“I’ve always told you that you should carry valerium with you,” the young man said to Leah with a roguish smile.
“Good against Elementals,” Leah responded, smile turning into a frown, “but I prefer steel against everything else.”
“Now that is complete and utter idiocy that I cannot accept, particularly coming from my sister.”
“Sister?” the Prince asked, still trying to process what was happening.
Both of them turned to look at him, and with a shock the Prince realized that they were almost identical. Leah’s brother was obviously male, and taller and more muscled, but he had the same lean, wiry body type as Leah did, and was about as close to a male translation of Leah as one could imagine. One clear difference, though, was that the brother had shining, scarlet pupils that were shockingly unnatural. The Prince had seen eyes like that among the Most High Blood, and the Bloodmages, but never among the Baseborn.
“What’s this? You don’t usually pick up strays,” the young man said, looking the Prince up and down and smiling as if at a private joke. The red eyes seemed to mock him, and the Prince couldn’t help but think of the red crystal the Bloodmages carried to perform their magic. The young man radiated a kind of easy and infectious charisma, as if he expected everything in life to go his way.
“He’s a friend,” Tomaz said. They all turned to look at the big man as he approached. He was followed by the young man’s female companion and had five horses in tow, two of which were quite obviously bred for speed and endurance, as opposed to the three Leah had taken from the Defenders that were glorified pack horses.
“Oh ho, a friend,” the young man said. “Where do you come from and what could you have possibly done to earn my sister’s company? She would rather travel with a talking parrot than another person.”
He smiled mockingly at Leah.
Leah ignored him and stared directly at the Prince, who felt his throat go dry. A few awkward seconds passed, wherein the Prince just managed to prevent himself from swallowing nervously.
Was she going to reveal who he was? He wasn’t supposed to be here. They weren’t supposed to have met anyone. They hadn’t discussed any of this because this wasn't supposed to be happening.
“He’s Tomaz’s project,” she said finally. “He fell in with us when we were passing through the Elmist Mountains. He’s a runaway from a family of the Most High. His name is… Raven.”
“Raven,” Davydd said, tasting the word. “Weird.”
The Prince held Leah’s gaze and tried to convey his gratitude without words, but whether she understood or not she gave no sign.
“Mmm,” the young man said, looking back and forth between the two of them. He stepped forward abruptly with a smile that seemed to mock both the Prince and himself and offered his hand.
“Davydd Goldwyn,” he said.
Slowly, the Prince reached out and grasped the hand, noticing that it was slim but nonetheless covered in calluses that belied constant work with a sword. He reached out briefly through the Raven Talisman but felt nothing special about him, aside from the fact he felt strong and vibrant. How had he managed to destroy a Daemon?
“Raven,” the Prince said, taking Leah’s lead.
“And this is Lorna,” Davydd said, dropping the Prince’s hand and motioning to the woman who had come up with Tomaz. She had retrieved the large battleaxe from where the Daemon’s death had flung it and wore it slung on her back just like Tomaz wore his sword. The Prince was shocked to find that she stood only a head shorter than the big man. She was even more of a novelty than Tomaz was in the Prince’s world: all Guardians were men; he had never seen a woman on the same scale before. Lorna grunted and nodded to the Prince before turning to Davydd. Her voice was low and husky.
“Eshendai. There is a force coming on us very quickly. It looks to be several thousand strong, all light cavalry with mounted archers.”
“How do you know that? They must be a mile away still,” the Prince blurted out, reaching out and sensing the army still far away but certainly gaining.
“Ignore him,” Leah said with a long-suffering look, “he thinks he’s a tracker, but he has no idea what he’s talking about.”
The Prince knew that she was playing a part, but it still made his cheeks burn, and he cursed himself for not thinking his words through. He couldn’t know about the pursuit without the Talisman—if he wasn’t careful, the new Exiles would start asking questions he wouldn’t be able to answer. Davydd smirked at him and gave him a sympathetic look that seemed to say he knew how his sister could be sometimes.
“Is there a cache of supplies nearby?” Leah asked Davydd.
“No,” he responded, “and you’re not going to get much further on those horses, so the normal route is out.”
For a moment the two of them stood silently thinking, and then Davydd clicked his tongue and made for his mount.
“The bridge.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “It’s finished already?”
“Indeed,” Davydd said with another rakish smile. “We were part of the first scouting party sent across. We were trying to navigate a path through this area—it’s ringed with Bloodmage traps like that Storm Walker.”
“I should have rechecked the area before running through,” Leah said angrily. “I led us right into it. I was so focused on… never mind.”
