"I know nothing of what my mother did. I blacked out. I called out to her for help and she jumped through me. Then…I saw nothing."
Sir Gavin spoke to himself, "Aye. Nitsa helped him once. I had forgotten."
Vrell straightened. "Helped who?"
"Eag-forgive me. 'Tis not my tale to share but something to ask your mother." Sir Gavin sniffed and stroked his beard braid. "What is your wish, my lady? How can an Old Kingsguard knight be of service?"
"My only wish is to go home. But Macoun Hadar and Khai Mageia know who I am. They told Esek. Now Esek has placed a bounty on both our heads. Mine and Achan's."
Sir Gavin tipped back his head, eyes narrowing. "Perhaps that's why so many small parties hunt us. They're after the reward." He gripped Vrell's shoulder. "We'll get you home, brave lady. Unfortunately it will not be soon. You're certain you don't want the others to know? It'll be easier on you."
Vrell drew her bottom lip between her teeth. "I never meant to deceive Achan. I had hoped to slip away without him finding out who I really am. Is that wrong of me?"
Sir Gavin stroked his moustache over the curve of his top lip. "I cannot say. Either way, 'tis probably best you stay dressed as a boy. It isn't proper for Achan to travel with a woman, no more than for you to travel with four men." He sniffed in a long breath. "We'll keep your identity between us. It won't ease your burden, though I'll try to help where I can."
Vrell shook her tears away and lifted her chin. "Please, do not interfere with my training. I never want to be unprepared in battle again. If I am going to survive, I must learn."
"I've never met a braver lady." Sir Gavin's eyes widened. "Eben's breath! No wonder you didn't want help with your leeches. Oh, my lady. I thank you, deeply, on behalf of our king for your service these past weeks. You saved his life after the Poroo battle, cared for him in the dungeons, called me to his aid, and sacrificed your own safety for his benefit. You should be commended." He shuffled his feet, threw up his hands, and sighed. "I'm sorry I cannot offer more than words."
Vrell hugged Sir Gavin, his prickly beard tickling her face. "It is a great comfort to finally have a confidant. Your kindness means so much, Sir Gavin. I can never repay you for it."
"I'd never accept it if you tried. 'Tis my duty as a knight to see you safely home, my lady. That I promise to do."
"Sir Gavin, please. I do not understand what Mother did. And Sir Caleb is bragging me up as a veil warrior. All I remember was concentrating. I heard a song and all my pain vanished. I felt as if I had floated in the air. And then nothing."
"When I found you, you were cold. I fear we almost lost your mind to the Veil. Though I appreciate your mother's assistance, you must not help her again 'til you learn properly. The Veil is a dangerous place for one untrained to navigate it. We'll tell the men you helped me by accident, that you didn't know what you were doing. 'Tis mostly true."
"How can one enter the Veil whilst they are still living?" Vrell had always understood that a man who entered the Veil was on the brink of death.
"It is done using bloodvoicing. A gifted man may leave his body and enter the Veil, or he may cast another man-gifted or not-into the Veil, which is the essence of storming. A man's soul was not created for Er'Rets, you see. It was created for Shamayim and longs for the peace and joy of that eternal home. Trust me, Vrell. You do not want to tempt your soul to the Veil before Arman pulls it there."
Vrell shivered. Without realizing it, she had gone into the Veil before, when Macoun had asked her to seek out Esek and Achan drew her into his mind. "So my mother sent the mage to the Veil? Is he still there?"
"I cannot say. People can be brought back, but only by those who know how."
"And do you know how, Sir Gavin?"
"I do, but I'm too old to risk it. 'Tis not a wise task for a man so close to Arman's final call."
8
Achan woke with a stiff back. He sat up and scanned the camp, Eagan's Elk poking into the grass behind him. The knights were packing up. "Where's Sparrow?"
Sir Caleb combed his fingers through his wild mane and yawned. "Watering the nearest tree, I imagine."
Achan pushed himself to one knee and rolled up his leather bed. His stiff legs and back ached, and his belt had cut a groove into his waist overnight that had left the area without blood flow. He scratched his waistline and heaved to his feet.
"From now on, Your Highness, do not wear your belt and sword when you sleep." Sir Caleb's owlish eyes glimmered in the torchlight. "It's wise to keep it close by, but how could you draw if you're sleeping on it?"
Achan grunted in response. No doubt Eagan's Elk was to blame for the majority of his stiffness as he'd slept on his back to keep the hilt reachable.
He crossed the dead grass to where Sir Gavin knelt, attaching his bedroll to his pack. Achan crouched beside the knight. "So? Did you speak to Sparrow?"
Sir Gavin cinched the leather cords on the bedroll. "I did."
"And?"
"'Tis none of your concern."
Achan's eagerness faded. "He's not hiding anything?"
Sir Gavin drew the pack over his shoulders and groaned as he heaved it on and stood in one motion. Achan stood with him and received his piercing gaze. "What Vrell hides is his own business and no threat to you. Leave him be about it."
Leave him be? "Yes, sir."
Sir Gavin clapped Achan's shoulder, his calloused hand scratching Achan's leather doublet. "Please, lad. You must not call me sir. You're my prince. I say 'yes, sir' to you."
Achan nodded, though frustration seared through his veins. Sir Gavin wanted him to be prince but kept secrets. Sparrow was hiding something, threat or not. Achan had met the boy first. Were they not friends? Didn't Sparrow trust him?
Sparrow bounded into the light and looped his satchel over his head and arm. They each took their place along Sir Caleb's rope and set off in the dark. Achan traipsed along, more comfortable blindly trusting Sir Gavin to lead on this third day of the journey. Truly? Had three days passed already? They'd slept before the giants attacked, then in the rocky clearing where the black knights had appeared, then last night in the field. That made this day four. Without the sun to rise and fall, it all seemed like one long night.
Their boots scraped over crusty grass. To keep their minds from wandering, Sir Caleb told a story of how Allowntown had come to be.
"Were my parents staying in Allowntown when they were killed?" Achan asked after some time.
"Nay, they were just arriving from Mahanaim. When your father traveled, he reveled well into the morning with his men and his minstrels. Your mother, not wanting to expose you to such behavior at your young age, had come along."
"She sounds like a prudent woman and a loving mother," Sparrow said.
Achan grinned at the thought of his father wanting to include him in the merrymaking at age three and his mother's desire to tuck him into bed.
"I'd never seen a prouder papa than King Axel," Sir Caleb said. "You lived on his shoulders if you weren't in your mother's arms. I'm surprised you learned to walk."
Achan's grin sobered, knowing this story didn't end well. "So they were killed when they reached Allowntown?"
"As Sir Gavin said the other night, when we awoke, the king and queen had already left. We had barely started out from Mahanaim when your father cried out."
"No one in Allowntown saw what happened?"
"Nay. If you recall, the fortress is small. Normally, when the king and queen traveled, a messenger would ride ahead to announce their arrival. This would have given the staff in Allowntown a chance to welcome the king properly. My brother, Lord Agros, said no messenger came that day."