“The armies? What armies? I thought all the wars were in the Night Lands,” I say, feeling the sword tingling at my side.
“Not all wars were in the Night Lands,” Warden replies. “The Yeavering is an ancient place, and there have been battles for centuries on its ground.”
“So, there are just roaming armies on the moors.”
“They are not…alive,” Warden says, a pained look on his face. “Not like you and me.”
“Zombie armies?”
“I do not know what a zombie is.”
“It’s, well, it’s a sort of reanimated corpse, just out for blood…and brains.”
Warden wrinkles his nose. “Humans are strange creatures. Do you have many zombies beyond the veil?”
I think for a while. “No. I think they’re made up. But then we didn’t believe the Faerie were real until the virus came.”
All this information was stored somewhere in my head, and it’s all coming out in an absolute flood.
“These armies are spectres,” Warden says. “But deadly.”
“I don’t really like the sound of any of that.”
“No one does.” Warden digs in his saddlebag and brings out two apples, giving one to me and taking a huge bite out of his. “Which is why we need to get over the moors before dark.”
“Okay.”
“I mean, they also move around during the day, but they’re easier to spot.”
“So, still just as dangerous?”
“Just as dangerous.” Warden raises an eyebrow. “But you have me.” He gazes at me with his dark eyes. “And I have you.” He grins widely before taking another bite and his apple is gone.
“Are you saying I’m dangerous?” I ask, attempting to keep the mirth from my voice.
“I wouldn’t want you to be anything else, my lady,” he replies. “No magic and yet you are in control of a sword which has slaughtered thousands? That’s the sort of danger I like.”
His words send a shiver through me. “Meg told you?”
“She didn’t need to. For all being immortal has taken from me, it has given as well, and I could tell immediately there was something about your weapon,” he says confidently.
“You didn’t mention it.”
“I didn’t need to.”
“Meg told you, didn’t she?” I take a bite of my apple, and even though he tries to hide it, Warden’s stride changes.
“Meg might have mentioned it in passing,” he says. “While you were recovering. She insisted it stay by your side. Your life force and it are inextricably linked.”
“What? She didn’t say anything like that to me.”
Warden slows his pace briefly and tugs at his left horn.
“Um…maybe that was the part I wasn’t supposed to tell you?” he suggests.
“I’m pleased you did,” I grumble. “I’ve enough secrets being kept by my own mind without you having to keep them from me.”
Warden speeds up again and I spot something unusual.
