Leith’s mouth quirked. “That’s probably why he didn’t pounce right away and sat watching you instead. You didn’t look like any dead goat he’d ever seen.”
Perhaps it was the relief that they were all alive and unhurt. Maybe it was the image of the mountain lion cocking its head in puzzlement, trying to figure out why two dead goats were taking a bath in a waterfall. Renna couldn’t help it. A giggle wormed up her throat and out her mouth. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
Leith stared at her as if the mountain lion had made off with her sanity. Renna didn’t care. When had she last laughed like this?
22
As dusk settled around the meadow, Renna sat near Leith around the small campfire he’d deemed it safe enough to risk. He and Shadrach were discussing what to do if Shadrach’s Resistance contact didn’t show up in the next few days. She glanced toward the trees where Jamie and Brandi brushed each of the horses in turn.
Blizzard’s head jerked up. The horse froze, ears pricked towards the northwest, a tuft of grass sticking forgotten out of his mouth.
Leith tensed. His eyes darted around their clearing. “Someone’s coming. Take cover near the horses.”
Renna hurried across the clearing. Jamie was already motioning Brandi into cover behind a large tree. Renna leaned against a tree near Blizzard and peered at the clearing. Had a Blade discovered them?
Shadrach and Leith took a stand behind the first row of trees in front of the horses. Leith had knives in both of his hands, his eyes hard, while Shadrach strung his bow and nocked an arrow to the string. Jamie crept into position beside Leith and also pulled out a pair of knives.
Renna shuddered. All of them, even Jamie, were prepared to fight, and perhaps kill, to protect her and Brandi. Would it come to that?
“It could be the person who’s supposed to meet us.” Shadrach fixed his gaze on the tree line across the meadow.
“Or it could be a Blade that stumbled on our camp.” Leith’s gaze darted back and forth.
Renna held her breath. A danger or a friend? She trembled. A swarm of Blades might burst from the trees at any moment.
Blizzard snorted softly, his eyes fixated on the trees across the meadow. A dark brown horse broke from cover, its rider an indistinct mass on its back. He halted his horse by their fire ring and swung down. Renna caught sight of the quiver of arrows and unstrung bow strapped to his back. A sword glinted among the packs on his saddle. He didn’t look like a Blade. They never carried any other weapons besides knives.
“Hello the clearing!” The man’s voice boomed against the surrounding rock face.
Shadrach grinned, placed the arrow back in his quiver, and unstrung his bow. “He’s one of ours.” Stepping from his place behind a tree, Shadrach strode towards the stranger. “Hello yourself!”
Renna tiptoed out of hiding as Shadrach and the man shook hands. Leith’s hands, still gripping his knives, hovered above his sheathes. He glanced at her. She shrugged, not sure what to tell him.
Shadrach waved them forward, a grin splitting his face. Brandi bounded from the trees towards the newcomer. Renna started forward. Even if the man was a threat, she wasn’t going to leave Brandi out there by herself. Behind her, two sets of knives whispered into their leather sheathes.
“And this is Renna.” Shadrach tugged her forward. “This is Walter Esroy. He used to serve in the army before Respen took over. He’s going to be your guide to Eagle Heights.”
Walter bowed towards Renna. He looked to be in his mid-fifties with abundant wrinkles and sparse patches of hair covering the back of his head. Equally sparse bristles dotted his cheeks and chin. Muscles still clung to his stocky frame, proving time hadn’t diminished his skills. His blue eyes danced with merriment, though Renna detected a sharp edge to them. Beneath the happy exterior, this man could be deadly. She smiled at him. “It’s a pleasure to—”
Before she could get any farther, Walter’s arm swept her behind him while his other hand yanked his sword from its sheath. “Shad, behind you!”
Her pulse ticking with fear, Renna peered around Walter’s back. She spotted Leith standing halfway between them and the trees, his hands in front of him, palms up, to show he wasn’t a threat. She breathed out a sigh. No danger.
Shadrach spun, then relaxed. “He’s on our side.”
