Theo paced with his scarred staff beneath the canopy of whispering leaves of his favorite glade at the edge of the farm. He hadn’t been able to sleep. Nerves and excitement clawed at him in equal measure. Today was the Pageship Festival.

He’d have to find a way to make it to the town square in Fremr by noon so he could announce his intentions to race with Nightfire. No one would be able to stop him then, legally or illegally.

Twigs snapped underneath his heavy, trodding pace as he swung back around. Grasshoppers and locusts filled the early hours of dawn with their droning song. Rich earthiness filled his nose with their perfume, ripe with the scent of all the trees he’d spent his childhood running through with Modran and Garret in tow.

Dad always kept a close eye on him when the festival came around every summer. Chores of every variety seemed to sprout like mushrooms after a storm. Chances were that Father made his bed in the stables next to Nightfire’s stall.

In order to try for horsePage he’d have to be on Nightfire’s saddle with all of his gear on hand. If he rode any other horse or worse, had none, then he’d be forced to stick with what he had when he announced himself.

Otherwise the results would be forfeit whether he won or lost and he’d lose all honor.

Theo stared through the curtains of foliage to the squat stables with its fenced in pasture. He smiled at the fit Uncle Kieran had thrown when dad and him built it for the horses alone. Dad insisted none of the cows or sheep would so much as take a single step in there.

But for all of that he had little chance of sneaking in, saddling Nightfire with any gear he could manage to scrabble together, and leaving. Not without getting caught that is.

A coppery tang welled in his mouth and he huffed with a scowl. Modran always joked that he’d chew another mouth through his lip if he wasn’t careful.

He leaned hard on his staff and ground it into the dirt while he thought. His shortbow and quiver hung on his back and his bags were where he’d stowed them earlier outside the fence to the entry of their farm packed beneath the boulder Uncle Kieran spent most evenings muttering over with a hammer and chisel in hand.

Something moved in the not-quite-night hours of dawn coming from the house. Theo froze in shock, his breath hitched in his lungs. His heart pounded against the bone cage of his ribs like a malcontent prisoner held for ransom.

If his aunt or worse his uncle had noticed him missing from his bed he’d be lucky to have his hide welted raw at the least. If it was dad then he’d have to muck the stables for a week with barely any clothes on. It was an odd punishment, but the reek of shit was a hard one to remove for that long.

Theo frowned. Somehow he knew there was someone else creeping toward the woods that curled around their farm like a miniature Chalice all in of itself. Two people other than him were outside of their beds tonight. He could almost feel their hearts beating, their lungs breathing as if they were his own.

He stalked through the undergrowth, mindful of every scrap of plant and bush that could rustle and give him away. Whoever was trying to find or join him made enough racket he was surprised no one else ran out of the house waving whatever would make a formidable enough weapon to scare away any conspiring bandits or troublemakers.

Theo almost swore as a chill rasped drily against his skin, gooseflesh prickled down his arms as he stumbled on his sister with Garret looming behind her looking every inch as imposing as his dad could be when in a rage over some lazy mismanaging of work.

Strap or shit for punishment. He almost chuckled at the thought of how either way both options stuck around.

“Do you really mean to go through with this?” Modran asked in a furtive whisper. Her hazel eyes seemed to glow with a cool light in the stark blackness of night. She frowned down at the bush she’d brushed with her free swinging hands. With a sigh she buried them in the folds of the slim dress, half breeches she’d sewn herself.

The bush shriveled in on itself in curls of acrid smoke until only ash was left.

“I have to.” Theo sighed, his eyes flickered past Garret to the stable where he knew dad was sleeping in. “This will be my last chance.” He hunched his shoulders down with his fists clenched tight around the staff.

This fall he’d be twenty and would no longer be fit to try out for Page.

“You know how livid dad will be.” Modran advanced a step and stared at him imploringly. “I heard him tell uncle he was going to try and sell the rights to use her to Lordship Tyren’s daughter for when she tries out.”

“What? That lot would never accept a horse or anything from someone like us.” Garret snorted with a stern look at Theo. Anger twisted in his gut at the implication that Alanna wouldn’t take him. Rage vibrated in his veins at the squirming, festering doubt in his mind that he was right. Fit for a dalliance, but not much else.

“Why give a cold snake like Isidora a gift horse like Nightfire in the Pageship Offering when I could ride her?” Theo stamped the butt of the staff into the ground with a firm thump. “No one else can handle her half as well. If I figured out how, I’d probably have all kinds of yellow skills related to it.”

