Page 283 of Salt Between the Wolves

A horn sounded somewhere below, short and sharp, not an alarm but a signal.

Kael turned first, and Soren followed.

A rider was approaching from the southern road, moving fast, very fast, with snow spraying from beneath the horse's hooves. The man barely waited for the animal to stop before dismounting, then crossed the camp at a near run as several soldiers stepped aside to let him pass. By the time he reached them, he was breathing hard.

Soren recognized him immediately as one of the southern patrols.

The rider bowed briefly. "My lord."

"What is it?"

The man glanced once toward the pass before answering. "We spotted riders approaching from the south."

Kael frowned. "How many?"

"Fifteen, maybe twenty."

Too few for an army and too many for merchants, and Soren felt something tighten instinctively.

"Whose banner?"

The rider hesitated just long enough to matter. "We couldn't see one."

Silence followed as snow drifted between them. Kael exchanged a brief look with Soren, and neither spoke.

The rider swallowed. "They're traveling hard."

"How far?"

"Half a day."

That was close, much closer than Soren liked, and for the first time that morning the pass disappeared entirely from his thoughts.

"Send scouts."

"They've already gone."

Good.

The rider waited, and Soren dismissed him with a nod. The man left immediately.

For several moments neither Soren nor Kael spoke. Below them, the camp continued its ordinary rhythm with soldiers, horses, smoke, and snow, the same as every day before, yet somehow different, as if the balance that had held for nine days had shifted by a fraction, not enough to see but enough to feel.

Kael looked toward the southern road. "What do you think?"

Soren's gaze followed his as a dozen possibilities came to mind, none of them feeling right.

"I think," he said quietly, "we'll know by tomorrow."

The scouts returned shortly after sunrise, and Soren was already awake, having slept very little. The report reached him while the camp was breaking its fast.

Kael arrived carrying two cups of hot broth and handed one over without speaking. Soren accepted it.

"Well?"

Kael sat opposite him. "The riders aren't merchants."

"That narrows the possibilities considerably."