The moonlight shone on his firm features, his eyes still set forward. “We’re not going to Ardann.”
Chapter 18
The rush of the river beneath us, and the gleam of the moon overhead made the scene surreal. Winter crops soon sprouted on both sides of the bank. They loomed tall in some spots, short and fuzzy in others, their strange shapes thrown into odd relief by the moonlight.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “I don’t understand any of this. What are you doing here? Where’s Julian?”
He finally looked at me. “Did you really think I’d just walk away and leave you to the emperor like that? Without even a proper goodbye?”
He was right, I should have known better. I hadn’t had the chance to see him after Jasper pulled me from Phineas’s suite, the day before their departure, so there had been no opportunity to tell him my plan. I had just hoped he would forgive me when I turned up back in Ardann.
“So somehow you convinced my brothers to tell you our whole plan, and let you carry it out instead of Julian,” I said.
“Does this look like your plan?” he asked.
“The boat is new,” I admitted. “Also the not going to Ardann part. About that again…”
Lucas growled deep in his throat. “I was always coming back for you. I had my own plan. But your brother is extremely intelligent—”
“I’d noticed,” I said dryly.
He ignored me and continued. “Jasper realized what was going on. He and Julian confronted me and told me everything. And then we made a new plan.”
“They just agreed to let you return to Yanshin alone?” I asked. “And Phineas just continued on to the border without you? There’s no way you could have got all the way there and back by now.” I froze. “They did make it across the border, didn’t they?”
“I received a composition from Julian approximately three hours ago,” Lucas said. “They’re across.”
I relaxed again.
“Of course, you’re right that Phineas would never have just let me go. So Jasper and I had to swap appearances. Phineas believes Jasper had second thoughts about leaving you all alone. He thinks that Jasper has returned to Yanshin to be with you, entrusting Julian with packing up your family and sending them to the Empire.”
“Wait…are you saying?” I rounded on him so fast the boat rocked, and I had to stop and grip the wooden bench beneath me. “You’re saying Jasper is currently returning to Corrin with your appearance? Are you mad? What happens when they arrive, and you disappear, and Jasper reappears? He’ll be tried for treason!”
“You’ll have to trust in your other brother to prevent that,” Lucas said calmly. “I have left messages with them, and a truth composition will confirm their story. I didn’t give them much of a choice. I was returning either way, this just ensured everyone else’s safety.”
“That’s a big risk to take,” I said.
“Like staying alone in the imperial palace with a half-baked plan to break out?” Lucas asked. “That sort of risk?”
I bit my lip. So he hadn’t entirely forgiven me yet.
I struggled to even grasp the complexities such a composition would require, but I wasn’t entirely surprised that as a royal he had such a working in his collection. Although no doubt it had been intended for use as a defensive measure and not to allow him to throw himself into danger.
“But where are we going?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“Kallorway,” Lucas said grimly.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise—if we weren’t going to Ardann, where else could we be going? But I could still hardly believe it.
“What will the emperor do when he discovers you’ve fled?” Lucas asked. “Even if he doesn’t blame Ardann, he may attempt to send his people after you. He has made it clear he has no respect for Ardann. And while the southern kingdoms are weak and divided, at war with one another and bleeding resources, we cannot stand as equals with his empire.”
He clenched his teeth, his jawline tightening. “I have given it a lot of thought, and there is only one path open to me if I wish to protect both you and my kingdom. We must end the war with Kallorway.”
I gulped. “I know my powers have increased, but I can’t take on an entire kingdom with only you for backup. And anyway…I don’t think…” I hesitated. Everything about him was grim and determined, but I couldn’t not say something. “If we try to unite the southern kingdoms under Ardannian rule, we’ll be almost as culpable as Kallorway.”
“Ardannian rule?” he asked. “I have no desire to see my family rule in Kallmon. Any attempt to subjugate or occupy Kallorway would only serve to further weaken us both—the very thing I am attempting to prevent. No. Much as it galls me to say it, we must place our hope in Prince Cassius.”
“You’ve changed your mind? You think he was telling the truth?”
Lucas hesitated, his silence speaking as loudly as words.
“I think that it is likely King Osborne found some ancient history that told of his family’s original domain,” he said instead. “And I can see more clearly now the basis for his fear of the Sekalis and his insistence that we need a strong southern power to balance their empire—a position that previously seemed almost to border on lunacy. But he could not be more wrong in the way he has chosen to combat the threat.”
The dark shape of a rock appeared before us, white water foaming around it. We had come upon it suddenly in the moonlight, and Lucas had to push the rudder hard to one side, nearly tipping us in his efforts to avoid it.
Neither of us spoke until the obstacle had been successfully navigated, and the boat was properly balanced again. Then he continued.
“Over four years ago now, the Sekalis invited an Ardannian delegation to Yanshin. King Osborne responded by unleashing an epidemic that killed hundreds and could have killed many more without the efforts of you, Beatrice and Reese. And now we learn that any alliance with the Sekalis—if such an alliance even eventuates—will not be for many years. With such a threat hanging over him, how will Osborne respond in that time? What new horrors will he unleash to decimate our kingdom? It took him two years to develop the epidemic and work out how to affect our weather without us realizing. We have time, but who knows how much?”
