“Get Sal and come back here.”
Freyma left, and Prado shouted for his orderly. A young man burst in. Prado gave orders for the horses to be readied and the tent taken down, then strode outside. He placed a map on the ground and pinned it down with two daggers. His captains appeared, Sal slightly out of breath.
“I want you to take a company and guard our right flank,” he told Sal. “Don’t engage the enemy. If you see them, send a rider to let me know their position and then retreat. If we have to, we’ll follow the Barda River to the pass rather than take the main road.”
“Do you think Salokan is trying to secure the pass?” Sal asked.
“He will if he has any brains at all, but it won’t be his first priority. He has to bottle up Hume’s forces first.”
“He might send a small force to secure this side of it,” Freyma said.
“If so, you’ll shadow it, Sal. When we’re ready, we’ll take care of them and be across before Salokan can follow up. He won’t send anyone after us until he controls the whole province anyway.”
“Things are happening faster than anyone expected,” Sal said.
Prado sheathed his daggers and rolled up the map. “Good for us,” he said. “Enemies in a hurry make mistakes.”
“You’re thinking of Rendle,” Freyma said.
Prado nodded. “I can hope,” he said. “But no matter. If Salokan is here in Hume, then we’ll have a free hand in the Oceans of Grass. If we take the Strangers’ Sooq, only the Chetts will be able to respond, and we can handle any clan that comes against us.”
“As long as it’s only one clan,” Sal said.
Prado stood up. “Most of them will still be at the High Sooq, a month’s hard ride from the Strangers’ Sooq. By then, we should know which clan is protecting Lynan and can make our move.” He studied his two captains. They looked grim, but ready. All three knew the time had come to commit their force to action or withdraw over the border and stay out of the way until the war between Haxus and Grenda Lear was decided. If Freyma or Sal had been in command, the choice could have gone either way.
But with Prado in command, there was really no choice at all.
Chapter 19
The light coming through the trees spread in a golden fan. Lynan cocked his head and listened for the sound of birds and insects, but there was none. A breeze moved the canopy high above. He took a hesitant step forward, his boot settling in soft brown humus. He could smell the rotting leaves and twigs. Bright fungi decorated the bases of tree trunks. The air was cool and moist.
The faintest of sounds. Like the flight of a passing arrow. And again. Not an arrow, but a bird’s wing. Lynan stopped moving, looked up among the trees. And again. No, not a bird; the sound was too leathery to be a bird. A bat, then.
He saw something moving among the topmost branches. A shimmer. He let his eyes unfocus, moved his head slowly. There, a flurry of wings, but gone as quickly as it had come.
And then a face, only a glimpse, but a face he knew. He felt fear and desire. He wanted to run away, and he wanted to wait. He could not make up his mind.
The smell of humus again, but something else underneath, something more carnal.
“No.”
He decided to flee. He turned around and started running, but it was like moving through water; his legs would not move quickly enough. The sound of flapping wings was much closer now, just behind him, then above him again. Then in front.
He stopped, his breathing ragged. The light seemed to dissipate, leaving only shadows. Branches and leaves flurried, and there she was. So young, so beautiful. Green eyes held his. He did not want to run away anymore.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I have been searching the wide world for you. You belong to me.”
“No,” he said, but the desire in him was stronger than his fear.
“Yes. Look at your skin. So pale and cold.”
“No.”
“We can be together. Always.”
“No.”
“Come to me.”
Lynan walked to her. Her arms spread out for him, embraced him. Her breath was ice cold and fetid. She kissed him on the lips, then on the throat, then on the chest. Her hands moved over his back, forced him closer. He saw her eyes change shape, and he could not look away.
“You want me as much as I want you,” she said, and kissed his lips again.
“Yes,” he said, and knew it was true.
She laughed, held him so tight all his breath was squeezed out of his body. Two black wings spread from her back, slapped together, and he felt himself lifted off the ground. Branches whipped by them. She laughed and they rose into the sky. He glanced down and saw the world disappear beneath them.
Lynan?
He looked at her, but she was distracted. She was searching for something below them.
Lynan?
It was not her voice. When she opened her mouth she did not say his name but cried in sudden fury. She let him go, and he fell from the sky.
“No!”
“Lynan!”
He shot out of his bed, eyes wide open but not seeing. Two hands grasped his shoulders and he jumped away from them.
“Get away from me!” he cried.
More voices, a man and a woman’s. Flaring brightness.
“My lord? What is the matter?”
Someone was holding a brand. Someone with a red hand. “My lord? Are you ill?”
“Give me the brand,” said another voice, the voice he had heard calling him. “Leave. He was dreaming. Do not tell anyone what happened.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
The light retreated. He saw a hand place the brand in a bracket. Then he saw a face in the light. He knew her. A strong face, golden-skinned.
“Korigan?”
“Yes. You were having a nightmare.”
“A nightmare?”
“Can you remember it?”
Lynan closed his eyes. Wisps of memory drifted in his brain—a dim forest, a pale woman, the smell of death—and then were gone. He shuddered. Korigan’s strong hands helped him back to his cot.
“It was more than a nightmare, I think,” he said. He faced Korigan. “Why are you here?”
“I heard you in your sleep,” she said.
There was something in her voice that told Lynan she was lying, but he said nothing.
“Are you cold?” she asked.
“No.”
“You should put some clothes on.”
He looked down at himself, saw that he was naked. Worse, he had an erection. He scrabbled for the blanket and placed it across his lap.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“I’ve seen worse,” she said, half smiling. “What do you mean, it was more than a nightmare?”
Lynan shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“What was her name?”
“It wasn’t like that,” he said shortly.
Korigan sighed. “That is not what I meant. I know what happened to you, Lynan. I know about Silona.”
He shuddered involuntarily, and Korigan came closer to him, put an arm around him. “It was Silona, wasn’t it?” He nodded. “Have you dreamed about her before?”
“No.”
“My people have stories of the old vampires who used to inhabit the Oceans of Grass.” Lynan looked up in surprise. “Oh, yes, we had them, too. But they were hunted down and killed a long time ago. All the vampires on this continent were destroyed by our ancestors, all but one.”
“Silona.”
“She was the strongest. Even this far away we know of her. All humans dream of her at least once in their lives. For you, it is worse.”
“She was calling for me.”
“I was afraid this would happen.”
He stared at her. “You knew?”
“No, I did not know. But I suspected. You have her blood in you. That would give her some hold.”