Lacuna - N.R. Walker Page 0,27

another six days, maybe seven, considering the position of the sun, to ride all the way back. That would make it one half-moon between the creatures arriving and Tancho’s return.

Would anything be left standing at all?

Or would Tancho return and find everything as it should be? Were the unknown ships simply passing? Were they innocent merchants from afar?

So many questions and so few answers. Tancho loathed the uncertainty, but one thing was clear.

He was riding into an unknown future with the King of the Northlands at his side. Everything about it was wrong, yet the birthmark on his wrist told him it was right. He felt better the further they got from Aequi Kentron, with every stride west they made. He was going home. Regardless of what he would find when he got there, the waters called him to return.

Chapter Nine

Crow didn’t want to admit that the Westlands were pretty. For the distance they covered before the sun climbed to the afternoon sky, it looked mostly similar to his own lands: green valleys, grasses, fields, and streams. But as it neared dusk, where the Northlands would have begun to climb upward to undulating foothills before the mountains, the Westlands remained flat. The streams grew wider and more frequent. Stone arch bridges wide enough for two horses to cross, or a horse and cart perhaps, linked all pockets of land, and the road followed the path of the river through picturesque valleys.

The constant sound of water running over rocks was peaceful. The songs of the wildlife were ones Crow had not heard before. There were herons and egrets, birds Crow had only seen in books before. There were rabbits, deer, and serow.

It was a different world to his snowy Northlands.

As the daylight began to fade, Karasu led them off the road, through a shallow stream behind a bluff in the valley. It was well-hidden and invisible from the road, should anyone come looking.

Crow slid down from his horse, and he and Soko helped relieve Kohaku of Maghdlm. The two guards tethered the horses where they could feed on long grass, Tancho began a campfire and Karasu filled canisters from the stream.

Maghdlm looked worse for wear, and the darkening sky hid the true horrors of her injuries. They lay her down near the fire, and she stirred and groaned but didn’t wake. “How does she fare?” Tancho asked, kneeling silently beside them.

“Not well,” Crow replied. He pulled Maghdlm’s cloak up like a blanket. “Morning will tell if she survives. I’ll be surprised if she lives to see it.”

Karasu handed Tancho a water canister and he gave her a grateful smile before sitting back on some soft grass. He faced the fire and took a long drink. “Ah, the waters of home have never tasted so sweet.”

He leaned over and handed the canister to Crow. He sipped it at first, then took a mouthful. It was cool and crisp, fresh. Maybe it was after the long day behind them without a drink, but that was possibly the best water Crow had ever tasted.

He passed the canister on to Soko who took a long swallow, then he tossed it up to Kohaku who had walked over. He drained it in one go and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m starving,” he said. He grinned right at Soko. “Want to see who can catch a rabbit first?”

Soko jumped to his feet. “Challenge accepted!”

And Crow and Tancho watched them disappear deeper into the bluff, bickering and laughing as they went. He shot a smile to Tancho. “They’re like children.”

Tancho smiled but it faded fast. His face in the flickering firelight half-hidden in shadows, and Crow realised they were alone.

“Karasu has gone to pick the berries she saw by the stream,” Tancho said as if reading his mind. “Hikari and Unagi will take the first shift to sleep.”

Crow looked over to where the two Westland guards had been, and sure enough, there were now two sleeping forms in the grass.

Crow kicked himself for not thinking of suggesting splitting shifts so someone could keep watch. He sighed. “I have grown complacent in peaceful times, it would seem. I should have thought of that.”

“You learned tactical and combat strategy, I assume,” Tancho said.

“Yes, of course. I simply meant that in all my years in the Northlands, no threat ever raised its head.”

“None here, either. Yet . . .”

Oh, the blue skies above. Was he always so impossible? “Yet it is not a mistake I will