Chapter Four

Burt Lenyar heard the sound of the signal arrow pass overhead, and immediately knew what that meant. Stopping his search among the rocks, he turned and ran for the edge of the boulder field so that he could get outside and see his man.

He was limping slightly and his knee was bloody from a fall, but his anger and determination let him ignore the pain.

Pain he planned to pay back in full shortly.

Exiting the rock field, he spotted his man immediately, and followed the archer’s gestures to look to his left.

There, less than seven paces away, the Hauke boy was lying like a pig in the dirt, waiting to be stuck like a good piggie should.

Burt smiled and walked over to where the teen lay sweating on the ground.

“Thought you were clever, didn’t you?” He said, watching the teen turn over to look up and face him. Then he paused, surprised by what he saw.

The redheaded boy’s blue eyes shone with anger and determination- not fear.

And for a moment, Burt was actually impressed.

“You really are Kanall’s son, aren’t you?” Burt snorted. “I always bet your mother had fancied the butcher, but no, you’re that man’s sire all right. I bet he looked just like you two weeks back.” Then Burt grinned and pulled back his sword, “Right before they stuck him.”

Ryland didn’t close his eyes- he was determined to see his end coming.

Although his heart pounded in his ears, he ignored it and watched every detail. He watched Lenyar grasp the hilt of the short sword with both hands. He watched the man raise it slightly to bring it down in a final plunge that would run Ryland through. And, he watched as the short spear hit Lenyar with so much force it almost passed through him, burying itself deeply in the man’s shoulder and sending him stumbling back a few paces.

Twisting his head to look behind him, he saw Koamalu standing at the rock field opening, a satisfied looking smile on the other teen’s bloodstained face.

But only for a moment.

For then Koamalu was gone, and Ryland had to look around to find the south islander, who was now zig-zagging his way with incredible speed across the open space between them and the archer who’d been sniping Ryland.

As Ryland watched what came next, he understood why Koamalu seemed to have such incredible confidence in his abilities.

While he ran, Koamalu picked up a fist-sized stone, and after the panicked archer let off a wild shot that missed the warrior, he threw the stone at his enemy’s head with great force. Instinctively, the archer ducked the stone, and by the time he’d recovered Koamalu was too close for a shot.

The archer tried to drop his bow and switch to a knife, but the south islander grabbed the hand with the knife as it was coming out of its belt sheath and used the man’s own knife to stick him with. The teen’s strength was such that he lifted the archer off the ground and held him in the air a moment, and then spun the archer around just in time to catch an arrow from the second archer who was approaching from the south end of the pool.

Ryland’s jaw gaped as Koamalu grabbed the man he had by the face and began to use the still wailing man as a shield, rushing at the second archer.

The second archer was equally shocked, and the sight so rattled him that he turned and took off running, rushing headlong into the nearby treeline.

Koamalu, seeing the man escaping, tossed the wounded first archer aside and raced off into the forest after the fleeing man, vanishing from sight.

Ryland nodded, a fleeing man could bring reinforcements if there were any nearby, and give their pursuers a clue as to their direction. Koamalu needed to catch him and finish the job.

But then as he got up and brushed himself off, a thought occurred to him...Koamalu was gone.

He was free.

He’d never really intended to make this strange young man his partner, and had hoped to get rid of him as soon as possible. Their alliance had been his way to escape with his head, and now that Koamalu was gone he had his opportunity.

All he needed to do was to rush up the path beside the falls. Koamalu would be tired from the fighting and chasing, and by the time he could really give chase Ryland would be long gone. He knew a few hidden spots where he could hide as well as several side paths, and was certain he could elude the south island warrior.

This whole business could be forgotten.

The sooner he left, the better his chances.

Should he go?

Ryland hesitated.

Koamalu strode from the treeline into the clearing near the waterfall pool, his chest heaving from the effort of chasing the second archer down and then dragging him back to the pool.

The other man had been fast, and good at evading pursuit, and Koamalu admired his skill. The young warrior had almost lost is prey, and then almost lost his head when the archer had tried to ambush him, but in the end Koamalu had come out on top.

The redheaded mainlander was nowhere to be seen.

Koamalu frowned.

Had one of the other mercenaries gotten him?

Koamalu found his spear where he left it- up to the edge of the long blade’s flare in the man they called Lenyar. Lenyar wasn’t dead, but had lost a lot of blood and had passed out.

Koamalu hadn’t really liked Lenyar, so he didn’t care much if the man lived or died, but he set to removing his spear and staunching the blood using rags and herbs from his pouch.

As he did it, he considered.

Had the redhead run away?

Koamalu shook his head. He had looked into that one’s eyes. He wouldn’t run.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a sound from behind him and quickly turned to see Ryland emerge from behind a boulder. The mainlander held up several leather purses, taken from their pursuers.

“Looks like they weren’t paid in advance, but we have enough to keep us going.” Ryland said, throwing the purses in the air and catching them. “We’d better be moving, before more of them come.”

Koamalu gave him a quizzical look. “You just tied them up right?”

