corners of her eyes. She wasn’t talking with Ophain or Aldrik, just an average woman with no experience in subtlety. “I wanted to escape everything for a bit,” Vhalla explained further. “I needed to be no one.”
“So then, did you really kill those Western Lords there?” Tim ventured.
“I did.” Tim’s eyes were wide at Vhalla’s response. “They would’ve killed me, or worse, if I hadn’t fought them. They weren’t just lords; they were Knights of Jadar trying to use my powers to start a new war. More of the same ilk that died at the windmill.”
“Oh, that’s different then.” The woman easily shrugged off the idea of Vhalla committing murder in self-defense.
Vhalla appraised her traveling companion. Tim was soft-looking and girlish, but she had been in war as well. She had killed and carried invisible scars just as ugly as all soldiers did. Yet, despite that fact, Vhalla withheld the information that she’d killed Tim’s direct superior, Major Schnurr.
“Why are you really going back to the capital?” Vhalla asked her own unsaid question.
Tim sucked on her teeth in thought. “I want to train with the archers in the guard. They said there’d be a position for me.”
“They told you that after the war was over,” Vhalla pointed out. “You chose to go back to Mosant instead.”
“Oh, fine,” Tim laughed. “I want to travel with you.”
“That may not be the best idea,” Vhalla remarked dryly, watching the trail curve ahead of them.
“Maybe not,” Vhalla’s companion agreed. “But I feel like my fate is linked with yours.” The statement stilled Vhalla. “For a time, I was you. I saw and heard things I’d never seen or heard before. I was there to watch the rise of the Windwalker. Then I found you again. This is your story, but I want to see how it ends.”
It would likely end with a violent death. Vhalla spared Tim any further warning and kept the thought to herself.
“Plus,” Tim added, “you’re a Lady of the Court now, right? If you build out your household, maybe you’ll find a place for my set of hands.” Tim laughed brightly.
Vhalla cracked a small smile.
The woman’s company proved to be more welcome than Vhalla ever expected. Tim already knew much about Vhalla, so when they broke for camp, Vhalla spent the majority of the time learning about Tim. The young woman was transparent, and it was a welcome reprieve for Vhalla’s mind. It wasn’t necessary to exhaust herself quizzing or dancing with words to find the truth.
The two women spent the night huddled together under a single blanket for warmth, and as time went on, Vhalla allowed the young woman to snuggle closer and closer. Sometimes, she’d lie awake, listening to Tim breathe in harmony with the sounds of the forest at night. Tim was warm, but not nearly as warm as Aldrik.
At a leisurely pace, it only took three days to reach the capital. Vhalla hoped she’d missed all the festivities of the Festival of the Sun. They paused at the intersection of the Great Imperial Way and the Capital Road. High above them, the palace glittered despite the perpetually graying sky as winter drew nearer.
“You’re sure about this?” Tim asked once more.
Vhalla adjusted her cloak, making sure it was splayed just so over the horse’s haunches. “Very.”
As they ascended the mountain, it didn’t take long for Vhalla to be noticed. Citizens stared in slack-jawed awe at the woman wearing the black cloak. Vhalla held her head high, prepared for their judgment.
After the first series of houses, people began running alongside and ahead of her. More citizens lined the street, but none stopped her.
Word spread far enough ahead that a man had time to prepare to address her. “Is it true?” he called from a second-floor window of a tavern. Vhalla pulled on the reins, slowing her mount, prompting him to continue. “Are you her? Are you the Windwalker?”
“I am,” Vhalla announced.
Murmurs rippled through the people lining the road. Vhalla nudged her horse, pushing it forward again. They didn’t spout words of hate. Instead, Vhalla’s ears picked up words like hero and champion.
How fickle people were, she smirked to herself. Sorcerers were scary; she still had no doubt that such was the reigning perception in the South. There was too much history surrounding the Crystal Caverns that she was beginning to understand better for that hate to root into. But she had become something more than a sorcerer. She’d become the Windwalker. Which was something different than all who