by Claire Frank
“What about the representatives from the Lyceum?” Daro asked.
She swiveled her head around. “The Lyceum?”
Daro took a bit of wicked pleasure at her look of surprise and gave her a pleasant smile. “Yes, the Paragon sent several Wielders from the Lyceum, with the king’s permission, of course.”
“Indeed,” she said, her voice clipped. She turned to the Sergeant. “Find accommodations for everyone then.” Her eyes swung back to Daro. “Dismissed.”
The Sergeant proved to be a great deal friendlier than General Coryn and, after meeting with the rest of Daro’s group, he took them on a brief tour of the camp. They walked through the rows of tents and were shown the various outbuildings and supply areas, as well as given an overview of the main stronghold.
“I’ll show you the view,” the Sergeant said as he led them to the top of the wall, where they could look out over the entire chasm.
Parapets lined the perimeter of the fortress, which stretched out on either side of the bridge, with a large gatehouse in the center. As they moved to stand near the edge, Daro looked down into the chasm. He had seen it before: a gaping crack in the ground with a river flowing far below, out of sight. It was nearly four hundred feet wide and the bridge spanning the chasm was awe-inspiring. It was ancient, its origins unknown, and Daro didn’t think even the most talented Shapers in Halthas could recreate it.
Looking across the gap, Daro sharpened his vision. In the distance, the Attalonian army spread out across the plain. He could only make out the closest edge of their encampment, but he could tell it was sizeable. The line of tents was long, and the smoke from hundreds of fires drifted into the air.
Cecily put a hand on his arm and he reached over to squeeze it. He should have known to expect a dramatic force, but seeing it with his own eyes was nonetheless alarming. Halthas must be outnumbered five to one.
After staring out over the chasm in silence for several minutes, they left the overlook and were shown their quarters. Cecily and the other two Lyceum Wielders were given rooms in the central keep, and the other companions were shown to a separate building that would house them.
Daro and Cecily’s room had a small washing table, a low bed just wide enough to fit the two of them, and a few hooks on the back of the door. Like the rest of the stronghold, it was all gray stone. Daro dropped his bags and unfastened his baldric to take Katalis off his back.
“I feel like I should be sleeping out there,” Daro said, with a nod in the direction of the main part of the camp.
Cecily’s mouth curled up in a smile. “You’d rather sleep out in a barracks full of men? Well, if that’s how you feel, I suppose it can be arranged.”
He set both his swords carefully on the floor alongside the bed and sat, pressing down on the mattress. It would do. “No,” he said with a laugh. “But this is an army, not some rough group of fighters brought together by happenstance. Already, I don’t fit in.”
“What makes you say that?”
“General Coryn wasn’t happy to see me,” he said. “She said she asked for reinforcements, and Rogan sent me. Believe me, she did not say that as if it were a good thing.”
“But it is a good thing,” Cecily said. “Who does she think you are, some sort of mercenary?”
“Apparently,” Daro said with a shrug. “I get the feeling she doesn’t know what to do with us.”
“When the fighting starts, she’ll change her mind,” Cecily said, her tone matter of fact.
“That may be,” Daro said. He didn’t particularly want to think about the fighting. Not yet.
Kneeling on the bed behind him, she rubbed his neck a few times. “It will be fine. We’re both here to do a job, and that’s what we’ll do.”
He let his body relax as she massaged his shoulders. She leaned in to kiss his neck, trailing her lips up to the back of his ear. He smiled as he turned around and pressed her back onto the mattress. If he was going to have a private room with his wife, he might as well enjoy it.
37. SEARCH
Cecily stretched her arms over head, enjoying the quiet as Daro dozed next to her. He didn’t have anywhere to be until morning, so she rose carefully, not wanting to rouse him, and put on her clothes.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
She glanced over her shoulder as she fastened her belt. He sat up, leaning on one arm, with the bedclothes tangled about his waist, his chest bare.
“I have some things to see to,” she said.
“Are you sure you have to go? It would be much more fun if you stayed,” he said as he patted the mattress next to him.
“Again?” she said with a laugh.
He gave her a wicked grin. “Of course. I need to enjoy you while I have the chance.”
“I won’t be gone long,” she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I have a job to do while I’m here.”
Daro’s smile dropped. “I keep meaning to ask you, what is this thing you’re searching for?”
Cecily paused, uncertain of how much to say. The last thing Daro needed was another worry. “It’s an artifact; something valuable the Paragon had put away for safekeeping.”
“Clearly not safe enough.”
“No,” Cecily said. “It isn’t something you need to be concerned about. I’ll find it and send it back to the Lyceum. They’ll have to find a better way to secure it.”
“So it would seem,” Daro said as he swung his legs around to the side of the bed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, I suppose you need to go.” He reached out and drew her in for a gentle kiss. “Don’t be gone long.”
She smiled as his face lingered close to hers. “I won’t.”
***
The sun beat down as Cecily made her way toward the perimeter of the camp, looking for Merrick. He didn’t enjoy crowds, so she figured the best place to look for him would be the outskirts.
