Butterflies of Blood

Chapter 11

"Hey Highnesses!" Jaye shouted to the ground. She was standing on a stone brick wall, as high as five men and as wide as two standing shoulder-to-shoulder. It was the largest man made structure and protected two of Sai's borders. One to the west where Gol lay and the other to the south and Lyeron. It had been built when Sai first discovered its vast areas of fertile farm land. With the sudden trade it had both the money and the motive to invest in security. Their northern borders where safe with the mountains and to the east lay the Cold Desert.

Jaye had scaled the wall's height with ease and now stood over a Saine Keeper, the man was still breathing and even conscious. The Keepers were a faction of the Saine army who stood guard over the wall and the city itself. Jaye dropped a rope over the edge of the wall and made a show of testing it. Of course, no one gripped the end.

The soldier coughed, a deep racking sound that brought with it blood speckled spit. Then he grasped his sword, staggered to his feet and attacked Jaye with a vicious swing. Jaye sidestepped, gripped his swords guard and wrenched the blade from his grasp, then tossed it off the wall. She turned, never missing a beat and slammed a foot into his gut. The air went out of him and he doubled over in silence. Jaye brought her leg up in a gracefully arc and then let it fall, like a guillotine, onto his exposed neck. The man fell limp to the wall but, while he would have a killer headache, he would wake. Then he would talk.

"I am too good," Jaye whistled as she wrapped up the rope. She took off the cloak she had bought in the border town and dropped it over the opposite edge of the wall, into Sai. She went to jump after it but paused to glance back over the wall. The bay's eyes met hers, they had travelled the last five days together and he had proven a strong horse. His saddle lay against the wall along with his bridle and he stood free beside them.

"Go on," Jaye urged. "I'm leaving."

The bay's tail flicked nervously and he pawed the ground, staring up at her.

Jaye lingered a moment longer and then tore her eyes from him and slid down after her cloak. She caught hand and foot holds quickly and worked her way down the wall.

Jaye landed and put her cloak back on. Then she set off toward Lyeron, staying close to the wall. Whenever a Keeper passed overhead she stopped, pulled her hood up and pressed against the wall.

Finally the sun began to dip behind the horizon, lengthening the shadows and forcing Jaye to stay constantly pressed to the wall for fear of hers breaking the walls straight outline. A horn blared in the distance and Jaye's face split into a pleased grin. The man she had knocked unconscious was awake and soon the Keep would be tripled and Lyeron notified.

Full dark dropped and was accompanied by a chorus of horns, ricocheting up and down the wall. With the sun down Jaye waited until the Keepers nearest her had passed and then broke from the wall, racing away over the flat expanse that made the wall so effective.

Jaye ran until she reached the first town, a good twenty minute run. Trees had started to populate the sparse ground, the grass plains giving way to denser forest. She pressed her back against a tree and closed her eyes, listening. It took a minute for her heart to slow down enough for her to hear, when it did the faint call of the horns reached her as well as the murmur from the village. She waited a while longer until she had stopped sweating and was breathing normally. Then she headed for the town, intent on finding a bed for the night.

****

"Single room, please," Jaye said, putting on her nicest voice and smiling at the old woman behind the counter.

The woman looked her up and down and frowned, her face becoming drawn with irritation and mild disgust. Jaye attracted that look from older folks a lot, the God's War was living history for many of them.