Mag-log inAyla’s Pov"Haldor."The voice came from behind him. It was low and level, and I knew it before I saw who spoke. Darius stood about ten paces away, near the corner of the nearest tent. He hadn't raised his voice. He had his cloak thrown back, and one hand resting at his belt, and he looked perfectly calm. If you didn't know him, you might have thought he'd just wandered over to ask a question.Haldor turned around slowly."Commander," he said. He made the word sound like a joke."Step away from her," Darius said."We were just talking.""I heard." Darius came a few steps closer and stopped, not quite between us, but close enough that Haldor would have to go around him to reach me. He didn't look at me. He kept his eyes on Haldor. "Ayla. Is there a problem?""No," I said. "Haldor was just leaving.""I wasn't," Haldor said."She says you were.""She's a Northern woman." Haldor shrugged, as though that settled it. "Our people have a long history. I was only reminding her of it.""She tol
Ayla’s PovWe reached the camp shortly before sunset. Snow covered the ground, with a frozen stream running along one side and rocky hills in the distance. The scouts believed the Eastern wolves were somewhere beyond them, but nobody knew exactly where. The soldiers got to work as soon as we stopped. Some unloaded tents while others brought out food and supplies. Horses stamped their feet as their handlers led them toward the stream. A few men sat near the wagons, sharpening their weapons, while others argued over where to set up camp.I sat on a wagon and watched them. A boy hurried past me with two buckets of water, spilling some on his boots. Nearby, a woman counted spears as two warriors carried them off the carts. Everyone seemed to have something to do. I was beginning to wonder where Darius had gone when I noticed a man standing across the camp, watching me.I was tired. My back ached, and my feet were cold, and the sick feeling had come and gone twice since noon. But I could s
Darius’s PovAn hour later, I had to go and look at the ford. The crossing was the most dangerous part of the march, and I needed to see it for myself before the army reached it. Before I left, I put a full skin of water beside Ayla and spoke to the old warrior. "You stay here. Don't move even a bit," I told the old warrior."Yes, Commander," he said."If anything changes, send a boy," I said."I will," he said.I looked at Ayla. She was sitting on the crate with her knees pulled up and the gray fur around her shoulders. She seemed all right."I'll be gone an hour," I said."I'll be fine," she said."If you're sick, you tell him," I said."I will," she said."Ayla," I said."I will," she said. "Go."I went. I rode out to the ford with two scouts and walked along the bank for a long time, watching the ice, the mud, and the shape of the hills. The ford was wide, as they'd said. It was shallow in the middle and deeper near the far bank. It would take half a day. I counted the places an e
Darius’s POVI was looking at the map with the commanders when an old warrior rushed in. The sound of his boots made everyone turn. He stopped in front of us, breathing heavily with one hand on his side."Commander," he said. "It's the girl. She's sick again."I put down the stone I had been using to hold the map flat."How bad?" I asked."Bad enough that I came to get you.""Keep going," I told the commanders. "The patrol, then the river crossing. I'll be back."I left before he could answer and headed for the wagons. The old warrior followed close behind. When I got to the third wagon, Ayla was nowhere to be seen. Her cup was lying in the snow, and water had spilled onto the ground.I found her behind the wagon. She was down with one hand against the wood and the other holding her hair back from her face. Her shoulders were shaking. When she heard my boots, she tried to straighten up and almost fell."Don't," I said."I'm fine." Her voice was hoarse. "Don't look.""I'm definitely lo
Ayla’s PovThe next morning, I noticed something beside me. I woke up to find a cup of water beside my blankets. It hadn't been there when I fell asleep. When I lifted my head, the old warrior was sitting on his crate a few steps away with his chin on his chest, pretending to be asleep, and he didn't look at me at all."Did Darius leave this?" I asked."Couldn't say, miss," the old warrior said, with his eyes still closed.I drank the water. It was only the first thing I took that morning. When I went to the cook fire for bread, a woman I barely knew put another piece in my hand and told me the commander said I was to have extra. At the next stop, a boy brought me a folded blanket and said the same. On the march, whenever the line stopped for more than a few minutes, there was a wagon seat waiting for me. Twice I looked up and saw Darius watching me from his horse. Both times he turned his head away quickly, like he'd been looking at something else. He didn't make a big deal of any of
Ayla’s PovI sat there for a long time without moving.The cup stayed in my hands, and the water grew cold. All around me, the army was moving. Carts creaked, and somebody up ahead was whistling off-key. I barely heard any of it. I stared at the cart in front of me, where a sack of grain had a hole in it and a thin line of white was spilling onto the snow. I couldn't think about anything else but the baby.I said the word “Baby” in my head a few times. It didn't feel real. It felt like a word from someone else's life. The King had wanted this. I kept coming back to that. He had stood in his hall and said it in front of everyone, like he was ordering supplies. I was to stay with the prince until I had a child. Everyone had been waiting for it, and now it had probably happened, but Darius still didn't know.I tried to picture his face when I told him, but I couldn't. Maybe he'd be surprised and angry, or he'd probably go blank, the way he did when something caught him off guard. I had n







