Exile (28 page)

Caplin held his gaze this time with fierce intensity. “Yiloch loves her too,” he said, perhaps simply to see how Myac would react to the statement. Myac caught himself, clinging to a neutral expression despite the fresh swelling of anger and disbelief. “He told me that once.”

“Perhaps I can use that information to my advantage,” Myac replied. If it were true, they would both suffer as he had never made anyone suffer before.

Caplin gave a curt nod. “You may both leave.”

•

“You’re planning to go after her yourself?” Serivar asked once they were in the carriage on the way back to the academy.

“Yes.”

“Perhaps we should discuss it some more. Wait until Eric returns,” Serivar suggested.

Myac sneered. “You think that incompetent adept will find anything?”

Serivar’s heavy sigh only irritated him more. There was no way Indigo could know where Yiloch and Ferin had gone when she destroyed the prison. Fleeing to Lyra would be a rash and desperate move. Then again, would she really go to Lyra if she knew her beloved emperor wasn’t there? Maybe she did have some way of knowing where they were now. In theory, it wasn’t possible to predict such an outcome, but how many times had the opportunity to test it actually come up? The Serroc prisons were complex and even those who created them didn’t fully understand how they worked. Had Indigo discovered some way to manipulate a prison?

Myac shook his head, ignoring the curious look Serivar gave him. Indigo was clever, but she really had been desperate before she went to free them. When she destroyed the stone, holding him here with her, she had appeared distressed by the turn of events. He couldn’t imagine her faking such emotions so convincingly. Although, with her impeccable skill at masking, there was no way for him to be certain.

What does she see in that cruel, arrogant wretch?

Myac clenched his fists, raw anger tearing through him. Yiloch was vain, selfish, and possessed a knack for cruelty that helped plant the seeds of an arguably greater cruelty in him.

Myac forced a deep breath, releasing his fists.

Yiloch was also handsome, as a man of such pure Lyran stock couldn’t help but be, and powerful. Perhaps Indigo was shallower than he realized, desiring little more than superficial qualities in her chosen mate. Given that she had an ascard connection strong enough to rival his own, he might have projected his intelligence upon her out of a desire to have an equal. The thought of someone who could understand his power and share his ambitions had been very seductive. Add her beauty to the equation and the fantasy of her could have blinded him to an unfortunate reality.

“We’ll wait and see what Eric finds,” Myac muttered.

Serivar looked surprised. “Really? A wise choice, I’m sure,” he added hastily before Myac’s glare.

Patience.

He needed to be patient, no matter how it made him seethe to think of her getting further from his reach. All would be as it should be, so long as he wasn’t as rash as she had been. Yiloch would die, there was no other punishment suited to his crimes. Indigo would suffer for making him want her and for the dire injury she’d inflicted upon him. With patience, all would be right in the end.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

They kept their horses going at a brisk pace during the day, heading southeast toward the Kudan border and the Murak tribal lands that lay beyond. Cadmar, though he much preferred to travel on foot in the style of the Kudaness, rode along without complaint. Ian, however, grumbled about his aches from long hours in the saddle in the evenings, though his manner remained lighthearted enough that Indigo didn’t begrudge healing him. She healed Cadmar as well, though the dark warrior never asked her to and she never offered aloud. Neither of them spoke of it, but she understood his gratitude when he brought her water and helped her care for her mount.

The unlikely trio of a young Lyran man, a Caithin woman, and a warrior who could pass as pureblooded Kudaness, was bound to draw unwanted attention. To avoid complications along the way, Ian maintained an illusion to make them appear as a trio of Lyran soldiers. They were unlikely to be harassed with such a guise and, as long as they camped or took meals in their rooms at inns so Ian could rest, the illusion wasn’t going to fail them. Once they were in Kudan, where they needed to draw attention, they could abandon the disguise.

Indigo had removed the mourning braids at Cadmar’s recommendation. Braids had a different significance in Kudan and they didn’t want to offend anyone. Somehow, abandoning the braids lifted some of the weight of the loss they represented. For now, it made sense to put some of that sorrow aside and focus on the current problems.

