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Especially not when those travelers were Ranorsh. What could have sent them across mountains and into a neighboring country? Thea had rubbed the scrap of red fabric daily, hoping it would provide answers. It still hadn't.
“Then we should see what has attracted them.” Gaius pointed to a narrow line that threaded through the grasses and scrub adorning the foothills. “Their trail is there. We will follow it as far as we can.”
So they did.
The trail wound on, seemingly forever, and it only grew wider as they followed it. Eventually, another trail intersected with it, and its width was doubled again. By the first evening, the three of them could ride abreast with room to spare, and ruts from wagon wheels had joined the countless marks from sturdy boots and animal hooves.
“Wagons bearing what, I wonder?” Rilion mused to himself when they stopped for rest. He sat facing the west, but there was little to see. The trail disappeared into the night, and Gaius forbade a fire.
“Too close,” he'd said, without explanation.
Thea dreaded what danger that meant and hoped spreading her bedroll right beside his would help stave off the worry when she slept, but it didn't. She woke often and rolled ceaselessly in her bedroll. Only when a strong, warm hand reached out to smooth back her hair and caress her face did she find respite from the uneasy dreams, and she woke tired the next morning.
They resumed travel at the break of dawn. Gaius scouted ahead on foot while Rilion led his horse. That he felt there was a need for scouting put Thea on edge. She couldn't tell if Rilion felt the same; the prince had a steady quality about him, much like what she'd seen of Gil during their travels, though he lacked the same measure of passion and energy. Or maybe his passion simply rested elsewhere. When he'd spoken of his studies, he'd had a spark in him, too. She dared not think herself the sort of person who might befriend a prince, but when everything was over, she hoped she would have the chance to know him better.
Their horses walked, letting Gaius outpace them easily, but they caught up with him near noon. From the moment he came into view, he walked toward them. How far ahead he'd gone, there was no telling.
“I've found your settlement,” he announced when they were close enough to hear him speak his normal volume. Given the natural strength of his voice, they paced forward a bit farther before the horses stopped of their own accord. Their reaction amused Thea. Even the horses found him commanding.
“All the way out here?” Rilion sounded only half surprised. He scanned the hills, but there was nothing to be seen, and the ground had grown rockier, making the trail harder to follow.
Gaius nodded. “I recommend we turn the horses loose and continue on foot.”
The prince snorted at the suggestion. “I am not turning the horses loose. These are good horses, and well trained. Do you have any idea how much a good Ranorsh steed costs?”
“A pittance compared to what's in your father's coffers, I'm sure.”
Thea patted her dusty mare's neck. “I like Molasses. I'd prefer not to leave her. Is there somewhere safe we could leave them, instead?”
“Tying them somewhere would practically guarantee they'd be stolen, or else eaten by predators found in the hills.” Gaius frowned to make his inconvenience clear, but he reached for the reins of his red gelding. They would keep the horses. “We will ride single file.”
He took the lead and Rilion took the rear. The placement made sense; Gaius knew where they were going and Rilion was a stronger fighter than she, but it felt like being sheltered and she wasn't sure she liked that. She was under no illusions about her skill, but she hoped to make herself useful somehow. As of yet, she'd provided nothing Rilion couldn't.
Well, almost nothing. She supposed he could, in theory, provide the kisses, but somehow she didn't think Gaius would appreciate them. The tiniest hint of a smirk curved her lips and she raised a hand to wipe it away, disguising the motion by pretending to pull a stray hair from the corner of her mouth.
The path curved around a hill ahead. Instead of cresting it, Gaius turned his horse toward a rocky stretch that sloped upward, higher into the mountains.
They rode for what felt like hours before Gaius dismounted and flashed a hand signal telling them to do the same. The silence was telling. Thea climbed down from the saddle with caution and gave Rilion a curious look, but the prince only shrugged. She twisted the reins in her hand and continued on.
At last, a peak came into view.
“Leave the horses,” Gaius whispered as he beckoned them forward. “They can't go far.”
Reluctantly, Thea let Molasses go and crept to the peak to see what required them to make themselves so small.
A half-built fortress bursting with workers nestled in the steep valley below.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
The soundsof construction rang against the mountains, faint from distance, but present. The echoes of hammers and pickaxes made Thea's eye twitch.
“How in the name of the One did they get all these people here?” Rilion asked in a murmur.
“What name is that?” Gaius crouched and inched as far forward as he dared, studying the lay of the buildings. Thea did, too, though she didn't know what she was looking at. The fortress looked strange compared to the surrounding mountains. Flat, square. Shapes common in Kentoria's architecture. Ranor's buildings had been taller and more angular. She didn't know what to expect from Angroth.
“I'm not saying it,” Rilion replied, irritated. “You know it's forbidden to speak it.”
“But writing it doesn't count, somehow?”
