Chapter 12

It Was Weird

Instantaneously, the moment her sword left her back, he spun and lashed his own weapon out, knocking hers aside, and then cocked back for a followup strike. Riven whipped her blade back in between them in a defensive stance, and then neither moved. They stared at each other, tensed, adrenaline pumping. The eyes of that man chilled her. No anger, no surprise, no fear. Only cold, calm, focus. Focus on driving his blade straight into her heart.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and she didn't have to fake the startled, uneven voice.

"The fuck are you doing?" he growled back.

She stared hard at him, at the eyes of a killer.

"You haven't taken your attention off me even for a moment," she breathed, shaking her head. "I was only getting ready to take off my weapon and armor."

He stared back at her just as hard. Riven spoke again, "You'd kill me in a heartbeat, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would, if I have to." His voice was low. "You know this life."

"I wasn't trying to kill you."

Indeed, of course, she only wanted to judge the man. Too see how wary he was of her. Now she didn't know what to do.

"I told you if you tried, yo would never lift a blade again," he said.

"I didn't try." Her voice was calm now, but every fiber of her being was tense. "I was just taking off my sword to put by the bed because we've arrived at our room."
True enough, the handle of room number 10 was two steps away.

"Are you an idiot?" He raised his voice, the cold calm coming off a little to be replaced by blessed anger. Riven was relieved as he continued, "Why the fuck would you draw your blade behind by back?"

"I'm sorry," she said softly, throwing everything on the line to lower the tip of her blade. "I'm tired. I wasn't thinking. I wouldn't hurt you, Ronin."

"Godamn fucking bullshit," he snarled, scowling, and then relaxed his blade. As soon as Riven replaced her sword on her back he turned away. "I can't believe you."

Riven's eyes slid closed and her shoulders sagged in a deep, silent sigh. Thank god he was angry at her. Furious, even, and more importantly he was surprised. Furious and surprised are not how a trained killer responds to an enemy. Trying to let her heart still, she quietly followed him into the room.

When they got inside the dark, quiet space, Riven set about trying to light a candle from scratch. The Ionian began unbuckling his armor by the window, scanning the outside the way a warrior habitually does.

"Take the bed tonight?" she asked, and he merely shook his head wordlessly.

She didn't feel like arguing with him about it. Riven sank down onto the edge.

"Sorry," he said suddenly.

The woman looked up, "What?"

His voice was a little tired, "For reacting so harshly. I'm edgy right now."

The apology was so unexpected that it took her a moment to answer.

"What's bothering you?"

He shook his head, "What happened back there was strange."

For a moment she thought he was talking about their confrontation, but then her thoughts turned to where he had been taken.

"Something they did to you?"

"Uh," he let out an uncomfortable sigh, laying his shoulder guard on a table. "not exactly. Sort of." Riven merely waited patiently until he continued, "There was a woman. A very strange woman. She... seemed like a witch doctor or something to me. But young."

He scratched the back of his head. Riven narrowed her eyes.

"You mean she was there with the men?"

"Not at first. She came in after we'd been there for a while. In a little room. They had me all tied down to a chair with so many ropes like they thought I was a goddamned gorilla." He rubbed his wrists with a frown. "And then that woman walked in and told them all to leave, and they did. Without question, just like that."

When he paused Riven looked around the room and rubbed her neck. She was worn out and she was still trying to get her head around everything that had happened that evening.

"What did she do?" she asked.

He paused half-way through unbuckling a bracer, "She just... sat down in front of me. On the floor." He grimaced. "And stared at me."

Riven shifted on the bed to turn more fully towards him.

"Stared? Just stared?"

"Just... just blank-face stared at me. For 15 minutes at least. She wouldn't say a thing. Ugh," he shivered at the thought, "she made me feel so strange."

It was new, seeing the man actually express his feelings towards her. It was a small relief, and she felt an extra bit of security from the gesture. She tried to imagine what could possibly have made his so uncomfortable.

"Strange like how?"

"I swear, it was like..." he shook head and began briskly working on his bracer again. "it felt like a corpse was staring at me."

Riven tilted her head to the side and frowned.

"You're kidding."

He just shook his head again. The woman sat with her hands folded on her lap.

"And then what?"

The man sighed.

"She started asking me questions. But strange questions, nothing to do with the fireworks." He set his bracer on the table and began working on the other one. "She kept asking me whether I serve any deities. Where I got my "power." How I command the wind. "

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, those kinds of things. She wanted to know everything about my techniques."

"That doesn't seem so strange."
He thunked the other bracer down.

"She was fucking strange."

"Just the way she seemed?"
"The way she looked, the way she smelled, the way she sounded..."

"Well did you tell her what she wanted to know?"

"I told her some things."

Riven raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You told her about your techniques?"

"Some things."

"Why?"

He looked at the floor.

"I just wanted to get out."

"I'm confused," Riven said. "What are you not telling me?"

The man pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes and then ran them back over his head in frustration. He remembered the woman's face too clearly. Slowly, in only the barest details, he told Riven what had happened.