"No, I was escaping the apparent attack."
She returned back to the front of the tent. The three warriors had lifted the corpse, a man with wildly curling dark locks and bronze skin. A lantern light fell over the dead man, and she saw his face and his tattooed arms. Swirling wolf tattoos.
Ashyn gasped. "That is--you've killed--it's Dalain Okami."
"He is not dead, my lady," the warrior said. "Merely knocked unconscious. My fellow warriors and I were coming to join you for the ritual, to control the dragons if needed. We found the young Okami skulking about the perimeter of camp, and we captured him. He seemed to come along willingly. Then he pulled his blade as we reached camp so we were forced to disable him."
"That is correct," said a voice beside them. Edwyn walked over. "I'm sorry this startled you, child. We had no warning ourselves. It seems the young Okami had followed us here to finish what he began in the woods outside his father's compound. We will not harm him, of course. His father is a staunch ally of the empire. His pursuit of you is merely misguided. I will attempt to speak to him, and if all goes well, he will join us tomorrow for the ritual and witness what you are doing for our empire so he may set the story straight with his father and others."
"Might I speak to him? That may help."
"Of course, child. Once he regains consciousness. I fear my men had to give him quite a blow to avoid using their blades. I suspect it will be dawn before he recovers, but you will get a moment with him if there is time. Now, come along back to your tent . . ."
Shortly after Ashyn returned to her tent, one of the women brought her wine again. She tried to refuse, saying she was quite tired enough, but the woman insisted. So Ashyn took a long drink from the skin, sank into her blankets, waited for the woman to leave, and then spat the wine onto the hard ground. The slight fuzzy feeling in her limbs told her that the earlier wine had indeed had more than fermented honey and rice in it. She had consumed enough of the sedative already to quickly fall back into slumber without needing more.
When Ashyn woke again, it was to another noise--the sound of ripping fabric. She rose, blinking against the darkness. Tova didn't even twitch and she wondered if she'd dreamed the noise. Then she saw a knife blade cutting through the rear base of her tent. She grabbed her dagger and shook Tova. The big hound only grumbled in his sleep. She was about to shake him harder when the knife withdrew and a slender hand pulled up the cut flap. A girl poked her face in the hole. She had bronze skin, like Dalain, and dark, wild hair like his, though nothing in her features suggested the resemblance was more than regional.
"Oh, goddess be praised," the girl said. "It is you, Ashyn. I thought I heard the hound snoring, but I could not be sure. It would be my luck to slice into the tent of those blasted warriors."
"Who are you?"
The girl gave a slight smile. "My apologies, little Seeker. You look so like your sister that I forget we have not met. I am Sabre. My father is a subject of Lord Okami. I came with Dalain to find you."
"You say you have met Moria?"
"Yes, I told her I'd join the hunt for you." The girl peered at her. "Ah, I see. You do not believe me. Clever girl. All right, then. Hmm. How is this? She said Tyrus was a fine swordsman, and I teased her about his . . . other sword skills, and she said she did not know about that but hoped to find out. Does that sound like your sister?"
Ashyn's cheeks burned. "Yes."
"Excellent. Now we need to clear up this mess. It does not appear you are being held captive."
"No, I'm with my grandfather. He . . . It's a long story."
"But the short of it is that we mistook the situation for a kidnapping, and the people here mistook Dalain for a kidnapper himself. We must straighten this out and get him free."
Ashyn sat up, shaking her head to clear the sedative from it. "You said Moria sent you after me?"
"Well, Tyrus asked Dalain to find you, given that he lost you the first time. Of course he was already looking. Warriors. So blasted honorable. Anyway, I told Moria I was going along to help Dalain."
"My sister is well?"
Sabre shifted, adjusting her position, which must have been uncomfortable, peering into the tent like that. "She was well when I left her."
"And with Tyrus?"
Another shift. "I saw her with Tyrus, yes. Now--"
"I am to trust Dalain then? I'm sorry, but I find that difficult to do when he shot my companion in the throat."
"What? Dalain would not--"
"He did."
"No, little Seeker. Neither Dalain nor his men would do such a thing. Tyrus asked Dalain to watch for you and your warrior boy while he searched for your sister. Dalain handled it poorly--not surprisingly--but he certainly did not shoot your companion. That would be dishonorable."
Sabre withdrew as if looking about, and when she poked her face in again, her whisper was softer still. "I must go and find Dalain's men. We were separated. I simply came here to explain and to ask that you insist on speaking to Dalain and straightening out this misunderstanding."
"I will do it now."