Page 39 of The Turncoat King

The rising sun was in her eyes, and Ava had to shield them to return his gaze. “What should I do instead?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Wander around making friends with the Rising Wave.”

She laughed. “You heard that part of the bargain, did you?”

“I asked the general for the details of your agreement. I don’t think she told me everything, but she did say you were to be a liaison.” He slowed to let her catch up, and they broke free of the front wagons and sped up as the plain opened in front of them.

“I can only be a good liaison if I’m respected, and wandering around chatting to people all day would not accomplish that.”

“True.” Deni lifted up on his saddle and hailed the small group of riders coming toward them. “What news?”

The leader of the scout party they were relieving pulled up her horse and it danced beneath her, knowing full well a meal and water lay up ahead. “Same as yesterday. We saw four parties, and usually we’re lucky to see one. And they were much closer. We could hear them shouting something one time, but when we moved toward them they rode away.”

“So it’s likely they’re trying to collect information. They aren’t looking to attack.” Deni had to move his horse out of the way of the scout’s twitchy mount.

The woman nodded her head. “They didn’t even point an arrow in our direction.” She finally gave her horse its head, and the group of three galloped away, one of them whooping as they went.

“Are we coordinating with the Rising Wave?” Ava asked as they began to trot forward.

“They’re taking the west side of the combined army, we’re checking the east side.” He looked over at her, as if he wanted to ask something, but then shook his head, and they rode in companionable silence, heading toward the low scrub and trees.

“Why do we get the bushes, and the Rising Wave gets the open plain?” Ava asked. The section they were covering was a strip of tangled brambles, bushes and low trees. She couldn’t tell how deep the vegetation went, but it looked almost impassable.

“Do you see that?” Deni pointed, and she caught a glimpse of a horse before it disappeared among the gold and orange leaves.

They slowed, and then came to a stop just before the vegetation became more dense.

“Do we go in?” She suddenly wished she had made something for Deni with a protection worked into it.

She pulled out a scrap of fabric and embroidered a few tiny stars onto it, working as fast as she could as she hummed.

“What are you doing? Are you . . . all right?”

She looked up to see him staring at her in absolute astonishment.

“This is for good luck.” It wasn’t as good as if she had time and the ability to concentrate completely, but it would be better than nothing. She leaned across and tucked the long, narrow scrap down the neck of his shirt.

He batted her hand away, but didn’t try to pull the fabric out.

She gave a nod of approval. “Keep it against your skin.”

“Avasu, this is not normal.”

She shrugged, and smiled at him, hoping it looked easy and lighthearted. “Just indulge me. My grandmother swore by it. And what can it hurt?”

He shook his head in disbelief, but she didn’t care if he thought her mad. The working would protect him either way.

She looked back at the column, lumbering in its slow, steady way south east across the plains, and then back into the scrub.

“Have they ever come this close before? I mean, they could fire an arrow from where we caught sight of them and actually hit someone.”

Deni shielded his eyes as he looked between the trees. “When they said the Kassian were getting closer, I didn’t realize it was this close. But maybe this one just strayed too close by mistake. I haven’t seen them again.”

She hadn’t either, and her cloak offered no warning.

“What do we do?”

Deni thought about it, like her, looking back at the column and then into the trees again.

---