Читать книгу Butterfly Swords - Jeannie Lin, Jeannie Lin - Страница 10

It was supposed to be one little kiss. The sort of meaningless flirtation he’d engaged in many times over. She would slap him afterwards, as he deserved, but it would be worth it. He hadn’t counted on his hunger at the first taste of her. Or her willing response.

Too sweet for words.

Ailey forged ahead, bundling up her thick braid to shove it under her cap. She could chop off all her hair and dress in rags—she would still heat his blood to a boil. Her hands trembled faintly and the scoundrel in him couldn’t help gloat at the sign that she was just as affected.

He hooked his thumbs into his sword belt as a reminder to keep his hands where they belonged. Conversation came slowly in fits and starts as they walked along the stretch of open road. They stopped after an hour on foot, resting beneath the shade at the side of the road.

He nodded towards the bruise forming at her wrist. ‘Sorry for that.’

‘You hit hard,’ she said, not really complaining. She rubbed at the spot before pulling her sleeve over it.

‘You were coming at me like you meant it.’

He let his gaze wander over her face as she took a drink from the waterskin. This girl wielded swords like an avenging angel, then kissed him with her eyes clamped shut. Yet her mouth had moved against his with the same bold instinct with which she fought.

Heat flooded his body anew. He forced himself to ignore it. ‘How long have you been training with those swords?’

‘Since I was a child. We would spar in the training yard.’

‘You and your brothers?’

‘And the soldiers in training.’

Sword-fighting. The topic was neutral enough. There was a forced casualness in her tone and she avoided his eyes as they started on their way again, but he caught how she passed the tip of her tongue over her lips and pressed them together, as if to recapture the fleeing sensation.

Kissing Ailey had been a mistake. A gloriously wonderful mistake.

‘Suddenly the boys stopped fighting seriously,’ she went on. ‘Instead they would tease me, acting like monkeys.’

‘They must have realised one day that you were a girl.’

And enticing enough to make any boy act the fool. Or any man, for that matter. He tried to imagine where she had come from, the well-bred daughter of a military official who studied how to fight instead of embroidery or whatever it was women typically learned.

‘Your master taught you well.’ She was still avoiding his gaze, but otherwise managed to fall into an easy stride beside him. Her long legs carried her effortlessly.

‘I have no master,’ he replied.

‘But someone must have trained you. Your father, then?’

He stiffened. This talk of family was even more alien to him than this exotic land. ‘I suppose I learned a few things from him.’

His father’s brand of training had consisted of surviving one skirmish after another as they wandered endlessly through the countryside. That had changed when he joined up with Adrian’s men as they fought off raiders at the borders of their homeland. He had duties, men he could rely on and who relied on him. But now he was alone again with nothing but his sword and, for the moment, one very curious girl.

‘Your father must be very honoured by your skill.’

Ailey’s courteous flattery grated on him.

‘If he were alive.’

She fell silent at the brusqueness of his reply and her expression took on that tranquil, inward quality. Probably reflecting on ill-mannered barbarians who knew nothing about honour or polite conversation.

‘There’s the town,’ he said, looking into the distance.

Her mouth pressed into a thin line as she stared at the faint outline. ‘I can go on my own from here.’

Time had slipped by quickly. The rush of the morning’s battle and the all-too-brief kiss afterwards had faded away. It was probably better for her if he did leave, but he could at least escort her safely into town as he’d promised.

‘I’ll take you,’ he said.

‘Won’t it be dangerous for you?’

‘No more dangerous than the rest of the empire.’

He hadn’t known how much he missed having someone to speak to. Even if she did ask too many questions about things he didn’t want to be reminded of. But he couldn’t drag his feet any longer. It had taken over a month for him to recover enough to make this journey and there were many obstacles to cross between here and the frontier.

Within the hour, the road led them to the town gates. It was decently sized for a rural city. The streets were paved with stone and wooden buildings rose two floors high, stacked closely together. Even in the simplest of towns, Ryam could see the empire’s wealth. Nothing like the scattered settlements of his homeland.

The main avenue fed into a central market lined with shops. Merchants displayed baskets of fruit and vats of crayfish, along with a collection of handmade wares along the street. Ryam hunched his shoulders and dragged his hood over his head, trying to disappear into the crowd. The townsfolk stopped haggling to stare as he passed. It was impossible to disappear into a crowd when he stood head and shoulders above the average man.

‘Perhaps there is a shipment here headed for Changan,’ Ailey continued, oblivious to how the crowd parted in their wake.

