“They’re coming for us,” Choshi hissed. “They’re going to string us up, just like they did my brother.”
Her eyes were wide and her hands trembling.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “You’ve trained for this. We all have.”
“You don’t understand.” Choshi looked straight at me. Her skin had gone pale, and her voice rose higher. “When Saruqin orders something, there’s no mercy. No taking prisoners. No asking questions. No swift deaths. If they catch us, they’ll torture us to death. I’ve seen it happen. I can’t… I won’t…”
“Take a deep breath.” I laid my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “You’re stronger than this. You’ve fought on before, and you can do it again.”
“But they’re coming for us!”
“We don’t know that.” I looked past her into the cave. “Who has the keenest eyes in your group?”
“Elorinelle.”
“Wake her up.”
Two minutes later, the elf stood with us and looked along the valley. Her eyes narrowed as she peered into the distance.
“Definitely warriors,” she said. “Armed and armored and in Gonki uniforms. They’ve sent scouts ahead, and that main column is the most troops I’ve seen march out of Hyng’ohr in years.”
“Are they coming this way?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I can’t tell. Right now, they’re simply marching up the valley. The scouts are running everywhere, so that doesn’t tell us anything. But they’re bound to catch us, aren’t they? I mean, why else would they march out now?”
I considered the possibilities. This might have nothing to do with us, but that was unlikely in the extreme. My companions and I had recently arrived in the valley, upsetting an equilibrium that had been working for Gonki’s corrupt rulers. If they weren’t already planning moves against Tahlis, then they were fools, letting an Augmenter that powerful run rebellious against them. By offering such open defiance, we’d become the light to the fuse that would ignite the powder keg of Gonki.
But just because this related to us didn’t mean the trouble was heading straight for our cave.
“Lord Ganyir’s brother, Targin, has guards who watch the valley,” Elorinelle said. “They might have seen us roaming around.”
“Or maybe Mahrai might have sent men after you, Swordslinger,” Choshi added. “Tahlis told us what you did. Mahrai isn’t one to be slighted like that.”
“If that’s the case, then they’re likely headed for the Sunstone Temple.”
I wouldn’t be there, but Kumi, Vesma, and Kegohr would be.
“What do we do?” Choshi asked.
“What do you think?” I replied. “We kick the rest of the class awake and get moving. We need to reach the Sunstone Temple before that army does.”
Chapter Ten
We raced out of the cave and down the hillside, our packs on our backs and weapons at the ready. Sharp-eyed Elorinelle led the way, watching for any scouts who might have come in this direction. Onvar accompanied her to keep her steady and offer his own obsessive attention to detail. I was behind them, along with Choshi and Drek. Zedal and Fig brought up the rear.
We stalked across the macabre ground of the desert boneyard, between cairns to the memories of men and women long since forgotten. Their bones protruded from the ground, pale reminders that all things must die. I wondered if any of us would be remembered when we had lain in the ground as long as these people. But I would ensure I left my mark on the Seven Realms, and that meant I wouldn’t be dying today.
We moved as fast as we could without drawing unnecessary attention. The army was moving slowly now, but its scouts could pen us in if they banded together. Our best chance of getting through came from not being seen or facing a fight before we stood with our comrades at the temple.
Instead of heading straight across the valley and then taking the road, we went diagonally southwest across the boneyard, past more monuments, and out through a set of standing stones at its bottom corner. Those stones towered over us like ancient, weather-blasted giants, gray lichen crumbling to dust on their sides.
“Do you know who built these?” I asked as we passed beneath the long shadows of the stones.
“Nobody does,” Choshi said. “But everyone knows that such things must be left in place, or risk angering the spirits. Some say demons live within the stones.”
I shuddered at the thought of demons. I’d met dragon spirits who claimed to be demigods, and they seemed honorable, at least. But if demons existed in this world, they would be something else altogether.
I put aside the thought as our diagonal route gave us a chance to get ahead of the advancing column. As we left the boneyard and headed out across former farmland toward the river bed, we were almost running parallel with the Gonki army.
“We could attack them now,” Drek said. “Catch them in the flank.”
“Yes,” said Zedal. “A surprise attack, before they are expecting to face anyone. With our combined powers, we could easily kill them, just like we did the plumed snatcher matriarch.”
I smiled grimly. A fight with a few monsters had boosted their egos, but it hadn’t done much to make them more powerful, other than learning a single technique.
I looked at the advancing column. The idea wasn’t without its merits, but I preferred to fight with the others at my side. Still, in spotting the opportunity, Drek was showing his gift for battle. But I couldn’t have them running off to fight until we’d joined with the others.
“Those are people from your city and your clan there,” I said. “Maybe people you know. Maybe people you’ve drunk with, eaten with, gossiped with. Are you really ready to kill them?”
Drek opened his mouth to speak, then paused, watching the column. We were too far away to make out the detail of faces.
“I don’t know,” Drek admitted. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
“You’re
