“Why have you stopped?” Royce admonished, wiping his wet hair away from his face. “I would have caught up.” Spotting the bodies halted his need for explanation.

Hadrian pushed the boat into the river, leaping in at the last instant. From above, they could hear men’s voices. They finished cutting loose the net and, once free, slipped clear of the bridge. The current, combined with Wally’s and Hadrian’s pulling hard on the oars, sent them flying downriver in the dark of night, leaving the city of Colnora behind them.

CHAPTER 8

HINTINDAR

Arista woke feeling disoriented and confused. She had been dreaming about riding in her carriage. She sat across from both Sauly and Esrahaddon. Only, in her dream, Esrahaddon had hands and Sauly was wearing his bishop’s robes. They were trying to pour brandy from a flask into a cup and were discussing something—a heated argument, but she could not recall it.

A bright light hurt her eyes, and her back ached from sleeping on something hard. She blinked, squinted, and looked around. Her memory returned as she realized she was still in the skiff coasting down the Bernum River. Her left foot was asleep, and dragging it from under a bag started the sensation of pins and needles. The morning sun shone brightly. The limestone cliffs were gone, replaced by sloping farmlands. On either side of the river, lovely green fields swayed gently in the soft breeze. The tall spiked grass might have been wheat, although it could just as easily have been barley. Here the river was wider and moved slower. There was hardly any current, and Wally was back to rowing.

“Morning, milady,” he greeted her.

“Morning,” Hadrian said from his seat at the tiller.

“I guess I dozed off,” she replied, pulling herself up and adjusting her gown. “Did anyone else get any sleep?”

“I’ll sleep when I get downriver,” Wally replied, hauling on the oars, rocking back, then sitting up again. The paddle blades dripped and plunged. “After I drop you fine folks off, I’ll head down to Evlin, catch a nap and a meal, then try to pick up some travelers or freight to take back up. No sense fighting this current for nothing.”

Arista looked toward Hadrian.

“Some,” he told her. “Royce and I took turns.”

Her hair was loose and falling in her face. Her blue satin ribbon had been lost somewhere during the night’s ride from Sheridan. Since then, she had been using a bit of rawhide provided by Hadrian. Even that was missing now, and she poked about her hair and found the rawhide caught in a tangle. While she worked to free it, she said, “You should have woken me. I would have taken a shift at the tiller.”

“We actually considered it when you started to snore.”

“I don’t snore!”

“I beg to differ,” Hadrian chided while chewing.