A Brother's Price

gasped. “Not my blood.” She swallowed hard. “The—they didn’t have guns, only clubs and sabers. There’s a soldier—in the creek!”
    “Did you shoot her?” Jealous admiration tinted Blush’s question.
    Heria shook her head. “No. Riders chased her down out of the woods by the bend. They knocked her off her horse, into the creek. I thought they were going to kill her. and we’d get blamed, so I shot at them. The first shot just startled them.” Which meant she probably missed, and they hadn’t realized how lucky they had been. “They didn’t start to run until the second shot. 1 winged one of them.”
    This got a murmur of admiration from the others.
    Jerin hushed them. His youngest sisters might not see the danger remaining with the riders gone. “But they didn’t kill the soldier?”
    “She’s got a big bruise on her forehead and she’s out cold in the creek.”
    “In it?” Jerin cried. “Oh, Heria, you didn’t leave her to drown, did you?”
    “No, of course not,” Heria said, which earned her a few dark looks from her sisters. “I got her sat up, put some rocks behind her, then laid her back down. It was the best I could do because I couldn’t move her otherwise. She’s Corelle’s size and all dead weight.” Which meant the soldier was nearly as tall as Jerin. “I didn’t know what else to do. She’s out of the water, and I’ve got her pinned so if she only half wakes, she’s not going to roll in and drown.”
    “Good!” Jerin said. He was relieved that the entire younger half of the family was all accounted for, sound and secured. Now if only the older half were here, armed and ready!
    “What about the riders?” Blush pressed Heria. “How many were there? Did they look like a raiding party? Are they coming back?”
    “I saw five women. They didn’t look like sisters, didn’t act like sisters. They looked like river trash. Dirty. Ragged. Poor. I winged the biggest.”
    As she spoke, Jerin glanced about the kitchen at the girls clustered around him. Most barely came to his chest and only Heria weighed more than a hundred pounds. Three or four of the older girls combined could get the soldier out of the creek and to the house. But that would leave girls under ten to guard the boys.
    “I’m going down to the creek and getting the soldier,” he announced, standing up.
    “What?” all his little sisters shouted.
    “If she’s alive, we can’t let her die on Whistler land,” he said.
    “Damn right we can!” Blush snapped. There was a roar of agreement.
    “We can’t!” Heria shouted. “Jerin’s right. It’s the law. We have to lend aid to travelers in distress.”
    “Who would know?” Leia, the third to oldest, argued. “We just say that we never found her until after she died.”
    “Her attackers would know,” Jerin pointed out. “They probably know that the soldier is alive, and that at least one of us knows it, because a Whistler shot at them.”
    “Who would they tell?” Blush asked. “It would be stupid for them to tell anyone. They’ll be admitting to beating the soldier up.”
    “Better than being blamed for murder,” Heria snapped. “What do you think they’ll say if the Queens Justice catches them? ‘Yes, we killed her,’ or ‘Oh, no, she was still alive when we got chased off?”
    Silence fell as his sisters recognized the truth of Heria’s argument.
    “The quicker we go.‘” Jerin finally broke the silence, “the quicker we get back.”
    “No!” Blush cried. “We just won’t send for Queens Justice. We can bury her in the woods. No one need know.”
    “Won’t wash.” Heria stood up. “There’s her horse, to start with. Do we kill it and bury it too?”
    “We could drive it off,” Blush said.
    “I’m eldest here,” Heria said. “Jerin and I are going down to the creek. You stand ready.”
    They didn’t like it, but they had been raised as soldiers and the line of command was clear. Heria was eldest; she was to be obeyed.
    “Come on,” Jerin said to Heria. “Show me where the soldier is.”
     
    Despite everything, he was nearly too angry to be scared. “I can’t believe Corelle went off chasing after Balin’s pants. Eldest told her not to leave sight of the house while they were gone.”
    “Eldest is going to kill her.” Heria trotted to keep up with his long strides. She held her carbine rifle ready, her wide-brimmed hat thumping on her back with each step.
    “One can hope so.” He scanned the