Disclaimers: Same thing that everyone else says applies here. Language, Violence, Naughty Bits, blah blah blah.

Chapter 38

Alone on my personal battlefield, I was able to look my fill on what my vengeance had brought. As the sun climbed higher into the sky the morning light dappled through the trees cheerfully, fully illuminating the bloody heaps of flesh that had once been humans. I viewed it with detachment. Killing them had brought me no pleasure, but it had brought a worrisome tendril of satisfaction.

From my seat on the ground, I looked from face to face. Most of them were my age or only slightly older. Something told me this job choice of theirs didn't go hand in hand with a long life expectancy. Even in death the faces were cruel and worn. Old scars met new ones with great frequency and their expressions were not what were normally seen on those that fell in battle. Usually, there was a grimace of pain, a look of shock or horror frozen forever etched into their features. Not so with these men. They all looked grim, accepting almost.

All but one. One of the men caught my attention. I twisted as gingerly as possible in order to get a better look. This one had a different look; one so out of place that it took me a bit to recognize it. Relief. An arrow shaft had impaled him between the eyes and his last emotion in the millisecond before death had been relief. In studying his face and trying to place the emotion, it took me a bit to realize just how young he was. The assassin couldn't have been older than sixteen. A boy, not a man yet brought down just the same.

I looked away. It made me sick to think that Luskan could take a young man, a child, and turn him into some heartless trained killer. I felt no guilt for his death, everyone makes their decisions in life and must live with the consequences, but still the waste of it all was frustrating.

Lips pressed tight in frustration and pain, I scooted myself backwards along the blood splattered grass in an attempt to find a place to wait were I wasn't staring at corpses. Moving with one hand was difficult but any effort to use the other resulted in blood seeping out from in between the stitches. Standing was also out of the question with as weak as I was. Instead I had to content myself with inching along the ground like a worm.

Exhaustion decided for me that where I was currently was good enough. Carefully I laid back to stare at the clouds in the sky and I waited.

*****

Without realizing it, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I sensed was a shadow passing over my face. Karnwyr, who had lain down at my side earlier lifted his head from his paws and panted slightly in greeting. I kept my eyes closed and waited. After a moment of silence, the shadow moved on. There was a rustling dragging sound and curiosity made me open my eyes. One by one, Bishop was dragging the bodies away from the campsite and dumping them deeper in the woods. By the time he had moved the last body, the sun was starting its decent and I wasn't feeling any stronger than I had earlier.

I sat up painfully and watched as he came back to the camp, this time leading a horse. After tethering it nearby he removed a heavy pouch from his bags and fitted the feedbag over the horse's head.

I raised an eyebrow. "When did you get a horse?" I asked dryly.

His reply was just as dry. "When I passed a farmer's field."

"I've said I can't ride," I reminded him.

He shrugged, looking unconcerned. "You can't walk either."

I harrumphed, grudgingly acknowledging his point. "So, when are we leaving?"

"Are you so eager to get back to your precious keep?" he asked as he came over with an arm load of tree limbs and started laying them in the cold fire pit that the others had dug.

His tone set my jaw on edge. "Not particularly," I said coolly. "However in a while, those bodies are going to start to stink no matter how far away you tossed them. I don't particularly want to be around here when that happens."

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly as if he had an urge to grin. "Don't worry princess. You'll get back to your castle before anything offends your delicate sensibilities."

I ran a hand through my sticky matted hair and gave him a fake disapproving look. "The princess's delicate sensibilities are offended by your tone ranger." As he gave me that rare tiny smile for a moment it felt like it used to. Two comrades sitting in camp after a battle joking with each other to take their minds off just how dirty, sore and uncomfortable they really were. The feeling faded quickly however leaving me with a sense of loss.

We were silent for a while, him getting the pit ready and me sitting there awkwardly, unable to help. Exhausted by my wounds, both physical and mental, I fell asleep again. When I awoke this time a neatly folded cloak was pillowing my head and something small and meaty looking was roasting over the fire. I blinked several times to clear my clouded eyes and sat up. The night air was cold but the portion of meat Bishop handed me was hot, filling my belly with its warmth as I ate.

