Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,53

of the Under-Marshal. That could mean only one thing. She would have to warn Arland as soon as she could.

She was painfully aware of Seveline behind her. In Seveline’s place, Maud would push herself off the cliff. There was always that chance that she would say something to Arland to alert him.

The world turned sharp. Maud moved forward on her toes, straining to catch every noise, alert for any hint of movement.

The bride was almost to the tree.

Maud hadn’t seen Seveline lunge, she couldn’t have, but she felt it. Her ears caught the faint scrape of a foot on stone, her eyes glimpsed a hint of movement on the very edge of her vision, and her instincts, honed by the wasteland, jerked her out of the way. She pressed her back against the cliff. Seveline stumbled past her and Maud caught the vampire woman’s arm.

Shock slapped Seveline’s face. One push, and Seveline would tumble to her death.

Maud opened her eyes as wide as she could. “My goodness! You have to be careful here, my lady. See how the edge has crumbled? That’s why I walk by the wall.”

Seveline blinked.

“Seveline!” Onda hissed. “You’re embarrassing us.”

Maud released Seveline’s arm. The vampire woman frowned.

Maud resumed her walking. She might have given away too much, but there was no way around it. She was safe now. Stumbling once and knocking her off the path might be an accident. Stumbling twice would be seen as a deliberate attempt on Maud’s life. Even Seveline with her poor impulse control understood that.

Still, Maud’s best defense, at least for now, was to be seen as a non-threat.

She deliberately stumbled, catching herself on the cliffside, and kept walking. There. Clumsy human almost fell. No need for alarm. Everything is as it appears to be.

Ahead the bride reached the bridge of the vala tree and solemnly walked along its curved length to the enormous trunk.

The women lined up on the ledge before the bridge, where the path widened to a luxurious ten feet, and began to chant the words to an old poem in low voices. Maud knew them by heart. Her memory superimposed an image of another time and place on the present. Another vala tree, a lantern in her own hand, and her voice soft and earnest, as she recited, and back then, believed every word:

Night has fallen, sky has opened,

Ancient stars have no mercy,

In the Void and cold darkness,

Find my light and feel my hope.

You will never stand alone,

You will never be forgotten,

Time will never make me falter,

Find my light and feel my hope.

I will wait for you forever,

You won’t lose your way, beloved,

Find my light and feel my hope,

And my love will guide you home.

Sometimes even the strongest love wasn’t enough.

The bride raised her lantern and hung it on a tree branch. The lantern swayed gently. The bride stood to the side, her hand on the tree’s dark bark. One by one the women moved forward to add their own lanterns to the branches, then walked back off the bridge to the ledge.

The sound of a flyer tore through the serenity of the gorge. A slick fighter, all gleaming metal, narrow like a dagger, plummeted from the sky at a dead fall. At the last moment the pilot pulled up. The fighter shot through the gorge at breakneck speed, threading through the maze of arches like a needle, buzzing so close by, the branches of the vala tree shivered. The bride’s robe fluttered from the wind. Maud gasped.

Kavaline shook her staff at the retreating craft. “Tellis, you idiot!”

The fighter streaked toward the setting sun.

Seveline leaned back and laughed.

“I changed my mind!” Kavaline growled. “I’m not marrying him!”

“Was that the groom?” Maud asked.

“Yes,” Onda said, cracking a smile.

“That was beyond reckless,” Maud muttered.

“There was no danger,” Seveline waved her hand. “Tellis is an exceptional pilot.”

“He is,” Onda confirmed. “He has over three thousand hours in a small attack craft.”

Seveline chuckled. “We need to get a move on. If he comes back for a second pass, Kavaline might explode. Your turn, Lady Maud.”

Maud stepped onto the bridge and took her lantern to the tree.

10

When the procession descended the trail, Maud saw two figures waiting for her on the edge of the bridge leading to the upper levels of the castle. Both were blond. The first, huge and made even larger by his armor, leaned against the stone rail that shielded the patio from the drop below. The second, tiny, sat on the said stone rail with her legs