The Bound (Ascension #2)(29)

“That’s a relief?” Ahlvie asked.

“Unfortunately, we only have three horses on board for the five of us, which will slow us down considerably. That’s time wasted we can’t afford. So, we’ll need to…”

“And who are you?” Avoca asked with raised eyebrows.

“My apologies. I am Orden Dain.”

“He was traveling with us,” Cyrene said.

“You made no mention of him,” Avoca accused.

“He was scouting when the Indres attacked, and Ahlvie and Maelia were captured. I had no way of knowing where he was,” Cyrene explained. “We had to go where I knew to find people. He found me in the streets in Strat, but he’s been traveling with me since Albion.”

Orden’s eyes widened. “Did you say Indres?”

“Yes,” answered Cyrene stiffly.

“That’s not something to bypass lightly,” Orden said.

“Is that what they were?” Ahlvie asked shakily. “Maelia and I thought they were wolves.”

“It seems folktales are truer than we could have ever imagined,” Cyrene said.

Orden nodded and then glanced purposefully at Avoca and Ceis’f. “It seems that way,” he said, as if he knew that Avoca and Ceis’f were Leifs. “Where did you pick up your rogue companions?”

Avoca and Ceis’f stiffened.

Cyrene spoke up, “They saved me from the attack and offered their help. Let’s just get somewhere safe, and then we can all catch up on where we have been the last couple of days. What’s the plan, Orden?”

“Ah, yes. There’s a small town called Gildan just north of where I’ve asked the captain to let us off. We can procure horses and supplies there before getting on the road to Aurum.”

“You plan to go into the capital city?” Ceis’f asked in disbelief and revulsion.

“You don’t have to come,” Avoca told him.

“How can you even bear it, Ava? Surrounded like that, without the trees—”

“I am not you, Ceis’f. And I will do as Cyrene guides.”

“What happened to Maelia?” Ahlvie interjected.

“We had to leave her behind,” Orden told him.

Ahlvie arched his eyebrows and then turned to face Cyrene. “What happened?”

Cyrene swallowed. She hated that, after all that effort, she had only been able to get Ahlvie out. It was a bonus that they had Orden to guide them through Aurum even though Avoca and Ceis’f could have probably gotten them there, but Maelia was a terrible loss. Cyrene would have done anything to get her to be here with them right now, but there just hadn’t been any other option. They had barely made it out of there as it was.

“Let’s walk a bit, and I’ll tell you about it,” Cyrene said, taking Ahlvie’s arm and guiding him away from the others.

Avoca and Ceis’f stormed off together, already deep in conversation. Orden remained, contemplatively staring out across the Huyek River.

“I’m sorry about Maelia,” Cyrene said at the exact same time as Ahlvie said, “I’m sorry we lost you.”

They both laughed softly and then kept up their slow strolling pace around the deck.

“You first,” Cyrene told him. “What happened?”

“There were too many of those things—Indres. I never thought I’d hear that word spoken so seriously again.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was growing up, the elders in my village spoke of them. Rumor had it that Indres along with some other creature that they refused to put a name to attacked a forest village near my home, Fen, and slaughtered every man, woman, and child. It left the village decimated.”

Cyrene gasped.

“I was so young at the time, only four years old, but I remember my mother crying for weeks afterward. Most of her life, she had been friends with a man from the village. It was a great loss.” He sighed at the painful memory and continued, “But something stopped the Indres in the Hidden Forest. Maelia and I were fighting them off as best we could. Then, the guards showed up from across the river. They were helping, but when all the Indres died, the remaining guardsmen apprehended us and brought us to Strat. They interrogated me about you, but after a couple of days in prison, Prince Kael showed up and moved us to the inn.”

“I can’t believe he showed up,” Cyrene said in disbelief.

“I never liked the guy, but he took an arrow to the arm and kept going, like it didn’t matter.”

Cyrene shook her head. “Only Kael Dremylon.”

After a few minutes of silence, he said, “But you know the craziest thing out of all of this is seeing all of the Indres dropping dead. It came out of nowhere. I felt that same blast, like when the Braj was killed.”

Cyrene sighed and closed her eyes. “It felt the same because it was the same.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know when we were in Albion and I said that I somehow killed…the Braj?” she whispered.

“Yes,” he said, his voice dipping to match hers.

“I know now what happened where I wasn’t sure before.” She opened her eyes to meet his dark eyes. “I killed them with…powers. I have magical powers.”

“Magical powers?” Ahlvie skeptically eyed her.