Ranestone: Return of The Serpent

Chapter Thirty Seven-Grey

Every move of the gray mare beneath him sent a bolt of pain through Grey's shoulder as they traversed through the thick trees and mossy forest floor along the road to Charlton.

Brynn sat in front of him, leaning slightly against his armored chest as they moved through the shaded pines.

They'd been traveling along the side of the road in the safety of the trees since early that morning, before the sun had fully risen in the gray sky that barely penetrated the thick trees above them.

He couldn't use the hand of his injured arm to hold the reins, as he'd found it to be weakened, and Brynn had made a makeshift sling from the rest of his shirt, tying it over his good left shoulder as they'd ridden slowly towards the town.

The pain was almost bearable now, a dull throbbing sensation in the muscles of his shoulder, and though he still felt hot, the fever had almost broken already thanks to Brynn.

He wouldn't be able to use a sword with the wounded arm anytime soon, but he'd been trained to use both hands, which might prove to help them later if they ran into any black cloaks in Charlton. Brynn would be able to wield one if he couldn't anyway.

The image of the princess cleaving her sword into the black cloak's skull was burned into his memory, and he glanced down quickly at the bag that held her sword.

He'd had no idea that the princess could wield a blade, much less so skillfully strike down a man with one. Without a doubt she'd saved Kip's life, and his, as he'd been blinded with pain, unable to lift his arms to defend himself or his friend.

Jace had been her teacher, which had also surprised him. He couldn't believe the man would ever teach the princess the art of the sword, it would have gone against his duty as the head of the staguard. But he had taught her, and done a damn good job of it.

It was hard to believe the fatherly gray-haired guard was now dead, left behind at the broken castle gates for the crows.

He still felt as if he were in a nightmare, and the little sleep he'd gotten in the time before the messenger had arrived at their small camp had been filled with flashbacks to the fight, images that still haunted him in waking, coiling darkly into his thoughts.

*

They were nearing Charlton now, the shale rooftops of the large town rising over the trees at the edge of the forest.

The original plan had been to send in Abe to gain some insight on the current state of the rest of the kingdom, in the hopes that the messenger could find out what had befallen the town and the other kingdoms. But they'd decided they would all venture into the town, though he hated to risked Brynn being seen. If she were to be recognized by the black cloaks, she'd be as good as dead, and the plot of the Serpent and his cloaked followers would be complete.
Abe had told them of the Serpent's true identity, to all of their disbelief, was Prince Yue Gia, the fallen prince of Sword Island, and son of Ty Gia.

The dark prince was thought to be dead by all of Ranestone after his father's death, which seemed to have left twenty years for the dark prince to plot his return to power. It certainly did explain the motives of the black cloaks, the prince made sense as a powerful figure to guide them, a sinister master, pulling the strings from afar.

Abe had learned of the Serpent's identity when Brogan Smith had been about to kill him in the dungeons of Quent Castle. The cruel golden-eyed man hadn't thought the messenger would live to tell anyone, and had been careless in what he said.

The traitor now lay dead in one of the cells, killed by the auburn-haired boy, who now rode just behind Grey on his rather slow brown horse, Rone padding beside them like a small thick-furred bear.