Hazad gulped a breath. “No … but this is days old,” he muttered.
Azuri made to toss the stick toward the road, but it never left his hand. “What is that?”
Kian followed the man’s stare and found that a wide swath of the desert had a charred look to it. Perplexed, he led his friends in that direction. The closer they came to the blackened area, the more their feet crunched over irregular beads of glass. They had seen similar glass around craters left behind by Ellonlef’s Tears of Pa’amadin.
They halted while still far from the edge of the scorched area.
“He slaughtered them all,” a woman’s voice said.
As one, the trio spun, each brandishing their swords. Ellonlef, sheltering in the scant shade of a leafless bush, disheveled and tattered, gazed at them with eyes that looked as though they had not known sleep for days. Despite her ragged appearance, there was no denying the relief written across her ash-smudged face.
Kian sheathed his sword and rushed to her side, a relief like he had never known coming into his heart. In truth, what he felt upon seeing her safe was indescribable.
“Are you well?” he asked, helping her to her feet.
Ellonlef offered a weary nod in answer.
He hesitated a moment, then reached out and gently took her shoulders in his hands, turning her this way and that to get a better look. She was tired and filthy, but appeared to carry no wounds other than a fading bruise on her cheek. He wanted to ask her a thousand questions, but when she looked up into his eyes and gave him a tentative smile, her dark gaze glimmering with unshed tears, he kissed her instead. There was no thought on his part, he just did it, and she did not resist.
When Hazad cleared his throat, Kian reluctantly pulled away from her, wondering if he had lost his mind. By her expression of breathless startlement, Ellonlef might have been considering the same thing. Azuri looked between them with an arched eyebrow, but said nothing. Hazad, on the other hand, burst out laughing.
After a trio of scowls quieted the big man, he said, “Now that the reunion is out of the way, do you mind telling us what happened, Sister Ellonlef?”
Kian did his best to behave as nothing had happened between them. Ellonlef shot him a glance that promised they would speak of what had undeniably happened, but later. Then she took a precise step away from him, smoothed a shaky hand over her mussed hair, and began speaking about the demons that had brought her to Varis.
Kian tried to listen, but could only apply half of his wits to what Ellonlef was saying. The other half focused on how she had felt in his arms, the softness of her lips. Neither could he discount the elation he felt in knowing that she was safe at his side. Normally he was in firm control of himself, but what he felt for Ellonlef had caught him completely off his guard.
Silence drew his attention. “What is it?”
“You were not listening?” Ellonlef said in exasperation, but the gleam in her eyes told Kian she was pleased about something. His stern look only seemed to make her happier.
Shaking his head, he growled, “If I missed something, tell it again.”
“What it amounts to,” Hazad said with jovial sarcasm, “is that Varis has offered you a vow of peace.”
Kian arched a doubtful eyebrow. “His conditions?”
“If you flee to Izutar, he promises not to conquer our homeland until you have lived a long life and died. If you do not go, then he will destroy you, but only after he forces you to watch him annihilate Izutar. The same vow holds for Ellonlef.”
Kian snorted dismissively, though in the back of his mind rage was building, especially after hearing Varis intended harm for Ellonlef. “Sounds like the cowardly bluster of someone who knows he is already defeated. The only peace I intend to give him will be that of the tomb.”
“I do not think it is bluster,” Azuri said. “According to Ellonlef, Varis has grown more powerful by far than when we last saw him. I believe he intended that message to be a challenge, a slap in the face, as it were. My guess is that he cannot wait for you to come for him, so that he can kill you, proving he is the more powerful of the two of you.”
Kian squinted at the Ulkions, his visage outwardly calm. Inside, the smoldering rage had become an inferno. He recalled a similar feeling when he had first seen Varis step out of the temple. Then, however, that wrath had been tempered by a humiliating fear. Despite that the prince had slaughtered his men and had sent mahk’lar after him, he had forced himself not to consider exacting revenge. His answer had been to run. If not for coming upon Ellonlef fighting the Bashye, he would be in Izutar already, hiding amid the safety of far-off mountains covered in snow and ice and silent forests. He would be there, seemingly safe … though bereft of honor. It was a mistake he had almost made. He had seen once proud men who had turned their backs on what they knew in their hearts was the just course. Bitterness always masked the sorrow of their broken spirits, and he had no intention of becoming such a man.
Kian looked to Ellonlef, who was gazing at the waiting mountains in the east, and his anger receded. He could not hold fury in his heart with her so near. She was a beautiful woman, made all the more so because she seemed not to know it. He imagined her framed by snow-laden pine boughs of a winter wood….
He abruptly shook the vision from his mind, but could not so easily erase the feelings for her from his heart. “We are a few days from Ammathor,” he said. “There is no point keeping the prince waiting.”
“Do not seek him out,” Ellonlef pleaded.
“As I recall,” he said, more fiercely then he intended, “it was you who set me after Varis in the first place. What happened to saving Aradan in order to save Izutar? You said yourself that Varis will not stop at taking the Ivory Throne.”
Ellonlef would not look him in the eye. “I have not changed my mind on any of those points, but he has given you a choice. You have a chance to live out your life in peace … as do I.”
Kian wanted to draw her near, offer the reassurance she seemed to need, but for now he could not. By the gods good and wise, he hoped to one day have that chance.
“It is too late for turning aside,” Kian said, matching her quiet tone.
“But Varis gave-”
“His word?” Kian interrupted gently. “You cannot trust the word of a highborn at the best of times, let alone one who believes he is a god.”
“He will kill you!” Ellonlef blurted, her dark eyes now brimming with tears. “You did not see what he did to his army, how he destroyed ten thousand in moments. God or no, he holds the power of one!”
Kian clenched his teeth to avoid saying anything he would regret. As calmly as possible, he said, “The matter is settled. Varis has started a war that I will finish.”
“He will kill you,” Ellonlef said again, her voice flat.
Kian grinned wolfishly. “Thank you for your confidence, Sister, but if he could have, he would have done so already.”
Ellonlef cursed bitterly, then spun on her heel and stalked away.
“I do believe she is smitten,” Hazad knowingly.
“The question is,” Azuri said to Kian, “are you?”
Kian frowned at the question. “I barely know the woman.”
Azuri raised an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be a denial?”
Kian exhaled loudly. “Enough with this nonsense. I have a fight ahead of me, but I do not command either of you to join me.”
“I will stand with you,” Hazad promised.
“As will I,” Azuri added, if with somewhat less enthusiasm. He had always been the wisest of them.
Chapter 30