Chapter 6: The Burned Village

Kaedan opened his mouth to answer her, and the alarm bell began to ring.

It was a harsh, fast clang from the gate tower, and it went on and on.

He swore under his breath and was at the door in two strides, pulling his shirt on.

A guard stood on the landing with his ears flat and his chest heaving.

"Ashmere, Your Majesty," he said. "The hamlet on the south road. It's burning."

"Raiders?"

"Arrows, and fire. They're not stopping."

The king looked back at her.

"We are not done talking," he said.

"I know."

"Stay in the keep."

"I'm a healer," Shiori said, and picked up the bag Bram had given her.

He swore again, quietly, and went down the stairs two at a time, and she followed.

She had never ridden a horse.

He lifted her into the saddle in front of him.

She felt his arm lock across her waist.

They went out through the gate at a gallop with thirty soldiers behind them.

She held the pommel with both hands and tried not to think about the arm.

It was a very strong arm.

Red light showed over the hills before the hamlet did.

Ashmere was a street of low timber houses at the foot of a ridge.

Half of them were burning.

People stood in the road with blackened faces.

A man sat against a wall with a grey-fletched arrow through his shoulder and black lines creeping toward his neck.

Another lay beside him, and three more beyond that, and a woman was bent over a girl in the dirt, shaking her.

"The arrows," Shiori said. "They're the same as the ones on the bridge."

"Poisoned," Kaedan said. "Can you do this many?"

"I can start."

She slid down before the horse had stopped.

It was still dark when she began, and the first hour was the worst.

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