Page 190 of Keeper of the Word

Chapter

Sixty-Nine

TOLVAR

The battle had been fought with a band from the province of Renn, of all places. Vigilantes who, armed with a WANTED banner and a duty for justice, had stumbled upon the Wolf and his troupe on their way to vow service to the sovereign. None had been left alive.

Tolvar knelt over the hurried grave of one of the Order knights who’d died, unable to glance at Goodsell’s. Goodsell the Good.

His StarSeer’s anguish was palpable. Heat raged from her. After burying Goodsell, she had jerked her head to three Order knights and galloped away with them.

She had stiffly told Elanna, “I will not shirk my last duties. I shall return.”

No one asked what that meant, but Elanna and the other StarSeers seemed to know and had not questioned it.

’Twas dismal.

Over the last few days, from their camp on the hill, out of the way and hidden as much as possible, they’d observed a half-dozen armies, thousands of soldiers, funnel into the countryside surrounding Asalle.

The city had at last been entirely emptied, save for thesovereign, his queen, and the Castle Sidra knights who remained. All last citizens, retainers, and even servants had been forced from the city. Tolvar had watched in disbelief as the last of Asalle’s city guards exited, and the main gate closed behind them.

The sovereign’s torch, gigantic and at the topmost tower of Castle Sidra, was clearly visible, even from the makeshift graveyard in which Tolvar knelt. ’Twas always alight. It symbolized the House of Sidra and had burned for a millennium. But with the remainder of Asalle darkened, it appeared as a woeful candle.

“What now?” Ghlee asked later when Tolvar stumbled back to their camp.

“We wait for Crevan to show, I suppose. He will show.” The Order knights had been making the rounds, scouting the circumference of the area for when Crevan and Turas’s army finally arrived.

Ghlee nodded. “How do you feel?”

Other than the battle that had caught them off guard, Tolvar took extreme measures to rest. ’Twas pure luck that he’d not been forced to fight more. Every muscle ached. His hands couldn’t quite grip as they had before Crevan’s torture. And at times, his limbs went numb.

But he would need his strength before this was all over.

“I am well,” Tolvar replied. “Of course.”

“I know you.”

Tolvar side-eyed Ghlee. “Your point?”

Instead of answering him, Ghlee said, “I wish to tell you something. Even now. Even with all the events that have occurred in your life these moons. I am proud to know you, my friend. You’ve abstained. You’ve…grown, mayhap the term is.” Ghlee paused. “You are everything I have always known the Wolf could be.”

“Cease. Say no more, Ghlee. I haven’t the stamina.”

Ghlee gave a side-look of his own.

“And through these moons,” Tolvar said. “You may not have been with me, but—” The Wolf was not one for emotional theatrics. “You are my brother.”

The two spoke no further. There was no need. Instead, they surveyed the disquieted site together.

The air was thick with war’s anticipation. The sight of so many armies, so many soldiers, and so many torches and campfires was like peering down on numerous villages that had sprouted from nowhere.

Except these came with future bloodshed and senselessness.

That it should all come to this.The majority of Asalle’s citizens had not yet fled but, instead, stayed in their camps, seeming for all the world as if they planned to resettle there.

Stars.

“What is happening?” Ghlee asked, scrutinizing the main gate. ’Twas opening.