“Here’s something you can do for me,” Krujha finally said, after considering it all for a moment longer. “Shuffle the horses the elf and I came in on, so if the druid does get it in his head to somehow communicate with them, they’ll be harder to find.”
“Yours, I can mix up easily enough, but there aren’t many elf-size horses in the camp, so that one might be tricky to deal with,”the other man said, chewing his lip thoughtfully. “I’ll figure something out.”
“We intend to act quickly,” Krujha continued. “So there might be some, well, chaos in the coming days. I might not be able to give you a heads up as to when, or any specifics, but try to find me if you can. If you can’t, do what you need to do to keep yourself alive.”
Brugo was silent at that, looking at Krujha with an unreadable expression. Krujha held his gaze as steadily as he could. Gorza had told him to bring him into the fold so that he could help overpower Zesh once they got him away from the camp; but Krujha was not going to let it get that far. The less Brugo knew, the better. As long as he was ready for the situation to change suddenly and rapidly, he could flee at a moment’s notice—if he were any good at his job, and he had survived this long, after all.
“Good to know,” Brugo finally said. “Well, I’m at the stables most days, so you can find me if you need me. But we should avoid being seen together if at all possible.”
“With any luck, we won’t meet again until this is all over and done,” Krujha offered with a tired smile. Brugo chuckled. The sound was weary and humorless, and Krujha wondered how long he had been in this camp, and if he had any hope at all in the lasting peace King Zorvut had promised.
The king might have promised it, but it was up to Krujha—and Alwyn—to make sure it stuck, now.
“I’ll head back out through the stables,” Brugo sighed, taking a step away. He pointed toward the paddock. “Head out that way. I’ll see you later.”
Krujha nodded, and they parted ways. His stomach growled as he walked. He would get his allotted evening meal, wait until nightfall, then report back to Alwyn.
As Krujha walked the dirt path near the command tent where Alwyn was being held, he found the usual sight: a single guard sitting on a low wooden stool just outside the plain, unadorned tent. He paid Krujha no mind as he passed, instead focusing on the piece of wood he was whittling. He’d been working on it every time Krujha had gone by, but he still wasn’t entirely sure what it was meant to be.
When he’d walked several paces away, he ducked between two tents and circled back the way he’d come—through the cramped, pseudo-alleyways created between the rows of tents and various makeshift structures. He moved carefully but quickly, cautious not to disturb anything until he finally arrived at the back panel of Alwyn’s tent. He pushed it forward slowly, then slipped inside through the narrow opening it created, replacing the panel quickly.
Alwyn typically kept the tent dimly lit with a handful of his magical lights, since he had been given no candle to illuminate the tent. But now it was pitch dark, and for a moment Krujha thought maybe he wasn’t inside. Where else could he be, though?
Just before panic could well up in his chest, he heard the soft sound of the elf breathing from the bed—was Alwyn asleep? That had never happened before, and Krujha hadn’t come any later than he normally did. Was he sick? Or injured?
“Alwyn,” he whispered, kneeling beside the mattress. In the darkness, he could just make out the shape of the elf where he lay, curled up under the single knitted blanket he’d been given. He didn’t respond, so Krujha gingerly shook his shoulder. “Alwyn?”
The elf’s deep, rhythmic breathing cut off with a sharp intake of breath. Alwyn shot up into a sitting position, light sparking in his palm. His eyes were wide and frightened before they landed on Krujha—he blinked, disoriented for a moment, then sagged back in relief.
“It’s just you,” he breathed, shaking his head. “You startled me.”
“Are you alright?” Krujha asked, frowning. Now that there was light, he looked Alwyn over as much as he could, but he saw nothing amiss. There were no fresh wounds or bruises on his face or neck, no sign of bandages or blood under his clothes. “I wasn’t expecting you to be asleep.”
“The druid ran me ragged,” Alwyn sighed, shaking his head. “I came back to the tent right at suppertime, ate, and passed out. What time is it now?”
“About two hours before midnight,” Krujha said. Alwyn’s explanation assuaged his worry somewhat, but it still left him unsettled to see him so utterly exhausted.
The elf groaned, rubbing his eyes. Krujha had to stifle a small smile at the tired, bleary way Alwyn looked at him when he lowered his fists. His sleepy eyes and mussed hair were cute enough to push the last of Krujha’s worries away, even if only for a moment.
“What?” Alwyn asked, visibly stifling a smile.
“You’re just—cute,” Krujha confessed with a slight laugh, relishing how color rose in the elf’s cheeks. Alwyn glanced away, a mixture of annoyance and pleasure on his face.
“Hardly the word I’d use,” he mumbled. “Do you have anything of importance to tell me, or did you just come to admire me?”
Warmth stirred in Krujha’s body—but as much as he wanted toadmirethe little assassin, there was hardly time for it now. “I finally met with our contact.”
Alwyn visibly perked up at that, sitting up straighter. “Well?”
Krujha sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “It’s good to have an ally, but he really only confirmed what I already suspected. Zesh has been sending out more communications to his allied camps than usual lately. Brugo—our contact—suspects he’s planning something big that will happen sooner rather than later. We aren’t sure exactly what, but probably nothing that will make our jobs any easier.”
Alwyn’s expression had steadily become more dour as Krujha spoke, and now he sighed heavily. He looked down at his hands clasped in his lap and interlaced his fingers, as if to keep himself from balling them into fists or wringing them with nerves.
“So we need to act quickly,” he finally said.
“Before that, tell me what happened with you and the druid,” Krujha prompted. Alwyn glanced up at him, clearly surprised, then shrugged.
“I taught him some of what I know, as I said I would,” he replied.
