“Blademaster?” repeated Adeya. “You taught Kyen swordsmanship?”
“Tried,” said Gennen.
“Kyen never finished,” said Wynne with a smirk.
“He quit,” added Oda.
“We passed the initiation to become Blades of Avanna,” said Inen. “Kyen did not.”
“He’s not even a real man, yet!” said Wynne.
A look from Gennen’s pale eyes made her fall silent and poke the fire with a stick. He addressed Adeya, “I thought Kyen died in the Black War. But then I met with a procession of King Veleda escorting some criminal not long ago, and I learned Kyen had been involved. Seems all these years he’s been in hiding.”
“Coward,” muttered Wynne.
“We’ve been tracking him all the way from Isea.” Odallyan yawned out the words as he stretched.
A small smile rose on Gennen’s face as he looked back to Adeya. “Before that, I found these three on the southern borders of Varkest. Playing bandits.”
Wynne jolted as if stung, Inen avoided meeting anyone’s gaze, and Odallyan’s eyes grew wide.
“And some thrashing you gave us when you caught us!” he whined. “I still don’t know what we did wrong.”
“We only killed a few travelers,” said Inen.
“We should have killed more!” said Wynne. “It’s such a pain sparing them all the time!”
Adeya stared at the three; she’d gone pale in the firelight.
“Blades of Avanna get into trouble if you don’t keep an eye on them,” said Gennen.
“Are…” She began. “Are you sure you’re of Avanna?”
Her question drew frowns from them all. Gennen raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“I’ve got my reasons to be wary of people not being where they say they’re from,” she said.
“Our looks aren’t enough for you?” asked Gennen, his smile returning. “What proof can we offer you?”
“Kyen always said Avanna fell,” said Adeya. “That there aren’t many of Avanna left. How did you escape?”
“Oh, that?” said Wynne.
“We three left marauding that night in Denmont,” said Oda.
“When we returned in the morning, all the bridges had been snapped,” said Inen. “Avanna was just… gone.”
“I don’t think any of us know what happened.” Wynne shot Gennen a sharp look.
“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I was snug at a Veleda Inn the night it fell. I’ve not been back to the bridges since.”
“I’ve heard Kyen was there, that he saw it happen, but he doesn’t talk about it,” said Adeya.
Wynne let loose a big yawn and rolled over. “It was probably his fault somehow.”
“Knowing Kyen?” Odallyan ended his thought with a scoff.
“First watch, Inen,” Gennen cut in. “Sleep, the rest of you. I want to reach the hold tomorrow.”
* * *
The afternoon Arc shone down bright and clear on the little figures toiling up the mountainside.
Kyen lay in the stretcher, still and pale. Gennen carried its foot in Wynne’s place while she and Odallyan scampered about the rocks on either side. Their strong, lithe figures stopped upright now and then to scan the surrounding terrain. Inen carried the head of Kyen’s stretcher as well as Adeya on his back, bumping her about as they jogged along. The warriors kept up their steady dogtrot along a mountain path, puffing a little at the steepest parts, but slowing for none of it.
The path, after appearing at the lakeside, had left the trees behind and threaded between a pile of boulders the size of houses. It skirted alongside a wide talus slope—a spray of shale and boulders piled against a high cliff. A narrow shelf spanned the cliff’s width, but rather than follow it, the path mounted straight up its face as a narrow stair-like zigzag. While they ascended it, Adeya tightened her grip on Inen’s neck and squeezed her eyes shut against the drop-off to the sharp rocks below. The path kept rising after the cliff along the ridge of a ravine, heading towards a dark crack in the mountain’s shoulder ahead of them.
While they traveled along the ridge, Oda trotted up. He opened the pack on Gennen’s back and, without either of them slowing a step, he dug out the water skin. After taking a long swig, he trotted up to offer it to Inen.
Inen shook his head so Oda took another long swig.
Swiping his mouth, he looked up at Adeya. “Did you know King Isea is offering a reward for you? Said you’d been kidnapped.”
“I am not kidnapped!”
He pulled a scroll from his belt and unrolled it. King Isea’s seal stamped the bottom of the notice that he held up to Adeya’s nose. “See how much he’s offering for you? You’re worth a pretty penny.”
“I am NOT kidnapped. I left of my own accord!” She shot back. “Didn’t they get my letter?”
“Too bad.” He smirked. “Had me wondering if Kyen finally did something worth being proud of.”
“Kyen did not kidnap me!” cried Adeya.
“Good luck explaining that to your father.” Oda snickered. He tossed aside the scroll and waterskin on top of Kyen and bound away.
Adeya stared after him in open-mouthed outrage.
“Gennen!” Wynne’s shout rang from ahead as she bound back to meet them. “Fiends!”
Without stopping, Gennen and Inen looked in the direction of her pointing finger.
Five feline shapes loped to the top of the staircase. They bound up the path behind them, gaining fast.
“Inen, get Kyen and Adeya to the hold,” said Gennen. The two ground to a halt and lowered the stretcher. Adeya hung tight to his back as Inen stooped to pick up Kyen. She scrunched herself over with a cry as he slung Kyen’s unconscious body over his shoulder like a sack of wheat. Inen took off at a full sprint up towards the crack in the mountain.
Adeya looked back.
Wynne, Oda, and Gennen drew their swords as the fiends spurred towards them. Two veered off, the shale flying from their paws as they skirted the warriors. With grinning mouths wide, they bolted after Inen.
“Inen! Behind us!” Adeya cried.
Inen pushed himself faster. He dashed up the last stretch of path to the mouth of the crack—an opening into a dim, narrow canyon. His pounding footsteps rang off the walls as they entered.
One cougar fiend skidded in behind them, outlined in the bright entrance.
“Where’s the other one?” asked Adeya.
Inen suddenly slung them off his back. She cried out, landing in a heap on top of Kyen’s limp body.
Inen leapt sideways as a dark shape dropped down from above. The second fiend landed where they’d just been standing. Drawing his sword, he charged the fiend with a roar. It dodged the whipping blade and swiped with its claws, forcing the warrior back.
The fiend at the entrance turned its faceless head from the battle to Adeya.
She scrambled to her feet and drew her knife.
Its toothy grin split wider; the fiend made a weird, purring chortle as it stalked forward.
Off to the side, Inen’s whirling blade took out the second fiend’s back leg. Its body buckled. He smashed down on it, slicing and hacking in a whirl of dark haze as the fiend disintegrated. Even as it fell in pieces to the blade, it shrieked at him and slashed again.
The other fiend cougar neared Adeya.
Drawing a deep breath, she tried screaming at it as loud as she could—as Oda had done—and brandished her knife. The fiend flinched for a moment; but only a moment. It crouched back on its hind legs to pounce.
Before it launched, a boulder flew out of the depths of the canyon. The fiend gave an awkward squawk as the rock smashed it flat.