Wraith Walker

Chapter 20

     They left when dawn was barely a whisper on the horizon. No horses, just bags repacked and slung across their back. Again, they encountered no one as they walked through the palace, but who could be sure of how many eyes were watching them.

      Eyvind was waiting by the front archway, perched on a chair with a steaming mug in his hand, one leg crossed comfortably over the other while he again happily chatted with the guards. They hadn't expected him, but still, his presence didn't come as a surprise.

      Sasha, the ever gracious King, thanked Eyvind profusely for the quarters and asked him to pass on the thanks of the Witch Kingdom to Merrant. They shook hands, both genial and promising a visit to one another. Tamsin bade farewell to Eyvind, trying to ignore the way his eyes lingered on her just a moment too long, or how his grip on her hand was a just a bit too tight as he pressed a kiss to the back of it.

     "We'll be seeing each other soon," Eyvind promised. Beside her, Sasha's magic tightened, but Tamsin gave a sickly sweet smile.

     "We'll have so much to talk about." She answered. Eyvind flashed his teeth, half smile half threat, and watched them file out the archway.

      Few sounds broke the silence of the waking city. A baby crying. Footsteps a street over. Vendors getting an early start passing them on the street. They scarcely even saw a guard, but Tamsin was sure that from those great wide windows she peered through yesterday, Merrant's eyes followed their line through the capitol.

      Tamsin was grateful for the silence they held as they made their way through the outskirts of Marvres. Iola, Ymayne, and Miriald chatted quietly in the back, heads together. Helisant walked with Thiphania, slightly slumped and dejected, eyes still puffy from the night spent crying.
They'd slept together, the three of them coiled around each other, too tired and sorely uninterested in any sex. Sasha hadn't fought with Helisant last night, but he hadn't said much to her. Tamsin could feel his rage simmering there, just beneath the surface. His skin hummed with it, even now as she held his hand.

      She didn't blame Helisant. It was a stupid thing and not her fault. A trap that Merrant would have caught one of them in one way or another. She'd told Sasha this over breakfast while Helisant packed for the trip. He agreed but still hadn't come around like she hoped he would.
Still, the next three days on the road slowly eased them back into their normal rhythm. 

     With each passing mile away from Merrant, Sasha's steps grew lighter, his laugh more easy. Even Tamsin's heart seemed to shrink from the painful, swollen rock that had settled in her chest after Merrant's demands. It was easier to think, to breathe the more time passed, and she knew it would only get better. In a few weeks the plan would come to her and all Tamsin would have to do is wait it out until it was time to strike. She supposed she would have to tell Sasha what Merrant really wanted eventually. But even then, she wasn't planning on staking her claim to glory in killing the High King on the Continent. If she had it her way, Sasha would never have to know.

     But as the roads grew progressively more rural, stone giving way to packed dirt paths, her thoughts were less on Merrant and more on what was to come at the Seer's Temple. Samhaim marked a new year for the Witches. A supremely spiritual day with reverence second to none, where they would be taken to the sacred temple and marked as the Gods commanded. This was the one day a year they were closest to the Gods, to the spirits on the other side.

     Thiphania would be their sin-eater this year. Sasha announced it mid-afternoon on the second day, much to the surprise of everyone in tow. Tamsin couldn't remember the last time he let someone sin-eat for him, maybe the year he was too sick to attend the Ritual at all and had Helisant do it. But that was almost fifty year ago and he certainly wasn't sick now.