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“Would you recognize the Firebrand Brigade’s banners? I didn’t see them when they took Finnen.”
“I know their banners. They are red with a lizard spewing fire stitched in gold on them.”
“A lizard? You mean a dragon?”
Taj shrugs. “Looked like a silly lizard to me.”
Kiaran laughs, tugging on the stallion’s reins. The wild, open-hearted sound makes me grin.
“We need to get closer,” Taj says.
Kiaran swings himself back in the saddle—and the next moment, his stallion whinnies and starts galloping toward the town, him cursing and pulling on the reins in vain.
Again.
I sigh in frustration. Then I blink. “Wait… is the stallion smelling the Brigade? Is that why he’s acting so weird? Is it possible?”
“It’s possible,” Taj says. “Army horses are trained to return to the army if they go astray. Maybe he’s smelling the piles of horseshit produced by the other warhorses.”
“A war horse,” I whisper. “Why would the D’Alerys keep a warhorse?”
“Because they have ties with the army, like we guessed? Doesn’t matter.” Taj clucks his tongue and kicks in his heels, his horse jumping forward. “Let’s go!”
We canter after Kiaran, toward the fortified town, and I cross my fingers that we meet up with Finnen there, at last, and get him back.
This town is much bigger than the last one we stayed in, with tall towers on its bastions and a citadel at the top of the hill. As we approach, its fortifications rise over us like mountains, the stone wall surrounding the town core casting a long shadow over the ramshackle houses built outside, at the foot of the hill.
A road leads up to the gate, the line of people and carts slowly moving toward it, while another exits. People cast us curious looks, and when Taj canters up to the guard at the gate, Kiaran and I following him, there’s only a handful of complaints from the people waiting.
Confidently, Taj approaches the guards and leans down to ask them a question.
They shake their heads, and my heart sinks.
“Dammit,” Taj snarls, throwing me a dark look. “It’s not the right Brigade.”
“Another one?” Kiaran asks.
“Yeah. This is the Starburst Brigade.” He nods at the riders who are standing stoically in line. “As evidenced by their banners.”
From up close, their banners are black or dark blue with a star in the middle.
Oh no…
“Let’s stay in the town tonight,” Taj says. “We’re almost out of provisions. Might as well take advantage that we’re here and tomorrow our horses will be fresh and fast. We’ll catch up with the bastards.”
Kiaran shrugs.
I nod, my chest tight, but my belly is cramping pretty badly by now. Resting and eating a good dinner sounds heavenly. Will feeding two of my urgent needs help with the pain or make me feel it more acutely?
Only one way to find out.
“Back to the line!” one of the guards shouts at us and rolling my eyes, I turn my horse around and trot over to stand some way behind the Starburst Brigade.
I won’t cry.
We’ll find Finnen.
That’s a promise.