A wooden ball bounced onto the cobbled street and rolled in front of them. A young boy scrambled forwards and crouched at Ryam’s feet with his little fingers clutched around the toy. Suddenly, the boy noticed the hulking shadow over him and craned his neck upwards, mouth agape.

At that, Ryam pulled Ailey into the narrow gap between the shops. The hum of the market crowd continued around them.

‘We can’t just go wandering the streets,’ he hissed. ‘What are you planning to do?’

‘Hire someone to take me home.’

Because he wouldn’t. ‘And if there’s no one?’

‘Then I go alone.’

‘You can’t.’

What would she do? Hire a band of mercenaries who would ignore the fact that she was worth a lot more than that bag of coins she carried?

‘Your father is obviously a powerful man. There must be someone here who can help you.’

‘You don’t understand.’ The mention of her father made her shoulders draw tight. A wisp of hair escaped from the cap to tease around the curve of one ear. She tucked it back impatiently. ‘I cannot trust the city officials. Not in this province.’

What in God’s name was she involved in? ‘Then find a way to send a message to your father or … I don’t know. Think of something better than roaming the countryside with your swords.’

‘Why are you so concerned now?’

‘I went through a lot of trouble to save you.’ It was the best he could muster. Leaving her was the only rational decision, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when she was looking at him like that.

‘I need to find a stable. The journey will take too long on foot.’ She nodded slowly as if to convince herself. ‘It can’t be too far to the capital.’

‘You don’t even know, do you?’

She ignored him to peer around the corner of the build ing.

‘Tell me who you’re hiding from,’ he demanded.

It took an effort for her to meet his eyes. ‘There are powerful men plotting against my father. Against the empire.’

With that perfectly vague explanation, she slipped past him to move down the alley, away from the marketplace. He didn’t know what would be worse for her, being seen with him or being caught alone by whoever she was running from. They twisted through the city, skirting along dank lanes of grey brick while the ripe smell of rotting cabbage assailed them. Ailey continued unperturbed as a rat scurried across her path. Its long tail disappeared into a corner.

The stables were located near the outskirts of town across the canal. He was forced to wait outside while he listened to Ailey’s voice through the doorway. She was talking numbers with the stableman.

Guilt gnawed a hole in his stomach as he listened to her. God’s crooked nose. He knew what it was like to be alone and fending for himself, but she didn’t. Ailey came from a wealthy family where she was cared for and protected. When she emerged from the stable, her look of triumph made him feel even worse.

‘I purchased two horses,’ she said. ‘They will be ready to ride by morning.’

‘Two?’

‘How else will you get home?’

‘You shouldn’t have.’

She avoided his gaze, embarrassed. ‘You have a long journey as well. Consider it payment of my debt to you for rescuing me.’

‘There is no debt.’

The flush of her cheeks reminded him immediately of their strange morning and the surprising fierceness of their match followed by her lips pressed softly to his. Bold and demure all at once.

Ailey had a generous soul at the heart of her. He, on the other hand, was the sort who could ruthlessly kiss a woman until she was melting against him and then abandon her hours later to the treacherous countryside.

‘What did you tell him?’ he asked.

‘I told him I was a nobleman’s son.’

He rolled his eyes. ‘You do not look like a man.’

‘He believed my story,’ she insisted, chin raised. ‘Now we must find a place for the night.’

She turned to the tangle of streets behind them. With a deep breath, she plunged back into the maze. He was certain she didn’t feel any safer in this city than he did. At the next juncture the alleyways branched out like crooked fingers. Ailey looked from one to the other, lost. He indicated the correct direction with a flick of his hand.

‘There’s a good reason I can’t go with you,’ he said.

She kept her attention focused straight ahead. ‘You’ve already told me.’

‘I’m more likely to get us both killed than return you home safely.’

‘I’m not completely helpless.’ Plenty of pride in her. Her back stiffened with it. ‘I’ll be safe enough once I’m out of this province.’

‘Just be careful.’

At the next corner, she halted so quickly he came up nearly against her heels. A crowd gathered around a group of soldiers wearing black and red uniforms. A crier dressed in embroidered state robes read from a scroll.

He could only make out bits of it. ‘What are they saying?’

‘It is a proclamation by Li Tao.’

‘Who’s Li Tao?’

‘We have to go.’ She shrank away from the street, but he blocked her path.

‘You need to tell me what’s going on. Now.’