It had been a relief when Daro had opted to ask their friends to join them. Not only did Cecily feel the strength of their companionship bolster her confidence in their task, she was grateful that Merrick would be there. He already knew about the Arcstone, and his ability as a Sensory Wielder should allow them to track the stone and find it quickly. On the journey south, he’d confided in her that he could sense traces of it along the road. It had certainly traveled in that direction. Although the Paragon had insisted on sending the three other Wielders to help her, she envisioned sending them back within a few days at most, the Arcstone secure. Although, after seeing the size of the army across the chasm, she had a brief flash of worry over whether she would return to Halthas.
Pushing that thought from her mind, she walked toward the edge of camp and found Merrick with Beau. The dog dropped a stick at his feet as she approached, sitting in front of Merrick with his ears perked up, his tongue lolling from his mouth. Merrick picked up the stick and tossed it out into the field, and Beau ran after it.
“What do you think?” Cecily asked as she stopped beside him.
“That’s a big army,” he said, with a glance in the direction of the chasm.
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as the wind blew it around her face. “It is.”
“But I’d rather face them here than at the gates of the city. Or worse, on my doorstep,” he said. Beau ran back and dropped the stick again, wagging his tail as Merrick picked it up and threw it for him. “I hear they don’t treat Wielders very well.”
“True,” she said. “Since we’re here, I was hoping you’d be able to help me track down the Arcstone. I still don’t know who took it but, if you’re sure it didn’t veer off the route, it must be here.”
Merrick shook his head as Beau dropped the stick at his feet. “I hate to tell you this, but I don’t think I can. There’s something unusual about it. I could sense it at the supply depot in Halthas, but its traces were fading. I can tell it traveled down the road, but I’m having a hard time discerning where it went. It’s powerful; I should see its trail as plain as footsteps in fresh snow, but
somehow I can’t. It could be here, or it could be miles away. I honestly don’t know.”
Cecily’s heart sank. “Do you think you’d have an easier time sensing it if you were closer? Maybe if we walk the camp, you’ll get a hint of where we should search.”
“Possibly,” he said. “Although Beau and I did a walk around the perimeter, and my sense of it never changed. I can’t pinpoint a direction. It’s disorienting, actually. I have a feeling we need to be very careful with this thing. My judgment could be clouded because I know what it is and what it was used for, but I sense something very wrong.”
“We need to tread lightly regardless,” Cecily said. “I don’t know who sent it here, or why. Someone wants it, and the fact that they sent it south makes me think our friends on the other side of the chasm have something to do with it. I suppose it could be someone from Sahaar, rather than Attalon, but if that’s the case they have a rather large army to smuggle it through. Either way, it means that someone—or perhaps several someones—in our own army are involved. They aren’t going to take kindly to me or the other Lyceum Wielders poking our noses in their affairs.”
Beau barked and Merrick threw the stick for him. “All too true. We’re on the brink of war, and people die in battle all the time.” He turned to look her in the eye. “You need to be careful. It would be easy for them to arrange to get rid of you out here.”
“I know,” she said. “I will.”
She headed back toward the stronghold, making her way through the tents. Many of the soldiers eyed her as she walked by, as if unsure of what to make of her. She saw familiar faces here and there, men who had fought in the war for the crown, but most were unknown to her and she wondered what they thought of her being there.
The three Wielders the Paragon had sent with her were walking along the top of the stronghold, looking out over the chasm. Cecily had reported back to the Paragon after she and Daro had agreed to go to the chasm, telling him it was likely the Arcstone had gone south. He had been adamant about sending the others with her, maintaining that the Arcstone needed to be located and secured as quickly as possible. While she agreed with his logic, there was something about the three Wielders that set her on edge, and she still had reservations about sending the stone back to the Lyceum.
Cecily glanced out over the chasm as she walked toward them. She could just see the shapes of the Attalonian encampment, spread out like a nest of insects across the plain.
“Lady Cecily,” Nora said as she approached. Nora was several years younger than Cecily, but taller, with dark blonde hair that she kept swept up on her head.
The others greeted Cecily with brief nods. Semnal was a lanky young man with tightly trimmed brown hair and a face that had a perpetual sneer. Owen, sturdy and thickly built, looked more like he ought to be a soldier than a scholarly Lyceum Wielder. Although “scholarly” didn’t quite describe any of them. Daro had warned her that there was something odd about the three, and she tended to agree with him.
“Getting your bearings?” Cecily asked.
“The camp is larger than I expected,” Nora said, “but if the object was brought in with the supplies, we should start there.”
“I don’t think it will be quite that simple,” Cecily said. “I doubt the stone would be sitting in a crate among the other supplies. It would be too easy for the wrong person to stumble upon it by accident. I’m betting it was moved shortly after arriving, and hidden somewhere.”
“It could be gone already,” Semnal said. He glanced at his companions. “But I suspect it’s still here.”
“I agree,” Cecily said. “It’s unlikely it’s been taken elsewhere. It has nowhere to go, as long as we hold the stronghold. Our best bet is to search for hiding places: rooms that aren’t in use, empty cellars or storage areas, or other places a crate could be hidden.”
“Well, I think we know what needs to be done,” Nora said. Her tone was light, but there was a forced quality to it.