Walter straightened and stuck his sword back in its sheath. “I heard you had turned a Blade, but I didn’t put much stock in those rumors.”
“They’re true, but the less everyone knows, the better.” Shadrach glanced at Leith, who crossed his arms.
Renna swallowed. What if King Respen heard those rumors and pieced the truth together? Currently he believed that the former First Blade was the spy and still living with the Resistance. If the king ever learned that Leith was the real spy…Renna’s stomach churned. Leith risked torture and death each time he returned to Respen’s castle.
If only Leith could go all the way with them to the Resistance hideout in the mountains. He’d be safe there. He’d never have to return to King Respen’s castle. He could keep her and Brandi safe.
She shook her head. He had too much courage to join her in taking the coward’s way out.
23
The next morning, Leith saddled the brown horse Renna would be riding, checking and re-checking the saddle, the girth strap, the bridle.
A lump settled into his stomach and clogged the back of his throat. After today, he might never see Renna again. While Respen yet reigned, she could never return.
Until his secret was discovered, Leith couldn’t leave.
And if Respen discovered his deception, Leith wouldn’t able to leave. He’d most likely end up chained to the wall in the top room of the Blade’s tower, tortured until he begged for death, then killed by whatever Blade Respen ordered to do the deed. A sour taste twisted his stomach.
He drew in a deep breath. Until the time came, he couldn’t dwell on thoughts of capture. He had to believe God would bless his efforts and would provide a means of escape. In the Bible story, God had protected Daniel in the den of lions. He’d protect Leith in the den of Blades he faced.
Leith led the brown horse into the clearing, patting its neck. Near the campfire’s ashes, Jamie held Sunshine, the palomino Brandi had adopted as her own at Walden. Still holding the horse’s reins, Leith straddled one of the logs, motioning for Jamie to sit also. Jamie perched on the next log, eyeing him. Leith met Jamie’s gaze. “You can go with them. You’d be safe with the Resistance.”
Jamie looked down. He toyed with the palomino’s reins, twisting them over and through his fingers. When he met Leith’s gaze once again, Jamie’s jaw tightened. “No. I’m going to stay with you. I know I almost messed up last time, but I won’t do it again.”
Leith patted Jamie’s shoulder. He was volunteering to face the same terror Leith struggled to face. He’d have to do a man’s job and have a man’s courage, but he was up to the task.
Jamie tilted his head towards the lean-to. “Do you think they’ll be all right?”
“They should be.” Leith adjusted his grip on the reins as the brown horse tugged away from the cleared dirt towards a patch of grass. “I ordered the Blades to stay to the west, and I haven’t seen any sign that they’ve wandered back this way yet. And God will protect them.”
“How can you be sure?” Jamie chucked the half-burned end of a branch into their fire ring. “He didn’t protect my parents.”
Leith shifted and stared at his boots. What had Renna, Shad, and Brandi told him all those months ago when he’d been searching? One of them would know something wise to tell Jamie.
“There’s a lot of darkness and pain in this life, and we don’t always understand why things happen. But that’s where trust comes in. We have to trust that God can see the full landscape better than we can.”
Jamie’s eyes and chin still drooped with a frown.
What could Leith tell him that would make sense? And not sound like empty words? Br
andi would come up with some Bible story. Leith would have to make do with the ones he knew. “The Daniel stories in the Bible wouldn’t be miracles if Daniel wasn’t thrown into the lions’ den and his friends weren’t thrown into the furnace. As much as we might not like it, we can’t skip the lions’ den part to get to the happy part.”
Jamie chewed on his bottom lip and nodded.
With the rustling of boots through grass, Renna exited the lean-to shelter, carrying a small bundle of her personal items. Her blond hair swung in a long braid down her back. She wore the same light blue shirt and divided skirt she’d worn yesterday.
Leith jumped to his feet and stumbled over the log he’d been sitting on. He dragged the horse by the reins and snagged her bundle as if he’d purposefully lunged forward. “Let me help you with that.”
“Thanks.” Her smile did strange things inside his chest.
