By some small mercy, Lilis’s focus is purely on Stellen. She leans forward, her eyes even brighter. “Lord, if I may, with the turmoil in the Iron Kingdom, now would be an excellent time to strike?—”
“What news from the north?”
Lilis blinks. “But—” She immediately stops.
I can’t see Stellen’s expression, but Lilis pales.
Licking her lips, she changes topic. “The Northerners have fallen quiet, Lord. No reports of bloodshed overnight in or around the northern villages.”
“What about sightings of wolves?”
“None.” Then she adds, “Yet.”
“It will only be a matter of time.” Stellen’s arms tighten around me. “And Iker? What news of him?”
Lilis’s expression wipes so suddenly clean that it’s like a wall of ice falling across her features. “Not a whisper, Lord. Even after I had the bodies returned, as you commanded.”
“Truly as I commanded or did you have them dumped at Iker’s gate?”
For the smallest moment, I wonder if Stellen is guessing or if he might have heard something, given his ability to overhear conversations and events from afar.
Lilis stares straight ahead, fixing her gaze on the wall. She speaks as if she were picking her steps across a field laden with sharp blades. “Given the state of the bodies, Lord, it seemed best to use wagons and leave the fallen for their families to…sort out.”
Stellen is silent for a very long moment and just as his silences matter to me, they also seem to matter to Lilis.
She looks directly at him now. “You said there would be further punishment?—”
“Follow us to the training grounds.” His command is quiet but sharp. “I want to inspect the troops.”
“Of course.” Lilis’s focus rises to the guards on the wall, who have been watching on. “Open the gate!”
As soon as the portcullis begins to lift, Lilis surges ahead of us, but I don’t miss the threatening glance she casts me when, no doubt, she thinks Stellen isn’t looking.
It’s a warning I can’t ignore. I must watch my back. The threat she poses to me is just another reminder that training for combat has to be my greatest priority right now.
As we pass through the gate and into the second circle, Lilis gives a shout and every soldier stops what they were doing, bowing low.
As we head along the path to the right, the training groundscome into view. The large field of what appears to be shallow snow stretches out ahead of us, divided into four quadrants.
In one quadrant are multiple cordoned areas where soldiers are engaged in hand-to-hand combat. To the left of that is another quadrant containing a series of thick poles set at intervals, each pole bearing rounded spokes sticking out around its shaft.
Behind those first two quadrants, separated by a path, are more cordoned areas in which soldiers are fighting with blades, their bodies protected by leathery suits. The final quadrant contains straw figures.
None of the quadrants are empty of soldiers.
Again, Lilis gives a shout.
All of the soldiers step back from their tasks—except two, both of them in the hand-to-hand combat quadrant, who take advantage of their opponents’ unguarded compliance to deliver late blows.
My blood boils at the dishonorable attacks.
I’m also not surprised. I’ve met those two men before. They accompanied Lilis to the coastal village.
While their opponents stumble but remain bowed, the two men have ended up closer to each other, separated only by the cordoning rope.
Even without Stellen’s sharp hearing, I make out what they’re whispering beneath their breath.
“I told you: the Oracle is that fucking lowborn we cornered.”
