Altered Destiny

by Shawna Thomas

  “Shhh. Don’t taunt them—I think they’re on our side. Maybe they’re waiting to unleash their wrath on the Svistra.” He realized it was the wrong thing to say when Selia’s smile froze.

  “How much longer?” she simply asked.

  Nathan glanced to the overcast skies. “We’ll reach the Western road in five or six days if the weather holds. After that, a day or two to Newhaven. I’ve already sent outriders to warn Leisle of our approach.” He pressed his lips together. “He won’t be happy.”

  “What about the other soldiers?”

  Nathan shook his head. “I told them which path we’re taking. I don’t know if they’ll follow.”

  “You’re afraid.”

  “If the Svistra were where Jaden said, those fortresses would be the first to fall in an attack.”

  “You think they might be dead?”

  “I think nothing. I worry. It comes with the job.”

  “You’re a damn fine commander. But if you ever have doubts—” she pointed her chin toward the men, “—take a look around. I think they’d follow you anywhere.”

  He smiled.

  “If the men from the other two fortresses don’t make it to Newhaven before the Svistra attack…” She trailed off.

  “It’ll be close. There are soldiers stationed at the castle.”

  “The southern king?”

  Nathan sighed. “The great unknown. Against the Svistra and the southern king I’ll need ten times the men I have.”

  “You have a trick yet to play.”

  “A long shot.” He glanced at her, curious. “Are you sad we won’t pass by the tavern?”

  A shadow crossed over her face, but her voice was steady. “No.”

  “Had we passed, would you have been tempted to stay?”

  She shook her head. “It was another lifetime ago. Or feels that way. I would still go with you to Newhaven.”

  Nathan smiled. He’d been afraid she’d want to stay at the tavern and afraid she wouldn’t. At least he didn’t have to wonder about it now.

  In spite of it all, “I would still go with you,” from Selia’s lips had a nice ring to it.

  Keldar reined his horse to move down the line of Svistra warriors. Their eyes bright behind painted faces, they waited only for his command. Aside from a few horses pawing the ground, the silence was complete. This was it, his moment of glory, the moment he earned his place, respect, among the Svistra. No more living under a shadow. He was now the sun.

  A surge of power rushed through his limbs, and he could have howled. Instead he transferred the energy to his eyes and moved down the Svistra ranks. For days they’d filtered in, two or twenty at a time, and now his army was mighty.

  His horse snorted. Arfaltel’s ears remained rigid, twitching a command. He sensed his master’s mood or perhaps he was also eager for blood. Arfaltel was a warhorse, the best in his father’s stables. His stables. Once, a long time ago, Arfaltel had been promised to Jaden, but no more.

  Keldar wheeled on the group, and if there was silence before it deepened into anticipation, the lull before the storm. “We have waited long, my brethren.” He didn’t need to shout; his voice carried from the horsemen before him to the archers lengths behind.

  A murmur like wind rustled through the ranks.

  “We’ve watched our children find their beds while still hungry. We’ve seen our old drift into dream, preferring to live in the past instead of face the present. We’ve scraped food from a desolate land while thieves grew fat off our birthright.”

  The murmur strengthened to a gale.

  His voice rose. “We will wait no longer. The enemy is ours. We will pluck them like chickens from their roost, and we will dine.”

  The roar that followed filled his heart with pride. He reined the horse to make one more pass. He hadn’t yet heard from the southern king, but Keldar was confident Josiam would meet him at Newhaven. Even without the southern king he would take the castle. It was fated by the gods. “We will kill everything in our path.”

  Keldar tensed to give the signal to march when a lone voice froze him in the saddle.

  “There’s only one problem with that, brother. You have no right to command my army.”

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Keldar’s gaze found Jaden. Even from a distance Jaden saw the shock change to anger on his brother’s face. He held his breath and waited. Keldar could order his men to attack, but in doing so he’d lose face, and his honor would forever be questioned.

  Keldar’s hand fluttered as if to rise then fell back to pat his horse’s neck. “Jaden. My, but you are full of surprises.”

