Page 178 of Enchanted Heir
CHAPTER44
Within twenty minutes, I was on a horse with Krew. He barked orders about a carriage to follow that could take us home once we were done while I put on my gloves and braced myself for what was to come.
Owen was there. Two of Krew’s guards who he most trusted were there. Sasha Girard joined us, which seemed to surprise Krew, and then Keir showed up with two guards of his own in tow.
“You can’t,” Krew said with a shake of his head. “There’ll be hell to pay if both of us go to clean up this mess.”
Keir was already mounted on his horse though. “And there won’t be a kingdom for either one of us to rule if he stays on that throne.” He gestured with his head toward the wall. “Let’s go.”
His words were met with silence. There were a lot of us present between the guards and people scurrying around the barn. Keir could’ve put up a sound barrier before saying those words, but he hadn’t.
“You are sure?” Krew asked him.
Keir gave him a nod. “I’ve never been more sure.”
So we were off. The horses’ hooves began pounding into the streets, the echo a sound that I was sure would haunt me for years to come.
I hadn’t ridden a horse like this before, and I was worried I was going to fall off entirely with the speed in which we were soon riding. There was a lot of jostling and bouncing before the horse kicked it into another gear and then we were really running.
I wasn’t sure what falling from a horse at this speed would do to someone, but I was fairly certain the answer was death. So I held on for dear life to the saddle. Krew had an arm around me tightly, which was likely the only thing keeping me from falling off.
The creak of the first wall sounded, the deep groanings of the cement slab sliding open. The wall was barely open and we were going through it, into Savaryn.
On the way to the stables, Krew had told me that by riding horseback and not in the carriage, we could make it in half the time. That was enough motivation for me; he hadn’t had to explain a thing more.
As we flew through Savaryn, I tried not to think the worst. Krew had people he trusted in place in Nerede and had for a long time. He wouldn’t have left Warrick there if he hadn’t. But what if the king burned the orphanage to the ground? Or the cottages? I was far too used to the king’s games to think that everyone I loved was going to come out of this unscathed.
Krew kissed the back of my head as if he could read my mind. “They’re going to be okay. They have to be. Any other alternative is too painful to consider.”
It wasn’t a promise though, just a strand of hope. One I was more than happy to grab ahold of as we raced into the cold night. By the time we slowed for the Rallis wall, the horses were breathing heavily enough that it had drowned out the creak of the leather on the saddles. I reached down to pat our horse, sorry for the run we were putting him through, yet grateful he was carrying us as fast as he could go.
The difference in the sound of the hooves on the Rallis roads compared to Savaryn roads had never been more clear. The clomp of the hooves was duller, more subdued on the rougher roads of Rallis. I almost wanted to tell Krew to slow down a bit, worried for our horse, but of course he would know what was best.
By the time we were halfway through Rallis, I got my first whiff of smoke. Krew must have as well, as he gripped me tighter and kissed the back of my head again.
As we slowed for the opening of the Nerede wall, he leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “Your mother was likely with one of my men. Whatever we are about to find, I am betting she wasn’t there.”
I swallowed hard and tried not to gasp as the doors slid open. A dull orange hue was in the sky. It was clear from that point that it wasn’t justafire. It was multiple fires in every direction.
Krew gestured to the others, and they pulled up to a stop. “My guess is he would have had Enchanted start the fires and then protect the fire with magic so that no one could put them out.” He turned our horse back to face forward. “Suffocating the magic and fire both will be the only way to get the fires out, otherwise they will just continue to burn.”
My breath again caught at the depravity of this move. The king hadn’t just wanted Nerede to burn, he’d wanted it all to go up in smoke. I remembered the fire in the kitchens and how George had told me they’d tried to put out the fire but couldn’t. This must have been one of the king’s favorite tricks.
Onward our horse took us, street by street. I wasn’t sure my nostrils would ever recover from the smell, the smoke seeming to be around every turn and every house. The smell would surely be trapped in my hair and clothes forever, just another part of this night ingrained permanently in my memory.
Soon though, I felt magic in the air. While we rode straight for my mother’s house, Enchanted started firing bursts of magic at the different fires to put them out. Even at a distance.
Though it was dark, I could see the shadows of people scurrying everywhere, coughing and looking dirty. And though some stopped and looked at us in horror like we were there to bring more fire, at least they were alive to begin with.
As we rode down the lane which had our cottage, one of the many, I was relieved to find them standing. A lot of Nerede was burning, but our homes on this street were okay.
“It’s dark,” I whispered to Krew. “She’s not here.”
“Let’s get to the bakery and orphanage,” he said to Owen, who’d stayed with us. “Main roads only. We can’t take a chance on the side roads in case they are blocked.”
Our goal was to get to our loved ones as quickly as possible. We didn’t have time to backtrack today. Both men turned their horses in that direction.
The bakery would be first on the way. As soon as it came into view, I gasped. My head immediately went in the direction further down the street toward the orphanage, which looked dark and not ablaze. Or not yet, anyway.
