Eona - Alison Goodman [147]
“Yes, this is Jun, Your Majesty,” Caido said, staring at the knifed man. He shook his head. “I can’t believe it. He has been with the resistance from the start.”
It was the young archer who had often guarded Ido. He had seemed loyal, but I had only spoken to him once or twice. Who knew what went on in the hearts of men? I certainly did not.
“Who is the other man?” Kygo asked.
“One of the village lookouts,” Yuso said. “All the other village sentries are dead, shot with the same arrows as those in the quiver. An efficient job.” He glanced at Caido questioningly.
Caido wiped his mouth. “Jun was our best bowman.” He looked across the beach to the boat where we had sheltered. “Good enough to make that shot with ease.” He sighed, the whole of his thin body lifting and falling with disillusion. “This is going to kill his father.”
Ryko stood from his crouched survey of the area. “It looks as if the sentry surprised Jun.” He pointed to a scuffed area behind two boulders. “The man got his knife home before Jun broke his neck.”
“What say you, Naiso?” Kygo asked. His eyes did not quite meet mine.
The emperor had ordered his Naiso to accompany him, and his Naiso had obeyed. But if Kygo had hoped Eona was also at his side, he was wrong. She was buried somewhere deep within me, numb and silent.
“Was he ever in the army, Caido?” I asked.
The resistance man nodded. “It is where he learned his bow skills. He had some funny stories to tell around the fire.” He cleared his throat. “I am sorry, Your Majesty, it is hard to reconcile the man and the deed.”
Kygo grunted. “I fear there is not much room for doubt. Still, question the prisoners for confirmation, Yuso. Maybe they saw him in their camp. ”
Yuso bowed, wincing slightly with pain. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kygo glanced around the ridge again. “Leave his body for the scavengers and bring the villager back for burial.” He gestured to me. “Come, Naiso.”
I followed him down the narrow track. One of the soldiers on the beach had sliced into the long muscle of his thigh. Vida had efficiently stitched it, along with Yuso’s nasty shoulder gash and Dela’s slashed face, but she had no herbs that dulled pain. Kygo did not show it in face or manner, but the cant of his shoulders told me the injury stabbed with every step. Or perhaps it was the burden of Jun’s betrayal and the deaths of the fourteen villagers who had perished defending their young emperor.
The black ash on the track muffled our footsteps. All the foliage on the bushes and trees around us was dusted with it, too, and the once-white beach below us was now gray. The tide was coming in with the setting sun, the water washing clean curves of white sand as it surged and ebbed. Master Tozay’s boat was due into harbor soon. The village fishing fleet had already returned, drawn back early by the sight of the fireball. The hollow-eyed shock of the men as they had landed on the beach and seen the damage to the higher sections of the village had briefly pierced even my numb armor.
“For such a young man, this Jun had extraordinary spying skills,” Kygo said. “He must have woven a dense web of lies.”
“In my experience, young men lie with great skill and ease,” I said dully.
Kygo stopped and faced me. “It was not a lie, Eona.”
I felt my gaze pulled to the pale shine of the pearl, half covered by his tunic collar. “What was it, then?”
“It was me leading my army in the best way I know how.” He pressed his fingers along his eye sockets, rubbing away the strain. “Yes, I want you to control Ido’s power. But I swear it was never in my plan to ask you to break the Covenant and use the Mirror Dragon to kill. You and your dragon are our symbols of healing and renewal.” He crossed his arms. “And