She ceased to breathe.
Impossible.
The elf dismounted his steed. For a long moment, Ellina simply stared. Then she ran, heart flying, and crashed into him, her arms going tight around his neck.
Dourinoomphedas the breath punched out of him. He wheezed a chuckle. “Miss me, did you?”
Ellina choked out a silent laugh, which might have also been a sob. She had the fleeting yet terrifying thought that Dourin was a hallucination, that he had died in Parith after all, or she had died in that stampede, and this was some sort of horrible and wonderful afterlife.
Yet she felt Dourin’s arms come around her. The solid surety of his grip. “Ah, Ellina. I missed you, too.”
TWENTY-ONE
The others will try to claim that we were lucky. This will insult me. You must not let them use that word.”
Dourin’s expression was stern as they emerged from the rock formation into the open field between the city and the woods. The scene was still, the land empty. The Dark Army had vanished, as had any trace of the horse pursuers. Ellina might have been relieved by that, had she not been otherwise preoccupied. She was looking at Dourin. She had scarcely taken her eyes off him.
A pair of speckled wrens chased each other through the grass. Clouds hung over the northern mountains but did not reach as far as the plains; the sky overhead was clear. Dourin tipped his head as if to feel the sun’s warmth on his face, even as the winter air nipped their skin. He looked well. Happy, even.An outsider might have never guessed that he had ever been gravely wounded and fighting for his life.
It was not until Ellina heard the familiar whuff of a different horse that she finally pulled her gaze from her friend. Eywen was there, looking calm yet alert, her tan coat rippling in the afternoon light.
“She found me,” Dourin explained. “Or, let me start from the beginning. Traegarfound me. He was on his way to Parith when our paths crossed. He is the one who told me of Venick’s plan to lead the resistance east along the Taro. We changed course, thinking to rendezvous in Kenath, and were passing through Hurendue when Eywen appeared. You can imagine my surprise.” Dourin’s mouth lifted, as if recounting a fanciful tale. “I have never felt such panicked energy from that mare. I thought something must have happened to Venick—he doeshave a propensity for trouble—but Eywen led me straight to you. And then, of course, once I realized what was happening, I led them.” He nodded towards the rest of his enormous herd, which had reappeared shortly after their reunion. The animals were placid now, bumping shoulders, trailing after Dourin as ducklings trail their mother. “Thoroughbreds,” Dourin explained. “Every one of them. They were a gift from the Elder. He likes me now. I am very likeable.”
Ellina’s eyes were back on Dourin. She was trying to follow his story. She wanted to marvel at their good fortune, the timing of Dourin’s arrival in Hurendue, her decision to dismount Eywen and send herhome,which had led the mare to Dourin. Ellina wanted to wonder at her friend’s mastery over these horses, and the skill it would have taken to create a stampede, which went beyond the ability of anygeleeshiEllina had ever known. But it was difficult to concentrate on anything beyond the mere fact of Dourin’s existence.
She decided that she did not need her voice back. She did not need anything, so long as she could have this.
He threw her a tall look. “Stopsmilingat me.”
She beamed brighter.
As they picked their way through the field towards the woods, Dourin was quick to summarize his understanding of Ellina’s silence. “Traegar said that Farah took your voice. Or one of her minions did. I have seen the conjurors’ abilities. They can steal one’s vision, and now voices, too?” He frowned. “I want the full story, and you cannot even tell it. That irritates me.”
Ellina lifted a brow as if to say,That irritatesyou?
“Indeed.” Dourin turned his head, giving her his profile. “I have questions. It will take forever to write down your answers. You are being very inconvenient.”
They were just pushing through a row of dense, shrubby bushes when their attention was drawn by Traegar, who approached at full speed on a rose-grey stallion. Dourin made a noise of disapproval. “He rides that animal far too hard without reason.” Yet when Traegar pulled up beside them, his face was tight with concern.
“Your plan worked,” Traegar announced. “The Dark Queen and two others have fled for the woods.”
“No,” Dourin pouted. “My plan did not work. If you saw them flee, that means they escaped. But what good is a stampede if no one is stampled?”
Traegar’s expression did not change. “You are lucky Ellina was notstampled.”
Dourin shot Ellina a look. “See what I told you? There is that word, lucky. Bah. Luck had nothing to do with it. The herd was under strict instructions. They would not have harmed you. In fact—”
“There is more,” Traegar interrupted. “The resistance passed through here as well. They have gathered in Hurendue.”
Some of Ellina’s giddiness bled away. Hurendue was the location they’d chosen in case a retreat was called.
Dourin, too, appeared to sober. “A change of plans?” He clicked his teeth. “And here I was hoping for good news.”
They found the road—stone-paved and flanked by a footpath on either side, but poorly maintained—and started towards the city. Hurendue appeared to have outgrown its original design; a thick stone battlement circled each of its twin hills, but the city’s buildings spilled far beyond these walls, tumbling along the riverbank and trickling into the adjacent fields. Ellina could see the modest homes of pasture workers on the outskirts of the city, as well as the workers themselves, busy pulling out last year’s crop. Something about the way they hacked at old corn stalks with long machetes, seemingly unfazed by the arrival of Dourin’s massive herd, had Ellina remembering that these people were born for war.
They had just reached the outermost row of homes when Ellina heard her name. She caught sight of Venick tearing out of the city down the street, his figure small but quickly gaining ground.
Ellina frowned. She wished he would slow down. The road was like a mouth full of bad teeth, some stones jutting upwards, others missing from their sockets. Venick would trip if he was not careful. He might twist an ankle. A wrist. Yet he continued at his breakneck pace.
