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

Argonnessen, I’m afraid I already do.”
    She kissed him. This time, he responded, knowing it might be the last time. When they broke apart, he turned and walked away.

    "You see those horses?” Burch asked, pointing down at a trio of riders who had broken off from the main force of cavalry.
    Kandler shaded his eyes as he watched them gallop off to the south. They rode faster than the airship, although Espre wasn’t pushing the Phoenix hard right now. Kandler had asked her to take the wheel at the first sighting of the army, and the others had joined him at the prow to learn what they could of the tableau below.
    "Those are Valenar cavalry, the best in the world,” Burch said. "They go out of their way to prove it any chance they get. They’re bastards, and they’re always spoiling for a fight.”
    "Then what are they doing out here in the desert? ” Duro asked. "There doesn’t look like much around here to pick on other than lizards and birds.”
    "Some of the clans of my people used to roam these lands,” Monja said. "They got tired of dealing with these invaders, so they looked for friendlier lands with better neighbors.
    Kandler nodded. "The Valenar warclans used to run strikes into southern Cyre every couple of weeks. Ironic when you consider that Gyre brought them into the Last War as an ally in the first place.”
    "They do not bother the warforged or the Lord of Blades,” Xalt said. "The Lord of Blades sometimes sends his best fighters to test their mettle against the warclans, though. Sometimes a warclan will wait for weeks outside of the Mournland, waiting for a warforged force to show itself and enter battle.”
    "That’s madness,” Te’oma said. "They fight just to fight?”
    "Not everyone does it for money,” said Burch. "Some people take pride in their work.”
    "I never took pleasure in it,” the changeling said.
    "Can they do anything to harm us up here?” Sallah asked.
    She addressed Kandler directly. The two of them were speaking to each other again; although they both treated each other so respectfully, so dispassionately, Kandler felt like they might as well have kept their distance instead. Still, if she wanted to play things that way, he didn’t wish to stop her. Being with her, even in such a stilted way, was better than not being with her at all. #
    "No,” he said. "We’re too high up now. Sometimes they have a wizard or sorcerer in their retinue though. That’s why I had Espre move us higher as soon as Burch spotted them.”
    "Where are those riders headed?” Sallah asked.
    Kandler looked to Burch. "Probably Taer Shantara,” the shifter said. "It’s one of the six forts that stretch around the last stable border Valenar had. The warclans always try pressing out farther—into Q’barra and the Talenta Plains these days—but geography and weather always tar up their supply lines. Besides which, none of the Valenar elves want to bother with guarding a supply caravan instead of being in the thick of things, so eventually they run out of food and water and come galloping home.”
    Te’oma stared at the shifter. He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her. "I think that’s the most words I’ve ever heard you say in one stretch,” she said.
    "You’re not usually worth talking to.”
    "Are we headed for Taer Shantara?” Sallah said. "It seems it would be a logical place to gather supplies for your journey across the sea.”
    Kandler noticed that she hadn’t included herself in that journey.
    Burch shook his shaggy head. "The elves at Shantara are too war-crazy, and those riders are sure to get there before us to warn that we’re the vanguard of an invasion from the north.” He held up a hand to cut off protest. "True or not, it doesn’t matter. Better to pass them by for Aerie instead.” "That sounds like my kind of place,” said Duro. "Clear mountain air and filled with eagle-riding dwarves, I’m sure!”
    Burch snorted. "It’s the westernmost Valenar fort, the favorite