Page 50 of The Prince's Sacrifice

“I’m sorry!” Denil said, blanching. “I lost Cavun’s horse when the lightning struck and the landslide started. He bolted.”

Pel couldn’t really blame him.

Denil indicated Beluna and Pel. “Ours were commandeered when the guards came through.”

Pel wassogoing to have words with whoever had taken Extraordinary, but someone borrowing his horse without permission wasn’t his main problem at the moment.

“Where’s Melody?” Pel demanded.

Denil pointed back into the cave. “He didnottake kindly to the suggestion that he be commandeered. I can’t get him to come out. I don’t even know how deep the caves are, but I worry they might connect with the mines.”

Pel breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, a problem that he was pretty sure he could handle.

“Sing along if you know it.” Pel cleared his throat. “Or hum.”

And then, to their clear astonishment, Pel began to sing the first song he could think of, which was a tavern drinking song.

What? It was catchy.

He glared at them. Denil had a lovely tenor. Beluna couldn’t sing to save her life, but she clearly did her best. Cavun was very enthusiastic.

They made it through one verse and then a second one, and Pel was starting to lose hope, but he just kept singing, hoping against hope that—

There was a neigh, and then out of the darkness of the cave, a horse trotted, kicking up his legs almost as though he was dancing.

Pel cut off abruptly, relief swamping him, and the guards stopped singing, too.

Sounding totally bemused, Beluna said, “Is the horse—?”

“He likes to dance,” Pel agreed. “Tor showed me the trick once.”

Melody trotted right up to them, coming in to nuzzle at Pel. He huffed and then moved to nudge at Tor in Cavun’s arms.

“Your master isn’t doing so well at the moment,” Pel told him, swallowing thickly. “Do you think you can carry him back down the mountain? I promise that when we get back to the castle, I’ll give you so much sugar that your stomach will probably explode.”

Melody whinnied, probably just because he recognized the word for the promised treat, but Pel was willing to take this as a binding agreement.

In the end, Pel climbed onto Melody’s back, and then they managed to get Tor arranged in front of Pel, leaning back against him. It was awkward, but it was the best they could do under the circumstances.

“We’re just going to walk down,” Pel told Melody, giving him a gentle nudge with his knees. “Nice and easy with our guard friends here.”

Thankfully, the horse seemed to be in agreement with Pel about slow and steady. Pel needed an arm to hold onto Tor and keep him in place, so he held the reins in one hand and hoped for the best.

Pel was so grateful that it wasn’t pouring anymore, but he still felt uncomfortably damp. Beluna, Cavun, and Denil were all trooping along at their sides. They didn’t have their hands on their swords, but they were constantly scanning around them. Pel wasn’t sure what they were looking for—but then, nothing that had happened recently had been expected, so Pel appreciated their care.

Tor’s whole body was lax, a dead weight leaning against Pel—or trying to pitch forward over the front of Melody as they went downhill, which meant that Pel had to hold onto him tightly. Magical exhaustion made plenty of sense given everything that had happened, but it was completely outside of Pel’s area of expertise, and that made his stomach roil and his heart ache.

What if itwasn’tmagical exhaustion? What if something else was wrong? But there was nothing Pel could do about that up the mountain, so this was the only logical step.

Pelknewthat, and yet he was still terrified that he was doing something wrong.

He was used to Tor being bigger than life and in charge.

Also, he was pretty sure that they’d gotten about three hours of sleep last night, then come up a treacherous mountain, plunged into a battle, and, finally, nearly been crushed by the mountain. A lot had happened, so maybe feeling a bit uncertain right now was allowed.

King Forex wasn’t going to be pleased with what had occurred. Pel shivered and pulled Tor even closer. He’d never been prouder of the man, and he’d tell him so—as soon as he was conscious.

Pel would get him back to the castle as quickly as he could, because that’s where the healer was, and in the meantime, Tor would get as much rest as he could while unconscious and traveling across the realm.