Traveling so light, it took them only a moment to pack up their basic camp. Vi led the way through the forest. She knew these trees from years spent underneath them. The thought they might have been in different locations than her world never even crossed her mind.
Even if the trees were different, she knew how to read secret signposts made by Northern scouts, hidden from Imperial eyes.
The sun hung high overhead when Deneya stretched out a hand. “Stop.”
“What is it?” Vi asked.
“I hear it too.” Taavin nodded at Deneya.
“Hear what?” Their long ears were picking up something Vi couldn’t.
“A horse, in the distance,” he said.
“Northern?” Deneya asked.
“No, they’d be riding noru,” Vi said.
“This is definitely a horse.”
“Are there many?”
“Just the one, I think.” Deneya looked to Taavin. He hummed in agreement with her assessment. Deneya faced Vi. “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s wait and see who it is.”
They crouched behind the massive trunk of a tree, hidden by shrubs and branches. Soon enough, Vi heard the clops of hooves through the forest. The rider wasn’t going particularly fast.
A messenger?Vi wondered.
Her eyes widened when the horse came into view, a rider slumped over in the saddle, barely keeping herself upright. Twigs and leaves stuck out of brown hair Vi would recognize anywhere.
“What is she doing here?” Deneya hissed.
“Don’t ask me.” Taavin panicked at the sight of yet another thing going off-plan.
It fell to Vi to act.
“Durroe watt ivin,” she hissed, stepping from underneath the branches and into an illusion. Her eyes were blue, skin paler, hair lighter. She looked as generic as any other Southern soldier as she called out, “Vhalla Yarl?”
Vhalla straightened instantly in her saddle, looking over her shoulder. She gripped the reins of the horse tightly. Her wide eyes darted between Vi and the path ahead, clearly ready to bolt.
“Did they send you after me?” Vhalla asked warily.
“Send me after you? Who’s ‘they’?”
“Who are you?”
Vi put her hands in her pockets and sighed. She glanced sideways, slowly bringing her eyes back to Vhalla. For good measure, she chewed on her lower lip, dragging out the obvious uncertainty.
“Mother, I can’t lie to the Windwalker… Who am I? I’m nothing more than a coward.” Vi chuckled tiredly, slipping further into the character she was inventing on the spot. “I should ask if they sentyouafterme.”
“Why would I…?”
“I’m a deserter,” Vi said plainly. “Got too scared of the idea of that last great battle and fled. We all did.”
A shadow crossed over Vhalla’s face. “We?”
Vi motioned to Taavin and Deneya. They emerged from their hiding places with their ears hidden underneath illusioned chunks of hair.
