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

encampment.”
    “That’s
something, at least.” Ashayna watched as another horse was led towards her
father’s charger.
    “Dusk is the
fastest of the geldings. Take him. My men and I will hold the lupwyns back long
enough for you to warn Captain Nurrowford.” His voice held such a note of
finality Ashayna’s stomach churned.
    * * * *
    Dappled
sunlight glinted off the polished surfaces of soldiers’ helmets and hauberks.
The forest looked almost warm, inviting under the glow of late afternoon light.
It might as well have been midwinter by the chill in her soul. Somber gazes,
downcast eyes, and thin-lipped resignation in every direction. A few men adjusted
harnesses and buckles or needlessly checked their weapons. Her throat
tightened. Many good comrades were going to shed blood to stall the lupwyn
army.
    Ashayna
unbuckled packs from her new horse and discarded anything resembling useless
weight. While adjusting the gelding’s tack, she listened to her father.
    “Take my
written orders, pendant, and ring to Captain Nurrowford.” He handed each to
her. “He will lead in my absence. Make sure he gets the lupwyn queen and her
phoenix companions to River’s Divide and onto a boat as quickly as possible.
Let the lupwyns attempt to run down a boat under full sail.” He hesitated, and
a muscle in his jaw twitched. “There’s a chance if I’m captured alive, the
lupwyns will try to trade me and the surviving men for their queen. Tell
Nurrowford under no circumstance is he to agree to a hostage trade. The threat
to their queen’s life might be the only thing keeping these beasts from
ravaging River’s Divide.” He fisted his hand and brought it against his heart. “Duty
First.”
    Ashayna echoed
his gesture and feared her heart would shatter. “Duty First.”
    “Ash.” His
voice broke.
    Her vision
blurred with tears at his use of her childhood name.
    He cleared his
throat and then barked out in a gruff voice, “Survive. Get your mother and sisters
to safety.”
    Ashayna ignored
the lump in her throat and burning eyes. She spurred her gelding into a trot.
Once she was several strides away, she indulged in one last look behind. The
sun sank behind the trees, casting long shadows across the meadow and giving her
father’s grey-streaked hair the gold glow of youth once again. He looked alert,
almost energetic, even after a day in the saddle. Out of loyalty and duty, the
men would follow his strong silhouette into death and beyond. She would have
given almost anything to be one of them. Duty, and her father’s command ringing
in her ears, forced her away from the coming battle.
    * * * *
    Ashayna
maintained her gelding’s pace for over two candlemarks, until a wooden palisade
became visible in the distance. Even sensing there were no lupwyns following,
she still couldn’t relax. She fidgeted while she waited for the guards to open
the encampment’s gate. Those few moments of inactivity allowed her worry and
guilt to creep in. When the gate swung open, Ashayna spurred her mount through.
They trotted by a half-built barracks and a newly-finished healer’s compound,
then angled towards camp’s center, where the largest cluster of tents stood.
    Outside her
father’s command tent, Ashayna dismounted and hailed a nearby guard to walk her
horse. In almost the same motion, she waved over the first messenger she
spotted and ordered him to follow. Inside, Ashayna found several senior
officers gathered around a map strewn table. Captain Nurrowford stood with his
back to her, his head bent over a map while an officer briefed him on events.
    “Captain.” She
addressed Nurrowford in a somber tone. “I have your orders from General
Stonemantle.”
    When he turned,
his haggard expression was serious, more so than she’d ever seen it. Nurrowford
was a few years younger than her father, but time and battles had been less
kind to him. Time had left his cheeks gaunt, almost wasted, and war had given
him a mass of scar tissue,