It was Ryland’s turn to frown, but then he nodded. “I still think it’s safer to kill them.”

Koamalu shook his head. “Kick a man’s ass, and his kin will laugh at him. Kill him, and they’ll all come looking for you. These are your people, but blood feuds don’t go away easily.”

His own father had taught him that, and Koamalu had been raised on stories that made the point clear. He didn’t know what Ryland’s father had taught him, but if they wanted a fresh start the less blood on their hands the better.

By the time they reached the high mountain pass, the sun was setting, and Ryland paused to take a look back out over the green valley where his family had lived for generations. These were his ancestral lands, and while he’d spent less than half of his life in them, he still felt a bond with this place.

He had many memories here, so many memories.

Watching the sun fade and the valley fall into darkness, he looked at the black shape of Red Feather Keep across the valley and promised himself he’d be back here again someday.

Then he turned and walked away.

Three days later, the pair arrived at the town of Northport, capital of Sigia Province, and the farthest point ships could safely travel up along the mighty Emerald River. It was a bustling trade city where merchants and sellers from the outer provinces and beyond came to sell goods that would later be transported downstream into the heart of the empire.

Ryland had been here many times when he was young, and the place had seemed mesmerizing and fantastic to a boy who spent most of his time in a single valley or travelling on circuits between small provincial towns. The food, things you could buy, the people - here humans and the more civilized non-humans from the empire’s edge mixed freely - and the sheer size of the inner city’s great walls had left him agape.

Now, having lived in the splendor of the imperial capital city, Ryland was not longer as impressed by Northport, but he still appreciated the vibrant energy the place bubbled with and the sights and sounds of it all. Although, having been outside of cities for a while, the smells of the place was definitely something he didn’t miss.

“This place smells like a garbage pit,” Koamalu said, covering his nose as they walked through the markets and slums of the outer city.

Ryland could only nod. “You’ll get used to it.”

They watched as a pair of yolked cattle from the cart in front of them on the road noisily defecated brown and yellow sludge that they had to walk around.

Koamalu made a disgusted face.

“We won’t be here long,” Ryland promised. “And the inner city is a lot cleaner.”

Shortly after that, they reached the guarded gates to the walled inner city, and after paying a small fee and Koamalu reluctantly leaving his spear at the guardhouse, they were able to step onto the cobblestone streets of inner Northport.

From there, they walked up a side road, passing rows of tightly packed homes which doubled as shops on the ground floors and residences up top. Each home had doors and eaves which were painted a different colour from their neighbours, and many had specialty shop signs with pictures that showed the specialties of the different establishments. Bread for bakers, candy wrappers for candy makers, pigs for butchers, and so on.

The people here too were different from the outside, being much better dressed and cleaner, and the streets around them were filled with people leisurely going about their day. A few of them even said hello to the pair with bows and outstretched right hands, a gesture that Ryland returned.

It was so odd to Koamalu that he finally commented on it.

“Why do you show them your hand like that?”

Ryland shrugged. “It used to be a popular way to say hello in the capital, although people don’t do it much anymore. Nowadays they mostly do this…” Ryland did a small swishing gesture with his hand and nodded his head. “I guess they still do it the old way out here.”

“Does that mean something different?” Said Koamalu, still slightly bewildered.

“Not really. These gestures mostly come from ways the nobility greet each other, then actors in the plays start doing it, and it spreads. It’s all just funny ways to say hello.” Ryland paused, then looked at Koamalu. “How do your people greet each other?”

“We touch noses and foreheads.” Koamalu said, now studying a shop with a picture of a shapely woman. “Then we say talofa. Hey, uso, what does this mean?”

“It means we need to hurry up,” Ryland said, rushing him along. Then a thought struck him. “If your people touch faces to greet each other, why did you shake my hand when we met?”

“Oh that,” Koamalu said. “That’s how they greeted me when I got here. I thought everyone did it that way here.”

“Most do,” Ryland said. “Only the wealthy have time to waste coming up with new ways to look foolish.”

Then they turned a corner and arrived at a street blocked by two large grated metal doors painted black. In front of them was a small guardhouse and two guards with short swords leaning against a wall talking to each other. As the pair approached, the guards leisurely stood up and walked over to them.

“You have business here?” Asked one guard brusquely.

“I’m here to see the Eaton family.” Ryland answered. “I’m Ryland Hauke of the Crimson Hawk Banner Company.”

The guards looked at each other and laughed. “Sure you are. Didn’t you hear, the Crimson Hawks are done? The Haukes are all dead.”

“Not all of us, and I need to see Sinclaire Eaton.”

“You got a pass or letter?”

Rylands right eye twitched. “No. I do not.”

“Then you ain’t getting by. Nobody gets into Upper Town unless they’re invited.”

“How much to pass along a note for me?” Ryland asked.

‘More than you can pay, kid.” The guard made a dismissive gesture. “Now move along.”

Ryland and Koamalu turned and walked back down the cobblestones, with Ryland deep in thought.

“What do we do now, uso?” Koamalu thumbed back towards the guards.