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Both Cal and Kipp groaned at her determined expression.
‘Thea,’ Kipp implored. ‘Give us one night out of this gods-forsaken cold. One night with a warm bed and a meal that wasn’t made by Callahan the Flavourless.’
‘How aboutyoulearn to cook,’ Cal muttered.
‘Cooking? Is that what you call it —’
But Kipp fell silent as the door to one of the huts opened and a small, frail woman cloaked in furs emerged.
She approached them with a look of reverence. ‘Guardians of Thezmarr, how can we repay you?’ she asked, her voice gravelly, her eyes bright.
‘We were doing our duty,’ Thea replied. ‘There is no payment required.’
‘We wish to show our thanks,’ the woman insisted. ‘Were it not for you, we might have faced the same cursed fate as those men.’ She jutted her chin towards the bodies and black blood staining the snow. ‘Might I offer rooms —’
‘We’re not staying. Though if you’re willing, we’ll take some rations for the road.’ Thea sighed at the crestfallen look on Kipp’s face. ‘And some ale, if you have any to spare,’ she added.
‘Of course, of course,’ the woman gushed. ‘Anything for the Shadow of Death and her right-hand men.’
Kipp’s face lit up at that small kindness, but Thea suppressed a flinch.
The Shadow of Deathwas a name that had been thrust upon her as she walked in the footsteps of her former mentor,the Hand of Death. There had been an all-too-brief pocket of time where she’d accepted it with pride, but now? Now she loathed it, loathed that despite all she had achieved on her own, she would always be connected to him.
The Great Rite had not called to her yet, but according to the common folk, her reputation preceded her. It didn’t sit right with her. Until she captured Wilder Hawthorne and brought him to justice, until she passed the Great Rite, she didn’t agree with such a title. It followed her around the midrealms nevertheless. But alongside the reverence came the scrutiny – for whyhadn’tthe Shadow of Death captured the traitor? It had been a year since his betrayal in the woodlands of Notos, a year of hunting him down to no avail. Thea had heard the whispers herself.
She addressed the woman again. ‘We’re looking for someone. A warrior on a black Tverrian stallion. We tracked him to your gates.’
The woman tugged her furs around her against the chill as she nodded. ‘Aye, a man like that came through just yesterday.’
Thea’s heart rate spiked. ‘Did he stop? Did he speak to anyone?’
‘No. And we kept well enough away. As you can see, our village hasn’t had much luck. We leave strangers alone and hope they’re not cursed.’
Flexing her grip around her weapons, Thea fought to keep her voice calm. ‘Which way did he go?’
The woman pointed through the ramshackle buildings layered with snow, to a forest that bordered the outskirts. ‘He rode straight down this path here and into the woods. We’veseen no sign of him since. But those cursed men came soon after…’
Thea nodded, already itching to get back on her horse and run Hawthorne down. She was closer than ever to the treasonous bastard now, and she would not let him slip through her fingers, not this time. Taking a steadying breath, she wiped her blades on the tunics of the dead, sheathing them at her sides.
‘You should burn them,’ she told the woman, motioning to the corpses.
The villager bowed her head. ‘We will. We will light the pyre in your honour and pray to the Furies that the Moonfire Eclipse brings peace to the midrealms.’
‘Much obliged, ma’am,’ Cal cut in, clearly sensing Thea’s patience wearing thin.
Thea shook her head as the woman went to retrieve their rations. ‘That damn eclipse…’ she muttered.
The entire midrealms was in a frenzy about the upcoming celestial event, and the trio was yet to meet someone who didn’t hold out hope that it would be their salvation against the dark forces lapping at their shores. According to Kipp, the Moonfire Eclipse only happened every century and symbolised a great shift in the magic of their world, wherein light triumphed over darkness. Ever since the battle of Notos, the rulers of the midrealms had bolstered the importance of the event and the people had rallied to their cause. In just a few short weeks, the kings and queens of the remaining kingdoms and their nobles were due to arrive at Vios, the capital of Aveum, to celebrate the occasion in the face of the impending darkness.
Thea shifted on her feet, feeling restless.
‘We’re close,’ Cal reassured her. ‘Right on his tail.’
‘Exactly,’ Thea murmured. ‘I don’t want to lose the ground we’ve gained. He’s somewhere out there, laughing at us.’
Kipp shrugged. ‘He never really struck me as the laughing type.’
‘He didn’t strike me as the traitorous type, but here we are,’ Thea said bitterly.
