I choke these thoughts to a stop. The stars in my vision haven’t gone anywhere. I take another breath, but it feels thin, like it doesn’t fill mylungs. The horse sidesteps, tugging at the rein. I should murmur a soft word, but my jaw is frozen.
“So this one time,” Malin says out of nowhere, “we were marching from Willminton to Silvermoon. It’s a three-day walk. You know.” He shrugs, and his voice is casual, like we’ve been in the midst of conversation for miles.
It’s so startling and out of place that he might as well be speaking another language. I glance over, trying to understand what he’s talking about.
He keeps going. “We weren’t new recruits. Less than a year in, though. Back then, Sephran was a bit precious about his uniform, his gear. The rest of us could be in the same clothes for a week and we wouldn’t care, but anytime we’d camp by a stream, there’d be Seph, washing his things.”
I truly have no idea why he’s telling meanyof this, but my thoughts have abandoned some of their panic in trying to figure it out.
“I used to give him hell,” Malin says. “Everyone else would be playing cards or going to sleep, and he’d be washing clothes. He’d hang his livery outside the tent to dry at night. I kept telling him an animal was going to piss on his tunic and then he’d regret it. But one day he drew early watch. He was up at the crack of dawn trying to get dressed in the dark. And you know what happened?”
Malin waits for an answer, and it takes me too long to find my voice. I sound like I’m speaking through gravel. “An animal pissed on it?”
He looks over. “Worse. His uniform wasgone.”
That chases more of the panic away. My eyebrows go up. “What did he do?”
“He woke me in a panic, because he was due to report for duty.” He grins. “I remember Kutter telling him to just wear his armor naked and see if anyone noticed. But he was desperate. First year, no one wants bad marks. I think he would have stolen ours, but like I said—most of us weresleepingin them.”
“What happened?”
“I took his watch.” Malin glances over. “So he could search for his things.”
I look over and realize that most of the stars in my eyes have been banished, my pounding heart distracted away by his story. “You’re a good person, Malin.” And I don’t just mean what he did for his friend.
“Nottoogood.” He looks back, and his eyes spark with mischief. “Who do you think hid his clothes?”
That makes me laugh, and it loosens the final band of tension around my chest.
“Thank you,” I say to him after a moment.
“You looked like you needed a story.”
I frown. “That bad?”
“I could’ve sung you a song, but that might’ve made things worse.” He nods ahead. The guard station is in view. “Should I speak to them in Syssalah or should I act like I don’t speak any?”
I consider that. “Act like you don’t speak any.”
He nods, squares his shoulders, and looks ahead. When we near the guard station, I keep my head down like a weary prisoner, so I don’t know who’s on the parapet. A woman calls down in Syssalah, telling Malin to state his business, and he shouts back, “Do you have anyone who speaks Emberish?”
“I told you to state your business,” she calls back in Emberish, sounding slightly annoyed by her charge.
“I’m delivering a prisoner to the king.” He makes his voice equally annoyed. It’s a good choice. Annoyance is the easiest thing to disregard. Two soldiers exasperated by protocol they don’t want to be following.
“He is fromyourarmy. Why are you not taking him to Ironrose?”
I can’t tell if she’s just curious or if she sounds suspicious, but Malin keeps the tone of annoyance in his voice. “I’m just following orders. Mygeneral told me to deliver him, so I’m doing that. He was caught carrying messages of treason for the Truthbringers.”
“Wait there,” she says.
Well, that’s not good.
“Four archers on the parapet,” Malin says under his breath.
“I know.” I grit my teeth and try not to pull at the bindings around my wrists. Those stars flicker in my vision again.
After a long minute, during which Mercy starts to paw impatiently at the ground, a man calls down to us. “You’re delivering a prisoner to the king?”
