Laryn shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. His legs ached, and no amount of adjusting seemed to sooth them. Even his three stat points of constitution seemed to be failing him now. He cringed at the thought of how he’d be feeling without them.

  It had been too long since he’d been in the saddle.

  His horse trotted along a narrow track in the woods. Ahead of him, Mat, Hober, and Ollen rode, heading north.

  To Laryn’s right, towering cliffs rose, separating the top of the Townshold plateau from the valley below. Down here in the valley, foliage choked the gaps between large, rocky protrusions. They’d been forced to wind indirectly through the maze of ridges as they negotiated the wildlands.

  The only way to get up on top of the plateau was a crumbling portion of the cliffs, known as the pass, which held a steep, winding path.

  The Townshold road had been made wide enough for carts and wagons. The small hamlets, towns, and villages in the region would have used it for trade with the human kingdoms to the south.

  Yesterday morning they had departed from Vallor, heading this way. Krupp’s talk of the [Ruler] of the kingdom killing humans and sending out scouts searching for something had worried Laryn. Was it possible that they knew about his kingdom core and its power? Were they trying to find it, and take it for themselves?

  All other threats had faded at the possibility. He knew that it was unlikely, but he couldn't shake the thought. He had to come see things for himself.

  Laryn had crafted a few contingency plans. Trade with this new kingdom no longer seemed likely, not if Krupp was right. Hiding also seemed out of the question, given the way that they were scouting out the valley, looking for whatever ‘thing’ Krupp mentioned.

  Laryn had played with the idea of simply sacrificing most of Vallor’s claimed tiles and sending his subjects off to hide in the woods. But now that seemed like he’d just be easily handing the kingdom core over to whatever scouts found it first.

  He hoped that Krupp was lying or just stupid. But he’d be a foolish [Ruler] for not at least investigating.

  He hadn’t felt totally comfortable leaving his councilors in charge while he was gone, but the threat from this kingdom appeared larger, so he did it. He’d left them with specific instructions, and guidance on how they could reach him by speaking with Adi while he was away.

  The plan they’d settled on seemed like a good one. When they reached the pass, if it was still unattended, Hober would slip through along the Townshold trail. He carried with him a portion of the gold which they’d found in the goblin mines.

  When he reached Townshold, he’d find a coresmith. The coresmith would come deactivate the core, and Laryn would be able to move it to a more suitable, less dangerous location. Failing that, Hober would hire fighters and bring them back to Vallor.

  Assuming Mat’s estimates were correct, they could face several thousand men in a fight with the mysterious kingdom. There was no way that the Vallorian subjects would be able to stand against a force of that size.

  But with a few hundred fighters to help defend a fortified island with a very high level of influence, Laryn was more optimistic.

  It was a long shot, but it was the best idea he had right now.

  When Laryn had proposed this plan to his council, he had offered to allow people to leave and avoid the potential fighting. Hela had pointed out to him that most of the people in the wildlands were unable to return south of the Ebil river, because they were wanted for various crimes.

  Laryn didn’t push people, but did have some difficulty in finding someone willing and able to go to Townshold, who wouldn’t risk imprisonment by showing his face there.

  Hober, though, did not have any such problems, and as one of the better horsemen was selected.

  Laryn bit the inside of his cheek, trying to distract himself from the aching in his legs.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Are you sure we’re not creating a path that will lead them right back to Vallor?" Laryn asked as they traveled along the narrow track.

  "It's a cattle track," Mat said. "There are plenty of them in these woods, and the passing of a hoofed creature along the cattle track won't draw any attention."

  Mat nodded, and Laryn accepted the answer, but still felt nervous about potentially leading the enemy back to Vallor. Even if they couldn’t hide forever, the more time they bought, the better.

  The day wore on, and the sun rose high into the sky. The cattle track wound meanderingly through the woods—not the most direct path, but hopefully the most discreet.

  It slid eastward, as if attracted to the great tall walls of the plateau, and ran for a time so close to the stone that Laryn had to lean away from the wall.

  Then it started winding up the crumbling foot of a cliff. The track grew steep, and loose scree slipped beneath the horses hooves.

  "Up ahead is one of the gold mines," Mat called back. "We'll climb this track partway up the bottom of the cliff here. The mine is about a sixth the way up the side of the cliff. You’ll see the hole soon.”