Finished with the meal and the bones thrown into the fire I stared at the dancing flames and thought. "The one you shot," I said quietly, "he was young."

Bishop gave me a harsh look. "So I should have let him live? He would have killed us no matter what his age, or are you already forgetting your little village?"

I watched the fire leap and crackle as I tried to figure out just what I wanted to say. "No, I'm not forgetting nor am I saying he should have lived. He had a choice to be part of that group. By making that choice he was dead the moment he step foot in West Harbor… I just wondered if it was normal that they recruit children."

"Yeah," he grunted, "its normal."

Comprehension dawned. "How old were you?" I asked softy, my eyes still on the fire.

"Fourteen."

As my mouth opened to ask another question he stood up. "Get some sleep," he commanded, gesturing to the single bed roll he had laid out earlier. "We leave at first light."

"What about you?"

"I'm not the one who died this morning."

"Good point," I muttered as I carefully made my way over there, the greasy meat I had eaten earlier giving me the strength to do so. Settling myself gingerly on the bed roll I pulled the blankets up over me. At once Bishop's scent surrounded me like a cocoon, the warm male smell bringing to mind that even though he always seemed tough and untouchable, he was only human. "Bishop," I called softly to his back. The sudden stiffness in his shoulders was the only indication he had heard me. "From what I've seen… You did that boy a favor."

He glanced over his shoulder at me, the reflected fire turning his shuttered gaze to molten gold. "Sleep," he ordered again after a long moment. And so I did.

*****

I woke slowly, enjoying the lingering warmth that until a short while ago had pressed against my back. Blinking to clear my blurry eyes I took mental stock of my injuries. I decided that while they still throbbed painfully, I felt slightly less like a gutted fish and more like a human being. Yawning, and fighting the urge to stretch like I would normally do in the morning I got to my feet and tested my wobbly legs. A bit of cold meat left over from last nights dinner was waiting for me, the tin plate resting on a rock. I ate slowly, the cold greasy rabbit sitting uneasily in my stomach as I watched the ranger pack up our camp and ready the horse.

"I'm ready to go when you are," I said, swallowing the last bit of breakfast.

He led the horse over to me and looked at me expectantly. When I just stood there looking at the large animal, he grabbed my waist impatiently and lifted me onto the horse's back. Startled by the sudden movement the horse sidestepped nervously, its head tossing. Bishop grabbed the reins and whispered something to it. The animal calmed almost immediately and he vaulted up on the horse's bare back as easily as he was born to it, settling himself in front of me.

I stared at the broad back before me, unsure what to do. "Hold on to me," he snapped. Tentatively I placed my hands at his hips. He made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. "I said hold on!" he snarled, grasping my hands and pulling till I slid forward and my chest was pressed hard against his rigid back. The stitches stretched and pulled painfully as Bishop locked my hands firmly around his waist and without waiting to see if I was set, he took off.

We flew down a path that only he and the horse could see. I closed my eyes. Never had I been so high or moved so fast, not to mention I was uncomfortable as hell. Where Bishop seemed to move as if he was part of the horse, I moved like a wooden stick floating in the rapids, all mad bobbing and bone jarring bouncing.

My tail bone had had enough. I tapped his waist and called for him to slow down. He pulled the mare to a stop and glared at me over his shoulder. "What is it now?" he snapped.

"Give me a moment to get situated. Any more like this and I'll be dead again before we get there," I snapped back. He grumbled something under his breath which I decided to ignore.

Gripping him more tightly around the waist, I scooted my hips forward until he was nestled against me, every inch pressed to him tightly. His tense back tightened even more and he blew out a harsh breath. "Comfortable now, my lady?" His voice had his typical sneering tone to it, but there was something else underneath it.

I tapped his stomach to let him know I was ready to continue and muttered, "I just need to feel how you move."

He gave a short bark of humorless laughter at that and we were off again. "If you wanted to 'feel how I move' just ask. You're not as pretty as the farm girl but then, I'm not one to turn down a ride."

