True Warriors Sing by Rowan Erlking (classic book list .TXT) 📕

“Let go.”

He shook his head. “We can’t question a corpse. Disarm only.”

“Incapacitate!” she hissed through her teeth. “And punish!”

With a moan, Ljev let go. “After we question them, please?”

LjuBa sharply nodded then crept silently down the hill, whispering a song to strengthen her heart and give speed to their feet.

The pair softly approached the camp of bandits, their feet hardly stirring the grasses and leaves under them. Descending together first, they then split off, LjuBa going around the back of the camp and Ljev to the front. Ljev hurried a little noisier from there, marching down until all the bandits looked up at him.

One laughed, pointing. “Ha! It’s the cowardly squire, come back!”

Ljev lifted up his chest, marching towards them even as the bandits all rose, drawing out their swords.

“Have you come back to steal your lost honor?” one particularly unwashed bandit said, snorting with looks to the others in a swaggerly walk.

The squire shook his head. “No.” He then pointed with his sword to the one who stepped the most forward, likely the leader. “Where is the warrior you took?”

With a deep chesty laugh, the strutting unwashed leader replied, “We ate him.”

Ljev lowered his chin, shaking his head. “You don’t want to say that.”

“Why?” The bandit laughed.

LjuBa let out a war cry, slashing the backs of two bandits at the tail of the group.

“Because she’ll kill you, if you did,” Ljev replied.

The bandits sprang back from LjuBa and at Ljev, all their swords and knives high, but the song of luck protected the couple leaving the two KiTai unscathed (except for a few nicks on their hands) as they fought back. With slash, stab, slice and chop, bandit by bandit fell—not one allowed to escape, yet all were spared alive. The leader lay on the ground clutching his sliced up leg to stop the blood flow. LjuBa stood over him.

“Where is my father?” she shouted.

Ljev staggered from one of the others, wiping off his sword as he joined her, peering down at the lead bandit.

“Spare us!” he begged.

“Where is my father? Where is the warrior he said you dragged off?” she demanded.

Glaring up at her with hate-filled eyes, the bandit spat at her.

Ljev hopped in between, pointing his sword at the bandit’s chest. “Tell the lady. Where is MiKial?”

The bandit shuddered, drawing back from the sharp tip. “Westhaven.”

“What?” LjuBa felt almost as if he had stabbed a knife into her chest.

Ljev leaned in with his sword, yet not penetrating the bandit’s skin yet. “You better be lying.”

Scoffing with coughs of blood, the bandit shook his head, breathing hard. “No. We sold him.”

“Not possible!” LjuBa snapped.

“Slavers bought him and brought him to the slave markets in Westhaven,” the bandit said, his grin curling crookedly at the corners.

“No!” LjuBa pushed on Ljev’s sword, shoving it hard into the bandit. The bandit stiffened, his eyes bugging out wide.

Ljev pulled back, yanking out the sword. He barely cast a look at LjuBa who was now turning to glare at the other surviving bandits. Immediately he shook his head, grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the camp. “Come on. We have no time to lose. We need to go into Westhaven.”

“What about the rest of the bandits?” she hissed back.

Ljev dragged her further along. “Leave them. If they die, they die. But they are no longer our concern.”

“What do you mean they aren’t our concern?” LjuBa snapped, pulling from his grip. “They should be killed!”

Spinning back around, Ljev said, “Your father is still alive, LjuBa! Let’s focus on that! They have been punished enough.”

“Enough?” LjuBa felt scandalized, seeing the cowardice in him again.

“Yes!” Ljev’s face was flushed red. “Enough! They didn’t kill your father, and they can’t go robbing people in the state they are in now! It is enough! There is no need to decimate every person that offends you!”

LjuBa ducked her head.

“You don’t have to compensate so hard, MiKial’s daughter,” Ljev said in a milder voice. “You are enough of a warriess without leaving a trail of blood. Now let’s go.”

He headed north. LjuBa followed him out of the ravine in silence, not sure she liked the role reversal repeating itself. But this time she knew she deserved it. It was something her father had said.

MiKial had once said that a warrior’s duty was to protect, and that there was no need to leave a trail of blood. He also said that a strong warrior spared the weak, but did not turn his back on them either. Thinking on that, LjuBa looked back down the ravine. One of the horses was gone. Three of the bandits were no longer there.

LjuBa set a hand on Ljev’s shoulder. “Look.”

He turned to look, blinking. Then his eyes widened. “Oh no.”

“Where do you think they rode off to?” LjuBa asked peering down at the dead leader also.

Shaking his head, Ljev squatted down in front of her. “Get on my back. We need to run.”

Stepping back, LjuBa shook her head. “I can run.”

But he refused, reaching for her. “No. It always catches up with you. Get on.”

“A warriess does not—”

But Ljev turned around and grabbed her, heaving her into his arms then sprinted through the trees. So disturbed by the sudden upsweep, LjuBa screamed. Yet he held her tight, racing away from the scoop of the valley with all the breath he had in him, and soon LjuBa saw why.

Behind them, on the crest of the other hill, stood four horses with armored riders up top. Not KiTai, but formidable. These were not local peasants of DiNo. These were trained thugs.

“Put me down!” LjuBa shouted, “We should fight them!”

