A member of the party fights to survive.

Length: >7000 words, POV: Cassius, Rating: PG-13
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Part of: 003 Cloud, Contents

When the docks came in sight, Cassius began to relax. They were down quite a steep hill, and when he reached the summit, he saw that the king was standing beside the gangplank, ready to see them off. On the deck, the captain stood surrounded by sailors going to and fro and securing the last of the cargo aboard.

They made it three quarters of the way down the hill when Cassius heard a whirring noise and a thud as a arrow made contact with its victim.

He swung his horse around, vaguely surprised to be alive still. Had King Adder chosen Valentin as the better target, then?

No, for Valentin, like him, was upright and alert. He realised, and his heart gave a shuddering pause, that they had been wrong to expect that the king would target them. Instead he had told his assassin to aim for Cloud, the bastard embarrassment that the Jovanis were taking home. The one whose death would not spur Adrienne to vengeance.

Acting on reflex, Cassius wheeled his horse around again and brought it up beside Cloud’s. The boy had collapsed forward, the shaft of an arrow protruding from between his shoulder blades. To Cassius’ eye, it looked like a near thing whether the shot would be fatal. He hauled Cloud onto his own horse, face down across the pommel so as not to disturb the arrow prematurely. There would be a physician on the ship.

At a gallop, he closed the final distance to the dock, trying as much as was possible to cushion his charge from the jarring of the horse’s hooves. He took his free hand briefly off Cloud’s back and pulled out one of his throwing knives, sighting King Adder as he approached. He flicked it, and the knife buried itself deep in Adder Oblaiki’s knee. Cassius had judged correctly, even through the skirts. The king collapsed to the ground, howling in pain. With Sha-Penseian medicine, he would walk with a limp for the rest of his days.

Cassius swung off his horse and lifted Cloud carefully onto his shoulder. The delegation caught up with him and dismounted too. They surrounded Cassius and Valentin and hustled them onto the ship and belowdecks. The captain ordered the gangplank withdrawn and the ship sailed gracefully out of reach of the Sha-Penseian soldiery.

As Cassius went below, he heard a few arrows clatter onto the deck. His sole concern was now for the alarmingly still bundle over his shoulder. Cassius laid Cloud face down on the pallet in the first cabin he came to. The physician, a small, efficient looking man, came in tut-tutting and frowned at Cassius. “You gave him a rare jolting, my lord,” he said. Cassius glanced at him then went back to staring at Cloud’s face, leeched of even that colour which it usually held.

The physician, living up to Cassius’ initial impression, immediately set about cutting away Cloud’s ruined clothes. When the boy’s torso was bare, he took some lukewarm water and sponged most of the blood away before holding his ear to Cloud’s back and pronouncing that he still breathed, though weakly. Then he set about removing the arrow, and cleaned and bandaged the wound, deputing Cassius when he needed help. The arrow came out with a nasty sucking noise, but it came out cleanly, and fresh blood flowed from the wound.

When all this was done, he set up a brazier with a very pungent herbal mixture which would help Cloud stay deep in sleep. Cassius had waited this long to ask, but now there was no postponing it. “Will he live?”

“If he survives the day, and we can get him to keep sustenance down, then his chances will be good. But we need to get him to eat.” The physician raised his eyebrows. “And you too, my lord.” Cassius found himself shooed out of the sickroom with such persuasiveness that he hadn’t realised he was leaving until the door clicked shut behind him. He stared at it and then went in search of breakfast. Blessed few, was it only midmorning?

In the galley, he found Valentin, turning over an arrow in his hands. Cassius stared it. “That’s the same as the one we just pulled from Cloud’s back.”

Valentin nodded. “One of the Sha-Penseian soldiers shot it. It landed on the deck. I would say it is pretty clear who was behind the assassination attempt. How is the boy?”

“He’s alive,” said Cassius. He took some bread and cheese and ate it without enthusiasm. “We should have realised Adder Oblaiki would target Cloud,” he said between bites.

“It was always a possibility,” said Valentin. He smiled dourly. “I think we were blinded by our own importance. Of course, where parting insults are concerned, I think you upstaged him.”

Cassius allowed himself a small grin. “I made him a cripple,” he said.

“Blessed few.” Valentin rolled his eyes. “I suppose Jovan will have to annexe Sha-Pensei after this.”

Cloud drifted in and out of consciousness for a few days. After the first night he awoke for brief periods, long enough to take water and broth. After two days he was able to sit up with assistance, though he was still confined to his bunk for the remainder of the week-long journey.

Cassius was sitting beside Cloud, half asleep, when he felt a light brush on his hand where it rested on the bed. He shook himself awake and looked down, only to find bright grey eyes staring up at him. He leaned down, putting one hand beside Cloud’s head to steady himself, and kissed him. The boy’s lips were dry and rough. Cassius pulled back, began to apologise, and then Cloud lifted himself slightly off the bed, and pressed his mouth to Cassius’. Cassius almost lost his balance with surprise, and found one of Cloud’s—Llewellyn’s—hands had come up to curl in his ponytail.

At that moment came the cry from above: they had sighted land and should be making berth at Tyresine that evening. The winds had favoured them, and they had reached Jovani waters a full day before they expected to. Cassius looked down at Llewellyn and all he could think of to say was, “We’re nearly home.”

Llewellyn smiled—and it was the first real, unselfconscious smile Cassius could remember the boy giving. “Home,” he echoed. “Will I like it?”

Cassius nodded, a lump in his throat.

“Good,” said Llewellyn sleepily. “I’ll trust you.”