I ground my teeth and said nothing. Instead I closed my eyes and focused on the movements of man and horse. It's one thing when someone tells me how to do something, but it was another when I can actually feel how it should go. It didn't take long before my body fell into a comfortable rhythm mirroring Bishop's.

We rode through the morning and the afternoon, stopping every few hours to give the horse a break. Muscles I didn't know I even had were aching, along with the wounds, making my whole body feel like an exposed nerve. I was also tiring quickly. A few times I blinked and suddenly found that the landscape had changed and that my cheek was pressed against Bishop's shoulder. My grip on his waist slackened as my strength faded. Growling something about the horse getting tired, he slowed it to a more sedate pace.

I blinked again and suddenly it was dusk. Raising my head from its rather comfortable pillow I looked over his shoulder and saw the keep rising in the distance. For a second I had an urge to tell him to turn the horse around. I had already lost nearly everything I cared about and it had left me hollow. If I continued on this path, I knew that eventually it would take everything that was left.

I bit my tongue to keep from speaking out loud. Whether or not I ran, the outcome would be the same, at least for me. Besides, I've never backed down from a fight in the past, and now didn't seem like a good time to start.

We drew through the gate and into the courtyard amidst shouts of, "The captain is back!" Bishop dismounted and as he was getting ready to pull me off the horse, Kana and Casavir strode up.

"Where have you been?" Kana demanded. "You have responsibilities. You can't just disappear into the night and not tell anyone where you are going. Sir Nevalle is already on his way back to take control incase you weren't planning on returning."

I didn't even bother glancing at her as I braced myself with Bishop's shoulders. "I had business to attend to," I told her coolly as I was lifted from the horse. The ranger stared at the man at Lieutenant Kana's side as I slid slowly down his chest until my feet were finally resting on the ground. I stepped away from Bishop and noticed his stomach had smears of blood all across it. Looking at my wrist I saw that some of the neat black thread had snapped, most likely from the friction of holding on to his waist during the ride.

"I got blood on you. Send it up to me and I'll make sure to get it cleaned," I said quietly to him.

"Captain! Have you not heard anything I said? Sir Nevalle will be here at any time, and you're discussing your laundry?"

I finally turned to look at Kana, showing them for the first time the large red stain at my side and on the sleeve. Her lips thinned grimly but for once she was silent. I looked at Casavir. His jaw was tight with worry and frustration. "I take it you didn't tell her?"

He shook his head. "We were waiting for you."

"Tell me? Tell me what? All I know is you had a mission that you disappeared from before completing and no one was saying anything."

"West Harbor is gone. Everyone who was there is dead," I said dispassionately. "I had to take out the trash left over."

"My lady, are you sure you want to talk about this here?" Casavir asked, looking around the suddenly quiet courtyard.

I shrugged. "Why not? My lieutenant thinks it urgent enough that she needed to berate me in the middle of the yard."

Kana's face was pale as she remembered what exactly West Harbor was to me. Taking a small pouch from my hip I tossed it to her. "That's for Nevalle. See that he gets it." Turning on my heel and trying hard to hide my quivering legs I walked away. As soon as I got out of view though, my knees buckled. Leaning against the wall for support, all I managed to do was slide down it.

Closing my eyes and resting my head against the hard stone, a snort came from behind me. I didn't even have to look to see who had followed me. "You always manage to see me at my best," I muttered, more to myself than to him. I glanced at Bishop leaning causally against my wall. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to help me a little longer and take me to bed, would you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Maybe later," he said silkily. "Personally I prefer my playmates to be a bit livelier."

"Funny."

He knelt down and scooped me into his arms. "You have no idea."

"I can walk you know," I muttered as he stood easily and started heading toward the stairs that led to the bedchambers that had been constructed before we left.

"Except for you would probably fall down the stairs and break your neck."

"What do you care?"

He grinned evilly. "The price on your head is higher if you're alive."

I snorted, genuinely amused. "Protecting your investment?"

"Exactly."