down.”
Surprise runs through me at his joke, but I can see the concern for Eldrin in his gaze. Still, I wait for his scorn, for some sort of backlash for causing harm to his brother, but it never comes.
Go, beloved. The Mother’s voice echoes in my mind, and I’m jolted into action. Before it was just nature warning me, along with a gut instinct, but now that I’ve got a direct warning from the goddess herself, I know I need to move.
“We have to go back to the tribes, someone’s coming.” Everyone’s attention shifts to me, and Tor spins me around to face him, his face uncharacteristically serious.
“Are we under attack?”
“Is it the queen?”
Tor and Vaeril speak at the same time, and I shake my head, already moving towards the tribes. “I don’t think so, but I know it’s important we’re there.”
Tor follows after me, but I glance over my shoulder to see what the others are doing. The two elves are moving towards Eldrin and trying to put their arms around him, except he snarls at them, pushing them away. His eyes are searching for something. He seems to settle when he sees me and stands up as straight as his healing wounds will allow him, hiding his injuries with a snarl as Naril reaches out to him again.
“Get off me,” he mutters, but the words lack heat as he follows in a slow jog.
Thankfully, the meeting place isn’t far and it doesn’t take us long to get there. When we do, the watchers must have alerted Revna and the chiefs that something was going on, because as soon as we set foot into the camp, I see my aunt striding towards me. Except right now, it’s not Aunt Revna heading my way, but the high chief, her face set into a grim expression, with Chief Arne and a couple of the others following behind. She must have been in the middle of a meeting when we arrived.
“What’s happened?” she demands, her eyes scanning me and then taking in Eldrin’s bloody state with a wince.
“Someone’s coming.” The confidence in my voice has her looking back at me in a flash. There’s a pause, then she nods her head, glancing around as if searching for an invisible enemy.
“Friend or foe?” she asks, and the fact she believes me almost makes me sag with relief. I had been dreading having to try and convince her to trust the fact that I just knew. After all, if I said the trees told me, she would think I was mad. I’m about to explain that I’m not sure when an odd call cuts through the camp. It sounds almost like a bird’s cry, like that of a hawk, except the effect it has on the tribespeople is instantaneous. Everyone stops what they’re doing and reaches for a weapon as they wait for further instruction.
Revna curses and turns to the chiefs who are with her. “Go to your people, you know what to do.” They nod and break apart until we’re left with only my aunt. Turning back to us, she grits her teeth then blows out a breath. “Stay with me,” is all she says before turning and striding off.
We don’t get far before one of the watchmen runs up to us. “High Chief!” he calls out, stopping us in our tracks. “Strangers! At the edge of the camp!” The man is familiar, and I recognise him as one of the men from the training area yesterday. He’s obviously trying not to look at me, which I don’t understand, since he didn’t have a problem with it yesterday. “They say they’re here peacefully and want an audience with the beloved?” he finishes, his eyes finally flicking to me, and I realise why with a sinking feeling.
Mother above. We were too late. Whoever it is I was being warned about is already here, we just have to pray they don’t mean us any harm.
Everyone looks at me. There are only a certain amount of people who call me ‘beloved,’ but that doesn’t mean the queen hasn’t found out and is using it to get to me. I wouldn’t put it past her.
Revna and the watchman have been discussing something while I’ve been internally panicking, but she dismisses him, and I realise I still have no idea what’s happening. “Wait,” I call out as he turns to leave. “Did they say who they are?”
“No,” he replies with a shrug. “But it was pretty easy to