Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy) (13 page)

He sighed. "This is a waste of our time."

"No. Tell me if you've hurt them."

"They have suffered no harm by my hand," he said impatiently. "The man who guarded my cell has taken my place inside it; he is injured and unconscious but will recover with the proper treatment. Now tell me, why do you travel with them when you are kin to me?"

"They are my friends," Ashlyn said, trying not to think of the poor crew member, locked up and wounded in a cell of the airship. "Loyalty to friends can sometimes run deeper than the blood of kin."

"Do you take up arms against Lord Devlyn?"

"Not yet," she answered truthfully. "I had no idea even of Devlyn's existence until a few days ago. I had hoped to come to some sort of treaty with him to prevent a war."

"A treaty," Kou echoed. She could hear his smile. "You, a worthy ninja and eager combatant- you wish to strike a treaty."

"Yes." She refused to acknowledge his mocking tone.

In the silence that followed, a plan began to form in her head. She was the only one who could fight the Leadership Duel. Skye and the rest of FLD could help her as much as they wanted to in actually reaching the island of Toryn, but the rest was up to her.

It would mean betraying Skye's trust again, but if she left now, if she asked Kou to take her back to Toryn, then the only life endangered would be her own. There was no need to tell Kou of her heritage. Only that she wished to return to her people.

That would ensure the safety of her friends, if nothing else.

"Will you take me to Toryn?" she blurted out. "Will you take me to meet Devlyn?"

Even in the darkness she could see his surprise. "You say you are Scorned," he answered. "Why would I have any desire to take a woman of no people with me to my home?"

"Because I can help you get out of here," she said, thinking quickly. "I have a horse and plenty of credits, and I've made the trip dozens of times. Hundreds of times."

He did not answer, and Ashlyn frowned.

"You can't expect to be able to make the trip without a horse or any credits," she said pointedly.

"I could steal as easily as take you with me," he countered.

Hmmph. "But then you'd have to get past me now," she said, sidestepping swiftly in a half-circle around him to place herself between him and the door.

He followed the motion, facing the light from the slightly-ajar door. It illuminated the planes of his face and enhanced the shadows, making his features more angular and ominous. Ashlyn made a conscious effort to guess his age this time; he looked about seventeen or so, but infinitely more world-weary than she had been seven years ago.

"Why are you so eager to leave your friends?" he asked at length. "'Loyalty to friends runs deeper than the blood of kin.' Those were your words. Why, then, do you wish to leave them now?"

Ugh. When Ashlyn's little plan had formulated in her head, she hadn't figured on this guy questioning her motives. She'd pretty much figured he'd go along with it and she'd find Devlyn and they'd either strike a treaty or do the Leadership Duel thing, and that'd be the end of it.

Well, no such luck.

"Gods, you're a suspicious freaking person," she muttered. "I told you I want to make peace with Devlyn. Why
wouldn't
I want to go alone, if it meant keeping my friends out of harm's way?"

He took a step towards her, and she automatically balanced her weight, raising her fists to defend herself.

Chuckling, he leaned down to pick up the machete. Ashlyn noted in passing that he seemed comfortable holding the weapon, even if it wasn’t a traditional ninja sword. He must have found it on the airship during his escape.

"I accept your offer, Scorned Elder," Kou said, inclining his head, "with one condition."

"Sure," Ashlyn said, without pausing to consider what he might ask for.

"Your name, or the name that was yours before you became Scorned."

Okay, she had the distinct feeling that if she blurted out,
"Oh, I'm Ashlyn Li, nice to meetcha,"
he wouldn't take it so well.

"My name is Tomiko," she said. It wasn't really a lie; Tomiko was one of her middle names, though she didn't much care for it.

"And your clan?" he pressed.

Eh. Um, crap.

"Tomiko Yasu, of the clan Yasu," Ashlyn fabricated quickly. She'd heard the name somewhere before but couldn't remember the details. However, she was reasonably sure that it was a western clan, far enough away from Lunai that Kou would not question her.

"I have heard of that clan," he said. "They are honorable people."

It just
figured
.

"As are the clansmen of Lunai," Ashlyn answered. "Shall we stand around and stroke egos for a little longer, or do you want to get the heck out of here before my friends find out you're gone and come looking for us?"

He raised the sword above his head, sliding it easily into the sheath on his back. "If you lead, I will follow, Tomiko Yasu."

She nodded and, moving swiftly, ducked under his elbow to grab her sneakers, hopping on one foot and then the other to pull the grimy shoes on before grabbing the shuriken and strapping it on. Snatching up her saddlebags and hauling them over her shoulder, Ashlyn motioned for him to stay behind her.

She stepped out into the corridor a little uneasily; it was strange that their scuffle hadn't woken anyone else in FLD, but she figured that maybe the stone walls of the inn were solid enough to be soundproof.

They needed to get to the airship to get Suki, and the airship was docked in a patch of green just west of Cosmea. Ashlyn had considered stabling Suki in Cosmea but had decided against unloading her from the airship just yet- she didn't want to have to coax and argue the scared horse into the ship if there was any need to leave unexpectedly.

