Crow’s lips pressed together for a moment, then he slowly nodded. “You’re right. I did you an injustice. I’d spent so many years refusing to be Tarrant Hawkins that even though I knew you were my brother, I couldn’t be your brother. Too much pain there, too.”
“I guess I can understand that.” The elder Hawkins chewed his lower lip. “No one in the family believed the charges against you. Even though Father would not speak of you, the rest of us did, secretly. I know he didn’t believe them, though. I think after he took your mask, he learned the truth.”
Crow shook his head. “Our father had his own reasons for doing what he did. How is . . . How are they?”
“Father died about six years ago. In his sleep. Mother lives with Ellice now. Everyone else is well.” He smiled weakly. “We will have time to talk about them on the road.”
“Perhaps we will.” Crow nodded, stiffly at first, but easing. “I have spent more time being Crow than I ever did being your little brother. It will take time for me to get used to that role again.”
“The day you left Valsina you stopped being my little brother. I saw it when we met at Fortress Draconis. A little brother I don’t need. A friend and comrade I know and trust, on the other hand.”
Crow extended his left hand and took his brother’s flesh-and-blood hand in a firm grip. “Agreed.”
Sallitt nodded to Alexia. “Thank you, Highness. I will leave you two. I have things to take care of. Good luck, Princess.”
“And you, Colonel.”
The meckanshii departed quietly despite being half-metal. Alexia smiled at Crow. “I think it is good you spoke with him.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I know your family was important to you and renewing those ties will be good.”
Crow sighed. “I hope you are right. Here and now, though, it is my new family that most concerns me.”
“It made me happy to be included in it.”
“You are it.”
“No, you included Resolute, who can take care of himself, and Will.” She reached up and tucked a long lock of white hair behind his ear. “Speaking of whom, Will might want to talk to you about Sayce. Do him a favor and listen.”
Crow looked up from tightening the cinch strap around his horse’s middle. “What is going on? What have I missed?”
“He and Princess Sayce have become close. Parting will not be easy for them.” Alyx choked down a lump in her throat. “It’s not going to be easy for me, either.”
“I know.” Crow nodded, then crossed to her and reached out to brush his left thumb over her right cheekbone. Alexia half closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against his palm. “Alexia, I have been dreading this parting more than I dreaded being executed in Oriosa, more than I have dreaded anything else in my life.”
He gave her a thin smile and brought his right hand up on her shoulder. “There was a time—there were decades, in fact—when going out to do what we’re going to do meant nothing to me. Not because I’m stupid or I was suicidal; it was just because that was what I did. It was the life I’d chosen—or the life that had chosen me, I don’t know which. Resolute and I would just go out to harass Chytrine’s forces and if we didn’t return, it was another oath broken, another prophecy tested and proved false.
“I never thought my life empty until you came into it and made me want more than just Chytrine’s destruction. I still want that, yes, but I want it because it means there will be a future for the world, for us, for our heirs.”
A jolt ran through her. “You would want to have children with me?”
“After all this is over, Will should be able to take care of himself. Resolute will have a homeland to deal with, so I’ll be at loose ends.”
“Don’t joke about that, Crow, please.”
“Forgive me. I’m not joking.”
Again his thumb stroked her cheek. It felt rough, but strong, like the rest of him, and Alyx knew their children would possess his strength and hers. They would stand tall, be brave and intelligent, relentless in the pursuit of that which would make the world better. Her right hand came up to cover his on her cheek, and her left hand strayed to her middle.
She immediately thought of how she had run her hand down her belly to shock her aunt. This time, though, she wanted to feel a swelling. She wanted to feel life beginning within her.
That shook her. Her entire life had been spent in training. She had been forged into a tool to liberate her homeland. Yes, she had thought of being married, having children, but that was always something that would occur after the liberation. As with many other nobles and warrior-women, she had an elven charm on an anklet that prevented pregnancy, because children would be an unnecessary complication in her life.
But now, here, with Crow, she wanted them. As she thought about their having children, she could see them all, at different stages of life. An infant sleeping on Crow’s chest, a daughter astride a horse, shrieking with delight, her gold hair flying, and a son, too young to need to shave very often, but already tall and clean-limbed and dressed in mail, ready for war to defend his nation. All these visions and more came to her in an instant.
“Princess?”
Crow’s soft inquiry brought her back. She blinked then, capturing his hand in hers, she turned her head and kissed his palm. “I want that, too, you know. I will have children by you, Crow, whether I’m the Queen of Okrannel or just a wandering soldier of fortune traveling with the man she loves.”
His smile split white beard and moustaches. “Oh, we will have children, my love, as many as you want. And they will go on to do great things. What we accomplish will be as nothing compared to what they will do.”
The truth of what Crow was saying struck her as undeniable, even though she knew that Chytrine, her hordes, and countless other forces stood in opposition to them and their dreams. Somehow, though, just his saying it created that future and it became an objective she would reach. No one would deny them that future.
“I know you are right, beloved.” She squeezed his left hand, then slid forward into a hug. “I will miss you terribly. Only knowing that we will be together again, together to start our family and raise it, will make our parting bearable.”
