Ildri found the roadway easily enough considering that she felt ready to panic at any time.  Then she followed it.  Twice she heard someone coming and she hid out of sight in the trees.  Both times the strangers passed by without incident.  While she walked, she could not help going over the last few days in her mind and shed many a tear.

She thought about Saul.  She was beginning to wonder if she had ever actually loved him.  She was sad that he had died but the all encompassing pain was strangely absent.  Had Ty been right about him somehow?  She wondered if he really had been using her as merely a diversion or if he had been selling the things she told him to the king's enemies although she could hardly imagine how anything she said might be worth anything to them.  Either way, both thoughts were awful and she felt betrayed.

She also thought about Ty.  He had been angry with her and perhaps she had deserved it.  She wondered if she had been wrong to judge him for being a warlock.  Yet everyone said that witches and warlocks misused magic, using what they did not have themselves.  She only had to look to her own experiences to see it.  Anya had hidden her true nature so that she could better attack Lord Wildwood.  It was unforgivable.

But Ildri still felt awful about the whole argument.  She missed Ty as a travelling companion but it was probably just because she felt safer when she was not alone and maybe because he had saved her.

He was not nice to her at all.  He mocked and intentionally infuriated her without mercy.  He was secretive and he had killed Saul.  Although perhaps Saul had gotten what had been coming to him.  She supposed that it was unreasonable to expect Ty not to defend himself.

But what if they were all elaborate lies?  Ildri had been tricked easily by Anya.  Could this be the same thing?  Ty's stories seemed just too easy and he had not been taking her directly to the capital where he supposedly had to go immediately.

It was better that he had let her go.  She did not want to be tricked again.  At Wildwood she would be safe and happy again, one day.

But there were more troubles coming.  There had been too many rumours and everyone at Wildwood knew that their lord was concerned about the state of things.  Would Wildwood remain untouched by all the events surrounding it?  And what if the king fell?  What would happen to all of them?  Something was going to happen; she had seen the soldiers with her own eyes.

Perhaps she had erred by not going to the capital with Ty.  But it was too late now.

More tears formed at the corner of her eyes and she swiped them away quickly.

Suddenly Ildri realized that she could hear the sound of at least one horse behind her.  She should have been paying attention she thought as she ran towards the nearest trees and rushed deeper into the forest.  She knelt down behind some low bushes and prayed for the riders to pass her by.

The sound of hooves faded and Ildri let out a long sigh of relief.  She had to be more careful in the future.

Ildri stood up and brushed the leaves off her clothing.  She began to walk back towards the road when she heard the hooves again.  She quickly ran back to her cover.  Was someone looking for her?  Who was it?  She did not dare look.  What if they had caught Ty and he had said something about her?  Even now they might be looking for her.

And Ildri suddenly understood that they would want to find her.  She was not just a kitchen maid any longer.  They would want to silence her.  She had seen that there was a military camp hidden in the king's lands.  They would not want her to tell anyone.

She would be wiser not to go to Wildwood once they were gone.  That would be what they would suspect.  Instead she would go to Waldwick.

Ildri had never been to Waldwick before but she had heard of it.  It was the estate belonging to Lady Theresa.  She could go there because they would not expect her to do that, and she would just have to convince them of her identity.  She was certain that she could make it and then they could send word to Wildwood.

But what if Ildri was overreacting?  It was possible that two riders had simply met in this coincidental place.  Were her fears overcoming her?

The hooves stopped, and Ildri felt her heart jump into her throat.  Every beat of her heart sounded as loud as a drum.  She heard the noise of footsteps on the leaves and she felt frozen in fear.

"Ildri of Wildwood?"

There was no way that he was here, she knew, but it was his voice.

"I know that you are there."

Ildri let out another breath and stood up.  "Why are you here?"

He looked annoyed, but somehow she did not think it was at herself.  "This is too dangerous for you to go alone.  I'll take you back to Wildwood.  Who knows, it might throw my pursuers off my track since it is the opposite of what they expect."

Ildri felt better than she had since she had left him.  She smiled weakly.  "But you need to go to the capital quickly."

Ty shook his head.  "It can wait a couple of days."

Ildri closed her eyes.  "I'm not sure that it can.  I want Wildwood to be safe, so I think we should go to the capital.  It's more important."

He looked at her, irritation, surprise, and amusement warring on his face.  "Did you change your mind just so that you can keep disagreeing with me?" he asked.

Ildri scowled at Ty but it lacked any real feeling.  "No.  I just had time to think.  I'll even drink that wretched potion."

Ty shrugged and then nodded.  "Let's go."

Ildri glanced towards him as he walked her back to the horse.  "You look different."  He looked much younger than he had although there were still some wrinkles.  His hair no longer had streaks of silver, instead it was a deep brown.  His eyes were almost the same colour.

"I always do."

"What do you really look like?" she wondered.

He glanced over at her.  "Normal."

She shrugged and felt a bit awkward.  Ty helped her up onto the horse which looked significantly different than the first one they had rode, although it was about the same size.

"Did you steal another horse?" she asked him as he climbed up.

"I never stole any horses," he corrected.

"Where did this one come from then?"

"It's the same horse.  I just disguised it a bit.  And he was not stolen.  He's spoils of war.  If anything, I liberated him.  The king will not be concerned."

"Hmmm," she muttered.  She wondered what he was like to condone such activities.

Ty's voice had an irritating quality as if he were talking to a very young, unreasonable child.  Ildri narrowed her eyes.  "They are attempting to invade our land.  They'll get what they deserve.  And I might remind you that these were the men who would have killed you for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"That's true," she agreed, thinking of the soldier who would have taken her life simply because he had been ordered to.  Stealing a horse was a small magnitude in comparison.

And whatever Ty was, he had saved her life.

"I'm sorry for what I said before."  Ildri did not dare to look at him.

He did not answer and she wondered if he had heard her.

"Did you hear me?" she asked.  "I said—"

"I heard you."

"Oh."

They rode a long in a less than comfortable silence for a time before Ty spoke again.  "I'm sorry you were dragged into this."

"As you said, it was not entirely your fault," she agreed, thinking about all that Saul might have done.  Had she really been such a fool?

"Still, I am," he said.

"I should not have been so naive," she said, still not looking back at him.

Ty's voice was soft.  "You couldn't have known."

"Why are you being nice?" she asked without thinking.

"When have I not been nice?"

"Well, you dragged me away from my home in the most horrible way, you frightened me,  you insulted me, you laughed at me."  He had been domineering and obnoxious to the extreme.

"I get results."