Sinner by Sara Douglass. Book One of The Wayfarer Redemption

But Leagh could not quite believe that Drago had killed RiverStar, despite the vision WolfStar had conjured. And despite his aura of diffidence, Leagh truly thought that Drago cared for Zenith. He could not have done her harm.

Yet none of this solved the problem of Zenith’s disappearance. Where was –

There was a knock at the door, and Leagh jumped. Hurriedly stuffing her hair into a cap, she opened the door to find Duke Theod standing there.

He bowed theatrically. “My Lady? May I escort you to your mount?”

Leagh smiled, for she liked Theod, and the thought of a week or more in his company was no hardship.

Then her smiled died a little, for behind Theod stood Askam, and though Leagh loved her brother, he was so closely tied to her loss of Zared that his presence made her heart ache.

“Leagh,” he said gently as she exited her chamber. “I am sorry that Caelum and I have caused you so much sorrow, but -”

“But say no more,” Leagh said, and laid a finger on his mouth, “for to do so would only break my heart. Leave it, Askam. I will accept in time.”

He nodded. “Would you like me to come down to the courtyard?”

She smiled, knowing that even though Askam hated Zared, he truly did feel for her own pain. “No. Wave me farewell from the parapets. When will you come home to Carlon?”

Askam shrugged. “Caelum wants me to stay for a while, lead a few more patrols through the Urqhart Hills in case -” his eyes slid fractionally towards Theod, “- any track has been overlooked.”

“I assure you, my Lord,” Theod said stiffly, “that Herme and I were most thorough.”

“I am sure you were,” Askam soothed. “But Caelum wants to be certain. What if Drago hid in the Keep for a few hours, and then slipped out after your patrol had left?”

“Is Caelum up?” Leagh asked.

“Yes, but he is closeted with FreeFall and Isfrael, who also depart within the hour,” Askam said. “Sa’Domai left late last night. Caelum asked me to farewell you for him.” Askam kissed her on one cheek, then the other. “There, that’s from Caelum, and that’s from me.”

“My Lord, my Lady,” Theod said, “the sun grows warm, and we have a long way to go.”

“Farewell,” Askam whispered, kissing Leagh’s cheek once more, then he turned to Theod. “Do not lose her,” he said, his voice hard, “for she is precious to me.”

No doubt, thought Theod, but he bowed. “I will take the utmost care of her, my Lord. I know her value.”

Then he had Leagh by the elbow, and they were descending the stairs.

Despite her sadness over Zared, and her worries about Zenith, Leagh found that her heart lifted as they exited the Keep and clattered over the bridge.

“Farewell, lovely Leagh!” the bridge cried, and Leagh laughed.

“Farewell to thee also, fair bridge. May your arches never crumble.”

“And your spirits never falter,” the bridge responded, and then Leagh, with Herme to one side and Theod to the other, was over the bridge and into the blue mists.

They rode south for many hours, then turned slightly east, heading for the trail that would lead them through the southern Urqhart Hills to Jervois Landing. They broke clear of the mist mid-afternoon, to find the hills bathed in sunshine and the skies awash with migrating brown Skelder birds, heading south from the Icescarp Alps towards their wintering fields in Coroleas.

“You always know when autumn bites deep,” Herme remarked, his eyes to the sky, “when the Skelder birds abandon Tencendor.”

Yet even though it was DeadLeaf-month, the sun was still strong, and Leagh let her cloak flare back from her shoulders in the westerly wind.

“Theod, will you take the riverboat south with us at Jervois Landing, or will you ride west to your home estates?”

Theod hesitated, glancing at Herme. “I still have to make my plans, Leagh. I will stay with you a while yet, though.”

Leagh nodded, and let the topic slide. It would be a ride of perhaps two or three days to Jervois Landing, and at the moment she was so excited at the thought that they would camp this evening in the ruins of Hsingard that she could think of little else.

