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Sister Maren's trembling fingers lifted Pasha's chin. "You have spoken the truth," she whispered. "Forgive me, child."
Pasha curtsied. "Of course, Sister Maren. Thank you for taking the time to witness my report."
Sister Maren's haughty attitude had vanished, to be replaced by sincere concern. She turned to Richard. "How did this creature die?" Richard lifted the sword clear of its scabbard a half foot and then slid it home. "Then what Pasha said is true? You killed it?"
Richard shrugged. "I spend quite a lot of my time out of doors. I knew it was no rabbit."
Sister Maren returned to the creature, mumbling to herself. "I must study it. This is an unprecedented opportunity."
Pasha looked to Richard and wrinkled her nose in disgust as the Sister ran her finger over the lipless slit of a mouth, touched the ear holes, and ran her hand across the glossy black skin. She tugged at the hide clothes, pulling them this way and that as she inspected them.
She rose to her feet, peering down at the entrails. Finally, she turned to Richard.
"Where is the cape? Pasha said it had a cape."
When the mriswith had lunged, and he had sliced it in two, the cape had been billowed open and so it was undamaged. While Richard had been waiting for Pasha to return with the Sister, he had accidentally learned the astonishing thing the cape could do. After that, he had washed it clean of blood, hung it over branches to dry, and then stuffed it away in his pack. He had no intention of giving that cape away.
"It's mine. It is a prize of battle. I'm keeping it."
She looked perplexed. "But, the knives... don't men fancy things like that as prizes of battle? Why would you want a cape instead of the knives?"
Richard tapped the hilt. "I have my sword. Why would I want knives that have proven inferior to my sword? I've always wanted a long black cape, and its a fine one, so I'm keeping it."
The furrows of her scowl stole back onto her face. "Is this another condition of your truce?"
"If need be."
The furrows softened. She sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter. It is the creature that is important, not its cape." She turned back to the reeking corpse. "I must study this."
While she bent back to the mriswith, Richard hooked his bow, quiver of arrows, and pack to the front of the saddle. He put his foot in the stirrup and sprang up onto Bonnie.
"Don't stay after the sun goes down, Sister Maren."
She glanced over her shoulder. "My horse. You can't have my horse."
Richard smiled apologetically. "I twisted my ankle fighting the mriswith. I'm sure you wouldn't want the Palace's newest pupil limping all the way home, now would you? I might fall and crack my skull."
"But..."
Richard reached down and gripped Pasha's arm. She gave a surprised gasp as he yanked her up, sitting her behind him on Bonnie. "Please don't let the sun set on you here, Sister. I hear it's dangerous in the Hagen Woods after dark."
Pasha hid her face from the Sister, and he could feel her giggling softly against his back.
"Yes, yes," Sister Maren said, her eyes already lost to the mriswith, "all right. You two go on back. You have done well, both of you. I must study this creature before the animals get to it."
Pasha held him so tight that he could hardly breathe. It was distracting to feel her firm breasts mashed against his back. Her fingers gripped his chest, trying to get a better hold on him, as if she was afraid she might fall at any moment.
When they were clear of the woods, and into the open hills, he slowed Bonnie to a walk and pried Pasha's hands off.
She clamped them right back. "Richard! I might fall!"
He pulled her hands loose again. "You're not going to fall. Just hold on easy, and let your hips move with the horse. Use your balance; you don't need to cling for dear life."
She gripped his sides. "Well, I'll try."
The sky was turning golden as they descended the rounded hills toward the city. Richard swayed with Bonnie's steps as she went over rocks and across shallow ravines, and thought about the mriswith, and his hunger to fight it. The craving to go back into the Hagen Woods still burned in the back of his mind.
"Your ankle isn't really twisted, is it?" Pasha asked after a long ride in silence.
"No."
"You lied to a Sister. Richard, you must learn that lying is wrong. The Creator hates lies."
"So Sister Verna has told me."
He decided he didn't want to ride anymore with her holding on to him, so he dismounted and lead Bonnie by the reins. Pasha scooted forward into the saddle.
"Then why did you do it if you know it is wrong?"
"Because I wanted to make Sister Maren walk back. She made you walk all the way out there again as punishment for something that was not your fault."
Pasha slid off Bonnie and came up to walk beside him. She raked her fingers through her hair, trying to arrange it to her satisfaction.
"That was very nice of you." She put a hand on his arm. "I think we are going to become good friends."
Richard pretended to turn and look around as he walked so that her arm fell away. "Can you get this collar off me?"
"The Rada'Han? Well, no. Only a full Sister is able to remove a Rada'Han. I don't know how."
"Then we are not going to be friends. I have no use for you."
"You have gone to great risk for Sister Verna. She must be your friend. A person only does such things for friends. You went out of your way to see that I had a horse to ride back. You must hope we can become friends."
Richard watched the country ahead as he walked. "Sister Verna is not my friend. I did as I did only because what was done to her was my fault and was unjust. That is the only reason.
"When I decide to get this collar off, only those who help me will be my friends. Sister
Verna has made it clear that she will not help me get the collar off. She intends that it remain on me. When the time comes, if she stands in my way, I will kill her, the same as I will kill any other Sister who tries to stop me. The same as I will kill you, if you stand in my way."
"Richard," she scoffed, "you are a mere student; you should not brag about your powers so. It's unbecoming to a young man. You should not even joke about such things." She took his arm again. "I don't believe you would ever hurt a woman..."
"Then you believe wrong."
"Most young men have trouble adjusting at first, but you will come to trust in me. We will become friends, I'm sure of it."
Richard yanked his arm away and spun to her. "This is no game, Pasha. If you get it my way when I decide the time has come, I will cut your pretty little throat."
She peered up at him with a coy smile. "Do you really think I have a pretty neck?"
"It's a figure of speech," he growled.
He moved on, tugging Bonnie ahead. Pasha hastened her step to keep up. She walked in silence for a time, busying herself with pulling little knots and burrs from her hair.
Richard was in no mood to be pleasant. Killing the mriswith had brought him a strange feeling of fulfillment, but it was fading now, and his frustration with his situation was returning, and it brought with it the anger.
Pasha's face brightened. She put on a pleasant smile.
"I don't know anything about you, Richard. Why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, what did you do... before you came to the Palace? Did you have some kind of skill? A profession you worked at?"
Richard scuffed his boots through the dirt. "I was a woods guide."
"Where?"
"Where I grew up, in Hartland, in Westland."
Pasha pulled the white blouse away from her chest, trying to dry it. "I'm afraid I don't know where that is. I don't know about the New World. Someday, when I'm a Sister, maybe I'll be called upon to go there, and help a boy."
Richard didn't say anything, so she went on. "So you were a woods guide. That must have been scary, being out in the woods all the time. Weren't you afraid of the animals? I'd be afraid of the animals."
