Intrigued, Shorty comes up and takes one of the knives testing it for balanced. The man starts speaking to him but no one understands him. "Do you understand the common tongue?" Shorty asks him as he continues examining the knives before him.
"Yes sir," the man replies. "For just two coppers, you may try your skill and if you hit the bull's eye, you get one of these." He indicates a selection of jewelry and bracers.
"Alright," he says as he hands over one of the silvers James had given him. The man takes it and gives him his change. By this time a few onlookers have stopped to see how he'll do.
He selects the first knife he examined and then stands with his feet a foot apart so he's well balanced. Taking careful aim at the target, he takes a couple deep breaths and then throws the knife. It sails through the air and to the amazement of the crowd, strikes the target dead center. The onlookers cheer and the man says, "We have a winner, see how easy it is." To Shorty he says, "Please take your choice."
Selecting a necklace, he turns and offers it to Delia, saying, "I would be honored if you would accept this from me."
When she hesitates, he says, "You needn't feel it's a commitment, I would just like you to have it."
Taking the necklace, she puts it around her neck saying, "Thank you Shorty."
He smiles and blushes slightly.
As they move on, another person tries their luck but the knife flies wide, missing the target.
"Only one of the knives is balanced properly," he tells them. "If you were to use the others, you'd be in danger of hitting yourself," he continues, laughing.
They move along and eventually find the others sitting at a table enjoying a meal as they listen to a group of musicians. There's an open area in front of where the musicians play where people can go and dance if they like, a few couples are already out there.
As Delia approaches them, she catches Tinok's eye and asks, "Why aren't you out there dancing?"
Blushing slightly, he says, "I don't know any of the dances they're doing."
Taking a seat next to Cassie, she asks, "Need any help getting him out there?"
"Yes I do!" she says, acting as if she's put out. A smile on her lips tells her that she's not really.
The musicians finish their song to a smattering of applause and then begin another one, this time a fast paced song.
"Okay," Delia says to Tinok, "now's your chance, get moving."
Cassie gets up and practically drags him over to the dancing area.
"I never thought she would get him out there," Jiron says as he watches Tinok doing his best.
"For someone who's graceful in battle, he's sure clumsy out there," Tersa adds.
When Tinok looks over to them, with an expression bordering on fear, they all give him encouragement. After a few minutes he begins to get the hang of it and begins to flow with the music.
"Your turn dear brother," Tersa says as she drags him out there as well.
Delia sits and watches as Jiron and Tinok both fumble and misstep as they dance. Shaking her head and silently amused, she just sits back and enjoys herself.
Long after the sun has gone down, James finally sees them returning. "Have a good time?" he asks them.
Cassie comes straight to him and says, "Tinok and I are to be married!"
"What?" he exclaims, looking over to Tinok who's looking both happy and scared out of his mind.
"He proposed to me while we were dancing," she tells him.
"Congratulations," he says to them both, shaking Tinok's hand. "When will you be getting married?"
"We want to wait until we're back home or maybe in Cardri," Tinok says with his arm around her waist.
"That's right," adds Cassie. "We didn't want to be married in the Empire."
"I'm happy for both of you," he asserts warmly.
Cassie gives Tinok a big hug as they settle down around the fire and then leans her head on his shoulder. Tinok just sits there with a happy and contented look on his face as he holds her tight. Putting their heads together, they talk together quietly.
James awakens the next morning to find Tinok and Cassie sleeping together, wrapped up in each others arms. He begins to get the horses in their traces as everyone wakes up. Shortly, they're on the road again, making the best time they can.
He pushes them the entire day, anxious to get to Miko before something happens to him, only allowing a few short breaks before pressing on again. The miles quickly pass and by nightfall they've made it to a town called Jihara.
A small town, barely more than a village really but it has an inn where they can find some decent food. James offers to spring for a room for the two love birds but Cassie turns him down, saying it wouldn't be right for them to have one when no one else does. Much to the disappointment of her betrothed.
So they spend another night together wrapped up in a blanket on the ground. Everyone can see that the two of them are deeply in love and belong together.
The following morning, they get an early start. Before the sun has risen much above the horizon, they're already a mile down the road. A little before noon they begin to enter rolling hills, which James can see stretches a long way ahead of them. The road continues to follow the river as it winds its way through the hills.
Ever since Jihara, the other traffic on the road has dropped off to almost nothing, only the occasional rider or caravan is encountered. At sunset when they set up camp, they find an area adjacent to the river where they can have ready access to water. James even wades out into the river and does his fisherman routine and bags several large reddish orange fish.
"Neat trick," Roland says when James brings back his third fish.
"It comes in handy," he replies.
Everyone enjoys the fish and after dinner, they take turns telling stories or singing songs. Most of them seem to be love songs or stories about those in love. Stig begins recalling his first amorous encounter but Cassie begins to blush a deep red, causing him to cut it short. Tinok gives him a stern look before someone else breaks in and begins another song, this one a fast paced silly song for Arkie.
"Better get to sleep," James announces when the song is finally over. "I'd like to get an early start tomorrow." Some grumble about having to turn in, but most take it in stride. The only ones who don't seem to mind are Cassie and Tinok, who readily lay down together. Cassie lays her head on his chest and quickly falls asleep.
James looks over and sees Tinok's head up and he's looking around.
"What's the matter?" James asks him.
He gestures to Cassie sleeping on his chest and then whispers, "I gotta go pee!"
James tries to hide his amusement but fails as he just shrugs his shoulders at Tinok's predicament.
He starts to get up and Cassie wakes up. "I'll be right back," he assures her.
She lays her head down on the ground and says, "Hurry up."
In no time at all, he's back and she lays her head down on his chest again.
James lies down and continues to chuckle as he begins to fall asleep.