Cecily opened her mouth to reply, but Nora turned with a smile and walked away, the other two close behind.
She sighed. The Wielders had been polite to her on the journey south, but she had sensed a reluctance, especially from Nora. It was clear Nora didn’t want to be told what to do. Cecily shook her head as she walked away, heading for the stairs that would take her back into the stronghold. She’d start her search regardless, and hope those three didn’t get in her way.
38. ARROW ACROSS THE CHASM
Cecily rolled over and blinked her eyes open. Daro wasn’t next to her, but it couldn’t be morning. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down. He turned, a piece of wood and a carving knife in his hands, and gave her a smile.
“Can’t sleep?” she said.
“No. I woke up and can’t seem to relax again.”
She scooted herself closer and ran her hands along his shoulders. “Was it a dream?”
“Probably, but I don’t remember dreaming,” he said.
She could feel the tension in his back as he resumed his carving. “How about we get some fresh air,” she said.
He nodded and got up, then strapped on his sword belt.
“Do you need to be armed?” she said. “We’re in our own camp.”
“Unfortunately, this is a war. I always need to be armed.”
Shrugging her shoulders, she got up and dressed, then wrapped a warm cloak around her shoulders. Her eyes were still heavy with sleep, but she knew Daro would feel better if he got out of the confines of their room. Although he seemed to have fewer nightmares than he once had, echoes of his captivity still made their way into his dreams. She hoped a walk along the wall would help him relax so he could rest.
They made their way up to the top of the wall. She could just make out a few dots of light in the Attalonian encampment, far across the plain on the south side. A cold wind blew her hair around her face and she pulled the sides of her cloak tighter against the night air. Clouds hung in the sky, blocking their view of the stars and making the night seem unnaturally dark.
A noise made her turn, and she realized they weren’t alone. Three figures were huddled together atop the wall, on the space overlooking the bridge. Although it was difficult to see in the darkness, she could just make out Semnal’s features. The other two must be Nora and Owen.
“What are they doing out here in the middle of the night?” she asked.
Daro’s forehead was creased with a look of concern, and he glanced up and down the wall. “I don’t know.”
Deciding she ought to find out, she walked down the length of the wall toward them with Daro behind her. The Wielders noticed them and turned, with Nora stepping in front of the other two.
“Are we all plagued with insomnia?” Cecily asked. She wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and not assume they were up to something.
“Not quite,” Nora said, her face unreadable.
“You need to be cautious,” Daro said. “This isn’t the Lyceum, or even Halthas. That’s an enemy army over there and we don’t know when they’ll mount an attack.”
“I think we’ll be able to see if an army is attacking,” Nora said with one eyebrow raised.
Cecily’s neck prickled at her tone. “Indeed, but Daro is correct. I’m not certain why you’d be out here on the wall in the dead of night.”
“We have a job to do,” Nora said, “and we’re going to do it. As you said, there is a need for secrecy if the item is to be located without arousing suspicion.”
“You’re out on the wall in the middle of the night, yourself,” Semnal said.
As Cecily opened her mouth to reply, Daro touched her arm. “There’s someone on the far end of the wall, aiming an arrow across the chasm.”
“What?” Cecily asked as she squinted into the darkness. “Can you see them?”
“I can. They shot the arrow,” he said and his gaze moved in an arc. “It cleared. I think I can see riders approaching from the other side.
”
“What’s going on?” Nora asked.
Cecily couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but she knew Daro could see far more than she. “I don’t know. Could someone have shot a message across?” She turned to the three Wielders. “If this concerns the artifact¬¬—”
“We’ll find the archer,” Nora said. “What are you going to do?”
“We have to get that arrow back.”
Daro looked around, then down over the edge of the wall as the Wielders left. “Get on my back,” he said.
“What?”
“Just trust me.”
He lowered himself down and she wrapped her arms around his neck and gripped his waist with her legs. Her heart pounded as he climbed up on the edge of the parapet. “We’re jumping?” she asked.
“We can’t get out through the gates,” he said. “Hold on.”
Cecily’s eyes widened as he launched himself out over the span of the bridge. The wind rushed past as they fell, whipping her hair back, and her stomach twisted. Gripping tight with her legs, she threw her Reach down, Pushing against the ground to slow their descent. She clutched onto him as the ground raced to meet them, closing her eyes at the last second. His knees bent deep as they landed with a loud boom, but he kept his feet and stood.
“There are definitely riders going for that arrow,” he said. “Can you hold on?”
“Yes,” she said and wound her Reach around his chest to pull herself close as he threw himself into a run, his feet pounding across the bridge.
His speed took her breath away, the rush of the wind buffeting her as he ran. In seconds, they were across the chasm and on the open plain on the far side. He turned, veering in the direction of the arrow. It felt like racing through a black tunnel, the darkness closing in on them from either side.
The sound of horses reached her ears, and soon six riders emerged from the gloom. Daro ran harder, his feet pounding against the ground as Cecily struggled to hold on.
The riders stopped ahead of them and one dismounted. Cecily watched him pick something up from the ground and swing himself back up on his horse. He turned and put his heels to his mount, galloping back toward the Attalonian camp.
