Page 51 of The Half King
“Half of him is, I assure you,” she told him. “What I want to know is why you agreed to come here if you knew Lord Calatris and I were the ones who hired you. The last time I saw you, you couldn’t wait to be rid of us.”
“You were a stranger to me then,” he said. “I don’t make a habit of trusting strangers. It’s a sure way to die.”
Cerise didn’t believe him. The real answer probably had more to do with what the soothsayer had said about her blood:umbra sangi.
“So does that mean you trust me now?” she asked him.
He responded with a grunt.
“What about me?” Kian asked, lifting his chin in a regal way that clashed with his farmhand facade. “I’m a stranger to you. Is that going to be a problem?”
The young man laughed without humor. “You’re no threat to me, Half King. I’m glad for your company. The two of us will have much to discuss.”
Cerise drew a breath and looked to Daerick and Kian, neither of whom seemed shocked to learn that the young man had seen through Kian’s transformation. It took her a moment to remember that the guide possessed magical talents, perhaps even the same ability as the soothsayer to detect bloodlines through scent.
“Well, now that we’ve established who we can trust,” Kian said to the guide, “by what name shall we call you?”
“You can call me Nero,” he said, and then he extended a massive palm toward Daerick. “Do you have my fee?”
Daerick snickered as he handed over the satchel of coin. “Straight to business. I can respect that. Now we can be on our way.”
Nero glanced above their heads at the horses tethered in the shade. “Is that all you brought with you? Provisions for one day’s ride?”
“Two days,” Daerick corrected. “But yes. Without meeting you, we had no way of knowing how long the journey to the Blighted Shrine would last or how many resources we might need.”
“More than that,” Nero said.
Daerick paused as if waiting for more information. When it didn’t come, he asked, “Can you be more precise?”
Nero shrugged. “The Blighted Shrine is at the top of the mountain. How long it takes to get there depends on many things, but I can promise you no one has ever done it in a matter of days. And then if you earn the runes, you’ll have no way of knowing where they will take you or how long you’ll travel until you reach the object you seek. Plan for weeks or even moons. And don’t forget to bring feed for the horses. There’s not much for them to eat on the mountain. That’s why I travel on foot.”
Kian swore under his breath. “We’ll need wagons for all of that.”
“Which will slow us down and make the trip last even longer,” Daerick said. “But there’s no way around it. We won’t survive long without supplies.”
A distant roar sounded from outside the cave, and Nero added, “Protection wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. Creatures mostly hunt at night, but some will come out during the day if they’re hungry enough.”
“Creatures?” Cerise asked. “Do you mean predators like the desert panther?”
Nero shook his head. “Predators thathuntthe desert panther.”
Blue whined, seeming to share her fear.
“Well, that decides it.” Kian put his hands on his hips and peered outside at the position of the sun. “I’ll ride back to the palace and assemble a caravan. The three of you get started and make it as far as you can before dark. I’ll send General Petros to lead the caravan immediately so you’ll have protection overnight.”
Suddenly, it occurred to Cerise that they hadn’t discussed Kian’s disappearance at sunset, or more importantly, hisreappearance at the bedside of Delora Champlain each dawn. And then there were the spontaneous daylight hours that the king lost to the curse. Kian could vanish at any moment and then awaken at the palace with Delora.
“Your Majesty,” Cerise said, “may I have a word with you in private?”
Kian walked with her to the horses at the mouth of the cave. He positioned them behind his horse and turned away, blocking Nero’s view, and lowered his voice to a murmur. “What is it?”
“Lady Champlain,” Cerise whispered. “If you want to travel with us, then she’ll have to join the caravan. And that would risk her safety more than if she stayed at the palace. Do you think we should find the runes and the blade without you?”
Kian froze for the span of a heartbeat, seemingly at a loss for words. Then he abruptly cleared his throat and told her, “Let me worry about Lady Champlain’s safety. I’ll see you at sunrise, my lady of the temple.”
“But…there’s another problem,” Cerise said. She paused to consider how to voice her fears and her mixed feelings. She wanted protection from the creatures Nero had mentioned, but not enough to risk the safety of the caravan by asking them to travel in the dark while those same creatures came out to hunt. “General Petros is only one man. Will his protection be enough for the group?”
“No, it won’t,” Kian said. “That’s why I’m sending Padron with him. There’s not a beast in these mountains that can survive my high priest. The general can drive the wagon and Padron can ride on horseback. The two of them are all the protection we need.”
