You can do this. Caim wouldn’t let some overgrown fish stop him. She glanced back to the shadow dog-thing. When she nodded, it nodded back. Okay. That’s my cue .
She took a step toward the tingling, and the presence returned, approaching fast from behind. Kit froze beside the stone pillar as the mists billowed around her. The shadow beast yowled. Kit blinked. It almost sounded like the thing was trying to tell her something…
With another yowl aimed at her, Caim’s pet dashed in the other direction, straight at the impending monstrosity. Kit tried to call out, but the shadow beast disappeared into the gloom before she got the chance. A titanic bellow shook the ground. Kit slapped her hands to her ears and fell back against the pillar, but the presence lessened. It was leading the monster away! Go, Kit. Now’s your chance .
With a sob, she pushed off from the rock projection and ran into the mists, following the sensation.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
T he carriage lurched as one of its wheels struck a pothole in the road. Josey held onto her seat to keep from pitching into the laps of her companions. Hubert grimaced and shifted about for a more comfortable position.
“This may be a bad idea, my lady,” he told her for the tenth time since they’d left the palace.
Hubert sounded like he had caught a cold. The lantern lighting the carriage’s cabin made him look pale, which only heightened the effect. The adept, Hirsch, watched from the corner of the seat, but made no comment. Josey wasn’t sure what to think of him. At the council meeting she’d learned a great many things, among them that the adept liked to hear himself speak. But even after a lengthy explanation about the Other Side and how it impacted magical affairs here in their world, she could scarcely remember anything he’d said except for one salient detail. Her unknown assailant was very dangerous, virtually unstoppable by blade or venom, and completely devoid of human sentiments. Beyond that, Hirsch carried himself with an air of diffidence. Josey knew little of sorcery, but she had witnessed enough around Caim to be wary of it and those who walked its twilight paths.
“Your objection is noted,” Josey said. “But I refuse to be a prisoner in my own palace. Now, can we please talk about something else before I go mad? Have we heard any news from the north?”
Hubert’s eyes slid toward Hirsch and back to her. Josey motioned for him to continue.
“Nothing official,” Hubert said. “The envoys we sent to the border have not returned, but that is not surprising. This time of year the roads are nigh impassable.”
“But unofficially?” She knew better than to ask how he could have received information faster than the imperial courier system. The lord chancellor’s office had its ways.
“Excuse me.” Hubert took out a handkerchief and wiped his nose. “Unofficially, three dispatches have reached my office.”
Josey almost threw herself at him. “Three? What did they say?”
“If Your Majesty would prefer a private conference…”
She clutched her hands together on her lap to keep from throttling him. “Go on, Hubert! For Phebus’s sake.”
“Very well. They had nothing good to say. Little more than rumors, really, but two of the three mentioned a squabble among the nobility of Eregoth.” The way he said “nobility of Eregoth” with a slight inflection showed how little he thought of their aristocratic brethren to the north. It wasn’t an uncommon prejudice among the peers of Othir, as she had discovered of late.
“What sort of squabble?”
Hubert cleared his throat. “A bloody one, from the reports. More than a score of tribal chieftains were slain. Executed, if it can be believed.” His voice trailed off. “And there was mention of strange goings-on.”
“Strange how?”
Hubert’s gaze slipped over to Hirsch. “Sorcery.”
Josey struggled to keep her face calm, but her insides felt like they were being sucked into a dark hole in the center of her stomach. Executions and sorcery in the north, and Caim had walked right into it. Some part of her hoped he had sensed the danger and was now on his way back to her, but she knew it for a foolish wish. The man she loved would die before backing down from a challenge, and that possibility terrified her more than anything.
“What of the troops we sent?” She almost tacked “after Caim left” onto the end of the question, but caught herself.
“No word yet, but they may be delayed. The mud, you know.”
Josey didn’t want to hear about mud, but Hubert was only doing his job, and under very trying circumstances. Still, sometimes she felt like she had less control over her life than when she was just the daughter of an elderly earl. It was beyond frustrating. Her stomach rumbled. She should have eaten before they left, but as always her preparations for public display took longer than anticipated.
“And the western territories?” she asked, knowing she would regret it. I might as well receive all the bad news together.
“Also not good, Majesty.”
This time there was genuine concern in his voice. For nameless people on the edge of the realm, but not for Caim? Josey tamped out the thought as soon as it popped into her head. Every living soul within Nimea’s borders was her subject. She had to care for them all.
“Go on,” she said.
“We’ve received messages from various towns. Bandits have struck all across the region. Farms have been burned, livestock slaughtered or stolen. The provincial lords fear they’ll face a famine come spring if matters are not rectified before the planting season.”
Josey wanted to bury her face in her hands. “Where is all this coming from?”
“There is some speculation that a foreign power could be working behind the scenes. Financing the brigands, providing them with arms and safe havens. We have no proof of this, but…”
“Who would be-?”
She already knew the answer, or enough suspects to make a short list. Nimea was surrounded by countries that would benefit from her misfortune. Arnos had the motivation, but that nation would have to be running supplies by sea, a risky proposition in winter. And the merchant-lords of Illmyn were known to dabble in international politics when they saw an opportunity to tip the scales of trade in their favor. The ambassadors from both nations had been curiously absent from her court.
“Find me some proof. Then I can act.”
Hubert nodded. “And there’s another problem.”
“What else?”
“A watch post in Low Town was attacked last night. Two watchmen were injured and some prisoners escaped.”
“Here in Othir?”
A furious seed of anger bloomed in Josey’s belly. Border problems were nothing new; she’d heard her foster father speak of them since she was a little girl. But an attack against her peacekeepers was unacceptable.
“I want all patrols doubled,” she said. “The same with the guards at all posts throughout the city.”
“For how long, Majesty?”
“For as long as it takes to get my city under control, Lord Chancellor.”
“That will be an expensive undertaking.”
She threw up her hands. “Has the realm suddenly become impoverished?”
“No, but-”
“I have every confidence in you.” A thought occurred to her. “If we’re short of money, go to the merchants. They’ll suffer the most if crime and injustice run rampant.”
“I suppose we can try.”
Throughout the exchange, Hirsch had volunteered nothing. It was a little unnerving. Josey started to say something to the adept, but a sound from outside caught her attention. Above the clack of the team’s hooves, a susurrus had arisen. She pushed aside the lace curtains, and a bracing gust of wind blew through her hair. Candles