He squeezed her tightly to him and she sank into that warm embrace. “There’s the trick of it, Princess. You and I, and everyone here, we’re fighting for a future of hope. The only way you kill hope is to kill everything. There’s little doubt Chytrine would be willing to go that far, but even she can’t do that much damage.”
“Unless she gets the DragonCrown back together.”
A shiver ran through Crow. “Yet one more reason to stop her here in Muroso.”
Alexia pulled back. “You will be careful out there, won’t you?”
He nodded. “No unnecessary risks.”
She gave him a stern look. “You have traveled with Resolute. What you two consider necessary risk would cause Kedyn’s heart to quail.”
Crow snorted and kissed her on the forehead. “I will be careful. You best be as well.”
“I promise, beloved.” Alexia gave him a sly grin. “After all, we’d best be setting a proper example for our children, starting right now.”
“Exactly.” Crow smiled at her. “I love you, Alexia. I will return to you. Ours is the future, and no one and nothing will take it away.”
CHAPTER 52
F or Erlestoke and his people, finding the northern gate to Sarengul shattered was both good and bad. On the good side was the fact that they could not be denied entry, and any shelter from the cold would be welcome. For two weeks they had traveled south and a little east, with hunting parties driving them on. The mountain halls of the urZrethi homeland would let them move faster and, with any luck, escape their pursuers.
But escape into what?
Jullagh-tse Seegg had followed signs invisible to Erlestoke and had brought them through a narrow mountain valley that led to the gate. Snow choked the small cul-de-sac and had there been bodie
s left behind from defenders and attackers, they had been firmly blanketed in white. Snow likewise decorated the carvings around the circular gateway, frosting the stone urZrethi warriors engaged to drive off a dragon. While that representation was hopeful, the fact that the gate lay broken beneath the arch undermined any good feeling.
Jullagh-tse stepped forward, tentatively, on her long legs. She peered into the shadowed interior, then came back to report to the others. “I see nothing but snow, smell nothing at all, and hear nothing but the light whistle of wind. This was just one of many traveler gates. Could be attackers are further inside, but the defenders could have cut things off.”
The prince frowned. “But the fact that the gate has not been retaken, and that we see no signs of recent fighting, is not good. I don’t really want to think about what it took to open the gate.”
Ryswin pointed at the gate with his bow. “Strong as it would have been, enough pounding by a dragonel would have opened it.”
“Might be,” Verum offered. He pointed toward the high sides of the canyon. “By the same token, the Sarens would have emerged up there and slaughtered troops on the ground. That means the Aurolani took to the heights, ambushed the Sarens, then pushed on in. If they had urZrethi help . . .”
Jullagh-tse shook her head adamantly. “No urZrethi would betray his homeland.”
“Don’t need Sarens to do it, Jullagh-tse. You remember the old stories about the urZrethi left behind in Boragul forming an alliance with Chytrine?” Ryswin shook his head slowly. “They’d know what sort of defenses had been set up. They lead troops to the right places, and ambushes will succeed.”
The urZrethi hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “If that is true, if they had Boras to lead them and help plan, things could have gone badly. If the Boras came claiming to be escaped slaves, they would have been welcomed and could have worked from the inside to cause more trouble.”
Jancis Ironside looked over at Erlestoke. “What is your plan, Highness?”
Erlestoke unslung his quadnel from his shoulder. “We’ll leave fewer tracks in there than we will out here, and going through the mountains is preferable to going over them. The state of affairs in Sarengul is also going to be important to assess. We will need to send a report on it via arcanslata. They need to know down south what is going on.”
The elven archer narrowed his blue eyes. “Given what we carry, is entering a realm where the enemy might be in control a wise idea?”
“Probably not, but moving through the mountains is even less so.” Erlestoke looked around at the company. The three elves and one urZrethi had weathered the two-hundred-mile journey fairly well. Jilandessa had clearly had the toughest time of it, but that was because she was doing a lot to keep everyone else healthy. The others—old and young, human and meckanshii—had been sorely tested by the trip. Erlestoke could barely remember when he’d last felt warm, and he couldn’t recall when his muscles didn’t ache. Discussions over cold meals had become centered on hot ones, and spirits in the company had slowly begun to ebb.
The prince pointed his draconette toward the dark hole in the mountainside. “We’ve been running for over two weeks. We’ve been lucky in avoiding our pursuit, and Sarengul is going to give us a good chance to leave them behind. If we are able to kill some Aurolani and help the Sarens, I have no trouble with that. If they choose to help us in return, we are far better off than struggling through the mountains. We go in as a team, as we have done throughout.”
The elf nodded. He and Finnrisia, the other elven archer, moved to the fore, stepping lightly over the snow and leaving no tracks Erlestoke could read. The rest of the company crunched after them, unlimbering quadnels. They fitted lengths of slow-match cord to the firelock, then let Verum ignite the ends so that the weapons were prepared for use.
The two elves mounted the steps to the opening, then Finnrisia ducked inside. After a couple of seconds Ryswin joined her. Jullagh-tse quickly entered after that, then the urZrethi reappeared in the opening and waved the others through.
