Firebrand

It was a rather optimistic view that Zachary did not share. “I need to return to Sacor City, or at least get some word there, but I can’t just leave my people enslaved in the Lone Forest.” He glanced at Karigan once more. “My Green Rider is in no condition for a message errand.”

“I could go,” Fiori said. “At least I could intercept Treman’s folk and have one of them continue on to Sacor City with a message written in your own hand.”

Zachary rubbed his upper lip. “Yes, that is a possibility, unless the gryphons would consent to carrying a message.”

As the day dragged on, he mulled over the possibilities of what a message might contain. He observed Enver and Nari keeping watch, and stayed by Karigan’s side as he had promised. Now and then he caught a few words of her otherwise incoherent mumbling. Cade came up more than once. Zachary reached over and took her hand into his.

“Shh, it’s all right,” he murmured. “You are safe, you are safe. I will not let anyone hurt you.” He continued on in this vein for a while even after she quieted.

• • •

When dusk set in, they prepared to move to their other campsite under cover of dark. Enver said he’d seen pairs of the enemy searching across the rocky plain, but none had come close enough to their illusion-concealed location to be of much worry.

Enver tried to wake up Karigan. “Come, Galadheon, it is time to ride.”

“No, don’t wanna,” she muttered.

After fruitless, gentle cajoling, Zachary told Enver, “Allow me.” He leaned close to her ear and said in a sharp voice, “Mount up, Rider.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” She attempted to rise, but crumpled with a cry of pain.

Zachary and Enver lifted her to her feet.

“We aren’t staying at the Golden Rudder, are we?” she asked in a drowsy voice.

“What is this Golden Rudder?” Enver asked.

“An inn,” Zachary replied. It was a well-known brothel in certain circles, but he wondered how Karigan knew of it. There was a story there, and he thought it would be amusing to ask her about it when she was more coherent. He told her, “No, Sir Karigan, we are not going to the Golden Rudder.”

“Where—where am I?”

Enver explained.

“Oh,” she said. “I remember now.”

“You will ride Mist with me,” Enver told her.

Zachary wanted to protest, wanted her to ride with him. Had he not sat by her side all day to offer comfort? But he caught himself and merely nodded. Mist was Enver’s horse, and smoothly gaited for carrying one who was injured.

It was decided that he and Nari would double-up on Condor, and Fiori would ride Coda. Enver, with Karigan wrapped in a blanket and sitting slumped before him, led the way into the dark. Zachary had, of course, never ridden Condor before and was impressed by the gelding’s confident strides and alert demeanor. He stuck close to Mist as though wanting to keep an eye on his Green Rider.

Nari remained silent behind Zachary. No one spoke. There was just the wind and the clip-clop of hooves on stone. Despite his day of rest, he was still weary after his ordeal with Second Empire, and he dozed in the saddle. He was unsure of how much time had passed when Nari placed her hand on his shoulder.

“We are here, Zachary.”

He awoke just in time to experience walking through a wall of stone, which was just air, another of Nari’s illusions. Beyond, a pony whickered in greeting, and there were two tents and a small campfire. He would have never guessed the campsite’s existence from the other side of the illusion.

A figure emerged from the smaller tent and launched at Fiori just as he touched ground beside Coda.

“Father!” Estral Andovian cried, throwing herself into his arms. “They got you out!”

“Yes, yes they did,” Fiori murmured.

“Family,” Nari said before she slipped off Condor’s back, an echo of Magged.

“Yes,” Zachary replied softly.

Estral did not seem to know which direction to go, torn between a hasty bow to her king and checking on Karigan, or returning to her father.

“No formalities with me,” he told her.

She nodded and hastened to help Enver walk Karigan into the larger tent. Zachary busied himself with tending the horses, and when he was done, he paused at the large tent’s entrance just as Enver stepped out.

“Is Karigan all right?” he asked.

“She is weak and in pain, but with some rest she will heal.”

“I would like to see her.”

Enver glanced over his shoulder at the tent, then gazed back at Zachary. “She requests that you do not.”

Zachary was taken aback. “Why?”

Enver shrugged. “She does not wish for you to see her in her present condition.”

“But I have.” Zachary raked his hair out of his face. “I sat with her all day, and last night . . .”

“It is her wounds laid bare,” Enver said. “She does not wish you to see her that way.”

Oh, Karigan. Did she think he would judge her in some way, besides thinking how brave and resilient she was, because of how she appeared?

“Firebrand,” Enver said, “it would be well for you to rest, too. Know that you are safe and you can truly sleep after all you have endured.”

Safe. He sat before the welcome fire, not sure if he could ever sleep well again. He glanced at the tent, the silken fabric that stood as solid as any stone wall between him and Karigan. If he did sleep, it would be, to his sorrow, without her by his side.