“Aww, no sweetcakes?” he teased.
“No sweetcakes,” she said, smiling in return. She paused then, and fixed him with an oddly intense stare. “Will you share your blanket with me?”
“I’m not decent. Someone stole my clothes,” he said. His cheeks felt hot and he knew he was blushing. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had made him do that. Even Bix hadn’t been able to do that. But Bix had been a very different type of woman and their relationship, though intimate, had been born more of survival than love. With Sera he felt so much more. She sparked in him a depth of feeling he’d never known.
“Whoever would do such a thing?” Sera laughed and came closer. “Now, are you going to share or do I have to beg?”
They looked at each other in silence as the remains of the fire crackled. Taken back, Dain slowly lifted the blanket from around himself. Never taking her eyes from his, Sera lay down facing him, and he draped the blanket over the both of them. She handed him the food, which he ate in nervous silence. He offered her half the bread, but she shook her head, only watching him as he downed the breakfast. Her faint smile was disconcerting, especially in light of his nakedness. Surely he was dreaming. He cleared his throat.
“How did you find me?”
“Jin’s visions. She saw that you needed help and they guided us to you,” Sera answered. Without another word, she shifted closer until their noses brushed against each other. Her breath warmed his chest. He smelled the faint scent of lavender from her shining hair. He fought the urge to caress it. She draped one arm on his bare chest and the other reached around to his back as she gently drew him closer still. A bare leg slipped up and over his. Dain felt his pulse pounding in his ears. If he’d been blushing before, now he must look sunburnt.
“What…what made you come?” Dain whispered, fumbling over the words. He felt her give a small shrug against him.
“First, I owed you for saving the lives of my daughter and father.”
“First?”
“Yes, first that. But mainly I came because there was nothing else I could have done.” She shifted slightly, tilting her head up to look once more into his eyes. “Jin’s vision of you, back when you saved her—the one you asked about that first night we met?”
Dain nodded.
“She said you and I would be together. That we belonged to each other. She said I would love you and you would love me and together, we would make a family for her. My mother had the same vision, but I was afraid, so I tried to shut you out, to keep you away from us. I tried in vain to change fate. I’m done trying now. I don’t want to fight it. I will no longer hold back the stirrings of my heart.”
He kissed her then. He felt her hands in his hair, pulling, and Dain stroked her silky tresses with the fingers of one hand and with the other cupped her delicate jaw, drawing her to him. She gave a soft sigh against his lips, sending his heart drumming louder and louder and his blood singing in his ears. He kissed her deeper, seeking, pulling her even closer—
“Mother…Mother, what’s for breakfast?”
Sera pulled slightly away from him. Her lips curled up into a broad, mischievous smile and her eyes were shining and full of laughter. They held the promise of so much more to come. Dain felt the heat gather in his cheeks once more, and answered her grin with one of his own. He kissed the knuckles on one of her hands as she rose to see to Jin.
Later, while Jin ate, Sera inspected his wounds. His shoulder was healing well, but the puncture in his leg had reopened while moving into the shelter. Sera used her spells to close it as best she could, and then wrapped clean linen bandages from Jin’s pack around it, compressing the wound.
“Do you know who did this to you?” she asked. She studied his face closely.
Dain hesitated. Telling her the truth might shatter the newfound bond between them. It seemed so fragile, so precious—he feared for it. Sera might never accept that her brother had tried to kill him. She felt close now, close after so much distance between them for so long, and he loathed the thought of that chasm reopening.
“No,” he lied. Dain saw the smallest flash of anger cross her face, though she composed herself quickly. Was she angry that he had been hurt or did she suspect something?
After Jin finished eating, the three packed their gear and started off back toward Teran.
Dain paused at Boon’s side to say a final goodbye to the loyal warhorse. He had held out hope that his oldest friend had somehow escaped. Kneeling down at the horse’s flank, he placed his hands on Boon’s noble head. He didn’t know if an afterlife existed for horses, but he said a prayer to the Light anyway. All tangible links to his former life—his parents, his homeland, and now Boon—were severed. For years, the steadfast horse had been his only true friend. And now, Dain didn’t even have time to bury him properly. Tears welled up in his eyes.
“I am sorry for Boon,” Jin said. She put her small hand on his shoulder. He reached up and squeezed it in his own.
Dain swore vengeance then. Somehow, someway, he would pay Jace back for his treachery. And he would make sure Sera never knew of it.
The three headed down the same path Jin and Sera had come up the night before. Dain worried that they would pass too close to Elam’s invading army, but they had little choice. There were few trails in this part of the wood elf lands. With luck, the golden elves were lost and buried somewhere in the muddy swamp, and they could skirt around behind them unseen.
Still limping from his injuries, Dain wasn’t able to make good time. Each step sent bolts of hot pain through the injured leg.
“How do paladin spells work?” Jin asked as they traveled.
“We draw power from the Creator’s Light. It enters our bodies and we can channel it in different ways. I can heal with it, or use it to boost my strength. I can also strengthen a spellshield barrier around my body that protects me from other spells.”
