Cade 29

In the predawn stillness of the forest, the sound of two horses moving slowly down the dirt trail echoed back from the darkness. Cade held up his hand and stopped their progress. Dirk slid from Sarsus simultaneously pulling sword from sheath. Razar crouched low and disappeared into the frost sprinkled underbrush at Cade’s signal.

Thick dense forests of fir, aspen, and birch surrounded the Wardex settlement to the south and west. Deer, fowl, rabbit, wild boar, and an occasional bear supplied the clan with adequate amounts of meat. While the forests afforded the Wardex settlement privacy and protection, it also provided perfect concealment for enemies.

They were several miles west of the settlement and the suns were minutes from cresting the horizon, giving the forest an eerie predawn glow. Dirk pointed toward his eyes and then toward a thick copse of evergreen trees in a small clearing. Cade nodded and slipped off Mammoth while pulling Magus free.

He crouched low, stalking toward the evergreens with Dirk flanking.

“Razar!” A female voice said. “Stop. Down!”

Cade sighed and slowly straightened. He slid Magus back into the sheath on his back and looked at Dirk, who at that moment wore a somewhat bemused expression, while slipping his own sword home.

“Kyna Wardex!” Cade shouted. “To me!”

“Bad hound,” Kyna muttered causing Dirk to laugh aloud. She stepped from behind an evergreen just as the suns crested the horizon behind her, causing blond hair to glow white.

Cade watched Kyna approach. A delicately wrought gold crown sat upon her head. Silver bow and arrows gleamed upon her back. She was riding a while palfrey, her face full of determination. Behind her, legions of bowmen dressed in green velvet and brown galloped on foot across an open plain.

Cade’s stomach knotted and he blinked. As quickly as it came, it was gone. A vision then, he thought, not completely unprecedented in Wardex. Though, the gift was rumored to have disappeared hundreds of years before. He marveled momentarily at his ability to accept it, then pushed the thought aside. The world was changing, and no doubt the Wardex gifts would change as well. It was all very logical.

Despite the new found ability, the content of the vision disturbed him and set his mood afoul.

Kyna approached dressed entirely in green velvet but for the white fur cloak draped around her shoulders. Her blond hair hung in a heavy plaited rope down her back. Her mother’s bow perched on one shoulder and a quiver full of arrows on her back. Not the silver Cade saw in the vision, but the familiar elm wood bow Kyna claimed on her tenth birthday. A gold hilted dagger rested underneath the leather belt around her waist.

Razar walked beside her, tail wagging.

“Go back,” Cade commanded.

"I will not,” Kyna’s breath puffed in the chilled dawn air. “I’ve waited here for hours.”

Dirk raised his eyebrows, tried not to smile, and looked at Cade.

“What are you about?” Cade’s eyes narrowed.

“I am coming with you,” Kyna said adjusting green velvet gloves before meeting Cade’s blue eyes.

Cade shook his head.

“Don’t shake your head at me Cade Wardex. I go where I please.” Kyna said between clenched teeth.

“Father will not have it. What’s more,” Cade said crossing thick arms over his muscled chest. “I will not have it.”

“You will not have it?” Kyna said. She took two steps forward and craned her delicate neck to see his face. He saw the familiar glint in her green gold eyes, the glint which always portended trouble.

“You are not my father or my husband Cade. I go where I choose.”

Cade held up one blunt finger. “Kyna you will slow us down.” He lifted a second. “Father will worry.” He lifted a third. “You could be injured or killed.”

It was Kyna’s turn to shake her head. “You do not know me as a woman grown Cade. I have a gift with the bow. War is coming. Whether I stay or go to mother’s people as Father commands, it will come to my door. I’d rather face it next to my brothers than with a people I barely know.”

Cade rubbed a thick hand over his face. “You are hardly a woman grown Kyna Wardex. I can not allow it. If something happens to you….” His blue eyes turned hard.

“I will go to the Gray and see Loghan,” Kyna said and stepped back dragging air through her clenched teeth. “I will accompany you or go my own way. But go I will.”

