come up another time.
Rain beat upon them and they fell into silence as they pushed their mounts as fast as they dared through the tangle of brush and trees. The heat from the king’s blood seeped into Khirro’s shoulder, warming his arm to the elbow. He flexed his fingers; the movement caused considerable pain.
As they rode, his eyes on Athryn’s black-cloaked back, he wondered about the man following them, but it distracted him only briefly. After weeks of being chased, he felt little concern. He’d worry if he caught them. Instead, his thoughts turned back to Ghaul. He believed the arrow hadn’t been meant for him—if Ghaul wanted to kill him, he’d had many opportunities. But it bothered him the arrow might have been meant for Shyn. The border guard came back with horses and supplies, and quickly, so he deserved their thanks and trust, not an arrow to the chest. Khirro sighed. Both men had shown dedication to this cursed journey. He couldn’t imagine reaching the goal without either of them, so he decided to dismiss it as an accident, as Ghaul claimed. If anyone knew accidents happened, Khirro did. The decision did little to ease his unrest.
Nearly three hours passed, time spent mostly in silence except for the frequent checks from both Athryn and Elyea to see how Khirro fared, when Shyn reined his horse to a halt at the crest of a hill. The others halted their steeds beside him.
“What is it?” Khirro asked.
The land fell away in a gentle, brush covered slope which gave way to grassland in the distance, the three days of rain slowly coaxing green back to the landscape. Farms dotted the valley stretched before them; a town sat next to a river near the center. To the south, rolling hills became mountains, peaks hidden in the billowing gray clouds.
“To the south west, the valley ends and the sea begins,” Shyn said pointing to the right of the mountains. “That’s where we find Sheldive. There we can hire a boat to cross the Small Sea and take us to Lakesh.”
The name of the haunted land sent a chill down Khirro’s spine. When the Shaman cursed him, he felt fear and despair, but the passage of time had washed much of it away. Drawing nearer the end of their travel brought it back again.
“We’ll have to skirt the valley and keep to the trees,” Ghaul said, directing his comment to no one in particular. “We won’t be welcomed here.”
“It would be best to avoid confrontation,” Athryn agreed. “Perhaps we could lose our pursuers, too.”
“Very well.” Shyn reined his horse around. “Are you well enough to continue, Khirro?”
“I grow stronger with each passing moment,” Khirro said more on faith than feeling. The intense pain in his arm continued but the vial healed him before, he had no reason to think it wouldn’t this time.
“Then we ride.” Shyn put heels to his mount, guiding it back into the forest. “But ride with care.”
Athryn followed, Maes bouncing placidly in the saddle before him. Elyea urged her horse beside Khirro’s as he started out.
“Are you sure you’re well enough to continue?”
Khirro nodded, sighing. Elyea smiled.
“You’re a brave man, Khirro. Let me help.”
She leaned over and took the vial from his hand, a gasp of surprise coming from her as she touched its warm surface. He tensed a little as she held it up to peer at the blood.
“Does this truly help?”
“It healed my leg the first time I took an arrow.”
He laughed a little, wondering how many farmers could say they had twice been skewered by arrows. Elyea lifted his bandage, blood and rain tinting it the washed out pink of a winter sunrise. Khirro cringed as she tucked the glass under the cloth, its warm surface pressing against his tender wound.
“Now you can ride with the other hand and allow this one to heal.”
“Thank you.”
Khirro glanced at the rain running from her hair, down her face, and thought about her prancing through the forest naked. Something stirred in his stomach and he averted his gaze. She stroked her hand along his forearm.
“Let’s go,” Ghaul growled behind them. “The one-eyed man will show no mercy if he catches us.”
Khirro clucked at his horse and the chestnut moved forward, Elyea and Ghaul falling in behind. As they re-entered the forest, the rain eased. Khirro looked over his shoulder, past his companions, at the valley beyond and thought he saw the sun breaking through the clouds in the distance.
Chapter Twenty-One
“How