The Long Road Back Part Two

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 11th December 2020
Series: The Assassin's Husband

Characters: Olov, Lusilk
Description: Olov and Lusilk's travels to Sunstone Sea Hold continue
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 7, day 28 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Bryvin, Jayzine

Lusilk

It was nearing dusk when the canines began to bark. A light flared in
the little cothold, then the door opened with a bang. It momentarily
darkened as a figure blocked the light. The canine yelped in pain,
quickly followed by a man's shout. A moment later a figure was thrown
out the open door and a woman screamed. Then it was quiet.

The door darkened again as Olov stepped into the evening light, a
strip of cloth drawn over his face and a long, wicked knife in one
hand. In his other he held a sack, which he slung over his shoulder as
he ran toward the treeline. Behind him the woman hurried out of her
cot to kneel over her man, her tear-stained cheeks and the children
hovering in the doorway ignored by the retreating figure.

Olov reached the trees and vaulted into his saddle. He nodded at
Lusilk, then yanked his runner's bridle and kicked it in the ribs so
that it burst into a run back into the trees. They didn't go far; this
time Olov was sensitive to Lusilk's broken collarbone and sore, beaten
body. Besides, this time of evening it was unlikely that the cothold
would have time to get news to their neighbours, or worse, the
dragonmen patrolling the skies.

Olov reined in his equine as the sun slipped beyond the horizon. "You
doing all right?" he asked.

Lusilk pulled her mount back into a more sedate pace, but it took a
moment to settle the mare after the sudden run. She grimaced as the
mare tossed her head, then pulled her back more, calming the mare into
a walk. She'd kept watch as Olov had approached the isolated farming
cothold, making sure with a pair of daggers that there would be no one
to interrupt. She couldn't help but notice the differences in their
approaches. Where Olov had used his size and brute strength in force
to gather what they'd needed, she would have used her smaller frame
and stealth to sneak in after the family slept. Both had their
merits. "As much as I can be." She studied the satchel he'd purloined.
"If he's dead, they'll be a hunting part after us as soon as they can
alert someone. What did they have?"

"He's not dead. Probably not that flaming canine either." Olov had no
love for canines. "Got some grains for porridge or the runners, an
extra blanket for you, a hock of ham, maybe half-cured. Some bread and
cheese and wheat, and a couple of knives, but mostly to inconvenience
them." It was a poor raid, but he'd been in a hurry.

"Then they won't gather until morning at least. We have time." It
wasn't much, but it would supplement their meager supplies. Winter
hunting and foraging was often poor unless you had a good stash set
aside. "Better than what I expected they'd have. The ham'll be good
cooked over the fire with the bread and cheese." She felt her stomach
rumble at the idea of a piping hot hunk of savory ham sandwiched
between slices of bread." Lusilk studied Olov for a moment at the
mention of the extra blanket. It was turning bitterly cold in the
evening, enough to make it difficult to sleep. "Thanks for the
blanket. Did you get one for yourself?"

Olov shook his head. "You don't hear _my_ teeth chattering all night.
'Sides, the other blankets they had looked like they were infested
with insects." A man had his pride.

Her nose wrinkled at the thought, but insects in any blanket had the
potential for an itchy night, so she couldn't blame him. But it would
do little good for either of them to suffer cold-sickness from a lack
of a large fire. The small ones they'd had to maintain didn't offer
much in warmth. Lusilk sighed. "We'll share the blankets then. For
body heat. It's too cold for either of us at night. At least until
we're get close to Sunstone."

There was a long pause. "If you like," Olov said eventually. Nights
had been cold, but not unbearably so. But Silk _had_ been shivering,
and he was supposed to get the woman back in one piece. At the very
least, she'd be warm.

"I wasn't suggesting anything else." she replied smoothly. But Faranth
it would be nice to sleep deeply before she needed to keep watch. Her
lips curled. "I promise I won't bite. "

"You might find that I bite back," Olov said. The sky had deepend to
an indigo and the runners were beginning to stumble in the dark. He
reined his chestnut in and dismounted, taking the reins in one hand
and holding out a hand for Silk's reins. They were still too close to
the little cothold for his comfort.

