Chapter 15
Aliya
Zadé reached the top of the rise and came to a halt, her arm to the side, fist clenched in the universal sign to stop.
Aliya drew up beside her, eyebrows furrowed as she scanned the valley below. “What is it?”
The trail was clear, except where a torched evergreen lay across it at the bottom of the hill. Right behind the log was a boulder larger than the royal stables. It was a perfect ambush spot.
“That tree was felled by lightning,” Aliya said, waving toward the blackened frayed stump. “It looks recent, probably earlier this summer.” She shrugged. “Thunderstorms aren’t uncommon here that time of year.
Zadé pressed her lips into a thin line as she jumped off her horse and pretended to rummage in her saddlebags. Likely as justification for their sudden stop in case they were being watched. “Prolly, but other travelers would’a been this way a’fore now. They’d’ve cleared the blockage already.”
Fair point. Squinting, Aliya examined the area around the downed tree. There may have been drag marks off to the side of the road, but from this far away, it was hard to tell for certain. “So what do we do? Find another route, or risk springing the trap?”
Zadé flashed her a wicked grin. “Whadda ya think, Princess? Yeh ‘n I can handle a band o’ ruffians better’n most, yeah?”
Well, between Zadé’s fighting skills and Aliya’s magic, that was likely true, as long as she didn’t get into a one-on-one duel with their best swordsman this time. “But what if we’re outnumbered?”
Zadé’s smile expanded until it showed off her fangs. “That’s what makes it fun!”
Leaning over, Aliya grabbed a fistful of the other woman’s sleeve.
“Be serious! We’re two women traveling alone.
You know what will happen to us if we’re overwhelmed by a gang of thugs.
” What had almost happened the last time, when she’d been stabbed and nearly died.
“Elessan isn’t here to kill everyone if I get hurt. ”
Zadé’s smug expression turned crooked. “Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll protect yeh.”
“But I’m the queen! I can’t be captured, or it could mean the ruin of the realm.” And boy, didn’t that sound like something an egotistical, self-centered noblewoman would claim?
Wrinkling her nose, Zadé gaped at her. “Yer gunna let ‘em pack you off all safe-like in a tower, forever protected n’ under guard?” She cracked her knuckles, raised her eyebrow and nodded toward the felled log. “Or do yeh wanna do yer part ta make yer kingdom safer fer the people, Yer Majesty?”
Aliya sighed. Of course, as queen, it was her job to keep the realm’s roads secure for everyone to travel. And Zadé did have a point. They were better equipped to handle brigands than most. “Well, when you put it that way…”
Zadé shot her a dazzling grin. “Excellent!” Swinging back into her saddle with a loud whoop!, she nudged her horse’s ribs with her heels and raced down the hill like a banshee.
“Wait!” With a quick snap of her reins, Aliya chased after the hollering woman. Zadé enjoyed fighting far too much to be entirely sane.
They approached the log and Zadé hunkered down as if she was planning to jump it. A bear of a man stepped into view, bringing them both up short. A medium-sized sword, a little shorter than Elessan’s, dangled from one hand.
Zadé’s horse reared as she pulled back on its bit. “This yer obstacle course?” she asked.
The man lifted his weapon, the movement accentuating his massive biceps as he eyed first Zadé then Aliya like he’d stumbled on an unexpected dessert buffet. One corner of his lips tipped up. “Well, ladies, I suppose it depends on who’s askin’.”
His eyes crawling over Aliya’s skin raised the fine hairs on the back of her neck. The spark of power in her chest jumped as if aching to burn this man where he stood.
“It’s against the law to block the roads,” Aliya said, hating the faint tremor in her voice.
The man relaxed, writing her off as a threat. “Is it, now? Says who?”
Zadé met Aliya’s gaze, her grin couldn’t be wider. Turning to the man, Zadé’s glare pierced his as she said, “Her Majesty, o’ course. Queen Aliya Larimar Cerel.”
Aliya caught the man’s eyes, letting some of the hardness she’d seen in King Malkov’s expressions leak into hers. “Me.” Tugging on the smallest filament of power, she conjured a fireball around her right hand.
Zadé grabbed the pommel of her saddle and in a display of strength that had Aliya’s jaw dropping, raised both legs into the air in a handstand. With the next heartbeat, she backflipped to the ground, landing in a crouch so she could swing one leg out to trip the man.
He lunged back, barely managing to avoid her ankle. “Knife-ears!” he yelled over his shoulder.
The bushes beside to the boulder rustled as three more men emerged. One brandished a club, another a sword longer than the leader’s, and the third held a spear.
Four on two wasn’t the bad odds Aliya had feared, but it was worse than she’d hoped. Without waiting for the robbers to move, she hurled her fireball.
