Page 46 of Of Kings and Thieves

Finally, he released his grip on me, and my bare chest slid against his sweat-soaked skin as he lowered me to the ground. After I got dressed and he had fixed his clothes, I wrapped my arms around his waist.

“I could stare at you forever,” I confessed. “But I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go then,” he said with a smirk. “I love to watch you enjoying your food.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

At the camp, Magnus teased us and tried to say everything on his mind before Col told him to shut up.

The jokes got better the next day, as if Magnus had thought of more during his night watch just so he could use them in the morning. He was playful but not offensive, and after a couple of hours of his torture, I decided that my blushing was only encouraging him, so I tried to ignore him.

Finally, we spotted ruins. We had reached Ravenfell Pass.

“That tower and keep used to guard the far east border of Iron Deep,” Col said, riding beside me. The trail had widened as we had descended. “There is another on the other side of the pass.”

“Why would The Harrow destroy it, if it guards the kingdom?” I asked.

Col shook his head. “It was destroyed long before Harrowfell arrived.”

We didn’t halt at the ruins, but pushed on through the pass, only stopping again when we came out the other side. I halted my horse and gasped.

An enormous valley was spread out below, most of it taken up by a vast, deep lake with a river flowing out of it to the south. Far in the distance and shrouded in mist was a castle rising from the cliffs at the north end of the lake. It was built right into a mountain.

“The castle at Iron Deep,” Col explained. The haunted look had returned to his eyes. “Below, at the edge of the lake, is the city of Ironset.”

The road took us out of sight of the magnificent keep until we descended onto a high plain that led to the lake, and I welcomed the relatively flat land. To the north, the tower and walls of the ruins of Ravenfell Pass loomed between us and the city of Ironset.

I had been longing for a hot bath in a smoke-filled room with a roaring fire, but it seemed like wishful thinking. We had left the secret road behind, and from here, there was little cover. Finding an inn with a bath would be like announcing our arrival. So, I kept my thoughts to myself.

Killian did a bit of magic and cloaked us on the next part of the journey. His spell didn’t make us invisible, but made it so that anyone who saw us would forget about us after they looked away.

I asked why Killian hadn’t used the magic earlier.

“It’s okay for short distances,” he said. “But it actually takes quite a bit of powerful magic to maintain it, and while I can do many things, my lady Samara, maintaining it over many leagues would have been exhausting.”

I nodded, thinking that I understood. While I could sing and make anyone fall asleep, if I had to continue singing day and night without rest, I would have been exhausted too.

After a few hours of being cloaked by the magic, though, I began to feel ill. My head began to spin, and a strange sensation latched itself onto my shoulders, as if someone were trying to push and pull me at the same time. I smelled the bitter tang of magic, and realized Killian’s spell was the cause. It almost made me lean over the side of my horse and hurl my stomach contents onto the trail. But I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose, concentrating on anything but the way my stomach turned over and over as if my body were being tossed around by a giant.

I began to utter a string of silent curses as the waves of nausea came and went. The nonhuman side of me seemed not to respond to magic very well, mage magic in particular, and I fought the side effects by thinking of the night before, with Col.

Finally, the road widened on its way to the ruins on the west side of Ravenfell Pass, the twin keep that had once guarded Iron Deep from orcs and dragons. The general atmosphere was one of relief, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what was ahead.

The road would take us to the ruins, and then down to the plain and around the lake, where lay the only bridge across the river that flowed out of the lake.

Killian’s magic couldn’t hide us all the way to the castle. He could try, but the Iron Deep mines were the richest of the realms, from the Desolation far to the south to the abandoned Fae lands to the far east. The Harrow would have plenty of soldiers stationed at the bridge, the city, and the castle, along with Deviants to detect any magic.

“Doesn’t seem to be any activity at the ruins,” Magnus said, studying them. The road passed beneath them, and we had been steadily approaching them all afternoon.

“The Harrow is stretched too thin,” Killian said. “He has overextended his armies to fight a war on every front. And since no one dares use the pass to mount an assault, he must think it’s not worth guarding.”

Magnus nodded. “At least we’ll have a place to shelter tonight.”

Col had to decide. He valued our input, but in the end, we would look to him to set our plans in motion. And he had to choose between approaching during the day and looking as inconspicuous as possible, or waiting until nightfall and hoping there were fewer guards to hoodwink, but with more risk of being studied.

“There’s some kind of magical barrier to the west, a ward, maybe,” Killian finally said. “I can only sense a bit of it from here, but it must be very powerful indeed. The Deviants have been here, and may still be here. They don’t want anyone getting in and out without them knowing.”

It was bad news, but it gave us hope. If the alicorn horn was here, it would mean increased military presence. And as we rounded a shoulder of the mountain and looked out on the lake, we saw the fires burning on the other side. From the smoke alone, there must have been an entire army camped beneath the city, and no doubt they would be on the lake and within the castle walls, as well.

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