Page 44 of King's Warrior

Niam hurried to catch up. “Rufe? Is something wrong? I thought you liked your gift.” Had Niam been wrong? Was it because he was showing off his money to a soldier?

Rufe paused, glancing right and left, before taking Niam’s hands. “I love the gift. She’s perfect. But someone cut the saddle’s girth enough to fail while I’m riding. The stable lad had to know but gave nothing away. So, unless he’s very new or bad at his job, either he’s used to taking such orders or feels he’s in the right.”

“I’ll have him arrested at once!” Cass blurted, his long strides putting him close enough to overhear.

Rufe stopped Cass's advance with a hand to his arm. “No. What have we learned if we arrest him and he doesn’t talk? It’s better to watch him, see where he goes, what he does, who he talks to. A lad of no more than sixteen summers wouldn’t have acted alone. I’d hoped we wouldn’t encounter enemies until we left the castle grounds. It seems I was wrong. Vihaan noticed and knows what to do. Cass? Please escort us back to the castle as though nothing was amiss.”

How dare someone attempt Rufe harm! But… As Commander Rufe, enemies had to know he’d check such details and was a skilled enough rider to counter such efforts easily. Yes, he was still recovering from recent injuries, but if he’d taken a fall and then discovered the cut, odds were he’d have survived, and the lad would get more than interrogation.

A warning, then? But of what, and for whom?

Chapter Seventeen

Niam stood by while Rufe and Vihaan inspected all the mules after yesterday's sabotage. The stableboy who’d delivered Princess was nowhere in sight.

They mounted up once Rufe pronounced everything safe.

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Niam nodded to Yarif and Draylon from atop his mount. “I hope to return the favor soon.”

“We look forward to it.” Draylon smiled, but his eyes remained wary.

Yarif stepped forward and tucked something into Niam’s pack. “This necklace belonged to my mother. I want Aunt Nera to have it.”

As little as Yarif possessed from his mother, any of her belongings were priceless. Mother would cherish the memento from her sister. “My thanks, Your Majesties.”

Draylon stared out into the predawn light, pink rising above the distant mountains. “I’ve received word this morning that fourteen of the soldiers who returned to Dellamar without you are missing, a scouting group led by a captain.”

“Missing? It’s my hope they’re merely delayed and will arrive shortly.” What had happened to them? Bad weather, other naturalthreats, or brigands? Niam would dispatch a search as soon as he could.

Rufe darted a glance toward Draylon from atop Princess, some silent communication that brought on a brief tinge of jealousy.

Niam waited until half the guards passed, then took his place in the middle, riding behind Vihaan and Casseign. Zanial, a Delletinian advisor who’d joined Niam in Renvalle, didn’t look nearly as comfortable mounting the placid mule chosen for him.

Niam left Zanial to his fifth attempt to mount and watched Rufe say his goodbyes.

Rufe exchanged a few words with the royal couple, turning Princess this way and that to show her off, then urged her into a trot. It seemed he liked his present after all. Niam couldn’t hide a smile—or a little preening.

Zanial finally climbed into the saddle, and the remaining soldiers fell in behind the procession.

Niam settled into the rhythm of his mule’s footsteps, focusing on the surrounding conversations. Twenty-four soldiers, plus Rufe, Niam, Zanial, Casseign, and Vihaan.

“I never been to the mountains,” someone said in Cormiran, though his accent proclaimed him of Glendor.

“I hope we see snow,” the woman riding behind Niam replied.

Two women spoke in Glendoran, sizing up their fellow soldiers and shooting some coy glances. Would they have spoken so freely about the Delletinian soldiers’ assets if they knew Niam spoke their language? Fortunately, how they passed the time worked for himas long as they respected their fellows and performed their duties on the way home.

Home. Niam was going home to his family, his responsibilities, and the problems he’d faced would still be waiting for him.

If only he could keep on riding through the kingdom and out the other side, leaving the political mess behind him.

Given his reluctance to face his old life, Niam still felt relief at crossing the Renvallian border into Delletina, the road angling upward toward the mountains he loved. Tall peaks bore crowns of snow that would last until early summer, though the road beneath him remained mercifully clear. Relief, and then pain hit as they passed through landscapes decimated by prolonged battles with Craice. He’d been in a hurry coming to Draylon’s aid, but now, at a more leisurely pace, Niam saw the devastation his country had suffered, the once well-traveled road falling into disuse.

Although they’d go through Telaga Pass, they entered Delletina by another road, once an official trade route between Renvalle and Delletina, now overgrown with disuse. The remains of a former trade hub now lay abandoned, along with the nearby village.

They camped near the former town center, taking refuge from snow flurries in the few houses with solid roofs. He’d love to have Rufe near him, but the best he could do with people watching was to have his trusted Casseign watch over Rufe.

Rufe, for his part, sent Vihaan to Niam.

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