Dradyn exhaled a cloud of resigned vapor. "I will go with you, Milord. I have lived in these lands for years, yet have never entered the gates of Kaerleon. I always said I would see the Shining City before I die."
Marcellus' grin was mirthless, fracturing his face like a crack across stone. "So you shall."
"I will go as well," Nyori said.
Marcellus stared at her a long time, his eyes piercing. It was all Nyori could do to not flinch at his expression. His face was as when they first met; fierce and feral.
"Give us a moment, Dradyn," he said.
When Dradyn departed to gather their horses, Marcellus drew closer. "Why, Shama? No slippery answers this time. Why do you keep insisting on accompanying me? Every step I take is fraught with peril. There is no safety so long as I am near."
"There is no safety anywhere for me." Nyori practically shouted the words. "Do you think you are the only one who has suffered, Marcellus? I left two dear friends behind in the Dragonspine for the buzzards to fight over. I have been hounded since I left, and will be for as long as I have what they want."
Marcellus' expression softened somewhat, though his voice was still insistent. "Then you should be with your people. What do I know of your secrets? Your people will have far more answers than I can give you. And you Sha are sworn to save lives." His jaw clenched. "I made a vow this night to take them. Anyone involved, anyone that benefited, anyone that even dreamed of harming what was mine. My path is dark as night, and will only be brightened by vengeance. You would do better to ride opposite any way that I go."
Nyori lifted her chin and met his stare evenly. "I cannot."
"Why?"
"Because I am afraid." Nyori felt her jaw tremble but clenched her teeth to steel herself. "I am afraid, and I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of running, tired of being pursued. Someone told me not long ago that I stood in the center of the maelstrom. I realize now that what he spoke of was a storm of darkness. The storm that brews around us right now. I don't know why I ended up here. But I'm not here alone. Somehow, you're in the eye of the storm as well. I felt your importance when I first met you. And every time you mention Kaerleon, I feel a pull at that word. I need to go there just as you do. Our paths are tied together, and I won't back away because of fear. I have had enough of it."
Marcellus said nothing for a moment as he pondered her words, never blinking. Finally, he sighed and nodded in acceptance. "You have already saved my life more than once, Shama. I trust you, and only you. There is no one else I can say that of."
"Not even Dradyn?"
"No one," he said. "Only you. So come, if you must. But I warn you; it will not be easy from here."
"It stopped being easy a long time ago, Marcellus."
"No, Nyori. You said that we stood in the eye of the maelstrom." He pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, shadowing his face.
"That is over now. The storm rages inside of me, begging for release. And that is exactly what I plan to do."
THE MANOR LOOMED, AN empty and forbidding shell. Nyori heard a savage cry from inside, and something strike one of the walls. She could feel Marcellus' rage. It radiated like fire, simmering and ready to feed.
Dradyn waited on a shaggy colt. He had had laden their saddlebags with provisions and armed himself with more suitable weapons from the armory. A short sword was strapped to the saddle, and short-handled axes hung from his belt. Nyori tried not to look at the weapons.
She knew all too well their only purpose.
Dradyn sighed. "I thought that I was finished fighting. That by settling here, I'd be free of the violence that has dogged my footsteps since birth. A fool's dream."
Nyori looked at him. "What makes you think that you'll be fighting anyone?"
Dradyn looked surprised. "You have traveled with Lord Admorran some distance, haven't you?"
"All the way from the Dragonspine."
"And no blood was shed along the way?"
Nyori said nothing, recalling the Bruallians and the bandits on the road. It was convenient to forget that Marcellus was as savage as he was noble. On the road he'd been almost tender, even in the midst of his obsession to return home. He was a man of amazing contradictions, all of which seemed to confuse her.
Dradyn nodded. "Some men choose to be violent. Others attract violence despite their best efforts. Lord Admorran is of the latter. He is a good lord and kindly man. But his rage is a terrible thing. You may have heard the tales of Marcellus' vengeance, after Gaelion Pirates slew his father. It was Marcellus' fury that drove them back into the sea, slaking their thirst for plunder and carnage. The Bleeding Shores is what they called that battle, for they stained the water with blood before the day was won."
Dradyn flexed his thick fingers. "No, it is not a question of whether we will be fighting. It is a question of when, and how many will die."
Marcellus emerged from the manor door. He had donned a heavy black cloak and carried a longsword in his arms. Without a word, he lashed it to the saddle of his stallion and mounted.
"We ride."
They trotted down the icy path toward Kaerleon. In the waning light, Nyori could still see Marcellus' face. His brow was as dark as the night sky, his eyes smoldering coals, his jaw forged from iron.
Nyori glanced behind. The manor was engulfed in mist; the windows gazed accusingly at their departure. She shivered and urged her mare forward.
Marcellus took them off the road, onto trails and paths known only to him. They rode through forests twisted and black, filled with nocturnal noise and movement. Dradyn muttered under his breath, but Marcellus took no note.
Several times glowing eyes peered at them from the blackness of the brush, and Dradyn jolted, pulling out his weathered sword.
"Wolves," Marcellus said. "They won't bother us."
Their mounts were not as calm as he was. They whinnied fearfully and rolled their eyes as the scent of wolf crossed their nostrils. But Marcellus did not spare a further glance. They rode through the wood all night on old trails and passages, guided by his knowledge of the lands he knew from youth.
They emerged from the wood just as the sun gently bathed the towering spires of Kaerleon, the Shining City. The Lion Kingdom. They joined the traffic from Kingsgate, past walls so high the watchmen were just insects atop it. She and Dradyn gaped in wonder at the city of legend, made all the more fantastic because it was completely real.
Leodia was the name of the kingdom and the provinces that formed the kingdom, but all knew the reason for its prominence was Kaerleon, where the Lion Kingdom originated. The crowds were already thick; so many that they continuously nudged and bumped against one another as they passed. She had only heard stories about the vastness of the cities. Kaerleon was one of the largest in all of Erseta. Only the Jaferian city of Hasreul could compare in size, but no good king's man would ever liken it to Kaerleon.
Marcellus pulled his hood over his head as they hurriedly rode up cobbled streets that had been cleared by the snow boys before dawn. The winter's chill did nothing to stop the steady flow of natives and visitors alike. Merchants sold their wares, while the doors of the moneylenders lined with customers. The air pulsed with the clamor of people and animals, tools clanging in the carpenter houses and smithies, and the many wagons and carriages that rolled up and down the streets. The din was incredible to her, yet she noticed the crowds paid it no mind. She did not see how anyone could be accustomed to so much noise.
The red-tiled roofs of the masonry were barely visible, covered in snow and laced with icicles. The buildings were crammed together, some several stories high, linked by streets both wide as boulevards and narrow as alleys.
They rode past bakeries with shelves of bread and pastries, smithies where fires already roared, and stockyards where lumber and firewood were sold. The City Watch rode by from time to time. Marcellus ducked his head and pretended to be interested in the tables of the sellers until they passed. Once he deemed it safe they continued, passing the stable yards, large warehouses, a tented Rhoma carnival show, the office of the magistrate, before passing through the gates into the Inner City.