Page 141 of Sword & Shadow
“It lowers the odds of Blount catching us,” Evylin said. “And we split the Relics, so if he does catch one group, he won’t have all of them.”
Ilain rolled her eyes. “This is what happens when I’m left out of decisions. And whose bloody brilliant idea was it to split you and Jonn?”
“Mine,” Evylin replied.
That caused Ilain to hesitate. She crossed her arms, eyed Evylin warily, then scoffed. “You and I need to have a conversation,” she said flatly. Then she looked around the small camp. “But first, I’m starving. What do we have that we can eat on the road?”
Working to put as much distance between them and Sutterlund Reach as possible, they rode well into the night. The terrain grew flat, and the stands of trees grew thinner and fewer. Thick vegetation spread across the land in large swathes of bushes and grasses. In the darkness, it all bore hues of gray, giving the landscape a decidedly dreary and morbid appearance.
When they finally decided to bed down for the night, Ethenn scouted to find a copse of trees where they wouldn’t be seen from the road. Within the shelter of the thin, scraggly trees, they set up their tents. A cool breeze wafted across the flat land, rustling the grasses around them. They sat in the chill of the night, cloaks drawn around them, agreeing that a fire would draw too much attention.
“Not all of the South is like this,” Ilain told them. “But most of our journey will take us through the moorlands. Often, you can see for miles.”
“We’ll have to be careful when we choose where to rest then,” Ethenn said. “And hunting will be scarce since I’m out of arrows.”
“Not to worry. There are lovely rivers that flow through the moorlands,” she said. “They’re full of fish, so we won’t have to worry about being well-fed.”
“I hate fish,” Thom said good-humoredly. “Once when I was a child, I caught a fish from the lake—you remember, Evie, the one I took you to?”
Evylin nodded, and he went on, “Well, I caught this fish, and I was so proud. Then I reeled it in, and, wouldn’t you know it, it was dead. Half-eaten by the bottom feeders.”
Evylin and Ilain scrunched their noses in disgust.
Thom laughed. “I’ve never been able to stomach trout since.”
“Well, you’ll have to learn to,” Ilain said lightly. “Fish and what little rations we have left are all you’ll be offered for the next two weeks.”
“That’s how long it will take?” Ethenn asked.
“A little more on our route, yes.” Ilain braided her curls absentmindedly. “We’re going out of our way, but journeying through the south is far safer than up north.”
“Even with the open terrain?” Evylin asked.
“Southerners aren’t as...” Ilain considered her wording before grinning, “political. We’re farther from the crown, so we live more freely. There’s less nobility here too.”
Evylin nodded, noting the similarity to Ephria’s southern regions.
“We?” Ethenn caught the word. “You’re from this area?”
“Oh, yes.” Ilain’s smile brightened. “I grew up in the Highloft Moors. We’ll pass it, though, from a distance. They make the most depressingly beautiful grayscape you’ve ever seen. It makes you want to weep and never leave.”
“Sounds miserable,” Thom teased.
“Sounds poetic,” Evylin corrected. “I read a novel once about a woman plagued by the ghost of her first love. She was trapped in a castle, and the way the author described the landscape...it sounds just like what you said.”
“It could have been inspired by the moors,” Ilain suggested.
“What happened to her?” Ethenn asked. “The woman in the story?”
Evylin looked toward the sky, an infinity of stars spread before her. She smiled, remembering the tale. “She was following her lover’s ghost through the night,” she recounted, “when, suddenly, she was captured by a Mage.”
Ilain scoffed. “Mages are always the villains in Ephrian tales.”
“Not always,” Evylin said. “This Mage—he captured the woman and made her his slave, yes. But then they fell in love, and she was to be his bride. She showed him kindness, and he amended his cruelty. But, feeling betrayed, the ghost of her firstlove began to haunt her with malice instead of longing. He drove her mad, and she leaped from the castle tower to make it stop.”
Thom let out a disbelieving huff. “That’s the most depressing story I’ve ever heard.”
“Mm,” Evylin agreed. “It was a favorite of my aunt’s. She gave it to me with the promise that it would break my heart and make me believe in true love. I didn’t shed a tear, and I still fail to see the romance in driving your lost love insane.”
