True Warriors Sing, Rowan Erlking [free ebook reader txt] 📗

“Yes, my liege.” MiKial bowed then walked out of the tent.

K’sjuSha watched him, leaning towards Ljev. “Did my father really sneak you out of the palace?”

Ljev blinked at her, nodding. “MiKial is a loyal warrior of KiTai. He wouldn’t want the next king to be weak.”

LjuBa rose from her seat and walked out of the tent. It was too much. Shaking her head, she walked from the king’s tent to the open air where she could breathe, at least ten yards away. It was just too much.

With K’sjuSha back, every head turned. With her back, every man listened to what to she had to say. And with her back, no man would even blink at LjuBa. The prince did not have a prayer. His heart would soon be ensnared like the rest of them. K’sjuSha always had her pick of men. With the future crown within her reach, the lovely, ambitious, willowy warriess would take that opportunity, smiling with all grace when she is married. At least the queen would be a beauty.

LjuBa’s heart pained, and for a moment she thought the hole in her heart had returned. Then she clenched her side where the paper held the wound closed. Her true love? Stroking it, LjuBa shook her head. Jonis was teasing her then, but did he know of K’sjuSha? Closing her eyes, LjuBa was sure he didn’t. He wouldn’t have teased had he known. Her future was predictable. The warriors would take care of the baron then return to KiTai central, and she would live forever with a piece of red spell paper glued to her side.

A warriess did not weep. LjuBa worked hard to keep her eyes dry. Taking in deep breaths, blinking her eyes, she regained control of her emotions and looked to the east. They had to keep their promise to those people. They had to take care of that awful baron. That is what mattered.

They broke camp early the next morning. As they were folding up tents, K’sjuSha volunteered to go into DiNo as the so-called emissary to bring the king’s notice to the Baron, and she announced to LjuBa that she was going with her.

“Yesterday the prince said you would be familiar with the town since you’ve already been there,” she said, urging LjuBa to switch their saddles to the light riders so they could go in faster than everyone else. “So you will be my guide.”

LjuBa nodded, wincing. Of course. K’sjuSha was fit to represent the KiTai empire. As entrancing as her beauty was, she also was intimidating by it. And LjuBa felt just as fit to act as her guide so her sister could march in boldly. Ljev had chosen wisely.

The pair of them marched to the king and accepted his writ of warning with formal bows, LjuBa working hard not to meet the prince’s eye. Ljev was also ordering five other men to accompany them, but only to the edge of the town where they were to then branch out to round up anyone trying to escape. With their orders, K’sjuSha turned with a wink at the prince and another nod to the king. LjuBa rolled her eyes, yanking on her sister’s arm to get them moving. Ljev chuckled.

They mounted their horses so soon the seven riders started off. LjuBa led the group.

DiNo hardly looked changed at all. No army was waiting for them, and the locals stared when they saw the seven riders approach then split off. The two sisters riding in drew many eyes just as she and Ljev did a week ago. Those staring could not discern one KiTai warrior from another, so none of them realized that LjuBa was a returning visitor, not even those that survived the fight on the hilltop outside the tower now standing outside the luxurious manor house with the watchtower that LjuBa led K’sjuSha to.

Both dismounted, marching straight to the main doors.

“You no come in!” one of the men shouted, as all of them drew their swords.

K’sjuSha shook her head lightly, her chin high as she replied in local dialect, “King to baron message, send. Us receive, or die.”

The barbarians’ answer was to brace for the assault. They barred the door, their anger and hate scraping the ground around them like bared claws. LjuBa cringed at the sound.

Then the idea occurred to her. She was a wizard, and Ljev really didn’t want a lot of bloodshed. So like a child playing a game, she sang the song calling them to relax and go to sleep. Bleary eyed, though still gripping their swords, the men swayed on their feet. Then, like toy soldiers, they toppled over, their swords clattering to the ground from their suddenly limp fingers.

K’sjuSha turned her head and stared at her. “LjuBa…did you do that? With just a song?”

Nodding, LjuBa shoved the sleeping aside then grabbed the heavy ring to the front door. She pulled it just enough for a space to slip through. K’sjuSha followed after her, still somewhat dazed at what she had just witnessed.

“Father said you learned some magic, but…” K’sjuSha shook her head, “I thought he was joking. I thought exercise or luck made your heart heal.”

LjuBa shook her head, continuing on her way, peering around at the open vestibule. She hadn’t a clue if the baron was even in the home. She didn’t even know what he looked like. Listening to the air, she could hear the normal sounds of a home though this one had an echoing tone to it because the floor was entirely baked tile and the walls were plaster-smeared, yet there was also a strange sound within the walls that reminded her of greed. It was a groping sort of sound, as if nothing could satiate it, like a stomach gurgle yet mixed with this pawing feel. If anyone was greedy, it was the baron, so LjuBa followed that tune.

“Do you know where you are going?” K’sjuSha asked.

Shaking her head, LjuBa walked on. “But I hear something that may lead us to him.”

