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The guards didn’t relax, all six of them frowning.The one who had called out earlier stepped up to Ralph, one hand on the sword hilt at his hip.
“Border’s closed.Turn around and return to Yari.”
“Good sir, we cannot afford to turn around.Money is not made on the road, after all.”Ralph pressed one hand to his chest to show his sincerity, bowing slightly.
“Border’s closed,” the guard repeated, his frown deepening.A gentle breeze ruffled the grass, cooling the sweat beginning to drip down Karl’s spine.The guard’s nostrils flared as he took in the scents—he probably shifted into a scent-focused creature like a wolf—and he suddenly stiffened.
Lyric slowly climbed down from the wagon and sauntered past Karl on his way to Ralph’s side.He rested an elbow on Ralph’s shoulder, leaning indolently as he studied the guards.
Another breeze blew through the grass, passing over Lyric before wafting in the guard’s faces.Nostrils flared again, and then as if their strings were cut, all the guards abruptly dropped to their knees, bowing their heads at an angle that exposed the backs of their necks.
“I have been sent on a diplomatic mission to speak with our neighbors in Toval about a pressing matter.These kind merchants have agreed to help me be discrete with my travels.Do you understand?”Lyric asked, his tone stern and authoritative, but not cold.“I commend you for the excellent work you are doing, following my dear uncle, the king’s, orders.But I follow the king’s orders as well, so I must ask you to move aside and allow us to pass.”
“At once, Your Highness!”the lead guard forced out, his voice wobbling as if fear made it hard to get the words out.“Please cross at your leisure.”
The guards awkwardly shuffled to the side without getting up or raising their heads.Ralph waved one hand, and Tilly guided the horses forward, onto the stone bridge.Karl followed along with everyone else on foot, trying his hardest to appear nonchalant, as if he escorted princes who shapeshifted into dragons every day.In reality, his heart was beating in his throat, and he kept having to remind himself to breathe.
The horses’ hooves touched ground on the other side of the bridge, and then the front wheels of the wagon.The back wheels left the bridge and Karl quickly had to stiffen his knees to keep from collapsing in relief.Ama was safely back in Toval.Karl almost didn’t notice when his own feet left the stone of the bridge, returning to the hard-packed brown dirt on the Toval side—he was too lightheaded—but he snapped back to reality as one of the Tovalian guards spoke.
“Welcome back, Lieutenant.Was your trip successful?”
“Mostly,” Ralph replied with a scowl.“We’re being pursued, and it’s not the sort of problem that will honor international border regulations.We’re moving out at top speed, and I’m ordering you to abandon your posts.”
“Leave the border unguarded, sir?”another guard gasped out.
Ralph grimaced.“Unfortunately, yes.But if I know Commander Fen, I will bet you there’s a contingent of the Royal Forces just out of sight.They’ll help resecure the border after whatever is pursuing us gives up.”
“Sir!”the first guard replied to Ralph with a salute.He turned to the other guards.“Wake the night shift and saddle all the horses.We’re moving out with all haste!”
The faintest hint of dust from a large party approaching in the distance from Yaroi became visible as one of the guards brought a horse over for Karl to ride.The enemy was coming quickly, just as Lyric claimed, and they couldn’t afford to get caught.Thankfully, within minutes, the guard house was empty, and they were back on the road, running from that growing plume of dust.
Hopefully Ralph was correct, and Fen was waiting for them only a few miles down the road.The border and one measly bridge wasn’t going to stop their pursuers; their only chance of surviving this was if Fen had the Royal Forces stationed nearby.That was the only way Ama was going to survive too.
Ama had to still be alive.He had to be.Karl couldn’t check on him while they were moving, but he desperately wanted to.Even opening the secret hatch was too dangerous since Ama could roll out and fall to the ground.Instead, all Karl could do was ride nearby and hope Ama could somehow hear his desperate mental pleas to just hang on a little longer.If Fen had forces stationed nearby, he would have healers with him too.Ama only had to survive a little longer.Just a little longer, Karl repeated like a mantra as the road passed by beneath his horse’s hooves.
The exhausted cart horses could only go so fast, but the same boring road quickly returned to the same monotony as before: brown dirt with wheel ruts cut into it with waving winter-brown grasses on either side.If Karl didn’t have the sour memory full of worry and stress about getting across that bridge, he wouldn’t know they had crossed into Toval.
A bird called from up ahead, which Karl found strange since their noisy group had scared any nearby animals into hiding.Ralph grinned, stood in his stirrups, and waved a hand over his head.
“It’s us!Sprint back to camp and get Commander Fen.We’ve got company on our tail, about a half hour behind, and we’ve got wounded!”he yelled out.
A second later two soldiers appeared in the grass, already racing away.They didn’t follow the path, cutting through the grass on a likely faster route.The road curved ahead, making their trajectory more obvious.
“They were the two-mile sentries,” Ralph explained.“We’re almost there.”
Karl heard the camp before he saw them, the noise of a number of horses and humans in close proximity unmistakable in the otherwise empty plains.The road forked ahead, and Fen had set up camp right in the middle of that fork.Anyone passing through would need to go through them.The sentries had obviously passed along Ralph’s message since everyone was bustling around.Soldiers were saddling horses and mounting in full armor to the left.To the right, the archers were warming their bows and getting crossbows set along with the spear and shield group preparing to repel oncoming riders.In the center stood their welcoming committee, and a morewelcomesight Karl had never seen.
Fen was in the lead, Char standing right next to him.Fen had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and his body was muscled from years of military training and leading the Tovalian Royal Forces.Char had black hair and dark-blue eyes, and his smile today was the same one that had made Karl feel like he belonged that first day all those years ago when Fen had first dumped Karl on him.Behind Char was Uncle Caro’s closest friend, Healer Alina, her gray-shot hair pulled into a tight braid, and her eyes anxious as she took them all in.Tilly stopped the wagon.Karl tumbled off his horse and dashed over to the compartment where Ama was concealed.
“Alina!”he yelled out, as he punched the hatch open.He got his hands underneath Ama’s very still form, dragging his limp body out of the compartment by a grip on one arm and Ama’s shirt in his other hand.Ama’s head flopped, banging and scraping against the side of the compartment as Karl tried to carefully slide him free.Karl had to pause to get a better grip—his hands were shaking so much—but when he resumed pulling, other people arrived to help.Alina and Ralph together were able to lever Ama out and down to the ground.Karl dropped with them, his knees suddenly too weak to hold him up.
Ama looked dead.His skin was pale and lifeless, and his body motionless.Karl couldn’t see any sign of his chest moving or that he was breathing at all.
“Damn,” Alina swore as her hands began to glow green.She sank her magic into Ama, biting her lip as if it hurt.
“Is he—?”Karl cut himself off, unable to say the words out loud.
“Here,” Ralph replied.He grabbed Karl’s hand and placed it on Ama’s neck.“Can you feel that?”