Second Stone by Kelly Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

away from her mother, suddenly angry. She wanted to wake up. She wanted to be back with Torian.
    “It will be all right, Emariya. Just give me time.”
    “What—” Emariya turned back to her mother, but Valencia was gone.
    Sinking to her knees, a wave of loss washed over her. Oh, Torian , she thought. Where are you? And where am I? She let the blackness darken around her as she searched back in time through her memories once again.
    ––––––––
    On their way at last, the beginning of a routine took shape. Torian and Emariya were always in the lead. The army and its commander—a gaunt, impossibly tall man who went by the name of Plank—spread like a fan behind them. Rink, his chest puffed out with a sense of newly important pride, relayed messages between Torian and Plank as needed. Emariya wondered if that was the commander’s true name or a nickname born of the picture his height conveyed.
    Jessa tended to stick close to Emariya. Her friend had improved in the saddle immensely since the last time they’d set out together. While still not confident on a horse, she at least sat easily on the unflappable mount she’d acquired at Calkirk.
    Garith—unlike the others, who had settled into easy positions—was everywhere. He rode between the army, behind it, and at the front with Torian and Emariya, acting as their eyes and ears. Toward the end of the second evening, a full day after they had left Castle Ahlen in the grand procession, Garith reported that they had citizens starting to ride with their army.
    Emariya listened closely as Torian and Garith conferred.
    “Do you recognize any of them?” Torian asked.
    Garith shook his head. “No, they aren’t Russell’s men. I think they are just families who’ve left the castle. I saw at least a few women and children, plus the men. They are just moving faster than we are.” He flashed his impish grin.
    “Well, they don’t have an entire army to mobilize, either,” Torian said. “Plus, they don’t have to conserve their horses as much. They aren’t traveling nearly as far as us.”
    Despite the large group they were traveling with, they were at least making better time than they had on their way to Castle Ahlen. So far, they hadn’t left the vast valley that stretched southward from the sea. Torian called it the Valley of Frozen Fears. They hadn’t traveled this way on their trek from Eltar. Torian had guided them up through the mountains and along the cliffs—a shorter, but more difficult, route. This time, though, the easiest route was also the most direct. They would continue straight south for several days until they reached the first fork of the Uldrich River, referred to mostly as the Upper Fork.
    As dusk fell, Torian had Rink take the word to Commander Plank to make camp just ahead. By the time the sun finished its descent, the last of the army had straggled in. Jessa, assigned to Emariya, set about preparing their sleeping things in their tent while the rest of the servants fluttered about starting fires and setting pots to cook. The orderliness of it all and the speed with which it was done left Emariya amazed.
    “Has the army traveled out like this before?” she asked, gazing toward the crackling fire. Its warmth urged her to come take a spot closer to it, calling to her like an old friend.
    “Aye, My Lady.” Torian smiled at her. “We’ve two outposts near the border with Sheas. When they need to be reinforced, or need a change of troops—it’s not an easy life out here—the army travels, much like we are now. This is nothing new to them, though admittedly the group is not usually this large.”
    “We’re expecting trouble in Sheas,” Emariya said, the weight of what they were doing pressing her spirits down. Trouble or not, she wouldn’t let anyone keep her from her father.
    “We’re prepared for trouble in Sheas,” Torian corrected her. “We can handle it. We won’t be welcomed there with open arms, though, no. And