After a quick lesson with the pigeon master and then the stable master, and a short argument with Shara about who would be driving the chariot, we were riding south. My stubbornness had won out, and I would be the one directing our horse, Casp.
It was chaotic getting out of Glaine, forcing me to steer from the horse’s back with Shara in the chariot. Even with the storm, people crowded the streets and gave us strange looks. With most in black or brown overcoats, it was impossible for once to distinguish the wealthy from the rest.
Once we left the city, I joined Shara in the chariot. “Now will you tell me more about what I’m doing?” I shouted to be heard over the rain.
Shara had the pigeon’s cage in one hand. “We were trying to figure out why Marteph’s troops would let themselves get surrounded. I began to believe they had something planned with the diymas in the forest around Antilith, but I couldn’t come up with anything. Diyma behavior is impossible to predict. But then I figured the same isn’t true for terrislaks.”
Shara told me she searched through a dozen books about terrislaks before figuring out what she was looking for—a pattern of some kind. The terrislaks move every twenty-six years, and their twenty-sixth anniversary was tomorrow. They would leave Talmor Desert, but in no book was it written where they would go.
What Shara did find, though, was the location and date of each of their previous desert homes. They were found first in Thalcea, where they took over miles of forest, eventually flattening it completely. After a while, they went northwest and cleared another forest.
Twenty-six years went by, but they didn’t continue northwest—where a forest four times the size of the previous two still makes up the border between Thalcea and Nymre. Diymas were known to live there. Shara assumed they did something to scare off the terrislaks.
The monstrous creatures instead took over the land in the middle of Nymre, still northwest from where they began. After another twenty-six years, they moved northwest again, taking the land just southwest of Lanhine, which never recovered. The main path into the city crosses through the barren land.
The terrislaks went north instead of northwest after another twenty-six years because diymas lived in the forest that would’ve been the terrislaks’ new home. They settled on land we now call Talmor Desert, which used to be a forest just like all their other locations.
“Now it’s time for them to move again,” Shara said. “History says northwest is the direction they want to go, but the forest around Antilith blocks their path, and diymas live there. There are no other forests nearby that are even close to the size the terrislaks usually choose.”
“Yet you know where they’re going?”
“Yes, because they’ve been known to avoid mountain ranges, meaning they won’t go east. South is where they came from and north is covered with diymas, so they’ll go west.”
“All right, and how does that relate to Marteph’s army?”
“It doesn’t until you know what’s going to happen when the terrislaks go west. They’ll pass through villages, Neeko. It’s going to be terrible.”
An image came to mind of terrislaks scooping up people in the same way babies grab bugs off the ground and put them in their mouth. “Are you sure they won’t avoid the villages like they do the forests inhabited by diymas?”
“There used to be a village in southern Nymre. The terrislaks crossed it during their search for a new forest. It was destroyed, and everyone who didn’t escape was eaten. To them, humans are the same as any other animal: food. We haven’t scared them enough for them to learn not to hunt us.”
“So these villages need to be protected,” I said. “How many terrislaks are coming?”
“I think hundreds based on information I read,” she said with disappointment. “I believe I underestimated their numbers when we crossed Talmor Desert.”
“Falister told me we have an army south of Marteph’s. That should mean they’re in range to defend these villages.”
“They are,” Shara agreed, “and our troops will stay there to defend them…so long as Marteph’s army doesn’t attack Glaine. Our enemies have put themselves between these villages and our capital. They’re clearly waiting for the terrislaks before they strike, but we don’t know if they’ll attack Glaine as the terrislaks distract us to the south, or if they’ll fall back to the south and engage our army while the terrislaks are there.”
“I was told we also have a brigade in Antilith not many miles from our enemies.”
“Yes, but it isn’t sufficient to defeat Marteph’s troops without support from the other unit in the center of Rhalon.”
