AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The dream shifted suddenly, throwing me into a chaotic jumble of upsetting images: a flash of blue fabric. A hand on a knife. And Kellan’s visage, contorted in pain as Toris went to strike.
I came out of the dream with a choked gasp, clamping my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming. I saw the Harbinger for less than a moment, but the skin of my arm was marked a chill blue from her hand.
Scrambling from my bedroll, I grabbed a leather satchel and began stuffing it with whatever I could get my hands on.
Kellan was brooding by the fire with his back turned away from me, listlessly poking it with a long stick. I scuttled over to kneel at his side. “Kellan.” His name was sticky on my tongue. I tried again, shaking him. “Kellan!”
He finally turned toward me. His sullenness was startled away by my distress.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his hurt and anger ousted by the keen sense of urgency he’d honed in his five years as my guard.
“We have to go. Just us and Conrad. Now. It’s . . . it’s Toris. He’s doing magic. Blood magic. In the woods, he . . .” I trailed off, suddenly aware of how ridiculous it sounded accusing a devout Tribunal magistrate of witchcraft. But I knew the Harbinger had not misled me. I knew I’d seen true. How could I make him believe me, especially now?
I took him by his shoulders. “I know how it sounds, but listen to me. I don’t care if you believe anything I’ve told you up to this point, but you must believe me now. We have to leave, immediately. Please, Kellan. I’m begging you. Trust me.”
He searched my face and then said, “All right, Aurelia. I trust you.”
We seized what we could, and Kellan secured the satchel to Falada’s saddle. I mounted my horse as Kellan grabbed the still-sleeping Conrad and held him tight as he swept onto Falada’s back.
Lisette stirred when she heard Conrad’s frightened crying. “What’s going on? Aurelia? What are you doing? Aurelia! Let him go!”
We broke for the forest with Lisette’s shouts echoing behind us. “Father! Father! They’ve got the prince! They’re getting away!”
We bolted past Toris as he was running toward the campsite. A lantern swung from a chain in his hand, painting his face into an angry mask of light and shadow, not unlike his face in my dream. Over my shoulder, I watched him barrel toward the other horses and mount the first one he came to. Lisette had to jump out of the way or be run over.
We urged our horses forward as the trail turned into sharp switchbacks, climbing higher and higher into the trees. Toris was on our heels, close enough that I could hear the sound of his taunting whistle to the rhythm of the horse’s hooves. Don’t go, my child, to the Ebonwilde, for there a witch resides . . . But our horses were sure and strong; we were gaining ground. I allowed myself some hope that we would make it out of this.
The hope was short-lived.
The path made a sharp turn to the right and ran along the sheer edge of a gorge, the powerful River Sentis rushing below. It was a treacherous road, rutted and narrow, with parts that had long ago given way to weather and time and collapsed into the river, leaving long, jagged scars along the remaining edge. On the other side of the road, the forest loomed. Somewhere within its incomprehensible darkness, a wolf howled. My horse jumped and skittishly stamped her feet at the sound. When it came again, she reared up with a frightened scream, hooves slashing wildly against the air.
I couldn’t hold on, and I tumbled from my saddle as she surged forward and bolted into the cover of the trees.
I rolled to my knees, dirt and tears stinging my eyes, every bone aching. Ahead on the trail, Kellan pulled Falada around.
“Go!” I shouted. “Don’t wait! Go!” If the Harbinger’s vision was correct, Kellan needed to get as far away from Toris as possible. But to my dismay, he turned Falada around. They were riding back.
Toris was now upon me. He swept down from his horse with balletic grace and advanced on me, twirling his knife with a grin. I put my hands up. Kellan reined Falada in.
“Let me go!” Conrad shouted, twisting from Kellan’s grasp.
“Enough of this,” Toris said. “Let the boy down, Lieutenant. Now.”
Jaw tight, Kellan helped Conrad down first, then dismounted.
“Be careful, Magistrate,” Kellan warned. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
Another rider emerged from the trees. Lisette’s hair had come unpinned and was flying around her face in a mad cloud. She climbed down from her horse. “Let Conrad go,” she said in a careful, cajoling manner. “You don’t need to hurt him, Aurelia.”
“What? I’m not—?”
With a frightened sob, my brother shook off Kellan’s grasp and hurtled into her arms. “He was right,” he said. “They tried to take me. Just like Toris said.”
“I didn’t want to believe it either,” she murmured. “But I’ve got you now.”
“No, Conrad!” I cried. “I would never hurt you. You have to know that! I would never—?”
“Lies.” Toris was circling me now. “We know all about your treason. Your alliance with Simon Silvis and the plot to kill the heirs of two kingdoms: your brother. Your betrothed. Thank goodness we came along with you, or you might actually have gotten away with it.”
