Free The Betrayal by Pati Nagle

their beds.
    “You have hot springs.”
    “Yes.” Gharinan glanced back at Turisan with a smile. “This runs from the largest of them. TheGuardian's Reward we call it, for it is customary to rest there after a tour on patrol. You might enjoy visiting it when we return.”
    They rode on for a league or more, then Eliani led them down a trail that branched southwestward and widened, losing its definition as the dense forest opened out. Greenleaf trees of a variety unfamiliar to Turisan began to appear among the dark blue-green pines. They were slender, white-barked and decked in round gold leaves that fluttered in the slightest breeze. Soon the party was surrounded only by the golden-white trees, restless leaves ever moving, whispering together like raindrops, making the air seem to shimmer. A steady, gentle fall of dry leaves added to the flickering of the light.
    Turisan gazed up at the golden boughs, enchanted. “What trees are these?”
    Luruthin answered. “We call them firespear, for they thrive where older forests have burned. They are common enough, though they will not grow in the lower regions. Do you not have them in the south?”
    Turisan shook his head, gazing up at the white branches, watching the small rounded leaves tremble and dance. “I have never seen them before, there or anywhere. They should grow in Eastfæld with these colors.”
    “Not high enough.”
    He glanced at Eliani, then gazed upward at the canopy of golden leaves, inhaled their dry woody scent, and smiled. This was the sort of place he craved, blue sky crowning the glory of the gold-white trees, without a made thing in sight save what the ælven carried with them. Still smiling, he looked at the others and found Eliani watching him.
    “You have come at the right season. They are merelygreen for most of the year, and in another tenday they will be bare. Since they please you, let us take our meal here.”
    Lord Felisan's kitchen had packed cold meat, fresh cheese, bread, fruit, and nuts for them, with flasks of wine that they drained and refilled with clear water from a nearby stream. Turisan stretched out on the leaf-strewn ground and listened to the Stonereaches discussing their Guard, learning more about Alpinon from their conversation than any dry history might teach him.
    On his first evening he had tended to confuse the two theyns, both of whom had classic Stonereach looks, with green eyes and hair of reddish brown that they wore braided back in hunter fashion. He now knew that Gharinan had sharper features than Luruthin, who laughed more readily than his elder. Both were friendly, Gharinan somewhat more so than Luruthin. Eliani, though courteous, remained aloof.
    Turisan watched her cut slices of apple with her knife and take them daintily off the blade with small white teeth. She was pretty, he supposed. Rather wild in her leathers and windblown hair always falling across her green eyes.
    He rolled onto his back and gazed up through the sea of golden leaves at the brilliant blue sky. If only he could dwell in such places all the time. At ease, he allowed the firespear wood's khi to flow through him, drinking in the sensations of life beyond the bright signs of the Stonereaches and the less cognizant ones of the horses. The firespears were all connected, he sensed, sharing khi and even roots. They were almost one tree instead of many, and there was a spark of something unusual in their khi.
    Lying lazily there, he became aware of a darkness rippling through the forest's khi. He frowned, openinghis eyes just as a streak of black whipped through the shimmering leaves overhead.
    He was on his feet and running even as he realized what it had been—a dart of the kind thrown by kobalen raiders. The heaviness he had sensed was the kobalen's khi. He should have recognized it, but it had been some years since his last encounter with kobalen.
    He vaulted onto his startled horse and urged it to turn as he freed bow and quiver, slinging the