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We’re too far away to make out the words, but I can see the human’s hat bob and weave as he or she frantically denies whatever Malron is saying. Malron gestures to the soldier. There’s another flash of illusion magic. I shrink back, pulling myself even closer to the warmth of Phaedron’s body. Then something forms in the air between Malron and the human, and my throat goes dry.
It’s me. Malron has made an illusion of my body, down to the exact cloak I’m wearing right now and the heavy bag draped over my shoulder. I didn’t think he’d noticed what cloak I was wearing.
Stars above, I’d underestimated him. And that thought makes me feel like the trees themselves are going to bend backward at Malron’s command, revealing our hiding spot. There’s another little flash of magic, and a second illusion shimmers into the empty air. It’s Phaedron, although this illusion isn’t so lovingly rendered. This Phaedron is shorter and stouter, more like a palace servant and less like the man at my back. I let out a trembling, silent breath as my heart decides to go on beating.
Malron makes the human call to the others in the big building, and then he parades his illusions in front of the confused, disheveled group that slowly assembles in the dirt courtyard. They’re mostly humans, as far as I can tell, although there might be at least one tall dwarf in the mix; it’s hard to tell at a distance. There are no other elves, of course, and no one bends the air around them like a dragon in its human guise. Not that a dragon would stoop to staying in such paltry accommodations.
I shift against the ground as Malron barks something at the humans. The soldiers’ horses snort and paw as the sun slowly climbs higher in the sky. By the time Malron dissolves his illusions and the soldiers surround him again, the air in the canyon is already hot.
I expect Malron to turn back to the Kingdom of the Summer, but he leads his men up the road instead, into the Dragon Pass. Toward the Silver City.
Damn it. I bite my lip and try to stifle a sigh.
He’s going to show that illusion to every living being along the Dragon Pass. Every single human, dwarf, elf, and dragon between here and the Silver City will be looking for a woman like me and a man wearing a white servant’s uniform. I shift onto my elbow, appraising the dust smeared across the chest of Phaedron’s white shirt, and then raise my eyes to the cliffs surrounding us.
There are other roads to the Silver City. I know because I’ve spent hours studying the maps in the palace, tracing the thin black lines of roads as they wind through the dark green forests and bare red cliffs, imagining the day when I’d leave the palace, my freedom either bought or stolen, and follow those paths on my feet.
I didn’t exactly imagine the burning and throbbing in my feet, or that I’d be dragging along someone from the Kingdom of the Fall, those ancient enemies who are supposed to be locked away forever. My hand drops to my stomach, to the skin that’s just beginning to feel taut. I never imagined this either. All those many times I envisioned my escape from the Kingdom of the Summer, I never thought I’d have company.
“So much for buying supplies,” Phaedron whispers.
As if in response, my empty stomach groans. I flinch and wrap my arms around my waist, as if I could hide the sound. Phaedron raises an eyebrow.
“I could steal a chicken,” he says.
I shake my head as the tangled backroads and abandoned mines marked on the palace maps spool through my mind.
“No,” I reply. “We’re stealing a horse.”
Chapter10
Phaedron
STEALING HORSES
“Great,” I huff under my breath.
Alindra glares at me. I try to smile in response. She’s assured me at least a thousand times that she knows exactly what she’s doing. Still, any one of the two dozen animals on the other side of this flimsy little fence look like they could kill me. Easily.
Horses. Voids, I’m glad horses didn’t make it into the Lands Below. One of the creatures before us flares its nostrils and stomps the hard ground as if he’s echoing my sentiments.
“Ready?” Alindra whispers.
I nod, as if I’d ever be ready for this. I wasn’t even okay with the idea of stealing a chicken, to be honest. I was going to leave a coin in the chicken coop as payment.
But this? This seems reckless, a far sight worse than taking one lousy chicken.
My stomach pinches, reminding me yet again of how long it’s been since I’ve had anything resembling an actual meal. Alindra snuck into what she called a stable earlier today, as we waited for the sun to finally begin its painfully slow descent, and she returned with a bag full of dried apple slices and raw oats. I’d shoved a few handfuls of both into my mouth before she smacked my hand and told me those were for the horse.
Right. The horse we’re going to steal. I don’t like any part of that sentence, but what choice do I have? I don’t even know where we are right now, much less how to get back to the Lands Below, or how to get from the Lands Below to the voids-damned dragon who’s holding Rowan as his prisoner. Like it or not, Alindra is the one with the plan. I’m just the one with the baggage.
Alindra gives me a quick nod, and then she jumps over the low, rough fence. Several of the horses raise their massive heads as she moves toward them; their eyes flash with dark malevolence. I dig my fingers into the splintered wooden fence to keep from backing away.
Alindra pointed out the horse she wanted earlier, a big brown one. The voids only know why she chose that particular horse, but I keep my eyes on it as Alindra winds through the herd of massive, potentially murderous beasts. Some of them make strangely ominous nickering noises as she passes. By the time she reaches the brown one, I realize I have my hand on the hilt of my sword.
The light in the valley is fading, but I see the flash of white as Alindra puts a stolen rope contraption around the brown horse’s head. Then she starts walking back toward me with the very large horse at her side. My chest feels tight. I look down at the fence before me.
It’s a gate, Alindra said as she slid the lower piece of wood back along the fence. Just slide the upper piece of wood out to open the gate, let us through, and slide the wood back into place. Otherwise, the whole herd might follow us.
