Blood Price (Noble of Blood Book 1) by A L Wright

in her head just to fetch a higher fee.  Josee had told him how much she paid the woman.
    Sure the Seer had mentioned traveling north, but it could have just turned out to be a mere coincidence.   Dartein was more worried that it was that woman that finally gotten Josee to take their predicament so seriously.  He would have felt better knowing that Josee was still feeling lighthearted and full of life before he left.
    They reached the beginnings of the forest well before dawn and decided to let their horses rest and graze before they left the meadow behind.  As Dartein was finished brushing the horses down Anton emerged from the forest with two rabbits in hand.
    "Fresh dinner my Prince.  Go ahead and eat yours while I put up our shelter” Anton handed the rabbits to him and turned to their packs.
    Dartein watched as Anton removed the shelter from his pack and went about setting it up.  The process only took a few moments.  The shelter was made of thin deer hides sewn tightly together and dyed black.   It was held up and together by thin poles made of oak.  Each pole was only a foot long, but were notched in such a way for them to fit together end on end to make them longer and sturdy.  There were loopholes sewn onto the hides for the poles to pass through and for stakes to be hammered into the ground to hold it down.
    The entire structure was about 7 feet long but only 2 and a half feet high.  The tent being flat kept it from being damaged in high winds.  And they only needed it for sleeping anyway, so there was no reason for it to be taller.  These tents were standard issue amongst their troops.  The troops used them in tall grasses and dense woods and became virtually invisible to human eyes.
    Having skinned and filleted the second rabbit while Anton put up the tent, Dartein went to the nearby stream to wash his hands of the blood.  Feeling revitalized from the fresh meat he wasn't quite ready to sleep.  He sat back from the bank and watched as a mother swan led her babies out of the stream and away from him, honking at him for disturbing their early morning swim.  He watched them as they waddled up the bank a ways and then glided back in the water, where the babies promptly climbed onto the mothers back while she gracefully floated along.
    He eventually became aware of the slightly brightening sky and arose from his stream side vigil.  As he neared the camp he noticed the horses were drowsing already and decided that sleep was definitely the smart thing to do.  He could hear Anton’s breathing inside the tent telling him that his traveling mate was already asleep.  Dartein crawled into the tent, grabbed his blanket and laid down, his last thoughts of the mother swan and her babies upon her back.
    ----
    Josaleene spent much time in her and Dartein's chambers after he left, not trusting Juron to leave her alone.  And also not wanting to trouble Victor into following her around everywhere just because she was bored.
    So to fill the time she had ordered a few more things for the baby, some clothes to be made, a few blankets and a couple of sparkling jeweled trinkets to hang above the crib.  Ordering, receiving and arranging the items had given her something to do.
    For about a day.
    So once again perpetually bored, she paced about their chambers.  She was just deciding to call Victor for a walk when her gaze fell on the history book that Dartein had been reading before he left.  Curiosity about where he was going on top of curiosity about what may be in there that tied to the visions the seer talked about, had her sitting down and flipping the old book open.
    As she flipped through the pages she noticed how old the book was.  And she also noticed that the handwriting changed several times throughout the book, telling her that the accounts were being told by different people throughout the times of the War.  Which only made sense, she realized, the war did last for almost 90 years.
    Flipping towards