Lyra learns the cost of war in a single, life-altering afternoon. Her homeland has been invaded by an ambitious new king, and she has lost everything -- her farm, her family and her will to live. Enslaved and shackled, she is marched off to serve Te...
And in honour of the Welsh Grand Slam this afternoon, in which Ireland took one for the team and let us run all over them to stop the English winning the championship (thanks, guys, much obliged), and Scotland proceeded to make them regret being born, here is the final chapter of EOA + an ending author's note. Love you all.
P.S. for all of you international peeps who couldn't possibly be expected to know this...
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Nightmare was dancing beneath me. A touch of the reins and a whispered whoa, whoa accomplished nothing but annoying him even further. We had been waiting for the entire afternoon — he was impatient, and rightly so. He had not been bred for standing around.
It was raining, of course, because the sky above the wetlands knew how to do little else. Where it fell upon my stallion, droplets stuck in his short, coarse fur and hung there like so many stars in the night sky. I liked to run a finger across his shoulders and leave a dark whorl amongst the glistening beads.
"Two horses, two riders," Glyn called. He was thirteen now, and he looked more like his brother with every passing day. "They don't have her."
Sami swore under her breath. He had sharp eyes, so he was taken at his word. "Fine. We will do this the hard way."
I nudged Nightmare forwards a few paces so that I could see over the hill's crest. Duskos lay sprawled below us, an ungainly mess of hovels and rundown townhouses. Beyond it stood the castle itself, and the massive gates were grinding closed. Two horses picked their way down the road. One rider wore armour, and the other carried a sling.
"Ready the men," I told Neve. "We will ride out to meet them."
She inclined her head and turned her horse in a tight circle. Our escort was twenty warriors, all of them young and un-blooded and in need of some hard experience. They were resting under the shelter of the trees behind us, and I could hear snatches of their laughter whenever the wind blew.
While we waited, Eclipse uncurled and stretched in my lap. The others had all teased me mercilessly for bringing my cat, but Melia had brought her infant son, so I reckoned she was twice as stupid. At least Eclipse didn't cry through the night or need changing every few hours. We were setting a slow pace for the baby anyway, and I could hand her off to Fendur for a few hours whenever Nightmare wanted to canter. She had a leather pouch strapped to the saddle, so there was no danger she would fall.
She rubbed her head against my hand, and I smiled down at her. I couldn't have left her behind. She was so attached to me that she walked in little circles and cried when I rode out to fight Sihons, let alone a three-week excursion south.
The two horses had halved the distance by the time Neve returned with our escort. All the same, we rode down the hillside to wait for them on the dirt road below. They reached us within another minute. Anlai and Melia were riding side by side, and she had the baby nestled in her arms.
