as far as Londa when night fell, and Jonas decided to make camp just outside the city.
“Why don’t we go to an inn?” Willow asked him. “It’s only a short distance more.” The thought of spending the night on the plains did nothing to soothe Willow’s already frazzled nerves.
“There aren’t any inn’s in Londa,” Jonas told her as he dismounted and held up a strong hand to assist her. She took it and slipped from her saddle. Then watched the other three Warriors do the same. “Londa is a quiet village like Shondravar, and besides, I don’t want to take the chance of someone recognizing you and trying to take you from us as in Prandar. I would have to kill them, and I’m too tired. One of these lads may have much stamina,” the bald warrior remarked with a smile to the three, “but they wouldn’t be able to fight off as many as I could.”
Willow smiled at him though she could barely see him in the pitch-blackness as it covered them. She looked up at the stars strewn across the sky like diamonds upon velvet. She thought about how she used to hate coming to this hard, unforgiving land. But Caleb had changed it all. He had given her hope for Predaria. Hope for a new beginning.
“Come, Princess,” Jonas called out to her, tossing dry debris into the fire he’d built while she was admiring the sky. “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll be getting an early start in the morning.” He settled down for the night on a thin woolen blanket beside the fire and motioned for her to come near.
The three Prandarian Warriors set out their pallets opposite them.
Willow sat next to Jonas and folded her knees to her chest. “Don’t call me that, Jonas. I’m not a princess.”
“Of course you are.” Jonas yawned and closed his eyes. “Caleb’s being the king doesn’t change that.”
She gave him a loving smile and moved closer to him. She understood now why Jonas obeyed Caleb, why he barely let Caleb lift his sword when they fought against the Catchers. But it wasn’t because Caleb was his king. “You love him very much, don’t you, Jonas.”
“Yes, Princess, I do. Now go to sleep. I promise, as close as you are to me, I’ll not bite you.” In the soft glow of the firelight, Willow saw him open his eyes. They twinkled at her like the stars above her.
“I trust you, brute. But only because I know you’re afraid of Shauna.”
Their three companions, called Kyle, Donarre, and Illan laughed. Willow giggled, thankful to them for tearing her thoughts away from how terrible she felt about leaving Caleb.
What was she going to say to her father? How sick was he? She imagined the worst and hoped to get to him before he died. She wanted to tell him goodbye, whether he died or not, she wasn’t staying. If he didn’t agree and still hoped to kill Caleb, she would send a message to Jonas in…
“Jonas?” she whispered, lying down.
“Yes, Princess?”
“Let us make a plan, you and me. Please stay in Beldar for a few days after you leave me. There is a small town called Alai along the border. If I cannot convince my father to surrender the throne to Caleb, I will contact you. I will also contact you if he considers imprisoning me for treason and not letting me leave. You have my word that I will not tell him about Sh—where you live upon pain of death. If you hear from me, I will tell you to come and do what your heart tells you.”
“Willow,” Jonas said, sitting up. “I thought you loved your father.”
“I do love him,” she told him. “But I lost my mother because of him. I won’t lose Caleb too. More importantly though, he loves me. He always has. I think he will do what I ask and then continue running from Caleb, if he is able to run. But he will not die because of me. Do we have a deal?”
“We do,” he confirmed. “And when this is over, whatever the outcome, I will bring you back to where I live.” He smiled in the firelight.
They all settled in once again. Not a sound was heard.
“Princess?”
She smiled. “Yes, Jonas?”
“I’ll pray your father listens to you.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
The Catchers crept along in the darkness behind Kyle and Illan and sliced their throats while one slept and the other kept watch. Then, like shadows even blacker