The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 6: On the Edge of the Future

Vain headed the small group of guards and horses, leading them toward the eastern border. They were dressed as merchant escort guards to avoid suspicion, but they carried royal seals to carry them past tolls and other obstacles without stopping.

They had passed Maenar two days ago and finally left the Mitrove River behind them as it curved in the opposite direction, and they had been on the road for almost a full day now. They were mostly silent, focusing on speed, changing horses as soon as their mounts began to tire. The princess had spared no expense on this mission.

Of course Vain understood why that was, now. A secret Guardian... it was almost unimaginable. It simply didn't happen. If it was true — and Vain wasn't sure, to be honest, that it was — then the princess's impatience was entirely understandable.

"Why the haste?" He'd argued with Abram the night before the mission left, looking at the map of their route and how often they would stop. It would be an exhausting trip. "Surely the Black Knight isn't going anywhere."

Abram was grim. "It's a precaution. We can't afford for anyone else to get to him first."

"You said his existence was a secret — is a secret. Who could get there before us?"

Abram didn't offer a real answer. "If there's a secret, there's always someone inconvenient to keep it, and you never know who that person may have told. So get to the Knight fast, and get there first. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much the princess will appreciate it."

Vain understood the hint. The landscape of power in the castle was shifting slowly but surely, and those who threw their lot with the princess were already being rewarded. If he wanted to be part of it, he had to pull this off.

So he guided his three guards in steely silence toward the mountain peaks in the distance, and the secret that hid between them. To his left, Nick looked more petulant than determined, looking around warily. Vain tried not to look at him. Nick was a good guardsman, but that wasn't why he was there. Vain had known since the moment Abram named him for the team that Nick was there for protection, not for bringing back the Guardian — and that revealed to him exactly who it was that Abram thought might try to reach the Black Knight first.

If Morane Laerhart meant to steal the third Guardian, she'd have to let her friend die. Specifically, she'd have to let the Knight go or watch Vain kill Nick.

His mouth dry, Vain touched the thin dagger on his belt, its hilt embedded with the princess's crest and pressed into his hands by the princess herself.

"I know you're on my side," she said, and her soft voice was not one he'd ever heard from her. "Prove it to yourself."

But Vain couldn't help but hope that Morane didn't know about the third Guardian after all, or at least was far behind them in the race. Nobody's blood had to spill if she lost.

Although outside of Solangia, Nick wouldn't be the only one vulnerable... if push came to shove, he might be expected to take care of her too.

Setting his jaw, Vain traced the outline of the barely-visible mountains in the distance into the sky, from their peaks into the wide-open cloudless blue. A dull black bird swooped overhead, screeching as if it knew what Vain was thinking, and soared east with outstretched wings.

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I rubbed Pitch's nose pensively — a dangerous decision, as Pitch was mean at the best of times and truly terrifying when nervous from being on the boat. "If the princess knows about the third Guardian, she could have sent out a retrieval team way before us. How are we supposed to get there first?"