Page 13 of Highland Slayer
She cocked an eyebrow. “It isnotgoing to stop raining by the time I count to five.”
He held up a hand, begging for patience. “I know,” he said. “But for the sake of argument, let’s say ye feel strongly about it. Now, I tell ye that it isnotgoing tae stop raining by the time ye count tae five. Ye believe so strongly that ye’re right that ye tell me if ye’re wrong, ye’ll give me yer cold coin.”
She was following him closely, realizing he was speaking of the dried grass in her hand. “This?” she said, holding it up. “I’ll give you this if I’m wrong?”
“Aye,” he said. “I accept yer wager and tell ye that if ye win, I’ll give yemygold coin. But if not, ye give me yers. One of us will have two coins in the end. That is a gamble.”
She had to think about what he’d just said. After a moment, her brow furrowed. “Why should men want to do that?”
“Because it can make ye rich.”
“Gambling can?”
He nodded. “Rich if ye win, poor if ye dunna.”
She was still frowning. “And you do it for the money?”
He shrugged, smiling lazily. “For money,” he said. “Or for whatever a man is willing tae wager. Food, horses, wine—a man can bet anything he wants in a game of chance.”
The concept was quite foreign. Anaxandra was standing there, pondering a game that made no sense to her, when they both heard shouting. The women outside the stable made a break for the muddy bailey beyond, crossbows lifted. But there was still more shouting going on and there seemed to be a good deal of frantic women rushing about, some with clubs.
Puzzled, and startled, Anaxandra dashed out of the stable.
Estevan followed.
As the rain pounded, they ended up in the bailey. Visibility was difficult with the mist, even with some of the women bearing fat-burning torches, but Estevan could see clearly enough that he saw Kaladin outside of the sanctuary. He was the one shouting, telling the women to back away, but the moment he caught sight of his brother, he began to rush in his direction.
That was when Estevan realized the man had a bolt sticking out of his upper arm.
“Do ye see what they did tae me?” Kaladin was shouting to him, outraged. “They shot me!”
Estevan reached out to steady him. “Ye knew they would,” he said incredulously. “They’ve been threatening tae fire at us since we arrived. Why did ye provoke them?”
Kaladin was furious. “Because ye went away and dinna return,” he said. “For all I knew, they were holding ye captive somewhere. I demanded tae know where ye’d gone, but no one could tell me. So I came looking for ye and they shot me.”
Now, Estevan was furious. Furious at his brother, furious at these foolish, nervous females. Anaxandra was next to him, looking at Kaladin with some concern, and he whirled on her.
“Is this what ye do?” he demanded, indicating his brother. “Ye shoot a bolt intae an unarmed man? Are the lot of ye truly so stupid and panicky that ye’d do this when all he wanted tae do was know where I’d gone?”
Surprisingly, she didn’t rise to his anger. The truth was that she didn’t know how to respond, so she simply reached out and grasped Kaladin by the arm.
“Come along,” she said steadily. “We must go back to the sanctuary. We can remove the bolt there.”
Estevan was livid, but he did as she suggested. With him on one side of Kaladin and Anaxandra on the other, they managed to get him back into the sanctuary, where Titan, Mateo, and Rodion were waiting. They grabbed Kaladin, taking him from Estevan and pulling him back into the vast hall. That left Estevan to deal with the nervous nuns who had fired on his brother.
But he quickly saw that he didn’t have to.
Anaxandra was already interrogating the group that had been left behind, angrily gesturing toward Kaladin. Mostly, she was met with quiet resistance, as if no one wanted to incriminate themselves, but one woman evidently spoke up and admitted it. The next thing Estevan realized, Anaxandra slapped the woman across the face so hard that she stumbled backward and tripped over her feet. As she fell to one knee, Anaxandra stood over her, scolding her, grabbing her by the hair and pulling it.
That made Estevan back off.
He’d never seen a woman behave like that. Anaxandra was clearly in charge, clearly respected by the other women, but he also took a moment to look at the others. Each one of them wore the same tunic, the same breeches, bearing weapons and looking as far from feminine figures as possible. And what Anaxandra was doing was something a trainer or a commander would do. She was dispensing discipline in a way that would teach the offender a lesson. A painful lesson, but a lesson nonetheless.He’d never, in his life, seen a woman strike another woman like that. His mother and her spanking didn’t count. This was far more of a disciplinary blow.
It was rather fascinating.
But also very strange.
What kind of placeisthis?he thought.