“You sure think well of yourself just because you won our race earlier.” Garret muttered with his gaze sharpening to a harsh glare from his reddening face. Theo blinked and squinted, how did he know his cousin’s face blushed when it was still dark?

“Be careful, Theodran, please. Dad won’t take kindly to you spurning our parents’ dreams to further your own.”

“I don’t see a difference between them.” Theo drew himself up to his full height and turned his stare back to Modran. “If I win or even ride well enough on that beautiful horse, he’ll have all the offers he could ever want. He gets what he wants and so do I.”

“And what is that? What do you want so much you’re willing to sneak away and risk your life and Nightfire for? What happens if you fail? We’ll lose the last of our money. We’ll be chipless.” Garret snarled as he crept cautiously around Modran, his eyes flitted briefly to the ash pile before lodging on Theo’s eyes again.

Theo inhaled a bracing breath then sighed. “I intend to ask for Alanna’s hand in marriage. After that… I don’t know. She doesn’t want to stay here under her dad’s bridle and bit. After some thought, I feel much the same. I’ve been living every day as a good son, worthy of my part in our mom’s name, and our dad’s ambitions to sire the best racehorse Aethel has ever seen. Now though?

“Now, I want to be my own person. I want to travel. I’ve heard the other two Chalices are wildly different from the manner of animal, plant, even people and gods! They don’t worship Aleyr like we do! Supposedly, they even have access to different skills and archetypes once they become of age. All you have to do to get them, is to go there…” Theo trailed off at the aghast stares he was getting from both Modran and Garret.

“Did Nightfire hit you in the fucking head?” Modran asked with a stern tone. “You have a life here, with us. Not with a woman whose family would tear your limbs from your body like a child rips wings off a fly.”

“I don’t know… It’s not like Fremr is really the same town it was when we were growing up.” Garret said quietly. “Sure, trade is good and we’re more on the map, but none of the money is ours. It’s Tyren’s, or at least it’ll all belong to him in the end. Maybe we should all leave, but not like this. We need to convince our parents, otherwise right here is our place.”

“You really think all of our parents will listen to us? If they knew I was out and about this soon after my latest illness they’d have a fit. And you would have us move to another town? Start fresh or even traipse behind Theo to another Chalice through the Wastes?”

“Well, I—”

“Enough.” Theo snapped. “Announce yourself or don’t, but I’m going. Even if I have to take lame Gray and try as a duelist or even a trader. I could even see if grandfather would apprentice me for a few years in Aethel. There’s nothing wrong with this life, but it won’t help me propose to Alanna.”

“What? You mean being who and what you really are?” Modran sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

“Yes. Exactly. I’m going to be who and what I really am. Will you? Are you happy trapped in your rooms not allowed to do anything more strenuous than needlework?”

“It doesn’t matter if either of you are happy! Our family needs us to be here, not to run off with dreams to maybe die, or for us to convince them that Fremr is done for!” Garret interrupted before Modran could speak.

“Doesn’t it though? You have a life here. I don’t, and apparently, Theo feels like he doesn’t either. If anyone found out about my talent then Theo could be run out of town just like I would be.” She said calmly to Garret as she slipped her hand out of her glove and wagged her death-touch fingers at him. When he paled and stepped back, she nodded then turned to Theo. “I’ll go with you.”

It was Theo’s turn to ogle at her. Garret frowned and shook his head disappointedly like a dog trying to dry its fur.

“Modran…” Theo turned to look at the stables certain to see dad and the rest of the family standing there watching them, but there was nothing except the night. The grasshoppers and locusts took their song to a fevered pitch. “I understand, I do, but how will you travel? You can’t ride a horse.”

“You listen to me Theodran!” She hissed. “I’m tired of being cooped up like a porcelain doll confined to a shelf. I will not break. Where you go, I go. Besides, how will you even sneak past dad to make it to the festival with Nightfire and everything else you need? You need us or at least you need me.”

“I’m more concerned for the strangers we’d meet than you.”

“I can control it. I can! It’s only dangerous if I’m sick, but if you make it as a horsePage you’ll have enough money to buy from butchers or farmers or whatever to keep me alive and safe. Same as if we stay with grandfather. In fact, if we control how we publicly oust my talent, he could offer a more… humane end for patients too sick for this world. Besides! It’d be safer to travel with me than by yourself! I have a known talent.

