Free Darkfire: A Book of Underrealm by Garrett Robinson Page A

children. No one could wish for danger upon the road when offered solace instead. Neither of you are fully grown. You should be spending your days learning, not riding from one peril into the next like a matching set of fools.”
    “Says the fool herself,” said Annis. “I have already had one woman who plotted my course without asking. I left her as soon as I was able, and mayhap I shall do so again.”
    Anniss turned from Loren and stormed off. Gem said, “You may plan whatever you wish for me. But if you think to leave me behind, make sure you tie me. Lock me in a cellar for good measure, for I can escape bonds quite easily.” Then he left to follow Annis.
    Loren stood in the dark with no idea what she had done wrong. The children were acting mad, to her mind, but she had not the first clue what to do.  
    She walked deep into the moonlight, seeking a target for her bow. Hunting always cleared her mind. But now she kept thinking of Annis’s injured face, and the anger on Gem’s. When she finally spotted a quail at roost she shot, but distraction sent her arrow wide. The quail flew off with a startled squawk, and she could not recover her arrow in the moonslight. With many curses and dark mutters Loren stalked back to the camp, laying down to rest while trying not to meet a single eye.

    The journey was nearly unbearable after that. Gem and Annis rode in stony silence, and when the party stopped they sat alone to talk. They refused to meet Loren’s gaze, and no longer asked Albern for stories. Jordel was caught up in his worry for the road, but even he noticed their strange behavior. One day he led Loren from the camp and asked her what had happened. She told him, trying not to let her anger at the children show.
    To her surprise, Jordel smiled. “I wish you had spoken to me first. You should have expected no different. They are both so fond of you.”
    “It was the thought of a moment, not some grand design!” said Loren. “I am fond of them as well, though just now I am nearly angry enough to forget it. I wish only to keep them safe.”
    “Safety is rarely the greatest concern of the young, for they have little understanding of true danger. But I do not think it is their youth that makes them act thus. Tell me, if I offered you the same chance, would you take it?”
    Loren looked at him in surprise. “I … I would be out of place in a noble’s court.”
    “Gem could say the same thing. But is it your unease with nobility that holds you back, or something else? Could you sit in safety and silence, sewing pretty dresses for dances and festivals?”
    Jordel’s words found shape in Loren’s mind. Yet she could not place herself inside the thought, nor see her face within it. Whenever she thought of sewing and courtly graces and curtseys, her mind turned elsewhere.  
    She looked at Jordel, troubled. “Anyone would wish for that kind of life. Tis a dream, and many would scheme or kill to get it.”
    “Many have. But not all belong to such a life. What did Annis say when we stayed in Strapa? Mayhap such folk as us are meant for a life on the endless road, always running from place to place, never settling long enough to plant roots. Once I thought my journeys might end in a court, or at least a home, with a family. The last many years have given me cause to doubt it.”
    Loren turned from the Mystic. “Then you are as foolish as the children, or more so, for I believe you have seen enough fighting and danger to have wearied long ago.”
    “What wearies one may excite another. Did Albern seem half so lively in his bowery as he does here in the mountains? I think he convinced himself that a life of ease and comfort was his dream. But Albern was wrong.”
    “These are all pretty words. But the children could die, here upon the road.”
    “Yes,” said Jordel, with a heavy sigh. “That is my fear. But even children have lives, and those lives are theirs, Loren. We can advise them, and as their elders it is