  Jaden closed the gap, stopping about five body lengths away from where Keldar remained atop his horse. The warriors glanced between the brothers. Several fidgeted, and murmured unrest filled the field.

  Keldar’s nostrils flared wide. “You stink of humans.”

  Jaden refused to be baited. Besides, that he’d entered his brother’s camp undetected spoke volumes.

  “Do you come to join us? Or have you led the human army here?” Keldar made a show of looking around.

  Jaden displayed his teeth. “Coward.”

  The warriors’ tension grew until it charged the air. Overhead thunder crashed. Horses snorted and needed to be calmed by their riders.

  “You call me a coward?”

  “A coward who killed his father for power. Did you stab him in the back?”

  “You dare!” Keldar’s face turned a deep shade of red. The stallion pranced in place.

  Jaden’s vision quivered as though he looked through water, then it narrowed, clarifying and bringing every detail into fine focus. “I’ve come to finish what we started.”

  He heard the warriors’ breaths behind Keldar, smelled the acrid stench of nervousness. Jaden’s blood pounded in his veins, surged through his body, awakening the blood lust. He welcomed it, welcomed the oblivion, the single-minded need to destroy.

  A gentle drizzle began to fall. Through a haze of red he saw his brother prod his horse forward. Silver flashed in Keldar’s hand, and Jaden’s heart skipped a beat. This would be to the death. The horse’s hooves pounded in tune with his blood as Keldar charged. Jaden stood still, waiting. At the last moment possible he rolled away, coming up on his feet.

  Keldar reined his horse to a stop and whirled.

  “Coward,” Jaden growled. “Have you forgotten to fight like a warrior?” Jaden held his arms to each side. “I’ve only a dagger. Scared?”

  Keldar roared, leapt from his horse and cast his sword aside where it sparked against the stony ground. As lightning rippled through the sky, Jaden smiled and ran to meet his brother’s charge.

  The army had reached the King’s road the day before and, although the Wynven proved uneventful, they sighed a collective breath of relief. But it was short lived. As soon as they touched the western road the rains came and with them mud, cold dinners and colder breakfasts.

  Selia gazed ahead. The turrets of Newhaven drifted over the forests like strange pale guardians of the dark trees. That morning they’d turned down a southern path that Nathan said led to the castle. Selia hoped it was soon. She was wet, dirty and more tired than she’d ever been and, although she felt Nathan’s tension like a strung cord, she just wanted the journey to be over.

  She closed her eyes, the raindrops falling like a curtain, plastering her still-damp hair to her face. An image of Jaden, standing naked while the rain washed his body, flashed through her mind. Where are you now? The futility of the question haunted her. She bowed her head and pulled up her cloak’s hood. The drenched fabric scratched at her face, but she bore it in silence with the rest of the army. Oh, but for a hot bath and a fire.

  The forest surrounding Newhaven looked ancient. Its gnarled trees reached into the heavens but didn’t shelter the army from the steady rain. Thin branches, tangled like a web between the trees, collected raindrops that any other time, she would have thought beautiful, but she’d long lost her ca
pacity to appreciate nature. She looked back at the long line of soldiers trailing behind. They had to ride two abreast on the narrow road.

  Her first glimpse of the castle took her breath away. Whether by chance or design of the gods, as the party neared the end of the path the sun peeked between the clouds, lighting up the meadow and coaxing the cold castle stone into gold. The effect only lasted a moment before the fickle wind once again blew clouds to hide the sun, but filled Selia’s heart with a hope she couldn’t explain and knew was futile. The gold of Jaden’s eyes.

  The castle stood on a low hill, free of any trees. They slowly made their way through swaying grasses toward the outer wall. She examined the men around her. Nathan’s soldiers looked more like a defeated army than one ready to guard the castle. As the creaking drawbridge lowered Nathan glanced back at Selia, and she offered a smile.

  After passing through the outer wall Nathan directed his men to set up tents.

  She dismounted and moved to help when a hand gripped her shoulder. She looked up into Nathan’s green eyes.

  “Come. I’ll find you more appropriate accommodations.”

