The Lord's Tale (part one)(volume two)(excerpt)

scene two

Krysilla hurried to keep up with Zhiv, still wearing his tradesman brown vest, and the two Dogs, Razev and Kirag, both without their staves this time though she didn’t know where such large, powerful items might be safely stored. Zhiv looked behind him, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of her attempt at running in spite of the growing heat. “If you want her to collapse,” he said to the Dogs, “by all means, keep up this pace.”

Razev turned and glared at Zhiv, forcing his companion to stop. Why? Krysilla didn’t know. Everything had been fine the night before. “The sooner we get to Marilisin, the sooner justice can be done,” Razev said.

Zhiv glared back. “Just don’t break us in the process.”

Past him, she could see Lord Marilisin’s city, its thick wall extending out into the sea, topped with an embattled parapet that ran the whole length of it, ships appearing and disappearing from the side that faced the ocean. Its whiteness seemed almost heavenly in the mid-morning summer light, the call of sea birds only adding to its wondrousness. The smell of the ocean was new to Krysilla and strange enough that she couldn’t decide whether she liked the salty tang or not. As if it mattered. If all went well, this city would be their refuge. “I’m fine,” she assured Zhiv. “Just a little tired.”

He didn’t believe her, though they continued on with no further argument. She could tell by the way he put his hand on the small of her back when they crossed a brook, as if ready to pull her close, and the way he dropped back so that she was always in his line of sight. If he’d been a possible suitor, she might have been flattered. As it was, it worried her, no matter how much she enjoyed it. People might get the wrong idea, especially since she no longer wore a sash.

Only two kinds of women went without a sash: widows, though for only a brief time, and prostitutes. She’d count herself lucky if men thought she was the former.

And yet, last night, when she had taken off her sash and buried it, none of this had mattered. Anything had seemed possible, as long as Zhiv was there. And he’d promised he would get her an appropriate one, white with black trim.

“Hurry up,” Razev called out from up ahead.

“Was he always this impatient?” she murmured, trying to pick up the pace even more.

“He has his reasons this time.” His voice was just as low as hers. “We discussed portals early this morning.”

“I thought we were going to see Marilisin first.”

“True. We are. I’m sure you noticed the blue handkerchief?”

“Yes. Oh.” Marriage could mean children as well. And now, it was highly likely they were in danger from Teranasin. The thought made her ill. “Where are his family now?”

“He sent them to lands that are closer to the mountains, both because she has relatives there who can shelter them and because he’s familiar with that terrain. They can survive for a time without anyone’s help. However, he doesn’t know if they’ve arrived or not. Apparently, he’d hoped I could produce a portal quickly enough for him to inquire at a town along their path, but that’s not how they work. Once I’d explained...he was not pleased.”

The portal they had used to get here had been a large relic from the days of the Ornic. But Zhiv had been able to create smaller ones, portable enough he could carry them, and innocuous enough--the spell was tied to plain, brown sacks--that no one would think twice about them, beyond noticing that there was a spell on them.

“Is there some other way to find out?”

“None that I currently have on me. Once we get to the city, I might, but I haven’t even mentioned this as an option to him yet. I don’t want to get his hopes up.”