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Galloping broke the tense exchange “Natiya!”

We turned toward Eben, his horse kicking up soft clods of grass Synové’s eyes brightened like the sun had just winked at her from behind a cloud He circled around, his eyes fixed only on Natiya “Griz is gru He wants to leave”

“Co,” she answered, then shook out the square of fabric she was holding It was a shirt A very handsome shirt She touched the soft fabric to her cheek, then laid it over the rock memorial “Cruvas linen, Jeb,” she whispered “The finest”

We reached the mouth of the valley, and Natiya stopped and looked back one last time “Remember this,” she said “Twenty thousand That’s how hese, and Dalbretch I didn’t know the a meadoer to them if they could”

Or a Cruvas linen shirt

Now I knehy Natiya had brought us here This was by the queen’s order Look Take a good long look and remember the lives lost Real people that soiven you, see the devastation and reain Knohat is at stake Dragons eventually wake and crawl from their dark dens

I had seen the urgency in the queen’s eyes I had heard it in her voice This wasn’t only about the past She feared for the future So, and she was desperate to stop it

I surveyed the valley Froons blended back into a cal the truth

Nothing was ever quite what it seemed

Griz’s gru new He liked to make camp early and leave early, sometimes even when it was still dark, as if it were some sort of victory over the sun His horse was already packed e returned, and the campfire doused He watched is

An hour’s ride from here,

ould go our separate ways Griz was headed to Civica in Morrighan The queen had news she wanted to share with her brother, the king, and she trusted no one else to deliver it, not even the Valsprey she used for other es Valsprey could be attacked by other birds or shot down andcould stop Griz Except, perhaps, a quick side trip to Terravin, which was probably why he was in such a hurry Synové liked to tease that he had a sweetheart there It always made him explode in denial Griz was old-school Rahtan, but the Rahtan was not the elite, rule-bound ten it once was There were twenty of us now A lot of things had changed since the queen ca me

When I began folding my tent, Griz came and stood over my shoulder and watched I was the only one who used a tent It was small It didn’t take up much room He had balked the first time he had seen me use one on a mission to a southern province We don’t use tents, he’d said with utter distaste I remembered the shame I felt In the weeks that followed, I turned that huet, and I had proain I buried my shame deep beneath carefully crafted armor Insults couldn’t penetrate it

Griz’s brooding stature cast atechnique meet with your approval?” I asked

He said nothing

I turned and looked up at him “What is it, Griz?” I snapped

He rubbed his bristled chin “There’s a lot of open territory between here and Hell’s Mouth Empty, flat territory”

“Your point?”

“You’ll be … all right?”