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

which knotted the skin along his jaw, drawing one
side of his lip down. Most days she never noticed his scars, but today his
countenance reminded her of a skull. Perhaps it was just her imagination.
    “What do you
have to report, scout?” Nurrowford held out his hand for the general’s letter.
    She handed him
her message satchel. “It’s too late to send help. The general is captured…or
dead.” Her voice sounded hollow to her own ears. The younger officers murmured
in shock and grief. The oldest ones remained silent—they’d already known what
the general’s delay could mean.
    “How?” Captain
Nurrowford asked as he broke the seal on the letter.
    Thankful for
the years of training she’d received in a military family, she recited all she
knew. “A small group of lupwyns was chasing me. While fleeing I spotted a much
larger mass flowing out of the woods northwest of the city, six hundred strong,
in full plate armor. I wouldn’t have believed the wolf-beasts possessed such
weaponry if I hadn’t seen it myself.”
    Nurrowford
digested the contents of the general’s letter with a grunt. “How fast do they
travel?”
    “I can’t say.
It depends on how much of a distraction General Stonemantle and his men
created. Even with full body armor, the lupwyns were traveling fast. If my
father hadn’t slowed them, they would already be swarming this camp.”
    He swore. “We
march for River’s Divide. We must get to the port city before the lupwyn beasts
do. Ready the men.” In an abrupt motion, he rolled the map and shoved it in a
travel satchel, then handed it to the messenger. “Take the fastest horse, get
this to River’s Divide. Tell the garrison Ashayna’s news.”
    The messenger
nodded, then left at a run.
    “Captain
Nurrowford, my father wanted me to give you these.” Ashayna handed him her
father’s pendant and ring of office. “He wants the prisoners on a boat and
sailing out to sea within a candlemark’s time. Perhaps, with their queen out of
reach and still in danger, they will hesitate to attack.”
    “Doubtful. They’ll
try to force our hand.” After scooping up his sheathed sword from where it hung
on a folding wooden camp chair, he slung it around his waist. He was still
belting it in place as he made his way from the tent, calling out orders. He
glanced sideways at her. “If they take Stonemantle alive, they’ll want to trade
him and his men for their queen.”
    “The general
strictly forbade that.”
    “Well, he left
me in charge. Poor judgment on his part. I will not allow my commander to be
consumed by the enemy.” Nurrowford’s lips twisted into a lopsided grin.
    Ashayna could
have hugged him. Instead, she gave a half-hearted reminder about her father’s
command. “He gave a direct order.”
    “Never could
read his hen scratch.” He held up his hand, palm out, to stop any retort. “While
we make ready to ride for River’s Divide, I want you to meet the prisoners.
They told us their names and titles before claiming they’d only talk to a
woman—some religious custom. Find out what they want.”
    “Yes, sir.”
Ashayna wished she was as confident as she sounded.
    * * * *
    Ashayna’s heart
raced and her fingers trembled. Hesitating outside a nondescript tent, like any
other in the encampment, she rested a hand on the lump of the necklace beneath
her vest. Somehow, the morning’s events and this meeting were connected. But
would it be the doom of her people or the revelations she so desperately sought
awaiting her within the tent? No matter how much she wanted to run away, she
would find out why these strangers were here. Catching a lieutenant’s eye, she
jerked her chin towards the entrance.
    At his barked
order a set of guards entered the tent. Ashayna followed. Three steps in, her
eyes adjusted to the flickering of oil lamps, but it was the burning metallic
scent of magic, overwhelming in the tent’s confines, which hindered her
concentration. Even breathing through