The Shadow

Chapter 22

The fourteen men who joined Kai and Harper outside the walls of Aria were a strange group.

A dozen of them wore the bright silver chainmail of the city watch, white capes swinging behind them. Over their chainmail armor, the soldiers wore dark, boiled leather, steel helms clutched at their sides.

Duke Odger had sent two of his own men on the journey, both of whom were at odds with the rest of the assembly. One of his men was massive, the other quite the opposite. The larger of the two was muscled and grim faced, with a massive battle axe strapped to his back. He wore the gold mail and gray cloak of Terrin—it seemed that he was some sort of a champion there. His snow-white skin seemed to be bunched into a scowl whenever Kai looked his way.

The first man's companion also wore gold mail, but seemed no more than a child in the large soldier's presence. He couldn't have been taller than Kai; although he looked to be in his thirties, he was skinny and had the build of someone half his age. A mop of brown hair covered his long, gaunt face and sullen eyes. A bow was slung across his back, knives at his belt.

Lord Canmore had seen them off at the other side of the wall, wishing them good fortune and promising honor and riches, come their return. Kai hadn't taken the kind words to heart—the only person Canmore cared for in the group was Harper. The rest...he likely did not care whether they lived or died.

The entire party was mounted; the Arian soldiers sat atop massive gray warhorses while the Duke's men rode smaller, faster stallions. Kai rode Lunar, and Harper Dusty. Lunar had grown rather large and strong since being kept in the manor's stables, though she was still dwarfed by the warhorses surrounding her. An additional two horses had been brought to carry food.

They took the Green Path, a road that traveled nearly straight northeast.

"So, I take it that you're good at those?" Kai asked the lean, gaunt man, nodding his head toward the knives strapped to his side. It felt strange, talking to people so casually. People who weren't trying to get him to kill someone. Well, maybe these men did want him to kill someone, but this was different than it had been in Northshore. In any case, it would be days before they saw anything of note along the Green Path, perhaps even weeks. It couldn't hurt to get to know his companions along the way.

The man nodded with a smile that revealed yellow, crooked teeth. "Good? I'm the best in Ath," he said smugly. "Competed in Terrin a year back... I mopped the floor with all of those boys, I did."

Kai returned his smile, an expression that felt otherworldly and yet right at the same time. "Well, you haven't tried me yet. I'm Kai."

He nodded his acknowledgment. "Cory." He jabbed a finger toward the massive man who rode beside him. "Jean, my brother. He don't like to talk much, but he's nearly as good with that axe as I am with me knives."

Jean grunted. They did look similar, now that Kai looked more closely. The brothers shared the same sharp jawline and milk-white skin. Their faces held the same disinterested, mildly disgusted expressions.

Kai rode forward, past the two brothers and into the midst of the Arian soldiers. The treeline rose up ahead of them; before long they would be swallowed by the darkness of the forest.

The soldiers were common men, most of them wielding longswords and a dagger at their sides. But then, they couldn't be too common if they had been chosen for this journey; Lord Canmore had promised Aria's best men. Kai tried his best to remember their names, speaking to each of them as the hooves of his horse trod over the soggy underbrush of the forest.

Menelaus was young, no older than twenty, as were his closer companions, Eusien and Aesare. They came from Uband—Kai would have to ask them more about their continent during the journey.