The kishion pressed a flask to her lips and she drank. She coughed a little and finally opened her eyes.
New scars would be added to his countenance. He looked as if he’d been caught in a farmer’s field during a sickle harvest. The gloves were gone, and little rags tied the cuts on his hands and arms. His legs were similarly treated.
“How long after I left did they attack you?”
A little quirk turned his lips. “That does not matter, Lady Maia. What matters is you saved my life.”
She reached up to scratch her brow, which stung terribly.
“Do not touch that! I have hardly started treating you. I was unconscious myself for a while. Foolish girl.”
Maia sighed and let her hand drop to her lap. “It was Rawlt and the other one.”
A small nod. “We never bothered hiding our trail. I thought they would flee for the ship. They probably thought your head was worth a great deal more than returning alone.”
“I should have let you kill them.”
He snorted in agreement. “Maybe you will start listening to me.”
“Yes, I must.”
He looked at her with confusion. “What do you mean?”
Maia’s head still throbbed, but she reached out and took his scabbed hand in her own. “I have the answers I came here for. But they are not what I had hoped to find. Our journey is not over.” She sighed as images of her father and her home flashed through her mind. She would not be able to return. Hers would be a long, tedious death. “It is only just beginning,” she breathed.
He looked down at her hand, his look stern. “Where must I take you?” His voice was raw, a sigh.
“I think you already know. I think we have both known all along where I must go.”
Looking up into her eyes, he nodded again. “We go to the seat of the Dochte Mandar.”
*
A maston who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave. They are beyond the reach of all political powers. While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have truly been learning how to die.
—Lia Demont, Aldermaston of Muirwood Abbey
*
Author’s Note
As I wrote in my author’s note for Banished of Muirwood, the tale of Maia came to me long before I ever wrote the first chapters of Wretched of Muirwood. Her story was turned into a graphic novel by Jet City Comics in 2015 and published as Muirwood: The Lost Abbey. I was highly involved in the production and inspiration for the artwork. I knew that some readers wouldn’t prefer the medium of pen and ink but would still want to read the original story, which I dubbed “Maia” and mentioned in the author’s note of Scourge of Muirwood. I hope you enjoyed this little backstory for Banished.