Kou stayed close behind her as she moved down the corridor- close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating off of his body, and for a moment Ashlyn felt uneasy. She didn't want to betray Skye’s trust again, particularly not if she had to gamble the risk on a complete stranger like Kou. But if she didn't, and any of her friends- Restlyn, Aik, Aaron, anyone- were hurt in the effort to gain access to Toryn, she'd never be able to forgive herself.

She eased down the stairs slowly, making sure that there were no after-hours tenants running around the tavern. This late at night, it was ridiculously easy to sneak outside, which both bothered and relieved her.

On one hand, she didn't particularly want Skye to catch them and have to go through another round of trying to explain
why
she was doing what she was doing.

On the other, it irritated her that it was so simple to get in and out of the inn, especially when sleeping members of FLD lay helpless in their beds. They were all lucky that she was the first person Kou had found- who knew what he would have done if it had been anybody else?

As she stepped through the tavern door, Ashlyn paused, trying to get her bearings. Kou bumped into her from behind, and steadied himself with a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off.

"Not so close," she whispered to him impatiently, and glanced around, straining to see if there was anyone lingering in the darkness before she took off for the Cosmea entrance.

Her sneakers made no noise on the hard-packed dirt; her breathing was low, even and almost inaudible. The creaking of her saddlebags was the only sound in the still night.

She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her, and then the sudden jolt of something plowing into her. "Wha-?" she started, but the wind was knocked from her as she was propelled forward by a hundred and sixty pounds of determined ninja. There was a deafening clap, like thunder, and Ashlyn yelped as a sudden heat singed the backs of her legs. Kou rolled over, dragging her with him, away from the fire spell that had nearly struck them both.

This was bad.
Very
bad, Ashlyn amended, feeling silly for thinking something so absurdly obvious while they were under attack. Their assailant was either a fellow FLD member or a Toryn assassin, and she wasn't sure which option was less appealing. If they were caught by FLD, Skye would surely not trust her ever again and the opportunity to sneak into Toryn would be lost. If a Toryn assassin got to them…even if they did by some chance recognize Kou and decide not to kill them, Ashlyn's cover would be blown.

She craned her neck around to see who had cast the spell, but the blackness was like a cloak over Cosmea. How the attacker had managed to see them well enough to use a
fire
stane was completely beyond her.

Kou leaped to his feet, pulling her up with him. "Run."

He didn't have to tell her twice. Ashlyn descended the steps three at a time and hit the ground at a sprint, Kou a solid shadow at her back. This place was familiar to her, comfortable, and although it had changed some in the past few years it was still the terrain that she had hiked numerous times in her quest for stanes. That should give them the upper hand for a while, at least.

She skidded down an incline and hopped over a giant boulder, making a hasty leap sideways as an ice spell nipped at her left leg. Whoever this was wasn't intent on taking prisoners; they were seriously trying to injure her. It couldn't be anyone from FLD…could it?

The airship came into view as they turned around a craggy bluff, its running lights providing a perfect circle of illumination in the darkness, and Ashlyn ran for it, mind racing. If they boarded the ship to get Suki, they would be trapped. As far as she knew, Kou didn't have any stanes, and fighting a stane-armed enemy with a sword alone was next to impossible.

She slid to a stop at where the exit ramp was supposed to open, and groaned. It was shut,
of course,
because it wasn't like Aaron wanted any old fiend to wander in uninvited. She stared up at the deck for a split second longer than she could afford, contemplating the distance, noting the jutting cliff next to the airship and its approximate height in relation to the deck.

"I can hear their footsteps," Kou hissed from behind her.

So could Ashlyn. She spun on her heel, yanking the hammered steel shuriken from her back as she did so. With careful precision and hair-splitting accuracy, she hurled the weapon in an even arc, the flashing shuriken curving off to her right before disappearing into the darkness.

There was a muffled cry, the clear
ting
of something metal hitting the ground, and then the shuriken came flying back to Ashlyn, from the left side this time. She leapt up to catch it expertly, hitting the ground and striking battle stance in one fluid motion.

"That should buy us some time," she said, hardly noting Kou's expression of admiration as she re-secured the shuriken onto her back. "You stay out here and hold them off. I'm going to get my horse."

She turned to face the airship again, stepping back a few feet. Drawing a deep breath, she started running straight towards the hull- and sprang up, hooking her hands over a jutting panel and executing a neat flip up onto the deck.

There was no time to catch her breath. Ashlyn stood, feeling a little light-headed from the aerial somersault, and ran to the hatch. She didn't waste time with the stairs inside, instead vaulting off the balcony to the deck below and making a mad dash for the stable.

"Hey Suki," she said, unlatching the stall door. She didn't dare take the extra minutes to put on a saddle, but she grabbed the bridle off a hook and slipped it over the sleepy mare's head, hoping desperately that Kou could ride bareback decently enough not to drag her off during their escape.

Suki nickered tiredly as she followed Ashlyn up the ramp to the hatch. When they stepped out into the cold night air, however, the chestnut mare perked up immediately, her hooves clicking rhythmically on the deck as she pranced in place. Ashlyn hooked her saddlebags over her arm, already regretting the absence of an actual saddle, and grabbed onto a handful of mane. After the leap she'd just made onto the airship's deck, hopping onto Suki's back was a piece of cake.