Page 37 of Truth's Blade

“Turnabout is fair play,” she said, as she caught Theo’s interested gaze. “We can use it on Marchant, if we get the chance.”

Theo rose to his feet and reached down to help her up. But the look in his eye was less focused again, and she guessed the sparkles that had swirled up right at the end had found their mark.

When they were standing side by side, far closer than was polite, his gaze fixed to hers. “I don’t remember much of the afternoon.”

“Me, either. The wind was blowing in our faces. We were breathing this in.” She raised the kerchief and gave it a little shake.

He shuddered. “I kept meaning to slow down and wait for you, but I kept forgetting.”

She acknowledged that with a nod. “Where are the others?”

He had to really think about it, spinning around as if to orientate himself. Finally he pointed upward. “On the hill above.Waiting for us.” He shook himself, lifting his shoulders as if to shrug off the confusion completely.

“Let’s go up the hill then.” She didn’t know why, but she held out her hand to him, and he took it immediately. She ducked beneath the crossed tree trunks and led the way back to her horse.

She could feel his hand get firmer in hers, less pliable, and eventually he tugged her to a stop, his grip tightening. “Where are we?”

She turned to face him. “We’re in the forest.”

He tilted his head. “It worries me that I can’t remember.”

“It’ll come back to you. There was a magical trap.” She held up the handkerchief. “What’s left of it is in here.”

“Magic trap.” He repeated the words slowly. Then sucked in a breath. “We left you behind. I even thought how stupid that was, when we knew there could be traps. And then we left you behind.”

He seemed so upset about it, she soothed him with a hand down his arm. “I think you did it because of the magic sparkles. They were blowing westward, and they probably reached us before we even got to the forest.”

“Did he know we were coming?” Theo suddenly looked more focused, more alert, and his hand went to his sword.

“Given the debris around the box, I think he set this trap a long time ago. It was dependent on wind direction, and my guess is that he wants most people who arrive in Warven to be slightly befuddled. And those who take the quicker path through the forest to be more than just a little befuddled.” There was some benefit to him, or he wouldn’t do it, but she struggled to imagine how confusing everyone who came to Warven made sense. Maybe he liked them slightly disengaged, because it lowered inhibitions, and people might be more forthcoming about what they had with them, and why they were on the road.

She blushed. It had certainly lowered her inhibitions.

Theo tilted his head, looking at her, and he released his sword. “Never again, Melodie. I will have you in sight the rest of our journey.”

He blinked suddenly, as if he had just remembered something. “Did I hold you? When I found you in the clearing?”

She blushed again. “We held each other,” she said.

He gave a slow nod, as if it was all coming back to him. “I know why I did it,” he said. “Why did you?”

She hesitated. “It felt good,” she said, and then, from behind her, she heard her horse whinny, and she turned toward it in relief, jumping over the little stream.

“I think this is the same stream where we’re camped above.” Theo jumped after her and looked up the hill. He shook his head as if clearing it. “I feel like I’m waking up from a dream,” he said. “Do I remember swirling embers and throwing a rock?”

“Yes,” she said. “We smashed it in the end. But it fought us. That’s why we lay down for a while, in a sort of dream. It was trying to stop us destroying it.”

“I remember.” He glanced at her, and suddenly grinned. “You are all pink-cheeked.”

She blushed even more. Shook her head, but as she reached for her horse, he gently grabbed her shoulder, forced her to face him.

“I’m sorry I left you behind.”

She made herself look in his eyes. “It wasn’t you, it was the magic.”

“It might have partly been the magic, but I was very focused on getting to Warven, and I should have been more careful with you.” He glanced at the little sack of magic she held. “After all, this is the second time you’ve saved me.”

“That’s why you brought me along.” She liked saying it.

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