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But what choice did he have? He was under a death warrant, an Intruder on this side of the Veil If he could not do as Koenig had done, and persuade the doms to spare his life, he would soon be dead

Yet Oliver felt certain that the future weighed even more heavily upon his friends than the past There was a conspiracy afoot in the Two Kingdoms, a clandestine effort by forces unknown to eradicate all Borderkind fro them-- any creature who could still freely end to the human realone into hiding The Borderkind were so disdained that they could not count on aid frodom, nor could they knoas trustworthy

An underground resistance had begun to form, but those hom Frost, Oliver, and Kitsune had contact had already been captured or killed All save Blue Jay The ti Borderkind to take action Frost had fulfilled his obligations to Oliver He would be deterhter of his fellow Borderkind, to stop the killings and take vengeance Oliver had to assume that Kitsune and Blue Jay would accompany Frost

And he would be alone

In his oorld, Oliver’s father had been murdered by the Sandman, who had then abducted his sister, Collette But why had he not simply killed her? What the Sandman wanted with her and what had driven the monster to kill their father in the first place, he had no idea But Oliver had no choice except to find Collette And that did not even begin to address the question of hoould get near enough to the monarchs of Euphrasia and Yucatazca to plead for the ti Collette had to come first

Oliver had not yet inquired about the origin of the name of the Sorrowful River, but he found it apt As beautiful and cals were, he was not soothed There was rooed to find space for dread

Soon enough, they would reach Twillig’s Gorge and they would rest And after that, their paths would diverge, and Oliver would be forced toheavily at his side, and though he had acquitted himself ith it back on Canna Island, he felt foolish carrying the thing He was no warrior No hero He was just a s to survive

He wanted to scream, just to break the silence of his companionsthe friends ould soon abandon hier as he was; they and all their kind

There was nothing for Oliver to do but keep walking, and enjoy their coed

Oliver had tied his jacket around his waist Even with the cool breeze and the shade of the trees, he felt warm, but he would not leave the jacket behind Experience had taught him that the world beyond the Veil was impossible to predict He ran a hand over the stubble on his cheeks and rubbed at the corners of his eyes It had been long enough that he could no longer recall what it felt like to get a decent night’s sleep He would have given al to be able to lie down there on the riverbank, use his coat as a pillow, and sleep with the gentle shushing of the wind in the branches as his lullaby But there was to be no respite for him Not yet Perhaps not ever

His boots pressed into the daaze and watched the water while he walked, wondering again at its na up as it ran almost imperceptibly doard, with only the occasional small dropoff or waterfall

When Kitsune touched his hand, he flinched away

The sting of his reaction was in her eyes

"Sorry, you startled ave a melancholy smile "You were very far away"

"I’ve been far away for a long time Feels like I’ll be far away forever"

She nodded Her red fur cloak swayed around her as she walked The hood lay against her back, draped in her silken black hair Her green eyes were like sain and this time Oliver did not flinch away As they walked, she took his hand, and they continued like that along the riverbank for several minutes He took co that all would be well Kitsune wanted to soothe hiiances, and he understood that

After a while he began to enjoy her touch and reht of her at the inn in Perinthia, when he had seen her co out of the shower

Oliver broke the contact Kitsune did not look up, only kept walking close beside him She was perhaps the h woed to behis love for Julianna, the wildness and terror of recent days had only crystallized those feelings

He wanted to say sohts, no ht think him But even as he opened his mouth, he saw that Blue Jay had paused on the riverbank just ahead

The Native Arin The mischief had disappeared briefly froe," he said