Just One Knight by Bridget Essex

Author:Bridget Essex
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2017-06-20T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

CINDA

“I’m not an exceptionally big fan of heights.”

Fane looks at me stolidly before giving me a big, toothy grin. “Well, then. Just don’t look down!”

“That’s…unhelpful.”

“I do my best.”

“Unhelpful, Fane. Unhelpful.”

“Ah, well…I said I do my best. I don’t get it right all the time. I’m only perfect in bed.”

Her words are so surprising that every single one of us present laughs, and Fane is laughing, too, tilting her head back, her black hair sweeping over her bare shoulders. She’s taken off her shirt at this point, and has folded it neatly, with quite crisp lines, and handed it to Tahlia. Fane’s only wearing her dark black pants, her leather shoes and a slim breastband now, and she turns, her chin up, and strides into the forest, expecting the rest of us to follow her.

And we do, leaving the smoking Nymph Tree and the rest of the women behind us. I saw Tahlia speaking to her seconds, Yeri and Bay, and they disappeared into the dark.

So it’s just us.

Talis is gripping the reins of both Rane and the donkey, Cossie, and I assume she’s going to tie them to one of the hitching posts out front of the Nymph Tree until we get back, or…really. I’m not quite sure what I assumed.

But I know one thing, surely: we’re not taking the two animals with us.

Until…we are.

“Wait, wait…they’re coming with us? How in the world is this going to work?” I ask Talis as we set out through the woods, following Fane, Lellie, Tahlia, Talis and me…and the two mounts.

Talis glances back at me with raised brows, as if she’s not sure what I’m asking, so I spell it out plainly, gesturing to the donkey and mare. “We’re…we’re taking the mounts with us?”

“Oh, of course. We can’t leave them behind. This is a knight’s warrior mare…and this is Cossie.” She affectionately pats the donkey’s very furry neck, and he glances at me smugly. “Fury Wood isn’t especially safe at night, even for someone hardened by battle. And it’s certainly not safe for a donkey. Someone could eat him.”

I glance at Cossie who’s still looking smug, and I wonder if that might not be the worst thing in the world, since I’m fairly certain the beast tried to kill me…but I decide that this is an uncharitable thought, and—feeling a little bad about it—I reach out and try to pet the donkey.

But he bites me first, chomping down quite hard on my fingers. I wrangle my hand out of his mouth and glare daggers at the beast, but he simply trots a little faster to stride alongside Talis. I sigh.

“And your mare?” I ask Lellie. Lellie smiles and shakes her head at me.

“She’s gone home by now for her mash, I’m sure. She didn’t get supper, and is a bit headstrong about it.”

I blink, but accept this. “But…how is Fane going to carry all of us, and the beasts besides?”

Fane circles back, practically bounding over to us with a wide grin. “Did

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