Chapter 76
Hoack and I are the only two standing when my sword shatters the chest of the last rogue. We both slump to the ground in sync with the rogue as he falls lifelessly off my blade.
“Please tell me there are no more on that horizon,” he gasps, clutching one of his nastier gashes along his side.
“There’s not.”
“I’ve never seen them attack in numbers like that,” he says out of breath. “They usually hunt on their own, no more than groups of three.”
Hoack’s memories flash of the rogue attacks he has witnessed and he’s right. This was much more organized—not the hungry frenzy of one or two rogues.
But, why?
My eyes find the sled of supplies I brought and I’m grateful that—
No.
My body tenses as rage fills every inch of me.
Jasper told me there was a rogue attack before it happened. Why?
I think back to the fight I overheard before he sent me here. Something about the King’s Duel Schedule—
I jump to my feet. There’s no hiding the sway in my legs. I am starved.
“What’s wrong, Your Majesty?”
“Hoack, I have to go. Can you—”
“I’ll be fine. Go.”
I disappear into spirit, and it lessens the fatigue, but as I fly toward my castle, I can’t help the feeling that I’m too late.
And my flight is too slow.