Theo looked away from her panting face to Garret’s. How could they convince him to not tattle or fuck this up? “Garret, I—”

“She’s right.” Garret frowned uncertainly. “I am more than content with my lot, but she should go and maybe you should too. Especially if you really want a different life. I don’t know how I feel about you entering to become a Pageship, but… well, you’ll need a horse anyways.”

Theo bit his lip, “I’d like Nightfire still, but the second best racehorse is Skipper.”

“Skipper’s almost too old, but maybe.” He shrugged then left. “That’s between you two. I won’t interfere, but I won’t help too much either.”

“How will we manage that then?” He glanced at Modran then the already lightening sky nervously.

“I have a plan.” Modran beamed, her eyes seemed to catch all of the light with a passionate glow as she explained.

Theo nodded along before he was shooed away alone to ghost through the woods, he’d have to be in place before noon. He only had one shot for this to work after all.

*

*

*

Theo lounged in the boughs of the maple near the clearing where he and Alanna always seemed to take their spars, chats, and dances. Whatever it was they did, they always seemed to be drawn here together.

It was a beautiful space, bathed with sunlight. Streamers of red, gold and blue painted the horizon as the sun approached midmorning. Summer winds carried the sickly sweet scent of maple sap, the perfume of wildflowers, and the faint musk of deer.

His back nestled comfortably against the trunk in his nook on the branches so high up. Sunlight bathed the horizon in streamers of red, gold and blue as the sun approached dawn. Summer winds carried the sickly sweet scent of maple sap, the perfume of wildflowers, and the faint musk of deer.

Dark musings filled him with a solemn mood. If he failed, he could ruin everything, but if he won him and his family could truly succeed. A part of him wondered if he should head home with a bowed head and accept his father’s wrath for shirking his chores on one of the busiest days of the year.

But yet… this was his last chance.

Going home would be accepting defeat before he even began.

Theodran may be several things, but he was not a coward. Besides, if he returned home empty-handed after Modran pulled through to help him then he’d disappoint her. He was just anxious about failure, or even death. People died or even became grievously injured in the course of the Pageship Games.

Maybe he’d disappoint Alanna too. After all, she devoted hours on every free day they both had for months to help him prepare. Before that, they had just been free days where she showed off her talent with a blade as she showed off a new form or two. After she became a Page, things changed a bit, but now she was going to compete to earn the right to become a duelBaron!

Could he really offer her the life she, no, they wanted if he didn’t succeed?

She would probably see how mismatched they really were. Alanna was the adventurous scion of a Lordship who would rise to duelBaron and perhaps even become duelDuke, or even duelPrince for a term or two. If anyone could do it, it was her.

No duelBaron and definitely not a potential duelPrince would want a rustic stablehand as a husband. He had no known talent and since he wasn’t of full age, he had no skills or arc either. And she would succeed too. How could she not?

How will I succeed? Theo’s fists knotted tighter on the branches to his either side where he kept his grip white-knuckled for balance.

Sunhawks crowed their majestic songs as they rose in great circling wheels far above the wood’s canopy. One last foreboding look showed there was little less than an hour to head to Fremr.

Ready or not, it was time.

Theo shimmied carefully down from one branch to the next upsetting several squirrels and even a few robins who’d taken roost. With his luck he would fall and hit every branch on the way down only to break an arm.

Or worse his foolish neck.

His heartbeat roared in his ears by the time his feet finally landed on the mercifully sweet ground. A quick glance at his stinging hands showed he’d gathered a nice collection of scrapes dotted with blood and sap.

No matter. He had places to be, he’d suffer far worse than some scratches by the end of this.

Theo hurriedly gathered his satchel stuffed with a change of clothes, a tinderbox, spare bowstring, and the majority of his blue chips he’d spent a year saving. His purse tucked under his belt only held a smattering of white, and he had one green he’d smuggled under the sole of his boot ever since the first moment he’d gotten it. If he won, he might even have a true fortune with a black chip.

He wasted a moment studying his unstrung bow and the notched length of hickory he and Garret had cut into a staff a few years ago when their fathers demanded they should learn how to protect themselves and their land with the rise of bandits from the food and farmland shortages.

A glance at the sky had him rushing up the winding game trails. He was far more used to riding in Nightfire’s saddle than running as he was. Wood and iron rattled with every step as his quiver swayed on his belt.

The first hour of his vigil had been spent ensuring each and every arrow was straight and that the fletching was true. Next had been counting out all his belongings including the burdens of guilt and doubt, but no matter.