The group scattered as the flames crashed into the bush and exploded against the rock behind them, spraying the foliage. The dried leaves lit up as the fire caught.
One of the men cursed in a language Aliya didn‘t recognize. “Kill the mage!” another screamed, raising his spear over his shoulder and heaving it in her direction.
Freeing her right foot from the stirrup, Aliya tumbled off her mount as it sailed overhead. She slapped her horse on the rump, sending it off to the side and out of harm’s way.
Reaching into her power for another filament, she formed the magic into the shape of a javelin and tossed it back at the man who’d thrown his weapon at her. The burning lance slammed into his torso, pinning him to the ground.
The man screamed as his skin hissed and smoked.
The rancid stench of charred fat permeated the clearing.
A glint of sunlight reflecting off metal flashed in her peripheral vision.
Aliya rolled to the side as a sword sliced through the air where her neck had been half a heartbeat before.
Zadé yelled from behind the human, “Attacking yer queen is treason!”
Aliya clenched her jaw and ripped a chunk of magic from her core, flinging it at the swordsman.
A headache bloomed in the back of her eyes. She was using a lot of power too quickly. Cressida would be disappointed in her.
Pressing her lips into a thin line, she pushed the thought and its accompanying pang of guilt to the back of her mind, where she could stew on it later. Knowing her luck, it would be late at night when she was trying to sleep.
The lightning crackled from her fingers to the blade, then up into the bandit’s arm. His entire body spasmed, his weapon dropping with a clatter. He fell to his knees, black scorch marks branding his flesh as the magic faded.
Zadé did a barrel kick, knocking their leader prone. His head hit a rock with a sickening crack.
Three down, one to go.
The man with the cudgel pulled it over his shoulder and, with a scream, charged at Aliya, apparently judging her to be the bigger threat.
Aliya reached for her power again, bracing for the headache to explode into a migraine.
“Hi-yah!” Zadé swooped in from the side, tripping as she tackled the ruffian.
They rolled. Somehow, Zadé’s fist collided with the man’s forearm. His fingers spasmed as he dropped the club. Her head bounced off the ground, ramming her forehead into his nose, which cracked as blood spurted over both of them.
“Valek!” Zadé muttered. “I didn’t bring an extra shirt!”
Aliya bit the inside of her cheek as the two came to a stop. The man was limp, knocked unconscious.
Zadé stood, brushing the dirt from her trousers with one hand as she pulled the front of her bloody tunic away from her skin.
Aliya raised her eyebrow. “You didn’t pack a backup set of clothing? Given our history?”
Zadé shrugged. “I wanted ta travel light. Plus, wasn’t ‘xpecting ta get in a fight ‘til we hit Brisimin.”
Biting back a snort, Aliya shook her head. “Want one of mine?” They were close enough in size that, while Aliya’s clothes may be a little tight, it’d be wearable.
Half an hour later, Zadé was in a clean shirt. They’d hooked both horses up to the tree and managed to tug it off the road.
“What do we do with them?” Aliya asked as they stood staring at the four bodies.
“Well, we could go ta th’ nearest town ‘n report ‘em, but then we’d hafta reveal yer th’ queen, and that’d blow yer cover for th’ rest o’ the trip.”
And that would undermine the entire point of leaving Aliya’s aunt in charge as she snuck out of the castle.
Plus, word of her presence would likely get back to Lions Grove before they arrived at Brisimin, freed the prisoners, and returned home.
She may well find the nobility in a full-out revolt if that happened.
Aliya shook her head. “No. That won’t do.”
Zadé rolled her shoulders. “We could take half a day, dig some shallow graves ‘n bury ‘em. Gunna be hard ta do without shovels ‘n all, though.”
Aliya’s gaze drifted from the corpses to the burning bush, which had reduced itself to smoldering coals rather than spreading to the surrounding forest. “Can we burn them? Make a pyre?” With her magic, it would be easy.
“An’ risk catchin’ people’s attention with th’ smoke?” Zadé shrugged as she pulled a flask from her saddle bags and took a deep swallow. “Would be faster, but more conspicuous-like. Or we could just leave ‘em here.”
Aliya studied the bodies again. Two of them had burnt skin that peeled and crackled like dry parchment.
It would be obvious to anyone they’d been attacked by a mage.
This wouldn’t be written off as an attempted mugging gone wrong.
It may well start a realm-wide investigation, which was the last thing she needed, even if she was queen.
“No.” She sighed. “Shallow graves it is.” Grabbing the ankles of the man closest to her, she glanced at Zadé. “Come on. Help me get them off the road until we can find somewhere suitable.”