So the first thing Jake did was take off the belt his knife was hung from, then he freed the sheathe from the belt and put the belt around his saddle horn. The two soon-to-be attackers were already on foot and approaching with their knives in their fists, and they seemed to be sneering at what Jake was doing. Obviously they didn’t understand that Jake hadn’t wanted to simply drop the belt, not when leaving it on the ground could end up making a foot hazard for him during the fight.

The two also didn’t seem to understand why Jake had taken the knife sheathe off the belt. When he unsheathed the knife as he moved forward away from his horse, the attackers didn’t even glance at the heavy leather sheathe being held in Jake’s left hand. He held to the wider end, of course, and his grip was just as firm as the grip he had around the hilt of his eight inch knife.

If it hadn’t been cloudy, all three blades would have gleamed as Jake and the two assassins reached each other. The two men jumped forward at the same time in an effort to reach their target before he set himself, but Jake had been set the minute he had his weapons in hand. And the empty sheathe was a weapon of sorts, which the attacker on the left found out when Jake blocked his thrust. At the same time Jake used his knife to block the attack from his right, and then it was his turn.

Slapping the sheathe hard onto the nose of the man on his left put that man down, and then Jake could give the man on his right all his attention. The sheathe blocked another thrust before Jake kicked the assassin in his privates, and before the man could bend all the way with the pain he’d been given Jake ended the pain for good with a thrust of his own knife.

The second assassin was just struggling back to his feet when Jake used his knife on this other attacker. It wasn’t anger that moved Jake, but a hatred and loathing for the very concept of assassins. Assassins struck out of the dark from behind, or else tried to overwhelm their chosen victim with greater numbers. That kind of cowardice had always infuriated and enraged Jake, and he hadn’t hesitated a moment in showing how he felt.

But he didn’t have the time to stand around admiring his handiwork. He turned fast to see that Tandro was still alive and moving, but the native was being hard pressed by his two attackers. Jake sprinted over to where the three were trying to gut one another, and one of the two assassins turned away from Tandro and in his direction. It took no more than seconds before the third assassin was on the ground with his lifeblood leaking out, but Jake didn’t get a chance at the fourth. Tandro had already taken care of the man, and as the native turned away from the body he’d made he gave Jake a lazy grin.

“If this ever happens again, remind me to doubt your ability even more than I did this time,” Tandro commented with amusement. “If I handle things that way, I probably won’t even have to bother with one of the garbage. Nice work, my friend.”

“Your efforts weren’t particularly shabby either, my friend,” Jake responded with his own grin. “Let’s clean our blades and then we can be on our way again.”

Tandro agreed without hesitation, so the two men turned to their former enemies and used clean sections of the dead men’s loin coverings to wipe their knives on. The knives would have to be cleaned again and oiled later, but for the moment the job was good enough. When Jake was done he walked back to his horse to retrieve his belt, then threaded the belt through the knife sheathe again. Jake had just about finished putting everything back together when he noticed that he couldn’t see Tain and the girl.

Suddenly afraid that he’d been lured away from the two women with the attack, Jake rushed back to where he’d last seen them. But the women weren’t gone, just having some trouble. The girl Ennie knelt in the grass while she threw up, Tain standing with a hand to the girl’s back in a way that was probably supposed to be comforting.

“She’s not used to seeing things like that,” Tain said to Jake as he came to a halt not far from the two, only glancing in his direction. “And she hasn’t eaten enough lately to have more than liquid coming up. Once she’s back in control of herself she’ll need some water.”

Hearing Tain’s suggestion, Jake felt like cursing himself out. He’d had water to keep him going in this heat, and he’d been on a horse. The two women had been walking, and it hadn’t occurred to him at any point that they needed water of their own. Thinking of the women as slaves was turning him stupid, and he also cursed the fact that he had no choice but to continue like that.

“I’ve got the water right here,” Tandro said as he came around the far side of the pack horses. The native’s expression was as calm as ever, but Jake thought he could see a bit of concern in the man’s dark eyes. The emotion was probably due to the fact that Ennie wasn’t really a slave who could be completely ignored, but Jake decided instantly to take advantage of the emotion no matter what it came from.

“After this little … interruption, we’re going to have to make up some time,” Jake said to Tandro after nodding to acknowledge what the native had brought. “I think we’ll be best off taking the slaves on our horses with us at least for a while, otherwise we won’t make the town before dark.”

“I agree,” Tandro said almost at once, his gaze on the small blond girl who was only now regaining control of herself. “It also isn’t smart to put too much stress on a slave you’ve paid good money for. You can lose the slave by doing that, and it would be easier just throwing away the money without bothering with the rest.”

Tandro glanced over at Jake when he finished his say, the look letting Jake know that Tandro was supplying a good excuse for the reason they would be treating their slaves more gently. The line of argument did hold up, and it also reminded Jake that Tandro was very much for ending slavery. The man only rarely showed what he was feeling, so it was perfectly possible that Jake had overestimated Tandro’s devotion to the outer trappings of that way of life.

Jake joined Tandro in waiting patiently until Ennie had stopped heaving completely, and then Tandro gave Tain the waterskin and allowed the woman to help Ennie drink from it. When Ennie had rinsed her mouth and then swallowed as much as she could hold, Jake had Tain take her own drink from the skin. While Tain was drinking, Tandro moved closer to Ennie and told her to close her eyes, then the man picked the girl up and carried her back toward his horse.

“Okay, let’s go,” Jake said to Tain once the woman had lowered the waterskin and recapped it, taking the skin from her before gesturing toward his horse. “The sooner we get to the town, the sooner we can get something hot into Ennie.”

If Jake had expected Tain to say something, he ended up disappointed. The glance she sent to him was impossible to interpret, and then she was moving around the pack horse and toward his saddle mount. She still looked incredibly appealing in that vest and skirt, but the way she stood and walked gave him the impression that she was ignoring him rather than obeying. A flash of impatience burned its way through Jake, right along with more than a touch of annoyance as he followed. Tain seemed to be silently accusing him of something, and it wasn’t possible to defend against that kind of accusation.

As he boosted Tain up to the saddle then mounted behind her, Jake found himself just short of growling. He’d been doing his best to find out what was bothering the woman, but she’d been doing her best to avoid talking to him. Well, if that was the way she wanted it, Jake didn’t mind going along. And if he was going to be accused, it would only be fair if he did something to be guilty of.

And maybe if Tain was taught what true misery could consist of, she just might become more willing to talk to him…