Failure was behind him for success surely lay ahead. It had to.

Bird calls broke his trance. Snatches of the song echoed through the woods before fading to silence. He tilted his head and nearly stopped to consider it, but had no time. Theo threw himself into his breakneck lope before he could waste even more time indulging in his flights of fancy.

So what if the bird call was strange? It wasn’t like he knew the noises every animal made.

Leaves crunched, twigs snapped, and branches whipped at him as he pressed himself even harder. If he could be one of the first or even the second to announce himself as a horsePage then his call would be buried under all the other types so no one could contest it.

Although, Fremr was rather small. Who knew how many people would actually be competing? Even if it was the easiest way for anyone to truly rise and become noteworthy. It was also the easiest way to get work for the caravans between Chalices.

Dad had no legal reason to keep him from the Pageship. Those were usually reserved for matters of health, whether the Pageship hopeful or their family’s, or being the only next of kin. Theo was neither.

He could fuss, but the Fremr Council would see it as the misgivings of a father’s only son trying his luck at fortune and fame but little more.

Hopefully. Theo scowled glumly at the realization that Dad could easily use Modran’s ‘illnesses’ as a sound enough of a reason, but he’d have to be mad to do that. After all, there were plenty of other people in the family who could look after her.

And she wasn’t even sick!

Theo’s lope spurred to a trot that had his lungs panting like a forge’s bellow, his muscles burned with the painful delight of exertion, and—

Movement drew Theo up short in a stagger that almost had him falling flat on his face.

Green foliage of bushes, weeds and wildflowers passed under his scrutiny innocently. Oaks, hickory and maple trees along with others he could only begin to guess the name of, all crowded in an almost random tangle of snarled roots and pressed branches far above the trail.

Theo leaned on his knees as he wheezed.

It was probably just a deer or the wind setting the branches brushing one another. Not that he’d ever admit it, but he’d always found himself jumping at the sudden creaks and rustle of the branches.

Modran used to reassure him back to sleep when they were young and could still share a room. Before she died and came back stronger than ever. Unfortunately, next time she fell ill, Blue, their guard dog, refused to leave her side.

He’d always been a cute, intelligent dog always happy to get a scratch and praise for watching over the farm. Dad and Uncle Kieran even started teaching it to hunt out fowl. Modran and him had always snuck him scraps or whatever else they could find. A grin cracked his leaden composure at the memory of Garret always tattling on them for it.

Then… Modran had pet him when she fell ill after her first death. Blue died with nothing left of him to bury. Everyone insisted they be separated for his and everyone else’s safety. But Modran never hurt him. Her talent didn’t work on him for some reason.

But it was the past and she’d either find some way to join him as he left for Aethel now, or he’d come back to take her after the Games.

“Well, that’s enough dallying.” Theo huffed and rolled his shoulders back in a quick stretch before starting, then stopping again.

A single woman blocked his path. Axes hung tensely in both her hands.Grease and dirt dusted her face and left the locks of her hair a matted mess. Her cloak was more tattered patches and frayed edges than a cloak. That was the only thing not disheveled.

Unease prickled along his spine and he had a strong suspicion there was another behind him. Metal glinted brightly in the early light that peeked through the cover of leaves off to the side.

“I agree with you, boy.” She said as she limped towards him. Gray ran in streaks through her long dark hair. She wagged one of her axes at him and said, “Let’s not waste the day and keep this nice and friendly.”

“What?” He gaped at her, dazed.

Something cold jabbed him in the back.

“Elora’s too polite sometimes,” growled a woman’s gruff voice turned bitter from fernweed smoke behind him. She prodded him again with whatever manner of weapon she carried. “We want everything you own. Give it to us, nice and easy, and we won’t take your life too.”

“What?” Theo whirled around to ask the woman behind him incredulously then howled as metal slashed a wide gash from his spine before it bounced off his shoulder. Spots danced across his vision.

What the fuck?

Was this really happening?

Theo groaned and struggled to rise from the cold muddy ground, only then realizing he’d even fallen in the first place.

“Stay down!” Starbursts exploded across his vision as something cracked him hard across the face. Theo reeled back from the impact with a squeal as he squirmed away. He cradled his nose with his hands and cringed at the warmth of his own blood trickling down his fingers.

“W-what do you want from me?” Theo whimpered nasally, his breath whistled through his nose. Tears streamed down his face obscuring everything in a gauze of slashes of light speckled with dots that wouldn’t leave his vision.

