Traitor's Moon

night’s half-realized enlightenments.
    Something landed on the back of his hand, startling him badly. Looking down, he saw that it was a little dragon no longer than his thumb. It clung to his knuckle with tickling claws and regarded him curiously.
    He sat very still, wondering if the creature would bite. Instead, it folded its delicate wings against its sides and went to sleep, its smooth belly radiating welcome heat against his skin.
    â€œThank you,” he murmured to it. “I can use the company.”
    The dragon’s warmth spread up from his hand, warming him through. Smiling, he settled into a quiet meditation. When the inevitable uproar began, whatever form it took, he would need his wits about him.

39
P ATHS D IVERGING
    C louds had rolled down out of the mountains during the night, and dawn brightened slowly behind a fine veil of rain. Beka licked at a sweet drop that spattered against her cheek, grateful for a taste of fresh water.
    They’d ridden steadily all night, keeping to the main road to preserve the illusion of being routine couriers. Along the way, however, they had paused long enough to steal four extra horses. When the time came to part, not too long from now, she’d take the way-station horses with her to confuse the trail.
    It was a good plan—she’d carried out similar ruses often enough against the Plenimarans—but for the past hour or so Seregil had been quiet, and spent too much time staring off into the thick forest along the roadside for her liking. Alec was watching him, too, sensing trouble.
    Seregil reined in again so abruptly that her horse barreled into his.
    â€œDamn it, what is it now?” she asked, pulling her horse’s head around sharply as Seregil’s spirited sorrel lashed out with its back hooves.
    He said nothing, just gentled his mount and scanned an overgrown byway on their left. His expression was not encouraging.
    â€œWe’ve missed the side road you’re lookingfor, haven’t we?” Alec asked, and Beka heard the undertone of worry in his voice. There was good reason for alarm. Seregil was their only guide here, and it had been over half a lifetime since he’d traveled these roads.
    Seregil shrugged. “Maybe. Or perhaps it’s been abandoned since I last saw it, given what Amali said about villages dying out here.” He glanced up at the brightening sky, and his tight-lipped frown deepened. “Come on, we’ve got to get off the main road soon. There are other ways to the trail.”
    The khirnari of Akhendi woke to the sound of someone lifting the latch of his chamber door. Heart pounding, he reached for the knife beneath his pillow and flung an arm out to protect Amali, only to find the other half of the bed empty.
    His steward, Glamiel, slipped in with a candle and padded softly to his bedside.
    â€œWhere is my wife?” Rhaish demanded, clutching his aching chest.
    â€œIn the garden, Khirnari. She rose a little while ago.”
    â€œOf course.” Sleep visited him so seldom these days and left him muddled when he woke. “What is it, then? It’s not dawn yet.”
    â€œIt is, Khirnari. Amali gave orders that your rest not be disturbed, but there’s been strange news this morning.” Glamiel went to the tall windows and pulled back the hangings. Grey light filled the room, and the smell of rain. Looking out through the flowering boughs that framed the casement, Rhaish saw his wife sitting alone beneath an arbor. She’d wept last night, imploring him again to explain his silence and his anger. What could he have told her?
    Distracted, he missed the first part of Glamiel’s news and had to ask him to repeat it.
    â€œThe Skalans sent out a dispatch rider last night,” the man told him.
    â€œWhat of it?”
    â€œAs you say, Khirnari, no one thought anything of it, until word came in just now from the first way station that neither of the Akhendi escorts gave the usual signal, and that the Skalan rider was one the boy had never seen before. One of the escorts claimed to be Vanos í Namal, but he’s still at the Skalan barracks. I’ve spoken with him myself. So are all the others assigned to guide the Skalans. What should we do?”
    â€œHow long ago did you get word of this?”
    â€œJust now, Khirnari. Should Brythir í Nien be informed of this?”
    â€œNo. Not until we learn what our Skalan friends are up to.”