“Where will the marriage ceremony take place?” I ask as reality pulls me from my love-laced daydream.

“In Aeradian, as quickly as we can get you there. I will send you through the Florian Wood with a troop of our best men. It is worth pulling them from the river. Should you reach the Deep Kingdom and marry, we will no longer trouble ourselves with defense.”

“When do I leave?” Excitement and a growing trepidation about the dangerous journey bubble beneath my skin.

“We waste no time. You leave tomorrow.”

His answer propels a wave of nerves through my chest. Tomorrow? I’m to leave everyone and everything I know, marry, and be in my new home all before week’s end? Though I know, I’ll only safely reach Aeradian if Baelliles scouts aren’t swarming the Florian Wood.

Verdanians haven’t traveled that route in years due to the war. While it’s possible, it’s unlikely that Baelliles has positioned scouts on the road. I swallow hard and nod. A nod that signifies my acceptance. A nod that means goodbye.

“For the Lady and Shield,” my father intones.

“For the Guard and Sword,” I pledge back.

Chapter Two

Braizen

“How long are we to sit out here in this blistering heat?” Torrent complains as he wipes sweat from his brow and shakes his thick blond hair. I shoot him a look, one that suggests he stay quiet, but he throws up a careless hand. “Don’t start with me, Braze. You know I don’t care what you have to say.”

Against my better judgment, I laugh. He’s right. Torrent doesn’t care about what I have to say or what anyone has to say, for that matter. Ever.

He’s also right about the gods' damned heat. We’re used to waiting in the hot sun but are not accustomed to sitting still for so long. We’re all sweating and smell stagnant on this last day of summer, the day before the wicked cold pours from the north.

We’ve never trekked so deep into the Florian Wood. Childhood tales and some common sense have always proved warning enough. Terror supposedly lives within these trees.

Once again, I pat the pocket in my cloak and am comforted to feel the map of The Wood. It isn’t an entirely accurate chart of this place, but it’s as good as we’ve got.

“You know, Braizen, you could try pulling rank every once in a while. You’d do us all a favor if you’d shut the big oaf up,” Lin says as he stands and shakes the dirt from his rear. “We knew it would be a long mission. The waiting is half the battle. Keep blubbering on about how uncomfortable you are, and you risk sabotaging the entire assignment,” he says to Torrent.

Torrent grunts, rolling his hazel eyes at the jab. Lin is the careful, rational, albeit verging on annoying, one in our group. But this care has saved our asses more times than I can remember.