Read Online Legacy of Blood by Michael Ford - Free Book Online Page B

path.
    Lysander dumped his sack and scrambled down theslope. He grabbed a rock and charged forward. The fallen rider was back on his feet and spun round at the sound of Lysander’s approach.
    â€˜Get away from her!’ Lysander shouted, smashing the rock into the man’s temple. He watched the man crumple at his feet. The young woman was trying to untie the ropes at her feet, and staring at Lysander in astonishment. Her horse was still bucking wildly and whinnying in pain.
    The rope snapped in the girl’s hands and she ducked under the horse’s thrashing hooves to seize the reins. Weasel-face took one look at his fallen accomplices, turned on his heel and ran.
    â€˜Watch my horse!’ the girl said, thrusting the reins into Lysander’s grasp. She rescued a discarded dagger from the ground.
    â€˜Where are you going?’ said Lysander.
    But she was already sprinting after the bandit.
    By the Gods, she’s fast
, thought Lysander.
    The girl seemed to glide fluidly over the path. Lysander doubted whether he’d have been able to keep up. She caught the man after about seventy paces and heaved the dagger down between his shoulder blades. He careered into the ground, and she leapt on his back. Lysander saw her hand rise and fall a couple of times, then she wiped the blade clean and walked casually back. A thin streak of blood stained her cheek.
    â€˜You were quick as a fox,’ said Lysander.
    â€˜Never seen a girl who can run?’ she said, strokingthe horse’s nose. ‘There, there, Hector,’ she soothed. ‘What made you start?’
    â€˜I’m afraid that may have been my fault,’ admitted Lysander, holding up his sling.
    â€˜Do you make a habit of attacking defenceless animals?’ she asked, her eyes sparking. Her hair, up close, was like burnished bronze.
    â€˜I thought …’
    â€˜Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘We’ve all had enough upset for one day. He’s a tough old thing, aren’t you, Hector? I’m Chilonis. Thanks for your help. I couldn’t have fought them off alone.’ Lysander could see that the girl was more upset than she wanted to admit.
    Lysander peered down at the man who’d taken a hoof to the neck. He was unmoving, his head twisted at an unnatural angle.
    â€˜I’m Lysander,’ he said. ‘I think you probably could have defended yourself without my help, if you’d had to. But thank the Gods, I happened to be passing.’
    â€˜No. Thank
you
, Lysander. They were trying to rob me of my horse. Where are you heading?’
    â€˜To Delphi.’
    â€˜The Oracle?’
    â€˜Yes.’
Please don’t ask me why
, he prayed.
    â€˜Me too,’ she said. ‘Where are you from?’
    â€˜Sparta.’
    Her eyes widened, then narrowed with suspicion. ‘You look like you make a habit of fighting – is your nose broken?’
    Lysander smiled and nodded. ‘It was an accident. I ran into someone on the street.’ He had no wish to burden this stranger with his tales of the Krypteia.
    â€˜From the way you handled that sling, I wouldn’t have taken you for the clumsy sort,’ his new friend said.
    Lysander laughed. ‘What about you?’
    â€˜Argos,’ she said. ‘We should travel the rest of the way together. I hear there’s a boat from Agion.’
    Lysander had never met a girl like Chilonis before. She was so forthright, it was hard to disagree with her.
    â€˜Come on,’ she said. ‘If we hurry we’ll make it before nightfall.’
    Leaving the bodies of the bandits where they lay, Chilonis took hold of her horse’s reins, and she and Lysander walked side by side along the path. The rocky gorge descended into a wide plain of rich farmland.
    â€˜The plains of Ceryneia,’ Chilonis commented. After a moment’s silence, she glanced over at Lysander. ‘Why are you travelling on your own?’ she