Free Reign of Shadows by Deborah Chester Page A

archway
itself, its sheer massive size stood as silent testament to the emperor’s power
and long reach. Had the archway stood at the edge of a large town such as
Ornselag, imperial troops would have maintained sentries and a check- post.
    Beva
reined up beneath the arch and gave the ponies a breather. He watched the
forest and sky with extra care and seemed reluctant to venture out into the open
marshlands.
    “What’s
wrong?” Caelan asked, thinking of the shadowy denizens said to inhabit the
marshlands.
    “We
must gallop on,” Beva said. “We dare not stay long in the open. Come.”
    “But—”
    Beva
spurred his mount, and the pony plunged off the paved road and down a short
embankment to the crude track that led north. Caelan followed more cautiously,
wondering why his father had not lit the healer’s lantern bobbing on the pole.
Normally it was a signal to all robbers that this was a man of good traveling on
a mission of mercy, lacking money to steal. Most bandits respected the lantern,
and Beva had never been attacked in all his years of traveling. For him not to
light it now, especially if he suspected danger, made no sense unless it was
the unworldly he feared.
    Caelan
wrapped his cloak tightly around his chest and kicked his own pony to catch up.
They rode hard and fast, the ponies’ breath steaming in long white plumes.
Geese rose off the water with startled honking as they galloped by. More than
once their path dipped into the semifrozen slush. The ponies leaped and plunged
through it, kicking spray high behind them.
    Beva
never rode hard like this, but Caelan enjoyed it. Their pace was exhilarating.
The sense of mysterious danger gave the adventure extra spice. He found himself
watching land and sky as warily as his father was, his senses drinking in the
cold outdoors that he’d missed while in school. The air was crisp and clean
with scents of pine and spruce over laying the bog smell. The snow stung his face
and malted his eyelashes. It was glorious.
    Finally
forest curved ahead of them. Beva dove into the cover of trees and undergrowth
and drew rein beneath the sweeping branches of a larch. Breathless, his heart
pounding, Caelan stopped beside him and let his snorting pony drop its head.
Both animals were heavily lathered. Steam rose off their wet bodies into the
cold air.
    Around
them the forest lay still, with only the soft rattle of falling snow through
the branches. Occasionally a jackdaw could be heard in the sky.
    Beva
finally blinked and seemed satisfied.
    “What
is it?” Caelan asked softly. “Can we return to the road?”
    “No.
Too dangerous. We must stay in the forest, where there is cover.”
    “But
if we go this way, it will take twice as long to get home.”
    “Better
to be safe than quick,” Beva said, adjusting his gauntlets.
    “If
you’re worried about robbers, light your lantern.”
    Beva
shook his head. “Light will only call attention to us. We must take great care.”
    “From
what?” Caelan asked in bewilderment. “What kind of robbers do you fear?”
    “Not
robbers.”
    Caelan
waited for his father to continue, but Beva was looking into the forest,
tight-lipped and plainly worried.
    “I
can’t help if I don’t understand,” Caelan said in frustration. “Why the
secrecy?”
    Beva
shot him a glance, his face unreadable. He hesitated, then said, “Imperial
troops are being withdrawn from the eastern borders.”
    “Yes,”
Caelan said impatiently. “I know thai. You aren’t afraid of them, are you? What
happened to me was just a—”
    Beva
glared at him. “Some of the auxiliary forces are comprised of Thyzarenes. With
their release from service, they have begun raiding—sometimes as far as the
northern rim.
    Caelan’s
mouth fell open. Instinctively he ducked farther beneath the branches. “Thyzarenes!”
    His
mind churned with the thought of it. Thyzarenes were worse than devils. They
were said to attack from the sky, riding huge winged monsters that