A Whisper of Night

14.2 || ZALYNE 🔥

"What?" Brennia demanded. "What do you mean? The Princess - she's the warrior maiden, remember? She fights her suitors!"

"Then she was defeated," Jae said quietly. "Or...something else happened."

A flicker of red caught Zalyne's attention. She spun around to the gate, scrutinizing it....

A pair of red-garbed guards stood at the gates, spears clutched in their hands. They were surveying the men as they passed into Aitma.

"My mother's men," Brennia said fearfully. "We can't be here - they'll see us. Where do the Alchemists live?"

"The Mountain of Maize." Jae turned her horse around, beckoning to the two others. "If I'm not mistaken, it's this way...."

They headed away from the city. Zalyne couldn't help but feel as if the guards were watching her, tracking her every movement -

"How do we know it's Princess Scirocca and not her younger sister?" Brennia demanded. "Merocca?"

"Because Merocca isn't here," Zalyne said simply. "Or, at least, that's what I know...I'm not certain, though."

The city receded behind them. Brennia kept talking, her brow furrowed. "But why would King Sirok marry his daughter to the Alchemists? There can't be any advantage to be gained."

"A betrothal to an Alchemist is holy," Jae pointed out.

"So? Just because it's holy doesn't mean it can offer you any advantages. Besides, what heir does Sirok have now? Merocca? She's so sickly!"

"Maybe he didn't have a choice," Zalyne mused. And then a horrible realization gripped her. The Lion Queen's men...my presence....oh, no. No, no, no....

"What do you mean?" Brennia said.

"Never mind," she said, shaking her head. Jae cast her a worried look, but she swallowed down her fear. It's all right. You'll be all right - if Scirocca had somehow revealed your location, there would be many more guards.

All of a sudden, she wished Luka were here...he would know what to do. She missed him, she realized, him and all his exasperating protectiveness....

But she couldn't dwell on that now. Right now, they had to find the Alchemists, to determine whether there was another way to the Nightfire Isles. Luka's lost to you, she thought firmly. He and Elsking are probably long gone, or dead....

But he couldn't be dead. She'd know if he were dead -

"Let's go to the other side."

She looked up, startled.

They were still in the woods, concealed behind the trees. A small hill, carpeted with golden grass, stood before them. And at the very top....

"There are guards," Brennia said in dismay.

"Of course there are," Zalyne said. A trio of guards surrounded the cave atop the hill, spears in hand. "Is there another way inside?"

Jae shook her head. "Not that I know of."

"There has to be a place where the waste is disposed," Zalyne murmured. She nudged her horse a bit closer to the treeline. They couldn't go around the hill without exposing themselves.

"Maybe that's underground," Jae said.

"We're not going through waste," Brennia said, scandalized. "Besides, you don't know what's down in the sewers! There could be poison. Dangerous animals. The Alchemists - "