She climbed up the rocks to where a small waterfall cascaded down to the beach and washed the salt from her body. Yu Yu gazed on her beauty, almost awestruck. Then he scrambled up and also washed himself. They returned to the beach and the woman sat down on a rock, to let her body dry in the sunshine.
‘You came in with the lord Matze Chai,’ she said.
‘I am . . . bodyguard,’ said Yu Yu. The excitement caused by her nakedness made Yu Yu feel light-headed. His grasp of the round-eye tongue, feeble at best, came close to deserting him.
‘I hope you fight better than you swim,’ she said.
‘I am great fighter. I have fought demons. I fear nothing.’
‘My name is Norda,’ she said. ‘I work in the palace. All the servants have heard the stories of the demons in the mist. Is it true? Or were they merely robbers?’
‘Demons, yes,’ said Yu Yu. ‘I cut arm from one and it burn. Then . . . gone. Nothing left. I did this.’
‘Truly?’ she asked him.
Yu Yu sighed. ‘No. Kysumu cut arm. But I would have if closer.’
‘I like you, Yu Yu Liang,’ she said, with a smile. Rising to her feet, she dressed and wandered away back up the rocks to the path.
‘I like you too,’ he called. She turned and waved, then was gone.
Yu Yu sat for a while, then realized he was growing hungry. Putting on his clothes he thrust his scabbarded sword into his belt and walked back up the hill. Perhaps, he thought, life in Kydor will not be so unpleasant.
Kysumu was sitting on the balcony of their room. He was sketching the outline of the cliffs and town across the bay. He glanced up as Yu Yu entered. ‘I’ve had a great time,’ said Yu Yu. ‘I swam with a girl. She was beautiful, with golden hair and breasts like melons. Beautiful breasts. I am a great swimmer.’
‘I saw,’ said Kysumu. ‘However, if you wish to be a Rajnee you must put aside carnal desires, and concentrate on the spiritual, the journey of the soul towards true humility.’
Yu Yu thought about this, then decided Kysumu was making a joke. He didn’t understand it, but laughed out of politeness. ‘I am hungry,’ he said.
Elphons, Duke of Kydor, angled his grey charger down the slope towards the grasslands of the Eiden Plain. Behind him came his aides and his personal bodyguard of forty lancers. At fifty-one Elphons had found the long journey from the capital tiring. A man of great physical strength, the Duke had lately been plagued by sharp pains in his joints, most especially in the elbows, ankles and knees, which were now swollen and tender. He had hoped that the journey from the damp and cold of the capital to the warmer climes around Carlis would relieve the problem, but so far there had been little change. He was also experiencing difficulty at times with his breathing.
He glanced back at the convoy of five heavy wagons, the first carrying his wife and her three ladies-in-waiting. His fifteen-year-old son, Niallad, was riding alongside the convoy, the sun glinting on his new armour. Elphons sighed and heeled his horse onward.
The weather had been clement during their mountain passage, but as they made their way slowly down towards the plain the temperature rose. At first it was a pleasant warmth, after the cold mountain winds, but now it was becoming intolerable. Sweat trickled down the Duke’s broad face. He lifted his gold-embossed iron helm from his head and pushed back his hood of silver mail rings, exposing thick, unruly grey hair.
The slim, balding aide, Lares, rode alongside the Duke. ‘Uncommonly hot, sire,’ he said, pulling the stopper from his leather canteen and pouring water on to a linen handkerchief. This he passed to Elphons, who wiped it over his face and grey-streaked beard. Instantly the hot breeze felt cool against his skin. Unclipping his heavy red cloak he passed it to Lares.
Far below, Elphons saw the wagons of the merchant convoy enter the deep woods bordering the long Lake of Cepharis. His mood soured. They had first caught sight of the convoy earlier that morning, as a dustcloud on the horizon. Slowly they had gained on it, and were now a mere half-mile behind them. Elphons had been looking forward to arriving at the lake, divesting himself of his armour and swimming in the cool water, and did not relish the thought of sharing it with two score wagoners and their families. As always the young Lares was in tune with his master’s thoughts. ‘I could ride down and get them to move on, sire,’ he said.