A small pool, rimmed by a narrow band of ice, bubbled from a rock outcropping sheltered by gnarled oaks and occasional pine. Grasses grew near the water, and various bushes gathered under the trees.
“It’s not perfect, but I think it’ll do.” Ilythra removed the harness. Her hand hovered over the pack. Inside lay Ilydearta, the stone her grandfather had given her before he’d died. One of three ancient stones she needed to reunite. To put it on would be to announce her presence, but she couldn’t leave it with Melior. Not again. A trace of the despair she’d felt after discovering she no longer wore the stone brushed her heart.
Carefully, she retrieved her medicine pouch and slung it around her neck. Bredych hadn’t been able to find the stone when Melior had carried it. Maybe the same would hold true with her. At least she hoped so. She had no way of knowing how long her errand would take, but even if she were to put the necklace on, Bredych would only know that she had the pendant and that she was near. It wouldn’t guide him to her. She hoped. Ilythra removed the packs, saddle and blanket from the horse’s back and rubbed him down. “I hate to leave you, boy. But the road is off-limits and I don’t think you’re much of a climber. You know what to do, right?”
Melior nipped Ilythra’s shoulder.
Ilythra pushed Melior’s nose away. “I’m going to miss you. But I know you can take care of yourself.” She felt slightly silly speaking to a horse, but he’d proven himself when he’d taken Ilydearta and led Bredych in circles. A Siobani stallion. She stared into his intelligent dark eyes. “If I don’t come back by the time the moon is full, go home.”
Ilythra slipped the pack over one shoulder, her sword over the other and tucked her wooden practice sword in a loop around her belt. Her body ached from the time spent in the saddle. The scent Bredych had exposed her to had weakened her mind, but her inactivity while in Greton had weakened her body. She glanced to the pass, now shadowed in the dying sun, and the road winding through rocky outcroppings. She was strong enough. She’d have to be.
* * *
King Erhard leaned back on his throne and tapped his fingers against the well-worn arm. He was still sore, and the back of his head was tender from the Benai’s attack, but he hadn’t given it much attention. Confused thoughts dominated his mind.
Bredych is not your friend.
Ilythra’s words echoed in his head. Was that even possible? Bredych had been with him since he was a small child. Anger spiked. The shards stabbed through his confusion. He’d loved the healer, but she’d left him. Why should he believe anything she said?
Sunlight spilling through high windows cast rectangles of pale golden light on the dark-tiled floor. Konrad stood at the door, silent. The steward waited for word to let the petitioners in. Konrad had aged in the past weeks. His face was drawn and haggard. How long had he been steward? Would he know when Bredych had begun serving his father? Erhard couldn’t remember. Irritation burned his spine. He couldn’t remember a lot of things he wanted to lately but remembered all the things he’d rather forget. His head throbbed.
Bredych was in the castle. He could make the headache disappear. But Bredych had been angry and belligerent lately. Not that one could tell by his words or even actions. It was something else. The way that he moved, the silence between the words he spoke. At times, Erhard almost feared his counselor. But that was crazy. Bredych had served him since he was a boy. Was he still in the castle? He hadn’t seen Bredych in a few days. Had he left?
Maybe his head wound was more serious than he thought. Fear gripped him by the throat, sending ice down his limbs. Ilythra was a healer. She would help. He squinted, blocking out almost all the light and absently rubbed his temples. Ilythra wasn’t in Greton. She’d left him. The Benai.
His shoulders slumped in defeat. He closed his eyes. He’d lost her. Sorrow chased the fear. He had loved her. Hadn’t he?
What had Ilythra said? He struggled to remember but could only picture her gray eyes. Bredych is not your friend. He shook his head to clear the memory. He felt empty, hollow. Even his emotions were no longer his.
It’s too late for me, but perhaps not for you. Go. His words to her, now far away and without meaning. Was it too late for him? She’d left him for a Benai, and he’d let her go. At the time it had felt like the right thing to do. But he couldn’t quite remember why. He was now alone to face the humiliation of informing the kingdom they would not have a new queen. But he didn’t feel humiliated. His thoughts doubled back on one another, elusive and confusing, but he was beginning to see a pattern. Something he should know. Something important.
