She did not best him the next time, or the next time, or the time after that, either. They trained each morning and again at night, sometimes with sparring matches during the day. Occasionally, Rilion joined in, and other times he fought Gil by himself.
“You’re fighting harder than before,” Thea remarked one evening after he’d jabbed her in the ribs and stomach fourteen times. Some of those had been hard enough to leave bruises. She refused to complain. It was another message, something she needed to learn from if she wanted to survive. Gil meant her no harm. Anyone else would kill her.
“That is the general point of training. As your skill advances, you are matched against more competent opponents.” He took a long drought from his water skin, then reclined so he was propped on his elbows.
“That means you were holding back more than I thought.” She didn’t know why she’d expected otherwise. There was no one else to train her; of course he’d temper his skill.
The smile he offered was tight, hardly a smile at all. “There is no one of lower skill here to teach you. Rilion is competent, though not my match. If you’d prefer, you may train with him.”
“Thank you for volunteering me,” Rilion put in sarcastically.
Maybe she should. Thea considered it as she finger-combed through her hair. It hadn’t taken long for it to become gritty again. She longed for the bath in Danesse. She’d never experienced anything like it and probably wouldn’t again.
Why wouldn’t you? a small part of her objected. Tiny as that inner voice was, it was enough to make her pause and pursue the thought.
If they made it through this ordeal alive, they’d eventually return to Kentoria. How many times had Gaius kissed her? No matter how she clung to the false identity he’d presented, he was the king, and returning to Kentoria would end with him on the throne. What would she be then? She dared not imagine herself as a queen, regardless of her heritage. Her family had been noble enough that her pedigree had the potential to overshadow their downfall, yet gentle kisses and tender moments hardly warranted any fantasy of marriage. But oh, Light, she wanted it.
She’d entertained the idea of being his wife before. His real wife, not a position falsely assumed to make travel and business easier. A wife bound to him before the Light, honored with vows, cherished the way she’d always imagined she could be—
No.
Thea squeezed her eyes closed. She couldn’t risk setting her heart on that, no matter how badly she might wish for it. Even if he wanted that—wanted her—they were not yet through the mountains between Ranor and Angroth, and the worst was yet to come. She couldn’t think of it now, not even to dream. He’d been clear in explaining the risk. The chance she could lose him was hard enough. If she allowed herself to know—or even believe—he meant to wed her in the end, the fear of losing him would leave her paralyzed.
Actually losing him might kill her.
She steered her thoughts in other directions as he and Rilion spoke. They studied the stars and planned their course, and she still was not sure where they were going or why, beyond that they believed the person Gil sought was there.
“Not that far north,” Rilion was saying. He pointed vaguely toward the east, making her wonder what she’d missed.
“But north of Passgate.” Gaius—he was kingly when she looked at him, stroking his chin in thought like that—stared into the sky as if it could hold answers. “We’re at least two weeks away from that settlement, and that’s assuming it hasn’t yet snowed in the mountains.”
Thea wasn’t confident making that assumption. The air had grown bitter at night. More than once, she’d caught the scent of snow on the wind, though she had yet to see so much as a flurry. It seemed impossible for the ground to still be bare farther to the north. “Where is Passgate?” she asked.
Both men blinked at her. Her lacking knowledge of geography wasn’t a problem as long as they had Gaius to lead them, but a general sense of where they were and where they were going would be wise to have, if… No, no ifs. She’d already decided she wouldn’t think of that.
“Angroth is shaped something like a teardrop,” Rilion said, curving the fingers of his left hand into an approximation of the country. “Passgate would be about here, halfway up the western side.” He touched his right index finger to the general location.
It told her less than she’d hoped. “And where are we now?”
He slid his finger down to the very bottom of the curve, nestling the edge of his nail against the fleshy web between his forefinger and thumb. “Ah, about here.”
“Angroth is near the length of Kentoria, from the northernmost mountains to our southern coast. The horses will make us faster going across the valley, but we’ll slow again in the hills.” Despite the subtle crease of frustration between his brows, Gaius was calm. How had she ever looked past that unshakable nature and thought him anything other than what he was?
Rilion scratched the back of his neck and sighed. “We still don’t know where exactly the place is, though. Intelligence offered by the sources I can reach will only get us so far. Aside from knowing he’s in Angroth—”
Gaius raised a hand. “Knowing that is enough.”
If anything, the extra distance would give her more time to train. More time to practice, make herself useful, and more time by his side. That was why she’d come, Thea reminded herself. Two weeks in close proximity, traveling the mountains and valleys with him only an arm’s reach away.
Solemn, she burrowed into her bedroll and gazed at the stars. Maybe she’d sleep better if she kept him that way in the future. An arm’s reach away, close enough to touch when the night’s sounds frightened her awake.
Tomorrow, she’d lay her bedroll close.
“Well now,” Rilion said. “What have we here?”
Thea craned her neck to see, but he’d already reined his horse to a stop and dismounted. Whatever it was, he knelt to inspect it.
Gaius dismounted, too. The closer they got to their destination, the more solidly that name cemented itself in her mind. Even with the unseemly face she’d given him.
He crouched beside Rilion and touched the ground with fingertips reddened by the cold. They’d spotted a few stray snowflakes early that morning, but they’d all roundly denied it. No one wanted to consider the impact of snow. Now, whatever it was they saw made snow a greater threat.
“How many?” Gaius asked so softly, the wind almost carried away the words. “What do you think?”
Rilion pursed his lips.
Unable to restrain her curiosity, Thea slid from her mare and inched forward to have a look.
Tracks. Clear ones, more defined than what even those left near the burned settlement had been.
“It’s got to be dozens. Look how thickly they’re layered.” Rilion spread a hand and waved at the marks as a whole. “And they’ve been by recently, too.”
