Page 51 of Of Blood and Fire
He caught the tracker as easily as the fruit and placed it on the pillow beside him. “I’m not going to get stuck, because I’ll have an earth mage with me, remember?”
“Yes, but I have this cozy connection with trouble, and after last night, it may well have rubbed off on you.” I returned to the table to finish my pottage. “I’ll fly easier knowing you can be found if something happens under that mountain.”
“Presuming the area we’re in isn’t too deep for the signal,” he replied dryly.
“Partial cover is better than none.” I drained my shamoke, picked up a couple of pastries, then walked over to my packs and weapons. “I will see you this evening, husband.”
“What, no loving kiss goodbye? I am bereft.”
“You and I both know a loving kiss will lead to deeper explorations that we do not have the time for this morning.”
No, do notcame Kaia’s comment.Must fly. Wind calls.
Have you hunted yet?
Will. Gria hungry.
Gria is always hungry.
Trait you share.
I laughed out loud, earning a raised eyebrow from Damon. “I take it Kaia is awake and commenting again?”
“She’s equating how hungry Gria is with how hungry I always am.”
He grinned. “Well, she’s not wrong.”
Am queen, she said.Queens always right.
Even when they’re wrong.
Is true.
I shook my head in amusement, slung the last pack over my shoulder, then blew Damon a kiss and headed out the door. The frantic activity that had filled the war room only hours earlier had calmed to a soft murmur, but I nevertheless headed in to get a report. Neither Garran nor Jarin were present, which at least suggested the attack at the wall had not escalated.
Neera glanced around, surprise flickering briefly through her expression. “Commander Bryn, what can I do for you?”
“Just after an update before we fly out.”
She motioned to the troop movement board in front of her. “Nothing has really changed. The Mareritt continue to attack the wall in a halfhearted manner, and there’s been no sighting of the gilded riders.”
“And the trebuchets?”
“In position but haven’t yet been brought in to the attack.”
“It really sounds as if they’re waiting for something or someone.” Likely whoever or whatever was hidden under the fog bleeding down from the Ghost Forest. “And the scout teams?”
“Ona’s team is tracking the movement of the fog, and Luka’s is skirting around the Black Glass foothills in an effort to get behind the Mareritt’s current position without being seen.”
The latter was not without its dangers, given the unstable nature of that part of the mountains had led to not only multiple earth slips but also ground that could sometimes drop from underneath you without warning. Another reason we’d rarely ridden in a single file formation.
“There has been some evidence of ground alterations,” she added. “We believe the Mareritten mages might be creating earth shelters for their soldiers.”
No doubt in the hope it would protect them from the worst of the drakkon fire—and it probably would, unless the drakkonsattacked the entrances and flung fire deep within. Then the shelters would become their tombs.
“Any word yet from Hopetown on Reydia?”
“There’s been no response. Hopetown has redirected a trading vessel and hopes to have a report within the next couple of hours. I have emphasized the urgency of the matter.”
