Traitor's Moon

“Look, I’m hungry and I don’t remember when I last slept—”
    â€œI’m serious. What does it look like to you?” He was grinning madly now, and she wondered how long it had been since he’d had any rest himself.
    Alec met her questioning look with his usual shrug, then turned his attention to the rock in question.
    It was about six feet long, four high, and roughly oval in shape. The end facing them narrowed sharply into a pair of even concave depressions that made it look almost like—
    â€œA bear?” she ventured, wondering if she was losing her mind, too. The narrowed end did have the look of a low-set head, with the smooth curve of a bear’s back rising up behind it.
    â€œI see it,” chuckled Alec. “We seem to be haunted by bears. This is your landmark?”
    â€œYes,” Seregil replied, clearly relieved. “Damn, I’d forgotten about it until I saw it just now. If you look closely, you can still make out where someone painted eyes on it. But this used to be a well-traveled route. There were several villages up in the hills, and a Dravnian trading camp beyond.”
    â€œIt can’t be seeing much traffic these days,” Beka said, still doubtful. Foot-high saplings choked the narrow, weed-grown track.
    â€œThat’s good,” said Seregil. “The fewer people we run into, the better I’ll like it. Thero isn’t the only one who can send messages by magic, you know.” He glanced up at the sun. “It’s getting late. We should be further along by now.”
    Without dismounting, he and Alec shifted their saddles and gear to two of the stolen horses and climbed across. It took some managing, and Beka’s help with the girths, but this way they left no telltale footprints for a tracker to read.
    Beka fixed the reins of their cast-off mounts to her saddle with long lead ropes, letting the horses move with some independence. If anyone was tracking them, the signs would show that the “traveling companions” they’d joined up with the previous night had gone their own way while the three dispatch riders went on down the main road.
    â€œKeep out of sight as long as you can,” Seregil warned, clasping hands with her. “You can’t get through the mountains without a guide, so you’re trapped on this side.”
    â€œYou worry about yourselves,” she replied. “I’ll just keep on this way as far as I can go, then strike off wherever seems best. I’ll stay out another two days. After that, no matter what, I head back to Klia. The worst anyone will do if they do catch me is haul me back to Sarikali anyway. What will you do, after you’ve talked to Korathan?”
    Seregil shrugged. “Stay with him, I expect, though it may be in chains. If I have my way, he’ll set sail back to Skala directly.”
    â€œThen I’ll see you both there,” she said brightly, fighting back a surge of foreboding.
    Alec gave her a wry smile. “Luck in the shadows, Watcher.”
    â€œAnd to you both.” She sat her horse as they started up the road. Seregil disappeared around the first bend without a backward glance. Alec paused to wave, then followed.
    â€œLuck in the shadows,” she whispered again. Leading her string of horses on up the main road, she set her face for the mountains.
    The road got no better as Alec and Seregil went on, but it was open enough for them to canter single file. Several miles on, they came to the remains of the first village, and Seregil paused to make a quick circuit.
    Some of the cottages had burned down; the rest were slowly falling apart. Small trees and weeds were encroaching rapidly on the broad clearing, sprouting up in disused garden plots and doorways.
    Looking inside one of the houses, Alec found only a few bits of broken crockery. “Looks like the villagers picked up and left.”
    Seregil rode over and passed him a dripping water skin. “No trade, no livelihood. At least the well’s still clear.”
    Alec drank, then rummaged in his pack for a strip of dried meat. “I wonder if we’ll be able to find fresh horses along the way?”
    â€œWe’ll manage,” Seregil said, studying the clouds. “If we hurry, we can make the second village before nightfall. I’d rather spend the night under a roof, if we can manage it. It’s still early enough in the year for it to be damn