Free Allegiance by Cayla Kluver

examining the structure. I heard the shattering of glass as he struck a window with the hilt of one of the twin blades that he wore sheathed at his sides, and then he disappeared from view.
    While I waited for the Elite Guard to return, fear again crept into my bones. Why had London given me a weapon? Was I truly in peril out here by myself? Needing a distraction, I squinted through the darkness to examine my feet. My shoes were almost destroyed, and my partially exposed skin was red with blisters and from the cold. I leaned my head against the house, sickened by my foolishness, hoping that London would soon come back. I almost jumped up to flee at the touch of his hand on my shoulder, for whether due to my fatigue or his training as a scout, I had not heard him approach.
    â€œCan you walk, or do you need assistance?” he asked, kneeling once more beside me and glancing at the remnants of my shoes.
    â€œWhere’re we going?” I said, unable to control the slight slur in my speech.
    Without further attempt at conversation, London picked me up, correctly interpreting my difficulty with words as exhaustion, and walked around to the front of the house.
    He opened the door, evidently having unlocked it from the inside, and carried me to a comfortable armchair in the parlor. I glanced about at the furnishings, for although it was dark, the room was well-known to me. I longed for a servant to bring the tea that was so oft served within its walls. London once more left me, returning a short time later with a blanket from one of the bedrooms.
    â€œYou’ll be safer in here than outside,” he explained, wrapping the blanket around me. “I’m going back into the woods to retrieve my horse.”
    He went to the archway that separated the parlor from the entrance hall, then looked back at me.
    â€œKeep that dagger with you, just in case….”
    I closed my eyes, planning to rest for just a few minutes,only to be roused by London gently shaking me awake. He took the dagger from my hand and replaced it in his boot, then pulled me into his arms, bearing me out the front door to his horse as I struggled to orient myself. He hoisted me into the saddle, blanket and all, and swung up behind me just as Steldor had done such a seemingly long time ago.
    Taking the reins, he muttered, “As soon as we’re out of here, you have some explaining to do.” He dug his heels into the mare’s sides, sending her off at an urgent canter, and I was thrust back against him.
    We stayed away from the roads, skirting the edge of the forest to approach the city in a roundabout fashion. I didn’t say a word, not even when London turned our mount into the woods and up a rather steep hill, the athletic animal dodging around trees that came out of nowhere in the thick darkness. When the ground began to flatten, he reined in the mare, and I saw a deeply recessed cavity in the rock before us. With a jolt I realized that we had ridden into the foothills of the Niñeyre Mountain Range, a place I had never been allowed to venture, in part because I was a woman and in part because the enemy claimed the high desert area to the north and east of our borders. Despite the rocky terrain and the southerly flowing Recorah River that separated us from Cokyri, my cautious father had never permitted my sister and me to explore this part of our kingdom.
    London slid from the horse’s back, landing soundlessly on the forest floor, then held out his hands to me. Not wanting to appear helpless, I shook my head and dismounted by myself. I instantly regretted my decision; the moment my battered feet met the hard earth I grimaced in pain, grinding my teeth to keep from crying out.
    My former bodyguard secured his horse near the mouth of the hollowed-out area and motioned for me to go ahead,then disappeared from view to return with an armful of dry wood. Bringing it into the center of our shelter, he used his flint and steel to