Empire of Ashes

Chapter XVII - Fraying Tempers

Bevan was waiting at the foot of the hill with a double column of northerners. He held his head high, obviously proud that he hadn't got us killed. As Temris rode by, they fell in behind him. Fendur climbed onto his horse as it walked, while I suffered a painful transfer to Amber. As strong as Nightmare was, it wasn't fair to make him carry two riders all day.

Melia stayed worryingly quiet. She sat awkwardly in the saddle, hunched over and giving the occasional muffled sob. The girl was trying so hard not to let us see her tears — it was almost impressive. I moved Amber to her side.

"Was it your mother who came from the Sapphire Lands?" I asked.

Melia looked up, terror clear on her face. When she realised it was me, she didn't seem all that reassured. "Yes. She's from Oartis."

I gave her another prompt. "And you have a younger sister?"

She looked back at her feet. "Issy. She's very wild. Always going riding with the boys and shooting things. We got on quite well, though. That's why she threw such a tantrum when father said I was to marry."

That's not all she threw. A pity, I reflected, that this younger sibling couldn't have been a few years older. She would have stood up to Anlai all right. I was already sick of trying to make friends, and it hadn't even been a minute. But in one last attempt to pull her out of her shell, I decided to be honest.

"Your future husband can be a bit of a prick, you know," I said casually.

"Uh..." Melia actually flinched. Oh dear. She wasn't going to last five minutes.

"He's not hard on the eyes, though, if that's any consolation," I continued. His personality didn't have any redeeming qualities, so I would have to resort to appearances, too. "Kinda like an angrier version of Tem."

Melia looked shyly towards the warlord who led the column. She seemed afraid of him, which was bad, because Anlai was about a thousand times worse.

"You do realise you just implied that the Ragnyr is good-looking?" Fendur had snuck up on us while I wasn't paying attention. "Not that I disagree..."

"It's the truth. But if you tell him I said any of this..." I said sweetly.

Fendur nodded. "I like all my limbs attached to my body, thank you."

He rode on, joining Bevan just behind Temris. We were riding through a gorge, heading dead east into the morning sun. We would catch up with the rest of the warband by tomorrow afternoon, if everything went to plan. It wouldn't be hard to find them — armies destroyed everything in their path.

"You don't speak much like a noble," Melia commented. There was confusion evident in her voice. "You don't act like a lady either."

I burst out laughing. "That's because I'm a farm girl."

She frowned. "But ... you shared a room with the warlord. Aren't you married?"

That brought on another fit of laughter. I spluttered out, "No. Gods, no."

Melia's eyes widened. "Oh. So you two are just..."

She didn't have to finish. The way she was looking at me said it all. Whore . It would have been funny if she wasn't disdainful about it. And she assumed I would have to be rich to marry him. The bastard would be lucky to have me.

"Actually,  we aren't," I said coldly. "It's not like that. I suppose you were raised to believe that unmarried men and women can't share rooms without bringing dishonour to their families."

"You can't," Melia insisted. "What would your father say?"

Well, he hadn't said an awful lot when he realised I was sharing Tommas's bed. He had only expressed his concern that I understood the danger of getting a baby in my belly. It would have ruined any future hope of marriage. Once my mother had concocted a tonic to eliminate that risk, my father hadn't been all that bothered.