Mica (3 page)

I tried to forgive what they did, but I can’t. Maybe I’m not a good enough Dame. I can’t be perfect.”

“None of us are perfect. It’s not your dedication to the Order that I’m questioning. I don’t like to see you consumed by a man who no longer means anything to you. You’ve already overcome him and his army a thousand times.”

“Don’t you understand I have to face him? I have to look in his eyes and find out why. He had no reason to slaughter my people. He’d already won.”

Neila sighed and shook her head. “Asking a man like that will get you answers no quicker than bedding men who mean nothing to you or picking tavern fights.”

“If I don’t go, I’ll be haunted for the rest of my life. I’m no longer helpless or one of his victims. I’m no longer afraid, and I want him to know that.”

“We haven’t any ships going to the Kennas for quite some time.”

“Sir Lock will be trading there soon. I’ll travel with his crew.”

Neila placed a hand on Sun’s shoulder. “You do what you have to. We’ll always be here for you, no matter what your decision.”

“Thank you.”

“When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow, if I can.”
“Laurette has taken over your duties while you’ve been abroad. She’ll continue to do so until you return. You have my permission to go.”

“I won’t shame you or the Opal Order.”

“You never could.”

Though she doubted it, Sun hoped Neila was right. When she finally faced this man she’d hated for ten years, she doubted she could refrain from killing him.

* * * * *

“Remember, we leave port in one week,” Lock told Sun as she stood with him and his wife on the pier at Upper Kenna.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like company?” Sparrow asked. “I can travel with you while Lock is trading.”

Though small in stature, Sparrow was strong, intelligent and hard working. She had a kind heart, and at times Sun wished she could be more like her.

“Thank you, but I don’t know how long I’ll be. I have to find this basta—I mean this man. I only know his name and city.”

Sparrow gazed at Sun with concern. “If that’s what you want. Just be careful.”

“Careful?” Sun grinned, taking the reins of her roan stallion and guiding the animal toward the marketplace. “I’m always careful.”

Lock muttered something about the foolishness of women, but Sun couldn’t quite hear him above the chatter of the crowd. Stopping at a cart, she bartered for a white hooded robe to protect her in the desert.

The islands of Kenna were vast, sandy places with random oases, some of which stretched for miles. Days were hot in the Kennas and nights could be bitter cold. Sun had stopped briefly in Lower Kenna years ago but she’d never ventured to the land of the beast who’d destroyed her village. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought of finding him and bestowing upon him some of the pain she’d suffered during his attack.

Loyalty to the Order and to Sir Blaze kept her temper in check, but as years passed her insides continued twisting with rage. The decision to seek her worst enemy had been difficult, but it was long past time for the necessary confrontation.

Even on the waterfront, the air felt hot and dry. Sun found a secluded space behind one of the market stalls to slip off her brown tunic, roll it and store it in her traveling pack. She slid into a leather vest and draped the white cotton robe over her head, raising the hood against the sun. Checking the sheath at her hip, she continued toward the food carts where she bought fruit, bread and cheese for the next several days. She filled a water skin in a central well and continued through the port city until she reached the outskirts.

She squinted toward the miles of sand dunes gleaming in the morning light as far as the eye could see. Her destination, Ademene, the largest city in Upper Kenna, was due north and at least a three-day journey.
Sun decided to walk for several miles, saving her horse the added burden in such heat. She considered the animal a companion rather than a possession. The stallion had aided her in many battles and guided her through storms and harsh terrain over the years. Sir Blaze had given her the horse as a gift for her dubbing ceremony when she was initiated into the Dames two years ago. She knew Blaze had been concerned when she’d left for Upper Kenna. If only she could make him understand her need to face her old enemy.

“Sometimes I don’t understand Blaze.” She sighed. “Perhaps if I lived with the souls of the dead, I would be more hesitant to kill even someone who deserves to die.”

The sun rose higher, gleaming off the dunes and seeping through the protective cotton garment covering her from head to boot. Glancing over her shoulder, she noted the port city was no longer in view. She was entirely alone in a desert as beautiful as it was deadly.

