AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Garion made a tutting noise and wagged a finger. “The last thing we need is a woodcutter to bite into one of your coins and discover it’s a forgery.”
A branch shook as Garion grasped it, easing himself over a tangle of thornbushes.
“Besides, we’d do better in Badentern,” he said without so much as a puff of exertion.
They had been a week in the woods at least, and Charlie was sore all over. His feet throbbed in his boots, but he kept on, scrabbling through the thorns.
“We’re not going to Badentern,” he grumbled for what felt like the thousandth time. “We’re not going to Badentern because that’s not where Corayne will go.”
Garion’s smile disappeared. “Charlie.”
It sounded like pity.
“If there’s a chance she’s alive, I must believe it,” he said in a low, stern voice.
Garion followed along, like a panther at the corner of Charlie’s eye.
“And if she isn’t?” he prodded.
Charlie winced and slipped on a patch of ice, but caught himself just in time, waving off Garion’s attempts to help.
“If she is dead, then the Ward must be warned.”
Garion blinked in reply, then spun in a slow circle. He eyed the gnarled trees and overgrown ground, before turning back to gape at Charlie.
“Who is going to warn the realm from here?”
Charlie’s lips twisted in annoyance. Both with Garion, and with their circumstances at large. He thought of the map in his saddlebags, now slung over one shoulder. And the fox inked into the Castlewood, drawn among the oaks and pines.
He thought of something else too. An army of soldiers like Domacridhan, immortal and mighty. And willing to fight.
“Elders,” he said. His voice echoed through the quiet woods. “There are Elders in this forest. Somewhere. Dom spoke of them once.”
Garion shook his head again. While he was raised in the famed guild of assassins and knew much of the world, his teachings were limited indeed. He carried little beyond the knowledge needed to kill, and escape.
“Elders and other realms, it’s all Spindlerotten nonsense,” the assassin said. He kicked at a stone on the ground, sending it skittering into the undergrowth. “If the world is ending, I don’t want to spend it wandering these infernal woods, looking for Elders we’re never going to find. You don’t even know where theyare, church mouse.”
For once, the nickname rankled, and Charlie scowled.
“I can find them,” he said hotly. “Alone if I must.”
With maddening speed, Garion loped to his side. Charlie gritted histeeth, trying not to be annoyed by his partner’s ease in the woods. Meanwhile, his every step felt like a battle with the mud.
“Now you’re truly being foolish,” he said, eyeing the trees.
His manner grew more suspicious, his assassin’s instincts falling about his shoulders like a coat.
“Once, Amhara trained to kill Elders. Generations ago.” Garion’s lips went white as he pursed them together. Such was the way of his memories. “Not for gold, or contracts. But for glory. It was considered the greatest feat an Amhara could ever accomplish. Even then, few succeeded.”
In his mind, Charlie saw another Amhara assassin, her blade smiling in her hand. And a brooding immortal following her like a shadow, annoying her to no end.
“Sorasa nearly killed an Elder a few times,” he muttered to himself.
Garion’s voice dropped. “I’ve never seen an immortal before.”
“I’ve only met the one.” Charlie’s throat tightened with emotion. “Hardly impressive.”
He swore as he lost his footing again, this time sliding against a broken tree stump. Though every part of him wanted to stop and rest, he pushed off the rotted wood and marched on.
