Page 42 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

His voice comes out strained. “There’s been a rebellion in one of the northern provinces up near the Bryfesh border: Eppun.”

My heart lurches. “What?”

Pawlem scowls. “We’ve only gotten information in dribs and drabs out here. But it seems some group claiming they know the gods’ true will has inflamed the commoners and displaced the local counts and countesses. The heir to the seat of Coliz up and murdered his parents to stake a claim for what they’re calling the ‘Order of the Wild.’ There’s been heaps of turmoil in Nikodi and Selce as well.”

I resist the urge to reach for my sword, as if I could cut down the traitors from the other side of the country. Frustration sears through my gut.

The scourge sorcerers have managed to gain that large a foothold—to commandeer an entire province? How long have they been laying the groundwork for this uprising without us realizing?

“And they’ve swayed enough civilians to their ‘cause’ to hold the territory?” I ask.

Pawlem’s scowl only deepens with shared frustration. “You know what the outer provinces can be like. Always thinking the capital isn’t doing enough for them. They feel left out, so they decide the sophisticated ways of the urban nobility are suspicious. It’d be easier to win them over with seditious ideas than anyone else.”

It would indeed. My hand flexes at my side with tension I don’t give in to. “The king can’t let that kind of mutiny stand.”

“No. But they’re giving the army a difficult time. From what I understand, the traitors haven’t tried to march any closer to the capital yet. I suppose they learned their lesson with their attack on the palace in Florian. Instead, they’ve been challenging the king to come and face them himself. But it’s not as if they’re standing on a field waiting for a charge. The first few squadrons sent up that way were ambushed and handed their asses.”

“They want to pick away at our forces, wear us down until they see an opening,” I mutter. It’s the kind of tactic many Silanians turned to during the uprising against the Darium empire several decades ago—a solid tactic, even if I hate knowing it’s being used against us now. “And the more soldiers the king sends out there, the fewer he has protecting him.”

Pawlem nods. “That’s about the size of it. Bad business all around. I’m sure we’ll quash them eventually… but I don’t like how much it’ll cost us along the way.”

I can’t share his certainty about the first part. He hasn’t witnessed scourge sorcery firsthand—he has no idea how fanatical this Order of the Wild can be.

They mean to see King Konram burn one way or another.

“Thank you,” I say to Pawlem, because I am grateful for the intelligence even if I’m horrified by it as well. “I’ll do whatever I can to see our country set to rights.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Not with riven magic, I hope.”

An uneasy twinge runs through my gut at the thought of the power Ivy’s been working at the Haven. Practicing the vicious magic that’s hurt her as much as those around her, attempting to tame it.

Gods only know how much it’ll ruin—including the woman I love herself—if it yanks free of her hold.

I force a small smile. “I would never rely on just one trick, my friend. And I never risk more than we stand to gain.”

When I tick my gaze away and back, I can see enough tension in Pawlem’s stance and expression to recognize that he doesn’t fully trust my judgment now. He isn’t really my friend, even if he played along with me for now.

He thinks he has something more to gain here too.

I don’t want to assume the worst, but present circumstances require expecting it. And I promised Sulla I’d take every precaution to ensure no one finds out where I’ve been staying.

I bob my head to Pawlem. “I’ll take my leave of you, and I won’t bother you again. I hope our next meeting is under better terms.”

“So do I,” he says as I turn away.

I walk into the forest in the opposite direction from where I left my horse. After several minutes, I stop at a particularly dense stretch of brush and sink back against a tree trunk.

It doesn’t take long before I catch the crack of a twig and the rustle of boots through fallen leaves. What little hope I had left deflates.

Pawlem sent people to track me. No doubt he imagines he’ll turn me and all my treacherous companions over to the royal patrols for much reward.

My gift might not work with my damaged vision, but I can still see some moves before they’re made.

I stalk onward through the woods as if I’m being cautious but unaware of my pursuers. When I reach the farm I spotted on my way here, quiet with the fallen night, I ease into the barn and select the largest of the horses.

With a silent prayer of apology to Prospira for disturbing this family’s livelihood and a request to guide the animal home safely, I lead it out around the back of the barn where the soldiers won’t have followed too closely yet for risk of being seen. Then I whack the horse on the rear hard enough to send it galloping over the nearest hill.

There’s a scuffle of hasty footsteps from the woods as the soldiers must rush off to alert companions hanging back on steeds of their own. I wait until I’ve watched two stealthy soldiers on horseback crest the hill before trekking back to my actual mount.

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