“But we still haven’t seen anyone,” Thea said. “How can they move so swiftly in numbers so large?”
“Simple. There has to be something we’re missing.” The prince shrugged, then stood straight. His gaze tracked to the north, then the west.
Gaius did the same, though the turn of his head was barely perceptible. “They’ve not headed toward Passgate.”
Thea wasn’t sure of the directions or distances, but she, too, saw how the trail meandered west. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“Angroth isn’t known for its large number of settlements.” He dusted his hands together as he stood. It meant something to him; she saw it in the distant look that filled his eyes.
She paced closer and squinted at the horizon, unable to determine what he was looking at. “What are you thinking?”
Rilion had already returned to his horse. He stopped with his hands on the saddle and listened instead of mounting again.
A long moment dragged by before Gaius finally drew breath and spoke. “We shouldn’t go north.”
“Where, then?” Thea asked.
“West. The same direction our missing farmers went.”
“Back into the mountains?” They’d only just escaped the slopes of those between Angroth and Ranor. The valley ahead had been wide and welcoming. Now they gazed across rolling foothills that promised hard travel and slow going. Slower, once the snow fell.
“If that is where they take us.” He turned and waved for her to get back on her horse. She’d gotten better at mounting and dismounting on her own, and she was able to climb back into the saddle without much difficulty.
Rilion mounted, too, then leaned forward in the saddle as if it would help him see farther. “It’s a recent path. Cut by the feet of many travelers. There are no cities that way, not that I know of. Mines, maybe, but they wouldn’t attract such a large group of travelers.”
Especially not when those travelers were Ranorsh. What could have sent them across mountains and into a neighboring country? Thea had rubbed the scrap of red fabric daily, hoping it would provide answers. It still hadn’t.
“Then we should see what has attracted them.” Gaius pointed to a narrow line that threaded through the grasses and scrub adorning the foothills. “Their trail is there. We will follow it as far as we can.”
So they did.
The trail wound on, seemingly forever, and it only grew wider as they followed it. Eventually, another trail intersected with it, and its width was doubled again. By the first evening, the three of them could ride abreast with room to spare, and ruts from wagon wheels had joined the countless marks from sturdy boots and animal hooves.
“Wagons bearing what, I wonder?” Rilion mused to himself when they stopped for rest. He sat facing the west, but there was little to see. The trail disappeared into the night, and Gaius forbade a fire.
“Too close,” he’d said, without explanation.
Thea dreaded what danger that meant and hoped spreading her bedroll right beside his would help stave off the worry when she slept, but it didn’t. She woke often and rolled ceaselessly in her bedroll. Only when a strong, warm hand reached out to smooth back her hair and caress her face did she find respite from the uneasy dreams, and she woke tired the next morning.
They resumed travel at the break of dawn. Gaius scouted ahead on foot while Rilion led his horse. That he felt there was a need for scouting put Thea on edge. She couldn’t tell if Rilion felt the same; the prince had a steady quality about him, much like what she’d seen of Gil during their travels, though he lacked the same measure of passion and energy. Or maybe his passion simply rested elsewhere. When he’d spoken of his studies, he’d had a spark in him, too. She dared not think herself the sort of person who might befriend a prince, but when everything was over, she hoped she would have the chance to know him better.
Their horses walked, letting Gaius outpace them easily, but they caught up with him near noon. From the moment he came into view, he walked toward them. How far ahead he’d gone, there was no telling.
“I’ve found your settlement,” he announced when they were close enough to hear him speak his normal volume. Given the natural strength of his voice, they paced forward a bit farther before the horses stopped of their own accord. Their reaction amused Thea. Even the horses found him commanding.
“All the way out here?” Rilion sounded only half surprised. He scanned the hills, but there was nothing to be seen, and the ground had grown rockier, making the trail harder to follow.
Gaius nodded. “I recommend we turn the horses loose and continue on foot.”
The prince snorted at the suggestion. “I am not turning the horses loose. These are good horses, and well trained. Do you have any idea how much a good Ranorsh steed costs?”
“A pittance compared to what’s in your father’s coffers, I’m sure.”
Thea patted her dusty mare’s neck. “I like Molasses. I’d prefer not to leave her. Is there somewhere safe we could leave them, instead?”
“Tying them somewhere would practically guarantee they’d be stolen, or else eaten by predators found in the hills.” Gaius frowned to make his inconvenience clear, but he reached for the reins of his red gelding. They would keep the horses. “We will ride single file.”
He took the lead and Rilion took the rear. The placement made sense; Gaius knew where they were going and Rilion was a stronger fighter than she, but it felt like being sheltered and she wasn’t sure she liked that. She was under no illusions about her skill, but she hoped to make herself useful somehow. As of yet, she’d provided nothing Rilion couldn’t.
Well, almost nothing. She supposed he could, in theory, provide the kisses, but somehow she didn’t think Gaius would appreciate them. The tiniest hint of a smirk curved her lips and she raised a hand to wipe it away, disguising the motion by pretending to pull a stray hair from the corner of her mouth.
The path curved around a hill ahead. Instead of cresting it, Gaius turned his horse toward a rocky stretch that sloped upward, higher into the mountains.
They rode for what felt like hours before Gaius dismounted and flashed a hand signal telling them to do the same. The silence was telling. Thea climbed down from the saddle with caution and gave Rilion a curious look, but the prince only shrugged. She twisted the reins in her hand and continued on.
At last, a peak came into view.
“Leave the horses,” Gaius whispered as he beckoned them forward. “They can’t go far.”
Reluctantly, Thea let Molasses go and crept to the peak to see what required them to make themselves so small.
A half-built fortress bursting with workers nestled in the steep valley below.
