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The others stared at me while we ate. I couldn't read minds, but I could guess what they had to be thinking. They had to wonder whether I would be up to any kind of fight when we reached Coriander. I was wondering the same thing myself.
"I don't know," I said, and none of them asked what I meant. Lesh raised his eyebrows. Maybe he thought I was reading minds.
"We'd better get moving," I said without enthusiasm when the last of the fish were gone. The lethargy was more than a remnant of my duel and my wound. It was also an expression of my danger sense. It seemed that there was no place in this crazy world as safe as right where I was sitting, that any movement in any direction was toward peril.
"Are you all right?" A
"Still tired, still aching," I said. I forced myself to my feet. "I'm not looking forward to more fighting either."
"Sometimes it's the only way," A
"Sometimes, but I'm still not thrilled with the prospect." End of conversation. A
The feeling of danger quickly got strong enough to scratch. The way ahead of us was blocked, a line clear across the isthmus from the way I felt. It was so strong that the pain in my back and side seemed to fade in comparison. We stopped for a few minutes fairly early that morning while I tried to judge how far ahead the danger was, but I didn't have the experience for that kind of fine-tuning. Drop a threat on my head and I could react, but this was too subtle.
"There's a whole damn army out there," I muttered, thinking out loud.
"Can we get around them?" Lesh asked.
I hesitated, then shook my head. "We can't afford the time to try. Besides, we'd probably have to steal a boat and sail around them, and I don't know anything about boats."
"Neither do I," Lesh said. Harkane shook his head.
"I do," A
"Be ready to hightail it at the drop of a hat," I said when we started riding again. Maybe it was the wrong signal at the wrong time, but I chose that moment to pull the Cubs hat from my pocket and clap it on my head.
We saw two hunting parties, not much later. At least one of the groups spotted us, but they didn't give chase.
"An army takes a lot of feeding in the field," Lesh said after we angled out of sight of that group. "If their orders are to get food, that's all they're going to worry about." When they didn't break off to chase us, I had to agree that Lesh seemed to have it right.
By noon we were close to the Eastern Sea, almost in it at times, but just because the road angled that way, not because we sought the ocean.
"That's Dorthin, off across the water," Harkane said. "We're almost to the border." We were nearly to the base of the isthmus. The land stretching east wasn't just a headland, it was the mainland, the northern coast of Dorthin. Xayber extended no farther south than a line from this corner of the isthmus across to Arrowroot. Dorthin came right to this same corner-not more than a couple of miles from where we were sitting.
"Where's this Fairy army then?" Lesh asked.
"Already inside Varay, probably ringed right around Coriander and Arrowroot by now," I said. "Maybe with patrols deeper into the kingdom."
"We can't be five miles from Coriander right here." Harkane said. "I've been on that beach right there in the curve at the base of Xayber."
"Things could start getting hairy any second now, folks," I said. It was time to lay out my grand plan for getting past the elflord's army and into Coriander. Snag was, I didn't have anything like a real plan.
"A lot depends on how tight the siege of Coriander is, if there is a siege," I said, thinking out loud as much as "informing" my companions. "We need to get through Xayber's army and up to the gate, and hope to convince the gatekeepers to let us in before the elflord's people reach us." I thought about the static we had gotten trying to get past the gatekeepers on the town wall at Arrowroot, and we were trying to get out then.
"I have your pe
"Okay, that's one problem solved." I hoped. "But keep it furled as long as you can. I don't want to tell Xayber's people who we are too soon. Until we're challenged, we'll just ride toward the castle as if we've got every right to be there. Coming out of Fairy, maybe nobody will question us if we look like we belong. Maybe we can get close enough to make our mad dash for the gate once we are challenged. The last thing we want is to get bogged down in fighting now. Once we stop moving, we're dead." That warning wasn't just for A
Castle Coriander sat atop a low man-made mound in the center of a mile-wide clearing-also man-made. The village was at the southwest edge of the clearing and even smaller and more primitive-looking than Nushur. This was just a couple of dozen rough cottages. The castle had one refinement I hadn't seen before. The outer wall was lined with long barbed spikes, a nasty complication for anyone trying to scale it. The castle had no moat, not even a dry ditch, so it needed something.
The besieging army was there all right, at the edge of the clearing and in the village. The circle was complete. The Fairy army could move to intercept anyone coming out of the castle… or trying to get in.
We rode in a tight group, keeping A
"Go," I whispered. It would have been too much to hope for to think that we could get all the way through without a challenge. We put our heels to our horses. I drew Dragon's Death, and the soldier jumped out of its path. More soldiers came at us from the sides of the road, but not quickly enough to get in front of us. And then, after we were out in the clearing, archers started aiming for us.
"Unfurl that pe
Harkane waved my pe