She figured she wasn’t going to learn the answers that night, so she climbed down the wall and made her way back to Bayt and to home.
She knew one thing, though. Niles had just become the most interesting person in her life.
7
Brandt walked beside the merchant’s wagon as it creaked and groaned its way south of town. The wagon protested this journey almost as much as his legs did. He forced back a yawn. The sun would be setting shortly, and his feet ached.
For three days the road had been peaceful. Brandt’s squad woke early every morning to escort merchants for the first league of their journey. If the wolfblades had received the governor’s blessing, the task would have been much simpler. Brandt could have ordered the merchants into a single morning and afternoon departure.
Two trips.
Easy to protect.
He had tried convincing the governor again, but the man hadn’t budged a hair. He continued to insist Brandt and his wolfblades search the mountains. Brandt hated appointees like the governor, so full of themselves they didn’t even listen to those who served them.
A warrior serving such a leader was no better than a sword frozen in its sheath.
So his group waited beyond the sight of the walls, rendezvousing with merchants as they were already on the road. The merchants were almost always skeptical at first, but the wolfblade insignias on their uniforms, and their insistence, eventually convinced most traders.
Still, their days boiled down to escorting merchants for a league, returning, and repeating the process for the next merchant. Brandt figured they were walking somewhere between six and eight leagues a day. It wore on a person. They hadn’t even felt like drinking most nights.
And nothing called his wolfblades to attention faster than a mug of beer.
If there was something worthwhile in their efforts, it was the fact the bandit hadn’t attacked again. Brandt wondered if it was because of his wolfblades, or if another factor was at play he didn’t understand.
He had spent the past days and leagues turning the problem over in his mind, but he hadn’t come to any conclusions.
Brandt still didn’t understand their experience in the mountains that day. That passage couldn’t have closed. No power like that was possible. The cost was higher than anybody could pay. So the feat was impossible, yet it had happened.
The events in the cave offered one tantalizing possibility: What if the cost could be bypassed? What if the strength Brandt believed to be an upper limit was just the beginning of what those gifted with affinities could achieve?
The sound of the breeze through the branches brought his attention to his surroundings. Landow was located near the edge of an expansive evergreen forest, and tall pines loomed overhead. The wolfblades escorted the merchants until they cleared the dense woods, about a league from the walls. From there the road traveled through leagues of lightly wooded grasslands.
Brandt didn’t notice anything suspicious, beyond the merchant they escorted. The man’s eyes darted back and forth, but he wasn’t watching the trees. He was watching the wolfblades as though they might attack at any moment.
Outside of town, when they had first crossed paths, the man had insisted he didn’t need an escort. He wasn’t the first merchant to say so, but he had been the most adamant. It wasn’t until Brandt made it crystal clear they were escorting every merchant, regardless of desire, that the man capitulated.
Ana stepped up beside him. “You look troubled.”
Brandt glanced at the merchant to ensure he wouldn’t be overheard, then kept his voice low. “I suspect he’s a smuggler.”
Ana laughed. “You just figured it out?”
He arched an eyebrow at her.
“If the scene when we met wasn’t enough, you should have at least noticed his wife has been constantly rearranging the goods in the wagon. Ryder is pretty sure he’s identified at least three hidden compartments.”
“And you didn’t inform me?”
Her grin was sly. “We might have had a bet on when you would figure it out.”
“Who won?”
“Ryder, of course.”
Of the group, Ryder’s intuition was the sharpest. He possessed some combination of skills that made him seem almost telepathic at times. Brandt had never figured the man’s means, but his results were beyond question.
“Out of curiosity, what was your bet?”
“That you would never notice.”
“Your confidence is flattering. When were you going to tell me?”
“Near the edge of the forest. We figured it would only distract you from the larger objective.”
They had the authority to search the wagon. No citizen could disobey the request of a soldier. But Ana was right. If they stopped the wagon and arrested the smuggler, it would probably occupy them for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
It was probably worth the small risk. The bandit hadn’t struck in days, and the odds of him attacking today felt slim.
Before he could order the wagon to stop, though, Ryder ran up to him. In a low voice, he said, “Stop the wagon, now.”
Brandt didn’t hesitate. He yelled for the merchant to stop. The man obeyed, eyeing the wolfblades warily. Brandt ignored him for the moment. He turned to Ryder, who had separated from the group, eyes fixed on the road behind them. “Someone’s coming. I think.”
Brandt frowned. The man was never unsure. “Weapons out! Close together!”
The smuggler must have seen his chance, because he snapped his reins and urged his wagon forward. The hefty contraption had just started rolling when a short wall burst from the road just ahead. It only stood a few hands high, but it was more than enough. Harnessed as they were, the horses couldn’t jump over, and the wagon didn’t have a chance of clearing it. Brandt was a little surprised the rickety contraption didn’t break at the mere sight of the wall.
Only one man could move so much stone at once, though.
Kyler swore, then pointed into the woods with his hammer. “There.”
Brandt spotted the dark cloak as
