Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,97

not hazel.

“Your father was Vito Hollen, yes?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I am Jiro Hollen — I am his cousin.”

For the next hour, Jiro and I sat on a large boulder, ignoring the cold, and talked, sharing memories of my father, while the other guards, both Blevonese and Antionese — including Rylan — looked on. I’d never known that my father had other family in Blevon. I’d only ever heard briefly of my grandparents. I had met them just once as a baby, before King Hector took the throne and started his war between Blevon and Antion, so I didn’t remember them at all. We’d never been able to travel to Blevon again, and they had died before my parents did.

“Jiro,” I began slowly, after he’d finished telling me a story from their childhood, when they’d lived in the same village in the southern part of Blevon, near what he called “the endless waters.” “Was my father … Do you know if he was a sorcerer, like you?”

Jiro’s dark eyes were compassionate when he nodded. “Yes, he was. He and I came here together when we were of age.”

I took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut as the simultaneous pain of realizing he’d kept such a vital part of himself a secret from me and the excitement at discovering that my theory had been correct washed over me. “He called me his zhànshì nánw,” I said quietly.

Jiro smiled. “He must have loved you very much.”

I nodded. “I think so.”

“And you must be very talented to have earned a nickname like that,” he added.

I smiled back at him. “I like to think it was from all the years of training for hours and hours a day, not necessarily just talent.”

Jiro inclined his head. “That is probably far more accurate.”

Another noise sounded from down the canyon, this time a different one, more piercing, and Jiro immediately jumped to his feet, all semblance of amusement gone from his face, and in the place of a kind relative suddenly stood a soldier. He began to bark out orders in Blevonese, and I glanced around wildly, wondering what had happened.

“What’s going on?” I questioned Jiro as Rylan stood up from where he’d been leaning against a tree and walked over to us. Mateo was a little farther up the trail, talking to one of the other Blevonese guards, and Asher stood just beyond them.

Before he could respond I heard another sound — but this time it was no birdcall. It was the echo of an explosion, somewhere below, in the canyon. Snow sprinkled down on us from the treetops as the ground vibrated from the impact.

I stared down the canyon in horror and then spun to see the temple door pushed open and Damian standing on the ledge it was built on, his hand on the hilt of his sword, with King Osgand right behind him.

There was no time to wonder what he’d seen or experienced inside the temple as our eyes met across the distance, and I could see my own terror etched on his face before he composed his features into the mask I knew so well.

“Prepare to fight,” King Osgand said in Antionese, stepping forward. “We must do everything in our power to protect what lies in this temple from the hands of those who would attempt to steal its power and doom us all. Even if it means giving our lives. It is better for a few to die than an entire people.” Then he spoke again, this time in Blevonese.

Damian continued to look at me until another explosion sounded below us, this one even louder. I spun around, yanking out my sword and lifting it up with my icy fingers to await the battle ahead.

The cape I wore covered the quiver of arrows and my bow, so when it became apparent that the enemy wasn’t coming up the trail to where we stood waiting quite yet, I quickly used one hand to unhook the cloak and toss it onto the boulder beside me. I hadn’t realized how warm it was keeping me until the frigid air bit right through my thin tunic and pants, making me shiver violently. Rylan moved up to stand next to me, and Mateo stood next to him, then Asher. The Blevonese guards also spread out across the small field; some had their swords out, and others had their eyes closed and heads bowed as though they were praying. Perhaps they were. Asking for help and