“A spellshield?”
“Yes, I believe wood elves can do something similar with the power they draw from nature.”
“What else?”
“Well, I can charge my weapons or my armor to make them stronger.”
“That’s what you did when you fought Cleeger.”
“Yes,” Dain answered.
“Do they hold their charge after you hit something?”
“It depends on how much power I put into them.”
“No fireblasts or lightning or ward casting?” she asked.
“No, I can’t do any of those. The Light enhances us, adding to what’s already there. It can’t be projected outward by paladins. Priests can cast a few spells from a distance, but I wouldn’t call them fireblasts or lightning.”
“Mother says the more you use magic the stronger you get,” Jin said.
“Within limits,” Sera added.
“Yes, within limits. Using magic is like using a muscle. The more you exercise it and practice with it, the stronger you get. And like muscles, everyone is born with different natural abilities. Many people are born with no ability at all.”
“Dain, where are you from?” Jin asked, changing topics with the typical swiftness of youth.
“South, far to the south, in a place few here have ever heard of.”
“Do you have a family name? According to grandfather, most humans seem to place great value in their family name.”
“Gladstone. My family name is Gladstone.”
“What does you father do?”
“He works for a great Lord. Protecting the Lord’s people,” Dain said.
“Like a knight?”
“He has knights who work for him.”
“Like a—”
“Jin, let Dain rest while we walk. I’m sure he misses his home and his family; he doesn’t wish to talk about it,” Sera interrupted, keeping her tone light.
Chastised, the little elf scowled, hung her head a bit, and stared at the ground. She kicked a gray potato-sized rock loose, bouncing it ahead. Dain was amazed at how quickly she had le
arned Common. Just weeks before she had only known a few basic words. He remarked about it to Sera.
“She has always been a quick study. Every night after you talked to her I translated to make sure she understood. She also read that terrible Garret Loor book to learn more,” Sera answered. Dain smiled.
“Let’s make a deal, Jin. For every question you ask, I get to ask one,” he said. He was curious about a few things.
“About anything?” She grinned eagerly at him.
“Anything, but either of us gets to decline any question. No more questions after the first decline, though.”
“I will start,” Jin said.
“No. You already asked several so I get three now.”
“Alright, fair enough.”
“Tell me again how your visions work.”
“I see only what may happen, not what will absolutely happen. Mostly, I get short flashes of images and strong feelings. The clearer the image or feeling the more likely something is to happen. When I saw you in trouble in the swamp, the vision was clear and…what’s the word…intense. And when I see the future of Teran, my sight is dim. I see a narrow path where the golden elves are stopped and another, broader one where they win.”
“How do you know which path we are on?”
“That’s why the vision is dim. It hasn’t been decided yet.”
“And who decides?” Dain asked.
“People do. You, me, grandfather, mother, everyone. Even my father and his sister. Their choices make each future more or less likely.”
“Have you always had these visions?”
“Since I can remember,” Jin said. “That’s four questions. My turn now. Why did you leave your family?”
“I was asked to, by my father. Do many elves have these visions?”
“No. It’s very rare, and most of those who do have them lose their sight as they grow older. Grandmother Selasa is a rare exception. Why did your father ask you to leave?”
“When I was serving in the army, I disobeyed my commander and failed to follow orders. I brought shame and dishonor to my family and much happened afterward that I could have prevented. So I was banished,” Dain said.
“Can you tell when you are losing your sight?” he continued.
“Yes, the visions will grow infrequent. What order did you break?”
She doesn’t miss a thing, this one, he thought, not for the first time.
“I was asked to kill some enemies. Actually, I—” He paused, looked toward Sera, set his shoulders, and continued. “I was ordered to murder their children…I refused.”
Sera turned to look at him, saying nothing.
Dain took a breath, remembering that long-ago day. The terror of those innocent children’s screams rang in his ears. He had fought through his own comrades, killing several, while shepherding the babies and their frightened mother from her hut. He’d gotten all three to the tree line, where they’d disappeared into a forest vaguely similar to the one he now found himself in. Those babies would be almost Jin’s age today. Afterward, a dozen of his own men had tackled him to the ground. And that had been that.
“What do you see of my future?” Dain asked.
The elf child stopped walking. She closed her eyes but held her chin high. Dain and Sera stopped to stare at her. Sera looked first to him with a worried expression, then at Jin with open concern. The girl remained still for several minutes as they waited.
Finally, she turned her face down slowly and opened her pale blue eyes. Her face was blank, an expressionless mask.
“Decline.”
The trio continued back, merging into the main swamp road for a mile or so before they spotted a number of tracks in the soft sand.
“Wait a moment,” Dain said. He knelt down to examine them more closely.
A great many shod horses had been ridden up the path before turning back toward the main route to Teran. Jace’s party wouldn’t have returned so soon, and if they had, there would be no reason for them to stop and then head back. It could only have been the Golden. Dain felt a sick, sinking feeling bloom in his stomach. His ploy to lure the invading army off course had only partially succeeded, then. The mages, sensing the two conflicting trails, had sent a group of cavalry this way to look for more signs. They must have somehow seen through the deception and turned back to the main road and Teran beyond. Not only that, but they were making good time—a day further along than they should have been. Larcet’s ambushes, if they had taken place at all, hadn’t slowed them much.