Hsingard had once been a lovely and substantial stone city, the capital of Ichtar. But during Axis’ war with Gorgrael, the Destroyer’s Skraelings had invaded it, destroyed it, and built themselves massive breeding hatcheries in its basements. In some wondrous manner that Leagh did not quite understand, Azhure had in a single night destroyed all the Skraelings and hatchlings, and now Hsingard lay a sad sprawl of tumbled ruins.

There might be no life in it, but it made a good camp site.

Four of Herme and Theod’s men stretched canvas covers over several piles of stones, creating a spacious and deeply shadowed shelter removed from the camp of the thirty-six men of the escort. Leagh sat and watched as Theod made a fire. A man fetched food from one of the packs on the supply mules, and within a half-hour of pulling their horses into the ruins everyone was seated, eating.

There was little conversation. It had been a hard ride to get from Sigholt to Hsingard in one day and Leagh soon found herself wishing Herme and Theod would move off to their sleeping rolls so she could curl up and get as much rest as she could on the hard ground. But they seemed curiously reluctant, even when the rest of the camp had settled for the night, and they sat tossing sticks into the fire, and occasionally looking about into the night.

“Gentlemen, are you afraid that there are Skraelings left within the ruins?”

Herme jumped slightly, and looked at Leagh. “Nay, sweet lady. It’s just that you never know whether or not brigands might creep by in the night, and -”

“You have posted no guards.”

“Foolish of us,” Herme said, and turned to Theod. “Why didn’t you think of that?”

“Me? I… ah…”

Theod was saved from further comment by the sound of a distant horse.

Leagh tensed a little. “Who could that be?”

“I’ll look,” Theod said hurriedly, rising and walking off into the night.

Leagh noticed he hadn’t taken his sword. “Herme, what’s going on?”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Herme said soothingly, and was about to say something more when they heard Theod talking quietly with someone in the distance.

Herme hesitated, then rose to his feet. “Leagh, stay here. Whatever happens, do not move.”

And he was gone.

Leagh pulled her cloak about her nervously and stared before her. Despite Herme’s caution, she was tempted to move further back into the ruins. The only thing that stopped her was the thought that she didn’t know what might be behind her, awaiting her arrival.

Whoever Theod had found to talk to had now been joined by Herme. Leagh could hear low voices, now so far away she couldn’t really distinguish them.

They stopped, and she tensed.

Silence.

Then the sound of someone walking towards her.

She swallowed, suddenly aware of how vulnerable she was. The nearest forms of sleeping solders were at least twenty paces away, and the cul-de-sac of tumbled stones that the men had stretched a canvas over for her was as much a trap as it was a shelter.

The steps came closer, and slowly she rose to her feet, prepared to run if she had to.

Then she froze, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

Zared had stepped into the flickering circle of firelight.

“Hello, Leagh,” he said. “May I join you?”

She just stared stupidly.

“Leagh?” He stepped forward.

“What are you doing here?” Shock had made her voice harsh, and Zared faltered.

“Leagh?”

“Zared… what are you doing here?”

He grinned, and walked around the fire towards her. “That is a stupid question to ask the man who loves you.”

And then he had his arms wrapped about her, and was kissing her, but Leagh was still too shocked and bewildered to play the lover, and she pushed her hands against his chest until her mouth was free.

“Zared, what are you -”

He sighed, and his arms loosened a little. “I said I would fight for you, Leagh… but I didn’t realise the battle would be so hard.”

“But-”

“Theod and Herme said they would bring you to Hsingard. I’ve been waiting here for some three or four days.”

“Why?”

Zared sighed. “Why do you think? Did you accept Caelum’s decision?”

“We have no choice, Zared. Caelum is -”

“Do we have no choice?” he interrupted softly, then his hand was buried in her hair and he stopped her protests with a kiss that was considerably deeper and more thorough than the last.

“Come back to Severin with me,” he whispered eventually. “Come with me and be my wife.”