m her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Berdi waved her hand at me. “Quiet! She just got here. Let her tell us!”
Gwyneth tried to give her some water, but Pauline pushed it away.
I dropped to my knees in front of Pauline, grabbing her hands. “Where’s Lia, Pauline? What happened?”
“They got her.”
I listened as she told me the details between sobs. There were five of them. One was Kaden. I didn’t have time to get angry. I didn’t have time to be afraid. I just listened, memorized every word, and questioned her for the important details she didn’t mention. What kind of horses, Pauline? Two were dark brown. Three were black. All solid. No markings. The same breed as Kaden’s. Runners built for endurance. But she wasn’t sure. It all happened so fast. One of the men was big. Very big. One was only a boy. They spoke another language. Maybe Vendan. Lia had called them barbarians. How long ago? She wasn’t sure. Maybe three hours. They headed east. Where did they stop you? At the dip in the highway just north of the yellow farmhouse. There’s a small clearing. They came out of the scrub. Anything else I need to know? They said if anyone followed, Lia would die. She won’t die. She won’t.
I gave orders to Berdi. Dried fish, dried anything that was quick. I had to go. She went to the kitchen and was back in seconds.
There were five of them. But I couldn’t wait for Sven and the others. The trail would cool, and every minute counted.
“Listen carefully,” I told Pauline. “Sometime after nightfall, some men will come here looking for me. Watch for them. Tell them everything you told me. Tell them where to go.” I turned to Berdi and Gwyneth. “Have food ready for them. We won’t have time to hunt.”
“You’re not a farmer,” Gwyneth said.
“I don’t care what the hell he is,” Berdi said and shoved a cloth sack into my hand. “Go!”
“The leader is Sven. He’ll have at least a dozen men with him,” I called over my shoulder as I walked out the door. I still had six hours of daylight. I filled my bota at the pump and grabbed a sack of oats for my horse. They had a long lead. It would take a while to catch up with them. But I would. I’d do whatever it took to bring her back. I found her once. I would find her again.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
I woke to a grinning face and a knife at my throat.
“If you have the gift, why didn’t you see me coming in your dreams?”
It was the boy, Eben. He had the voice of a girl, and his eyes were those of a curious waif. A child. But his intent was that of a seasoned thief. He intended to steal my life. If the gift was all that was keeping me alive, Eben didn’t seem to have gotten the message.
“I saw you coming,” I said.
“Then why didn’t you wake to fend me off?”
“Because I also saw—”
He was suddenly catapulted through the air, landing several feet away.
I sat up, looking at Griz, whom I had seen glaring over Eben’s shoulder. While he wasn’t fond of me, Griz also appeared not to tolerate rash independent decisions. Kaden was already on Eben, yanking him from the ground by the scruff.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Eben complained, rubbing his bruised chin. “I was just playing with her.”
“Play like that again, and you’ll be left behind without a horse,” Kaden shouted, and shoved him back to the ground. “Remember, she’s the Komizar’s prize, not yours.” He walked over and unshackled my ankle from a saddle, a precaution he had called it, to make sure I didn’t try to make a run for it during the night.
“And now I’m a prize?” I asked.
“The bounty of war,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I wasn’t aware we were at war.”
“We’ve always been at war.”
I stood, rubbing my neck, so often abused of late. “As I was saying, Eben. The reason I saw no need to wake was because I also saw your dry bones being picked at by buzzards, and me riding away on my horse. I guess it could still turn out that way, couldn’t it?”
His eyes widened briefly, contemplating the veracity of my vision, and then he scowled at me, a scowl laced with too much rage for his tender years.