  “I’ve ridden with your men from Eagle Rock. I think—”

  He smiled. “I thought you’d like a bath, a real one.”

  Selia hesitated. Hot water. How long had it been since she’d felt it on her skin? Since she’d been clean? She returned the smile. “You know how to tempt a woman. Lead the way.”

  They rode up the hill and through a village. Women and a few men stopped to stare. A few smiled or touched a finger to their forehead as a sign of respect before continuing their tasks. Window boxes full of flowers lined the street and barrels overflowing with herbs stood before a few doors. The children at play seemed plump and happy, and the busy women didn’t have the pinched look of poverty.

  She’d never seen a place like this. It made her village look dismal, full of half-dead people. Then she remembered the field behind her barn in summer when wildflowers bloomed and the air became alive with the sound of buzzing insects. She could almost smell their delicate fragrance and feel the cool of the trees near the spring where the narcissus bloomed. A wave of homesickness took her by surprise. She wanted to go home. But what was there to return to? Oren was gone. She didn’t know if she could bear the tavern without him.

  She followed Nathan in silence.

  “Before the king meets with us, he will offer us baths and fresh clothing,” Nathan said.

  “Us?”

  “You can better tell the tale involving my, er, informant.”

  “I see.” His gaze was on her. “I will.” The horse walked a short distance. “Is that why you bribed me with a bath?”

  Nathan laughed. “Added incentive never hurts, but I would have offered the bath anyway.”

  “I stink that badly?”

  Nathan just laughed.

  They passed easily through the curtain wall and into a courtyard, where a large statue of some god stood surrounded by a circle of still water. The castle walls loomed ahead. Wet stone glistened in shades of grey and blue. After handing their horses’ reins to a waiting boy Nathan offered her a smile of encouragement that did not met his eyes. They walked up the wide steps leading toward large wooden doors and a scowling guard. Moss grew in cracks between the grey stone. How could it have turned golden? She resisted the urge to reach out and touch it.

  The guard stopped them and spoke to Nathan in low tones and then turned to Selia. “And who is this one?”

  Nathan’s spine straightened. “She’s one of my men, and she has important news for the king.”

  If Nathan’s tongue tripped a little on the word “men,” she didn’t care. Her shoulders squared, and she met the man’s questioning gaze. The guard narrowed his eyes but stepped aside and let them pass. They entered a large hall with gleaming white floors. Winding staircases rose on either side of the room and bracketed a large black wheel rimmed with candles hanging from the ceiling. She craned her neck to study the mechanism to rise and lower the thing as a tall, thick man in hose and long tunic rushed through a doorway between the staircases toward them.

  “Commander, er, Lady, welcome to Newhaven. I am Madoc. The king is most anxious to see you, but first would you like to bathe away the—” he glanced down at Selia’s mud-caked leggings, “—traveling dust?”

  “That is most generous. Thank you,” Nathan began. “Allow me to present Selia. The lady has important information for the king.”

  Madoc bowed to her. “Then if you will come this way.” He led them up the right staircase and down a hall, where thick tapestries lined the walls. Their boots clicked against highly polished wood floors. Selia didn’t look, but she’d bet they were leaving a muddy trail.

  Madoc stopped before a door. “Your chamber, Commander.” Then he turned and stepped down to another door. “And Lady Selia, this is for you.”

  She bit back a laugh. Lady Selia. If he only knew. But she inclined her head. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you in a little while.” Nathan’s eyes held a hint of humor in them. “Enjoy your bath.”

  “I fully intend to.” Selia stepped to the open door to a chamber with a bed larger than her room at the tavern and through a side door, a large metal tub full of hot water. How Madoc had gotten the word to someone quickly enough to fill a tub was beyond her, but she planned to take advantage of it.

  “Lily will be in to help you momentarily.”

  Selia had forgotten about Madoc still standing there. She smiled and nodded again, wondering if Lily would help Nathan first. After the last few weeks he certainly could use it. Her smile widened. I’m definitely not a lady. She walked into the little room, shed her clothes, unbraided her hair and sank to her chin in the hot water. Her skin reddened in a delicious burn. She breathed deeply and then lowered her head under the water, staring at the ceiling through the liquid haze, emerging only when she could no longer hold her breath.

