little ways away from home.” Inadar didn’t mention that she was a lot farther away home and wishing she was there more every day.
“I’ve been farther.” Cero’s non-committal answers had nearly killed Inadar’s attempt at conversation.
“Oh… What did he do to make you come along?” Inadar nodded towards the man leading the column.
“Nothing really. He is my father.” Inadar nearly tripped and lost her balance.
“I'm sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I'm sure he is a wonderful person when you get to know him.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. What do you want to know?” Inadar responded, regretting her attempt at being friendly.
“Who is he? I mean, everyone is afraid of him. Except for Emeck and Aleest.”
“You don’t know?” Inadar found Cero’s naivety to be shocking. After all, he had just claimed the man as his father.
“When he was in Yrany, he pretended to be a drunk and no one paid him any attention. Now that I think about it, it does make a little more sense, but now people do whatever he says now.”
“He is the Asgare. A legendary assassin. I heard stories about him most of my life, but then he disappeared about fifteen years ago. Everyone thought he was dead. It seems that he was actually hiding out as a drunk the whole time.” Torroth explained over his shoulder.
“So my father is an assassin that disappeared the same time that I was born. That explains some, but I think that he should explain the rest. Excuse me.” Torroth stepped aside as Cero put on a burst of speed and walked rapidly to the front of the line.
“I need to talk to you.” Cero pulled up short just behind Urake.
“I was wondering when you would get around to it.” Urake stepped to the edge of the path so Cero could walk next to him.
“Last time I saw you, you were leading those soldiers after me. Why?”
“Several reason. The first being that I didn’t want them to catch you. Another being that they were going to get a tracker from the village if I didn’t.”
“That didn’t turn out well.” Urake paused as he looked quizzically at Cero.
“I made sure that you were able to stay ahead of them.”
“How did you do that? I was way ahead of you.”
“There were two more at the house waiting for you when we got back. How did you manage to avoid them?” Urake avoided explaining how he had ensured that the men didn’t follow.
“They weren’t there when I got back to the house. I grabbed the stuff I needed, then I heard them with the black carriage and got out before they showed up. How did you get away?” Urake figured that Cero would learn sooner than later and also that it was best from his own lips. He was also still having trouble thinking of Skeln as Cero.
“I killed them. They were a threat to you.” Cero looked horrified for a moment as he pondered Urake’s comment. Acceptance sank in a minute later.
“So it’s true… Why didn’t you come after me?” Urake grimaced at Cero’s question.
“You made it very had to do so. I nearly lost the trail a dozen different times. By the way, what did you do to your trail in the dry creek bed in the Black Forest?”
“That time I backtracked in my footsteps, then climbed up on an overhanging tree. How did you get past the creek?” Urake chuckled as he remembered the place where the trail had entered the water and come out three different places. Each of the resulting trails had returned to the water eventually.
“That took a while to get past. It was a genius idea really.”
“How far did you follow me? I think I saw you in the Draeld with Emeck, but that could have been a dream. I did remember seeing Emeck though. It wasn’t until I saw him here that I recognized him from the dream”
“I actually met Emeck in the Black Forest about the time that I lost your trail. It was about the time that you were in Warton. We were able to follow you all the way to the south of the Draeld. We lost your train when we ran into the army.”
“You ran into them too? How did you know that I was in Warton?”
“Emeck was able to see you. He used a tailor that apparently sold you some cloths.”
“What do you mean used? That tailor was weird. He just kind of froze and dropped a coin. I