She caught her bottom lip with her teeth, her face pale as she looked up at him. ‘Li Tao is the man I was supposed to marry.’

‘Marry? You’re running away from your husband?’

‘He is not my husband.’

‘What was all that nonsense about a plot against the empire?’ He had kissed her breathless and she belonged to another man. That stung more than it had a right to.

Ailey froze as a sharp command rang from the plaza. It echoed against the stone walls of the alleyway.

‘The soldiers are searching the streets,’ she whispered frantically.

He ushered her away from the square as fast as he could without breaking into a suspicious run. They wove past crates and debris that littered the alleyway. A window on an upper floor had been propped open. He stacked several crates on top of one another and offered his hand.

‘Hurry. Go on up.’

She hooked her foot on to the corner of the pile and started climbing, grabbing on to the ledge. He watched, momentarily distracted, as she wriggled her slender hips through the opening.

Focus, man. After a final sweep of the alley, he hoisted himself up the rickety tower and kicked the crates over before pulling through the window.

The window led into a storeroom. An earthy, medicinal scent permeated the air and the low ceiling just allowed him to stand upright. He peered into the darkness and made out several woven baskets piled high with dried herbs and roots.

Ailey’s voice came from the far end of the room. ‘Behind the ginseng.’

‘Which one is that?’

A pale hand waved from the corner. He picked his way through the baskets and crouched beside her against the wall.

‘You need to tell me the truth, Ailey.’

She let out a breath and her fingers worked the edge of her tunic nervously. ‘It was an arranged marriage.’

‘So all of this is because you don’t want to marry this man?’

Her gaze shot up to him. ‘During the wedding procession, I discovered Li Tao betrayed our family. I hired mercenaries to attack the wedding procession so it would look as if I were abducted.’

Somehow he believed her. He already knew she couldn’t tell a convincing lie.

‘This Li Tao must be a powerful man if he can send soldiers to scour the countryside for you.’

‘He is jiedushi of this province.’

Ryam let his head thud back against the wall. The military governor. These warlords had complete power over the armies and laws of their circuits. He had to admire her spirit even though no good could come of it.

‘That’s why you can’t go to anyone for help.’

She sank her chin onto her knees in an uncharacteristically childish gesture. ‘I never intended to put you in so much danger.’

‘Do you know what this looks like to anyone who finds us? The governor’s wife and a barbarian.’

‘I told you, I am not his wife.’

He continued, undaunted. ‘They’ll hang me, but that is nothing compared to what they will do to you.’

‘My family did not raise their daughter to live in fear.’

The rafters creaked, hushing them into tense silence as muffled voices rose from below. They crouched, listening and waiting.

‘I cannot let them find me,’ she whispered once the voices quieted. ‘Li Tao will force me to marry him. He only wants this marriage to gain my father’s trust.’

As much as she tried to hide it, he could tell she was frightened. In the empire, a woman was first her father’s property and then her husband’s. She was defying both of them.

‘We’ll stay here awhile. Wait them out,’ he said. ‘The soldiers will move on in a couple of hours.’

‘What then?’

A sense of foreboding settled over him like a shroud. She was looking to him for answers. The last time anyone had trusted his lead, it had ended in bloodshed. His head throbbed with phantom pain as he recalled the last moments of the skirmish. Imperial soldiers had swarmed over their caravan, overpowering them. A better man could have stopped it.

‘What should we do, then?’ she repeated.

‘We can’t roam the streets all night and we can’t stay here.’ He needed to think. For once, he needed to make the right decision and not rush into battle.

‘Perhaps we can sneak past the guards to the main gates,’ Ailey suggested.

‘There are soldiers at the gates and patrolling the streets. You can’t leave town tonight. You’ll need to hide.’

‘But where?’

He knew of places, dark corners in any city that he would never send a woman to alone. ‘We’ll find a place at the edge of town. Tomorrow morning, we leave with the first light of dawn once the gates open.’

The scent of herbs hung heavy and bittersweet as they waited in silence. Ailey sank back against the wall. Her shoulder inadvertently brushed against him. He was becoming greedy for every touch, no matter how innocent.

Changan, the imperial capital. He’d been there before. And he could handle imperial soldiers … if there weren’t too many. He had known it would come to this the moment she sank into his arms after their duel. Perhaps he had known even sooner, when he had seen her strength and her fierce determination to get home.

Maybe this was just another distraction, another reason to avoid returning to the Gansu corridor where his comrades waited. No, he was wrong about that. No one was waiting for him. They probably thought he was dead.