“Hear something?” K’sjuSha sounded incredulous, likely to back track if their journey took them any longer. “Are your ears ringing from exhaustion? I heard about how you haven’t had a real night’s sleep in a week. I know some warriors that get worn down by the journey. They start to see things and hear things that aren’t—”

“Shut up!” LjuBa snapped, but not in anger. It was hard to hear the subtle sounds with her sister talking. Unlike Ljev, K’sjuSha was way too chatty.

The greed sound was moving.

LjuBa followed it, rushing.

Then a man stepped into the hall from a room carrying a tray. He froze upon seeing her. “Guards!”

But that man wasn’t the source of the sound, so LjuBa practically ignored him, marching to the room he had come from instead. The man jumped back into it, rushing to a fire grate the same moment LjuBa and K’sjuSha marched inside. He heaved up a fire iron, shouting at them. “Out! Out!”

Ignoring him, LjuBa took in the rest of the room. It was ornately decorated with all sorts of bric-a-brac, filigree molding, carved dressers, tables, stands and chairs. Paintings of the barbarian style covered the walls depicting important people, apparently. Beyond all that there was door on the far right. On the other side of that door LjuBa could hear the greed, accompanied by a new sound of fear.

“He’s there,” LjuBa pointed to the door for K’sjuSha.

Nodding, K’sjuSha then glanced with exasperation at LjuBa for knowing such things without seeing them, yet K’sjuSha marched towards that door. The servant with the fire iron swung to attack her. LjuBa rushed in to block, her sword bracing well against the wrought iron.

“No! Master, run!” the servant shouted, his eyes darting to the door.

K’sjuSha pulled the door open. Inside, shoving the window open, was a man, thick around the middle and dressed in the nicest dark blue velvet and maroon silk any KiTai would have owned. His eyes were wide as he immediately stuck his head through the gap to climb out. K’sjuSha ran over to him, wrenching him back inside, her sword up.

“You going where? I summons for you have,” K’sjuSha said, stuffing the paper into the man’s hands. “You Baron Hoiston is, correct?”

The man stiffened. His fear increasing with a slight screech in air that only LjuBa could hear. It was he. They found him.

“King to see you on field, want,” K’sjuSha continued, as if she did not believe he could read his own language. “King your authority, challenges.”

Then K’sjuSha let him go, stepping back. She returned to LjuBa’s side nodding to her sister. Shoving off the servant with relative ease, LjuBa nodded back and turned to the door.

“Them, kill!” the baron shouted to the servant.

And the servant swung that iron, aiming for K’sjuSha’s head.

But the spell on K’sjuSha’s belt was in action and the iron grazed off with a spark. LjuBa swung back with her sword, this time lopping off the hand that held the iron. Then she turned with glare at the baron, as the servant wailed, clenching his wrist. Her eyes fixed hard.

K’sjuSha looked back once then blinked at the scene, her doe eyes taking in it all. She then stared more at her sister, taking hold of her upper arm to lead her back out of the room. Together they retraced their steps out of the house, untouched, yet avoiding the still-sleeping guards at the front gate. The baron watched from his upper window.

When the K’sjuSha and LjuBa rode back to the western skirts of the town, the warrior army had at last arrived, halting. K’sjuSha hailed the king and the prince while still on horseback, bowing her head with a grave expression.

“We delivered your message, sire.” She then glanced out of the corner of her eye at LjuBa. “We hardly had any resistance.”

The king nodded, pleased.

“Really?” Ljev looked puzzled, glancing to LjuBa also who suddenly decided to dismount to avoid his gaze. Putting the horse between them was quite effective. He said, “They just let you in?”

K’sjuSha shook her head. “No. Rather, we hardly met any resistance that we couldn’t easily overcome.”

Ljev nodded knowingly.

“Will he be honorable and meet us on the plain?” the king asked.

“That remains to be seen,” K’sjuSha replied. Then she smirked. “He tried to climb out the window on the second floor when we arrived.”

Ljev laughed.

“A coward…” the king muttered. “We should have expected it.”

The baron sent back a message for the king with a small shaking boy, one who had undoubtedly incurred his displeasure, or more likely was one he considered expendable. His script was elegant, and his words doubly flattering, yet asking what had he done to incur the wrath of a king whom he had always paid tribute to. The prince wrote the reply, the king uninterested in diplomacy. Ljev’s words were frank and well descriptive of the dealings with his men he personally had that past week. Then he sighed it, making it clear the baron’s men had attacked the crown prince. They sent that letter back with the boy, wondering if they would see that child again, alive.

A letter returned in response (carried by a strong man this time) calling all the accusations the prince set before the baron as calumny and slander, especially focusing on the men who had attacked Ljev and LjuBa on the hill, saying they were bandits and not his men. And further, the baron refused to meet the king out on the field. Ljev sent a return letter well with that man after dark, which in brief ordered the baron to meet them on the field or the KiTai army threatened to enter the town and remove him from his home for a formal execution.

That night when they watched the carrier for the baron ride back into the town, the warriors felt an ominous stirring beyond the edges of their camp. It was not long before LjuBa rushed up to the king, hissing urgently to keep her voice down.

“They’ve found a way to