Empire of Night (Age of Legends 2)

Otherwise, he sat on the sleeping pallet and stared at the wall. Tova moved between them, offering comfort. Ashyn took it, with hugs and pats. Ronan simply kept staring.

"I couldn't wait to be rid of her," he said, echoing her earlier thought.

"Not like that."

He turned dull eyes toward her. "Does it matter?"

"Yes, it does."

"No, Ash. I called her useless. Too useless to look after my brother and sister. She was proving me wrong. When she came in, she overheard me talking about volunteering, so she did it. To prove herself."

"You didn't--"

"I ought to have been more careful with my words. Like you were. Shown her how to be useful, not harangued her when she wasn't. I was thoughtless, and I was careless." He paused. "I've learned nothing. Nothing at all."

She knelt to sit beside him. "Learned nothing about what?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He went quiet, then said, "Do you think I sealed her fate by begging for mercy for the women?"

"No, they were going to kill her. You hoped to rouse the crowd and cause a distraction. I understood that. Even if your pleas had no effect, Guin heard them. The final words she heard from you were kind ones. That meant something."

He nodded, his gaze to the side, then said, "The noise seems to be dying down. We'll leave as soon as we can and head to Lord Okami's lands to meet Tyrus."

"What? But we have to go to the city. More than ever. The emperor must be told--"

"It won't help. Those men fulfilled every disgruntled commoner's fears about the empire and its warriors, and this story will spread a day's ride by sundown. In fact, I'll wager it'll go even faster. Surely we didn't just happen to make rest in the one settlement they targeted."

"You think there were others."

"I'm certain of it. There's nothing Emperor Tatsu can do to stop the lies." He finally reached out and patted Tova as the hound lay his head on Ronan's knee. "This is the sort of thing I grew up with, Ash. To trick people, you prey on their worst fears by weaving a scenario just realistic enough to convince them. No matter what the emperor says, those who wish to see him guilty of this will."

Ashyn's insides folded on themselves, hope suffocating. "And there's nothing we can do to help?"

"Nothing except take this story to the only person who might know what to do with it."

"Tyrus."

FORTY

By the time Ronan and Ashyn felt it safe to leave the inn, the moon was well past its zenith. Then they were faced with a quandary: what to do with Guin's pack.

"Leave it," Ashyn said.

Ronan hesitated. "I know you will not wish to wear her clothing, but she was carrying some of our food and money and--"

Ronan's head snapped up, and he began patting his pockets. "She bought something tonight. She gave it to me." He pulled out a small cosmetic pot and handed it to her. "Henna cream. She said she remembered women using it to darken their complexion. She thought it might help you pass more easily."

Ashyn took and opened the pot. She dipped a tentative finger into the reddish-brown cream.

"She was so pleased that she'd found it," he said. "I never even thanked her."

She was trying, Ashyn thought. She truly was.

She didn't say that, of course. His guilt was heavy enough.

"I'll use it," she said. "I have no looking glass, so you'll need to tell me how it works."

Up close, the cream made for a rather obvious disguise, but from a distance, it would help, as long as she kept her hair covered and her face downcast.