She looked more like a queen than Elyana ever would.
Then Blade noticed that the regal beauty was marred by an ear with a piece gouged out and a broken nose. There was also a faint scar along the left side of her chin, and an ugly one across her right shoulder and down onto the breast. On her right thigh was a broad patch of puckered scar tissue. The little finger on her left hand was missing the last two joints-Blade stopped cataloguing her injuries when he realized she saw what he was doing.
«What does the other fellow look like?» he asked, smiling.
«That long tale, not for telling here,» said the woman, unsmiling. «Can you walk with me?»
«Yes.»
«Good.» She pulled a sharpened length of bone out of her waistband, and kept it in her hand as she stepped back to stand behind Blade. «We go now.»
Blade found that he could walk, but still wasn't quite ready to think of running. The long-legged lady behind him wouldn't have much trouble catching him. That drug must have been powerful!
He tried to make polite conversation as they tramped across the sand dunes, without success. He did find that the battered Amazon's name was Rhodina, and told her his name. That was all. Perhaps Rhodina wasn't unfriendly, but she was certainly not giving anything away.
They covered nearly a mile across the dunes without getting out of sight or smell of the sea. Finally they came to a rough shelter of driftwood tied together with rawhide and covered with seaweed. Rhodina told Blade to sit outside until she called him, then pulled aside a rawhide curtain at the entrance and vanished inside.
For a little while Blade was glad to sit and rest. Then he decided to disobey Rhodina. If they were going to be together for more than a few hours, she was going to have to trust him more than this, and he was going to have to get a weapon. Anything else would be foolish. If she didn't trust him, he could always take a weapon and clothing and move on. He got up, went to the shelter's entrance, and pushed his way in through the curtain.
He caught Rhodina at a disadvantage. She was pushing her waistband down her legs to step out of it, leaving herself naked. All she could do for a moment was scream: «Blade! Get out of here!»
Then she grabbed for her bone knife. Blade found himself within reach of a better weapon-a foot-long chunk of wood set with shark's teeth. He snatched it up, met Rhodina head-on, and cracked her across the knife hand with the back of his weapon while gripping her other wrist. She dropped her knife, and tried to punch Blade in the groin. He turned enough to ride the blow without losing his grip on her wrist. Then he used his judo to throw her. She went down with a crash, knocking out one support of the roof and bringing part of it down on her. She lay there, spitting out oaths and seaweed.
Blade picked up Rhodina's knife, held it by the point, and handed it back to her. «Here. If you want to stick it into me, that's one thing. If you want to feed me like the Emperor and take me to your bed, that's another thing. But you'd better decide if you want to trust me or not.»
He knelt down, within easy striking distance, and started picking the pieces of the roof off her. He kept a watchful eye on her as he did, and noticed she made no effort to grip her knife. Her hands lay in her lap, clenched so tightly the knuckles were turning pale.
«Why didn't you-?»
«Kill you? You hadn't tried to kill me. You'd only done something annoying.»
Rhodina made a disgusted noise. «No man on this island be such a fool. They don't kill women. Use 'em.»
Blade laughed, and saw Rhodina cringe. Her lips trembled slightly. «You don't-care for-«She couldn't get the rest of the words out, but her hands moved over the scars and injuries.
Blade knelt down beside Rhodina, kissed her on the lips, then kissed the scar on her shoulder. «Rhodina, you're magnificent, beautiful, desirable-everything any man could want.» He sensed a desperate need for reassurance under the harsh manner.
«Blade…?» It was half a sigh.
He kissed her again, and realized that if he did it a third time he might not stop. He sat back and smiled. «Rhodina, I'll prove how much I desire you some other time, not now. The rest of that roof looks like it's about to come down on us even without any help.»
Rhodina sat up and shook her head, then combed the last of the seaweed out of her hair with her fingers. «Good, Blade. I think you're a right sort of man. Don't hope to bed me, though. I-he should be back in a few days. It's that he's not back now, has me all-confused, frightened, what you call it. He was-is-first man I could trust. Always before, men…» She shrugged, as if there was nothing more she needed to say.
So Rhodina's lover was missing, and this had affected her judgment. A perfectly reasonable explanation, but: «If you'd said this before, Rhodina-«He broke off as her face set in an expression of fierce pride. This woman wouldn't admit fear or loss unless you put her on the rack-or showed some human sympathy for her.
«Anyway,» Blade continued, «If you want me to move on-«
«No. Stay. Need someone, until-until he comes back or I know he's dead. If he comes, he and we decide. If he doesn't, maybe you can stay?»
«Gladly.» Blade wasn't being polite. This battered, brave Amazon woman was likely to be a better friend and ally than he could expect to find anywhere else on Shell Island.
«Good.» She stood up, still naked, but now completely indifferent to it. «You're right. Time to put the roof back before anything else.»
Chapter 14
While they were putting the roof back together, Rhodina told Blade about her life and how she'd come to Shell Island. As he'd guessed, she was a Mythoran, and her life had been grim at best.
She was a prostitute, the daughter of a prostitute and the granddaughter of a small Goharan merchant exiled to Mythor for debt. She'd never known her grandfather, but knew the kind of man he'd been and what had happened to him.
«He got a shop back, and thought he'd do good for my mother and her brothers. Then there was a fight in the shop. A Goharan soldier got hurt. The judge said he was being kind when he took the shop away. Kind! Goharan kindness!» Rhodina spat on the sand at the thought.
Her grandfather never recovered from this new blow to his pride, his hopes, and his finances. His sons had to leave school and become common laborers. His daughter ended up a prostitute. Rhodina didn't know who her father was, other than that he must have been a near-giant.
«Mother was little. I was a big baby. She nearly died when I was born, and had to get work as a maid in a trader's house. A Mythoran. Lived seven years, and did good for me too.»
Rhodina's mother didn't do well enough for her daughter to keep the girl off the streets when she turned fourteen. She did leave her with a small amount of money and a vast hatred of Gohar, Goharans, and Goharan rule over Mythor.
«Don't say Mythorans always sweet and good,» she said wryly. «I no damn fool. But half our trouble is Goharans or fights with the bastards.»
«That's how you picked up some of your damage?» asked Blade.
She nodded. She'd been big for her age, so she was able to start dealing with the higher-paying customers that much sooner. She hadn't known what she was getting into at first, but she soon learned. She didn't go into details about the learning, and Blade didn't ask. Obviously there were more than a few sadists among the Goharan officers and nobles.
While recovering from one beating, she'd been cared for by a retired prostitute whose husband had been involved in the Mythoran conspiracy against Gohar. One night he'd simply disappeared, but after being interrogated, raped, and beaten, his wife was released. She'd promptly taken her husband's place among the rebels, and a few months later found herself nursing Rhodina. Even at seventeen Rhodina didn't need much persuasion to join the rebels.