The doors opened. Bredych marched past long lines of peasants. He strode forward like a predator that had seen his prey and knew it would be victorious, and for a moment, Erhard froze in fear. Bredych wore his habitual black tunic and white shirt. His dark cloak billowed behind him like smoke. Bredych’s eyes caught Erhard’s attention and he couldn’t look away. Dark, depthless—power swirled in Bredych’s gaze. His counselor would know what to do. Bredych held his mouth in a firm line, but Erhard thought he noticed a small lift as though a smile fought to be born, and lost.
“Konrad, dismiss the peasants.” Bredych didn’t turn toward the steward or look his way.
“Your Majesty, they’ve waited since dawn.” Konrad stepped forward.
Erhard glanced from Bredych to his steward. “Then they can wait another dawn.”
“Your Majesty.” Bredych bowed, further ignoring the steward.
The last time Erhard had seen Bredych, he’d looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes. His counselor had regained his youthful appearance. His dark eyes gleamed in the light from the windows. The vitality that surrounded him strummed in the air.
“Forgive me, but I thought to speak to you in private.” Bredych waited until the doors once again shut. He approached the throne. “Your chambermaid informed me you haven’t been sleeping.”
Erhard rubbed his temples. “Not much. No.”
“She said your chambers have lain vacant since you returned from your attempt to rescue your would-be bride.”
Acid churned in his stomach. “I have been using my father’s old chambers.” He had no wish to lay in the bed he’d shared with Ilythra. As brief as their dalliance had been, she’d infused the room with her presence. He could even smell her there.
Something flickered in Bredych’s eyes, and just for a moment, he thought it looked like cunning. But this was Bredych. His friend. Bredych is not your friend. Ilythra’s pleading voice, the earnest eyes. Erhard blinked, and the expression was gone. Maybe he had imagined it. He was very tired and his head throbbed.
Bredych neared. His voice dropped, became soothing. “You have a headache?”
Erhard nodded. This was the Bredych he remembered. Comforting, kind. Ilythra was wrong. She had to be. He was so tired.
“And you are no longer wearing your fragrance?”
“It reminds me of her.” His voice was only a whisper. He heard Bredych take a deep breath, hold it and release.
“My king, my friend. Let’s go on up to your chamber. I’ll prepare a special tea. It will ease the pain. I think you’ll feel better after some dreamless sleep.”
Erhard’s hands began to tremble. He shouldn’t trust Bredych. But Bredych always made things better. Easier. But Ilythra. Ilythra was long gone. He stared into Bredych’s dark, fathomless eyes. “Yes, some tea and a little sleep, and I’ll feel fine again. Thank you Bredych. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
* * *
Keeping the road to her right, Ilythra climbed the rocky slope. Frustrated with her slow progress, she gazed at the relatively smooth road with longing. Her muscles had grown unused to rigorous exercise and now burned with effort to traverse the uneven ground. She drifted closer to the road’s edge. As she climbed, the road wove up the mountain wide enough to ride three abr
east, but it also sank deeper into the mountain rock like a knife wound. In the distance, it dropped to at least waist deep. It would be difficult to scramble out of sight if company suddenly appeared on the road with her. Of course, the mountainside didn’t offer much more shelter. Sage and brittlebush littered the barren landscape. An occasional oak struggled for purchase in the dry terrain, growing at angles with the mountain, bent under the elements’ constant assault. She continued on, accepting the burn in her muscles as due payment for her lapse of diligence. As night fell, the wind picked up, keening through the pass as though burdened with sorrow. It was a lonely, haunting sound that echoed inside her head. She was alone.
She blinked away the prickle of tears and ground her teeth together. She would not cry. A part of her knew that exhaustion helped bring her emotions so easily to the surface, but after the mad race away from the castle, without Mohan’s comforting presence, her thoughts had come crashing down. She’d almost failed in her task. She’d been too close to giving a madman the power he wanted.
