A King's War

Chapter 13

RAVEN

“We’re too late,” Ver said in despair as he stared down from the ledge we were hiding on just as the convoy disappeared behind the gates leading into Valveronia.

Aila reached out her hand and squeezed his shoulder, her face a picture of sadness. “I’m so sorry,” She whispered.

I watched the gates close. Watched the convoy completely disappear into Valveronia. And I looked to Ver, who had bowed his head and was breathing more ragged. He didn’t want to say goodbye to his brother. Didn’t want to face the rest of his life without him. I said nothing aloud but internally told myself not to get involved. I’d gotten them here. I’d done my part. There was nothing else to do.

Ver looked up again at the gates that had been closed and there were silent tears streaming down his face. I turned away, feeling like I was intruding on a private moment.

“I’m sorry, Ver,” Galen told him. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

I bit my tongue to keep from interjecting and continued to tell myself over and over not to get involved. My only job was taking people from one place to another. Getting involved and getting attached in this world, only meant getting hurt in the future. Still, I found myself unable to sit by and not do anything this time as I had already done so many times before. I told myself once more that this wasn’t my war but found myself turning to Ver anyway.

“That’s not entirely true,” I muttered.

All eyes turned to me. Galen and Aila looked at me questioningly while Ver looked at me with hope and I was hating myself for giving it to him. Even if I took them into Valveronia, there was no guarantee that we’d get to his brother in time.

“I thought you said there was no way into Valveronia,” Aila said.

I blew out a long breath as I stared at the gates. “There’s not,” I told her. “at least, not unless you have help.”

“Who’s going to help us?” Galen questioned in disbelief.

“Just follow me,” I replied as I pushed to my feet and began making my way down the ledge. They all shared a look with each other and then made their way after me.

I led them through the trees surrounding the kingdom walls, careful to stay far enough out of sight from the soldiers I knew were keeping guard at the top of the wall. We made our way silently and quickly to the portion of the wall that merged with the neighboring mountain and I motioned for them to stop.

“Stay out of sight,” I told them as I rested my staff against a tree and tossed my sack on the ground next to it. “I’ll be right back.”

“And where are you going?” Aila asked me but I didn’t respond.

I pulled the two blades from my boots; both were longer than daggers and hooked on the ends. I swung the first blade into the trunk of the nearby tree and began to pull myself up, swinging the second blade into the trunk higher up before pulling the first blade out once again.

“I have got to get me a couple of those,” I heard Galen say as I scaled the tree.

I made it high enough up that I could see over the wall, but still, I was too far away to do anything. I stood on the branch closest to me before leaping across to the branches of the other trees. I kept going until I was perched on the branch of the tree closest to the wall. I was careful to keep my cloak wrapped around me, the hood up, as I surveyed what lay in front of me.

There were hardly ever any soldiers on this end of the wall as this section of the wall was impossible to scale, even more so than the other sections, because this particular section had several hundreds of jagged rocks at the bottom and thorny vines snaking up the sides. The was the side of the wall that no one bothered to guard. Of course, I had still gotten unlucky a few times. The trees were too far away to jump to the wall, I knew, but I had another way to get over.

As soon as I confirmed that there were no soldiers nearby and none close enough to be paying attention, I removed my dagger from the sheath on my arm. There was enough light in the sky as the sun continued to rise. Since I was at the edge of the trees, some of the light shined onto the branches. Perfect. I wiped the mud off my dagger and then held the gleaming metal out so it caught the light of the sun. I aimed it into the kingdom beyond the walls once. Waited. Twice. Waited again. A third time. As I was waiting, I saw it. There one moment and gone the next. The flash of something metal catching the sun from on the houses beyond the wall. I flashed my dagger two more times one right after the other and then turned and headed back the way I came. I raced across the branches before making my way back down the tree I had climbed up.

The Ralorns all looked up at me when my feet hit the ground and I gathered up my things. I nodded my head to the wall. “Come,” I told them before moving quickly back to the wall, this time from the ground.

