Page 15 of An Archer's Reckoning

I stared down at the sketch of my face. The artist made me look younger and cast me with a frightened expression. I looked so fragile and helpless.

Fire flashed within me.

Atikus cleared his throat. “They’re trying to make you look like a poor, innocent child to drum up anger and support for their war. These are more about recruiting soldiers than finding you.”

My head snapped up. “War? What are you talking about?”

Atikus looked to Keelan, then shrugged. “Read the flyer. Your family pinned your kidnapping on Melucia and is using it asan excuse to invade. Troops are pouring toward the border. You could not go near any major road without seeing men in uniforms everywhere.”

I stared blankly at the page. “I refuse to believe my father did all this without telling meanythingabout it. I mean, there is plenty I never knew, but we talked about most of his major decisions. He said it was part of training me for the throne.”

The heat within me vanished, and my shoulders slumped. First my mother tried to kill me, then she succeeded in killing my father, and likely my brother. Now, the Kingdom was going to war, and I was the last to learn of it. I wanted to scream or throw something . . . or cry.

I shook my head, then caught Keelan staring into my eyes.

I blinked.

He blinked.

I blinked again.

He looked away.

“Sorry.” He ran a hand over his scruffy face. “Uh, Jess, Atikus, we really need to move. They’re probably already hunting us, and we only have a few hours’ head start.”

I nodded. “They have a whole army on the move, none of the towns are safe. My face is plastered across the Kingdom. Even if it wasn’t, everyone knows what their Princess looks like.”

Keelan turned to the Mage. “What do you think, Atikus?”

“I don’t think anything on your map will help us at this point. Jess is right. Between the army and whoever Isabel has working for her, we can’t trust the anonymity of a town. I don’t like the idea of trying to cross the border again, even if we went all the way around to the southern end. Right now, we just need somewhere safe to hide and rest until they lose our trail.”

The skies chose that moment to release the first flurries of the season. Keelan reached a hand out and watched the tiny wet flakes disappear against his skin.

“Add ‘warm and dry’ to your list for this hiding place. Winter’s finally here.”

“I have an idea, but you might not like it. I am not sure I do.” Atikus frowned at the watery snow. “The year before Irina tried to conquer the East, she started purging Mages from the Kingdom. They were hanged or burned as enemies of the state.”

“Atikus, we don’t have time for—”

The Mage cut Keelan off with a glare.

“The Mages knew Irina had the border sealed, so many headed for the coast, the one on the peninsula locals call ‘the Shoe.’ If you had your map, you would know why. Anyway, they found a cave on the coast and hid from Irina’s soldiers. Our histories tell of Mages reinforcing the cave with scripts and magical engravings to further hide them from detection. If we could make it to that cave, we should be safe.”

I couldn’t stop the flurry of questions that spilled out. “That was overa thousandyears ago. How can you be sure it is still there, and is still warded? How would you even hope to find it? And how do you even know any of this?”

Keelan leaned down and whispered conspiratorially, “His Gift is annoying. He rememberseverything.”

Atikus smiled and wiggled his brows.

I wasn’t amused. “Fine. Assume you could find this magical cave. We are more than a hundred leagues from the town of Bo. There is nothing but fields and farmland in between—and then we have to go another fifty leagues to the coast. In case you have not noticed, it’ssnowing!” I didn’t mean to get angry, but the absurdity of what Atikus proposed deserved a bit of yelling.

Atikus didn’t flinch. “You are right. It will be a hard trip that will take three, possibly four, weeks, and we are not exactly well stocked for a journey.”

“I wish Declan was here,” Keelan added. “A Ranger would be a lot better at this kind of thing.” Then something flashed in hiseyes. “Wait. That’s it. Declan talked about us having agents—I mean,Merchantshere.” He glanced apologetically at me, then turned to Atikus. “Could you contact the Arch Mage and have some of our people offer shelter along the way?”

Atikus nodded. “That’s a good idea. Unfortunately, unless there is a Telepath nearby, he will not be able to respond or coordinate a meeting point.”

“It’s worth a shot. If the land is as flat and barren as Jess says, they won’t have to know our exact location, just a general area. They should be able to spot us from pretty far off.”

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