It was nearly night again. They kept at the wagons’ pace, knowing they didn’t dare whip the horses into a lather, but it seemed frustratingly slow to all.
Ronan was scouting ahead. Ashyn hadn’t seen him since they’d taken a brief break for a midday meal, stopping mostly to water and rest the horses. Moria was with Tyrus, not so much for camaraderie now as support. Simeon rode with Ashyn.
“Do you mind companionship, my lady?” Simeon asked.
Ashyn managed a weary smile for him. “We sometimes had scholars stop by Edgewood, wishing to see the Wastes and the Forest of the Dead. My father always found a chance for me to speak to them, but it was never enough. Truth be told, I don’t think they took my interest seriously. There aren’t many girls apprenticed to scholars, I presume?”
It took a moment for him to say, “No, not many,” and even then the words came hesitantly, as if she’d not answered the question he asked. Which she had not.
“Ah,” she said. “That explains it, then. Well, I do appreciate the chance to converse.”
His cheeks colored, and she wondered if she’d misspoken. It was such a difficult line to tread—not wanting to encourage romantic attentions but not wanting to refuse his friendship either.
Relations between young men and women were so complicated. In this instance, also so ill-timed. There ought to be a universal law that if dire circumstances arose, they happened only to those past the age of romantic entanglements, so as not to interfere with the more pressing issues at hand.
“I must ask you a question, Ashyn,” Simeon said as she craned her neck to look for Moria and Tyrus. “I fear you’ll think it impudent.”
“Hmm?” she said distractedly.
“It’s about the scout. Ronan. What is his caste?”
She tensed. “Yes, that is indeed impud—”
“I know he carries a blade, though he hides it around the warriors. Does the prince know?”
When she didn’t reply, Simeon continued, “I am aware that there are men who break the laws in such matters. Mercenaries and bandits. I can see how the imperial family might find use for such men, so I am not questioning—”
“Ronan comes from an old warrior family. Common warriors of low ranking.”
It was true, though she did not say Ronan himself was a warrior. She was not certain when his family had lost their caste, only that it had been several generations past.
Simeon’s face fell, as if in disappointment, and she felt a prickle of annoyance. Was he hoping to discover Ronan was indeed a bandit or mercenary? He’d never seemed the sort to indulge in scandalous gossip.
“Then I must ask another question,” he said after a few moments of riding. “As much as I’d hoped that, in your answer to the first, I could avoid this one.” He gripped the reins tighter. “Are you courting?”
“What?”
“I’ve seen the attention he pays you, and I had hoped he was lowborn, so I might be certain that attention was only the reverence due a Seeker.”
She opened her mouth to say that since she could not marry, there was no need to worry what caste her suitors were. But that would imply the answer to the question was yes—they were courting.
“We are friends,” she said. “He accompanied me across the Wastes.”
“Oh, he is from Edgewood? I did not know that.” A slow smile touched his lips. “Well, then, that makes perfect sense. I am glad to hear you are not otherwise involved. He seems somewhat . . . disreputable.”
Ashyn stiffened. “He has had a difficult life, and he is not wealthy.”
“Yes, of course. I meant no offense. He is your friend, as you said.”
They rode a few paces more, and Ashyn checked again for Moria, wondering if she could politely leave Simeon and ride with her sister.
“Is there anyone else?” Simeon asked. “If not Ronan?”
“Hmmm?”
“Are you unattached?”
“Yes,” she said. “However, given the current circumstances, I’m not looking to change that—”
“Of course not,” he said quickly. “But when this is over, and we are back in the imperial city, I . . . I wish to know you better, Ashyn.”
“I—”
He hurried on. “I’m very fond of you. You have a quick mind and a pleasing face. I mean, a pretty face. You are both attractive and accomplished. And kind. You are very kind. I am certain there are many young men vying for your attention, but you seem to enjoy mine, so I’m hoping I’m not being too forward when I ask . . .” His gaze didn’t quite meet hers. “If you’ll permit me to court you.”
She wanted to say yes. Which was a ridiculous answer because she most assuredly did not want that. She wished to agree, because his speech was so sweet and so earnest, and she felt monstrous saying she wouldn’t even let him try. Perhaps she expected too much of romance, but she did not want to be with someone when there was no spark.
She took a deep breath. “It’s very sweet of you to ask, Simeon, but I have so much upheaval in my life that I am not looking for romance.”
“You prefer warriors? I know young women do, and you are surrounded by them.”
“No, actually, artisans and scholars are more my—” She stopped, realizing that this would not soften the rejection. “I have no preferences, Simeon, because I have no interest in romantic relationships at this time.”
“Is it Tyrus, then?”
“Prince Tyrus,” she said, annoyance clipping her words. “No, I do not have designs—”
“You must. There’s hardly a girl in the empire who doesn’t dream of the handsome young prince turning his gaze her way. His attention is for your sister, yet you imagine a day when he tires of her ill manners and boyish ways. Or, perhaps, when he discovers that rough-mannered young women who embrace the warrior life do not fancy young men at all.”
Ashyn stared at him as his lip curled and his gaze hardened.
You rejected him. He has an ego, despite his awkward ways. And it doesn’t matter how gentle your refusal, it was still rejection.
“My sister likes young men very much,” she said. “Though if you hoped to insult her by suggesting otherwise, it’s a poorly aimed dart because I would care not whether she liked women or men, so long as she was happy. I understand that you are displeased with my words, but they are truly spoken. If you wish to upset me, you have only to insult my friends. If you wish to divest yourself of my company completely, you have only to insult my sister. I see her riding back. I’ll take my leave.”
They did not reach Riverside by sundown, and it was not the fault of the horses. They stopped short because Ronan spotted the bandit camp. The minor counselor, Tyrus, and the girls left their exhausted horses and followed Ronan across the wooded fields. Now they lay on a hillock, peering at the camp below.
“It’s them,” Moria said. “See the huge, bald man? That’s Barthol. The smaller man with him is Fyren.”
“I count ten tents,” Tyrus said. “Presuming two men to a tent, that’s twenty. Less than I would have expected. It could be enough to capture a town, though.”
“It is,” the minor counselor said. “Riverside has only a few hundred people, and perhaps ten warriors. Warlord Jorojumo’s compound is to the east. They can call on him for aid, so they do not require more.”
“We’ll dispatch one of our men to ride to the warlord then. I will request his assistance.”
“It is better to demand it, your highness.”
“You’re right. I’ll do that,” Tyrus said. “I see no sign of shadow stalkers, but I suppose they’d not keep them with the camp. I don’t know how easily they are controlled.”
“According to legend, they are under the command of the sorcerer who raised them,” Moria said. “The fact that they seemed able to kill women and old men—while leaving the children—supports that they can be restrained. Either way, I’d not want them in my camp.”
“I suspect these bandits would agree. So the shadow stalkers will be held elsewhere, under guard.”
“Meaning they have more bandits or warriors nearby,” Moria said. “Guarding the shadow stalkers.”
Tyrus nodded. “And more still with the children. We’ll send those in our party who are not warriors on scouting missions, searching for the shadow stalker camp and the one holding the children. One warrior will go to speak to the warlord. When he returns—hopefully with others—we will attack, in hopes of catching them off guard.”
He glanced at the counselor.
“A sound plan, your highness,” the man said.
“Then let’s return to the others and prepare.”