“They’re on horseback!” Ljev huffed out, clearly strained from carrying both their weight. “And their maces look like they could really do damage.”

“We are KiTai warriors! We can take them!” And she pushed to make him let go.

Ljev tripped. Both of them crashed to the ground, him groaning with a struggle to get to his feet. LjuBa pushed out, climbing onto her own feet. She backed from him.

“It is not proper for us to run,” she snapped, drawing her sword.

“Hang propriety!” Ljev hopped to his feet, facing her. Yet he looked back and grabbed her wrist, dragging her with him. “We can’t find your father if we’re dead!”

“Ljev!” She jerked out of his hold. “Stop being a coward! I know you are strong enough.”

He gazed back at her, his eyes begging for her to drop the idea of fighting. He shook his head. “Please. I don’t see the point in fighting when we can get out here without any casualties.”

She held back. “And I don’t see the point in running when we can take them.”

Ljev set his hand to his head. “Please, LjuBa. I’m begging you. Let us escape today then tell the king so he can handle them. If we take them on now, then the baron will send a larger group, and if we kill them he will send an even greater group. It will just escalate, and we will never find your father. But if we sneak off now, find your father and return to central KiTai to tell the king, the king can send a fit army of warriors to take out that Baron in one swoop. Don’t you think it is worth it to wait?”

LjuBa stepped back, blinking at him. Then she looked over her shoulder at the hill. The riders were gone but clearly already heading their way. Sighing, she turned to face him again and nodded. “I see your reasoning. Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

“Thank you!” Ljev then grabbed her wrist pulling her along.

This time he did not run. He rushed, but it was to a thick cluster of trees. Ljev had them hunch down and crawl into some low shrubs, ducking.

He whispered to her, “Sing a quiet song to calm any rustling around us.”

LjuBa nodded. She sang the words to the song that fastened down all the loose wood for the night under her breath then listened to the air. The hush of the natural song had an added swish as the rising pitch of horse hooves approached; they clopped then galloped straight past them. She and Ljev listened as the noise went distant, the whinny of horses crying out several yards away then splitting off in three directions. One horse returned, the rider guiding it slower through the trees as he searched. LjuBa looked up at him seeing only up his leg to the middle of the saddle. His boots were of strange black leather, stained and shiny with four buckles going up his shin. He wore spurs on his heels. The horse made noise as the rider jerked on the reins directing the animal back towards the ravine.

Looking to Ljev, LjuBa mouthed, “What now?”

He shook his head then held a finger up to his lips. Ljev gestured with his hand towards the ground as if to say they had to lay low for a while.

She didn’t like that idea, but it really was all they could do with the riders, coming and going. The one that had passed back to the ravine rode past once more, calling out to one of the other riders that was walking his horse slowly through the trees several yards to the east. Their dialect was the same as that of the farmers, faintly heard.

“NuLi they go, I thinks.”

“Fast, no. Baron Hoisten we early return, no likes. Further look.”

“They maybe magic, use.”

LjuBa bristled to give them what for, but Ljev put a hand to her mouth, leaning his face next to her with a glare to stop. He then tapped her ear and set another finger to his lips.

“Maybe magic,” the slow rider murmured, agreeing. “Maybe hides.”

“Red Warriors no hides,” the other scoffed.

“Red Warriors also no runs, but these runs,” said the first.

Ljev clenched his fists, closing his eyes.

“We must soon kills. Or they king about tower tell,” one said.

“Agrees. Baron Hoisten they come, no happy.”

The riders’ voices drifted off towards the east more. Their horses soon made no sound. When the hush of the natural song returned to a more rhythmic flow, LjuBa whispered to Ljev, “Are we to wait here all day? They’ll get ahead of us to the barbarian fence.”

“We aren’t going to the barbarian fence,” Ljev replied, sitting up only slightly, thinking.

She shoved his shoulder. “We are! We have to find my father!”

He scooted back from her. “I didn’t say we weren’t, but the best way into Westhaven is by the PoRi crossroads. Slave traders would take the road there. If we head north we can cut through the forest and take the short road to the border. We can get ahead of them that way.”

“If we want to get into Westhaven, through the Barbarian Fence is faster!” LjuBa knelt up straight.

“We don’t want to go into Westhaven,” he retorted. “We want to find the slave traders and stop them before they get into there, and they will take the road. Going into Westhaven is much worse than just entering the Eastern Provenance.”

LjuBa leaned in. “What are you afraid of?”

He leaned in just as close. “That we won’t find him.”

She blinked and leaned back.

Ljev rose, peering back to where the riders had gone. LjuBa peered up at him wondering how in the world did she end up giving in so much to a squire. She wished he didn’t make so much sense, but he did.

Shaking her head, LjuBa rose to her feet, dusting off the dirt and leaves. “Fine. We head north. I hate this skulking about, but we are after my father and you seem to know what you are doing. You just better deliver, or else.”

He turned to look at her, blinking. Then he nodded.

Somehow that made her heart flutter. She almost grabbed her chest to ease it, but instead she exhaled, whispering a calming song to give her strength.

They walked. They kept their ears perked, always listening for footfalls and horses. Two times they had to duck under shrubs listening to riders rush up,