Reconnaissance

omething in her room changed.

Provost Bree leaned back from the report in her hands and looked around, uncertain at first what had caught her attention. The windows stood open to the afternoon, the green banners beside them stirring gently in the breeze, and nothing within the room appeared disturbed.

Then she realized the color was gone.

For as long as she had occupied the chamber, a soft emerald hue from the restoration grove had rested across its eastern wall, faint enough to be forgotten until the moment it vanished. Bree turned toward the window and slipped on her glasses.

The great tree stood dark above the roofs of Caerhaven.

Below, others were beginning to notice. A few people had stopped in the street, heads tilted upward, and more emerged from shops and doorways to see what had drawn their attention. Small knots formed beneath awnings and along the stone crossings, the first uncertain stirrings of concern passing quietly from one face to another.

Bree was already on her feet.

She snatched her cloak from its hook, swept it around her shoulders, and opened the door hard enough to startle the Emerald Guard outside.

“Sophita! My horse. Now.”

She was moving before the guard answered.

“I don’t think it was them, milady.”

Rikaard was waiting just outside the lower doors when she emerged, Newcastle standing beside him. He had evidently come straight from the stables; straw clung to one shoulder and dust streaked his forearms, though his attention was fixed beyond Bree upon the dark canopy rising over the city.

“Nor do I.”

Her horse arrived at a hurried trot. Bree took the reins, mounted, and turned immediately toward the inner quarter. Rikaard fell in beside her without being asked, lengthening his stride as she urged the horse into a brisk pace. Newcastle kept easily alongside them.

“My guards followed them most of the morning,” Bree said as they passed beneath the first arch. “The archer bought a bow. The priestess bought flowers, fruit, oils, and several gifts. Whatever brought them to Caerhaven, I find it difficult to imagine Orath beginning its conquest with shopping.”

Rikaard gave the faintest smile. “Their wizard hasn’t caused any trouble either. Seems harmless enough. No idea what he can actually do, but he’s the paladin’s younger brother.”

“If you have the report, give it while we move.” Bree pulled on one glove as they passed beneath an arch. “You saw the paladin and dwarf fight.”

“Whole thing.”

She glanced down at him. “Go on.”

Rikaard scratched at the side of his beard. “Dwarf’s Karneth. Wanted Navian without all the paladin stuff—no armor, no shield, no Light. Just a sword.”

“And?”

Rikaard looked ahead, remembering. “First hit from the dwarf nearly took the damn sword out of Navian’s hands.”

Bree nodded. “He’s a dwarf. They were the front lines of the Great Wars for good reason.”

Rikaard shrugged and continued. “After that Karneth just kept coming, but Navian won all three rounds. Still don’t know how.”

He rested a hand briefly upon Newcastle’s neck.

Bree considered that as the horse carried her onward. A paladin these days was a rare thing. One traveling with a dwarf and a wizard was rarer still. Not to mention the elf…

“People like that would be useful here.”

“And his companions,” Rikaard said. “Wouldn’t leave them out. Still don’t know much about the two scouts or the priestess.”

“I was considering asking whether they might assist with some of the trouble east of the city. Perhaps more permanently, if they were willing.”

Rikaard shook his head. “You can ask. Don’t think they’ll stay.”

Bree had suspected the same. From the moment the strangers entered Caerhaven there had been something purposeful about them, a sense that they had arrived between one road and another rather than at the end of either.

“I suppose people of those talents usually have business elsewhere.”

“Usually, my lady.”

The streets narrowed as they approached the restoration quarter. Ahead, Emerald Guards were already pushing gathering citizens back toward the crossings, their voices sharper now as more people noticed the missing light.

“Orath’s getting closer, Bree.”

She looked down at him.

“A cow tried to take a piece out of me yesterday. Known her since she was a calf. Never kicked a stall door, never gave anybody trouble. I walked into the stall and she just stood there watching me. Eyes and teeth black as tar.”

He rubbed at his jaw.

“That was the part I didn’t like. She wasn’t scared. She was hunting. Damn thing waited till I got close, then came straight for me.”

Newcastle looked up at him, trotting alongside.

“Yeah, you saved me, boy. Hero of the realm.”

The direwolf’s tail moved once.

“Caerhaven cannot fall to Orath,” she said. “We are all that remains of civilization in these lands. We need people like the strangers here.”

“Could flee to Caer Luminar.”

“The old castle is locked behind mountains and is a fraction of Caerhaven, Rikaard. Unless you are only concerned about saving the nobles?”

“Hells no,” he said. “Valoria then. That’s the one kingdom larger than ours.”

Bree’s long ears lowered as she shot him a look. “I will not tell the king our answer is to march an entire city across half the realm for hundreds of days only to set sail to Caer Valoria. How many boats do you think we would need?”

Rikaard shook his head once. “It’s only a matter of time, Bree.”

The grove was close now, its great branches spreading above the rooftops ahead. Without the familiar green radiance moving through them, the shadows beneath the canopy seemed deeper than they should have been. Bree urged her horse into a trot. Rikaard broke into an easy jog beside her, Newcastle matching him without effort.

“Did you ever learn what happened to their elf?”

“Av’elyth? Nah. Never found the moment.”

“And the druids?”

Rikaard began to answer, then looked toward the grove again. His pace faltered.

“Actually…” He frowned. “Haven’t seen Juna either. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any of them since the elf went in.”

“At all?” Her eyes widened. “Rikaard, that was days ago.”

While the restoration druids kept largely to themselves, they were not invisible. They regularly purchased food, medicines, cloth, and tools from the markets. Their absence should have been noticed by now.

Bree tightened the reins.

“I sent Emerald Guards to the grove as soon as the light disappeared.”

Rikaard looked up. “Hear anything back?”

Her eyes went to the grove ahead.

Ahead, the grove remained dark.

Bree had seen those branches beneath storms, winter rain, moonless nights, and fog thick enough to swallow half the city. She had never seen the light extinguished. Now Av’elyth lay somewhere inside, the druids had not been seen for days, and the guards Bree had sent ahead had yet to return.

Her gaze hardened upon the tree.

“Who are these people?”

The horse felt her lean forward.

“Hyah!”

It surged beneath her, the measured pace breaking instantly into a gallop.

Rikaard stepped aside as Newcastle dropped low. The direwolf’s body swelled, shoulders rising beneath thick brown-and-white fur as his legs lengthened and his paws spread against the stone. In moments he stood nearly as high as Rikaard’s shoulder, large enough to carry him.

Rikaard caught a fistful of fur and swung onto his back.

“Come on, buddy.”

Newcastle launched after her.

Horse and direwolf thundered through Caerhaven toward the darkened grove.