Before leaving the palace in Yiroth, Adran had approached them with a few requests. Avoiding Indigo’s eyes, he handed Yiloch’s sword to Cadmar.

“Take this and take two extra horses for Yiloch and Ferin. Yiloch will want his stallion.”

“What if he returns before we do?” Ian had asked when Cadmar accepted the weapon, handling it with a certain degree of reverence.

“Then there are plenty of swords and horses for him to use here,” Adran snapped, his quick temper attesting to the extent of his worry. “He may have need of his best wherever he is.”

She had dodged his gaze when he turned to her, knowing her own misery might get the better of her if she looked into those tortured eyes. Adran said nothing more and perhaps he hadn’t intended to, or perhaps her turning away discouraged him. She figured at the time that hurt feelings were a thing they could both work to heal once Yiloch was safe. Now, as Yiroth fell further behind and the uncertainty before them became everything, she wondered if he might have had something important to say. She could only hope he wouldn’t have let her actions dissuade him if that were the case.

So many doubts tormented her while they worked their way south, the gravity of their venture precluding conversation and leaving her to flail about in her own thoughts.

What if they couldn’t find this Suac Chozai? What if they did find him, but he couldn’t help them? What if Yiloch and Ferin were dead? It was more than possible, given some of the places they might have ended up. Moreover, how would she be received as a Caithin woman in Kudan? They weren’t fond of the Caithin, and for good reason. Prejudice was its own epidemic in Caithin, especially the further inland one travelled. Travelling there was often unpleasant for anyone of obvious foreign descent.

She stood in the stirrups to give her rear and the horses back a break as the animal trotted along, so absorbed in her own thoughts that she jumped hard enough to make the horse stumble when Cadmar touched her arm. Glancing over, she caught his quick, amused grin then followed with her eyes when he pointed off to the right of the road. The forest had given way to open grassland and a family of foxes was travelling along on the far side of a creek that paralleled the road a few yards out. She smiled, appreciating the simple pleasure Cadmar had granted her of watching the beautiful creatures on their own journey.

Ian slowed his mount to a walk and the other horses followed suit, unwilling to separate unless their riders demanded it of them.

“Any inns coming up, Cadmar?”

Cadmar glanced around them, his trained eyes picking out landmarks neither of them were familiar with. “We’ll come upon a village in another hour if we keep up our pace. There’s lodging there. It’s the last decent lodging we’ll get.”

Ian nodded and urged his horse back to a trot, pulling Ferin’s gelding along. Yiloch’s stallion, Tantrum, followed behind Cadmar while Indigo used her healing abilities to keep him calm. They found out right away that the big dappled gray didn’t like following when he nearly unseated Ian trying to charge to the front. Now he came along congenially enough under Indigo’s influence, though Cadmar led him in the hope that he would be strong enough to manage the animal should her working fail for any reason.

The inn was on the far edge of the small town. They kept up a good pace until they reached it to discourage anyone who might be inclined to speak to them. As soon as they had secured lodging, Indigo and Cadmar retreated to the room and Ian, who most resembled the illusion they were travelling under, handled the details of accommodation for the five horses and acquisition of food.

When the young creator arrived in the room with supper, Cadmar was laying out a bedroll on the floor, insisting that she and Ian take the two small cots. After sitting on one cot, Indigo discovered it wasn’t much softer than the floor and left off trying to argue. Ian sat on the remaining cot and grimaced, not bothering to disagree. They ate in the pervasive silence that had hung over them since leaving Yiroth. There was tension in the group that she knew was at least partially due to the trust she had broken. For Cadmar, there seemed less uncertainty toward her than respect for Ian’s contemplative mood. It was the young creator’s pensive mood that had kept her silent as well, but there were things she needed to know before they reached Kudan.

As Ian started to situate the uncomfortable cot in preparation for sleep, she set aside what was left of a passable supper.

“Ian.” He started and glanced over at her, almost as though surprised to find he wasn’t alone. “What exactly did the suac say to Yiloch?”

Ian sat cross-legged on the cot, mirroring her position, though she couldn’t tell if the mimicry was intentional. He picked at the worn hem of his pants while Cadmar changed position, leaning against the wall to watch them.

