The Blood Knight - J. Gregory Keyes [46]
“They serve the Briar King,” the girl said, “because we told them to.”
THE WET SLOG of hooves through snow grew nearer, accompanied by snatches of conversation. The language sounded like the king’s tongue, but sounds in the forest were deceptive.
For that and many other reasons, Neil was sick of this forest. The island of Skern, where he’d been born, was a place of mountains and sea, but one could walk the length and breadth of it, from the highest, rockiest asher to the lowest gleinn, and never see more than three scraggly bushes in any one place.
These trees blinded and deafened him; they made him misjudge distance.
More than that, Neil was convinced, forests were places of death where rot was always around and the oldest, sickest things in the world seemed to dwell. Give him the clean, open sea or wind-scrubbed heath, and thank Saint Loy.
But the forest is where I am, he thought, and by the sound of it, it’s where I’ll die.
He crouched a bit deeper in the brush. His company’s horses were scattered, if not eaten by the slinders, and on foot against horsemen none of them stood a chance, with the probable exception of Aspar White. But Neil couldn’t imagine the holter leaving Winna to her fate.
So if this was a new foe—or more of the old—they would stay concealed or die.
Then, as the frontriders of the company came into view, Neil saw a flash of short red hair and the face of Anne Dare. The riders with her bore a standard familiar to him: the crest of Loiyes.
Relief flooded through him. He was sheathing his sword and preparing to step out to greet them, when a thought occurred and held him back. What if their attackers had been sent from Loiyes? What if the fickle Elyoner had joined her brother, the usurper?
But Anne did not seem a captive; she sat confidently on her horse, the hood of her weather cloak thrown back, her expression searching but not fearful. When she and her new companions saw the carnage, they reined to a stop.
“What has happened here?” he heard Anne ask.
“I cannot say, Majesty,” a male voice replied. “But you should not look upon such unseemly butchery.”
That was followed by a feminine laugh that was not Anne’s but that Neil nevertheless recognized immediately.
Neil sighed and rose from concealment. His joy at finding Anne alive and apparently unharmed did not entirely put his new suspicion to rest, but there was no point he could see to hiding anymore.
“Your Majesty,” he called. “It’s myself, Neil MeqVren.”
All heads turned toward him, and he heard bows creak.
“No,” Anne said, her voice commanding. “This is my man. Sir Neil, you are well?”
“I am, Majesty.”
“And the rest?” She smiled uncertainly, then lifted a hand. “Tio video, Cazio.”
Neil followed her gaze and saw that Cazio also had stepped from cover. He shouted something at Anne in Vitellian that sounded as Neil felt: relieved and overjoyed.
“What about Austra?” Anne called then. “Have you seen Austra?”
But Austra was already running toward Anne, and forgetting all dignity, the heir to the throne of Crotheny leapt from her horse and met her friend in a fierce embrace. Instantly they were both weeping and talking very quickly, but Neil could not hear what they were saying, nor did he try.
“Sir Neil,” purred the voice that went with the familiar laugh. “What excellent fortune to see you again.”
Neil followed that throaty music to the lady who produced it. Indigo eyes teased him, and her small mouth bowed in a mischievous smile. For an instant he was taken to another day, a day when his soul hadn’t seemed quite so heavy and some of the boy in him was still alive.
“Duchess,” he said, bowing. “It’s a pleasure to see you, as well, and in good health.”
“My health is passing fair,” she sniffed. “I daresay this ride in the cold is doing nothing to improve it.” But her smile broadened. “So many heroes of Cal Azroth here,” she said. “Aspar White and Winna Rufoote, I believe.”
“Your ladyship,” the two chorused.
“Are we in danger here, Sir Neil?” Anne asked, looking up from Austra’s shoulder. Again, Neil was struck by the command