Page 100 of A Crown of Lies

“Perhaps we can make up for it over dinner,” Niro offered. “You and Aryn must join us tomorrow night at the Wolfheart clan house.”

“What about Ruith and Isheda?” Mercia said quickly, motioning to where the Crow eyed them from his perch on the edge of the stage, his arms crossed. “They should come too.”

“We have other engagements,” Isheda said, coming down from the stage. “Ruith and I have to go to the Runecleaver clan dinner.”

“To convince them this is a good idea,” Ruith said, with a hint of irritation. “And to kiss their pampered elven asses.”

“It’s called winning votes,” Isheda reminded him.

Ruith grunted. “That’s what I said. Kissing ass.”

Isheda sighed.

“So?” Niro offered again, smiling. “You’ll come, won’t you?”

“Yes,” Aryn answered at the same time as Mercia said, “No.”

They exchanged a glance.

“Yes,” Aryn reiterated. “We’ll be there.”

“Wonderful,” Niro beamed. “We look forward to hosting you.”

She gave Aryn an incredulous look, but he wouldn’t acknowledge her. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so eager to turn them down. It wasn’t that Mercia didn’t want to go. It was more that she was afraid of what would happen if she did, and how Aryn would react once she told him the truth. She most certainly wasn’t walking into the Wolfheart clan house without breaking the news to him of what she’d done. Mercia only hoped he wouldn’t take it too hard.

Thirty

Rixxiscrossedherarms,looking out over the troops on their last day of training. Tomorrow, they would begin their march to the Wytchwood, which would take two days. A lot of them would complain about the march. The Greymarkers liked to take frequent breaks, and to chat too much. That would slow them down, and so she and Ieduin had decided they’d have to send someone back along the columns frequently to keep them moving. There were no breaks on a march, no comforts. They would stop only once when they reached the mouth of The Scar, and then again on the edge of the wood.

And then they would fight. They would die. They would win.

She turned her head as Tofi came up the wooden ladder to join her.

The necromancer looked especially pale, the bruising under his eyes prominent. Before he even cleared the last rung, Tofi called out to her, “Commander Rixxis, you must come at once.”

The urgency in his tone made her frown. “What is it?”

“Ellisar.” Tofi pulled himself up with a grunt. “He is dying.”

A chill ran through her. Ellisar, the scout who’d been bitten at Dagh Cairn, had been ill for days, but yesterday he seemed to get better. He’d been awake, laughing, and even asked for food.

“He was fine yesterday,” she said, her voice just a hint too high. “How can that be?”

“You must come. Quickly.” Tofi waved for her to follow and began climbing down.

Rixxis rushed after the necromancer, who was quick on his feet. No matter how fast she moved, he always seemed two steps ahead of her, disappearing around the next turn. She weaved in and out of lines of marching troops in the courtyard, going all the way to the barracks on the western side of the castle.

Just stepping through the doors, she nearly tripped over someone’s gear. The barracks were overcrowded, with Crows taking up nearly every inch of space. There was only a very narrow walkway, yet somehow Tofi got all the way to the other side of the main hall before she ever recovered. He waited by the door with dark eyes for her to catch him.

On the other side of the door, it wasn’t any better. Sleeping rolls lined the hallways, alongside bags of supplies that were being packed for tomorrow’s march. The hallway was so narrow that when people leaned out of the doors on either side, she had to avoid bumping into them. Each room held two dozen soldiers, and there were twenty rooms, yet they’d still needed to sleep on the floor.

Yet, when they stepped into the room at the end of the hall, it was nearly empty. All the extra bunks had been moved out to squeeze into other spaces, leaving only one lonely bed behind. A pale elf lay in the bed, Giza at one side and Ieduin on the other. The look Ieduin gave her was grave. As Rixxis came closer, she realized he wasn’t just pale. His skin was gray like ash, his lips nearly white, and his eyes sunken and dark.

“Commander Rixxis,” Ellisar said weakly. “You didn’t have to come all the way down just to see me.” His sentence ended in a wheezing, wet cough.

She knelt beside Ellisar and took his hand. “Of course I did. I care about all my soldiers.”

He tried to smile, but it was as if he couldn’t get his facial muscles to respond correctly and just wound up grimacing. “Sorry… I won’t be at the battle. I know… you could use… all the help you can get.”

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