“He said Yiloch would be thrice betrayed, by ally, by family, and by love.” Ian freed a few threads from the hem and she wondered if he would get through the conversation with his pants intact.

“What else?”

“He said a great army would come and the Lyran empire would fall before it, essentially,” he added the last with a slight shrug that she translated to mean this was a much abbreviated version of the suac’s prophecy.

“I suppose I must accept my role as one of the betrayers,” she murmured. If either of them had feelings about her place in it all, they held their silence, for which she was grateful. “The ally betrayal would be the Caithin alliance. Technically, I think Myac is behind that, though I don’t believe he was working alone. But family? What family does he have left?”

Ian leaned against the wall. “His father, mother, and brother are all dead. His cousin, Lord Terral, has been loyal, though Adran doesn’t seem to trust him entirely. I think he may have a few nieces and maybe a living aunt or uncle. Adran would know his family better.”

Indigo glanced at Cadmar who only shrugged. The big warrior had no need to know such things.

“Lord Terral is emperor regent?”

Ian nodded.

“Let’s hope it isn’t him then. At least Adran and Hax are there to keep an eye on him. I’m sure they won’t let him get into trouble if they can help it. What about the invading army?” She gave Cadmar a querying look, hoping he might know something.

Cadmar shook his head. His pale green eyes were the brightest point in the poorly lit corner. She found herself trapped by them as his deep, soothing voice filled the room. “I know little. Rumor and prophecy mostly. There was some talk before I left the border last time of a Silik hunter who saw a great cloud over the Rhuakine that he believed to be the sign of many horses moving at speed. That could have been a common dust storm though.”

Following Ian’s example, she tore her gaze away from Cadmar and slid back along the cot to lean against the wall. “None of it bodes well,” she murmured, willing herself not to pick at her fingernails.

“Do you love him?”

She met Ian’s eyes.

So much had happened in the short time since she left Yiroth after helping Yiloch take the throne. She remembered well the last night, spent in his arms, and even more so their last kiss the following morning. He had offered her everything he could as the Emperor of Lyra. It wasn’t enough to keep her by his side, not with so many things left unresolved and so many uncertainties as to what role she could play in his life. Still, she had risked her life for him repeatedly. Would she hesitate to do so again? Thinking back on what she had done to free him from the prison, braving Myac and making herself a traitor to her own kingdom, she supposed not.

“Yes, Ian. I can’t imagine loving anyone more.”

Ian smiled and the delight in his eyes warmed her.

Cadmar chuckled and stretched out on his bedroll.

“It’ll all be all right then,” Ian declared.

She returned his smile, though she didn’t share his confidence. “Goodnight.” She blew out the candle beside her cot before climbing under the rough woolen blanket.

•

The evening chat eased some of the tension. The knowledge that Indigo loved his emperor seemed to buoy Ian, and his mood, despite the daunting task ahead of them, was almost jovial throughout the next day. Cadmar found this amusing and Indigo appreciated the better humor of the group, though her own worries and guilt continued to trouble her.

The terrain, which had changed from lush towering forests outside Yiroth to open grasslands, transformed yet again to a sparser forest colored in the soft pallet of gray greens and pale browns common to more arid regions. She took it all in, noticing that the deer were smaller as they moved south and the croaking of frogs in the evening gave way to the chirping of crickets. Travelling at speed made conversation difficult, so they spoke little. In that forced silence, the beauty of the landscape alone wasn’t sufficient to ease her apprehension.

They followed the rough roadway at a good pace until the sparse forest ahead of them changed again. There was a distinct line beyond which the trees were a uniform ghostly silver, their outer bark and most limbs burned away. In places, the black of char stood out against the silver of the dead wood. The hint of struggling plant life showed on the bare ground.

Indigo pulled up her mount before crossing that line. The animal stopped without a fight, sensitive to her reservation. Ian and Cadmar slowed after entering the dead forest, noticing her absence. They stopped to wait and she reluctantly urged her mount on. When she was beside the others, she could see a clearing further ahead, full of the fire-blackened remains of buildings. Beyond that, there was another line of dead, silver trees before the forest returned to normal.