?  I feel it would tarnish things somehow if our stories vied with one another in a single night.  Tomorrow night, I promise."

"Tomorrow night then, Maia."

And without another word, the tragic warrior and the woman still enshrouded in mystery pulled their blankets tightly around themselves and pressed close to each other's warmth and floated seamlessly from wakefulness to sleep, a sleep that would not be interrupted that night.

They were both awakened by the distant sound of thunder.  By the dim light sifting through the trees, it appeared that the sun was up but thick dark clouds were keeping the world in shades of gray.  The air was cold and damp but Maia's body was pressed against and molded perfectly to N'rak's, and their shared heat was quite intense.  His face was buried in her silken white hair while she in turn was listening raptly to the heartbeat in his chest.

As a second booming of far-off thunder rolled over them, N'rak suddenly became uncomfortably aware of how powerfully his body was responding to the nearness of hers.  He carefully shifted a bit, and Maia inhaled deeply and raised her head up onto one hand.  Her pure white eyes opened and in that moment, N'rak realized – with no little frustration – that he could not tell what she was looking at.  He gave her a lop-sided grin and said, "How do you see?"

Her alabaster lips smirked back at him, "Quite well, thank you."  Now she sat up, smailed, yawned, and stretched her arms wide.  N'rak saw that, although she was wearing her black robe, it was unfastened.  Maia's impish smile returned and she said, "Do I get another apology for you staring at me now, swordsman oh swordsman?"

N'rak gave her a mock-scowl and said, "This is simply not right.  Why do I have to wait until tonight to hear all about you?"

For just an instant, a terrible sadness fought with an unaccustomed happiness for the right to Maia's expression, but in the end her features settled into a wistful smile.  "Because we still need to get across this river and away from eight thousand soldiers?"

"Hmph.  That's true enough."

They gathered their gear and packed it onto their horses, although N'rak observed, "I don't see how we can get the horses across.  We'll probably have to let them go and try to find more on the other side of the frontier."

But for now, they kept their gear on the horses and continued through the dense woods as before.  Shortly after midday, they came to a sharp bend in the river and knew this was the place for them to cross.