Kaelan dropped down beside her and rummaged through the sack of food, pulling out a chunk of bread and some smoked meat, which he divided between them.
She chuckled. “I will never eat that much.”
“We have a journey ahead of us. Eat to stay strong.”
It would take a journey there and back to eat so much. Would she ever get home to Willowmere? Or would she find her journey ending elsewhere?
“You wanted to tell me something,” Kaelan reminded her.
Bria nodded slowly, though unease stirred again at the memory. “I had another vision.”
Kaelan’s expression hardened instantly with concern. “When?”
“This morning when Winnie and Tibby bid me goodbye. I hugged Tibby—” She shook her head slightly. “The vision struck hard and without warning.”
Kaelan shifted closer to her, resting his shoulder against hers and his hand on her thigh. “Did it harm you in any way?”
The question caught her by surprise. He didn’t ask her what she saw or why she had not told him sooner. His immediate concern was for her alone.
The strength of his love continued to astonish her no matter how many times she felt it. She had never imagined one person could care so deeply for another, and yet he proved it true.
“Nay,” she answered softly. “It only frightened me.”
His gaze lingered on her a moment longer as though assuring himself she truly was unharmed before he finally asked, “What did you see?”
Bria explained about the two men arguing fiercely somewhere deep within the forest. One demanded answers while the other grew increasingly anxious, his hand drifting repeatedly toward his weapon as though he expected violence to erupt between them at any moment.
“The one man warned the other that if he failed again, there would be consequences,” Bria said quietly. “And they spoke of finding her.” She hesitated briefly. “The healer who can snatch the dying away from death. But what troubles me more is that the one mentioned that he grows anxious to strike.”
“Tharne Ruler of Drogath,” Kaelan said with distaste.
“I believe so. You know him?”
“Only by reputation.”
Something dark settled briefly in his expression before fading once more.
“Drogath has long desired greater power, power that is greater than Scotara’s,” he continued. “And men willing to threaten and kill in search of it are common enough there. I heard rumors upon my arrival here. The king searches for a spy Tharne sent here, though I would imagine it was more than one. No doubt the king has spies in Drogath.”
Bria felt unease tighten inside her. “But why go after the healer?”
“To resurrect their dead from the battlefield and have a never-ending army of warriors.”
Bria stared at him, shaking her head. “That makes no sense. Such a healer would need tremendous power to accomplish such a—” Her breath caught as if it had been stolen from her.
“What’s wrong, Bria?” Kaelan asked, worried by how she paled so fast.
“Such power can only come from one place.” She lowered her voice. “Dark magic.”
That said enough to turn both silent.
Though Kaelan called it a path, Bria saw little sign of one as they continued walking. The deeper they traveled into the forest, the more the land appeared untouched by regular passage. Moss covered fallen trees thick as blankets, roots twisted across the ground like coiled serpents, and towering ancient trees rose so high overhead that their upper branches vanished into shadows.
The farther they traveled, the more oppressive the forest became. The air itself seemed heavier somehow beneath the dense canopy overhead. Light struggled to reach the ground, leaving much of the forest cloaked in cool shadows despitethe daylight hour. And now and again strange noises echoed distantly through the trees that Bria could neither name nor place.
Unease crawled steadily higher inside her.
Kaelan must have sensed it because he glanced toward her and said, “Kilham warned me about this part of the forest.”