I stopped beneath the tree I had been perched in, just in front of all the jagged rocks. I leaned back against the trunk and waited.

Ver looked at the jagged rocks before us and I could see some of the hope in his eyes die. “Well, this looks . . . pleasant,” He finally said.

Galen gave a snort. “There’s no way we can scale that wall.”

Ver looked to me in question, waiting for me to tell him what we were going to do. I just stared at the top of the wall.

“Are you going to tell us what we’re doing here?” Ver asked me.

“Are any of you ever going to trust me?” I countered, turning to face him. He looked down at me before turning and looking back at the top of the wall where my focus had been.

An arrow suddenly shot over the top of the wall at a downward arc, striking into the tree I was leaning against just above my head. A rope was tied to the end of it.

“Nice shot,” I muttered before untying the rope from the arrow and tying it instead around the trunk of the tree. I tugged on it a couple of times and then held it. I felt it tugged a couple of times more from the other side. It was tied at an angle that would allow us to climb up, without getting stabbed by thorns or impaled by jagged rocks. I gestured to the rope.

“After you, your majesty,” I told Ver.

He gave me a look of annoyance when I called him majesty but grabbed hold of the rope and began climbing it slowly to get to the top. I waited until he was over the wall before telling Aila to go and then Galen. Once Galen was over the wall, I untied the rope from around the tree trunk and instead tied it around my waist. I once again climbed the tree and perched myself on the branch nearest to the wall. I gave the rope one hard tug before jumping. The rope pulled taut before I ever reached the bottom, I kept my feet out and they hit the wall, thorns getting stuck in my boots. I slowly began to climb while the person on the other side was pulling on the rope. I made it to the top of the wall and untied the rope, wrapping it instead around one of the many pillars nearby and then jumped from the wall.

There was cursing from the man at the bottom as he kept the rope from spiraling out too fast and thus, keeping me from hitting the stone floor at too quick a speed. He lowered me down quickly the rest of the way and then pulled the rope back down to him, coiling it around his arm.

He fisted both his hands, tucked one arm behind him and the other he crossed over his chest before bowing to me slightly.

“You have my sword,” Drey said.

I copied his movements, bowing to him in the same way he had done to me. “And you have mine,” I responded.

He nodded. “Now,” He said as he grabbed hold of my arm. “What in the Gods’ names were you thinking?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” I said as I tried to walk around him. He kept me pinned in place and I knew I was about to get a lecture.

“Elves, Raven?” He questioned. “And not just any elves but Ralorns? It’s bad enough you risk your life every time you come back into this kingdom but now you’ve brought Ralorns along with you?”

“Wait what?” Aila spoke up. “You’ve done this before?”

“I thought that was clear,” I replied as I gestured to the wall and the rope around Drey’s arm.

Drey was glaring down at me the way a parent would to their child. “You’re going to get yourself killed. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Then let’s get somewhere safe where we can properly finish this discussion,” I told him. “Preferably before I get myself killed.”

Drey narrowed his eyes at me. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with the convoy that just passed through here, would it?”

I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest, matching his stance and narrow-eyed look. “Maybe.”

He shook his head, glanced at the Ralorns, and then switched his language to the mother tongue of Valveronia.

“Raven, it’s not safe for you to be here,” He said and I noticed the Ralorns looked between themselves, wondering what he was saying. “Whatever you’ve gotten yourself into, get out of it. Leave these elves to their problems.

I nodded. “Maybe,” I replied in the same language and it felt good to speak the language of Valveronia once again. “but I made a promise that I’ve chosen not to go back on.” I could feel Ver’s gaze in the side of my head as I spoke to Drey. His gaze was suspicious while the gazes of Aila and Galen were surprised. I switched back to the universal language everyone knew. “Are we going to get moving?” I asked Drey.

He narrowed his eyes at me once more. “This discussion is not over,” He said to me before finally switching languages and turning to the Ralorns. “This way,” He said.