the men were acting as guards, if they took notice of her at all. No one milled around; the east wall overlooked the winding climb above the Temple Wood, darkness had fallen, and the festivities were elsewhere.
“Dred of Dolphys, I would have a word, please,” she said, touching his sleeve.
The men turned as one, startled, and the youngest one stepped on the back of the red-headed warrior’s shoe, causing them both to stumble and the elder one to curse.
They all clutched their braids in confused respect.
“Liis of Leok,” Dred said, bowing.
“Please, I know you are worried about Bayr. But I must know . . . in the council . . . with the king . . . was the blind man there?” she implored.
Dred frowned and cocked his head. His face had aged in the last hour. In the torchlight his hair was that of a silver wolf, but his form was as muscled and hard as a warrior half his age. He was a man who’d spent his life wielding a sword and had never had a woman to make sure he fed more than his hunger for battle.
It was the redheaded warrior who processed her question first. “Aye. He was there. He stood back from it all, behind Banruud’s chair.”
“He is the king’s man,” the warrior they called Dystel added softly.
She dared not dispute that and simply thanked them, turning away. The liquid feeling in her legs became acid in her stomach.
Hod knew what had transpired. He would be aware that Bayr had left the mount.
“Why do you ask, daughter of Leok?” Dred pressed, detaining her with a hand on her arm.
“She is the king’s harlot,” the youngest one blurted. “I’ve heard the tales about her.”
Dred swung on the warrior, knocking him back. “Ye’ll not be speaking that way to a daughter of Saylok, Daniel. The king has abused and abandoned many. I’ve a mind to cut out your tongue.”
Daniel was immediately repentant. “Forgive me, Dred. Forgive me, Daughter.”
She nodded once, caring little for his opinion of her, one way or the other.
“Things are not what they seem,” she whispered. “Bayr is . . . not the only son of Banruud.”
It was the only thing she could think to say to convey the complicated nature of Hod’s involvement. His relation to Banruud would not condemn him with these men. Not when their beloved chieftain had just found himself in the same position.
“What do you mean?” Dred rasped.
“Exactly what I say. The king has abused and abandoned many,” she repeated, raising her eyes to his.
The guard on the east gate peered over at them, curious.
“Do not judge too hastily,” she said. “I beseech you.” She didn’t dare warn them away from the hill. It would only make them want to remain. They needed to do as Master Ivo—and the king—had demanded. They needed to leave the mount, and she would not delay them further.
“Find Bayr . . . and go. There is nothing to be gained by warring with this king. Eventually, he will reap what he has sowed.”
“He warned us as well, Daughter. Mayhaps now . . . I understand,” Dred murmured. He was reeling, and there was no time.
“Go. Please,” she urged. Her sisters would notice her gone, and already two sentries approached. It was not every day that she made two successful escapes.
Dred grabbed his braid, a signal of his respect, and the other men did the same.
Then they left through the east gate, their swords swinging and their strides long.
28
DAUGHTERS
Bayr was moving quickly, almost running. He’d hurtled through the east gate and bounded down the mountainside like a sheepdog, and Hod, for all his skill and ability, was a man of distinct limitations. He could go great distances . . . but he could not go quickly. Within minutes, Bayr was out of range, and Hod could not hear him anymore.
At the bottom of the hill, Hod stopped and listened, trying to find his brother in the miasma of life that was the wood.
He could not hear him.
But his scent lingered, the smell of incense and cedar, as if the trees in Dolphys and the temple sanctum had converged in him. Both scents bled from his skin with his despair. It created a tang not so different from that of a wounded animal careening through the brush.
Hod entered the wood and picked his way along, reassuring himself that Bayr would stop, and when he did, Hod would find him. It might take all night, but