He had enough problems taking care of his own skin. What made him think he could protect this woman who seemed to be in more trouble than he was? That blow to the head he’d suffered hadn’t knocked any sense into him after all.

Ailey held her breath. He had said they would go together. His manners might be strange and uncultured, but there was a core of honour in him. She hadn’t been wrong about that.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured.

His only reply was a brief shrug of his shoulders. He was helping her at great risk to himself. More than he knew. But she needed him to get home. It was the only way.

The morning came back to her as they huddled in the corner, trying not to touch and failing. His mouth had crushed against hers. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that only made the memory more overwhelming.

His hands had urged her close until she was pressed against the hard muscle of his chest. She had cast all caution aside, assuming he would leave. But he was still here. The heat of his body radiated through his tunic to find its way to her.

He shifted and she responded by inching towards the wall. His features were shadowed in the dim corner and the steady rhythm of his breathing reminded her how precariously close he was. She held herself perfectly still, afraid that if she moved she would find herself falling towards him, closing the scant space between them.

As if sensing her thoughts, he pulled away to the window, leaving her so quickly the air beside her still tingled with his presence. He braced his hands against the frame with head bent and shoulders pulled taut, a powerful silhouette against the light outside. The silence went on for so long that she began to worry he had changed his mind.

‘I don’t see any more of them,’ he reported, peering down into the alley. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

‘What Li Tao has done is unforgivable. I would rather die than become his wife.’

Ryam nodded, and moved away from the window. ‘We’ll go out the back way.’

Reckless, she could hear Father proclaiming. To imagine she was safe with a barbarian she’d barely met.

Always feeling, never thinking, Mother scolded.

But she had thought very carefully and she trusted Ryam more than anyone else in this province. This was Li Tao’s domain and he would kill them both if he found them.

She had vowed to her parents to be a dutiful wife, but that was one vow she could not fulfil. She prayed they would forgive her for her disobedience. She hoped they would believe her when she spoke against one of the most powerful men in the empire.

Her legs burned as she stood and the blood rushed back into them. They must have been crouched there for over an hour. Ryam led as they picked their way around the baskets towards the stairway. He scanned the room below on the first floor, and gestured towards the door at the back.

She peered over the railing before starting down, keeping her step as light as possible. Midway, a board creaked beneath her feet. Ryam muttered a curse as the voices halted down below. He gave her a small push.

‘Run!’

They bolted down the stairs and through the door, abandoning any attempt at stealth. She took off around the corner and ducked into an alcove. Ryam shoved himself in beside her. They both held still, pressed against the brick. When it was clear that no one was following, she doubled over, gasping for breath.

‘We’d make very bad thieves.’

She looked up to see Ryam grinning. He had a good spirit. She laughed, caught up in it. Part of her couldn’t help but enjoy this adventure.

Once her breathing returned to normal, she poked her head around the enclosure. The streets had emptied in the late afternoon and the sounds of the market faded. Ryam emerged first, surveying the area before pulling her behind him. He shielded her as they ventured forwards. The protective gesture made her want to press even closer. She didn’t have much experience with cities. She definitely had no knowledge of the back alleys they were navigating. Most of her life had been spent in her family home nestled in the mountains, surrounded by family and household servants.

‘Where is it that you came from?’ she asked.

‘The other end of the world.’

‘You seem to have been here for a long time.’

‘Years and years.’ His answers became noticeably clipped when he spoke of his past.

‘We have a name for your land. We call it “Ta Chin”, the Great Empire of the West.’

‘I don’t come from any great empire.’

She frowned.

‘That empire you speak of no longer exists. Our kingdom—what was our kingdom—is a small one compared to this empire.’

The journey across the silk routes was said to be a treacherous one. If she only had the time to ask all the questions she wanted to. He must have amazing stories to tell.

‘Are you part of the lost legion?’ she asked. ‘The wandering soldiers they speak about?’

He didn’t answer immediately. ‘I suppose I am.’ He cast a sideways glance at her. ‘Your people do love their legends.’

His smile made her pulse skip. He was different and mysterious, and curiosity made her bold. Bold enough to kiss a man she barely knew. She was suddenly out of breath. Her mind kept falling like water down the mountainside back to that moment.

‘They say those swordsmen marched on Changan during the palace rebellion. Were you with them?’ she continued.

This time his hesitation was obvious. ‘Maybe the less we know about each other’s stories, the better.’

