Red Rivers and Nightmares

6. Lifeless Eyes (Part 1)

Now next to my brothers, as the bloodied young man gets some clothes from a man of similar stature in Dana's caravan, Iien takes a hold of my upper arm once more. His aggravated expression catches my attention but he manages to keep his voice low, "What was that about? I thought I only had Akun to worry about now."

I try to wrench my arm out of his grasp, to no avail, as I hiss back, "These people were not going to offer help. We should show them how they should have acted."

Akun coughs into his hand in the middle of my hushed condemnation but says nothing as he even prevents a smile. That may be because of the bloody man jogging in our direction. Iien's grasp loosens and I finally jerk free and quickly mount up Ro who stays as steady as ever under me. Iien gives me one last glare before giving his attention to the new clothed young man.

The words that come out of his mouth are not something I would have ever expected, "Before we leave what name do ya go by?"

His agitated amber eyes soften a little at my brother's words and accent and I finally get to process his normal voice, it is the type I love most, deep and strong, "Rion, yous?"

"I'm Iien. This one here," he jabs a thumb at me, "is Shizu and that one," his thumb shifts to my brother, "is Akun." Iien is composed even as he speaks in a way I would have never expected. Rion nods at each of us, even me who is now high above them all. Iien nods himself then gets to the most important part, "Where and how far is your village?"

"To the south, across Weret river," he pauses looking at our horses, "mayhap near an hours gallop on your horses."

Iien nods as his eyes narrow in thought, "There's a bridge, right?" Rion is looking stressed and a little upset now but he nods to Iien. Iien looks more sure now, "Kay, you'll ride with Shizu in the lead. If we hear battle when we get close though, I'll take lead."

Rion just seems to accept these directions with no mind as I watch him turn around and mount up behind me with no issue. If more men were like him I would probably be well on my way to married by now. I feel vast embarrassment at my thoughts but I believe I manage to keep it hidden by firmly facing forward, even as his well muscled arms wrap around my waist.

People are in danger, Shizua, get your thoughts straight.

Iien yips and I nudge Ro forward. Without looking back all of us move forward as one. We manage to keep pace with each other even though I want to go faster. I want to help and knowing it is so close with our horses only makes me feel the need to go faster more. However, I know that the horses can only be pushed to go so fast for so long.

Still, a distance of travel has not felt so long or so grating to me before, even the days of bored travel before was not so frustrating. Even as our horses clatter on the wooden bridge over Weret river I am not distracted by the cold water. I am just more anxious because I can see the outline of buildings in the distance and, if I am not mistaken, some of them appear to have caught on fire. If the smoke I can see clearly from here is anything to go by.

Akun has all of us stiffening when he yells over the horses, "We need to hurry, there is a lot of blood in the air!"

Rion's arms tighten to an uncomfortable degree around my waist but I try to ignore it. These are his people, friends, and family. I cannot begin to imagine myself in his position. Kinza would never come close to falling.

My stomach turns as the horses race into the village and I see, smell, and hear the aftermath of a drawn out battle. Even I can smell the blood over the smoke from the small fires still going on, but that is not what is having me pull up on Ro's reins. It is the screams and cries loudly and unapologetically filling the air. The people begging for mercy and help, some even both, has me off Ro and digging into my saddlebags before I have fully processed what I am doing.