Emel guided Ebony alongside Razor. "Nicely done."
Galia urged Razor on. Her contented expression, turned sullen. "What have you done?"
Emel looked away from her probing eyes, giving his attention to Ebony and the slow walk toward the gatehouse. "Only what I told you I must."
"But you knew we were returning to the city."
"I knew, but you also knew who I was from the moment we first met."
Galia tightened her grip on Razor's leads. "As I recall, it was William Riven who introduced us and near these very gates."
Emel wanted to say that King William's reward for doing so was the dungeon cell he occupied somewhere under Gregortonn. He bit back the words, said instead, "How fitting then that I'll be sharing a cell beside him so soon."
To herself more than to Emel, Galia said, "What a fool I've become." She turned away, started shouting, "Make way. Make way."
Emel followed her through the crowd, knowing he might be headed for his own death, knowing also that if he made a dash for the distant woods alone he was a dead man anyway. As they approached the portcullis and the guards blocking the way into the city, Emel grew worried. He tried to hide it but doubted he was doing a very good job of it.
"Don't do this," he said, half to himself, doubting Galia could hear him.
Galia scoffed as the guards blocked her entrance into the city, bringing Razor up on his hind legs. "Out of my way," she shouted.
"Orders," a guard said. "We're to search all entering the city."
Galia threw back her head and jeered openly. "Step aside. Step aside now. Do you not know who I am?"
"No exceptions," the guard said resolutely.
Galia brought Razor down. As she twisted around and grabbed his saddlebags, Emel's heart skipped a beat. With his eyes, he pleaded with her not to do what he expected her to do, for if Galia Tyr'anth was anything she was her father's daughter.
While holding the leather satchels aloft, she said, "I am the exception. Move aside or my father will flay you himself."
She urged Razor through the lines of guards. When she kept going and didn't look back, Emel knew he'd made a terrible mistake. She'd seen his doubt and distrust, though he had little time to ponder this.
"Dismount," a guard ordered.
Emel complied. As he was searched, he worried that somehow he might still be found out.
Guards approaching Ebony with pikes caused the horse to start. Before Ebony could rear up, Emel reached out and pulled down on the harness, regaining control.
"Untrained beasts are not allowed in the city," a guard said.
"It was a momentary lapse," Emel said. "Ebony and I have been in the city many times."
Guards searched his packs and bedroll. One of them found the orb and held it out to Emel. "What is this?"
"This?" Emel said, reaching out and taking the orb, careful not to show how anxious he was suddenly. "Never seen a glass ball? The fishers use these to make their nets float."
"It floats?" The guard asked.
Emel was starting into a reply when the guard Galia had spoken to earlier approached and said something to the other guards that Emel could not hear. Abruptly, one of the guards turned on his heel, struck the butt end of his pike against the stones. "You were with the King's Knight Champion?"
Emel felt his heart beating faster in his chest. "I was. She's just--"
"Very well then," the guard said.
It was a dismissal, and Emel breathed easier. After tying down his packs and bedroll, he led Ebony through the gateway tunnel and into the city.
He looked for Galia as he worked his way toward the central marketplace, but she was nowhere to be found.
Chapter 7
A knock on the door startled Adrina. She spun around. "Yes?"
"Adrina, is everything okay?" Xith asked. "I heard something break."
She moved to the door, but didn't open it. "It's nothing. I dropped my looking glass."
"The mirror from Imtal? Your mother's?"
"An accident," Adrina said to reassure him, still hesitant to open the door. "I overslept. Why didn't you wake me?"
"You looked so tired last night. I thought you could use the extra sleep."
Adrina put a hand, palm facing outward, to the door. "Yes, and so much better today. Thank you for that, but aren't we late for today's deliveries of medicines and supplies?"
Xith moved away from the door. Adrina thought that perhaps he was tending to the spit over the fire. "No deliveries today."
Adrina started picking up the pieces of the broken mirror. "No deliveries?"
She cut herself and cried out.
Her outcry brought him running into the room, shouting, "What's happening? What's happening?"