Jason Weiser

Part of some order.

They weren't helping her.

They didn't care about Pedro or justice.

They were just protecting themselves.

There's an infirmary upstairs.

You can't sleep here.

The old man called out at her as she fell asleep there.

When the authorities couldn't get Doña without upsetting one of the region's most powerful orders, the narrative around what happened shifted.

As more news filtered south, Don's Leonardo and Gaspar Contreras were less victims but assassins in their own right, and the stranger who killed them had challenged them to a legal duel.

as was his right, and both men died with swords in their hands.

Doña emerged from the church a week later, to a street that had moved on, past the dons, past her, past Pedro, concerned about making its own way in the world.

She found her horse, still stabled where she left him, and she began the ride home.

Having never traveled much beyond her home city, Dong Ye didn't know whether two fights for your life were too many for a trip, not enough, or just the right amount.

She was, it seems, getting the hang of it, too.

A combination of surprise and underestimating had led to her victory against the assassins.

Now, being surrounded by bandits on a mountain pass on the way home...

She had no such luck.

They didn't know she was a woman, and it wouldn't introduce a gap in their armor like it had with the others.

Four men, three up front and one behind, stepped, it seemed, from a sheer rock wall, while her horse picked his way across the narrowest part of the pass.

Money and weapons.