The High Lord

weeks.'

Akkarin smiled. 'I guess a short stop won't hurt.'

She grinned at him, then sat on a nearby rock and pulled off her boots. As she stepped into the shallows of the pool, she let out a gasp.

'It's freezing!'

She focused her mind and sent heat out into the water. Her ankles began to warm. Moving slowly, she waded deeper. She found that she could keep the water around her comfortably heated if she did not move too abruptly and stir up eddies of cold.

As her trousers soaked up the water, they grew heavier. She could see that the pool was much deeper at the middle. When the water was just past knee-deep, she stopped and sat down, immersing herself to the neck.

The rock floor was a little slimy, but she didn't care. Leaning back, she slowly let her head fall beneath the surface. As she came up for air, she heard a sloshing nearby. She turned to see Akkarin wading into the water. He stared intently at the pool, then suddenly dived under the surface. A splash of icy cold water engulfed her, and she cursed.

She watched him glide under the water. When he surfaced, his long hair was plastered to his face. He flicked it back and turned to regard her.

'Come here.'

She could see his feet kicking beneath the water. The pool was deep. She shook her head.

'I can't swim.'

He glided a little closer, then rolled onto his back. 'My family used to spend every summer by the sea,' he told her. 'We swam nearly every day.'

Sonea tried to picture him as a boy, swimming in the ocean, and failed. 'I lived near the river a few times, but nobody swims in that.'

Akkarin chuckled. 'Not willingly, anyway.'

He turned over again and swam toward the waterfall. As he reached it, his shoulders rose out of the water and he stood regarding the fall. He ran a hand through the curtain of water, then stepped through it.

A faint shadow of him was visible for a moment, then nothing. She waited for him to return. After several minutes she grew curious. What had he found behind there?

She stood up and made her way around the pool. It was little more than ankle deep at first, then grew steadily deeper as she neared the waterfall. By the time she had reached the beginning of the curtain, the pool was past waist deep, but she could feel that the rock slope angled upward under the fall.

She ran a hand through the falling water. It was heavy and cold. Bracing herself, she moved through the curtain and felt her knees meet rock.

A ledge had formed behind the fall, at about shoulder height. Akkarin was sitting in it, his back against the wall and his legs crossed. He smiled at Sonea.

'It's quite private in here, if a bit cramped.'

'And noisy,' she added.

Hoisting herself up onto the ledge, she turned and put her back to the wall. The greens and blues of the outside world colored the curtain of water.

'It's beautiful,' she said.

'Yes.'

She felt fingers curl around her hand and looked down.

'You're cold,' he said.

He lifted her hand and covered it with both of his. His touch sent a warm shiver down her spine. She looked at him, noting that the stubble on his chin and jaw had grown into thick hair. He might not look too bad with a beard, she mused. And his clothes certainly leave less to the imagination when they're wet.

He lifted one eyebrow.

'What are you looking at me like that for?'

She shrugged. 'No reason.'

He laughed, then his gaze dropped from her own. She looked down, then felt her face warm as she realized that her own clothes were plastered against her body. She moved to cover herself, but felt his hands tighten about hers. Looking up, she saw the mischievous glint that had entered his gaze, and smiled.

He chuckled and drew her close.

All thoughts of time, the Ichani, and decently dry attire slipped out of her mind. More important matters demanded her attention: the heat of bare skin against skin, the sound of his breathing, pleasure flaring up like fire through her body, and then how comfortable it was, curled up together on the ledge.

Magic has its uses, she thought. A cold, cramped space can be made warm and cozy. Muscles tired from walking can be revived. To think I once would have given this away, out of hatred for magicians.

If I had I wouldn't be with Akkarin now.

No, she thought as reality struck hard, I'd be a blissfully ignorant slum dweller, completely unaware that immensely powerful magicians were about to invade my home. Magicians who will make the Guild look humble and generous.

She reached out to the falling water. As her fingers met the curtain it parted. In the gap she saw the trees and pool outside... and a figure.

She stiffened and snatched her hand away.

Akkarin stirred.

'What is it?'

Her heart was racing. 'Someone is standing beside the pool.'

He drew himself up onto his elbows, then frowned.

'Be quiet a moment,' he murmured.

The muffled sound of voices reached them. Sonea felt her blood turn to ice. Akkarin scanned the wall of water, his eyes halting at a natural gap in the curtain farther along the ledge. He slowly pushed himself onto his hands and knees and crept toward the gap.

As he reached it he paused, then his face hardened into a scowl. He turned to her and mouthed a word: Parika.

Reaching for her shirt and trousers, Sonea struggled into them. Akkarin appeared to be listening. She crept to his side.

'... no harm. I only sought to be ready for your return,' a woman said meekly. 'See, I have gathered stingberries and tiro nuts.'

'You should not have left the Pass.'

'Riko is there.'

'Riko is asleep.'

'Then punish Riko.'

There was a wordless protest, then a thump. 'Forgive me, master,' the woman whimpered.

'Get up. I don't have time for this. I haven't slept for two days.'

'Are we going straight into Kyralia, then?'

'No. Not until Kariko is ready. I want to be well rested before then.'

Silence followed. Through the curtain of water, Sonea saw movement. Akkarin crept away from the gap to her. She felt his arm circle her waist, and she leaned against the warmth of his chest.

'You're shaking,' he observed.

Sonea drew in a deep, shuddering breath. 'That was too close.'

'Yes,' he said. 'Lucky I hid our boots. Sometimes it pays to be overly cautious.'

Sonea shivered. An Ichani had stood less than twenty strides away. If she hadn't decided to bathe, and Akkarin hadn't discovered the alcove behind the falls...

'He's in front of us now,' she said.

Akkarin's grip tightened a little. 'Yes, but it sounds as if Parika is the only Ichani at the Pass. It also sounds