The green woolen capes, held together by Starlex's dainty, evenly-spaced stitches, caught a strong gust of wind that pushed the small craft laden with three people and two horses into the open water.

After the stagnancy of Crytombe Crags, the fresh sea air, cooled from the ice-capped Kadaar Mountains in the distance, lifted Starlex's spirits as she recalled the freedom she felt every time she launched her small skiff.

They sailed parallel to the rugged shoreline. When the narrow Canopus Strait opened to the mouth of the sea, the sailing would be more difficult, but for now, the raft skipped over the choppy waves at a steady clip.

Leiffen controlled the sail with a taut line of rope he produced from his saddlebag, while Starlex hovered near the mast, doing her best to comfort the flighty horses. Bonn Skaard stood forward on the raft, his eyes trained through the spyglass he kept chained to his belt.

Starlex's thoughts flew back to her spyglass with its ornate Illymium design. Her heart ached suddenly for home, for Oran and Flenn's wise counsel in the tower library. After giving the nervous Emberfall a comforting pat, she took a few wobbly steps across the palm-covered logs, now damp with sea spray, and stood next to Bonn. She wondered what he was gazing at so intensely.

"Are you looking for the sea dragon?" she blurted out, feeling instantly foolish for having said it.

A wry smile formed between the Skaard's bushy beard and mustache.

As the raft hit a wave, Starlex lurched sideways, her hand landing on Bonn's muscular forearm.

He lowered the spyglass. His ice-blue gaze met hers. "Don't worry about the sea dragon, princess. If she breaches, we'll be either in her belly or the belly of the sea before we know it."

"That's comforting," she replied weakly. She removed her hand from his arm to press her suddenly queasy stomach.

The Skaard warrior dropped his head back and laughed. "I wouldn't worry about it, princess. One dragon is enough for this journey, I think."

"I hope so," she replied throatily.

He lifted the spyglass to his eye again.

"What are you looking for?" she asked.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He sighed and uttered, "I'm searching for any fires along the shoreline of my homeland, but the mist is too thick."

"Why would there be fires?"

Stellarion whinnied and kicked the palm floor as the raft rode the crest of another choppy wave.

Starlex again gripped Bonn's strong arm for support, but this time she kept it there. Again he lowered the glass and met her gaze, but now the blue of his eyes had warmed like the center of a flame.

He cleared his throat and, in his thick Kadaar accent, said, "The Thrades leave nothing behind when they attack. After they kill, they burn—everything. Homes, livestock ..."

She felt his muscles tense beneath her cool, white fingers. "Your wife?" she asked in a faint whisper.

He nodded and dropped the spyglass; it dangled on the chain attached to his belt. "And my son, too."

Words of comfort trembled on Starlex's lips but were quickly brushed away by a gust of wind.

It's just as well, she thought. How could any words assuage that level of pain?

A fuzzy memory of her parents, killed during the Nazeer raid on Mynimium, came to mind. She vaguely remembered her sister, Hyperia, placing their ashes in their bronze urns on the temple mount and of the Nazeer soldiers kicking over those urns until the gray ashes blended with the coral sands.

Did it really happen, or was it a dream? Only Illym knows.

Feeling bold suddenly, refusing to let go of Bonn's arm, Starlex tightened her grip and said, "You should be with your people, protecting them."

His face softened as he squinted into the bright sun shining like a golden disk in a cloudless sky. "I will be soon."

"When I'm returned to Oran."

He nodded. "Yes, that was the bargain." The warmth evaporated from his eyes when he said, "If your king does not go back on his word."

"He's your king, too," Starlex blurted.

Leiffen, who had been listening to snatches of their conversation over the rushing wind, laughed. "Did you hear that, Bonn Skaard? He's our king, too."

Bonn's throaty laugh rankled Starlex.

Suddenly, her hand felt foreign against the warrior's taut muscles. She pulled it away and hugged herself. "What is so funny?"

"You are, princess," Bonn said. "We men of ice serve no king but our own bellies. Your Illymium seer neglected your education on that point."

A sharp whistle sounded from the back of the raft. Starlex turned to see Leiffen standing barefoot on the stallion's back. He held onto the mast with one hand and stretched on tiptoe to get a better look at something on the horizon.

Bonn Skaard picked up the spyglass and looked out to the open water. Starlex saw his jaw tighten under his thick beard.

"What is it?" She followed his gaze to the sea, hoping it wasn't the Zetax cresting the waves.

What she saw was something eerily familiar.

In the distance was the red and gold standard of her homeland, its sigil bearing the Tower of Oran piercing a sea of stars. Beneath the flag, a great prow of a ship with twenty men onboard parted the mist. Behind it, another ship appeared, carrying still more men. Then two more ships appeared until an entire fleet sailed through the open water.

Bonn Skaard turned and gave Starlex a look that froze her blood.

"It's the one-hundred men your king promised me in exchange for your precious hide!" His words stung like the tip of a sharpened dagger. "They're in retreat. Sailing back to Oran!"