Kushiel's Justice - Jacqueline Carey [272]
Maslin stared blankly at me. "What?”
"Others!" I shouted. "Other guards!”
"Others?" He shook his head. "No, no others.”
"Elua be thanked." It was my turn to stare. It was Maslin's face beneath the fur hat. No matter how hard I stared, it didn't change. "What in the seven hells are you doing here?”
"Rescuing you." His mouth twisted as he glanced at the scene. Two Vralian guards dead, both slain by my hand. "Or at least that was the idea.”
"Why in the world—" I stopped. "Never mind. I'm too tired to talk. Lend me a hand.”
He dismounted without comment. Together, we managed to calm and secure the two Vralian horses. I found my mittens and donned them; found my packs and slung them over the crupper of one of the horses. It wasn't until I bent down to take one of the corpses beneath its arms that Maslin stared again in frank disbelief. "What in the seven hells are you doing?”
"Take his legs." I pointed with my chin. "We can make camp over there on the verge of the woods. It's as good a place as any to build a pyre.”
"A pyre?" He kept staring. "Are you out of your mind?”
"It's possible," I said. "But these men aren't guilty of anything except believing, for fairly good reason, that I was a spy. And they treated me well enough, until I escaped. I didn't want to kill them. At the least, they deserve better than being left for carrion." I struggled to hoist the Vralian's body. "I'll do it myself if you won't help.”
Maslin shook his head and cursed under his breath, but he helped. Together, we got the bodies of both Vralians slung facedown over the saddles of their horses, limbs dangling. The smell of blood made the horses nervous, but they were well trained and didn't spook.
"You are mad," Maslin muttered.
I shrugged.
It wasn't far to the edge of the pine woods. We led the horses without speaking. It was early enough that I reckoned we could get the pyre built before nightfall and still have time to make camp. One of the Vralians had a hand-axe in his bags, which made the task immeasurably easier. I'd have taken Berlik's axe if I'd thought I could carry it. We cut and dragged dead branches, building the pyre some distance upwind from the campsite, out in the open where there was no chance of the fire spreading.
For all the long-standing animosity between us, Maslin and I worked well enough together, and everything went so much more swiftly with two people. He shot me frequent curious looks, but he respected my silence. I couldn't help but be glad he was there, whatever the reason.
When the camp was in order and the pyre built, we laid the bodies on it. I bowed my head and murmured a prayer in Rus, then lit the pyre. It took a while to catch, but once it did, it burned fierce and hot.
"Gods above, that's awful," Maslin murmured, watching the bodies twist.
"I know," I said. It was my second pyre in too little time.
"You're right, though. Better than being left for scavengers." He watched the flames. "Have you killed a lot of men?”
"No." I shook my head. "Not many.”
"I heard you did in Lucca," he said. "That you killed a score of men, and the enemy commander stalked you through the streets and you killed him in single combat.”
"He stalked me through the streets," I said. "And a man I barely knew died taking a spear meant for me. And then my friend Lucius gave an order, and his men shot the Duke of Valpetra full of arrows. That's how he died.”
"That's not what I heard," Maslin said.
I shrugged. "It's true, though.”
Maslin fell silent for a long moment. The fire crackled. "I thought that when the time came, I could take them both," he said. "I really did. And I think I could have, on foot. I'm good with a sword, you know. Very good. Even though I learned late, it came easily to me. But I never really learned to fight on horseback all that well.”
"Nor did I." I put a mittened hand on his shoulder. "Maslin, if you hadn't been there, I would have died. They