The light reflected from the snow illuminated the hall, revealing small drifts and a few bodies frozen in death. Erlestoke spotted a couple of gibberers, a vylaen, two urZrethi, and a crawl, as well as enough debris scattered deep in the hallway to suggest that a dragonel or a charge of firedirt had been used to open the gateway.
As Verum directed warriors to secure cover, Erlestoke turned to Jullagh-tse. “Any suggestions for where we go from here?”
She pointed along the main hallway, which headed east. “This route will connect with one of the grand corridors. It will head north and south. I’ve been on part of it, but only coming up from the south. There it connects with the other major route that runs northeast-southwest, from Muroso to Nybal. It will be the most direct route, and the most likely place for us to meet resistance.”
“Are there alternate routes?”
She nodded. “All along the grand routes there are villages and towns. Some have the grand routes running through them, so they are built all around them, above and below and to all sides. Other villages are removed from them, with their own roads. There are routes down to the mines, or to the springs. The mountains have a web of trails that are known, and probably an equal number that are hidden.
“The problem is this: invaders could move through the grand route without ever having to see any of the outlying villages, and those villages could block a tunnel so that it would take forever for an invading force to open it. With access to stores and water, a village could survive a siege for months, if not years, and would always have a route out to the skyside.”
The prince rubbed a hand over his new-grown beard. “If someone decides not to let us pass, we could be trapped. Worse, we could be lured into a trap. Seems moving along the larger routes and seeking smaller if we need to is going to be our best bet right now.”
Jullagh-tse nodded. “The heartening thing is this: we have not seen Aurolani reinforcements heading this way. Chytrine must think she has the Sarens defeated or contained. The Aurolani troops think there is no one coming in behind them, else they would have left guards. If we are cautious, we might get through this.”
“It is something to hope for, yes.”
The prince stood and signaled for everyone to move out to the east. He took pride as his soldiers moved from point of cover to point of cover, with the elves going first and the urZrethi bringing up the rear. As they moved deeper into the mountains the amount of light faded, such that elven vision was very helpful. The others moved up smartly, investigating homes and halls as they went.
The devastation could be easily seen. Dark bloodstained walls, and the stench of death permeated the air. Jilandessa used a little magick to see what she could learn about some of the victims, but all her spells told her was that they had been dead for a long time—not quite as long as her people had been on the road, but close.
The injuries inflicted, and the victims, testified to the savagery of the attack. Children had died clutched in the arms of mothers. One child had been killed by the same draconette shot that slew her mother. As had been the urZrethi tradition, the dead lay where they fell, but Erlestoke was fairly certain that the Aurolani assault would have made it impossible to recover bodies, even if that were the urZrethi way.
The Aurolani had not invaded with impunity. Bodies of their dead littered the hallways, but not nearly enough to make Erlestoke take heart. He’d kept a rough tally in his head of urZrethi warrior fatalities to those of the enemy, and the ratio proved depressing—overwhelmingly so when he factored in the civilian bodies. The Aurolani forces had come through, and an orgy of butchery had followed.
Once they reached the intersection with the north—south route, the numbers of bodies shrank appreciably. Erlestoke guessed that once the gate had been breached, alarms had gone out, and the people who lived around the grand routes were evacuated deeper into the mountains. By doing that the Sarens could avoid casualties and, if they were lucky, let the Aurolan
i pass through.
Late in the afternoon they found a small complex of rooms that had been abandoned. While the Aurolani had looted it, they had been haphazard. Jullagh-tse located some stores of wood, food, and wine, and they were able to seal the door. That night they enjoyed a hot meal and managed to get some rest in warmth.
A warm breakfast and good night’s sleep helped revitalize the company. Morale was slowly climbing and remarks were made about pursuing the Aurolani instead of slinking away from them. Everyone replenished their provisions and the squad moved out cautiously.
That second day passed uneventfully. Erlestoke could feel how anxious everyone was to move quickly, for the route they took was wide, tall, and largely without sign of conflict. Yes, the Aurolani had taken to defecating on anything that could even vaguely be considered ornamental, but even having feces smeared over murals did little to spoil the majesty of Sarengul’s Grand Corridor. The sculptures that decorated pillars and defined balustrades defied desecration. It made Erlestoke imagine that while the Aurolani might take control of Sarengul, they would never truly possess it—and that it would welcome those who came to liberate it.
That second day ended in another way station where they again found stores of food, drink, and fuel. It struck Erlestoke as a bit odd that those who had evacuated the area had not come back in the wake of the Aurolani advance either to secure or to poison these supplies. Jullagh-tse offered no answer as to why that had not happened, but the supplies proved to be untainted, so the group spent another night in relative comfort and safety.
On the third day, however, any illusion of safety vanished as they came upon the reason no urZrethi had ventured into the Grand Corridor. The route had run south and Jullagh-tse indicated they were getting close to one of the larger towns and an intersection with more roads similar to the one through which they’d entered. Even before the dim lights allowed them to see what had happened, they could smell it and, worse yet, hear things feeding upon the aftermath.