“Yes,” I said, thinking of Ivinius, so well disguised as a human barber that he had gotten close enough to slit my throat.
“Very well. I’ll take your word on it.”
With a frown, he waved over the Captain of the Guard and gave him instructions. The man took off running a moment later.
“Extra guards,” Locke told me, “at the gate. Extra patrols on the walls. Anything else you’d suggest?”
“Just… after this, trust no one.”
He raised his eyebrows at that, but made no reply.
“Aren’t you going to ask… ?” I said.
“No. I recognize Freda’s words.”
Instead of denying it, I chuckled. “Yes. But she’s right, at least in this particular instance. A hell-creature almost killed me once by impersonating a barber. I’d hate to have the same thing happen to you.”
Locke gave me another odd look. “You aren’t what I expected,” he admitted. “You surprise me, brother.”
“This is the second time I’ve been told that since I got here.”
“Freda—?” He hesitated.
“No. If you must know, it was Aber. He expected me to be just like you, from Dad’s tales, and apparently you two don’t always see eye to eye.”
Locke shrugged. “Such is life,” he said philosophically. “There are only sheep and wolves. I have never much wanted to be a sheep.”
“As for me… I simply don’t care about our family’s politics,” I told him. “You’re all strangers… except, of course, our father.” I’d almost said Dworkin. “My only concern is keeping alive—and the best way for me to do that is to keep the rest of you alive, too. We all want the same thing, so we might as well work together.”
“Well spoken.” He hesitated. “Later, tonight perhaps, we must have a talk… just you and me, alone.”
“I’d welcome it.”
He gave a curt nod and looked away.
A private talk… I took his invitation as something akin to an apology—or at least as an admission that I wasn’t as horrible as he’d thought. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.
Our horses had been saddled and were now being led into the courtyard. He stepped over to a handsome black stallion, about sixteen hands high, who nuzzled his palms looking for sugar. I felt a pang of envy—the stallion was a magnificent animal, and Locke patted his neck affectionately.
They had brought me a dappled gray mare, who seemed good tempered and fit. She would do, I decided, looking her over. Davin had a chestnut gelding with white socks on both front feet, full of nervous energy. The extra-jointed captain who would be leading us had another dappled gray mare like enough to mine that I couldn’t have told them apart.
“Mount up!” Locke called.
I swung into the mare’s saddle and followed Locke and the others out through Juniper’s gate. Twenty more horsemen waited outside for us, and they fell in behind, two side-by-side columns, as we turned left and cut through the army camp. Ahead, perhaps five or six miles away, I could see the dark line of trees that marked the edge of a dense forest. The land had been cleared for farming all the way to its edge, but no crops had been planted and the military camp didn’t extend all the way to its edge. It seemed an ideal place from which to spy on us.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I spotted extra guards just now coming out onto the castle battlements, and the two men normally stationed at the gates had grown to eight.
I caught up with the captain who’d found the hell-creatures. His wounds had been cleaned and dressed, and the minor burns on his face gleamed with ointment.
“I’m Oberon,” I told him.
“I am called d’Darjan, Lord.” He inclined his head. “If it pleases you.”
“These spies you found… had you ever seen their like before?”
He hesitated. “No, Lord.”
I had the impression he knew more than that, but didn’t want to speak too openly to me. After all, he had never seen me before today and didn’t know my loyalties. And who knew what rumors were circulating among the guards about me… one overheard insulting remark between Davin and Locke might well fuel a dozen stories among the guards and soldiers of my treachery, cowardice, or worse.
I let my mare fall back, and he spurred his to catch up with Locke. They talked in low voices, with Captain d’Darjan pointing ahead. Then Locke glanced back at me and nodded, and I guessed d’Darjan had asked what he could safely tell me. Nothing to do but wait, I thought with growing impatience.
A thirty-minute ride brought us to the edge of an ancient forest. A thick hedge of gorse bushes and blackberry brambles, threaded with trails, grew along its edge.
I studied the tall oaks and maples, many with trunks as wide around as my arms could reach, that towered a hundred feet over us. They would provide ample vantage points for spying, I thought.
I rode forward to join d’Darjan and my brothers. The rest of the soldiers reined in behind us.
“This is it, General,” Captain d’Darjan said, indicating what looked like a deer track that wound between the gorse bushes and circled out of sight. It would be a prickly, uncomfortable ride, but I thought a horse could make it through. “There is another path on the other side, but it is no larger.”
“Fan out into the forest and keep watch,” Locke called to the soldiers behind us. He dismounted. Davin and I did the same. “Be on your guard. Shout if you see anything unusual. If you spot the enemy, fall back at once.”
His men wheeled their horses and began moving slowly into the forest down various trails, sharp-eyed and ready for battle. I didn’t think anything or anyone would be able to sneak up on us.
“Let’s take a look at their camp,” Locke said. He tethered his horse, drew his sword, took a deep breath, and marched into the thicket.
Davin followed him, and I followed Davin. Captain d’Darjan brought up the rear.
I had to admit the hell-creatures had chosen their hiding spot well. From the outside, you would never have guessed their camp lay hidden within the thicket. The trail, little bigger than a deer track, widened after a few paces and a turn, and only there did I spot the impressions of horse hooves in the soft earth.
We circled in toward the center of the thicket. There, an area perhaps twenty feet across, with a tall oak at its center, had been cleared with small axes.
The hell-creatures had clearly left in haste, abandoning three bedrolls, a small coil of rope, and a wickedly barbed knife. They had even dug a small firepit and rimmed it with large rocks to hide the flames.
I found a stick and stirred the ashes, uncovering the well-gnawed bones of what looked to be rats or squirrels. A few embers still gleamed faintly orange-red.
Rising, I looked at the tree. A broken branch at eye level still oozed sap, I found. From the evidence, they probably hadn’t been here more than a day or two, as captain d’Darjan had said.
“Here’s where they tethered their horses,” Davin said, squatting and examining the markings. “Three of them, all right.”
I turned slowly, looking for anything else out of the ordinary. The oak tree at the center of the thicket had several more broken branches about twenty feet off the ground.
“They climbed up to spy on us,” I said, pointing.
“Take a look,” Locke said.
I grabbed a sturdy looking limb and pulled myself up. It was an easy climb, and sure enough, when I reached the broken limbs I discovered I could see both the military camp and the castle with an unobstructed view.
“Well?” Locke called up.
“I can see everything,” I said, squinting. “Troops, horse pens, even Juniper.”
“So they know how many we are,” Davin said, “and where we’re placed.”
I began to climb down, then dropped the last five feet. “And they know the lay of the land now,” I added. “They were scouting for an attack.”
“They may come back,” Locke said. He hesitated, looking up the tree, then down the trail. “We’re going to
