‘Be sensible, woman. We’re not going to hurt you. We’ll even pay!’
Another voice cut in, harsh and deep. ‘Enough talk! Take the bitch!’
Ekodas rounded the final bend and saw the two men, foresters by their garb, standing with knives drawn and facing a young Nadir woman. She also held a knife and was waiting, poised, her back to a rock-face.
‘Good evening, friends,’ said Ekodas. The first of the men, tall and slim, wearing a green tunic of homespun wool and brown leather leggings and boots, swung towards him. He was a young man, with sandy hair tied in a pony-tail.
‘This is no place for a priest,’ he said.
Ekodas walked on, halting immediately before the man. ‘The forest is a wonderful place for meditation, brother.’ He sensed the man’s confusion. There was little that was evil in him, but his lusts were aroused and they had clouded his reason. He wanted the woman, and his mind was seething with erotic thoughts and images.
The second man pushed forward. He was shorter and stockier, his eyes small and round. ‘Go back where you came from!’ he ordered. ‘I’ll not be turned aside by the likes of you!’
‘What you are planning is evil,’ said Ekodas softly. ‘I cannot permit it. If you continue along this gulley you will find the road to Estri. It is a small village and there is, I understand, a woman there who has a special smile for men with coin.’
‘I know where Estri is,’ hissed the second man. ‘And when I want your pigging advice I’ll ask for it. You know what this is?’ The knife-blade came up, hovering before Ekodas’ face.
‘I know what it is, brother. What is your purpose in showing it to me?’
‘Are you a halfwit?’
The first man took hold of his friend’s arm. ‘Leave it, Caan. It doesn’t matter.’
‘Matters to me. I want that woman.’
‘You can’t kill a priest!’
‘Pigging watch me!’ The knife swept up. Ekodas swayed aside, caught the man’s wrist and twisted the arm up and back. His foot snaked out, hooking behind the knifeman’s knee. The forester fell back. Ekodas released his grip and the man tumbled to the earth.
‘I have no wish to cause you pain,’ said Ekodas. The man scrambled up and charged. Ekodas brushed aside the knife-arm and sent his elbow crashing into the man’s chin. He dropped as if poleaxed. Ekodas turned to the first man. ‘Take your friend to Estri,’ he advised. ‘And once there bid him goodbye. He brings out the worst in you.’ Stepping past the man he approached the Nadir woman. ‘Greetings, sister. If you will follow me I can take you to lodgings for the night. It is a temple, and the beds are hard, but you will sleep soundly and without fear.’
‘I sleep without fear wherever I am,’ she said. ‘But I will follow you.’
Her eyes were dark and beautiful, her skin both pale and yet touched with gold. Her lips were full, the mouth wide and Ekodas found himself remembering the images in the forester’s mind. He reddened and began the long climb.
‘You fight well,’ she said, drawing alongside him, her knife now sheathed in a goatskin scabbard, a small pack slung across her shoulders.
‘Have you travelled far, sister?’
‘I am not your sister,’ she pointed out.
‘All women are my sisters. All men my brothers. I am a Source priest.’
‘Your brother down there has a broken jaw.’
‘I regret that.’
‘I don’t. I would have killed him.’
‘My name is Ekodas,’ he said, offering his hand. She ignored it and walked on ahead.
‘I am Shia.’ They reached the winding path to the temple and she gazed up at the high stone walls. ‘This is a fortress,’ she said.
‘It was once. Now it is a place of prayer.’
‘It is still a fortress.’
The gates were open and Ekodas led her inside. Vishna and several of the other priests were drawing water from the well. Shia stopped and stared at them. ‘You have no women for this work?’ she asked Ekodas.
‘There are no women here. I told you, we are priests.’