Infinity Blade 01- Awakening

him.
    “Fetch your rope,” he said, blinking. Ancient Prayers, but he was tired! “I’ll sleep on it.”

Chapter Five
    Siris awoke, feeling stiff. He groaned, rolling over, looking at the sun, which was just cresting the horizon. That hadn’t been nearly enough sleep.
    He was accustomed to resting on hard stone of course, and to going without sleep. Both had been part of his training. He’d needed to be tough, as tough as a man could be. But even with that training, he was tired. He’d forced himself to remain awake much of the night, waiting to see if Isa had some hidden method of escaping the ropes.
    Isa. He turned with a start, half expecting to find the woman gone. She still lay on the ground where he’d put her.
    Siris sat up, rubbing his chin. Her blanket had pulled free in the night, but with her hands bound behind her back and tied to her ankles, she obviously hadn’t been able to get it back on. He felt a stab of guilt, but remembering the crossbow aimed at his throat banished the emotion. She had decided to stay; she had suggested the bindings. He wouldn’t feel bad for doing the job well.
    He walked over and untied her. She started awake, then watched him silently with reddened eyes. She’d slept as poorly as he had.
    He wound the rope, then did his morning sword practices, going through the Aegis Forms one at a time in slow motion, breathing in and out. He kept an eye on Isa, who watched him with a curious expression. For some reason, he found her observation unnerving, and he made more mistakes in the forms than he had in a long while.
    Finished, he wiped his brow and stowed the Infinity Blade, and then—to be doing something—he started packing the horse. The surly brute gave him a glare that seemed to indicate it knew what Siris had done. The thing even tried to bite him a few times.
    Cross ‘riding a horse’ off my list of things to do, he told himself. These beasts are horrid.
    “You’re packing him too heavily,” Isa said, walking up behind. “He can’t carry all of that and you too.”
    “He won’t be carrying me,” Siris said, finishing tying on his bundle of armor. Oddly, the saddle suddenly seemed loose.
    Isa snorted and walked over, gently pushing him aside and redoing the saddle. “So we’re both walking?”
    “I sure as heaven am not getting up on that beast,” Siris said, shaking his hand where the horse had nicked him. Weren’t horses supposed to be placid grass-eaters? He’d met cave bears with better temperaments.
    Packing done, Isa walked back to the camp and spared a glance for the discarded crossbow.
    “How easy would that be to fix?” Siris asked.
    “Tough,” she said. “We’d need a specialist.”
    It seemed a waste to leave the weapon. Siris picked it up and managed to discharge the bolt—it had sat in place all night—by pressing his knife against the catch. Then he fetched the trigger mechanism and stowed both on the horse.
    As he was working, he heard thunder. He frowned up at the clear sky.
    “Back!” Isa hissed, grabbing his arm. He barely kept from drawing the sword on her, and instead allowed her to tow him and the horse to the side of the hill. She crouched down, watching the road.
    A group of mounted knights in black stormed down the roadway, coming as if from the God King’s palace. Siris’s breath caught in his throat. He had little doubt they were hunting him.
    He and Isa crouched beside the hill for a long time, the thunder of the horses’ hooves growing softer in the distance. Siris swallowed.
    “They’re heading north,” Isa said.
    In the direction I told the daerils I’d be going, he thought. Well, his false trail was working. That was something. Hopefully, they would have asked the peasants about him, and found that he was indeed traveling this way. Drawing them away from his home was vital.
    He should have been watching for pursuit; he hadn’t realized they’d come after him so quickly. He’d intended to travel on the road for a while, to give confirmation to those pursuing him that this was the way he’d gone. Then he’d planned to cut out a different direction. He’d probably stayed on the road too long; he hadn’t ever done anything like this before.
    “Is there a way to get to this other Deathless by going cross-country?” he asked.
    “Saydhi? Yes, there is. In fact, that’s probably a very good idea.”
    “Let’s move, then,” he said, cautiously rising.
    “I assume you want me walking in