A tall, smooth rock loomed ahead. When she reached it, she sat in its shade and took a bite of bread. Leaning against the rock, she let her thoughts drift. She stared in the direction she’d just walked. The hot wind had smoothed away her footprints, leaving no indication she’d ever disturbed the dunes. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed a dark figure in the distance.

“I know that horse.” She stood as the chestnut gelding approached. The rider, draped in a white robe, removed his hood and smiled, his pale eyes gleaming in the sunlight.

“Blaze? What are you doing here?”

“Sailed on a feeding vessel soon after you left with Mate of the Key.”

Mate of the Key was Blaze’s name for Lock. The former part of the sentence momentarily bewildered Sun then she smiled. Feeding vessel. “A fishing boat?”

“A rats’ breeding ground. Not all captains keep ships as clean as Mate of the Key.”

“But why are you here?

“You’re my daughter.” He dismounted.

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Blaze, but I have to face this alone.”

The Knight rubbed the white star between his gelding’s eyes. “Why?”

“Because I do. I don’t want to drag you into my problems.”

Blaze lifted a fine red eyebrow, his large eyes staring into hers.

“I have to do what I feel is right,” Sun snapped, pacing in the sand.

“You’re angry?”

“Yes. No.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how I’m going to react to him, and I don’t want you to be ashamed of me.”

Blaze touched a hand to his chest. “You are my heart. I could no more be ashamed of you than I am of it.”

Sun knew his words had no link with sexual affection but signified platonic love.
She embraced the Knight and rested her head against his shoulder as she had many times as a child. “I love you too, Blaze, but I have to find him.”

“I know.”

“Even though I’ve been through wars, you still want to protect me?”

“You’ve guarded my back in battle.”

“I’m good in battle.” Sun dropped onto the ground in the shade of the rock, her legs stretched out in front of her. She picked up a handful of sand and watched it slide through her fingers.

“If you want me to go away…”

She grinned. “You mean after you came all this way on a stinking, rat-infested boat?

I don’t have the heart to send you away.”

“Sympathy is good.” Blaze sat beside her.

“If you think I’m going to show that bastard a bit of sympathy—”

“Much time has passed.”

“I don’t care if a thousand years have passed. Once a bastard, always a bastard.”

* * * * *

Dusk settled in and the wind grew stronger and colder. Sun and Blaze draped cloaks over their robes and searched for a place to spend the night.

“Company?” Blaze pointed east toward an approaching horse and rider.

Sun lifted her hand, shielding her eyes against the glare of the setting sun and studied the figures.

A black mare taller than her stallion moved with the power of a war horse and the grace of the small, delicate horses native to the Kennas. Dark blue robes draped her rider. A hood of the same color covered his head. The mare pranced before coming to a stop.

Sun tingled with unaccustomed attraction. The newcomer was not only handsome but poured sensuality like water from a cascade. Blue eyes gleamed in his smooth, dark-skinned face. His sharp cheekbones, oval chin and beautifully shaped nose looked as if they’d been carved by the greatest sculptor. A pleasant smile curved his lips.

“Hello,” he said in their language. The almost musical accent of the Kennas combined with his deep tone captivated Sun. “You know a storm is coming?”

Sun looked at the clear sky. “A storm?

“He’s right,” Blaze said. “Spirits are muttering.”

The man cast a questioning glance at Blaze then turned back to Sun. “I have shelter, if you’d like to share it.”

“That’s kind of you,” she said, “considering we’re strangers and could be thieves or murderers.”
The man tilted his head slightly to one side and winked. “So could I.”

“Risks excite me. Whoa.” She grasped her stallion’s reins at the same moment the stranger tightened his grip on his mare that had begun prancing again. Sun nodded at the tall, sleek female. “She’s in heat.”

The stranger patted his horse’s glossy black neck and smiled. “Just don’t let that rogue of yours get her in trouble. If you want to wait out the storm, you should follow me.”

He nudged the mare toward the dune over which they’d appeared. Sun and Blaze glanced at each other in silent consultation then followed their host.