Cade stretched his neck and looked to the sky already glowing with the rising suns. “Go back Kyna,” he punctuated every word with command and slowly looked her in the eye. “It is not right to worry father when so much else is going on in the world. He no doubt has the entire settlement looking for you.”

Kyna’s chin lifted. “I left him a message Cade. He knows exactly where I am.”

Cade sighed. “Father is coming to the Gray but a few days behind us. He can provide you proper escort with hundreds of swords at his command. We travel quickly and there is no place, more Kyna, no protection other than our two swords, for you.”

Kyna laughed. “Father doesn’t intend I ever see the Gray. He would drop me in mother’s village on the way. I am going Cade, resign yourself to it.”

“You have no idea the enemies we will encounter,” Cade said remembering the gargon attack. “You are not made to fight as a man might Kyna.”

Kyna nodded. “It is true brother I have no experience fighting the dark races. But I am not without resources.”

Cade snorted. “That puny bow will do little good.”

Kyna’s spine stiffened. “You doubt my ability brother?”

Cade sighed. “You are a woman! You have no strength Kyna. The bow is only good against a distant enemy. We will not always have the luxury of fighting from afar.”

Kyna scowled more than a little offended.

Dirk cleared his throat meaningfully.

Cade grimaced at his friend. “Speak it!”

Dirk glanced at the suns beginning to push their way across the sky.

Cade grit his teeth. “You put me in a hard position Kyna. We do not have the luxury of time. The ferry leaves at noon tide two days from now. We must be there. I can not escort you back. Can I trust you to return to the clan?”

Kyna laughed and started walking in the direction of the lake. “We must hurry then, the ferry will not wait. My horse is up ahead.”

Cade growled and mounted Mammoth.

“She was always stubborn,” Dirk teased. “She’s grown into a beautiful woman Cade. I’ve never seen such beautiful eyes.”

Cade’s saddle leather creaked as he turned to face his friend with a frown. “You will not be noticing the beauty of her eyes or any other part of her person Dirk Wardex.”

Dirk shrugged. “If you say so.”

“I say so,” Cade growled.

Kyna came out of the underbrush leading a brown mare. Once upon the path, she swung effortlessly up into the side saddle.

“What of the shifter?” Dirk brought the brown mare up next to Cade’s stallion.

Cade thrust his chin forward. “She will meet us further on.”

“You trust her to scout our land?” Dirk asked.

Cade shook his head. “No. Short of killing her, I could not stop it.”

“How do you know she will not betray us?” Dirk questioned.

“I do not,” Cade said. “For now she believes I am part of prophecy. So long as she believes I expect her to remain with us.”

Dirk laughed. “I dream of killing shifters. It should not be difficult if she plans to betray us.”

Cade snorted. “A fortnight ago I would readily agree. But I have seen her gift and it is beyond my dreaming.”

“How do you mean?” Dirk asked.

Cade looked down at Razar. “We dream of weaknesses and know how to battle the dark races, but we don’t know the full extent of their power. Seeing the shift in flesh and blood is much different than in the dream. We know nothing of their ways. All we know is how to exploit their weaknesses.”

Dirk nodded. “It is what a warrior requires.”

Cade took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Any intelligence on our enemy is an advantage. The Alai spent three days with the shifter attempting to gain as much information about the dark races as possible. Truth be told, they meant to keep her captive were she not willing to stay.”

Dirk grunted. “And once they picked her brain of all pertinent information?”

Cade looked at Dirk, clear blue eyes hard.

Dirk whistled. “I wondered why they allowed her to be privy to all the reports from the field.”

Cade nodded. “Make no mistake Dirk. Traveling with me may put you in more danger than you realize with the Alai. They will reason we left together for the same purpose and without their leave. And the fact we accompany a shifter they condemned to death.” Cade sighed. “There will eventually be a reckoning.”

Dirk rubbed a large hand through his black hair and studied the slightly frosted red and yellow leaves on the trees above. The horse hooves on the dirt path were the only sound for several minutes.

Cade watched his childhood friend from the corner of his eye. As children and not yet men, Dirk was always dependable. But those antics never went directly against the Alai.

Finally, Dirk laughed. “When the reckoning comes, we will face them together. Much like old times when facing your father.”

Cade exhaled and smiled.