Chapter Twenty-Six – Mira
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mira
Mottled green light and dense trees flashed past as we rode. Sometimes I caught a glimpse of the purplish outlines of a mountain range through the canopies. It was thrilling to realise that I was truly in the Wilds now – the unexplored, mysterious reaches far beyond the clan settlements.
I had always wondered why Emperor Kalias had wanted Kalure so badly. I had assumed it was because of the natural magic that was so common here, but it occurred to me that perhaps the Wilds concealed hidden treasures of their own.
‘You seem lighter out here,’ Cassius observed, and I wondered how long he had been watching me.
‘So do you,’ I said, and I was startled to realise it was true.
Cassius usually reminded me of a creature of the court: tall and athletically lean, with tailored clothing and the kind of sigh-worthy features that allowed him to charm anyone he found useful.
But outside the confines of the Ravalian Court or the Temple, there was something softer about him. Something more real.
I studied his hair – longer and adorned with a few stray leaves – and the freckles dusting his pale skin. They were subtle changes, but they made it easier to think of him as a young man rather than a scheming prince. Maybe too easy.
I thought of what he had told me in the Temple hot springs. The sincerity in his face as he had said it. When this war is over, and Kalure is truly yours, I want us to be together, Mira. I want us to at least try .
I looked away from Cassius very quickly, and I set a punishing pace after that – though no one complained.
Jadis and Odessa kept pace with me easily, the dirt road wide enough for us to ride comfortably next to each other.
Twenty clansmen followed at a slight distance, guarding the cart piled high with our provisions.
All three thousand clan warriors had gathered to witness my send-off at the Temple, bowing deeply as I passed through their ranks.
Such a different response to a few weeks earlier, when they had surrounded the sandstone walls, refusing to let anyone leave.
Refusing to take a single order from their queen.
But any satisfaction I might have felt was cold and dead in my veins. Tainted by V?lund’s murder.
And the memory of the warmth on Nari’s face.
That undeserved warmth was the reason I had ordered her to stay behind. Not to protect the Temple as I had claimed, but because it was too difficult to be around her, knowing that every pleasant interaction, every obeyed order, was a lie. She hadn’t mentioned Cassius once.
‘Ruling is all about making hard choices,’ Odessa said softly to me, reading my thoughts far too well.
I forced a smile, wondering if she realised how similar she sounded to Cassius. To Velanthe.
I hadn’t told anyone the high priestess’s parting advice.
I doubted Cassius would be pleased that she had asked me to use blood magic on the Council of Ancients – not just because of the consequences if I failed, but also because of the strain it would take on my health.
I sometimes caught him casting me careful glances, and he didn’t know about the nosebleeds I was still having.
We turned the corner and I abruptly reined in my horse, conscious of my companions doing the same. Silence descended, interrupted only by the chirp of distant birds and the impatient pawing and snorting of the horses . . .
And something else. A strange, hollow sound that drew me closer.
‘Is that – are those bones ?’
I didn’t glance over my shoulder at Odessa. Didn’t look away from the white shards tied to the branches above me – like morbid wind chimes.
‘It’s a warning.’ Thoren’s deep voice made me turn. The clan head was studying the bones with uncharacteristic wariness. ‘We should take a different route.’
‘Velanthe’s instructions were clear,’ I reminded him. ‘This is the path that leads to the Council of Ancients. If we take a different one, we risk losing our way. And we can’t afford any delays.’
Cassius drew his large black stallion up alongside my smaller grey mare, regarding the bones – and Thoren – with an assessing gaze. ‘What aren’t you telling us?’
‘Strange rumours surround the deepest parts of the Wilds,’ Thoren said shortly, looking only at me.
‘Tales of magic and dark rituals and missing people. Before V?lund became clan leader, his predecessor decided to expand our reach and build a settlement in these forests. Not a single man or woman returned.’
His words echoed what I had once heard about Emperor Kalias’s forces.
He had sent an entire regiment into the deepest parts of the Wilds, and not even those hardened Warriors had made it back.
What had my mother said to me once? Some places, and magic, are too powerful to be conquered or controlled.
But I wasn’t here to conquer or control anyone. I was here to protect these forests and the people within them from Roran. To do whatever it took to save my country.