Turning, he strapped the bundle to the back of the saddle. For good measure, he checked the tightness of the saddle’s girth yet again.
Brandi skipped from the shelter. Her red-blond braids slapped against her back and the nearby trees. Jamie helped her strap her bundle to the back of her saddle.
She bounced over to Leith and flung herself into a big hug. “Take care of Blizzard.”
He grinned and hugged her back, even though his voice scratched his throat. “I will. Take care of Sunshine. That’s a good horse you have there.”
She nodded and pulled away. Far too short for a forever goodbye, but Leith had to pray this wasn’t the last time he’d see her. Maybe he’d survive long enough to join them at Eagle Heights.
Leith turned to Renna. What should he say? They’d said goodbye before. He should be well-practiced by now. But he couldn’t bring himself to move. This time was too final.
Renna stepped closer. “Leith, I…” She swept a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Do you still have the knife I gave you?” He bit the inside of his cheek. She was trying to say something, and he brought up knives. Real smooth.
She nodded and patted her right ankle. “I never go anywhere without it.”
“Good.” Of course she still had it. Why wouldn’t she?
“Leith.” Renna stepped forward and hugged him, resting her head against his shoulder. “I’m going to miss you.”
Leith managed to wrap his arms around her before his brain shut off. If only he were free to leave Respen’s darkness behind once and for all. Perhaps Shad had been right. Leith should’ve pursued Renna more when he’d had the chance. Now he’d never know.
He pulled back and forced himself to smile. He swiped at the two tears that meandered down her cheeks. “We’ll see each other again.” The words tasted as bitter as the lies he told Respen.
As Walter and Shad approached them, Renna pulled back, her cheeks reddening. Leith cleared his throat and knelt to help her mount. She scrambled onto the horse’s back, nearly kicking Leith in the face as she pulled herself the rest of the way into the saddle.
In a few moments, the last goodbyes and Godspeeds were exchanged. The horses trotted across the meadow, the last waves from the treeline.
Then they were gone.
As he, Shad, and Jamie rode from the meadow in the opposite direction, Leith glanced back one last time. A sense of foreboding wrapped around him as if the time he’d spent in that meadow was the last bit of happiness he was going to experience for a long, long time.
24
Renna bit her lip at the ache in her muscles. Her ankles throbbed from the hard leather of the stirrup rubbing against her boot. Her clothes stuck to her, and when she rubbed her face with her hand, her hand came away sticky from her perspiration. Even in the elevation of the mountains, the forest steamed with heat. All she wanted to do was collapse into a soft bed.
She glanced forward. Her sister still perched on her horse, a grin splitting her face. At the front of their small line, Walter Esroy swayed easily with the rhythm of his horse, at home in the saddle.
All morning, Brandi had chattered with Walter about the trees, the rocks, the birds flying overhead. Only now that it was approaching noon did her sister’s mouth slow down as hunger took over.
Renna clung to her horse as it lunged up a small incline. She had to get everyone talking again to distract herself from her discomfort. “So what is Eagle Heights like?”
Walter half-turned in his saddle to nod at them. “You’ll like it there. I can’t tell you too much yet, but it’s a place where Respen’ll never hurt you again. You’ll like the people there. We’ve all had to hide from Respen.”
Safety from King Respen. Could she really be safe?
“There’s a number of people who’ll be happy to see you. Many of the old army have fled there. Most of them knew your parents.” His head bobbed in rhythm with his horse. “I knew your parents back when they first met. You’ve all heard that story, haven’t you?”
Brandi nodded. “Mother and Father used to tell it to us all the time. Were you there? Were you the tracker who helped Father find Mother?”
“I was there, but I wasn’t the tracker.” Walter’s face deepened with more wrinkles. “I was one of the Rovers.”
“You were?” Renna blinked at him. Had a few of the Rovers joined the Resistance? She could see why the Rovers wouldn’t like King Respen. He’d spent the last couple years having the Blades wipe them out, but Rovers weren’t exactly the kind of people the Resistance recruited. They’d done their share of murdering and plundering before King Respen took over.
