"So?"
I forced myself not to let my frustration show. It wasn't Alex's fault he didn't understand my concern. His faction was Restoration. He cared about healing people, not what it looked like to harm them.
"Only fools—or bandits—would travel so empty-handed. Four grown men are not fools, Alex. Even fools would have known to take that last main road to an inn…" I swallowed. "But a bandit, they wouldn't need to bother with packs since, well, because they would be taking our own instead."
My twin slowly mulled over my words. I wondered if he would believe me. I wasn't exactly known for my easygoing temperament. I hoped he didn't think this was just another one of my "rash judgments" as our parents were wont to assume.
As I waited for Alex's response, I pretended to check the footholds, giving myself an opportunity to spy on our shadow once more. Though the men were much harder to identify without the broad light of day, there was still no mistaking the glint of steel bulging from one of the men's hip. Only a soldier or knight was allowed to bear such metal.
A chill ran through me. I doubted he was either.
"Right," Alex said abruptly.
In as much nonchalance as one could muster under the circumstances, I faced my brother stubbornly. "Alex—"
"I believe you."
Oh. I paused.
"What should we do, Ry?" Gone was his relaxed smile, and in its place a timid frown…and an unsure, flickering blue stare. At first I didn't recognize the expression—he looked so much younger than his fifteen years. But then I realized it was fear producing the vulnerability in my brother's eyes.
My twin, the rational, levelheaded, sane half of me, was afraid. What did that mean for the two of us? I refused to contemplate the answer. Instead, I scanned the trail ahead, trying to make out our intended route amid the lumbering pines.
Unfortunately, it was much easier to point out the problem than come up with a solution.
We should have taken the main road, I acknowledged belatedly. If I hadn't been so set on the fastest route to the Academy, we would be on a nice, well-traveled path instead of a desolate mountain range, about to be robbed.
But it was too late now.
"Ryiah?"
I bit my lip. Alex was looking to me for an answer. This was, after all, my forte. What had I told my parents before we left home? I would join Combat or die trying.
A fine choice of words. What had been meant as a melodramatic proclamation was now to be my intended irony. I could not fight our way out of this. Not against four grown, arms-holding men. Not without magic.
For the millionth time I silently questioned the gods' motive in my inability to cast. But this wasn't the time to sulk in my inadequacies. I needed to pick a plan fast.
I peered into the trees, straining to see any sort of upcoming detour. If we could find a way to circle back, lose the men in a chase, and then return to the main road… Or maybe lose them in hiding, taking cover under darkness and then move out again at first light?
Perhaps Alex was right, and the men would just carry on. We could just set up camp here and now and be none the worse.
Yes, and pigs might fly, I scolded myself. You want to be a warrior mage, and yet you shirk at the first sign of danger.
I do not shirk.
"When I say 'go,'" I whispered, sidling as close to Alex as my own mount could manage, "I want you to take off west. I'll head east—"
Alex opened his mouth to protest, and I hushed him.
"We have to split up. Staying together would only increase their chance of catching us."
My brother stared me down defiantly. "I am not leaving you, Ry."
I ignored him. "We can meet up at that tavern we passed earlier just before the fork… If…If one of us isn't there within a couple hours of daylight, then we hire the local guard to help search out the other. It might take a little longer if we are on foot." I swallowed. "Local thugs don't usually kill unless someone puts up a fight." At least that's what I'd heard.
"But what if they—"
"They won't," I said.
He shook his head stubbornly. "If they find out you're a girl—"
I looked my brother in the eye. "It's our best bet, Alex. If you stay with me, you will not be helping either one of us."
Alex swore. "Ryiah, I don't like this plan one bit."
I motioned for him to get ready, and leaned forward to stand in the stirrups with both hands gripped firmly to the horse's mane. Alex copied my movements, and as soon as he was in a similar stance, I nodded.
"Now!"
In a cloud of rising dirt and debris, my charge took off at a breathless gallop. The thundering clash of hooves and the cries of surprise from the party behind us left me with an elated sense of victory. We had managed to catch them off-guard.