Plus, it fucking hurt. His teeth and jaw throbbed in time with the heartbeats in his chest.

“Give us your chips and those weapons you clearly aren’t man enough to use,” said the gray haired woman from where she squatted on her heels to glare down at him. One axe bounced in the palm of her hand, again and again, as she tossed it up and caught it with a meaty smack in the palm of her hand.

What was her name again?

“Who are you?”

“Aleyr curse this man and his questions! Elora, if he doesn’t shut up I will cut that tongue of his free for him.” Another kick rocked him. Agony speared through the gash in his shoulder from the blow to his back.

“Calm down Rissa,” Elora snapped at the woman who had kicked him. “You were supposed to wait in case he was a runner.”

“He’s too much an idiot to run,” Rissa spat on him. He flinched at the ticklish warmth of her spit trickling down his face.

“Boy, what’s your name?” Elora asked him with a heated glare at the woman behind him.

“What?” He blinked up at her, shocked at the sudden civility. A snarl and a sensation of motion behind him had him screaming, “Theo! My name is Theo!”

“What are you doing out here, Theo? It’s dangerous to be in the woods alone.” Elora grinned at him with a sort of grandmotherly smile that showed far too much of her yellowed teeth.

“I…” Theo paused then decided he’d tell the truth. He flopped limply to the ground in defeat. He’d lost before he’d even begun. “I was hiding out here so I could announce myself for a Pageship.”

“You what?” Rissa guffawed in that harsh croak of hers while stepping on his side with her mud streaked boot. “A little lamb like you thinks he can compete to become a duelPage? You came to us as easily as a fish reeled on a line.”

“Why hide?” Elora’s smile only widened.

“My dad wouldn’t approve.” He sighed glumly then turned to glare up at the woman that was more toad than human. “And I want to be a horsePage, if you must know, Rissa.”

“Silly me, but I always thought you needed, you know, a horse for that.”

“Will you two please stop making this more of a mess than it has to be?” Elora grunted with an equally sharp frown at each of them. As if it were his fault for ruining their robbery.

“Sorry,” Rissa huffed then backed away from him before giving him a half-hearted kick that still drove the breath from his lungs.

Elora’s frown tightened as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m sorry too.” In more ways than one. He could have just waited at the inn or something.

“Good. Now, you say your dad disapproves of your choice?” Elora asked, then continued after his brisk nod that sent a new flood of blood out of his broken nose. “How many chips do you think he’d pay for your safe return into his loving arms?”

“Depends on his mood.” He sighed at having to face his dad for running away then to top it off being captured and then ransomed by bandits.

“How much, boy?”

“Maybe a few blue.” Theo shrugged then flinched at the burning tug of the gash across his back. New bruises pulsed from Rissa’s kicks, particularly along his ribs. If he were Alanna he’d have cut them down and had them at his mercy. He wasn’t like Alanna. He was nothing but a boy.

“Only a few blue? Not green?” Elora shook her head. “I think he’d pay a lot more if you have a horse good enough to try as a horsePage.”

Theo stilled and almost uttered a swear and a few choice oaths that’d have every adult in the farm brushing his tongue with soap no matter that he was almost twenty. Anger throbbed through him where pain once did.

If they thought they’d take Nightfire then he’d kill them or himself trying.

“See what your haste almost cost us? If you’d skewered the brat…” Elora tsked at Rissa.

Someone else was approaching. Theo didn’t know how he knew, but he did. Someone on a horse. He felt it as deep and sure as bone.

“Help!” He screamed and writhed trying to get his hands beneath him to run or attack.

A blow clipped him right on the ear, then another that had his head ringing. He struggled to rise from his knees, but a kick from Elora sprawled him out flat on his back. Rissa shoved her crude spear right beneath his chin so the tip scraped roughly along his neck.

“That was stupid,” Elora growled. “No one is around for miles if it’s a festival day.”

“Should we take him back to Gripha?” Rissa almost seemed to purr with excitement at the notion. She drew the tip of the spear in tiny circles along the bulge of his throat. Theo laid as flat as he could, his heart pounded against his ribs like a hammer driving nails in boards.

“Gripha would sooner hang this useless brat than use him. If he’s talented I’ll eat my boots, laces and all.”

“Think about it!” Rissa snarled. “A horse! Maybe more if this worm is so confident that he could enter in the Pageship Games. Without one he’s either a thief or his family has enough to cover the loss. Gripha would reward us well for a haul like that!”

