Betrayal's Price (In Deception's Shadow Book 1) Read Free

Ashayna dug her boot heels into her
mount’s sides, urging her into a gallop. “Good girl. Let’s not become some
lupwyn’s next meal.”
    The few sparse,
windswept trees lining the road offered little cover. No way could the lupwyns
miss seeing them flee. If the beasts shed their heavy armor and weapons, they
could quickly out run her tired mare...
    Her last hope
was the old growth forest. If she could reach shelter before the lupwyns ran
them down, Ashayna hoped to lose the wolf-beasts in the forest. At the very
least, thick trees and dense undergrowth would slow the vast army.
    Foam dotted
Swiftrunner’s coat, and only Ashayna’s spurs kept the mare at a gallop. The
forest wasn’t far, but as long moments crawled by, a trace of fear clamped her
jaw tight. Thirty horse lengths ahead, the narrow road entered forest once
again.
    “That’s a girl!”
Ashayna called encouragement over the wind as she chanced a glance behind. None
of the lupwyns had broken formation to give chase.
    Swiftrunner
raced on, the forest drawing nearer, until at last, cool shadows and the
familiar loamy scent surrounded them as old broad-branched trees embraced the
road. While Ashayna no longer saw the vast horde, she could imagine it well
enough.
    * * * *
    A candlemark
later Ashayna guided Swiftrunner around a sharp turn. Ahead, the path was
unexpectedly blocked by a company of heavy cavalry and horse archers led by her
father. She buried her surprise an instant later.
    “Lupwyns,” she
yelled, drawing nearer. “Hundreds of them.”
    At Ashayna’s
urging, Swiftrunner came to a stumbling halt in the mud a few horse lengths
away from the leader, her head hanging low, flanks heaving.
    “Light’s mercy!
You shouldn’t be here.” Lines of strain showed around her father’s eyes and the
down-turned corners of his mouth. He looked her up and down, his expression
softening a bit. “You’re unharmed?”
    “General
Stonemantle.” Ashayna addressed her father, dread heavy in her middle. “I’m
unharmed, but we’ll all be dead by sunset if you don’t get these men out of
this forest. There’s a meadow a quarter league back, we should be able to make
it before the lupwyns reach us.”
    “I know which
one you mean. Not the most favorable land. It’ll have to do.” Her father
signaled a nearby captain. “Make for the meadow.” Her father’s words hadn’t
echoed into silence before the captains were mobilizing the men.
    “You need a
fresh horse.” Her father issued a few quick orders and a soldier ran off to do
the general’s bidding.
    Ashayna
dismounted, handing Swiftrunner’s reins to a groom; her heart breaking as the
tired mare shuffled off, her heaving, foam-covered flanks a testament to her
loyalty. Ashayna’s father glanced at her, his expression somber. Sixty men
against six hundred lupwyn—he left unsaid the harshness of truth. It would be a
slaughter no matter where they fought.
    “Months we’ve
been waiting for some hint the lupwyns were going to do something other than
raid.” His toned sharpened with a bitter helplessness he didn’t try to hide. “Now,
in one day’s time, every scout under my command has reported signs of them. We
were coming to investigate when a patrol with prisoners happened upon us. One
prisoner is the lupwyn queen.”
    The lupwyn
queen. Shock emptied her mind of all useful thought. “No wonder there’s an army
snapping at my mare’s tail.”
    “I sent the
lupwyn and her two phoenix companions ahead of us with half of the light horse
archers.”
    Ashayna held
her tongue as her father glanced behind him, back toward human-held lands. Fury
ripped through her—why hadn’t he gone with the queen? Her knuckles tightened on
the reins—she already knew the answer. The heavy cavalry were slower than the
horse archers. He wouldn’t leave his men behind to face the enemy alone.
    Fierce pride
stirred in her heart.
    “Messengers
confirmed they made it safely to our