AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He nodded just as Draven’s head shot up. “Absolutely not.”
I felt my traitorous heart skip a beat. He was? He wanted to?
Vesper ignored him. “My horse should be where I left it. She usually is.”
“Good. Go quickly. More will be on the way.”
Then Laverna marched past us, into the burning inn.
CHAPTER 24
We left the town asfast as our horses could gallop, Vesper in the lead.
After a few failed attempts at hoarsely shouting at him to leave, Draven lapsed into silence and took up a place at the rear with the piebald. I took it that meant Vesper was leading us in roughly the right direction.
Hours passed as we raced down the ancient stone road. I prayed to the Three that Haya would not stumble and break a leg in the dark.
At first my senses were on high alert as we followed the winding ancient highway. The sliver of a crescent moon peeked out from behind the thick, gnarled branches of the trees, casting a glimmer of light onto the path as we made our way back into the dense forest.
In time my mind began to wander as we rode through the night, the only sounds the occasional hoot of an owl and the rustle of leaves. Who had attacked us at the inn and why? How could they possibly have known we were coming?
I thought of Laverna. She had recognized Draven and known who he was. But they seemed to be friends. And hadn't she helped us?
She had known who Vesper was, and appeared to think it a good idea if he came with us. I hadn't been about to challenge her on that, for selfish reasons entirely my own. But why had she thought so? And how had Vesper been able to come to our aid so swiftly?
I thought of how he had leaped across the rooftops as I studied the lean shape of his back. He rode a steel gray mare with a dark mane, his bow slung over a worn saddlebag.
He was obviously much more than a simple lute player.
I glanced back over my shoulder at Draven. Shockingly, the man actually tried to smile reassuringly back at me. He was still pale, but he was riding his own horse. He was upright and alive. He had woken up, literally in the nick of time.
Briefly, I thought of my hand on his forehead, his skin hot beneath my touch, the room bursting into light, windows shattering, walls fragmenting... And then I forced the memory away. I didn't want to examine what had happened back at the inn too closely. Not right now.
My body felt weak and empty, like an urn of water that had been drained dry. Suddenly I could not wait to sleep.
We made camp a few hours later.
