Ella and Shani rode along narrow trails, through forested glens and down wide roads, heading north into the wild lands the Akari would have to pass through on their way south. Ella made the same speech at every town and village. Sometimes her words were received with fright; other times people challenged her with rattling swords and cries of rage.
They traveled as swiftly as possible, desperate in their search, always with the fear in their minds that they would miss the Dain’s force altogether. Perhaps the Dain hadn’t seen the signal. Or perhaps he’d seen it and hadn’t come.
Even with remounts, they couldn’t gallop all the time. Ella took care to ensure they spared their horses. If they lost a mount, their mission would suffer.
“Ella,” Shani said as they walked the horses alongside a grassy bank beside a thin stream. “I just want you to know, I don’t think it’s true.”
Ella tore her gaze from the trail. “What’s not true?”
“About Killian having a love back in Seranthia. I don’t think it’s true.”
Ella sighed; she wished she’d never told Shani. “What makes you say that?”
“I saw the way he looked at you back in Sarostar. You’d have to be a fool not to see it. It was the look of a man in pain. A certain kind of pain, if you get my meaning.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ella said. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
“What’s more important than love?”
“Safety,” said Ella. “Freedom. Life.”
“You’re wrong,” said Shani. “Bartolo would give his life for me, and I for him. Do you doubt me?”
“No, but . . .”
“It’s love that binds us together. Even if we rarely acknowledge it, it’s love for our fellow humans, even those we don’t know, that makes us risk our lives to fight for the Empire.”
“Fine,” Ella said. “I get your point.”
“Do you? Ella, love is a risk. It takes courage, and it takes work, but it’s all worth it in the end. Every time something goes wrong, you can’t shy away. You need to face things head on.”
“Like facing an enemy?” Ella smiled.
“Like everything else in life,” Shani said, her expression as grave as Ella had ever seen her. “You’re brave in so many ways, but when it comes to love, you’re as timid as a dormouse. I understand you’re afraid of being hurt, but that’s part of the process. Every time Bartolo goes into battle, I’m so scared I can hardly breathe. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Shani, he knows about Ilathor. I saw his eyes; he’ll never forgive me. And now he has Carla. She was his first love. I’ll never compete.”
“Talk to him!”
“I’ll think about it,” Ella said. “There’s another village ahead. Let’s see what they have to say.”
The villagers told them about a large army passing through. Ella couldn’t believe the relief she felt to hear them describe tall, blonde-haired warriors with pale skin and endless ranks of eerie white-eyed revenants.
Ella pushed Shani and herself harder now, riding from before dawn until after dusk. After two more days they passed a fallow field next to a series of pastures, and with night setting around them Ella saw a multitude of twinkling lights that could only be campfires.
“Who goes there?” a tall sentry challenged the two riders.
Ella breathed a sigh of relief to see he was a living Akari warrior. More sentries came up to join them, and soon they faced a cluster of warriors carrying axes, hammers, and two-handed swords.
“I’m Enchantress Ella Torresante of Altura, and this is Elementalist Shani of Petrya,” Ella said. “We need to see the Dain.”
The sentries conferred, and a moment later half a dozen warriors formed up around them as the two women dismounted, leading Ella and Shani through the camp. Ella passed necromancers in gray robes and tried to relax her tensed muscles: these were friends, she reminded herself. Lord of the Sky, she struggled to shake how much they looked like the enemy.
Seeing the revenants actually wasn’t as bad; the enemy revenants came from the lands across the sea, a motley horde collected from all over those conquered lands. These revenants were calm and orderly, universally Akari, with gray uniforms and precise movements. Ella managed to steady herself after a time. The memories of the fight for Altura were a month old, but they were as fresh as if they’d occurred moments ago.
Ella and Shani halted outside a white pavilion, open at the sides, evidently a space the Dain used for receiving visitors and making plans. Revenant servants took their horses, and then Ella ducked her head and entered the pavilion, with Shani following close behind.
Dain Barden Mensk of the Akari sat at the head of a table of whitewashed wood. He leaned forward over a map while a commander spoke to him in low tones.
“Enchantress Ella of Altura and Elementalist Shani of Petrya,” a soldier announced.