Kieran Shadowstride's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Kieran Shadowstride had run for six nights, and the king's patrols were still behind him. Every one of those soldiers served the man who had burned his family's home and left him with nothing but a stolen name. He crossed the trade road at dusk, keeping to the ditch. His dark hair hung wet against his neck. At his heel trotted a silver fox cub with a black streak down its spine and a scaled tail that dragged in the dust. The cub was hungry. So was he. Hooves sounded behind him. Kieran dropped flat. Torchlight swept the road where he had just walked. A patrol. Three riders, checking the ditches. If they searched much longer, they would find him. He had no wall, no roof, no dark corner to wait them out. One more night in the open and he was a dead man. Then he saw it. Down the road stood a low inn wrapped in flowering cactus. Warm light spilled from its windows. Pink blooms climbed the porch rails. It was the kind of place travelers stopped without giving their names. Kieran scooped up the cub and ran. Inside, the air smelled of stew and woodsmoke. A few travelers hunched over cups. The innkeeper stood behind the counter, wiping a bowl. She looked up when the door banged, and her eyes went straight to the mud on Kieran's boots. "We don't take trouble here," she said. "And you look like trouble." Kieran heard the hooves stop outside. Boots hit the porch. He set a silver disk on the counter. It was heavy, stamped with the crown's three shields and hung with red ribbon. A royal courier's seal. Forged, but perfect. He had paid a dying man for it. "I ride the king's business," Kieran said, keeping his voice flat. "Give me a room, and you never saw a courier at all." The innkeeper studied the seal. She studied his face longer. The door opened behind him. A patrol soldier stepped in, hand on his sword. "We're tracking a fugitive," the soldier said. "An elf. Dark hair." The innkeeper did not blink. "Only guest tonight is the king's own courier. Been here since noon." She slid a key across the counter to Kieran. "His room's paid." The soldier looked at the seal, then at Kieran's steady face. He nodded once and backed out. The hooves rode off into the dark. Kieran let out his breath. The cub squirmed in his arms. The innkeeper leaned close. "That seal fooled him. It won't fool me." She kept her hand on the key. "I know real royal papers. Yours is missing the winter mark they added last month. Who are you really, and what do you want with the king?" Kieran had a bed. He had a night. But now someone knew his seal was a lie, and she was waiting for the truth.