I began thinking aloud. “We can’t send our entire army into the forest because we don’t know exactly where our enemies are or what kind of ambush will be waiting. They could come out and attack Glaine while we searched, which would also leave the villages defenseless against the terrislaks’ attack.”
“Right, so we have to wait to see which direction they choose. Northeast or south. Our capital or our villages.”
Now I understood my role. “Jaymes told the king I could lift myself high into the air, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“They want me to hide in the trees and wait for our enemies to move. They figure I can escape easily if I’m spotted.”
“Yes, after we’ve located them, you’ll wait in hiding until they choose a target. Then you’ll release the pigeon, which will fly back to the capital with your message in the case on its leg.”
Something worried me. “What happens if our enemies choose Glaine as their target? Who will protect the villages when our troops in the center of Rhalon leave to defend the capital with the rest of our army?”
“There are some soldiers around that area who are being ordered to converge as soon as messengers reach them, but it’s unlikely they’ll be alerted in time.”
“So what about the people in the villages? Can’t we tell them to get out?”
“It’s the same issue as getting to the soldiers around those villages. We’re trying, but it’s unlikely to happen in time.”
“We can’t just let them die.”
“I know, but Marteph’s waiting army is enormous. We need everyone we have defending the capital. If it falls, Quince will be killed and this war will be lost.”
Thunder crashed, silencing us for a moment.
“It seems like Glaine is the most likely target,” I said. “How many troops do we have compared to them?”
“Not including the rest of our army spread out through Rhalon, we have ten thousand between those in the middle of Rhalon, in Antilith, and within Glaine. Scouts have estimated that the enemy army in the forest is about the same size. With the walls surrounding Glaine, and adding in the hundreds of miles Marteph’s men have traveled to get here, we will win, though we’ll lose many in the process.”
“And you will be there,” I said, worried.
“I’ll be in the castle where it’s safe. It’s you we need to worry about. You’re to return after releasing the pigeon. Go to Antilith first and purchase a horse to make it to Glaine before Marteph’s men. I’m certain Quince will have you join the fight if the capital is the target. For my sake, I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Shara, no one will touch me. You haven’t seen what I can do with pyforial energy, especially after all this training. There’s no reason to worry about me.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”
“I’m not. Nothing will happen to me.”
She put her hand on my lower back. “Can I have your money if you’re wrong?” she teased.
“Ah, so that’s what this is about,” I teased in return, pretending to have made a great revelation. “When we met in Lanhine, you never cared for a traveling companion. You saw nothing but the dalions promised by my scroll, which I now carry in my pocket with the rest of my money. I’d better keep my eye on that hand of yours.”
She gave me a sly smile and drummed her fingers on my back, walking her hand toward my pocket. She stopped and leaned over to give me a peck on the cheek.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
With night approaching, we looked for shelter of some kind. It had been raining all day with flashes of lightning mixed in. The bellows of thunder that followed sometimes were loud enough to scare Casp into rearing up.
Clashing against my misery of being wet and cold was a warm comfort from being out of the castle with Shara. We settled against a hillside that sloped outward enough to block the rain.
Shara lit our fire as I found a place to hang our dripping cloaks. We covered Casp with one blanket and used the other to cocoon ourselves near the fire. It didn’t take long before we were kissing, our limbs entangled.
Thunder woke us several times throughout the night. We threw more sticks on the fire and Shara lit it once again. Eventually I awoke and it felt like morning, the gray sky making it difficult to tell.
I roused Shara by planting a kiss on her cheek as she’d done for me in Talmor Desert. I waited for her to rub her eyes, then I asked, “When was the last time it rained for this long?”
“I don’t know.” Shara yawned as she stretched. “But I do know we should make it to the forest before nightfall.” She suddenly stared at me. “I had a terrible dream. I want you to promise me something.”
“What?”
Shara folded her arms. “I’d rather you promise first.”
“All right, I promise. But it had better not be something ridiculous.”
“It’s easy. I don’t want you to do anything so dangerous that I would argue against it if I were with you.”
