Read 03 - The Eternal Rose for Free Online Page B

through the feelings the links gave her. “We are agreed? We go to Daryath to see whether this is our ilias and our child, and whether the demon is still with them."
    Not all of them nodded, but they all agreed.
    “When do we go?” Joh asked, his eyes already far away, seeing what lay inside his head as he calculated lists of supplies and personnel. He snagged a quill from the nearest worktable and a scrap of parchment, his waist-length queue sliding forward over his shoulder as he stretched to reach it.
    “Within the week, if possible."
    “Let's say on Firstday next. Quickest route south that's possible.” Joh made his first note to himself.
    Kallista clapped Torchay on the shoulder. “Come, bodyguard. Let's go break the good news to the Daryathi delegation."

----
    Chapter Three
    Sun beat down on the caravan jingling along the dusty road. Leyja tucked the cloth that veiled her face against the fine gritty dust more securely beneath the wide-brimmed hat she wore to protect from the fierce rays of the sun. Her skin, like that of their other northern iliasti, burned red in mere moments under this Southron sun, even as summer waned.
    But the Tibrans and even Joh and Viyelle turned brown after the burnt skin flaked away. Only Leyja and Torchay with their red hair, and oddly, Kallista, though her hair was nearly as dark as Obed's, continued to burn without ever tanning. The need for protection was a nuisance, but at least Leyja could easily shed the loose robes she wore against the sun if she needed to fight.
    She sent her gaze sweeping across the family group again, counting children. Leyja considered it a gift of the One that they had traveled so far and not lost any. The journey down the Alira River to the wide Taolind at Turysh and on along the great river to the sea had been marked by enough “accidental” plunges into the water and forbidden explorations ashore that Kallista had been forced to cobble together a sort of magical leash to use on the wild creatures.
    It allowed her to pinpoint the location of each child with only a moment's thought, kept them from straying more than ten paces from their bodyguard or nursemaid, and set up an alarm if any tumbled into danger. During the sea voyage along the eastern coast from Ukiny to Kushma in Daryath, it had alerted them when Omri had goaded his same-age sedil, River, Aisse and Fox's son, into the rigging ten paces above his bodyguard. That was merely the most alarming incident.
    After that, Kallista had tightened her warding and the adults had heightened their guarding.
    The rest of the voyage had been—relatively—peaceful, as had the journey by horseback along the Iyler, the great river of the south. This time of year, in fall, the river was too low for even the local lightweight reed boats once they left the coast.
    The size of their caravan had kept bandit attacks away, though sneak thieves had been tempted by its richness. The regular troops had been kept busy guarding the wealth. The bodyguards’ duties had been lighter. Leyja's own rest had remained undisturbed during the entire journey. But that did not alter her vigilance, especially now, as they neared the Daryathi capital city of Mestada and the end of the journey.
    Leyja was a bodyguard. First and foremost, she protected those in her charge, with her life if necessary. She had done it well when it had been mere duty, but now, when she did it for love—She shook herself all over, like a horse shaking away flies, banishing the fear that any harm would come to these.
    Many Adaran women joined the army as a way out of poverty, a way to succeed and advance and live well, if not wealthy. Few of them joined the ranks of the bodyguards because the training was difficult and the life was risky. That was why Leyja had done it. To prove that she could.
    She'd been too tall and too thin in her girlhood, and book learning had been difficult for her. The only thing she had was determination. Because she refused to