  A young girl stood in the doorway, a bar of soap in one hand and a comb in the other. “Oh.” She jumped back, fumbling with the soap.

  She tried her most gracious smile. “You must be Lily?”

  The girl nodded.

  “I’m Selia.”

  Lily blushed a delicate shade of pink but didn’t comment about finding her charge under the water. “If you’re ready, I’ll wash your hair for you.”

  No one, except her mother, had ever washed her hair. She shrugged in agreement.

  The soap smelled of lavender and rose petals, and the girl’s fingers were firm but gentle. Selia relaxed in spite of herself. She was almost sorry when a pitcher of warm water poured over her head.

  Lily retrieved a large white robe. “Your clothing will be washed but we provided…” She hesitated.

  A gown lay across the bed in the other room. Selia swallowed. A dress? She’d never worn one. She stared at it as though Lily had offered to outfit her in a saddle and spurs then saw the distressed look on the girl’s face. “Thank you. That was very generous.” She didn’t mention she had a change of clothes in her pack. They’d be damp and smell of old leather anyway. A memory of Jaden’s waterproof pack brought a stab of sorrow, and she shuddered.

  “You must be cold.” A smile replaced the fine lines on the girl’s forehead.

  Selia accepted the thick robe and followed Lily to a small stool by the fire, where the girl attempted to untangle her hair.

  Selia’s hair was difficult to brush, and she hated doing it. It curled and twisted like a vine. After weeks in the forest it desperately needed a proper brushing. And better Lily than her; the girl seemed to have more patience.

  Lily braided small pieces of hair at the sides of Selia’s face and then pinned them back, letting the rest of her hair tumble down her back. She was about to protest—she always wore her hair in a braid—but it seemed to be a day for firsts, so when Lily brought over the heavy gown she didn’t utter a word. Instead she turned her thoughts to Nathan and the king. What was she suppose to say
? If Nathan couldn’t convince him, could a tavern owner from the Outskirts do any better? A female one, at that? And what if they couldn’t convince the king to trust Nathan’s judgment? Another quiver traced Selia’s spine as she thought about the Svistras’ painted faces. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  Nathan paced the hall, glancing every so often at the grand staircase. What kept Selia so long? Had she fallen asleep and drowned in the damn tub? He hated diplomacy and the manners that dictated behavior at court. He’d love more to barge into the throne room and make Leisle listen to him. But that tactic guaranteed the king would turn a deaf ear and most likely sentence Nathan to the dungeons with the rats and cockroaches for his impertinence.

  Besides, he didn’t know how he’d be received. He’d abandoned Eagle Rock without the king’s command. That he hadn’t been arrested yet was a good sign. He wouldn’t press his luck.

  The soft shuffle of feet on the stairs above him caught his attention. He looked up to see a lady approach and automatically bowed low then stiffened when she laughed. He knew that laugh. Nathan abruptly straightened and stared at the woman. Selia?

  In a dress of pale lavender, cut low enough to expose her shoulders and hint of cleavage, she walked the rest of the way down the stairs. The dress swirled around her body, not quite touching but hinting at the shape of the flesh beneath.

  Nathan blinked. He’d seen Selia in leggings, for gods’ sakes! What was wrong with him? But she’d transformed, and he couldn’t help staring at the result. Her hair hung in ebony ripples down her back, and her eyes twinkled along with an amethyst in her dark curls.

  She laughed again. “You like?” She paused at the foot of the stair and twirled. “I thought…why not? If I’m going to play the lady, I’ll play it all the way.”

  Definitely Selia. Nathan bowed and reached for her hand to kiss it. She even smelled wonderful. “If you’re playing, it’s a role that suits you well.”

  Nearby a discreet cough caught their attention.

  Madoc stood by the double doors between the staircases. “The king will see you now.” With a flourish he opened the doors and led through another hall with pale, white stone floor and columns in each corner carved with vines and flowers. They walked down a corridor then paused before another set of doors. This time Madoc opened them and stepped aside.