“Did I do something stupid in your dream?”
“Very.”
“And you don’t trust me to keep myself from doing something stupid now?”
“No.”
“A delightful morning we’re having here, Shara.” I handed her some bread as thunder boomed. “What did I do?”
“You thought you were too powerful to be killed, so you attacked the army by yourself. I watched you die.”
“How did I die?”
“Arrows.”
“So I’ll just take out the archers first. There can’t be more than a thousand of them.”
She chuckled. “I’m being serious!”
“Of course I’m not going to attack
ten thousand
people, Shara.”
“I don’t know what you might do.” She pointed at me. “But do you promise you won’t do whatever it is if I would argue against it?”
“I promise. I’m just going to release the pigeon with our enemies’ direction written on a note. Then I’ll go to Antilith and get a horse so I can make it back before they get there.”
“Good. Remember you’ll have all of this waiting for you when you return safely.” She made some gesture at herself with both hands, one of them holding her bread. “That should give you plenty of incentive to stay alive.” Particles spewed out of her mouth at the word “plenty.”
“All of what?”
“Me!”
“
Pfft
.”
“What do you mean
pfft
!” More bread came out of her mouth, much more. I couldn’t help my eyes from going to her hair, which was a tangled mess.
I laughed, perhaps a little too hard. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You’re right. Plenty of incentive.”
The levity was gone the instant we rode out in our chariot from our slanted hillside. The chilling rain was nearly louder than the beat of Casp’s hoofs against the wet ground. Thunder sounded like a deep cackle coming from the southwest, our very direction.
“I made a promise.” I spoke over the storm. “Now I want you to make one.”
“All right.”
“Don’t put yourself in danger if it can be helped. You don’t need to lead me all the way to Marteph’s army. As soon as we have a sense of where they are, you’ll go back.”
“As soon as we
see
them, I’ll go back.”
“Before we see them. I can find them on my own as long as I’m close, and I can get away if I’m caught.”
“I can get away as well.”
“Not as easily,” I said.
“Pyforial energy?”
“Yes. Jaymes didn’t help me learn to lift myself just so I could float into the rooms of beautiful women.” I turned to look into her dark eyes. “You promise?”
“Yes.”
We rode for a little while without saying anything.
“Did you mean to say the rooms of beautiful
women
?” Shara asked.
“Oh, and your room as well.”
“I’m not above throwing you off this chariot.”
We stopped to eat sometime between lunch and dinner. Each of us stretched out our sore back. The long ride to the edge of the forest would’ve been miserable had I been alone, but Shara kept my thoughts on her, a subject my mind relished.
I should’ve been hungry by the time we reached the forest and detached our chariot, but adrenaline had stolen my appetite. I tried to calm myself, reminding my beating heart that we wouldn’t find the army until at least tomorrow.
The terrislaks have begun their movement today
, I realized.
They’ll reach the villages presumably in a week.
“I wish this rain would…just…stop!” Shara leaned back and shook her hands at the sky.
“What if it stopped right now?” I mused.
“Then I would wish for many more things.”
“Ah, the pull of power. Would the wishing ever end?”
“No.” Her face went pensive. “I suppose I would make a terrible ruler.”
As we crossed into the forest, night seemed already fully upon us. A tawny glow came from Shara’s wand, her brow creased. “We won’t get far tonight,” she said. “Let’s just look for shelter.”
The deeper we went, the less rain I felt. I wiped some of the wetness out of my hair, wondering if the sheer blackness of the forest was more likely to keep us safe from hungry animals or if it just prevented us from seeing them coming.
It was in the forest on the other side of Antilith that diymas had brought Eizle and me to the red priest. Shara said they inhabited this side of the forest as well. I asked her if she thought the diymas here would recognize me.
“They probably wouldn’t even recognize you on the other side. I wouldn’t exactly say you were renowned among them.”
I disagreed. “It can’t be often that they elicit the help of a human.”