"He's done nothing," Guin said, stepping forward.
Ashyn tried to grab her back, but Guin wrenched from her grip and turned on her. "You'll stand here and listen to these lies? You'll not say a word to defend him? To defend your sister?"
"Because she knows it will do no good," Tyrus said, his voice low. "Listen and be still, Guin."
"I'll not be still. How does the emperor leap to such conclusions when he cannot even have questioned anyone who was there? Everyone is dead."
"Not everyone," Ronan murmured.
"Yes, you survived, as did Ashyn and I. We'll all tell the same story. That Tyrus was betrayed by Lord Jorojumo. That Moria was captured by their forces. That--"
"Enough, Guin," Tyrus said. "Please."
"Oh, but she tells such a pretty tale," the man said. "What have you promised these children in return for their lies?" He looked at Guin. "You are forgetting one other survivor, girl."
Ronan shifted beside Ashyn, and the moment he did, she knew who the bounty hunter meant. Ronan glanced over at her, worry drawing his lips tight.
"Simeon," she whispered. "No, that's not . . . It isn't possible. He was there. He knows the truth. We sent him for help."
"If you mean the young scholar, oh yes, girl, he helped. Helped the empire unmask treachery. He promised the prince he'd spread his lies so the coward would not slay him. But he is a man of honor. When he reached the court, he told the truth."
"What story did he tell?" Tyrus said.
It was almost exactly as they'd heard, except for Moria's supposed role. The prince had been seduced and swayed by his false lover. She'd convinced him to march on Riverside, when the counselors and scholars had insisted Northpond was the proper target. In battle, Jorojumo had betrayed his emperor, working in league with Moria. Tyrus had realized what had happened and fled the battlefield while his men were slaughtered. Then Tyrus himself had murdered the counselors and scholar Katsumoto in hopes of hiding his cowardice. Finally, he'd commanded Simeon to court with a very different story.
"The prince would send a scholar to do that?" Guin said. "A man he barely knew? Not the Seeker or his scout here?"
Which proved, Ashyn admitted, that Guin was not as empty-headed as she seemed.
"The false prince didn't know that the scholar had witnessed him murdering the counselors," the bounty hunter said. "Clearly, his highness underestimated his choice of messenger."
Tyrus continued to interrogate the bounty hunter, but when Tova looked to the left, Ashyn's attention followed. The hound's jowls vibrated with a growl, but before the first note of it erupted, Daigo sprang. He landed on a second bounty hunter as the man lunged out from a stand of trees.
Ronan wheeled. Tova barked and Ashyn saw a third figure run from the other direction.
"Ronan!"
She pulled her dagger and said, "Tova! Go!" Not a command but a release. Help Ronan. Don't worry about me. Tova hesitated long enough to be sure she had her blade, then he let out a roar and charged. The bounty hunter under Tyrus's sword tried to take advantage of the commotion to leap up, but Tyrus pinned him and then shouted, "Ashyn!"
She saw the figure burst from the trees and thought Daigo had lost his prey. But it wasn't one of the
bounty hunters. It was another warrior, his sword out, running straight at her. Tova broke off his charge, leaped on the man, and took him down, but that left his former target running at Tyrus. Ashyn shot toward them, but she was too far away. Tyrus kicked the man under him, foot connecting with jaw in a sickening crunch as he swung his sword at the running bounty hunter, cutting the man's charge short with a spray of blood.
A fourth figure appeared behind him. Yet another warrior.
"Ashyn!" Tyrus said. "Take Guin! Go!"
She hesitated, blade gripped in her hand. Then she looked at Guin, wide-eyed in shock. The warrior running for Tyrus saw Guin and veered off, heading straight for the girl. Tyrus swung at the man, but he was too far and couldn't reach without releasing the bounty hunter on the ground. His sword only grazed the man's arm.
Ashyn ran for him. Tyrus's eyes widened in horror as he mouthed something, likely What in blazes are you doing? Or possibly Get your dagger up! She was running straight at the warrior, her blade lowered. At the last moment, she reached out and shoved him. As he stumbled back, his blade nicked her arm. But the push did what it was meant to--landing him within Tyrus's reach. The first bounty hunter was rising again, blood streaming from his mouth. Again, Tyrus kicked him down, this time in the nose. His blade flashed as it cleaved into the warrior's arm, cutting clean through the bone and--
Ashyn staggered back as the warrior's arm flew through the air, sword still clenched in his hand. The warrior screamed and blood arced and all she could think was, I need to bind it. Bind the severed stump so he wouldn't bleed out and die.
But he must die. He dies or we die.
The shock of that hit her and she gasped for air, the warrior still gurgling with pain, stumbling toward his arm as if to retrieve the blade.
They were not playing with daggers. This was a sword fight. How did they test a warrior's sword? By making sure it was sharp enough to cleave through three corpses with a single blow.