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As he said it, Baclar pitched forward, and he heard screams. He was surprised to find himself lying on the ground, and when he managed to glance up, it was to see Massi standing over him, bow held high. Some of her dark hair had escaped its braid and was blowing back in the wind. She looked like an avenging goddess, face cold and fierce.

And then he knew nothing more.

Chapter 28

After traveling north west for hours, they had slept for only two before they moved on.

Ava would have chosen not to sleep at all, but she felt better when they mounted their horses again, and she conceded Deni had been right to insist.

She had sewn energy and strength into her shirt before she’d settled onto the thin pallet by the fire Deni had built, and she hoped some of her increased vigour was as a result of her workings.

That would please her more than anything, other than reaching Luc as soon as they could.

She had also pulled out her braid, which had come loose, and redone it, refreshing the working in that, as well.

She wondered what it would look like to Melodie.

Some of the urgency was simply her need to get to Luc as quickly as she could, but both Deni and Taira were sure there had been someone suspicious nosing around the yard when they’d gone down to negotiate for another horse from the stable master.

Deni had ended up spinning a story of needing to meet a friend who’s own horse had gone lame further up the road to explain why he needed to buy another mount.

From the way he and Taira spoke, the stranger had unsettled them, and she wondered if it wasHimself. The mysterious man from Grimwalt.

Maybe he was getting impatient for Sirna to arrive and had crossed the bridge to the Kassian side for a look around.

Deni and Taira had ridden out of Illoa with the extra horse and met her in the forest to the north of the village, looking over their shoulders the whole way. There had been no argument from them when she’d set a punishing pace.

Now dawn had broken, making the ride even easier, although the road was in good condition and clear of traffic. They had passed no one so far.

“Look.” Taira pointed up at the sky. “Smoke.”

It wasn’t the black of a burning roof or building. Ava sniffed the air and thought she caught the scent of pine. But it was a big fire, bigger than one would expect for a small camp.

“Keep back, Ava. Stay in the trees.” Deni touched his head when Taira wasn’t looking, to remind Ava to wear her knitted cap when she was out of sight, and she nodded.

She carried on with them for a little way longer, but when the sound of shouting, of fighting, filtered to them on the breeze, she lifted a hand to forestall Deni’s admonishment, and pointed her horse into the thick forest that ran on either side of the road.

The forest wasn’t deep.

Once she was amongst the trees she could see where the tree line ended. The disturbance was coming from that direction.

Luc was meeting the Jatan, Deni had said. That had the possibility of going badly, and whatever was happening up ahead definitely wasn’t going well. But she thought they were still hours away from reaching the Rising Wave.

Perhaps they had made better time than she realized.

As soon as she was a few trees away from what seemed to be an open field, she slid off her horse and left it to pull on the long grass while she moved ahead on foot.

She had her cap pulled down on her head before she stepped out into the open, and she stood for a moment in the sunlight, trying to work out what she was looking at.

A disaster was the first description to come to mind.

Two armies faced off against each other, both focused on something just out of her view in the space that lay between the two opposing sides.

That was where the smoke was coming from.

Ava began to walk around the Rising Wave soldiers, recognising some of the faces. It lifted her spirits just to see them again, despite the situation.

She checked to her right, to where the road emerged from between the trees, but either Deni and Taira were hanging back to assess the situation first, or the loop the road took was longer than she’d thought. Perhaps she had taken a shortcut by moving through the forest.