The moonlight made it hard to read the details of his expression, but his words still sent shivers up and down my spine.
“So,” he said, “let us say rather that I hope Cassius was speaking the truth. Or some element of it, anyway.” He hesitated. “And while my intelligencers have nothing concrete to report, their final message before we left Ardann did mention rumors of a rebellion. And it only makes sense. Kallorway cannot appreciate losing so many sons and daughters to the war, any more than Ardann does.”
“But if he wasn’t telling the truth?” I asked, barely loud enough to be heard above the river. “If these rumors are false?”
“Then we will find another way.” He sounded implacable, and I almost believed his determination would be enough to see us over any obstacle. Almost.
By the time daylight broke, we had passed into the forest, and I no longer had any great fear of pursuit. It would take time and skilled effort for the Sekalis to determine where we had gone. We had left behind no bodies for which they needed to seek vengeance, and so far they had demonstrated they preferred subtlety over speed. If they intended to retrieve me, I doubted it would be by sending soldiers into Kallorway.
The forest that pressed against the riverbank was old. Far older and wilder than the copses around Kingslee where I used to search for herbs a lifetime ago. The wide trunks told of unmeasured years, and the undergrowth grew thick and nearly impenetrable.
It was the same forest that pressed against the banks of the Overon. But somehow it had looked entirely different viewed from the railing of a royal barge as opposed to a small skiff tossed about in enemy territory.
No obvious landing places appeared, and neither of us spoke of taking a break in our wild journey, although l
onging thoughts of stretching my legs and moving freely had begun to fill my mind. Lucas had brought simple rations and several skins of water, and he insisted I sleep.
I didn’t think rest in the small boat would be possible, but I had no sooner lain my head on the hard planks than I was asleep. When I woke, he showed me how to handle the basic rudder and bid me wake him if I encountered any trouble.
“Don’t use your power to steer us,” he cautioned, reading my face all too easily as I surveyed the boat’s controls with discomfort. “There’s no one out here to replenish your energy, and we might have need of it yet.”
With a sigh I acknowledged the truth of his words and settled in for several solitary hours. A headache soon built behind my eyes from peering so intently at the sun dappled water ahead of us, but I didn’t decrease my intent focus. I had nearly missed two patches of rocks already, the second one actually scraping against the hull of the boat.
It had been a near miss, rocking the boat wildly, but Lucas had somehow remained asleep. How much rest had he been getting the last few nights?
Eventually he woke, however, stretching in the small space. I watched the muscles of his shoulders and back bunch and strain. It hit me with sudden force that we were completely alone, and that no betrothal stood between us anymore.
Warmth heated my cheeks, and I spoke quickly to cover it.
“When will we leave the river?”
“As soon as we clear the forest,” he replied, taking a long swig from one of the water skins.
“I’ve been trying to calculate the distance and the speed of the current, and work out when that might be,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow inquiringly, but I shrugged apologetically.
“Trying being the key word, I’m afraid.”
He grinned at me. “I’m hoping we’ll be clear by nightfall. Then we can travel on in the darkness.”
“Yes, about that,” I said. “How exactly are we planning to get to Kallorway’s crown prince?”
“I’ve brought us two robes,” he said. “In wind worker blue. The Ardannian ones are close enough to the Kallorwegian robes to pass anything but a close inspection. If we keep away from any major centers, I don’t think any of the locals will stop and question two mages.”
“The prince of Ardann, pilfering his colleagues’ robes,” I said with a chuckle. “How the mighty have fallen.”
“They’ll thank me when I end this war, make a treaty with Kallorway’s new king, and show the Sekalis that the south is not to be underestimated,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Or probably they’ll just forgive you because you’re a prince.”
A reluctant smile tugged at his lips. “That is also possible.”
“What happens when we reach Kallmon, though?” I asked, my mind returning to more serious matters. “They’re not just going to let us walk up to their crown prince.”
“Fortunately for us we don’t have to go that far,” he said. “Cassius is two years younger than me, so he’s still a trainee. And the Kallorwegian Royal Academy isn’t in the capital. In fact, it’s quite remote. We’ll reach it long before we reach Kallmon.”
“I always forget that they have an academy, too,” I said.
“My father visited it once, in his own trainee days,” Lucas said. “There was even talk of him doing an exchange year there. To foster ties between our kingdoms.” He gave a grim laugh. “Obviously that didn’t work out. Osborne ascended to the throne before it was more than a vague idea, and they attacked not long after.”
He settled into a brooding silence, and I lay down to try to snatch some more sleep. Who knew when we would have the chance to rest again?
I woke with a jolt. It took me a moment to identify what had woken me. The rocking of the water had ceased. Lucas had pulled the skiff up on a small stretch of grassy riverbank, the trees barely visible in the gloom behind him.
