“Pardon the intrusion, Commander. Tarn requests your presence.”
“That man has no sense of mercy,” Yavi hissed under her breath. “Can he not allow you one night of rest?”
Von motioned at her to be silent. Elon seemed neutral, but they couldn’t take any more chances. Slave defiance was severely punishable. If he had been whipped for failing a task, what would Tarn do to Yavi for her irreverence?
Groaning, he slowly sat up on the cot with her help. She pulled out a gray tunic from the trunk and carefully dressed him. She placed his arm around her for support, and the movement sent a painful shock through his back. Von clenched his teeth, biting back a curse. He inhaled a sharp breath and rose to his feet. His vision swam, and he nearly toppled over if not for Yavi.His legs wobbled with each step to the entrance.
She quickly untied the knots and opened the flaps. Elon lurked in the shadows beneath a nearby tree where the moonlight didn’t reach. “You will need to assist him there,” she said.
Elon came forward and took his arm, carefully placing it over his shoulders. They slowly walked through the quiet camp. Von winced with each step, his slow feet staggering. Sweat dripped down his temples from the strain. He was grateful the men had taken to staying within their tents tonight, so no one had to see his struggle.
The trip was long and grueling. An eternity passed before they reached the large, imposing tent. Candlelight trickled past the tent flaps.
“Thank you for your patience, Elon,” Von said. The elf nodded and slinked into the dark. He stood there a moment, gathering the nerve to go inside.
“Don’t waste my time,” Tarn’s cool voice came from within. “You have done enough of that today.”
Von took a shaky breath and entered. Tarn sat at the head of the dining table, with a mound of fabric and leather placed before him. His pale eyes gleamed in the candlelight as two spheres of ice. His short-sleeved tunic hung on him unbuttoned. It exposed the old jagged scars covering his chest and arms like a roadmap of the past. Discolored, uneven crevices marked his ribs where the jaws of a troll had chewed through tendon and bone.
That day may have ravaged more than Tarn’s body. He was never the same after.
“Master.” Von forced his aching body to bow. He couldn’t detain the low keening in his throat at his wounds splitting open. Blood leaked out of his dressings, soaking into his tunic.
“I did not think it would be so difficult for you to capture a girl,” Tarn said.
Von straightened, breathing deeply. “We were unprepared.”
Tarn’s pale eyes narrowed. “I’ll not hear your excuses. Elon informed you well.”
“Yes, Master—”
“And now the Warrior Guardian has joined them.” He flung the mound off the table at Von’s feet.
What he had thought was mere fabric had been Len’s cloak wrapped around a small breastplate. It was treated to withstand almost any weapon, but at the center was a sliver of an opening stained crimson. She was the only one Tarn had provided armor for, and it barely saved her life.
How had Rawn pierced her armor from three-hundred yards away?
“I hadn’t accounted for the elf,” Von said tentatively. “Nor the sorceress. When I took the medallion, I failed to realize who she was.”
They glanced over to the left when the rune for Truth & Lies glowed with his honesty. Von couldn’t speak a lie in this tent, and sometimes it served in his favor.
“She may be the fourth Guardian in the foretelling,” he added.
Tarn linked his fingers together and rested his elbows on the table. “Was she powerful?”
Von could not call the torrent of magic she expelled weak. “Yes.”
“She must be why my mages can no longer track the Maiden.”
He lifted his head, recalling the glass Orb that ceased to work the moment they had reached the city. “We had lost the Maiden’s location at midday yesterday.”
“Benton reported his tracking spell had been severed at that time. Then a second spell was cast to cloak her. He was quite annoyed that another mage had the power to overthrow him.”
Von tightened his jaw so he wouldn’t smirk. What would Benton say if he realized it was a sorceress and not a mage who had thwarted him?
“Yet it would not matter if you had brought me the medallion.”
Even if he had, it would have been futile. Upon inspecting the pendant, he had attempted to remove the iridescent stone only for its image to dissolve. “The Luna Medallion didn’t contain the Moonstone.”
