“So he listened to you, Exeres?” Thealos said. “You must be more persuasive than the rest of us.”
The priest sat down by the fire and leaned back on his hands and grunted with the movement. “A better explanation would be…that he could not ignore all three of our warnings. The man is not superstitious, but I think what he saw in the skies unnerved him a bit.”
“Seems that everyone owes you a favor tonight,” Thealos said. “Do you carry a tally stick so we can all carve our due in it?” He gave the priest a smile to let him know he was joking. “Your warning was well timed, to us all.”
The priest lay back and pillowed his head on his hands. “If I’m going to collect any due tonight, it would be to get some sleep. I don’t think…” He stopped and a long yawn escaped him. “Can’t keep my eyes open.” He squinted up at the sky. “Look at the stars. Is it that early already?”
Allavin snorted. “It’ll be dawn in a few more hours. Get some sleep. I’ll stand watch.”
Thealos shook his head. “You need some sleep too, Allavin. I’ll watch.”
Allavin raised an eyebrow and a weary smile came over his mouth. “Too tired to argue with you. If you can’t stay awake, give me a nudge.” He put a hand on Justin’s knee. “Sleep, Warder. We’re not enemies.”
Justin bowed his head. “I do not deserve your forgiveness. I killed your friends.”
Allavin’s mouth twitched. “I know, Warder. But if your guilt is near enough to my loss, then you’ve suffered enough for it. I blame the Sorian witch. Not you.”
Thealos gave Allavin a smile and watched as the grizzled woodsman wrapped himself in a blanket near the fire stones and fell asleep in moments. He turned to Justin. “Sleep, friend.”
“I slept too long in the warding. I don’t think I’ll ever be tired again.” He finished off the broth, set the bowl on the ground, and faced away from the fire. Clutching his robes to his trembling body, he lay down and said nothing, staring at the stars.
Horses stamped around the camp and knights ghosted in and out of the firelight, pulling down tents and scrubbing the stew pots and sharpening blades. Mounts snorted and huffed in the darkness, tossing their manes, and soldiers coughed. The warmth of the fire throbbed against his boot soles and he tugged them beneath him, staring for a moment at the flames. He glanced to one side and saw the rise and fall of Exeres’ chest as he slept. A human with Shae blood. It went against the Rules of Forbiddance. His upbringing in Avisahn made part of him cringe being near Exeres. Yet what control did a man have over his own birth? It was like blaming an elm for the rain.
“Are you jealous of him, Quickfellow?” Stasy sidled up next to him.
How did she keep doing that? He was the Sleepwalker, not her.
He looked at her then glanced over at Flent passed out and heard the first throaty sputtering of a snore. He’d thought it was a horse braying. “Jealous?”
“Of Exeres.”
“Why would I be jealous of him?”
She cocked her head and butted his elbow with hers.
“Should I be jealous of him?” He thought changing the tone of the reply might work better. It was a good barter trick.
She smiled and scratched a little spot on the nape of her neck. “He is rather handsome, even with the eye patch.”
“You’re teasing me.”
“Only because you deserve it.”
He smelled her, the fragrance hauntingly familiar. Her cinnamon-brown eyes that could read into his silence as well as his words. A rush of heat went through him and he looked down at the hem of his black cloak and picked some dead grass from it. Maybe he could understand Exeres better than he first believed. How a Shae could have feelings for a human.
“I missed you, Stasy.”
She smiled at that. “Glad to hear you say it.”
“You didn’t miss me?”
“Why would I want to tell you that? You’re jealous of a half-blind Druid priest who can’t eat meat.”
He smiled and tugged up some grass roots. “No. Not really.”
A smile brightened her face. “Good. You shouldn’t be. Don’t you remember when you saved Flent’s life back at the Foxtale? Gods, doesn’t that seem so long ago?” She picked a grass stalk from his cloak and twirled the stem. “You came out of the night like a Silvan prince…in disguise. So mysterious you were. You had magic that brought my best friend back to life. Doing that made you my friend.” She glanced up at him.
“That does make a little bit of sense.”
“I am a clever girl, after all.”
“You are. At least I remembered your name right. Timacasy.”
She gave him a quirk of a smile. “Not bad, Quickhopper. So are you going to tell me where you went? Where we are going?”
He glanced at Justin, making sure she noted his eyes. “Tomorrow.” He reached over and gave her shoulder a little pat. “I’ll stay awake. See if you can quiet Flent down a little.”