From the top of the dune, they saw a bare mountain, several cave mouths visible in its side. The man led them into the largest entrance. Once they’d dismounted, Sun noted their host’s impressive height. She stood at eye level or taller than most men, but she had to look up to meet the stranger’s gaze. Inside, the cave narrowed around a bend before opening into a chamber large enough for several people and horses to comfortably spend the night. A torch burned in the wall. Blankets and saddlebags were piled on the floor.

“You live here?” Sun asked.

The man grinned. “I’m not so misanthropic.”

He removed his hood, revealing thick black hair that hung to his waist in a straight, gleaming mass. Sun’s breath caught. Never in her life had she seen such beautiful hair.

She wondered how it would feel to run her fingers through it. The robe came off next and Sun’s pulse leapt. His lean body was clothed with tan trousers and a sleeveless vest of dark brown leather. Muscles rippled in his arms and broad, smooth-skinned chest.

The baggy, wide-legged trousers would have shortened most men’s legs, but his looked miles long. She glanced at his cock and balls pressing against trousers so thin she could almost discern the exact shape of the bulbous head. Sun’s mouth went dry.

“How long did it take you to grow that?” she asked.

The stranger glanced at the front of his pants. “Depends on how beautiful the woman in front of me.”

Sun raised her eyes to heaven and snorted with disgust. “I meant your hair.”

“Oh, that.” He grinned, looking sheepish. “Years.”

Sun resisted the urge to laugh aloud. Typical man. Always imagining women were impressed with their cocks. What irritated her most was this time it was true. She’d seen few bulges as magnificent as the one in his pants.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I was about to eat. Just some bread and dried fruit, but you’re welcome to it.”

“Kind of you,” Blaze said, withdrawing a round of cheese from his belongings. “I can add to the feast.”

“So can I.” Sun slapped her thigh before reaching for the special reserve of wine she kept hidden in her saddlebag. “This might not be such a bad night after all.”
Soon the three sat eating and talking by a small fire in the center of the cave.

“What brings you to our land?” asked the stranger.

Sun watched his long, slim fingers slide a fig into his mouth. She nearly squirmed as she imagined what those fingers would feel like rubbing her clit or exploring her pussy. The giddy sensation in her belly was completely unaccustomed. Even her nipples tingled and swelled when she thought of bedding this man. Her gaze followed the tip of his tongue flicking across his voluptuous lower lip.

“I’m looking for someone,” she said.

“Who? Maybe I can help you find him.”

“His name is Mica of Ademene, a combat general.”

The stranger’s eyes widened. “Then look no further. I am Mica of Ademene.”

For an entire five seconds, Sun stared in dumb shock.

Shrieking a battle cry, she unsheathed her sword and swung it directly at Mica’s skull.

* * * * *

Mica rolled away before the blade split his head. He tried kicking the beautiful blonde warrior’s feet out from under her, but she sprang, forcing him to dive over his horse to avoid another of her deadly blows.

She’s crazy. That’s what I get for trusting a pretty face.

Moments ago, the woman’s statuesque beauty had his pulse pounding—now it raced out of survival instinct. Just what he needed, a foreign warrior with petal-blue eyes and breasts like a goddess trying to lop off his head with a blade she wielded far too well for his taste.

“Put the sword down, you crazy bitch.”

“Not until you’re dead, you murdering bastard,” she snarled, her beautiful face distorted with fury.

“I haven’t killed anybody lately.”

“Brightest Star, lower your weapon.” The auburn-haired man chased the woman around the cave. He finally caught her, ducking her swinging blade.

“He deserves to die, Blaze. After what he did, I can’t look at his ugly face.”

Ugly? I might not look like a palace sculpture, but I’m by no means ugly.

“You said you wanted to speak with the one who killed your family,” Blaze continued.

“I didn’t kill her family.” Mica remained where he stood, one foot in the stirrup, one hand clutching a dagger he’d pulled from a sheath on his waist. “I never saw her before today.”

“General Mica of Ademene destroyed the village of Greenhaven. Raped the
women, drowned the children and cut the head off every man. I was the only survivor but I’m enough to avenge my people. You’re going to die, you son of a bitch. Blaze, let me go.” She struggled against the Knight’s grasp, her teeth visibly clenched.

“Not until you listen to reason.” Blaze forced the sword from her hand.