“Welcome to Kallorway,” he murmured, as I scrambled out of the boat.
Shivering, I looked around me. The air had a similar warmth to Yanshin, and my thick cloak protected me from the night air, but it couldn’t protect me from the dread that danced across my skin.
A few scattered trees could be seen to the south and the west, but mostly I saw level ground, lying cold and hard, ready for the planting that would soon begin as spring returned. Kallorway had fewer hills and more farming land than Ardann, but there were still stretches of our own kingdom that looked identical.
“It doesn’t look so different,” I said at last.
“It was all one kingdom once, remember,” Lucas said, removing his bag from the bottom of the boat. As soon as he had done so, he pushed the boat back into the water, wading in far enough to ensure it got caught by the deeper current in the center of the river.
We stood and watched in silence as the water swept it away. How long before its careening path broke it against a patch of rocks? Long enough to confuse any attempt to track us, we hoped.
Lucas pulled out the two blue robes, and we removed our cloaks, pulling the robes on over our clothes before replacing the outer garment.
“It’s a little big,” I said, glancing down at myself.
Lucas regarded me. “It will pass at a glance. We just need to stay far enough away from anyone who might want to take a closer look.”
I nodded and looked up to find Lucas’s eyes locked on my face.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you in blue before,” he said. “It looks nice.”
“Not as good as healing purple will,” I said, trying to defuse the charge that now seemed to fill the air between us, heating my cheeks.
He reached over and cupped my face in his hand.
“If we survive this,” he whispered, “you’ll never have to join a discipline.”
His words made me tremble, conjuring up a future that made our current danger harder to bear.
“But I want to heal,” I managed to say. “I like using my power to help people in such a tangible way.”
He smiled, the expression tender and filled with admiration. “You’ll be a princess, remember? If you want to heal people—or help them in any other way—you can. It just means you won’t have to answer to Duke Dashiell. And you won’t have to live at his estate, either—a good thing since I never want to be separated from you again.”
I swayed toward him without thought, but he pulled back, the cold air rushing between us again.
“We need clear heads,” he said reluctantly. “I need a clear head.”
I licked my dry lips and nodded, looking quickly away. He was right, of course, although my treacherous body seemed more interested in being wrapped in his arms than anything else.
He hoisted his pack onto his back, and I did the same. At least whatever happened from here, we were in it together.
We traveled through the night without coming near another soul. We took small paths and minor roads where we could, encountering no one since the locals slept inside their homes, protected from the last hints of winter chill.
More than once Lucas called for a halt although he didn’t seem tired. Constant combat training meant we were both in good shape, but the long hours of walking still took a toll. At least one blister was making itself known on each of my feet, and my legs ached in an entirely different way from how they had done in the boat.
When dawn began to lighten the air, I gestured toward a significant clump of trees, and Lucas nodded. We found a large bush, with an open space at its center, and crawled in to make a nest for ourselves.
After some debate, we agreed to leave only the most minimal warning composition in place while we both slept, concerned that using power would only attract attention.
We woke in the last hours of the afternoon and ate a quick meal mostly in silence. The branches of the bush pushed us close together, and my awareness of his presence made my movements clumsy and awkward.
Despite myself, my eyes moved constantly toward him, all too often catching his and holdin
g us both in thrall until we started and continued on with our preparations. When I moved to repack my bag, my arm brushed against his, and he caught at it and held me.
“Elena—”
“No, you were right,” I said quickly. “When this is over.”
He hesitated before letting my arm drop and leading the way out of the bush.
“We’ll reach their academy tonight,” he said as we began to walk, my muscles protesting the renewed action.
I took a deep breath. “And what then?”
“We wait,” he said. “We observe, and we look for an opportunity. If the trainees stay inside the Academy, then we need to work out a way to get inside.”
I doubted we would get so lucky as to have Cassius come riding out and fall into our laps, but I knew nothing about how their system worked, so I said nothing.
Lucas drew a deep breath. “Our plans can only take us so far. Then it will depend on how Cassius responds.” He looked over at me. “I trust you, Elena. We make a good team.”
Somehow I managed a smile. We did make a good team, but my stomach still churned at his trust. There were far too many ways our fragile plan could go wrong.
“If it comes to it,” I muttered, “if we end up hauled before Osborne, I only need the chance to work one composition.”
Lucas threw me a sharp look.
“I didn’t waste my extra three days in Yanshin,” I told him. “I am now intricately familiar with the sealing composition.”
Lucas stopped short. It took me a couple of steps to stop as well, and I turned back to him.
“It would be worth it to stop the war,” I said. “If Osborne finds himself stripped of his power, he’ll have enough problems to keep all his attention firmly on his own throne.”
“Your abilities are too valuable to be sealed,” Lucas protested.
I shook my head. “No. Life is too valuable. And this war has been bleeding us for too long. I’m not saying I want to be sealed, but if it comes to it, I’m ready to act.”
Voice of Life (The Spoken Mage Book 4) Page 22