Before Von could question him further, Eagon had appeared. He couldn’t waste time fighting two members of the Skulls at once, so he escaped to search for Dyna. The last thing he expected to see was a flock of female Celestials cutting down people in the city market.
The glass vial felt warm in his pocket. Von had filched it off a mound of ashes. The vial of divine blood could be beneficial one day. It may be exactly what he needed to gain Yavi’s freedom.
As the peak of Tarn’s tent came into view, Von pivoted and headed for his tent instead. He should have gone to report to his master first, but he wanted to find his wife. He couldn’t go another day without her speaking to him.
Von stepped into his tent and immediately stopped short at the entryway.
Tarn sat at the small table with his muddy black boots resting on top of Von’s cot. He wore a long, elegant gray coat with his hands nestled in black leather gloves. Tarn didn’t acknowledge him. He played with a knife on the table’s surface, the tip of the blade spinning while he held the top of the hilt by a gloved fingertip.
“Master,” Von bowed.
“You have returned empty-handed,” Tarn said to the knife. “I take it the bounties failed.”
“The bounties didn’t fail. They were briefly in the hands of the Azure Guard, but there was an occurrence in the city that allowed them to escape. Now they are on the run, and cannot board a ship at any port within the kingdom.”
“Where do you think they will run to?” Tarn asked him. By his tone, he already knew the answer.
The Azure Kingdom was a chip in Urn’s chalice. If they couldn’t board a ship, there was only one other way out.
“Troll Bridge,” Von said. A wave of nostalgia went through him. That place was once his home. Although there was nothing left but the memory of the dead, a part of him wanted to see it.
The blade stopped spinning, and the sound of Tarn’s leather glove creaked as he squeezed the hilt.
“Troll Bridge...” His wintry blue eyes pinned Von, wrath frosting inside of them. “I have not set foot there in fifteen years, and I’ll never do so again.”
Von dropped his gaze. “What would you have me do?”
“I want to cut them off before they reach the bridge. Elon is already on their tail. He’s been watching them since they arrived in the Port of Azure.”
Von stiffened. He hadn’t known the elf had been in the city, but then he wasn’t keeping track of Elon. Now that he thought of it, he hadn’t seen Elon since the day before last. Tarn was keeping things from him. To do so meant he was losing favor.
“Elon delivered a rather interesting report,” Tarn said as he studied the sharp edge of the knife. “He described the disarray that had occurred in the marketplace once a poacher got his hands on the Nephilim. History has a way of repeating itself, doesn’t it? In Corron, you failed to bring me the Maiden, and you’ve failed me yet again.”
Von bowed his head as sweat beaded on his back. “I had her, Master, but the same mercenary from the capital appeared. His interference allowed her to escape.” He didn’t dare mention his third failed attempt to capture Dyna in the market. “That mercenary is determined to find you and I don’t think it’s to collect a bounty.”
Tarn hardly seemed concerned. “What did he look like?”
“He’s young, has dark blond hair, blue eyes, and bearded. Tall and strong, but…” Von frowned, recalling how swiftly he moved. “He fought with the dual-blade technique of Lord Morken. As though he’d trained Klyde himself.”
Which was impossible, because Lord Morken was dead.
Tarn stilled at the mention of his father. He was so motionless Von thought he’d stopped breathing.
“Master?”
“What is the mercenary’s name?”
“The Maiden called him Klyde.”
Tarn held quiet for a long moment. “Did you kill him?”
“No. I was forced to retreat.”
The rigidity left Tarn’s shoulders. “What has become of you that you cannot kill your opponents? By the stiffness in your leg, he wounded you.”
“It’s only a graze—”
Tarn’s pale eyes cut to him. “You’re losing your touch, Von. Perhaps it’s time I make someone else the commander of my Raiders. Elon has proven suitable. He’s never disappointed me, not once.”
