The echo of Aerina’s voice brought Rawn back to consciousness. He blinked up at the wooden ceiling, not sure if he was still dreaming. The throb of pain in his body settled that question. The overcast sky past the bars of the carriage cell was dark and dreary. He was slumped awkwardly against the wall, and his vision struggled to clear as the cell rocked over the uneven earth. The emptiness in his stomach made him feel nauseous. To feel that meant he was alive.
“I thought you’d never wake.”
Rawn turned his head limply and spotted another sitting across from him, with his hands bound in chains. “Elon?”
The red elf narrowed his amber eyes. “I should have killed you in Little Step.”
Rawn looked over the bruises on Elon’s face and dried blood on his torn clothes. “You were apprehended.”
Elon’s magic had not been enough to fight his way out of Argent. It was clear he was a powerful soldier, but so were the elves of Red Highland. He couldn’t fight against so many.
The air smelled of mud and incoming rain. The clomp of horses, distant voices, and the creaky wheels of the carriage cell were a steady hum in Rawn’s ears. Two soldiers on horses guarded the rear. Their snarling Bloodhounds watched them closely with eerie yellow eyes.
“How long have I been unconscious?” Rawn asked faintly under his breath.
“Four days.” The elf regarded him indifferently. “Death nearly came for you.”
He had been ready for it to take him. It nearly did when Fair died.
The reminder of his horse being struck down made Rawn’s chest ache. Struggling to sit up, he winced at the pressure on his leg. It had been bandaged with a poultice of Elvish herbs, as well as the other wounds where he had been shot. The fabric used for his bandages matched Elon’s tunic.
“You treated my wounds.” He blinked at him. “Why?”
Elon made clear his only priority was his family.
“Anon needs you alive.” Elon tossed him a waterskin. Beneath the slosh of water, he added so quietly Rawn barely heard him, “So do I. We are escaping the next chance we get.”
That shook Rawn to full alertness.
When he had been captured, there had been no hope of escaping, but there was now that he wasn’t alone. Rawn looked out at the grassland they were traveling through. Twilight had come, obscuring the land, but he knew they were headed west.
He took a drink, and the cool water soothed his dry throat. “How far are we into Ledoga?”
“Midway. A day or two from Naiads Mere.” Elon’s amber eyes looked back at him knowingly and a stretch of quiet fell between them.
“You know of the waterways…”
Naiads Mere was a kingdom in and of itself, and it had many underground caves with waterways that flowed southeast, most crossing into his homeland. But it was supposed to be a Greenwood secret, and Rawn didn’t know how he felt about a red elf with that knowledge. Or how he came to have it.
“Sylar,” he realized. That must have been how they had escaped Red Highland. The waterways were dangerous, and it would take two to navigate them.
Elon looked away to the nearly full moon rising in the sky. “Do we have an understanding, Lord Norrlen?”
“A plan, you mean.” Rawn’s chains jostled as he moved closer to the bars.
Past evening’s veil, he could distinguish the silhouette of the Anduir Mountains. He pictured the day he left Sellav, Aerina watching him go with their boy in her arms.
If they could reach the waters of Naiads Mere, he would make it home.
Twenty-Five YearsAgo
Once Rawn had broughtAerina to safety, he spent five days pursuing Anon’s trail across Greenwood. Each waking hour, he prayed to the God of Urn for speed, holding on to the hope that he wouldn’t be too late.
In the hills of Lothia, Rawn found Nisa’s body.
They mutilated and defiled his sister nearly beyond recognition. Her nude body had been drained of blood. The letters of Anon’s name were carved into her chest. Her cheek had been flayed open, removing the tattoo she once proudly bore.
And they took her eyes.
