Page 28 of The Orc Warrioress and the Elf Lord

“I see. Who is the coward now?” He raised his eyebrows.

“I wish I had let you die,” she said, glaring at him. She flounced away from him and mounted her horse. She squeezed her knees around the horse and she seemed to know just what they were about. The horse started for the open gate.

“Warrioress!” called Iahir.

She turned to see he was mounting his horse and coming after her. She turned back and urged the horse to speed up.

She and her horse cleared the gate, and she could smell the salt air of the sea and see the docks to the left of the road, all laid out against the glittering water. It was really too bad she didn’t have anywhere to go across the sea, but there was nothing out there except dwarven lands to the south and dragon lands to the east, and she was an orc and would not be welcome in either place.

So, she must take another road, one that she would turn onto in about a quarter mile ahead, and that would take her to the north and back to her home.

Iahir caught up to her. He and his horse galloped apace with her, and he smiled at her, looking entirely pleased with himself.

She had the urge to outrun him, but that would be foolish. There was no reason to run the horse ragged, after all. She urged the animal to slow to a more sustainable pace.

Iahir reined in, too, keeping pace.

She glared at him. She raised her voice. “You’re following me, then?”

“I don’t know,” he called back. “You never answered my question. Where are you going?”

“Home,” she said.

“Where’s home?” he said.

“Notharlien,” she said.

He nodded. “Well, as it happens, I’m going home, too.”

“To Cirlahir, then?” she said, remembering that was where he was from.

“Aye,” he said. “It’s on the way to Notharlien.”

“It is not,” she said.

“Well, we can travel at least part of the way together,” he said.

Cirlahir was on the eastern shore of the south, about a half-a-day’s ride from the capital to the south. The Vale was much smaller than the Silvarenna, which took up the vast amount of the land in the country. However, the Vale was much more populated than the Silvarenna, which was all land and forests, while the Vale was all cities.

Cirlahir was a popular spot for summer trips for the southern elves. Many of the nobility had summer homes there. Iahir’s father was the envivtain of the region, so he maintained a palace in the heart of the region.

Cairlon was further north, probably another days’ journey. It was not on the coast, but it was an eastern region. She supposed they could travel together for a few hours, anyway.

“Why do you want to travel together?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Why don’t you want to travel together? You like me enough to save my life, after all. What’s the point in pretending otherwise?”

“You and I, my lord, are enemies,” she said. “We are on opposite sides of a war—”

“It seems to me that we’ve both abandoned our sides,” he said. “You’re a deserter, and I killed the High King, so…”

She groaned. “Why aren’t you with Marthlis and the others?”

It was his turn to groan. “Oh, well, they knew I’d freed you and they weren’t particularly pleased with me. Besides, it became clear they were not going to do anything except argue. It was the Larhilists against the Democratists, and they were going to argue that out for hours while the city was ransacked. They never did anything but argue, you know.”

“So you left?”

“I saw the state of the city and I decided it was the last place any sane person should be.”