"You must be popular." She smirked, then chuckled, handing him the
reins without question. Carefully keeping her injured arm close to her
body, she slid down the runner and only lightly grunted as her feet
hit the ground. The pain was a constant reminder that at least she
lived, but she wished she could risk the fellis at times like these.
"I'll start the fire. "

Olov shook his head. "Let's go a bit further before making camp. It's
too exposed here." The trees were large, but as a result they were
sparse. They wouldn't be able to go much further anyway, not with the
canopy so thick and the moons still down.

She didn't argue. He was right; her own tiredness and pain were making
her far less cautious than she should be. She nodded and began to walk
quietly, taking care not to be louder than the runners in her
footsteps. "How long was it for you before you started working for
Bryvin?"

"At Sunstone? Couple of turns, now. He made me a guard." He snorted.

She gave an answering choked snort. "How... interesting and how
perfectly like him. He seems to enjoy real irony."

"It's steady food and lazy work, and fights at the tavern if I feel
like cracking skulls. It's not so bad." He shrugged. "You'll need a
job, there. What's he got set up for you? Healer?"

She caught a burst of laughter before it erupted loudly. "A Healer?
Faranth, he knows better." She shook her head. "I don't know. I've
got other skills that I've had to learn, organization, numbers,
letters, reading and writing, that sort of thing." She didn't reveal
what she'd done with Jayzine for those few months at Barrier Lake.
"This is all I've done. All my life since I was a child." And Faranth,
she was tired. She felt far older than her years.

Compared to him she was still a child, although being Holdless and
doing the things they did-- it could be hard. Olov had seen this sort
of life grind people into dust and ashes more than once.

He paused, cocking his head to one side. "Hear that?" He started
heading toward the sound before Silk could reply. It was a stream, a
small one, but enough to satisfy their tired runners. Beside him, Silk
was barely a shadow in the dark wood. "How about that fire? I can take
care of the runners."

The sound of the stream was more than welcome. Not only for the
horses, but for her as well. She could get up early and quickly
wash, even if the water was chilly. She desperately wanted to at least
sponge the travel from her if only to feel fresher for a short time.
Lusilk nodded and began to gather enough wood for a small cooking
fire. Before long she had a small blaze going and a hunk of the ham
roasting on a stick over it. She placed the bread nearby on a flat
stone to warm and began slicing thin pieces of cheese.

By that time Olov had finished untacking and grooming the runners, and
he left them with leads loose enough for them to get at the grass and
the stream. He set down Lusilk's saddle on her side of the fire before
retreating to his own, his stomach growling at the scent of the meat.
Ham was a treat after the stringy wherries they'd been lucky enough to
catch. "Looks good."

"Hunger will add its own seasoning. Here." She looked up at him and
passed him a hunk of bread and slices of cheese. "It shouldn't take
too long to finish." She could already smell the meaty aroma and heard
the sizzle. "I'm going to wash up. It'll be ready by the time I get
back." Lusilk rose carefully, pulling a ragged piece of cloth from her
pack.

She didn't care if the water was icy cold, she had to bathe. Smelling
herself as they rode was getting rather onerous and she doubted her
own smell combined with the runner's was very pleasant. Going to the
stream, she quickly stripped and waded in. The water's icy chill made
her teeth clench in pain as her muscles knotted, so she wasted little
time in scrubbing her body as clean as she possibly could without
soap. Shivering and with chattering teeth, she hurried back to the
bank, slipping her clothes back on as quickly as she could. She felt
better, but Faranth, it was almost a painful sense of clean.

Olov watched her from the other side of the fire, his hands folded
over his belly and the bread and cheese very much gone. "Brave of you.
It's going to be cold tonight."

"I'll live." She grimaced as she sat closely to the fire, soaking in
its warmth. "I got tired of smelling myself." She pulled her knife and
began to cut slices off of the roasting meat, putting some aside for
herself. She checked the meat and nodded. "It's done." She didn't wait
further, slipping the hunks of meat between two slices of bread and
cheese. "Why? Offering to warm me?"