‘What do you mean?’

He halted to turn to her. ‘The rest of the empire is not as tolerant as you towards unwashed barbarians.’

She stared at the coppered spots where the sun had darkened his cheeks and the rugged growth of his beard. It was a face unlike any she’d ever known.

‘I don’t think of you as an unwashed barbarian,’ she said softly.

He started to speak, but stopped. The intensity of his gaze made her shift uncomfortably. ‘We need to get you to Changan as fast as possible,’ he said. ‘And then I need to disappear.’

As if to make a point, he forged ahead in long strides that left no room for conversation. She couldn’t deny what he was saying. The empire had become fearful and suspicious. No one trusted anyone in the capital, let alone outsiders. She hated living with that dark cloud always over her.

At the end of the passage, Li Tao’s proclamation had been pasted on the wall. She tore down one paper. Ryam stared over her shoulder at the black brushstrokes.

‘What does all that say?’

So he couldn’t read the characters. That was fortunate. She didn’t know how he would react if he discovered who she truly was.

‘Li Tao is offering a reward of a hundred taels of silver for my return.’

He whistled. ‘The man must be as rich as the Emperor.’

With a scowl, she crumpled the paper into a tight ball and tossed it aside.

Ryam wove a path through the alleys with Ailey close behind. He had never been this deep within the borders before, but the change was noticeable even to a foreigner. The regional armies were wary. Soldiers were authorised to confiscate weapons and imprison anyone they thought was a threat.

They would need to stay off the main roads from here all the way to the capital. He had travelled for the last month in hiding, sleeping beneath bridges and seeking refuge in remote monasteries when they would let him. But he was responsible for Ailey’s safety now as well. Having a woman with him made things more difficult.

He ducked through a broken section of the wall.

‘How do you know where we are going?’ she asked.

‘These towns are all the same once you’ve been to enough of them.’

Vice lurked in the forgotten corners of any city of this size. Hideouts for smugglers, thieves, and citizens who wanted to escape into anonymity for the evening. He knew he had found their destination the moment they emerged in front of a dingy building tucked into a dead end. Red lanterns swayed from the eaves.

Ailey stopped short. ‘Is this a brothel?’

‘No. Let me see your money.’

She kept her eyes on the shadowed figure perched just inside the doorway as she handed the purse to him. He picked out several coins and then untied his cloak.

‘Put this on and stay close,’ he instructed.

The flash of silver was enough to get them past the guard. Once inside, the entrance hall glowed with the gritty light of oil lamps and pipe smoke. Ryam pushed through the beaded curtain and the strands clinked and slid around them. The shuttered windows of the main room cast it into perpetual night-time. Copper coins changed hands from one huddled figure to another at the tables.

Ailey pulled his cloak tight around her and inched closer to him. Ivory and wooden dice clinked into porcelain bowls and the low hum of conversation did not rise the slightest at their arrival. The gamblers looked up with casual disinterest as Ryam and Ailey passed by. After a brief glance, the betting resumed. A man could be tattooed as a criminal and still show his face in a den like this.

An ancient-looking man with a white beard that tapered to a point sat in the far corner, surrounded by cronies. One of them blocked Ryam’s path when he came forwards. The den master continued to sip his tea, staring at the bottom of the cup as if contemplating something profound.

‘A room,’ Ryam said, handing over the two coins.

The den master glanced once at the silver and pointed a bony finger to the stairs. With a nod of thanks, Ryam ushered Ailey across the floor and up the steps. He pushed the first door open just as a man stumbled past with a woman in a flowery robe on his arm. Her cloyingly sweet perfume wafted into the narrow space of the hallway before the couple disappeared into the adjacent room. Ryam tugged Ailey into their chamber and, within minutes, faint moans and an unmistakable pounding came from the other side of the wall.

Ailey threw back her hood and planted her hands onto her hips. ‘Are you certain it’s safe here?’

‘Yes.’ He shut the door and dragged a chair to block it. ‘A place like this doesn’t care about silver if it means contact with authorities.’

Ailey stared at the bare walls in dismay. She wrapped her arms around herself, sticking them close to her sides as if not wanting to touch anything. ‘I’ll trust your judgement.’

‘You take the bed,’ he said. ‘I’ll take the floor.’

The bed was made of wooden slats covered with a thin, padded mattress. She made a face at the ash-coloured quilt lying rumpled upon it. The thread was worn bare in spots and marked with dark stains.

‘I think I would rather take the floor.’