"Fifteen," Gail said.
"Sounds like they've spotted us," Antha said.
Nyssa looked up, and she saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. Men on horses galloped in their direction, arrows already threaded through their bows.
"Put your swords on the ground," Nyssa snapped. "Belts too."
"I am not releasing my weapon," Antha affirmed. "Gail—“
"Listen to her," he said as he began to unbuckle his belt.
Antha grunted a curse, but Nyssa heard her and North taking off their weapons.
The horses slowed, and Nyssa's insides began to squirm. She didn't know what to expect from them. Having met and dealt with every other race on their land was different. These people were new. Born of each other, as the Nitesh had said. Savages that could not be trusted.
Her heartbeat throbbed in her ears.
"Hold your ground," Gail told them.
The three Venari backed up in a circle around Nyssa, their hands up. Fifteen horses surrounded them on all sides. Incoherent shouts filled the air. Gail and Antha were both shouting back, Antha arguing with Gail, Gail trying to speak clearly to the one with the sword drawn.
The one whom she assumed was their captain jumped down from his horse, and he leveled against Gail.
"Small company for an invasion, Haerlandian scum," the man seethed.
"It is no invasion, Captain," Gail said. "We have come to barter with your Noble."
"Why would His Grace barter with you?"
"I have something his King will want."
"What's that?"
"Princess of Haerland," Gail said.
Nyssa froze.
If she hadn't been in ropes, she might have murdered him right then.
"Princess?" the man repeated.
"The last daughter of a now-forgotten race. A rare specimen for your King. Imagine the bartering power he would have over Haerland with their Princess as his slave."
Nyssa couldn’t breathe.
He was not supposed to tell them who she was. He had said he wouldn't the night before. She was simply supposed to be the last child of the Promised. There had been no mention of him selling her as the actual Princess.
"Let's see her,” the captain said.
Nyssa didn’t move as Gail nodded to North. The hood whipped back off her head. Nyssa's chin rose, and she locked eyes with the armored captain.
Gasps sounded. Horses shifted. The captain took a step back, and for a moment, he didn't look away.
"She has fire for hair," he said softly. "What sorcery is she?"
"As I said, Captain," Gail said, and Nyssa forced herself not to flinch when he touched her hair. "A rare specimen."
The man looked as though she had cast a curse over the whole of his men. He swallowed as he looked at the others. "Gather their weapons. We will take them to His Grace."
