Page 80 of The Orc's Thief
“Don’tsay it again,” I warn her. “This debate ends now. We can discuss ways to solve this. But don’t you ever ask me to leave again.”
“All right.” Tessa’s chin trembles, but she visibly pulls herself together. “Do you have a plan?”
I crouch next to her. “If you want to disappear, we can do that. Leave the duchy, travel somewhere no one has ever heard of us before.”
She shakes her head vehemently. “I couldn’t do that to you. You can’t give up your family. You love them all too much.”
It’s true, and it would hurt to never return home again. I might not have been born at the Hill, but it’s where I grew up, and I want to see its halls again. Hopefully with Tessa, someday.
“Then we fight,” I say simply.
Tessa sucks in a breath to protest, but I lift a hand to stop her.
“Not like you’re thinking,” I assure her. “We prove to the Ravens that we’re not the enemy. We fight for us.”
Lindie might not have told Tessa about this trip, but she will fight for her friend, I’m sure of it. Once we catch up with her, Tessa will explain that she was only trying to find Lindie, and the Ravens will be forced to back off. If not… Well, I keep my weapons sharp for a reason.
“Come on.” I lean down to kiss Tessa’s cheek and squeeze her fingers. “We’ll keep to the trees as much as possible. It’ll slow us down, but we don’t want to follow them too closely anyway.”
If they stopped to rest their horses, they could very well hear us coming and ambush us on the road.
Tessa still looks worried, but she allows me to lift her onto Clover’s back. I wish I had the fae’s ability to talk to the animal and make sure the mare would carry her mistress to safety if anything goes awry, but instead, I give her a pat on the rump and send her trotting off through the small forest. I swing into Pip’s saddle, check on Cricket, and catch up with them, then lead the way into the field beyond. The road is visible to the south of us, and I stand in my stirrups, gauging where to go.
“This way.” I turn away from the road, down a narrow, deeply rutted country lane.
Tessa hesitates a moment, then follows. “I’m trusting you to know where we’re going, you know. I’ve never traveled off-road, and if you think I can navigate by the stars or some such thing, I will tell you right now, I can’t.”
I grin at her. “Don’t worry, love, I’ve got this.”
She squints at me, suspicious. “Have you been here before?”
“No, but if the Ravens are going where I think they’re going, we only have to keep those mountains in our sights, and we’ll find them eventually.”
I motion toward the foothills rising in the distance, perhaps thirty miles or so to the east. They’re barely visible in the misty, damp weather, but I know what lies behind them. Mountains, higher than those in Bellhaven, tall peaks shrouded in ice and snow, the glaciers so thick they never melt, even in the heat of summer.
“Are you sure?” Tessa’s pretty eyes are round as she stares at me. “You think?—?”
“Aye,” I say, giving her a tight smile. “We’re heading to the Stonefrost Clan lands.”
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
TESSA
My back hurts, my feet are sore, and I can’t feel my ass anymore. Dusk is falling, and the shadows darken as we make our slow way through the forest. Small yellow lights wink in and out of existence between the trees. I stop Clover and stare at them, transfixed, until Arlon taps my knee, drawing my attention back to him.
“Did you see the fireflies?” I ask, wonder seeping into my voice. “I’ve never seen them this late in the season. And so bright.”
“They’re not fireflies,” he murmurs and urges Pip into a trot. “They’re the old ones. Guardians of the forest. This land must be abandoned if they’ve settled here.”
I stare at his back, then gaze at the forest again. A shiver runs through me as I realize he’s right. The glow of the tiny beings flickers from yellow to an icy blue, then back again, and they seem to be chasing each other around the bushes.
“Are they dangerous?” I whisper, afraid now.
He shakes his head. “Not unless we try to hurt them or the trees. Just stick to the path and don’t follow them.”
I think of how mesmerized I was and pull my rope from Clover’s saddlebag. I tie one end to the pommel of my saddle and toss the other to Arlon. He raises his eyebrows but doesn’t mock the idea. Instead, he picks up the pace and leads me safely through the forest.
