The Guardian Prince - Deleted Scenes

By the time Sabine woke the next morning, the sounds of busy activity filled the camp. Rubbing the sleep from her face, Sabine rose from her pallet, stretched, and stepped out of her tent...

...into the hustled activity of a camp being torn down at a rapid pace.

"Sabine," Tayte said, his manner brusque as he handed her a hunk of cheese and a blush-pink apple, then began pulling up the stakes of her tent. "Eat quickly. It's time to go ."

Glancing around for Bree, Sabine polished the apple against her cloak. "What's happened?"

"The Dryht's raven has brought a message." Tayte finished with the stakes and began winding the cables that had held the tent taut, meticulous about the details despite his obvious haste. "The portal gate has fallen."

Sabine gaped, the apple half-raised to her mouth. "When?"

"During the eighth watch. They sent the bird back as soon as the portal was breached."

Sabine bit into the firm apple, its juicy tartness registering dimly as she chewed and observed the activity of the camp. Sabine's tent, the last one standing, would be down . To the left of the camp Gaelan and Kyar were saddling and loading the horses while Koen brushed the ground with a fallen limb, stirring up the forest undergrowth with the branch's twiggy limb and obscuring the more obvious signs of the group's overnight stay. Unable to discern any way she could help, Sabine did as Tayte had suggested and ate her food.

They mounted and rode out a few moments after Sabine finished, Gaelan and Aodhan in the lead and Kyar and Koen bringing up the rear. They rode as briskly as they could along the narrow path, and , as if guarding her. Sabine wondered what the bird could actually do if Bree got lost, but figured that, since Gaoth always found Koen, the two animals would find a way to make do.

Half a watch after they broke camp, it began to rain. Light and patchy at first, it soon collected into an icy . Sabine raised her hood, even though she expected the rain to soak through her cloak quickly, but noted that the cloth was not actually absorbing any of the water. Rather, the droplets beaded up and rolled off as they hit the soft red fabric, as if the cloak were magically water-repellent. Curious about how that worked, Sabine reasoned it must be something all the races except hers knew about, for everyone else seemed to be benefiting from the water-repellent cloaks, as well.

Still, Sabine's forearms and lower legs were uncovered and the water was cold. She draped her cloak as best she could but only succeeded in covering more of her mount than herself. Still, the horse didn't seem to mind. It even sighed subtly, as if grateful for the small amount of relief.

A short while later the rain intensified and changed directions, blowing directly into Sabine's face. The horse seemed to have had enough, for it turned its head and pulled sharply against the reins. The movement startled Sabine, but she tugged instinctively against the animal, correcting its course.

The horse complied briefly but soon yanked against the reins again. Sabine was more alert this time, so her reaction was well timed, but as she resisted the horse's attempts to turn away from the rain, she noticed Tayte correcting his mount, as well. He looked in her direction and smiled grimly, glanced down at his horse, then shrugged.

Sabine wondered how Diera would manage if her mount responded to the rain in the same way. As if to answer her question, Diera's horse pulled to the left, away from Amala's. The princess's handmaiden grabbed for Diera's reins, but Diera motioned her away. Instead of pulling against the horse, she allowed it to turn into the direction it was already pulling toward. Rather than stopping halfway, however, Diera continued to turn the horse until it faced forward once again.