Forest of Ruin (Age of Legends 3)

She straightened quickly, injecting some bite into her tone. "Having my dagger would help as well."

"I know. Your wildcat, your dagger, and a change in companions would settle the ground under your feet."

"None of which I'm likely to get soon, so I should shake this off, and get on with it. Your point is taken, Kitsune."

"It was not a point, Keeper. Merely an observation, one meant

to say that you do not need to explain yourself to me. But is it the lack of balance that disturbs you now? Or . . ." His green eyes turned to look over the plain. "This?"

This.

The thought came unbidden as she looked out at the emptiness. She shivered.

"Spirits?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'm simply unsettled, as may be evidenced by the fact that I'm chatting when we appear to have been left alone, without guards, able to escape."

He motioned to two bandits on a ridge. The mounted men watched them.

"Oh," she said.

"Hmm."

She stepped out. The bandits didn't move, and she flashed back to entering Fairview with Tyrus, the dead bodies in the guardhouse. She faltered, but only for a moment before calling, "May we come out?"

One bandit waved his hand in an indeterminable gesture. Moria walked a few steps and looked around. The wind whipped up again, shrieking past and blowing a fine layer of soil into her face, making her sputter. The bandits laughed, but Moria had experience with sandstorms in the Wastes, so she only pulled up her tunic over her nose and mouth and put her back to the wind.

When she turned, she saw the house. It was mud-daubed, the same color as the soil, with a flat roof and no distinguishing features. One could ride right past and never realize it was there.

Despite the falling sun, she saw no sign of light from within. After a few more steps, she realized there weren't any windows, but simply a door, shut tight. The bandits clustered at the front, as if waiting. The wind whistled again, and this time, in it, Moria thought she detected . . .

"Keeper?" Gavril's fingers closed on her elbow, as if to steady her. "Do you hear spirits?"

No, I hear memories. My memories. With the wind and the emptiness and the desolation, all I can think of is Edgewood, after the massacre, when I found my--

"Do not heed me," she said.

"I'm only--"

"And I'm only reminding you that we are being watched. Do not heed me, Kitsune."

He nodded. "Do you want to go back inside the wagon?"

Yes, I wish very much to go back inside the wagon.

"No, I believe they are waiting," she said, jerking her chin toward the bandits.

She strode forward, struggling to throw off her unease. It was merely the isolation of this place, preying on her imagination and--

She stopped short.

"Why does no one come out?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"If we are here because your mother is within, should she not be guarded?"

"Well guarded, yes, if only to save my father from the humiliation of having his wife taken by his enemy."