“He doesn’t have enough spine to be a thief. But how are we going to take him to Gripha without a horse in the first place? Can’t exactly tow him with a rope.”

“Kill him then?” Rissa asked, her eyes seemed to shine with a demented light in the dusty grime streaked recesses of her gaunt face. Theo gasped as the point of her spear poked tighter into the skin of his throat. She hunched down, ready to ram it through his windpipe. “He seems to have more talk than sense.”

“You might as—”

Hoofbeats.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” asked a girl with a singsong voice. Theo turned his head slightly and nearly screamed at her to run away. It was Isidora!

Tears burned as sobs wracked him anew.

His own death was surreal at best, especially since there was a small but decent chance he’d come back. If Modran could then he might too, talents ran in families sometimes, but Isidora would have no chance at all of that.

“What a gorgeous horse.” Elora forgot Theo instantly as she stalked towards Isidora. Sweet, innocent Isidora who wore more lace than a Dontosi doll.

Guilt stabbed him deep in the chest then tore straight to his gut. If he hadn’t called for help… He sat up and nearly threw up as the world lurched in a blur of pain. Black dots and white smears thatched his vision.

“I’m glad you agree!” Isidora practically bounced in her saddle, her hands folded in her lap as if she were sitting in a foyer with a cup of tea instead riding into a mess with bandits. “Father always has the best of horses.”

“... Really now? You don’t say.” Elora beamed as if she’d lived her whole life under an overcast sky and finally, at long last, sunlight lit the world afire. Rissa pulled her spear away from Theo’s throat and started to advance on Isidora too.

“Would you like to see? Let me show you!” Isidora threw herself off the saddle in a smooth roll of her skirts. She walked towards them with a wide, open smile that wrenched Theo’s heart at her innocence. Pure and guileless as a child.

“Come, Silver.” Isidora clapped her hands with an amused smile. Silverwind plodded behind her in a gentle rolling gait. Under normal circumstances Theo probably would have cried with joy at such a beautiful mare.

Rissa and Elora practically salivated as the girl of barely sixteen glided towards them without the faintest shred of fear or awareness for the situation. More like a walking purse full of nothing but an abundance of green chips.

Isidora’s skirts bounced in a gentle sway of sky blue trimmed with a moss green lace. Was she insane? Clearly these two women were dangerous.

“What a beautiful girl…” Elora choked on a flood of tears as she fell to her knees in a stately kneel fit for anyone in the Order. “I am not worthy to look at one as great as you. It is not safe out here.”

Theo watched, stupefied with his mouth hanging wide open as Rissa dropped to her knees fast enough she almost skewered herself on the end of her spear. “Wait! Isidora! They’re dangerous!”

“Why… I certainly hope so.” She winked at him with a droll smirk. “How else will such wonderful guards defend me?”

Rissa planted her brow in the mud in her haste to bow. She shouted with fervor muffled by the mud, “It’d be our honor mistress!”

“Excellent.” Isidora clapped her hands together. Her eyes twinkled with delight. She turned to address Theo, “Would you like to accompany us to Fremr? I can’t say I recognize you…?”

“Theodran. I’m Elias’s son. I live on Odara Farm?” Theo blinked, taken aback. Those two women had been ready to kill him and her and they were suddenly ready to serve her? Besides, how could she not recognize him? He’d spoken to her countless times! Was Alanna’s sister really this dense?

“Ah yes.” Isidora smiled, but it didn’t reach her pale green eyes at all. He frowned at the weirdness of it all, but at least she’d saved him somehow even if he didn’t understand it.

Theo climbed up to his feet slowly and dusted himself off. His wounds were still an agony, but strangely they didn’t seem to hurt nearly as much. His nosebleed had stopped completely. He only had a crust of dried blood all over his face.

“Shall we?” Isidora asked from her saddle with a raised eyebrow at him. “It’s nearly noon and I mean to announce myself.”

Of course she did.

Before he could say a word she was riding off with Elora and Rissa running to keep up, seemingly forgetting the whole thing in their haste. Theo limped after them with his bow clasped tight in his hand. It seemed most of his arrows had snapped from his fall, but after a few precious moments spent stringing it he was more than ready to shoot one of those two if they were planning on turning on one of them.

He even notched an arrow and pulled it back to do so, but he couldn’t do it. He’d never hurt or killed someone before. Plus, what if he shot Alanna’s sister?