Twilight’s Dawn (The Black Jewels #9)(64)
Author: Anne Bishop

Kohlvar growled an opinion about so many men going there without Yaslana—especially since he was the one who had been required to offer assurances about the men who were with him.

“—and the women are tucked in just fine. Plenty of food, plenty of wood,” Rothvar continued.

Tucked in, Falonar thought as he turned to face Rothvar. Some of those women should have been providing domestic service for the northern camps instead of keeping their skills—and their bodies—to themselves. Not one of them wore dark Jewels or came from a female caste that carried any prestige and required being handled with care. He’d allow the children to remain in the Doun eyries and work out a rotation for the women. A few would remain to care for the children while the others provided the service they should. If their performance was satisfactory, they would be allowed to visit their children and rest during their moontime days before returning to the camps.

Some might think that was harsh treatment, since these women hadn’t been required to cuddle anyone but themselves, but the new arrangement would benefit the warriors, and in the end, what benefited the warriors benefited all Eyriens—including the aristo Ladies who would soon have a reason to settle in Ebon Rih.

“Do you have a problem with following orders?” Falonar asked coldly.

“Nope,” Hallevar said. “But we could have spread out and taken a good long look at this part of the valley from the Keep to the southernmost edge in half the time.”

“If we’re spread out, then each man is a single target,” Falonar said.

“We weren’t flying in a fighting formation,” Zaranar said. “Routine check of this part of the valley, you said. Nothing different from what we do every week.”

“Except only a handful of men usually go out for these flyovers,” Rothvar said. “And we’re more than a handful of men.”

“Funny how all the men assigned to this flyover are the ones who signed on to work for Lucivar,” Hallevar said. “Wasn’t any reason for me to be out here today. Or Tamnar, Endar, or Kohlvar.”

Zaranar and Rothvar had already descended to their full strength, and they were already protected by at least one shield. Within moments, the other men would do the same. No dark Jewels among them, but if a fight started, they would focus on bringing him down, not on surviving—would focus on buying enough time for whoever was sent from the fight to warn the Queens and the Keep.

He couldn’t afford that fight. Backing down left a sour taste in his mouth, but this morning proved one thing: He wasn’t going to be able to trust any of these men once he became the Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih. That was a hard disappointment, especially the loss of a weapons maker of Kohlvar’s skill.

But he would deal with that another day.

“I followed my instructions, and that included who was assigned to this flyover,” Falonar said. “If you have a problem with those instructions, take it up with Yaslana.”

“We’ll do that,” Rothvar said.

They moved out in two fighting formations, flying hard and fast until each group caught the Wind that could accommodate all of them.

Falonar stayed on the mountain overlooking Doun. He’d catch up to them easily enough, and be back in his eyrie when the news came from the north.

There were only four people in The Tavern, but it felt much too crowded, and the air felt too stuffy to breathe. Slipping into her coat, Surreal released the Gray lock on the door, stepped outside, and studied Riada’s main street.

Nothing moved. Not a horse, not a cart, not a person. Not even a dog. The village was locked down. Lady Shayne hadn’t hesitated when Surreal had given that order—and hadn’t asked why she was giving the order on Yaslana’s behalf instead of Falonar. And wasn’t that interesting?

*Sadi?* she called on a psychic thread.

*Something wrong?* he asked.

*No, it’s quiet—Wait.* She saw the Eyriens arrowing toward Riada. Fighting formations. That couldn’t be good.

Holding the psychic link open between them, she wrapped herself in a Gray shield and stepped to the edge of the sidewalk. Being the only person in sight, she wouldn’t be hard to spot.

They came in fast, then backwinged and landed half a block from where she stood. Rothvar and Zaranar led the formations. They were the ones who approached her, along with Hallevar and Kohlvar. The others called in crossbows or war blades and watched the buildings and the sky.

“The village is locked down?” Rothvar asked. “Why?”

“Where is the Healer and her sister? Endar’s family?” Zaranar asked.

She spotted Falonar gliding toward them, backwinging with too little concern considering how tense the other men were. She waited until he joined the four men who seemed to be the unofficial leaders of the group.

“There is trouble in the north,” Surreal said. “There’s a chance it’s going to spill over onto Riada. So we’ve prepared the village and alerted the Queen and her Master of the Guard. Nurian, Jillian, and Endar’s family are with Marian.”

“Yaslana?” Hallevar asked.

She looked straight at Falonar. “He’s gone north to deal with the problem.” You hadn’t figured the Queen would lock down the village, putting everyone on alert, did you, sugar? And as sure as the sun doesn’t shine in Hell, you weren’t expecting anyone from Lucivar’s family to be anticipating a fight here.

“When did he leave?” “We were just farting over Doun with that flyover. Why didn’t he call us?” “Who did he have with him?” “Who’s guarding his eyrie?”

A jumble of voices since all four men were asking the same questions, throwing the words at her.

Thunder rolled down the mountain, a warning of temper that silenced all of them.

“Prince Sadi is guarding the eyrie,” Surreal said. “Yaslana will have to answer the rest of your questions when he returns.”

The door behind her opened. Rainier stepped out, followed by Merry and Briggs. Not bothering to swear at them for leaving the shielded building, she put a Gray shield around the three of them and said, *Stay put.*

“Have they heard from Lucivar?” Merry asked.

“No,” Surreal said, watching the Eyriens. All the Warlords were angry. If there was trouble in the north, they shouldn’t have been pissing around with a flyover. Maybe they wouldn’t have followed Lucivar north, but they would have formed a guard to watch over Doun and Riada.