Ilythra began searching for a shelter, gathering every stick and dried branch she could find. The ground was still frozen in spots. After the first night on the mountain, she’d learned to put distance between it and her cloak. Branches made for an uncomfortable night’s sleep, but it was better than freezing. Something rippled across Teann. She froze. Without a sound, she pressed herself against a large rock outcropping and peered toward the road. No one was on the path. She glanced down the way she’d come to find that empty too. Closing her eyes, she opened herself to Teann. New life surged around her. Green and vibrant. Spring well on its way. Without Ilydearta, she couldn’t dive deeper, couldn’t perceive the deeper patterns, but she sensed no disturbance.
Opening her eyes, she examined the path again. Empty. Carefully stepping only on rocks, she continued her journey up the mountainside. The back of her neck itched. Sweat dampened the hair around her face. Every instinct screamed she wasn’t alone, but Ilythra couldn’t see or sense anyone close by. Maybe it was the mountain. Since she’d left Melior, she’d vaguely felt like she was being tracked or at least watched. But by whom?
The sun dipped behind the trees and tinted the land bluish-purple. Twilight was coming. She needed to find shelter. Night came quickly on the mountain and with it cold. The cold could be as deadly as a sword thrust. She paused before a large rock group projecting from the earth like bones through skin. On a hunch, she climbed one. The rocks formed a circle, leaving the middle free. Enough room for one. It would be a perfect shelter from the nightly wind.
Her stomach twisted and a shiver ran down her back. She wasn’t alone. She stilled and relaxed. Every sense strained to pick up anything that indicated someone else on the mountain with her. Ilythra stared down the mountain toward Greton. On the trail below, a group of men appeared on horseback. Ilythra crouched, molding to the rock formation. Her heart pounded in her ears. They hadn’t seen her. She hoped.
Keeping low, she crept around the formation to where she could see a curve of the road below but was hidden from view. Rugians, the barbarians who lived east of Anatar, and Bredych’s personal bodyguard. Soon pounding hooves sounded, quickly closing the distance. She risked a glance around the rock. Twelve, maybe thirteen men. From the horses’ appearance, they’d ridden hard.
She reached to her shoulder to loosen the sword in its sheath. She’d rather avoid a fight. Twelve against one were odds she wouldn’t like on her best day. And it wasn’t her best day.
One of the horsemen yelled. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. Had he seen her? He spoke the Rugian tongue, and she couldn’t understand what he said. Ilythra pressed against the cooling rock as the jingle of harnesses passed by.
Melior. What if they’d found her horse? She stole another look. No riderless stallion.
Silence settled on the mountain. Ilythra climbed from her shelter, examining the road as it disappeared into the mountainside. Empty. Then why hadn’t the feeling of danger subsided? Her limbs shook with the pent-up adrenaline she hadn’t used. Was she crazy? Had the scent damaged her more than she knew? There were sure to be more Rugians on the mountain, but was that why the sense of not being alone wouldn’t fade?
She searched the mountainside for brush. She just hoped she didn’t see any more today. She wasn’t completely recovered from whatever Bredych had exposed her to and her body was weak. Exhaustion made her slow.
The first few nights her muscles had burned with the unaccustomed exercise. Only weariness had afforded her a few hours of sleep. Her body was limbering, remembering its prior conditioning, but she couldn’t risk being caught until she’d recovered her strength.
The moon rose behind the trees. Thin and delicate, it offered little light. She’d sleep for a few hours, and then, despite the treacherous ground, travel at night, using shadows to shield her from view. Gathering bracken, Ilythra arranged it on the floor of the shelter then threw her cloak over them. Stars began to free themselves from the sun’s light as Ilythra lay down, her hand on her sword.
