Nightblade: A Book of Underrealm (The Nightblade Epic 1) (35 page)

Loren kept a careful eye on the spare woodlands springing up on either side. If she were Xain, she would have pulled off into hiding beside the road and waited. They would see her clearly atop the carriage so long as they held watch, and Loren knew Xain would do so. If he did not, Annis would insist upon it, and probably scream at the wizard until he relented.

As day faded, Loren’s search became frenetic. No one revealed themselves. She saw no other carriages.

The sun dipped below the horizon. The driver pulled off the road.

“Wait!” said Loren, as he climbed down from his seat. “We must ride on. They may still be ahead.”

Jordel emerged from the carriage. “We cannot push on past nightfall. The road is not safe, and the horses will have trouble finding their way besides. Xain is gone, Loren.”

His words hit her like a punch to the gut. She scrambled from the driver’s seat, her head swimming as she reached the ground. Almost she fell, but righted herself at the final moment.

“They would not have gone. Xain would not . . . ”

She could not finish the thought. For of course, Xain
would
have left. He
had
left her, once.

“Annis,” she said, grasping now. “Annis would not have let him.”

“Xain is a man grown, and a wizard besides,” said Jordel. “If he determined to leave, your friend Annis could not have stopped him. At most, she would have found herself abandoned, and we have not seen her either.”

“They could be just over the next hillock! We cannot stop now!” Loren hated the desperation creeping into her voice but could not stop it.

Gem emerged from the carriage and looked at her sadly. “They did not press their horses hard when they left, Loren. Like as not, we already passed the place where they stopped. They did not wait until the third day. If they waited at all.”

Loren stood rooted, unable to move or think. She could not fathom it. After all she had done to find him, the wizard had left her again. But Annis. The thought of Annis riding on without them struck her to the marrow.

She sagged to her knees, sitting cross-legged upon the ground. Mute, Loren could only watch as the driver hobbled the horses and built them a fire. Once it burned brightly, Jordel came to her.

“Come, Loren,” he said softly, his voice soothing as always. “Sit and eat. We must ride hard tomorrow if we hope to catch them.”

Loren blinked up at him. “Catch them?”

He gave a small smile. “Of course. You do not think I would give up so easily, do you? I have sought Xain from the High King’s Seat to Cabrus. I will not surrender now. Tomorrow we press on, and we will find them. You do not know why they left. Mayhap they were discovered, or hard pressed once they left the city. We will find them. Come.”

Still numb, Loren let him lead her to the fire. Its warmth bathed her face, and she felt herself grow fuzzy again. It burned like the snake’s poison, but gentler. Pleasant. She drew her arms around her knees and wrapped her cloak about her, reveling in the feeling while Gem, Jordel, and the driver made a meal of bread and salted meat.

“I trust Annis,” said Gem from nowhere. He glanced at Loren as she looked back in surprise. “They had reason if they left. She would not have let them go otherwise.”

“Mayhap you are right,” said Loren. “Mayhap.”

“I know I am,” said Gem, sniffing and sticking his nose in the air. “After all, I could have been a scholar.”

“So I have heard.”

A restlessness seized her, and she reached to her belt to draw forth the dagger. It glinted sharp in the moonlight as Loren drew it from her cloak, shocking her. The glimmer faded, and she noticed a speck of dirt upon the edge. She wiped the metal with her cloak. Looking up, she saw Jordel eyeing her from across the campfire.

She would expect a story from the Mystic, something to explain the blade and the hidden power it seemed to contain. But not tonight. Tonight, she found herself content to sit quiet under the stars in the warmth of a fire. Tonight, they had lost their friends, and tomorrow they would find them again.
 

Loren wondered how long the chase would run, and what would happen at its end. Again, she found herself cast out upon the world without plan or purpose beyond the one that drove her from the Birchwood. A shadow in the night, a ghostly whisper passing between the gates of a city. Guards staring at each other, stricken by a fear without name. Justice for the weak and terror to those who wielded their power with no remorse. Purpose seemed no nearer now than it ever had yet burned like fire inside her.

Gem sniffed again, took a final bite of meat, and stretched out upon the ground upon the blanket Jordel had given him. He rolled away from her, drawing the cloth over his head.
 

“Until the morrow, then. Good night, Loren.”

“Yes, a good night,” she said, murmuring as if to herself. “And Loren I am. For now.”

The dagger whispered back into its sheath, like the parting murmur of an old trusted friend.

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Nightblade
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OTHER BOOKS BY GARRETT ROBINSON

FIND ALL OF GARRETT’S BOOKS AT:

GarrettBRobinson.com/Books

The Nightblade Epic

NIGHTBLADE

MYSTIC

DARKFIRE

A Witty, Piercing Look at Independent Art

REBEL YELL

The Realm Keepers Series—Epic Fantasy from Another World

VOLUME ONE: MIDREALM

VOLUME TWO: WYRMSPIRE

Try it for free!

REALM KEEPERS: EPISODE ONE

The Contemporary Sci-Fi Mystery

TOUCH: TRILOGY

The International Assassin Thriller

HIT GIRLS

The Hilariously Gory Horror Series

NON ZOMBIE

NON ZOMBIE II

The Ridiculously Fun Fairy Tale Adventure

THE NINJABREAD MAN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Garrett Robinson
was born and raised in Los Angeles. The son of an author/painter father and a violinist/singer mother, no one was surprised when he grew up to be an artist.

After blooding himself in the independent film industry, he self-published his first book in 2012 and swiftly followed it with a stream of others, publishing more than two million words by 2014. Within months he topped numerous Amazon bestseller lists. Now he spends his time writing books and directing films.

A passionate fantasy author, his most popular series is the Nightblade Epic. However, he has delved into many other genres. Some works are for adult audiences only, such as
Non Zombie
and
Hit Girls,
but he has also published popular books for younger readers, including the Realm Keepers series and
The Ninjabread Man
, co-authored with Z.C. Bolger.

Garrett lives in Los Angeles with his wife Meghan, his children Dawn, Luke, and Desmond, and his dog Chewbacca.

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