Ahhhh!
A cry in the night startles James awake just in time to see Qynn fall into the fire with an arrow piercing his chest. Without thought, he causes a great burst of light to explode over the camp and in that brief instance, sees a dozen or more attackers approaching from all directions.
Everyone comes awake when the light bursts overhead.
"We're under attack!" he yells as he gets up, trying to find the bowman.
Everyone bursts into action, the girls hiding under a wagon while the guys all grab their weapons and move to engage the enemy. With light to see by, the surprise the attackers held in the dark is now gone. The pit fighters rush to engage the attackers, wreaking havoc with skills honed by years in the pits.
James locates two bowmen who each get an arrow off before James has a chance to take them out. An attacker is rushing him and is almost upon him when a knife flies out from the camp, imbedding itself through the man's left eye. He turns and sees Shorty standing atop a wagon as he lets fly another knife at an approaching attacker.
Scar and Potbelly are standing back to back as they hold off three attackers while Jiron and Tinok are busy slicing and dicing ones of their own. He looks to see Stig engaged with a large attacker wielding a longsword. Stig deflects the thrust of the man's sword with his shield and then follows through with his mace, pulping the man's face. Seeing Scar and Potbelly engaged with three, he runs over to render aid.
Scar, with both swords weaving a pattern of death, takes out one of the ones pressing him and Potbelly. Turning to engage the other, he watches as a hole opens up in the man's chest, blood and gore spraying out his back. He looks behind him and sees James there with another slug as he prepares to take out another attacker. Between Potbelly and himself, they quickly take out the last of the attackers near them before Stig has a chance to join them.
Scar quickly looks around for another to engage but all he sees are dead bandits lying everywhere. Shorty jumps off the wagon and races over to where Qynn is burning in the fire and pulls him out. The smell of burnt flesh and hair permeates the entire area.
"Tinok!" he hears Delia's anguished cry. He looks over and sees her cradling Cassie's head in her lap, blood from where an arrow sticks out of her stomach rapidly spreading across her dress.
"Cassie!" Tinok's cry echoes across the battlefield as he races over to her.
He drops to his knees, tears falling from his eyes as he looks to Delia. She just shakes her head.
"Tinok," Cassie says weakly when she sees him there.
"Yes, my dearest," he says, trying to hold back the sobs.
"I can't wait to be your wife," she says, distantly.
"You will be soon," he says as he takes her into his arms, brushing strands of her golden hair out of her face.
"Don't leave me!" he cries as he starts to sob.
"Silly boy," she says as she looks into his eyes. "I'll never leave you. I love you."
"I love you too," he says to her. A tear falls from his face onto hers.
"Maybe tomorrow," she says as her voice begins to grow faint, "we can dance again." And then she smiles as he kisses her on the forehead. She closes her eyes as her body relaxes in death.
"Cassie!" Tinok cries as he gently shakes her as if she was just sleeping, "Oh my god, Cassie!" He then holds her tight to his chest as sobs rack his body. He just sits there holding her as he rocks back and forth.
His head snaps up as he looks to James with red, tear filled eyes, "You can save her, can't you?"
Shaking his head as his own tears fall, he says sadly, "Some things I'm unable to do."
"But..." and then he starts sobbing all over again.
Everyone leaves Tinok alone in his time of grief. Each in their own way cared for Cassie and her passing has touched each of them deeply. While Tinok mourns the loss of his beloved, the others go through the grisly process of removing the dead from the camp. James and Jiron go through all the dead bodies and collect what money they can.
"I think they were just bandits, out looking to rob us," Jiron says.
"It looks that way," agrees James. Then he gestures over to Tinok, "Think he'll be okay?"
"I don't know," Jiron says, "he really cared for her."
By this time, Yorn and the others have wrapped Qynn in a blanket. As they pick him up, he says to Jiron, "We're going to go bury him out in the desert."
Nodding, he replies, "Just a second and I'll come with you."
He was about to go over to Tinok when he all of a sudden stands up, holding Cassie in his arms. Without a word, he begins to carry her out to the desert. When he sees Jiron coming toward him, he just shakes his head and then is soon lost in the dark as he takes his beloved out into the desert to bury her.
"Alright," he says to Yorn as he joins them, "let's go."
James watches as they carry Qynn out to be buried, taking a different direction than Tinok so as not to intrude upon him.
James and the rest remain in the camp and wait for the others to return. No one feels like talking, each is lost in their own reflections.
In a little bit, Jiron and the others return from burying Qynn. He looks around and asks, "Tinok hasn't returned yet?"
"No," Delia replies.
He turns and looks out toward where he disappeared into the night with Cassie, worried for his friend. An hour later, Tinok comes back to camp. Eyes red and swollen from crying, and covered in dirt from where he dug her grave, he looks a pitiful sight. The necklace he had recently given her hangs around his neck. His knives are caked with dirt, obviously what he used to dig her grave. That above everything else gives Jiron cause to worry for his friend. Nothing has ever before meant more to him than his knives and for him to not have cleaned them cannot bode well.
He sits near the fire and stares vacantly into the flames. They try to engage him in conversation, telling him of their sorrow for his loss, but he doesn't respond. Eventually he just goes over to his bedroll and falls asleep.
The others stay up for a little longer, discussing their worries for Tinok and the loss of their friends. But soon they all grow tired once again and one by one, drift off to sleep.
In the morning, Tinok is gone.
Chapter Seventeen.
"What do you mean he's gone?" Jiron exclaims after James gives him the news of Tinok's disappearance.
"He's gone," James tells him again. "Sometime last night, he must've saddled a horse and taken off."
"And no one heard him?" he asks, looking around at everyone.
They all shake their heads indicating they hadn't.