Brandi grinned and urged her horse closer to Walter’s. “Tell us the story. It’s been years since we’ve heard it.”
Walter scratched at the patches of grey hair on his head. “Well, we’d heard there was going to be this big to-do over the wedding of Lord Farley Alistair’s son and one of Princess Annita’s best friends. The prince and princess were going to show up along with most of the nobles. Sounded like a place that’d have lots of rich wedding gifts.”
“So the Rover leader decided to attack, and in the attack, Mother was kidnapped because she was Princess Annita Eirdon back then.” Brandi’s hair bounced along with her movements.
Renna rubbed her thumb along the leather reins. Lord Alistair would’ve been about Shadrach’s age, Lady Alistair about Jolene’s. Somehow, she couldn’t picture them as anything other than the adults they were now.
“Your mother was quite the lady, she was.” Walter shook his head, steering his horse around an outcropping. “From that very first day, we realized we’d stolen more than we could handle.”
Brandi grinned. “That’s when Father volunteered to rescue her.”
“So I heard later. I was the Rover in charge of keeping your mother from escaping, and we were too busy doing that to even pay attention to who was tracking us.”
“Uncle Leon wanted to set out after Mother himself, but Lord Alistair and Father convinced him that it’d be foolish for him.” Renna trotted her horse closer to Brandi’s. “And Lord Alistair had just gotten married and couldn’t go. So Father, being Lord Alistair’s best friend, set out instead.”
“We got a ways into the Hills, but those tracking us kept getting closer. When they were only a day behind us, your mother convinced us that it’d go better for us if we left her behind. She could convince those following us to stop and turn around. Since it was either that or get captured and executed by the king, we dumped her on a rock and left.” Walter patted his horse’s neck. “Last time I saw her, she was perched on that rock as pretty as you please and wearing a smirk like that had been her plan all along.”
Brandi smirked, her nose wrinkling. “And that’s how Father found her. He was disappointed that she’d rescued herself before he’d gotten the chance.”
“So how did you go from being a Rover to a trusted man in the Resistance?” Renna leaned against her saddlehorn and stretched her legs.
“I got to thinking about some of the things your mother had said. She’d never stopped chattering. Never.
Got some of the others a might bothered.” Walter shrugged. The arrows in his quiver tapped against each other. “I left the Rovers a couple of months later. Showed up at Nalgar Castle and your mother got me a job in the army. When Respen took over, I joined the Resistance.”
Renna wiggled in the saddle. And now he was taking them to the far-off safety of Eagle Heights. Would they truly be safe? Would Respen believe that Leith had killed them?
Or would Respen track them down even there?
25
Blizzard’s hooves tapped against the yellow-brown stone as Leith, Shad, and Jamie wound their way through the scrub pines and junipers. Leith opened his mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. A problem he’d had ever since he’d watched Renna and Brandi leave yesterday.
Somewhere to their right, something clacked on the rocks. A hoof. Too loud to be a deer. It had to be a horse. Some wild horses roamed the Sheered Rock Hills, but usually in herds.
Leith held up a hand and halted Blizzard. “Stay here. Don’t move until I say it’s safe.”
Shad nodded and eased his horse deeper into the shadows provided by a pine growing next to a boulder. A mass of junipers screened them from the other set of hoofbeats.
“Jamie, you’d better come with me.” Leith hardened his features and urged Blizzard around the blue-green bushes. Jamie’s horse followed.
A few yards away, another horse and rider scrambled up the slope. Knives glinted against the rider’s black clothes. From this distance, Leith could make out the Blade’s slim build and mass of wavy, brown hair. Eleventh Blade Ranson Harding.
He allowed himself to relax a fraction. Of all the Blades patrolling the Hills, Harding was the best one to run into. Nudging Blizzard, Leith met Harding at the top of the slope. Harding thumped his right fist on his chest. “First Blade.”
“Eleventh Blade.” Leith returned the salute. “We buried the girls’ bodies deep in the Hills where no one will find them. Where are the others?”
Deny (The Blades of Acktar Book 2) Page 13