The Prince looked at the trail leading down the mountain and turned his horse to go. But he paused. He had to know. He turned back and looked at Leah.
“How did you get those scars?” he asked.
Her eyes widened slightly, in surprise or anger the Prince couldn’t tell. She shifted her hands on her horse’s reins. Tomaz’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you know about scars, boy?”
“It’s fine, Tomaz,” she said, looking back over her shoulder. The Prince didn’t need to follow her gaze to know that the army was closer; he could feel them growing nearer every second.
“I lived in the city of Tyne until I was eleven,” she said, turning back to him, words hurried but clear. “The Empress came to visit. I put on my best dress andwent out with my family to watch. When she passed where we were, we were expected to bow. I forgot. So, I was left standing, smiling up at this beautiful figure on a beautiful white horse. I was so happy to be standing there, finally able to see her. And then guards seized me. I was taken out of the crowd, brought to the center of town, and whipped with a lash by the Prince of Lions himself. My family took me home and whipped me as well, all the while telling me what a terrible girl I was, and at the same time that I should be grateful. You see, it was anhonorto be beaten by one of the Children, anhonorto be recognized by the Empress, even if it was for punishment. I came within an inch of death for bringing shame on my family. My father… he spat on me as he left the room, leaving me hanging from the chains where slaves were whipped for disobedience. He was a member of the Most High, those virtuous men and women you hope to convert. My mother made no comment. She didn’t need to—I could see what she thought of me, clear as day. It was written across her face. When I recovered, I ran away.”
Her eyes were blazing with emerald fire as she dared him to say anything.
“You can go back to your precious Empire,” she spat. “But I know what they’ll do to you. I know what they did to an innocent girl who wanted to believe in glory and hope and ideals. Go. But when they kill you, when you watch them slice you open with no remorse in their eyes, then you’ll understand. Then you’ll understand that the world is made of people like us, who see evil and fight it, and people like you, who see evil and excuse it.”
She wheeled her horse around and launched herself up the mountainside. Tomaz shot him one last look, held his gaze and nodded, and then followed her, spurring his own mount even harder to catch up.
The Prince watched them until they disappeared into the mountain forest, numb, empty, feeling the need to go, to escape the pursuing men, but knowing, deep down in his heart that once he did his path was set. Part of him hadknown, all along, that what Leah had just told him was true. If he went back, he would die. There was no hope for him.
And still, knowing this, he turned his horse toward the path that led down the mountain. The horse began to trot, and the path fell away, and suddenly, not knowing why, maybe just wanting one last impression of the two Exiles, his companions—his friends?—he thrust his mind through the Raven Talisman and sent his consciousness up to them, following them along the road that led higher up the mountain. He watched them go in his mind’s eye, feeling their life dwindle as they rode away. They were almost gone. Gone forever.
Sudden as a flash of lightning, he felt another life spring into being in the direction they had gone. He jerked back, shocked. There had been nothing, and now there was a growing life energy focused on a single point at the top of the mountain. At first the Prince thought he was seeing things, but the life continued to grow—togrow? How was that possible?
Understanding hit him, cold and hard, and numbed him with terrible fear.
Only one thing left that kind of signature. And they were riding straight toward it.
He looked down the right-hand fork, down toward the distant road. The path duty would lead him to. He looked back up, the way Tomaz and Leah had gone, and sensed again the growing, malevolent life.
In panic, he looked behind him and felt the enormous multitude of men combing through the forest, making sure he wouldn’t slip through their net this time. There were thousands of them, and they were moving quickly. He wouldn’t have time to come back this way if he didn’t take the trail down the mountain now.
“Shadows and light!” he growled.
What does it matter?he thought.They’re only Exiles. They chose this life.
But anger struck him like a bolt of lightning and cleared his mind. It consumed his well-thought-out arguments and plans, and in that instant he knew where he belonged.
He kicked his boots into the sides of his horse and was rocketed up the mountainside. He could feel the energy of the new life still growing and he knew it wasn’t over yet. Thunder sounded in the sky above him and he saw black clouds forming over the mountain summit.
Too fast—he wouldn’t reach them in time.
He urged all of the speed he could out of his mount, climbing higher and higher, leaving the road to Roarke far behind, racing against the building clouds. If it started to rain, the process would be complete, and the monster would become corporeal.
Trees flew past him as he tracked both the life energy of the Exiles and kept a check on the life of the creature. The trail was leading him well up into the mountains, high enough that the wind whipping past him cut straight through his layers of clothing. His horse was frothing at the mouth, but he continued to push it mercilessly.
Faster!he urged it. The Exiles were close. He looked up and saw the clouds converging on a spot not too far ahead of them. His horse came to a small clearing in the midst of a grove of trees, and there they were, moving at a steady trot twenty yards in front of him.
“STOP!”
The Exiles turned in their saddles to look back, barely slowing as they did. When they saw that it was him, though, they reined in their horses. Tomaz roared at the Prince over the rising wind.
“What in the name of the seven hells are you doing here?!”
“There’s a Daemon right in front of you!” the Prince yelled back.
They both stared at him blankly, keeping a tight rein on their horses as they tried to keep them calm against the force of the rising wind.
“A what?!” Tomaz shouted back.
