Imperial Towers

Chapter 2.

. She glanced up from the hardbread and nuts they’d taken from the Vadiya camp.

“How’s Luis?”

“Holding up. Keep an eye on him though, he might see some strange things.”

“Exactly how much did you use?”

“Enough to let him actually rest,” he said.

She snorted. “Well, I found some grenvera to give him when he wakes.”

“Good – how much?”

“A few draughts, no more.”

Grenvera would work wonders, but it was less potent in small doses, it needed time and repeated use to be fully effective. Still, better than nothing. “Well, it could be worse,” Never said.

He returned to the trees to set snares. Hopefully they’d catch something in time for lunch. Then, while Tsolde and Luis rested, he performed some of the more tedious of life’s tasks, mending torn clothing, preparing travel rations, sharpening blades – anything to keep his hands and mind busy while he waited.

Anything to stop him thinking about Snow.

Near noon, the fire concealed and rabbit stew set to simmering, Never rose. “We need to find out what’s happening around us. If I’m not back by nightfall, set a watch and lay low until Luis heals enough to flee into Marlosa; try and find Mondesa and Captain Sirgeto.”

“You want us to head into a warzone?”

He shrugged. “Everywhere is becoming a warzone.”

Never slipped along the trail, pushing aside low-lying branches as he did, until he came to clearer walking. Keeping low, he threaded his way down to an outcropping of rock and lay in the ferns to peer down onto the Folhan Highway. A shiny beetle began a trek up his arm and he nudged it back into the dead fronds that covered the stone.

With his eyes closed, he waited. Listened.

There was no hint of sound coming from either end of the highway – which meant he had two choices. Wait for the possibility of an advance scout from Vadiya forces or venture back toward Giant’s Bridge to see if he could learn something that way. Sacha would know whatever ‘Prince Tendov’ was planning next but that might not give him Snow’s next move at all.

Assuming he could actually speak to her without being clapped in irons.

Risky.

Time passed.

He removed the beetle several more times, he checked on the figure in the marble and sipped at his water. Perhaps he was better off heading for the watchtower and sneaking in to see if forces from the bridge had come across the s*******r.

Never pushed himself up – and froze.

The thunder of hooves. Growing louder. Coming from the direction of the watchtower. Never stood with a sigh. No time for deception or anything clever. If the rider was a Vadiya messenger, then he was going to be stopped by force alone.

Never spun, searching the undergrowth until he found a heavy log. Rolling it free of fern-shoots and moss, he carried it back and crouched at the outcropping. “Closer now,” he urged the rider.

The horse soon appeared, charging around a corner. The rider was a Vadiya messenger, travelling light compared to a Steelhawk, but hardly unarmed, carrying bow and blade. The man’s attention seemed to be focused on the road ahead – and little above him.

Never hefted the log in his hands, tensing his legs.

The rider neared.

Now!

Never shot up, heaving the log down. It crashed into the messenger’s breastplate, knocking him clean off his mount. The man clattered to the stony road and his horse reared and turned back, though it did not bolt. Never leapt down to the road and charged forward, knife drawn. The messenger was still. He was either dead or unconscious – both served Never’s ends. No sign of a scroll case or written missive either.

The mount.

Never called to the horse in Vadiyem, keeping his voice low and soothing. The animal snorted but let him approach. Once close enough, he caught the bridle and continued to speak softly. Faint steam rose from the mount’s flanks as Never searched the saddlebags, lifting a hard scroll case free. Sealed with the Hawk of Family Isajan.

He tucked the scroll into his belt, liberated food from the bags and silver from the messenger before leading the horse up into the trees, where he paused to break the seal. The scroll within was covered in the hard, rigid Vadiya script, which made it easy to read at the least. Sacha was reporting to home and requesting more men, little of use there. Never read on. She also expected to meet Tendov’s forces further south than City-Sedrin. He frowned. Why not besiege the city? A force like Jenisan’s left undefeated would be a serious thorn. At the very end, Sacha mentioned a group of three travellers that the Prince was extremely interested in finding for questioning.

Descriptions of he, Luis and Tsolde followed.

“Gods be damned,” he muttered. Snow was indeed planning to capture him – whatever he wanted could obviously wait no longer.

If Never decided to force the issue, it left two directions from which to choose – yet Snow could just as easily head for either, or both, and make much better time than Never.

After all, his brother was the one with wings.

Never returned to camp before darkness, hailing softly as he did. Tsolde stood, knife in hand, from where she’d been sitting before the clean-burning blaze. “Where did you find the horse?” she asked, a smile crossing her features.

“At the very convenient travelling horse-trader I happened to come across.”

“Very funny.”

“Vadiya scout. We’re quite lucky; since Luis can ride, we can leave sooner than I thought.”

“And where are we going?”

He tossed her the scroll. “According to that, I think we have only one option.”

She frowned at him. “I can’t read Vadiyem, you fool.”

“Right. Lady Isajan is expecting Prince Tendov south of the Silver City and she also wants more men, so we can expect a lot more activity on this highway soon enough if they draw them from Marlosa.”

“Why? What is in the south?”

“I have no idea,” Never said. “But it’s worse. The ‘prince’ is also looking for us, handing out descriptions in those messages, and you can be certain it isn’t the only messenger he’ll send. I think the safest option is to head into Marlosa. We can put some distance between us and Isajan and get Luis to a proper healer at the same time.”

“Could we stay here too? We seem well hidden.”

“It’s a bigger risk, since there’s a small army behind us and limited medicine if Luis worsens.”

She nodded slowly. “And Snow doesn’t need us, he needs you. We’re expendable to him.”

“But not to me,” Never said. “So we’d better break camp and see if we can keep ahead of him.”

“It’s getting dark, Never.”

“True, and we’ll have to go slow for Luis anyway. But it’s better than staying still and the dark should make it harder for Snow to see us if he decides to search himself.”

“You mean, from the sky?” her voice was a little awed.

“Hard to get used to isn’t it?”

She nodded. “I’ll wake Luis then. I hope he’ll be able to ride.”

“As do I.”

Chapter 3.

Never led them down the mountain and into the foothills, tension growing with the changing scenery. It was not the easing of the chill wind or the disappearance of ferns in the undergrowth, the dwindling pines, the swathes of yellow grain spreading beyond the foothills or the scarcely visible line of the Ebina River – all the th