rooms. He’d devote an hour to prayer, then seek the sleep he most desperately needed. Perhaps things would seem better in the morning.
23
You mustn’t stop,” Zusa insisted as the two ran. “The paladin will follow. He will always follow.”
Alyssa nodded. Her breathing had become ragged, and her left side ached as if a dagger was lodged within. They’d run west, away from the camp and away from Veldaren’s walls. A few times they’d shifted directions, but only to avoid the hills that surrounded the area.
“Where,” Alyssa said, feeling light-headed and unable to voice the rest of her question.
“The river is near,” Zusa said. “We will use that as we must.”
Alyssa did her best to keep up, but they had run for almost an hour after fleeing the Kull’s camp. She’d never felt herself out of shape, but the exertion was beyond even her capabilities. She started stumbling, dragged on only by Zusa’s firm grip on her wrist.
“Not far,” Zusa insisted. “Hurry. Not far at all.”
The Kinel River ran south from the mountains, passing west of the King’s Forest and looping a quarter-mile from Veldaren before traveling south, marking the western edge of the Kingstrip. Despite her aching sides, weak legs, and ragged breath, Alyssa managed the final few minutes to its edge.
“We must get to the other side,” Zusa insisted. “The river is wide, but not deep. The paladin will cross, but slowly. The platemail will hinder him.”
“Please,” Alyssa said. “Let me rest a moment.”
“Rest on other side,” Zusa said. “He may be here at any moment. Life or death, girl. Choose.”
She staggered to her feet and grabbed Zusa’s shoulder.
“Life,” she said.
The water came up to their necks, and it was shockingly cold. Alyssa’s lips turned blue, and her teeth chattered. Zusa tugged her along, although Alyssa could no longer feel her hand clutching her wrist. She dreaded the coming feel of open air, but a dim part of her was certain it’d still be warmer than the water.
“Fire will bring him to us,” Zusa said, even her gravelly voice chattering a bit. “But we have no choice. I can fight the paladin. I cannot fight the frost.”
A minute later they emerged on the other side. Alyssa took a few steps before crumpling to her knees, doubling over with her arms crossed before her chest. She tried to speak, but her shivers were so severe she could not make the words.
Zusa knelt in front of Alyssa. Shadows curled off her body, moving sluggish as if they too were affected by the cold. Zusa’s hands touched the grass, her fingers digging into the earth.
“Nuruta,” Zusa hissed. Purple fire erupted between them. It burned bright, then faded to the size of a man’s head.
“Stay close to it,” Zusa said. “The warmth is weak, but it will keep you alive.”
Zusa looked back to the river. Alyssa followed her gaze. She saw nothing in the dim starlight, but evidently the faceless woman’s eyes saw far better in the darkness.
“The paladin approaches,” she said. “Half a mile away, perhaps farther. We have time for warmth.”
The two huddled before the fire, feeling its heat fight away the wetness of their clothes.
“Karak has abandoned me,” Zusa said as the fire popped. “My soul is already doomed to the Abyss. What does one more broken law matter?”
Alyssa watched as she peeled away the wet wrappings from her head. Underneath she was beautiful, perhaps more so than Eliora. Her eyes were a sparkling green, her lips pale and supple. Her cheeks were smooth and round, as if Zusa had been carved from stone in the image of a goddess. Short black hair stuck to the sides of her face, but she pulled it back into a ponytail and tied it with one of her wrappings.
“If Karak would hide such beauty from the world, then he is a foolish, jealous god,” Alyssa said. She looked to the river. “Can you kill his paladin?”
“We shall see,” Zusa said. She glanced down to her wrappings, which were still soaked from the river. With a shrug, she removed them and cast them beside the fire. Looking like a naked nymph of the forest, Zusa kissed her dagger and then approached the water’s edge. Alyssa thought to do the same, then decided she would wait. If Zusa died, then her fate was sealed as well. She would not die naked.
“You are determined, servant of Karak,” Zusa shouted across the river. With her back to the fire, Alyssa watched, her eyes adjusted enough to see