“I’ve failed,” Dain said, shaking his head. “They didn’t take the bait into the swamp and they are already south of here. What a fool I was. Elam and the army will be at the city’s gates within a day or two.”
The fate of Teran’s citizens—Sera and Jin’s people—weighed heavy on his shoulders. Through him and his carelessness the golden elves had first found them, and now he didn’t get them lured away. The failure shamed him. Nothing he could ever do would make amends for this. At best, he could return Sera and Jin to the King, and then fight in the city’s defense. Perhaps then, if he fell in battle, he could atone for this.
His feelings must have been writ clear across his features, because Sera turned to him and took his face in her hands.
“It does not matter. Not now that they are on the main road, they would’ve found Teran anyway. At best, you could only have delayed them. Elam wants my people dead and gone and he has for a very long time,” she said. “Do not blame yourself for this, Dain. You don’t deserve such treatment, even from yourself. And there is no time for it.” She stroked her thumb across his cheekbone, then dropped her hands, turned, and led them on.
She was right, he knew. But that didn’t make it any easier, nor did it diminish his resolve. He would do everything in his power to save her people.
As they neared the intersection where the road to Teran branched away, they heard voices ahead. All three scrambled into the brush near the roadside. Dain drew his tomahawk; Jin clutched at her sword. The voices kept their distance and, after a time, he heard the faint sound of metal scraping along the rocky road. He looked at Sera, squeezing her hand to draw her attention, hoping she could make out what was being said. She shook her head. They would have to get closer.
Avoiding the exposed path, they crept their way through the dense underbrush, moving toward the intersection. Progress was slow, limited by the thick brush itself and their desperate need for silence. At last, the voices became more distinct, and he could hear the heavy squeaking of cart wheels and axles just ahead.
Dain crept still nearer, crawling on his belly with Sera and leaving Jin behind them to watch the surrounding forest. Here, the road circled around a small wooded hill opposite them. He found a small break in the foliage, no wider than a handspan, and peered through it across the path. He reached for Sera’s hand once more, drawing her close so she could look out as well.
As they watched, a dozen heavily-loaded wooden carts creaked by. Each was driven by a golden elf, and a tandem of huge, brown oxen pulled them over the hardpacked road. A second elf sat close at his side with a ready bow, while a third rode in the back among the casks and crates, eyes scanning the forest for hidden attackers. Mounted cavalry rode in groups of four or five among them like sheepdogs watching over a flock. They too kept watch, armor rattling as they galloped by.
Dain saw a pair of riders returning to check on the last wagon. He felt Sera’s grip tighten to the point of pain as a tall elf on a white stallion drew near.
The tall elf was better armored than the others—a pair of painted lions battled across his chestplate and his helm was decorated with a long red mane. A commander of sorts.
A look of fierce determination filled Sera’s face as she watched him. After the final cart rolled past, the tall elf passed by again, heading back to the front and Dain caught a better glimpse of the man’s face this time. The rider’s features were more marked by age, but there was no mistaking their similarity to Haldrin’s.
Sera’s grip remained tight until the sounds of the creaking carts died away into the forest.
“The man on the white horse?” Dain asked.
“Gallad,” Sera replied, her voice icy. “I should have killed him just then. I might have done it, if not for you and Jin being here.”
“They would have killed you. You never could have escaped so many.”
“It wouldn’t matter. I’ve never been so close to him since the day my brothers rescued me.”
Dain didn’t know how to respond. He had never heard such rage in her voice, not even when she had been angry with him over Jin’s rapier. He didn’t doubt, not for an instant, that she would have done it.
He and Sera recovered Jin and crossed the path, fading into the forest on the far side. They stopped only when the empty road was well behind them.
“The Golden army is ahead of us. That was a resupply train for their soldiers. Is there any other way to get back to Teran ahead of them?” Dain asked.
“We can take them. You can beat all of them, can’t you, Dain?” Jin asked. She looked at him earnestly. His little sister had the same look once. Dain had forgotten what it was like to have someone truly believe in you. He wished he could tell her yes.
“There is another, older path if we move cross-country through the forest,” Sera said, ignoring her daughter. “It lies four miles from here, but we cannot know how far ahead their main army is. They could already be attacking Teran. We will never be able to get inside then.”
“Your father’s plan was to put most of his army outside the city while still leaving a strong contingent of guards behind to hold the entrance. He wanted to fight the Golden where he still had space to maneuver. If pressed too hard, they would fall back into the city’s defenses, sealing the lower gate behind them. He was preparing some sort of trap for Elam down in the canyon.”
“We may be able to circle around and get to the lower gate then, or meet up with father’s army if it’s still outside the city.”
Kingdom's Forge: Book 01 - Paladin's Redemption Page 25