* * *
Ilythra’s eyes shot open. An animal cried in the darkness, followed by a rush of wings finding purchase in the air. Glancing at the moon, she swore under her breath. She’d slept longer than she’d meant to. She rolled to a crouch, preparing to jump from her shelter. A rock tumbled down the mountain, followed by a slight scraping noise. She pulled her sword over her shoulder and out of its sheath, keeping low so the blade wouldn’t catch the faint light of the moon.
Someone was coming. A guard? Routine patrol? It didn’t matter. She examined the shelter. No fighting room. She’d be trapped. Letting an enemy find her wasn’t an option. Her only hope was surprise.
She peeked between a gap in the rocks. The moon cast a dreamlike quality over the mountain, transforming rocks into the mythical beasts she’d heard once roamed these lands. A shadow moved from one rock formation to a small, stunted tree. Whoever it was, he was taking his time to be as quiet as possible. Straining her ears, she couldn’t hear footsteps on the rocky incline. He was good. If not for the one mistake, he might have caught her unaware. She wasn’t in any condition for a fight.
Timing was everything.
A slight sound of pebbles against rocks. Another misstep. He was getting closer. Only four or five wheels away. Was he alone? That was the biggest question. She tensed. Faint, but recognizable, the sound of leather against rock filtered through the night air. He was heading right for her shelter. One step, two. Her heart pounded.
Ilythra swung over the rock wall, hitting the unknown man square in the chest with both feet. With barely an exhalation of breath, he skidded across the ground, landing several wheels away. He was good. She sprinted after him, sword drawn.
Without pause she swung, and shock rocked her body.
Mohan.
Her sword connected with the side of his head.
Chapter Two
“What is it with you attacking me every time you see me?” Mohan winced and pulled the cloth from the back of his head to stare at the red stain.
“What is it with you sneaking up on me?” She examined the growing bump and pressed his hand back to his head. She’d managed to turn the blade in time but not pull the strike. Relief lent an edge to her voice. “Keep pressure on it.” Ilythra sat on a rock a few paces from the Benai. “You’re lucky I pulled the swing at the last moment.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. His blue eyes caught the light of the stars. “I’d been wondering if I could sneak up on you again. Guess I know now.”
“You didn’t do so well the first time.”
Mohan smiled, and she knew he was thinking about their first meeting. He’d tried and failed to steal her horse, Tashi. Her mood turned melancholy. Tashi had been a gift from Tobar of the Heleini, far south of there. She’d died in Greton after a pack of wolves attacked their hunting party. The wolv
es had been controlled by Bredych.
His expression turned serious. “Are you okay? A cloud crossed your features.”
“Yes. I’m fine. You were able to sneak up on me once. Don’t get so cocky to think it will ever happen again.” Ilythra stared at the rocky ground. She could only vaguely remember Mohan sneaking into her rooms at the castle. And even then, her memories were distant, as though they’d happened to someone else and she’d only read about them.
“Can’t help it. It is what I’m known for.” The teasing lilt was back in his voice, but he still watched her closely.
“Why did you follow me?” She flicked her hand, indicating the cloth and his head.
“Did you honestly think I would let you go alone?” He obeyed the unspoken command and pressed the cloth back to his wound. “You said Teann was leading you into these mountains. You’re without the stone. I figured you’d need me.”
“You’re an arrogant, foolish man.” She stared hard at him. She’d forgotten how handsome he was. The moon highlighted the sharp angle of his cheekbone and long, straight nose and strong jaw. She knew, even in the wilderness, he’d smell of pine and something clean and earthy. She suddenly grinned. “And I missed you too.” Ilythra glanced at the moon. “I’ve already seen a group of Rugians.”
“Yup. Me too.”
A wave of relief washed over her mind. Mohan had followed her. That explained a lot. “It was you all along. I thought I felt a presence on this mountain. At least I know I’m not crazy.”
“I don’t know about that, love. I rather think you personify crazy, but yes, I’ve been following your trail. Damn hard trail to follow too.”
“Did you see Mel?”
He removed the cloth and handed it to Ilythra. “Nope.”
“Good, then he’s well hidden.”
“How are you feeling?” The concern was back in his gaze.
Journey of Wisdom Page 2
