Page 26 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

Cahra looked at him in dismay. ‘Why am I not surprised?’ she said angrily. ‘Seers, how did you stand it? Living there, I mean.’

Terryl looked up, viewing Raiden and his people with admiration. ‘I had help.’

‘Right,’ she said, feeling unexpectedly envious. ‘So Raiden is your…’

Terryl’s eyes crinkled, fondness in his gaze. ‘Raiden is many things,’ the lord said. ‘My advisor, my confidant. My friend. And he is my second in charge, not to mention an incredibly accomplished swordsman. We trained together, though he outpaced me swiftly. Thanks to your longsword, I may have motivation to catch up.’ Something crossed his face, Terryl’s good humour slipping ever so slightly. She wondered if it was talk of the longsword, a reminder of the prophecy. Or maybe his home of Luminaux. There was still so much she didn’t know about the lord. But there was something she’d figured out.

‘Raiden’s got quite a command over the caravan.’ Cahra paused, guessing the rest. ‘He’s head of your private guards, isn’t he?’

Terryl slid his eyes towards her. ‘Correct. He is Captain of the detail of elite guards travelling with us.’ He loosened and leaned back, as if not bothered by Cahra knowing, and admiring her powers of deduction instead. ‘As you might imagine, entering Kolyath from Luminaux necessitated planning. That included enlisting a few choice professionals.’

She sat back too, taking a bite from her floury hunk of bread. ‘And the others?’ She spied Queran keeping to the shadows, the red-haired man’s bow strung across his back, brown cloak tossed over a rangy shoulder.

‘The quiet one over there,’ Terryl said, following her gaze, ‘is Queran, our top archer. He may appear reserved, but his watchful eye misses nothing. Also, he can split an arrow lodged in a bullseye from over three hundred yards.’

‘Has bow, likes heights. Got it,’ Cahra said around a mouthful of food, then pointed to the woman she’d seen at Terryl’s mansion earlier. ‘What about her?’

‘That is Siarl,’ he told her, nodding at the dark-skinned woman with twin blades hanging from her belt. Siarl’s braids were immaculately woven and trailing down her back, her laughter rippling through the glade. ‘Siarl is a master of dual weaponry and yet to be defeated, with the singularly best reflexes that I have ever seen.’ The lord glanced sideways at her as he said, laughing, ‘Be warned. Her intellect is as quick as her blades.’

Cahra brightened, squinting at the woman’s knives; longer than a quillon dagger, judging from the length, and fashioned a bit like a rapier. Light and lean for speed, no doubt. Plus, Cahra always respected women with upper arms to rival her own.

She wondered if Siarl would let her look at those daggers. Maybe they forged things differently in Luminaux? It’d be great to learn a few more smithing tricks.

Assuming there’s a future for you in it.The thought hung heavy in Cahra’s mind.

Finally, Terryl gestured to the brawny man with hair and skin as pale as winter snow, whose physique towered above the others as the man good-naturedly twirled a great-hammer.

‘Piet is our wall,’ Terryl explained to her. ‘Fighting him is like striving to topple a mountain.’ The lord laughed heartily. ‘Don’t let his brawn fool you, though. Piet is a gentle soul at heart, and there is not a single person in Luminaux that he would not defend with his life. He and the others have proven invaluable on our travels.’

‘Is everyone here a fighter?’ Cahra arched a brow.

Terryl chuckled. ‘No.’ He drew her attention to a woman, older than herself. ‘Langera, from our Kolyath residence, is behind the culinary delights that you see here.’

Cahra rushed to ask, ‘She’s from Kolyath?’

‘Ah,’ Terryl said sadly, understanding. ‘I am afraid not. She accompanied us when we set out from Luminaux.’

She ignored the pang of loneliness that followed, guessing she’d better get used to it. ‘And you? What talents are you master of, exactly?’

Terryl seemed caught off guard. ‘Well,’ he said, thinking.

Moments passed. ‘Nothing?’ Cahra laughed, enjoying the sight of him flustered.

‘Now, now,’ he tutted gently. ‘If I must, I would say that my talent is people. While I know my way around a sword, I prefer not to need one.’

‘Oh, so I shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble then?’ Cahra joked.

Running a hand through his perfect hair, Terryl’s laughter was a warm, melodious sound that echoed merrily through the trees. ‘I thank you, and I am very pleased that you did craft mine. I believe my talent is connecting with people. My f—’ He stopped abruptly.

They sat in the Wilds’ simmering silence. Should she ask?

‘What is it?’

He hesitated. ‘I was going to say, it is something that my family, my parents, seem to have trouble with. Myself, not so much,’ Terryl admitted.

Cahra blinked, eyes wide. It was like the man had just shared something with her that he might have preferred not to. So she gifted him her next words.

‘I never knew my family,’ she said, watching Terryl’s people make light-hearted banter. There was a community to them, she thought. They’d faced danger as a group. ‘Lumsden was the closest I had to any of it.’ Cahra popped the last piece of bread into her mouth.

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