Chapter LXVII - The End Begins

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We only managed another hundred paces of peaceful riding before the next interruption, this time from the front of the group.

"Glyn, come with me," Tem said suddenly, turning Nightmare left, towards the trees. "The rest of you can wait here. We will only be a few minutes."

The boy followed immediately, almost ... almost like he had known this strange diversion was coming. I was the only one who seemed surprised, almost like they had all been plotting behind my back. And I was almost starting to believe my own paranoia.

"Ragnyr..." Fendur began.

Tem rolled his eyes. "Yes, fine."

And so the Iyrak tagged along to protect them from whatever imagined harm might lurk in the treeline — squirrels and sparrows, most likely. They were gone from view for ten minutes, perhaps, and when they came back, there were only two horses and two riders. Fendur and Temris had returned, but the boy had not.

"Where the hell is Glyn?" I asked as soon as they were close enough.

"Gone," Tem said. He wasn't meeting my eyes. "I don't want him with us."

"I understand that, Tem," I murmured. "Gods, that's fine. The further he is from the king, the better. But where have you sent him?"

We were talking quietly. Ark and Saqui couldn't hear us so, regardless of whether we could trust them, he should have been able to answer me. But as I was fast discovering, the politics at play that day were more complex than I could have ever imagined.

"Somewhere he will be safe," Tem said, and that was all he would say, even to me. And since he wouldn't tell me, I would just have to figure it out by myself ... because there was something off about that claim.

For starters, Glyn had gone willingly, that much was obvious. There had been no shouting match, no delay in their return. And he would not have gone to safety without a fight. Wherever he was, he must have been making himself useful, somehow. My only other clue was our location — on the wrong side of the river. From here, you could only get to Belmery and the rural lands around it.

No, Glyn was not somewhere safe. Glyn was somewhere very dangerous, all alone, to accomplish some small task for his big brother. And I was not allowed to know where or what, because either I had recently been pushed out of the circle of trust, or I had never truly been inside it and the northerners were simply getting lazier at pretending otherwise.

"You will need to leave, too," Temris went on, looking at Ark and Saqui. "Go into the city and spy for me. I will expect your report later tonight."

"Your will is our will," Ark declared and dipped his head. They had been expecting this, too, and they turned away to the east without saying another word. I was the only who noticed Saqui throw a backwards look at Fendur, and I was the only who noticed the little smiles they exchanged.

This wasn't going well. We weren't even in Belmery yet, and already our group had halved in number. Who would be next? I had this horrible sinking feeling that I already knew the answer.

***

There was a hold-up at the gate. They were having to search a cart, and it was taking so long that the queue to get into the city stretched a hundred paces. Once we had joined the back, I climbed off Amber to stretch my legs. I leant against her shoulder and stroked her neck, and she rubbed her big head against me for lack of a better scratching post.

An hour must have passed while we crept closer to the entrance. For the most part, we were silent, but Melia would throw me a meaningful look every so often. They alternated between pleading and threatening as she tried to decide which course of action was most likely to keep me quiet. I wasn't sure myself.

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