village. You did well, Sire.”
Caleb glanced at him. “Jonas, don’t call me that.”
Jonas placed both hands on Caleb’s shoulders. He turned him away from Willow and looked him straight in the eyes.
“You must stop denying who you are,” he said sternly. “Someday soon the land will be yours as it was your father’s. You were born a prince, Caleb. Baltrasard did not change that when he killed your father. All he did was make you a king. You are the rightful heir to the throne. Soon it will be yours again and you can right all the wrongs that have been done.”
“And until then, Jonas, more people die every day.” Caleb sighed and squinted in the sun. “What good is being king if all the people of Predaria are starving?”
Jonas smiled beneath his thick black mustache and patted Caleb’s shoulders. “You will save them, my lord. And I will be at your side.”
“Yes.” Caleb threw his arm around his friend’s neck and finally grinned. “I know you will.” He turned once more to gaze on his most hated enemy’s daughter. “Let’s go get some soil.”
It took the men nearly two hours to pack everything they had traded for into the cart.
Caleb was securing a sack of dried beans to Pethar’s horse when he saw Willow again. Her group was just heading out after trading for more fruit for the journey back to Beldar.
She sat alone on a slow gelding, which was best for her since she didn’t know how to ride, and as she passed him, their eyes met in a silent farewell. Caleb turned to watch her trot slowly out of Theshwar and lifted his hand to her when she turned, straining to see him one last time before they left the city.
“We’re ready, Caleb,” Jonas called to him and he nodded.
He was going home. Better to forget her now than to think of how she would hate him when he finally brought justice to her father.
But forgetting her wouldn’t be easy. He prayed to God for help.
Chapter 10
Willow was leaving Theshwar and would soon be on her way to beautiful Beldar. Why, songs were even written about Beldar’s splendor. No scorching hot sun. No Catchers roaming the plains…or Warriors seeking revenge. Soon she would see her father again.
Unintentionally, her thoughts turned to all the things Caleb had told her about the king. Her eyes scanned the dry plains all around her and she shuddered to think that her own father could do all the things of which he was accused. She didn’t remember the water that flowed here, or the lush green grass dotted with lavender blossoms, or the trees thick with fruit.
Baltrasard Odarre was a harsh, quiet man. He never told her how he came to occupy Castle Silvergard, and she had never asked.
She thought of Caleb’s chiseled face and closed her eyes. She had to stop. He’d broken into her home and stolen everything she owned and then dragged her with him all the way to Theshwar.
But he was kind and gentle and he worshipped a god who didn’t ask his followers to die for h im, but died for his followers. She snapped her tongue in disgust with herself. He had taken all her jewelry and traded it away. But she thought pensively, biting her lip, he did it to feed others and he had given most of his water to the desert people. He hadn’t done it because there was a dagger to his throat. Willow was sure he would have given it if they had simply asked him. He paid for a bath for her with his own coin and had given her his treasured Bible and had taken her to church.
Her horse reared and she tightened her grip on the reins, trying desperately to hold on, but the animal whinnied and pulled to the right, suddenly afraid. She tugged at the reins and was almost thrown from the saddle. And then she smelled it. It was faint at first, the kind of elusive scent that disappears when you concentrate on it too hard. She sniffed the air, and her eyes opened wide. It was smoke. The others had smelled it as well and were trying to control their frightened horses. She searched the plains and at first, she saw nothing but the barren wasteland. But then, like an army of thousands rising over the horizon, she saw the blistering flames as high as the heavens, blackening the sun with thick, suffocating smoke.
It