But now, here, with Crow, she wanted them. As she thought about their having children, she could see them all, at different stages of life. An infant sleeping on Crow’s chest, a daughter astride a horse, shrieking with delight, her gold hair flying, and a son, too young to need to shave very often, but already tall and clean-limbed and dressed in mail, ready for war to defend his nation. All these visions and more came to her in an instant.
“Princess?”
Crow’s soft inquiry brought her back. She blinked then, capturing his hand in hers, she turned her head and kissed his palm. “I want that, too, you know. I will have children by you, Crow, whether I’m the Queen of Okrannel or just a wandering soldier of fortune traveling with the man she loves.”
His smile split white beard and moustaches. “Oh, we will have children, my love, as many as you want. And they will go on to do great things. What we accomplish will be as nothing compared to what they will do.”
The truth of what Crow was saying struck her as undeniable, even though she knew that Chytrine, her hordes, and countless other forces stood in opposition to them and their dreams. Somehow, though, just his saying it created that future and it became an objective she would reach. No one would deny them that future.
“I know you are right, beloved.” She squeezed his left hand, then slid forward into a hug. “I will miss you terribly. Only knowing that we will be together again, together to start our family and raise it, will make our parting bearable.”
He squeezed her tightly to him and she sank into that warm embrace. “There’s the trick of it, Princess. You and I, and everyone here, we’re fighting for a future of hope. The only way you kill hope is to kill everything. There’s little doubt Chytrine would be willing to go that far, but even she can’t do that much damage.”
“Unless she gets the DragonCrown back together.”
A shiver ran through Crow. “Yet one more reason to stop her here in Muroso.”
Alexia pulled back. “You will be careful out there, won’t you?”
He nodded. “No unnecessary risks.”
She gave him a stern look. “You have traveled with Resolute. What you two consider necessary risk would cause Kedyn’s heart to quail.”
Crow snorted and kissed her on the forehead. “I will be careful. You best be as well.”
“I promise, beloved.” Alexia gave him a sly grin. “After all, we’d best be setting a proper example for our children, starting right now.”
“Exactly.” Crow smiled at her. “I love you, Alexia. I will return to you. Ours is the future, and no one and nothing will take it away.”
52
For Erlestoke and his people, finding the northern gate to Sarengul shattered was both good and bad. On the good side was the fact that they could not be denied entry, and any shelter from the cold would be welcome. For two weeks they had traveled south and a little east, with hunting parties driving them on. The mountain halls of the urZrethi homeland would let them move faster and, with any luck, escape their pursuers.
But escape into what?
Jullagh-tse Seegg had followed signs invisible to Erlestoke and had brought them through a narrow mountain valley that led to the gate. Snow choked the small cul-de-sac and had there been bodies left behind from defenders and attackers, they had been firmly blanketed in white. Snow likewise decorated the carvings around the circular gateway, frosting the stone urZrethi warriors engaged to drive off a dragon. While that representation was hopeful, the fact that the gate lay broken beneath the arch undermined any good feeling.
Jullagh-tse stepped forward, tentatively, on her long legs. She peered into the shadowed interior, then came back to report to the others. “I see nothing but snow, smell nothing at all, and hear nothing but the light whistle of wind. This was just one of many traveler gates. Could be attackers are further inside, but the defenders could have cut things off.”
The prince frowned. “But the fact that the gate has not been retaken, and that we see no signs of recent fighting, is not good. I don’t really want to think about what it took to open the gate.”
Ryswin pointed at the gate with his bow. “Strong as it would have been, enough pounding by a dragonel would have opened it.”
“Might be,” Verum offered. He pointed toward the high sides of the canyon. “By the same token, the Sarens would have emerged up there and slaughtered troops on the ground. That means the Aurolani took to the heights, ambushed the Sarens, then pushed on in. If they had urZrethi help…”
Jullagh-tse shook her head adamantly. “No urZrethi would betray his homeland.”
“Don’t need Sarens to do it, Jullagh-tse. You remember the old stories about the urZrethi left behind in Boragul forming an alliance with Chytrine?” Ryswin shook his head slowly. “They’d know what sort of defenses had been set up. They lead troops to the right places, and ambushes will succeed.”
The urZrethi hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “If that is true, if they had Boras to lead them and help plan, things could have gone badly. If the Boras came claiming to be escaped slaves, they would have been welcomed and could have worked from the inside to cause more trouble.”
Jancis Ironside looked over at Erlestoke. “What is your plan, Highness?”
Erlestoke unslung his quadnel from his shoulder. “We’ll leave fewer tracks in there than we will out here, and going through the mountains is preferable to going over them. The state of affairs in Sarengul is also going to be important to assess. We will need to send a report on it via arcanslata. They need to know down south what is going on.”
The elven archer narrowed his blue eyes. “Given what we carry, is entering a realm where the enemy might be in control a wise idea?”
“Probably not, but moving through the mountains is even less so.” Erlestoke looked around at the company. The three elves and one urZrethi had weathered the two-hundred-mile journey fairly well. Jilandessa had clearly had the toughest time of it, but that was because she was doing a lot to keep everyone else healthy. The others—old and young, human and meckanshü—had been sorely tested by the trip. Erlestoke could barely remember when he’d last felt warm, and he couldn’t recall when his muscles didn’t ache. Discussions over cold meals had become centered on hot ones, and spirits in the company had slowly begun to ebb.
The prince pointed his draconette toward the dark hole in the mountainside. “We’ve been running for over two weeks. We’ve been lucky in avoiding our pursuit, and Sarengul is going to give us a good chance to leave them behind. If we are able to kill some Aurolani and help the Sarens, I have no trouble with that. If they choose to help us in return, we are far better off than struggling through the mountains. We go in as a team, as we have done throughout.”
The elf nodded. He and Finnrisia, the other elven archer, moved to the fore, stepping lightly over the snow and leaving no tracks Erlestoke could read. The rest of the company crunched after them, unlimbering quadnels. They fitted lengths of slow-match cord to the firelock, then let Verum ignite the ends so that the weapons were prepared for use.
The two elves mounted the steps to the opening, then Finnrisia ducked inside. After a couple of seconds Ryswin joined her. Jullagh-tse quickly entered after that, then the urZrethi reappeared in the opening and waved the others through.
The light reflected from the snow illuminated the hall, revealing small drifts and a few bodies frozen in death. Erlestoke spotted a couple of gibberers, a vylaen, two urZrethi, and a crawl, as well as enough debris scattered deep in the hallway to suggest that a dragonel or a charge of firedirt had been used to open the gateway.