Free Embrace the Fire by Tamara Shoemaker Page B

toward the door.
    “We leave mid-morning.”
    His pain-filled hands gripped the brass doorknob and pulled it open. The first portion of his plan was already in place.
----
    I t was not an ideal day for travel. Rain sloshed the dirt roads, miring the carts in mud up to the axles. Horses slipped, neighing as they flailed. The mules were more sure-footed, but the only mules in the mass of men and horses pulled the carts that held weapons, canvas, cages, and food for creatures, Dimn and soldiers: the materials of the battlefield. The soldiers all rode hot-tempered stallions from the Elven Ward, and their hooves were not made for such conditions.
    Before the hour was up, mud caked Sebastian's horse to his withers, and Sebastian's own clothing was the same uniform shade of reddish-brown. Water dripped from his dark curls and neatly-trimmed beard, tracing down his clothing, flowing over his frigid hands.
    Lanier rode beside him, his head down in the driving rain. “Your Grace, I wanted to understand why you so suddenly chose to travel to the Forgotten Plains this morning.”
    Sebastian swiped at a rivulet coursing too near an eye. “I wish to review everything for myself and to speak with Jerrus, as he's been on the ground now for a while. Not,” he added, “that I owe you an explanation for my decision.” He paused. “It is the honorable thing to do.” Bitter emphasis rested on the word.
    “Your Grace, I do not believe Greyham meant what you've made of his words.”
    “Don't you?” Ice cracked Sebastian's voice. “When one man casts another's honor upon the altar of defamation, the only option is to fight.” He narrowed his eyes at his Commander. “Lanier, I am well aware that my brand of honor is not the definition that has passed down through the generations. But I am, at least, honorable to myself. I have ambition, and I will never do something that will take me backward from my goals. There is honor in that, and Greyham cast aspersions upon it.”
    Lanier's silence was deafening even in the rain. At last, he opened his mouth. “Did you believe I was pulling you back from your goals this morning?”
    “When you challenged me before the Council? Aye.”
    Lanier tightened his gloved hands around his horse's reins. “You do not trust me, Your Grace.”
    “That's nonsense.”
    “Is it?” Frost edged Lanier's gaze. “You never used to question anything I did, because my life is in your service. What has changed, Your Grace?”
    Sebastian didn't speak. He recognized the truth of his Commander's words. He didn't trust the man. Not anymore. Not after Sebastian had struck at the heart of Lanier's service by elevating Cedric above him months ago.
    A shout rang up the line. “Take cover!”
    A volley of arrows burst from the steep, tree-furred hills on either side of the road. Sebastian's horse reared, screaming as an arrow grazed its neck.
    Movement flickered in the underbrush of the woods on both sides of the road. A blue cloak flashed behind a nearby tree—Lismarian blue.
    More horses screamed. Men shouted up and down the line.
    “Get to safety!” Lanier shouted. He brought the flat of his sword down on the rump of Sebastian's mount, and the horse lurched into a gallop. Sebastian clung to the mane. He'd lost his grip on the reins in his surprise, and he stretched to reach the leather straps as they jerked wildly in front of the animal's pounding hooves.
    He nearly vaulted over the head of the horse before he managed to grasp the reins, straining to slow the animal. The horse, already lathered, tossed his head in protest. A quick glance behind showed Sebastian that he'd left his men, and he was alone.
    Fury lit Sebastian's mind. Another betrayal. Erlane had known that his men were infiltrating during their parley. He had the nerve to talk peace, while all the time, his men crept through the countryside. It was an overt act of war.
    He should have run the devil through in his Council chamber.
    Sebastian glanced