  As they climbed, they rose above the canopies of the tallest trees. Then Mat suddenly called a stop, signaling to the others for silence.

  They carefully dismounted and walked their horses backwards, seeking the cover of the trees. Laryn handed his reins to Hober and crept up alongside Mat to see what the man had spotted.

  The dark track of the Townshold Road was visible as a dark gash through the forest in the distance, stretching from from where it emerged from the pass in the cliffs out to the west.

  Mat pointed to something closer. Laryn found a clearing up against the wall of the cliff. Inside that clearing was a man on horseback, dressed in brown and gold livery of some kind, which Laryn did not recognize.

  He was close enough that Laryn could have climbed up onto a nearby boulder and waved to the man. They could have had a shouted conversation.

  "Good eye, Mat," Laryn said. "Where did he come from?"

  "That's the uniform of the kingdom up atop the cliff," Mat said. "Looks like another scout."

  “Looks official. Not a bunch of rag-tag outlaws.”

  “Hey,” Hober said, creeping up alongside them. “I resent that. I came to the wildlands willingly, unlike the rest of you.”

  Mat chuckled at the joke. “They do seem well funded,” he said. “I wonder what they’re looking for.”

  “We have to assume it’s our core, until we learn otherwise,” Laryn said.

  “Looking for gold mines, maybe,” Hober said. “What if he comes up here?”

  “We have to kill him,” Laryn said. “If they know we’re out here, things get worse fast.”

  They watched the man in the clearing for a while. He made several markings on a parchment, while consulting what might have been a compass.

  After a few minutes, he started heading off to the east, away from the cliffs and away from the path that Laryn and the others had been following.

  “Now what?” Mat asked.

  “Getting to the pass is more important,” Laryn said. “We should skip over the mines and head there first. We’ll have to keep our eyes peeled and stay quiet.”

  They turned back and followed a different branch in the track, still heading north along the foot of the cliffs.

  Laryn stayed alert, watching for any signs that they had been spotted.

  They had a short break for food mid afternoon, and Mat explained that they had nearly reached the road.

  “There’s a large outcropping of rocks not far from the base of the pass, where we should be able to stay hidden and get a good view of what’s going on,” Mat said. “If they’ve got guards posted, or if a caravan is coming down the track, we’ll see it.”

  “Lead on,” Laryn said.

  “It’s on the other side of the road, though,” Mat added. “We’ll have to slip out of the cover of the trees and cross the road. We’ll be visible to anyone watching from the top of the cliffs.”

  Laryn grimaced. “You think we should wait until night?” he asked. “It’ll be dark in a few hours.”

  "It’s probably not worth the wait,” Ollen said.

  "If we cross the road on foot, we’ll be harder to spot,” Laryn said. “What if we leave our horses with Ollen? We can come back for them once we determine that the coast is clear.”

  The men nodded in agreement; the idea seemed sound. “I can stay back too,” Hober said. “We’ll stay sheltered at the foot of the cliffs to the south of the road. Find a place where we can see those rocks,” he said, turning to Mat, “the same ones we camped at, right?”

  Mat nodded.

  “Then give me the all clear signal and I’ll head up the pass.”

  “I want to go up to the top of the pass too,” Laryn said. “We’ll wait until dark, then we can all ride up together.”

  A short time later Laryn and Mat stood in the shadows along the Townshold road. Laryn tried peering down the road toward the pass, but his vantage was bad and he couldn’t make out much. They waited and listened for a time, but heard nothing.

  The road was little more than a dirt track. Someone had come through recently and chopped down some of the trees that had been encroaching. These were piled nearby in a large heap. The track was fairly straight, and large enough for one cart to comfortably roll down. If anyone was on the path looking the right way, they’d see Laryn and Mat running across it.

  “No point in waiting any longer. Let’s go,” Laryn said.

  They darted across the path. As they ran, Laryn looked left and right. To his right, the road switch backed up the steep path. No signs of life appeared.

  To his left, he thought he made out a man on horseback in the distance.

  They slipped into the trees, ducking into the shadowed undergrowth.

  “Did you see that?” Laryn asked.

  Mat nodded. “I think he was facing away from us,” he said.

  “I hope so.”