The echoes of the horses hooves bounced down the empty streets of the trading town as Kailynn and Alac rode carefully though the crumbling ruins in the afternoon sun. It was easy to imagine children running and playing in the streets as vendors called to passing travelers. Now everything was deserted to the wild animals of the Wildlands. They peered warily at these strange humans had invaded their home. The weapons they carried shifted and bounced as they rode their horses down the winding lanes.
"I didn't realize that the Wildlands used to be lived in." Kailynn murmured unwilling to speak too loudly into the ghostly quiet.
Alac looked at her with a sidelong glance. "I forget that you were not taught about the history of Everwind. What is now called the Wildland's, used to be called Aldenreach. It was the home of the Ash... King Achiron before he subjugated the other kingdoms into his empire."
"You sound... like you wouldn't have approved?"
"People like The Bard and the Lady Beaufort like to conveniently forget that not all the kingdoms agreed to join his empire."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the North King agreed to it only when he was the only one left standing. Skelmarrow agreed on the condition that King Achiron marry their princess. The Beaufort's were the largest landholders on the island with a large private army. They were bought with titles and promises of being the enforcers of his will on the island." Alac took a steadying breath. "He attacked the Sea Kingdom when they refused his demand that they bow. Only when the sea outside Tidemarrow was drowned in blood were they forced to surrender. For the sake of their people."
Kailynn sat quietly as the reality of the cost of creating an empire settled over her. "And if they refuse to bow again, bow to me?"
Alac looked to the east. "They will. Even the old man must know the foolishness of such a thing being done twice."
"The old man?"
"The Sea King. He's... he can be difficult to dissuade from his own goals and ideals."
"Do you know him?"
"I know what everyone knows about him. He is hard, driven and believes that the destiny of his people is to own the whole of the seas."
"How would you persuade him?"
"I don't know." Alac admitted. "I know so little about him now." At Kailynn's sharp look in his direction, he continued, "I haven't really kept up with the political climate of the island. That was always The Bard's job."
"Why does everyone call him The Bard?" Kailynn looked genuinely confused. "Even Sera calls him that and they are together, right?"
Alac looked grateful for the change in the conversation. "They do but they don't. The Bard and Sera could never marry. He is a lowborn bastard child and she is the only one who can continue the Beaufort house unless Lord Beaufort has a male heir."
"So, the women can carry the line?"
"Much like in your circumstance, when there is no male heir to further the line, the women carry the house. The house can continue through them until a male heir is produced, either the first or second son that they have depending on the station of the male they marry."
"So, I carry the Ash King's house?" Kailynn laughed. "Who makes up these rules?" She laughed again, a full belly laugh that Alac had never heard from her before. "So, if we married and had a son, would he be ours or the Ash King's?" She chuckled again wiping her eye with her riding gloved hand.
Alac didn't laugh even though he wanted to join her. He would have given anything to hear her make that carefree joyous sound one more time and feel it pull on his heart again. "We don't have to worry about that."
"Oh, it was a joke Alac!" She grew suddenly serious again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't joke like that."
"It doesn't match your supposed station very well," Alac agreed.
Kailynn frowned. "I had almost forgotten about that. Being on this journey with you has been so... freeing. I almost... feel like I could let it go and just ride on to the end of the world."
Alac rode in silence as the edge of the town came into view. The quiet stretched between them like the setting sun as it fell below the horizon. It was heavy with everything that they were thinking and feeling but couldn't say aloud for fear that the other didn't feel it too.
As their horses walked toward the deserted town gate, Kailynn couldn't help but feel that there was more watching them than just the animals.
"Alac..."
"Wait." He was listening for all he was worth. "It's too quiet. Something is wrong."
He wheeled his horse around to face the street they had just left, drawing his sword in one smooth practiced motion. Kailynn looked over her shoulder just as two arrows struck Alac in his left shoulder and right thigh.
"GO!" Alac shouted as he smacked her horse with the flat of his sword blade. Kailynn's horse tore off down the lane headed for the gate and the open ground beyond it. She watched as he reared his horse up, wheeling it to follow her path. Arrows began falling around them as they thundered down the rutted partially cobblestoned street.
Kailynn urged her horse to run faster, flattening herself against its back like Joseph had taught her. Behind her she heard Alac grunt as he rode to catch up to her. His horse easily caught up to hers and could have passed her if he hadn't slowed it down. There was an arrow sticking out of its thigh but it remained under Alac's full control as it galloped along as if it felt no pain. A Thessadorian horse, she realized. The thought flew through her mind like the gate that they blew by as their horses flattened out into their top gallop speed.
The arrows stopped once they were through the gate and streaked through the plains toward the forested hills.
"Keep going!" Alac gasped out as he leaned over his saddle. Kailynn gasped at the sight of the third arrow protruding from his back. She guided her horse closer to his. The blood seeping from his back was a deep red in the last rays of the sun. She had been taught enough by Joseph to know that the arrow had to be removed quickly and the wound cauterized. She threw a look over her shoulder and didn't see any signs of pursuit as the sun completely disappeared and the world was bathed in moonlight.
She grabbed the reins to his horse and aimed her own at a small crumbling farmhouse in the far distance. A small light burned in the window. She could only hope that the occupants were more friendly than those behind them.
"Kailynn." Alac moaned her name. He never used her name. Ever.
"Don't die yet Alac." She muttered at him. "We have to be somewhere.. ."