Page 73 of Memory of Ashes

Casyl stood waiting patiently to greet him and to show him around the camp as his royal tent was erected. Casyl never bothered with such frivolous things.

He’d brought the beast with him. Casyl eyed the cage warily. This was his father’s pet. His sick and twisted pet, which he used perversely to fight for him. It was a cowardly way to fight, but the king hadn’t seen hand-to-hand combat for centuries.

He shuddered.

A feast was planned to honour their victory.

He slipped away to find Amelia. He’d placed her in Danae’s tent as she’d be safer there than near him, for now.

There were so many things that he wanted to say but couldn’t for fear of endangering her and others.

*

The battle started and ended in the morning. They were soon chasing the enemy army into their retreat.

The enemy released Werehounds into the fight, vicious creatures trained for battle. It was their last hope of turning the battle around, but they hadn’t known of the king’s vicious pet.

He hated that his father used it. He’d become powerful at controlling it.

They would have won without the beast, anyway. It was a dirty tactic. It bothered him what others would say, how they used unclean magic to win, even though they’d stooped pretty low themselves. The only consolation was that the beast would end the battle sooner, sparing some of his men.

They chased the enemy far enough to drive them closer to the High City, where they would undoubtedly return to lick their wounds.

They moved their camp closer to the mountains, ready for the next step in the king’s plan. Casyl wasn’t even sure what the plan was anymore. They needed to discover how and where Amelia had entered their world. If they didn’t, this would be for nothing, although any victory over King Elthar was a personal victory for the king.

They made camp, and the king announced another feast to celebrate their victory.

He rolled his eyes.

Casyl sat next to him at the table of honour along with other generals who were being celebrated for their parts in the battle. Danae sat not too far from Casyl, as did Tharos.

“After the feast, we’ll have the girl brought to us,” the king said to Casyl.

Casyl excused himself and went to find Ruven. He found him drinking at a campfire with the men. He would have joined him earlier if he could have.

He signalled for him to follow and led him into his tent.

The festivities continued around them, with the warriors drinking heavily and enjoying their night of freedom to celebrate victory. They deserved it, even if they didn’t know what they fought for. They’d battled hard and lost comrades.

Ruven followed him inside.

“What is it?” Ruven asked.

Casyl went to open the tent flap to check that no one had followed.

“I need you to get Amelia away,” Casyl said.

“What?”

Ruven was the only person he could turn to. He trusted him implicitly and knew that he’d grown attached to Amelia himself. It was hard to train someone so closely and not form a bond. He knew that by doing this he was effectively sealing his own fate, but getting her away would be worth it. He had lived long enough under his father’s shadow and no longer cared whether he survived beneath it. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, could die for his father’s greed. But this one fragile life, he could not sacrifice.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but it’s bad, and it involves Amelia. She’s going to get hurt. I don’t know how, but I’m not willing to let that happen. Are you?”

“Why would she be harmed?”

“The king plans to use her to get back into the human lands. If he does that, he’s going to destroy everyone and everything.”

“I thought we were going to help her return. That we were fighting this war to stop them from killing her.”