‘V?lund met with the Council of Ancients,’ I pointed out. ‘He survived the journey.’
‘V?lund was invited to come here, and a representative from the council escorted him safely to their meeting place. Without such an understanding . . .’ Thoren didn’t need to finish the sentence.
I glanced at the bones again. If I disregarded this warning, would I get everyone with me killed?
Yet the fate of Kalure depended on my success. I had to find the Council of Ancients, no matter the cost to myself or the people around me.
‘Stay close,’ I instructed my companions as I passed beneath the bones. They clinked eerily, a sound that seemed to echo through the forest – suggesting that there were plenty more ahead of us. To Thoren, I said, ‘Tell the clansmen to close ranks and expect an attack.’
I heard the sound of retreating hoofbeats, then the unmistakable hiss of steel sliding free as Thoren recounted my orders to the clansmen. Jadis took Thoren’s place with a nod at me. Her grip tightened on her crossbow, as if to say, I’m ready for anything .
I squeezed my legs and my horse responded immediately, shifting into a brisk walk – almost as if it was eager to leave this place behind. That made two of us, though I doubted our destination would be any better.
‘I don’t understand Kalure,’ Cassius muttered from my other side. ‘If a Ravalian ruler was travelling through their kingdom, they could expect to be greeted with hospitality and obedience. Not–’ he waved a hand at the dark, uninviting path in front of us– ‘whatever this is.’
‘You sound concerned, Cassius,’ I drawled. ‘Don’t worry; I’ll protect you.’
I urged my horse into a trot, my hair streaming out behind me. The sound of Odessa’s laughter chased me into the bone forest.
By sunset, every inch of my body felt sore, and my stomach was cramping with hunger. Though it was far more temperate on this side of the Archasian mountains, the rain was icy; it dripped through the leaves and slid down the back of my neck, leaving an uncomfortable chill in its wake.
‘We should set up camp soon,’ Cassius said, his eyes wary as he looked at the skulls dangling from trees.
Thoren sent two scouts ahead – to search for a sheltered clearing large enough to accommodate us and far enough from the road to be hidden. The longer their absence, the more insistent my feeling of unease became.
Flickers of movement danced in my peripheral vision, making my hand tighten around the sword strapped to my waist. But whenever I turned to look, all I saw were the shadowy shapes of retreating animals and the glowing eyes of sharp-beaked birds watching us from nearby branches.
I am the most frightening thing in these trees , I told myself. I wasn’t sure I believed it.
Thoren finally came back into view and led us into a clearing filled with white wildflowers that resembled snow. I immediately saw what had delayed him; his scouts were checking a series of wooden huts that sprawled across the clearing and extended into the treeline. And above those huts . . .
It was like being back at the treetop village near the Temple. The same style of dwellings were built into the trees, artfully connected by wooden bridges and platforms, the light of the sunset filtering down and casting them in a reddish haze.
Yet there were no faces peering curiously or warily out from those homes. No whispers or distant hum of conversation.
I rode over to where Thoren had already dismounted, conversing in a low voice with his scouts.
‘What happened to the people?’ I asked the clan head. ‘Are there any signs of a struggle?’
‘None,’ Thoren replied. ‘It’s possible they moved on.’
I studied the village around me. It was eerily intact, raising the obvious question: why would they leave? Was it possible they had discovered our presence and fled? But if they had–
Thoren must have had the same thought. He bent down to examine the soil, searching for footprints.
‘Animal tracks,’ he said, looking up at me. ‘Fresh ones.’
‘Some of those tracks are quite large,’ Cassius observed, his horse snorting as he reined in next to me. ‘Do you think it’s safe to camp here?’
The clan head shrugged his massive shoulders.
‘I don’t see why not. We can start a fire – that should deter any wolves or other predators, and if it doesn’t, our weapons can do the rest. I will position my warriors in a perimeter, and those treetop dwellings will be a good vantage point for the night watch. ’
‘Fine,’ I said, when it became clear Thoren was waiting for my agreement.
Once he strode off to take care of those practicalities, I gratefully slid off my horse – only to realise too late that all the strength seemed to have left my limbs.
Steady hands took hold of me before I could fall in an ungraceful heap, one hand around my waist and the other settling against my lower back. The warmth of Cassius’s touch burned through my sodden clothes and into my skin.