Corwin turned toward her and said, “Race you. First to the Wandering Woods wins.” Without waiting for a response, he heeled Nightbringer into a gallop, straight toward the distant tree line.
“You cheater,” Kate called after him, catching up a moment later. Their horses matched strides easily, both of them fighting to get ahead, with their competitive natures showing. In the end, neither won nor lost. Kate and Corwin slowed their mounts to a walk at the same time, just before the entrance to the woods.
“Well, that was fun.” Corwin slapped Nightbringer’s neck affectionately.
“I think I needed that,” Kate said, breathless.
But she still wasn’t ready to head back to the city. She turned her gaze onto the woods, with its slender, white-barked trees stacked in tight rows like spears on a weapon’s rack. There was something haunting about their stark beauty.
Feeling suddenly mischievous, she arched an eyebrow at Corwin and inclined her head. “Shall we cool them down in there, out of the sun?”
Corwin laughed, the sound just shy of nervous. “I haven’t been in there in years. Not since the last time we dared.”
Kate wasn’t surprised. Few ever ventured into the Wandering Woods. It was said to be haunted, cursed. According to the history books, one of the Hellgates—the portals that unleashed the nightdrakes onto Rime—was hidden somewhere among those trees. Years ago, she and Corwin had dared each other to ride into the woods in search of the Hellgate. They didn’t make it very far before turning back, their imaginations getting the better of them. The fear had been fun, creating a ready-made excuse for them to find comfort in each other’s arms. The memory sent a flutter through Kate’s chest.
Things would be different today. They were different people, braver and wiser. Not that the adventure of it had anything to do with why she suggested going in. No, the guaranteed privacy was the appeal today. Kate wanted the freedom to use her gift, to get to know Firedancer the best way she knew how. There’d be no risk of magists discovering her in there.
“Well, I’m game if you are,” Corwin said, and he urged Nightbringer down the overgrown path.
Kate followed after him, closing her eyes and stretching out with her magic. A sense of completeness came over her as she joined with Firedancer, feeling the mare’s tired excitement. She had enjoyed their ride. So had Nightbringer, Kate was pleased to learn when she touched his mind as well. She breathed in, savoring the feel of the magic inside her. She’d gone too long without using it. With Corwin leading the way, silent and inattentive, Kate stretched out even further with her gift, soon sensing the birds, foxes, squirrels, and other wild animals in the woods.
“The first of the uror trials is in two weeks,” Corwin said a few minutes later, jarring Kate out of the trance she’d fallen under.
Withdrawing her magic, she cleared her throat. “Yes, I heard. I’m surprised they’re starting so soon.”
“That makes two of us. But the priestesses are in a hurry. Given how long they had to wait for the uror sign to finally appear, I don’t blame them.”
Kate winced at the bitterness in his voice. She expected it not to be there, not now that the uror was here. Then again, maybe it was just nerves. Historically, there were always three trials for the uror, three tests designed to prove the heirs’ suitability to sit upon the Mirror Throne. Kate had no idea what the tests entailed, but it was common knowledge that participants sometimes died during them.
“Are you worried?” she asked.
“A little.” He slowed Nightbringer, making room for her to ride next to him, the path just wide enough to allow for it. “But to be honest, I fear winning far more than losing. Or even dying for that matter.”
Kate scoffed. “Don’t be absurd. You will make a great king. Everyone always thought so when we were younger.” Kate remembered it well, the way the servants, courtiers, and even the king himself treated Corwin as the heir apparent.
“Yes, I remember. I used to believe them, too. More’s the pity.” He grimaced, his gaze dropping to his bandaged right hand, where the uror brand lay hidden. But after a moment, Kate realized it wasn’t the bandage that held his attention but the vambrace around his wrist. She’d noticed that he always wore it to hide the tattoo beneath.
“What happened to you?” Kate said, curiosity getting the better of her. “The Corwin I knew would’ve been eager to win and certain of victory even before it began. Like the one who challenged me to that race just now.”
He barked a laugh. “If only ruling a kingdom was as simple, but I’m afraid that Corwin died on a battlefield in Endra.”
Kate shot him a puzzled look. “Is that where you were these last few years? In Endra?”
He nodded, bending low to dodge a branch dangling across the path. “I joined the Shieldhawks for a time.”
“The tattoo.” Kate gasped, her mind making the connection at last. No wonder it had been so difficult. The Shieldhawks were a legendary mercenary company out of Endra, the last organization she would ever have associated with the high prince of Rime. It was downright scandalous.
“I’m sorry,” Kate said, noticing Corwin’s bemused look. “I saw it when you were injured but I couldn’t place why it was familiar. But . . . why would you join the Shieldhawks?”
Corwin turned his gaze ahead and shrugged, the gesture at odds with the stiffness in his shoulders and back. “Oh, many reasons. Not the least of which was the uror. If I was never to be king, I wanted to do something that mattered, and the Shieldhawks are mostly concerned with stopping Seva from taking over the world. I can’t imagine a more noble cause than that. For a while I thought I’d found my place and purpose among them. I was wrong.”
An ache squeezed Kate’s throat at the loss she sensed in him. Swallowing it down, she asked, “What happened?”
Corwin blew out a breath, one loud enough to make Nightbringer prick his ears back at him in alarm. “We were sent on a mission to disrupt a Sevan supply line. I’d just made captain. There were twelve men under my command. Only two of us made it back.”
“You and Dal,” Kate said, remembering the conversation she’d had with him that night by the Relay tower.
Tight-lipped, Corwin added, “If there was any doubt about my unworthiness to lead, I proved it then. Initiating the trials now is nothing but the gods mocking me.”
Kate gaped, shocked by the strength of his conviction. She felt it like a slap. Only, she remembered Dal warning her to be skeptical when he told her this story. He’d called Corwin’s actions heroic.
“You can’t really believe what you’re saying, Corwin.”
He started to respond, but Nightbringer spooked without warning, stomping his front legs. Firedancer did too, the force of it jarring Kate’s spine. She tightened her fingers around the reins automatically and pressed her heels down in the stirrups, braced for another spook.
“I wonder what’s gotten into them?” Corwin said.
“No idea.” Instinctively, Kate touched Firedancer’s mind. The mare sensed something wrong ahead, a smell that filled her with fear. Kate reached out further with her magic, searching for the wild animals she’d sensed earlier. They were keeping their distance from this place, those nearest quiet and still from the same fear infecting the horses.
Expanding her search, Kate stumbled across the source of the fear—a creature she didn’t recognize. It was predatory, its mind focused like a cat on the hunt, but there was something oily about its thoughts, as if they weren’t completely contained. If she got too close to them, their substance might rub off on her. She couldn’t sense that warm glow that was at the center of most animals either. Where it ought to have been, there was only emptiness. Stranger too was that she sensed multiple minds, as if there were several creatures wrapped inside one, thoughts garbled and overlapping, connected like threads in a web. It was impossible to tell where one ended and another began.