available, bending into an obscenely formal bow — careful not to go so low as to reveal their hideaway.
Jeremy's face flushed and he cleared his throat. 'Will I see you at tomorrow's dance?'
'No. I'll be in mourning for that poor boy and whatever it is you're planning on doing to him. Though I have to say, it appears that he's already proven his stealth and prowess by eluding you.'
Jeremy couldn't find the words to respond, but as he turned to walk away, he touched Sara briefly on the shoulder.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Sara turned to her. 'That seemed unnecessary. Jeremy is an acceptable choice for a husband.'
She scoffed. 'That's rich coming from someone who has pined over a myth for years. I see the look in your eyes when Jonathan is around — it isn't love.'
Before Sara could respond, the boy emerged from the stall. 'Are they gone?' His face was bright red, his wet hair matted to his forehead.
Sara, having always been more sympathetic than Ariana, brushed his hair out of his eyes, as a mother would have done. 'Yes, love. They suspect you've braved the Nethers. What trouble have you gotten yourself into?'
The boy shook his head. 'No trouble. Just fun and games really, but I don't like the one who was talking just then. Full of hot air, he is.'
Ariana grinned down at him. 'Keep that sense about you. Your gut is often smarter than your head.'
The boy nodded, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 'Thank you. I'll try to repay the favor one day.'
Sara waved him off with a pat on the shoulder, and then turned to Ariana. 'What is it that so bothers you about them?'
Ariana didn't have the slightest idea who she was referring to.
'Adorians.' Sara spoke the word with more reverence than most would conjure for their dead ancestors.
Ariana groaned as she secured her soft leather bow case with a full quiver of arrows to the saddle. 'Something that does not exist cannot bother me, Sara. That's all that it is — myth. We're the last ones left. Even if they were real, they are obviously powerless against the Laionai.' At the sight of Sara's expression, Ariana added, 'That was harsh. I didn't — '
'I know. I just wish that I could make things easier for you.'
Ariana wanted to say something serious, something to express her sincere wish to respect Sara's beliefs, but the words just wouldn't come. 'Well, you could start by not giving Jeremy false hope anymore. I'll marry an Ereubinian before I'll marry him.'
'I'll try my best. Are you leaving now?'
Ariana nodded, calling Koen. 'I'll be back before too long. Tell Bella I'm sorry, will you?'
'I will. Three days?'
Ariana mounted Shadow, smiling. 'Three days.'
She made it to the bluff in record time. Koen seemed to grin from where he sat in wait below the low boughs of her favorite Elpsis tree. 'One of these days you're going to tell me how you do that.' She smirked. 'I've still got one thing on you though — you don't have opposable thumbs.'
After tying her mount to the tree, she pulled a blanket from the satchel and sat down with her back against the trunk. She took a deep breath and looked out across the expanse. Her mind wandered over the previous years, the festivals she had tried to participate in that all had been disastrous, finally coming to contemplate the grave day they commemorated. As she closed her eyes, she envisioned her mother lying on the cottage floor close enough to touch Ariana's hand. She had struggled to lift her finger to her lips, urging her only child to remain quiet and hidden. Her father had come in after it was over, still breathing hard from the battle. It had taken him a few minutes to regain his bearings and crouch down to find Ariana hidden below the bed. She could still feel his strong embrace and the cold metal of his armor on her bare feet.
It had taken years to recover from the loss. The carnage alone was a gruesome scene she was thankful to have only a vague memory of. Even before that day, she had grown up hearing dark tales about the inhabitants of Eidolon. The Ereubinians were rumored to have the power to steal the human soul and enslave it for their Goddess. But was it true? Those who were knowledgeable spoke only in whispers of Eidolon, often referred to as the City of Shadows, and of the Laionai. Though Duncan, her father's closest friend, used to entertain them with stories of great battles and lore, her father abhorred any mention of either Adoria or its fabled war with Eidolon. She was lost in her thoughts when she heard a sound.
At first it sounded like thunder, a great rumble far in the distance. Then the sharp, piercing cries of the Dragee grew distinct. She hadn't heard the sound in so many years that its foreignness kept her pinned to the tree.
It can't be!
She slowly opened her eyes, praying that she had fallen asleep and that it was some terrible nightmare stirred up from her thoughts of the past. She was not so fortunate.
The horizon overflowed with riders, the Moriors darkening the sky above them in a thick black mass, the Ereubinians each astride their Dragee, a creature not quite horse or dragon, but an unsettling combination of the two. They screamed as their hooves pounded the dry ground. Her heart felt stuck in her chest, devoid of blood, and despite all her talk of readiness, it took her a moment to shake herself out of disbelief.
'Koen, run!' She tore the reins from the tree branch while mounting and dug her heels into the steed's side. She heard them as if they were already upon her, so many of them — far more than she remembered from the last time.
Please, Shadow. Ride swiftly.
As she came to the edge of the village, she jerked hard on the reins. There were enemies in Palingard. It must have been an advanced group. Shadow reared at the sudden pull on the bit, but she steered him hard to the right, toward the Netherwoods.
She couldn't see much from where she rode, but what she glimpsed was a losing battle. She pulled her bow from the case and pivoted in the saddle enough to nock and aim an arrow. She struck a black-cloaked Ereubinian in the left side of his chest. Another shot and then a third were let fly in succession, several more Ereubinians falling, before she felt a tug on the bow. Suddenly, it was ripped from her hands by some unseen force and tossed beneath Shadow's feet.
What the…?
She gasped as a hooded rider appeared beside her, as if born of thin air. There had been no one near her, she was certain of it.
He shook his head.
She dug in her heels and sped through the thicket at the edge of the woods, small limbs and twigs hitting her face. A Dragee was much faster than a horse and she realized as she heard him growing ever closer that she couldn't outrun him this way. As much as she didn't want to do it, there were areas in the Nethers that were simply too dense for the beast. Her decision had been made for her.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, folded her arms across her chest and slid her heels from the stirrups. Then, tucking her head, she braced herself and turned sharply to the right, where she executed an under- practiced rolling dismount.
She slid as she fought to get solid ground beneath her feet. Just as she'd found it, a sharp pain sliced through her ankle and she bit her lip hard enough to bring the metallic taste of blood to her mouth. She blocked out all feeling as she darted through the wild overgrowth, focusing only on the sound of her pursuer.
The root was thick — so thick that she might have seen it had she not looked back. It twisted upwards from the dirt and back down to form a perfect loop, which her injured ankle found with ease. Her back met the forest floor with rib-breaking force, stealing the breath from her lungs and clouding her vision with black swirls that threatened to pull her under.
Within seconds he was beside her, panting, his sword pointed at her neck. Once he'd caught his breath, he straddled her waist with a knee to her right and a foot planted on her left, careful to keep the blade at her throat.
He was dressed fully in black. Leather guards adorned his wrists and shins, connected by various plates of armor. Dragon's heads served as shoulder plates and extended to his elbows. His hood covered an elaborate helmet that shielded all of his face except his eyes, which flared bright violet.
