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CHAPTER 46
Fromatop Rusty, the chill, gusty breeze ruffling her hair, Je
The advance into Aydindril had, so far, been unlike anything anyone had expected, leaving everyone tense and on edge.
Arrayed behind was a contingent of Sisters of the Light who kept to themselves, apparently concentrating on matters of magic. Although none of the Sisters, as of yet, had had the chance to speak to Je
The night before, Sebastian had slept fitfully. Je
Behind the Sisters, more than forty thousand of the Imperial Order's elite cavalry waited, some with pikes and lances poised at the ready, some with swords or axes in hand. Each wore a ring through his left nostril. While most wore beards, and some had long, dark, greasy hair, with good luck charms tied in, there were quite a few with shaved heads, apparently out of open fealty to Emperor Jagang. They were all a tightly coiled spring, destroyers, poised to storm into the city.
Besides being elite members of the cavalry, trusted officers, or Sisters of the Light, every person there, except Je
Chilled not only by the breeze, but by the lust for battle gleaming in the soldiers' eyes, Je
Je
For the hundredth time that morning, she checked that her knife was clear in its scabbard. After reassuring herself, she pressed it back down, feeling the satisfying metallic click as it seated. She was there with the army because she was a part of this, with a job to do.
Surrender.
She thought about the irony of how this was the very knife that Lord Rahl had given a man he sent to kill her, and now she was bringing that same knife, a thing close to him, back to defeat him.
At last, she was the hunter, and not the hunted.
Whenever she felt her courage waver, she had but to think of her mother, or Althea and Friedrich, or Althea's sister, Lathea, or even Je
Surrender your will, Je
"Leave me be," she snapped, a
Sebastian frowned over at her. "What?"
Chagrined that she had inadvertently said it aloud this time, Je
From the comer of her eye, Je
Along with everyone else, Je
The sinister specter of the Wizard's Keep, high up on a mountain behind the palace, seemed like it would be more fitting for the Mother Confessor. Je
The Keep watching down on them was larger than any man-made thing Je
In the quiet, her gaze sought solace in Sebastian's spikes of white hair, his knowing eyes, the familiar contours of his face. His handsome features were comforting to her, even if he didn't look her way. What woman wouldn't be honored to have the love of a man like him? If not for him being there with her since her mother's death, Je
Sebastian wore his cloak laid back to expose some of his weapons. He surveyed the scene with studied calm. She wished she could feel so calm. It frightened her, unexpectedly, to contemplate him having to draw those weapons, of him having to fight for his life.
"What do you think?" she whispered as she leaned closer to him. "What could it mean?"
He gave her a brief shake of his head along with a harsh glance. He didn't want to discuss it. That curt gesture told her that she was supposed to be quiet. She had known, of course, by the silence of tens of thousands of men right behind her that she was supposed to be quiet, but the anxiety was twisting her insides into a knot. She had only wanted a small token of reassurance. Instead, his abrupt snub cut her down, making her feel like a small nobody.
She knew that he had important things on his mind, but his brusque dismissal still stung like a slap, especially after the night before when he had so desperately wanted her comfort, wanted her as fiercely as he had ever wanted her. She had understood. She hadn't turned him away, even though she found it distressing that they weren't alone, but had guards standing right outside who she suspected could hear everything.
Of course, she knew that this was not the time or place he could afford to give her comfort; they were all on the brink of battle. Still, it hurt.
Over the sound of the wind moaning through the bare branches of majestic, mature maple trees lining the road, she picked up the sound of hooves at a gallop. All eyes turned to watch bearded, long-haired men, streamers of fur and hides trailing out behind as they hunched forward over their horses' withers, charging in from the road on the right. Je
As the first group of horsemen came storming in before the emperor and his advisors, Je
The husky man at the lead of the riders pulled his pied horse around.
His greasy strings of hair whipped around like the horse's white tail. "Nothing, Excellency."
Jagang, looking in a foul mood and near the end of patience, shifted his weight in his saddle. "Nothing."
"No, Excellency, nothing. No sign of troops anywhere to the east, or on the far side of the city, or all the way up the slopes of the mountains. Nothing. The roads, the trails-all deserted. No people, no tracks, no horse dung, no wagon ruts… nothing. We could find no sign that anyone has been here for a good long time."
The man went on with a detailed account of where they had looked, but without result, as the other knot of men thundered in from the west, their horses lathered and in a high state of excitement.
"No one!" the man at the front called out as he hauled in on the reins, laying his horse's head over. The horse, eyes wild and keyed up from the hard ride, pivoted around to a halt before the emperor, snorting through flared nostrils. "Excellency, there are no troops-or anyone-to the west."
Jagang glared at the Confessors' Palace. "What about the road up to the Keep?" he asked in a quiet growl. "Or are you going to tell me that my scouts and patrols were ambushed by the ghosts of all the vanished people!»
The brawny man, layered in hides, looked as fierce as anyone Je
"Excellency, there were no tracks on the road up to the Keep, either."
"Did you go all the way up to the Keep to check?" he asked, his dark gaze turning on the man.