A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) - John Gwynne Page 0,85
Ben-Elim gathering, where once again she would be the topic of discussion. Although Kol clearly had a large proportion of Ben-Elim loyal to him, it was mostly other Ben-Elim that seemed to be struggling with her existence.
She scanned the field, saw Aphra drilling her shield wall, five hundred strong now. They were being broken up into five units of a hundred each, then training on the manoeuvres to merge and then split again.
I miss the shield wall. Having wings is… lonely.
Riv’s eyes drifted back to Kol. He was standing beside Erdene now, though she seemed far more intent on watching Bleda ride the archery range. He was trotting onto the greensward, a gauntlet of land flanked on either side by two rows of straw targets. This was a new addition to the weapons-field, designed and erected after Bleda and Jin’s honour guards had arrived, specifically for them to train and drill in their traditional ways. Riv had been stunned by their skill, both as horsemen and archers.
Bleda sat relaxed and easy upon his horse, moving fluidly from a trot into a canter and then a gallop, guiding his mount with his knees while he pulled a fistful of arrows from his quiver. He held them in his left hand that gripped his bow, leaning into his high-fronted saddle, and in a blur he was drawing and loosing, straw men jolting and shuddering with the impact of his arrows.
Riv glided down, wings spread wide, watching as Bleda reached the end of the gauntlet, her admiration for his skill temporarily outweighing her shifting emotions. As Bleda left the range and curled round to return to his mother, two more riders entered the greensward, a man and woman, and in heartbeats their mounts were galloping, both of them leaning and loosing arrows, one to each side of the gauntlet. One target spun and pitched to the ground, the twine tying it to its pole snapping with the power of the shot.
Riv flew down to Bleda, who was trotting now, and she matched her speed to his. Kol and Erdene were about a hundred paces away, deep in conversation.
“Fine shooting,” she said.
Bleda shrugged, an acknowledgement.
“I saw you sparring in the sky,” Bleda said.
“Kol is teaching me how to use my wings,” Riv answered.
“You use them well enough,” Bleda said. “Back in the glade, you put Kol down.”
I wish we were back there still, that we could leave all of this behind. I felt… happy there, with you.
That is not real, now, Riv scolded herself. Live in the now, not the what-might-have-been.
“Aye,” Riv nodded, “but I didn’t win.”
“True enough.”
“And most of that was blind rage and luck.”
“Rage, yes.” Bleda nodded. “Luck, no.”
“I had good people at my side, watching my back.”
“Yes,” Bleda agreed again, “but you fought Kol alone.” He looked up at Riv and met her gaze, his dark eyes sad and full of emotion, even though his face did not shift or change even a fraction. For a moment Riv felt the world fade and she was sitting back on the roadside in Forn with Bleda, laughing and giving him a flower of mountain thyme.
Bleda reined in his horse.
Riv alighted beside him.
“Why are we here?” Bleda said, quietly. He looked around, eyes settling on Kol.
Because it was the only way to stop Kol from executing you. The only way for us to live without spending our lives—most likely our very short lives—being hunted to the ends of the earth.
“It was the wise thing to do,” Riv said.
“Wise? You are a lot of things, Riv, but I would not have counted wise as one of them.” Bleda’s mouth twitched, a moment of shock and humour before his cold-face locked back into place.
Riv grinned at him. “I can be wise, sometimes.”
“Betrothed,” a voice called out.
“See what your wisdom has done to me,” Bleda whispered.
Riv looked up to see Jin walking to the archery range, a score of her honour guard at her shoulders. She started to veer towards Bleda, but Queen Erdene called to her.
With a sigh, Bleda clicked his horse on and Riv walked beside him.
“Why did you try to kill Sorch?” Riv asked him.
“Ah. I did not try to kill him.”
“Are you telling me you aimed for his leg?” That thought had not crossed Riv’s mind.
“Of course! You think I would miss if I wanted to kill him?”
Riv shrugged. “It was a hard shot.”
“I do not miss.” Bleda snorted. “If I had wanted to kill him, he would be dead.”