Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2), стр. 33
They paused at the cell door. Tiaaira inserted the large key she held in her bound hands into the lock, turned it, and then swung open the door. Unconsciously, I had already stood up. The warrior followed Tiaaira into the cell, and using a smaller key on the ring with the large one for the cell door, Tiaaira unlocked the shackles, which fell from my wrists to the hay-strewn stone floor.
With a jerk on the rope tied to Tiaaira’s neck, the warrior pulled her off balance and then, with her left hand over Tiaaira’s mouth, shoved her hard against the stone wall. A blade flashed, and then the warrior plunged a short sword into Tiaaira’s chest. Tiaaira’s body shuddered. She slid down the wall and crumpled to the floor without a sound. After wiping the blade on Tiaaira’s tunic, the warrior turned to face me and sheathed her sword. Reaching up, she removed her helmet.
“Emer?” I gasped.
“Hail, Tobias Hart.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Searching for you.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I knew you would not heed Laena’s words,” Emer said, “nothing would stop you from going to Idril. It was a simple assumption you would need a baacaas. When I went to your room, and you were not there, I knew you had come here to the stables.”
“But how did you know to look here?”
“When I arrived, I concealed myself. I overheard two guards talking about your arrest, and Tiaaira’s intention to execute you. When they parted, I accosted one of them. I forced her to tell me where they had imprisoned you. She told me the location of this cell and that the key was in the watch commander’s office.”
“That explains why you brought Tiaaira here.”
“Yes, she was awake when I went to her office to get the key. I had to subdue her. I could not leave her there because the guards might have discovered her before I freed you.”
I glanced at Tiaaira’s corpse.
“The authorities will believe I killed Tiaaira when they find her body here and see I have escaped. I’ll be a wanted man. Many saw you defend me against Tiaaira on the road. They may also suspect your involvement in this.”
“Yes, and we must go before they find the body of the dead guard at the stables,” Emer said. “I have already saddled baacaases.”
“You killed a guard too!”
“I could not risk another discovering her and learning what she knew. They would have raised the alarm. Come, we must go.”
I followed Emer through the passageway and then up the stone staircase. At the top of the stairway, she retrieved and handed me my sword belt and the katana.
“Tiaaira denied taking your prisoner when I confronted her,” Emer remarked. “But, I saw your sword belt in her office.”
We slipped out the rear entrance of the building and made our way through the shadows to the stables. Emer opened a gate. We went inside and mounted the baacaases she had saddled earlier and rode away from the stables.
18
On The Run
We rode south with haste for three hours to put distance between Thiva and us before stopping to rest and water the baacaases. To her credit, Emer had thought to bring rations with her to stables when she came looking for me. We enjoyed a late breakfast of dried meat and brown bread beside a babbling brook. Fearful that the garrison commander at Thiva would send warriors to pursue us once someone discovered the bodies of Tiaaira and the other warrior, we had avoided the road and traveled overland.
“Once they discover Tiaaira’s corpse and that I’m missing from the cell, they will assume I am responsible for the murders,” I said. “They will probably first search for me at my mother’s house. When they find I’m not there, they will send a party of warriors after us.”
“Yes,” Emer said. “For that reason, commander, I advise that we should travel east rather than south. Your mother will know you will head south to reach Idril’s side.”
“You believe my mother will betray us?” I said.
Emer nodded. “She is your mother, but first she is Anax of Thiva,” she said. “Laena will not, under the circumstances, ignore her duty. We can only hope she might order the detachment commander to arrest you and return you to the city for trial rather than execute you on sight.”
“I wish you hadn’t killed them,” I said. “It severely limits our options. Also, I’ll now be a hunted man from this day forward as long as I remain on this infernal planet.”
“What else could I have done, commander?” Emer said. “Asked them nicely not to tell anyone I freed you and that we stole these baacaases? Perhaps instead of complaining about my methods, you might show a little appreciation that I saved you from impalement.”
“I appreciate you for freeing me, Emer,” I said. “Only now it will be much harder for me to reach Idril. Nevertheless, that’s what I intend to do, so we must continue south.”
“To what purpose will you risk our lives going to Idril?” Emer shouted. “Are you a physician? Even if you were to reach her side, what can you do for her? Idril will recover, or she will not!”
Emer’s outburst surprised me. Then I recalled what my mother had said the day Idril and Emer dined with us at my mother’s home.
“You’re right, Emer,” I said. “We must separate. Perhaps they will not suspect your involvement. Especially if they don’t capture us together.”
“Separate?” Emer said. “And where is it you think I should go, commander? I cannot return to Thiva. I’m now at best considered a deserter as far as the Thivans are concerned. Absent authorization from the garrison commander at Thiva, I can’t very well join the army in the field.”
“From the last report, it seems the Thivan warriors will probably defeat the rebels within another day or