The Sha's Sword

Chapter 33

XXXIII

“We need to stop for a rest!” We haven't stopped since the night before. Douser has stirred, but hasn't fully woken up. On foot, the guards will be slow, and we've made good progress. Jade blows some smoking sticks into a fire while I lie Douser down on the ground – steel myself and unwrap the bandage. I sigh, because it looks better, but I'm still very scared. His sword was out of his hands and away from him, which means he could very well die.

I look at his face as the fire highlights his blond hair, and immediately, I'm reminded of father. The likeness is so strong that I wonder why I'd never noticed it before. With his eyes closed and chest rising and falling heavily, Douser looks more like a young teenager than an experienced Sha. Right now, it feels like he's only a few years older than me, instead of being a full 13 years older.

Suddenly he coughs, and his blue eyes open slowly, blinking in the bright light. He looks to me. “Am I dead?”

“Not yet.” I accept the food and water that Jade hands me and put it on the ground next to him. “How do you feel?”

“Probably like you did a few weeks ago.” He makes a face and stirs the stew around.

“There's an army after us.” I explain. “An army of guards. I'm hoping that once we get back to Cheviot, our army can take care of them. Maybe we should wait for them to come to us.”

He looks up as he finishes the stew. “You didn't have to do that, you know.”

“Of course I did! Besides – we're almost even, now.”

“What you did was ten times as brave as what I did.” Douser smiles.

“And you would have done the same thing.” I shrug. “It's what family does. Remember?”

We spend the night in the clump of trees, but I lie awake, straining my ears for any sound of the army. There's none, so I assume that we've out-ridden them. In the morning, I can't even see them in the distance, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Think you can ride?” I smile loftily atop the horse. Douser glares at me.

“Oh, come on! I can ride my own horse.” He mimics my tone and accepts my hand. “Here goes.”

I can see him wince as he climbs on the horse. “At least you know what I feel like.” I turn around. “All set?”

“Yeah.” He huffs. “I guess.”

The horse takes its first step and I feel him stiffen behind me, but he pokes me. “Keep going, I'm not going to die. Let's just get back to Cheviot.”

“We completely failed our mission.” I say with a smile. “Completely. The King probably still thinks there's been a misunderstanding and you're still on his side.”

He suddenly feels his coat and pales. “There will be no misunderstanding. My note to him must have dropped out when I was fighting.” He smiles. “There's no way that the guards haven't been discovered yet. I'll say that right about... now... the King is going off his head.”

“He's probably reading your note sharing a big glass of wine.” I make a sour face.

“So did you find out anything useful?” I ask Jade. She trots beside me.

“Nothing of great importance. Only that the King was planning on waiting for you to attack.”

“Typical.” I mutter. “Take the easy way out.”

“He doesn't think you're a threat.” Arrafrey says. “He is so confident he's going to beat you and you know what? I think he's right.”

“What do you propose we do?” I ask wryly. “Give up?”

“No,” Arrafrey says calmly. “We're in too deep now.”

I sigh. “No, but I think you might be right. We have an army after us. If we can't beat them, there's no way we'll beat Knavesmire and Stonygate.”

“Just pray there's enough time to get to Cheviot, lock the gates and rally the archers.” Coen says with a laugh. “Oh, that'd be Arrafrey, Jade and me...”

“I can handle myself with a bow and arrow, thank you very much!” I say indignantly.

“She can.” Arrafrey laughs.

The road is very long, and sometimes boring. The forest folk are quiet, and Douser seems to be conserving his strength.

“So... tell me a bit more about your story.” I ask Douser. “You didn't obviously recognize me at first – but you knew you had a sister.”

“Oh, yes. I always knew I had a sister. But it had been 16 years since I'd seen you. You obviously grew quite a bit... Your hair's longer.” He laughs.

“I still wish that mother and father would have let me know! Think how...” I begin.

“Hard it would have been for Tia to keep her mouth shut.” Douser finishes. “What did she look like?”

“She was the one that looked like father. She had his thick brown hair and blue grey eyes. But, she had mother's gentleness and her determined nature.” I sigh. “And she had mother's squeamish nature too. Always running away when I bought back dead rabbits.” I smile. “But anyway – you're supposed to be telling me your story.”

“Well – there's not much to tell. But I still remember the day that father taught me how to use my first sword. He was so proud of me – and I know now that his plans were for me to be the leader of the rebels. But then that day came when the King's guards came. Mother tried to hide me but they burst into the room. They didn't even bother to ask my age, they simply told me to come with them. Mother tried to stop them but they dragged me off anyway. I was trained by one of the King's Sha and then the King approached me after the ceremony and asked me if I would consider staying on to be a Sha. I didn't think about it that much before I accepted. Of course, I didn't know then that father was the leader of the rebels. I made the long ride home to tell him personally. His first reaction was disbelief, then anger, then sadness. In a rage he told me never to come back home again. Of course, I took no notice, but from then on the doors were always locked to me. Mother would call from inside the house: “Go away, Arthur! You must go back.” They never told me.” He finishes softly. “If only I had have known...”

“It's not your fault.” I sigh. “But I can understand now why father would want to keep such a secret from us.”