Free Lost mark 3 The Queen of Death: by Matt Forbeck Page A

was keep his mouth shut.
    Where was the harm in that, he wondered? It would only be a few days more she’d be forced to stay with the Phoenix. Of course, she was right. They hadn’t been talking at all for the past couple of days, so why drag out the inevitable?
    He should have dropped her off at Krona Peak, although he’d known that stopping there would never have been as simple as slowing down the airship enough for Sallah to get off. Duro would have bragged about how they’d killed Nithkorrh, and the dwarves there would have insisted on hearing the story over and over again. There would have been feasts to dine upon and counsels to keep, and all of that would have added up to more wasted days than Kandler cared to think about.
    Here, though, they could leave Sallah at Krezent and be gone—just like she’d said she’d wanted. Of course, she hadn’t objected to his bypassing Krona Peak. Perhaps she wouldn’t mind if he did so here.
    If he mentioned the possibility to her, it would only cause trouble. It would be better to keep quiet about it. He was sure about that.
    "We’re near a place called Krezent,” he said. "It’s not much more than a ruin, but a group of yuan-ti live there.”
    He stopped talking and tried to read Sallah’s reaction, but he’d seen statues display more emotion.
    "They worship the Silver Flame. I’m sure they’d be happy to take you in.”
    Sallah stared at Kandler for a moment, her face blank. Then she leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. This surprised him so much that he barely returned it.
    "What was that for?” he asked, afraid he didn’t want to hear the answer. The kiss had felt something like good-bye.
    "I knew it,” she said, a gentle smile parting her full lips. She hadn’t looked upon him so kindly in days.
    "You knew about Krezent?”
    She nodded. "I’m a Knight of the Silver Flame. I’ve been trained to become one since birth. Of course I know about even the most remote outposts of our faith, but that’s not what I was talking about.”
    Kandler squinted at her smiling face. Here, in the sun, she had a few freckles across the bridge of her nose that he’d never noticed before.
    She reached out and caressed his cheek. "I knew you couldn’t hide it from me, that you wouldn’t. That’s not your way.”
    Kandler smiled back at the lady knight. Then his face fell. Such compliments meant little in the way of consolation if it meant she was going to leave. His eyes fell to where her hands rested on the wheel, then he glanced up to check the position of the sun.
    "I noticed you haven’t changed course,” he said.
    Sallah shook her head. "I’ll stay with you until we reach the coast.’’
    Kandler sighed in relief, then caught himself. "I knew you wouldn’t abandon us.” Then, seeing the look on her face, he added, "Yet.”
    "Do you know anything about Krezent?” she asked.
    "Just what Burch told me.”
    "It’s the remotest sort of remote. The reason no one but the yuan-ti live there is that it’s not suitable for other sorts. They have little contact with the outside world, just the occasional trading caravan that wanders through—or off course, as happens more often than not.
    "If I disembarked there, I wouldn’t have any way to go anywhere. I’m sure the priests there would take me in and protect me, but finding passage for me back to Thrane might take weeks or even months. Better that I stick with you until we cross a better-traveled path.”
    "Ah,” Kandler said, his face falling. The spark of hope in his heart that they might be able to work something out faded without catching fire.
    "I’m not going to Argonnessen with you,” she said, her voice tinged with regret. "It’s a fool’s journey. The Order has lost enough knights in this quest already. I’ll return to Flamekeep to tell your tale.”
    "Don’t you want to know how the story ends?”
    "If you go through with your plan to cross the Dragon-reach to take your fight to