He arched an eyebrow. The thought had crossed his mind after hearing
her splash in the dark - what man wouldn't - but just as quickly the
thought had been abandoned. She was half his age and likely to stick a
knife in his gut. "Are you asking?"

Dark eyes lifted from the food in her hands to look at him from across
the fire. Lusilk took a moment to study him before taking a bite of
her haphazard sandwich, chewed her food to allow time to consider her
answer before giving it. "If we can be completely reasonable, sharing
body heat would benefit both of us. A warm night of real rest could
give us better time tomorrow than sleeping cold would." She disliked
shivering as much as anyone, and the cold aggravated her injuries more
than she was willing to admit. "As for anything else, I'm hardly in a
position to do anything but hold still. Not exactly enjoyable for
either of us, you think?"

Olov hid a smile. She sounded so practical, but reading between the
lines... she was cautious, too. And vulnerable. "Don't worry. I won't
take advantage of you. But I'm not bathing."

Aware of his size, she knew full well that if he'd had a mind to, she
was in no position to fight him off. But she also knew that had he
tried, she would have struck back the moment he took his eyes off of
her. It was a line that they both readily recognized; for now, it was
necessary to trust each other. "I've smelled worse."

"If you haven't, lie about it," Olov said. That water was too cold to
contemplate.

With a perfectly straight face, Lusilk spoke. "You smell like
wildflowers in the spring mixed with the perfume of dock women." She
took a bite of her sandwich, turned and knelt to prepare the bedrolls.
"Why don't you set the meat aside and bank the fire. We can let the
ham stay warm for the morning."

It was a good suggestion, so he complied. Olov took a moment to
scrounge a pair of large fallen trees from the forest as well, leaving
one at the edge of the circle of light to help reflect the heat back
at them, and sticking the butt end of the other into the fire to
smolder through the night.

She watched, appreciating the strength that it took to haul not one,
but two large logs so easily into their camp. Lusilk wrapped the ham
in thick, wide leaves near the coals, both to protect it from burning
and to keep it moist in its own juices. That done, she slipped under
the arranged blankets, the padding from the bedrolls allowing her to
at least be partially comfortable as she laid on her back. Sleeping on
her side simply wasn't an option; even on her uninjured side, the
weight of her own body caused a steady, dull pain that kept her awake.
At least, she thought, it wasn't as bad as it had been when they'd started.

Olov settled in beside her, lying on his back so that he could see the
stars. The blanket was welcome; he'd have made it through the night
without it, but its warmth was welcome. As was the woman's beside him.
The runners were dozing and the firelight cast faint red shadows on
the undersides of the tree branches. He could hear the faint rustling
of insects and small critters in the fall leaves, and the sleepy
breathing of the runners where they dozed. No sounds of pursuit.
"Probably another sevenday until we get to Sunstone," he said quietly.
"If all goes well."

Snug under the blanket, she turned her head to the side. "Warm beds,
crusty bread and ale in front of a fire. You go to your duties and
I'll do...whatever I'm going to be able to do after I heal up." By the
time they arrived, it would be far too late to do anything about the
tiny life that she knew was now firmly nestled within her. Bryvin
would have to wait for his repayment. "I guess you'll miss this."

"Mmm." The stars were so bright. There was too much light, too much
noise at the Hold sometimes. It was complicated there. "Suppose I
will."

She turned to look up at the sky through the cover of trees, quietly
mimicking him. "I miss it sometimes too. It's real freedom," she
murmured. "No rules except the ones you make yourself."

"Mmhmm." Take what you wanted, burn the rest. It was a hard life, but
it was honest in its own way. Olov closed his eyes. "We'll have to
leave camp early tomorrow, get a head start in case they send someone
after us."

"Before dawn then." She didn't nestle up to the man but didn't mind
pressing close to his warmth. Under the blankets was beginning to feel
almost cozy, so she pulled the blankets up to her eyes. "Get some
sleep." Using her pack as a pillow, the shared warmth quickly seeped
into tired muscles and she relaxed. It wasn't long before she drifted
into a deep sleep, breaths long, slow, and even.

Last updated on the December 14th 2020

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The Long Road Back Part Two