The chill of the forest is welcome after the long ride through the fields. We go slower now, allowing our horses to cool down. Their hooves clop softly on the dusty path littered by dry leaves. Enough sunshine gets through the foliage to allow good visibility, with bright yellow spots of light decorating the road ahead of us. The trail is wide enough for two horses to ride abreast, so Emilio and I ride side by side while our guards follow at a respectful distance.

It's not the shortest route to the lakes, but the other one goes past Maravian waterfalls, and Emilio doesn't like that area. I'd rather lengthen our trip than make him go near a place that holds bad memories for him. After all, I need him in a good mood for what I intend to show him.

A stomping of hooves comes from far ahead, and then Hugo appears from behind the turn, riding towards us.

"All is clear," he announces as he gets closer, before forcing his horse off the road to make way for us. "Your majesty, up to the lakes, the road is clear." He glances at Emilio. "Your Highness, there're a few nasty holes on the road a little further. Please, be careful."

"I'm a better rider than you are," says Emilio. "Save your warnings for someone who needs them."

"Of course, your Highness." Hugo bows his head as we pass him by. "My bad."

I glance back to find him briefly take off his hat and wipe the sweat off his brow. He slaps it back onto his short, hay-colored hair, then flushes red, catching my gaze, apparently ashamed of being caught doing something so mundane in my presence.

"Sorry, your majesty," he says, following us. "I meant no disrespect. It's just very hot. Hey, you!" he calls to the two guards behind him. "Get a little closer. Yes, like that."

Hugo has been acting as the head of King's Guards for the last year and his excitement hasn't decreased a notch since the day I appointed him to the position. It was an incredible career jump for him, of course, yet after all the betrayals I couldn't resist giving the job to someone who'd had a good opportunity to dispose of me and hadn't acted on it.

"I'm sorry, your majesty," he repeats. "May I go ahead again?"

"You've already checked the road," Emilio groans. "Can't you keep still for a minute?"

"I mean no disrespect, your Highness, but there are some bushes up ahead that I really think I should take a look at again. Someone could easily hide there, now that I think of it."

"Go ahead," I say and force my horse closer to the middle of the path, allowing Hugo to overtake me from the right. As he goes by, my eyes catch on the area on the back of his head, below the hat, where the hair hasn't grown back properly around the wound left by Messenio's sword.

Moments later, he's galloping away, his cape streaming in the wind.

"You have literally appointed a big puppy as the head of the King's Guards, you know that?" says Emilio. "I thought the role was intended for someone capable of keeping you safe, not someone wagging his tail and jumping all around you."

"He's taking his job seriously, that's all."

I've never been sure if his disapproval of Hugo stemmed from rational reasoning or from the fact that Hugo was the only other person, apart from me, to have seen him lying vulnerable on the ground, tied up, with marks of violence all over his body. We've never talked about it and I'm not even sure that Emilio has registered the identity of the guard that came with me on that day. I had my own doubts about having in my proximity someone who had seen him in such a state, but Hugo's increased protectiveness of Emilio settled my doubts. Apparently, he somehow saw the events of that day as his fault—even though they weren't—and was now determined to prevent anything like that from happening again.

"By the way, your puppy has just given out that we're going to the lakes," says Emilio, sounding rather bored. "Not much of a surprise—I've been there, remember? Good nature, nothing else to see."

"I'm not taking you to see the lakes. I'm taking you to see something in the lakes."

"Oh?" He glances at me, interest sparkling in his eyes. "Why don't you tell me?"

"I want you to see by yourself."

"So mysterious." He shakes his head and edges his horse to go faster. Yet Turtle, living up to its name, sticks to its slow pace, apparently unwilling to take any risks on this uneven road.

I smile to myself, eyeing Emilio's lean body hugged by the riding outfit. He's no longer pale but his skin is still lighter than what's common in our parts. He always stands out in every crowd, even when his blond hair—also a rarity—is hidden under a hat.

We continue up the road, take a couple of turns, and a few minutes later find Hugo standing by the bushes. He has a sword in his hand, and a few freshly cut branches litter the ground by his feet.

"You've been attacked by the bush, I see," Emilio calls out to him. "Have you defeated the bastard?"

"Excuse me, your Highness," says Hugo, sticking to his habit of apologizing for offenses that only exist in his imagination. "There was some noise I thought worth checking. It was only a squirrel."

"I hope it escaped unharmed."

"It did, your Highness," he says, sheathing his sword. "Made it right up that tree."

"So you say. I bet you've sliced it into pieces."

"No, your Highness! Why would I do something like that?"

Emilio rolls his eyes. "It was a joke, Hugo."

"Oh." Hugo pauses, looking confused. "As you wish, your Highness." He bows his head. "I'll just go and check that last slope before the lakes, with your permission. It's very slippery there, so please navigate carefully."

The noise of his hooves as he gallops away only partly overrides Emilio's growl of distaste.

"This man has an attention span of a two-year-old," he mutters. "Constantly moving. Gives me a headache." He glances at me and seems surprised to find me laughing. "I'm serious, Harpax. How could you give the job of keeping you alive to someone with a mental age of a small child?"

"He also has the devotion of a small child," I say. "He would do anything for me. I've come to value loyalty."

His eyes soften and he nods at me before returning his gaze to the road. We don't talk much about what happened with Messenio and Sagaristio, but he knows how I feel about it. He knows it's a wound that will never really heal.

The trees become sparser as we finally reach the slope Hugo has been talking about. The dusty surface gets replaced by colorful lake stones that are indeed pretty slippery. Slowly, we approach the waterline.

Hugo is waiting for us there, holding his horse by the bridle as it drinks from the lake. Our path lies between two grassy slopes that hide most of the lake from our eyes until we reach the waterline. There, we pause, taking in the spectacular view of the huge body of water lying ahead of us, mountains at its backdrop.

Emilio looks around and then, predictably, his eyes fix on the part of the lake to the right from us. I watch his expression freeze and his eyes widen. Then he turns to me, his mouth agape.

"There it is," I say, feeling jittery. "Surprise!"

"Harpax?" he says warily. For a moment I allow myself to hope that it's excitement I see in his eyes, but his next words rob me off that illusion. "Are you mad? What have you done?"

**************************

Hope you enjoyed the first two chapters of this book!

If you feel like purchasing the whole book (for a price of a cup of coffee :), the link is in my BIO!