Chapter 2 — The Road to Greyveil

They left Thursday, as stated, with a pack each, Maren's father's old road maps, and the mutual agreement that they were simply travelling and not following any prophecy, which was a statement that held up better in daylight than after dark.The road west from Cinder's Edge passed through the eastern scrublands — flat and grey-green, the sky enormous overhead, the wind carrying the particular smell of the Cinderlands: char and mineral and something old beneath it, like the land itself was slowly burning from the inside. Kael had grown up with this smell and loved it the way you love things that have always been there.On the second day, they picked up a third traveller.He was sitting on a milestone at the edge of the road, eating an apple with the complete composure of someone who had been waiting for a specific thing and was pleased to see it arrive. He was tall, older than them by ten years or so, with brown skin and close-cut dark hair and the kind of face that looked like it had opinions about most things but chose to express few of them. A sword at his hip, a roll of charts under one arm, and the apple."You're the fire boy," he said to Kael.Kael stopped. "I don't know what you mean.""Yes you do." He took another bite of the apple. "Kael Ashborn. Born in the burning of Cinder's Edge. The ash follows you. The torches light." He looked at Maren. "And you're the record-keeper's daughter with the contraband archive. Maren Voss." He finished the apple and set the core neatly on the milestone. "My name is Deven Ash. No relation to your surname," he told Kael. "Family name. Means nothing useful.""How do you know who we are?" Maren said. She had not put her hand on her knife, but her body language was adjacent to it."I've been looking for him for three years," Deven said, nodding at Kael. "I'm a Tracker for the Order of Veil. It's our job to find people mentioned in major prophecies before someone else does." A pause. "Someone else is also looking. Which is why I'm glad you left Thursday and not Friday.""The Order of Veil works for the empire," Maren said."The Order of Veil worked for the empire. The empire is currently a collection of warlords with delusions and a cracked chair. We work for ourselves now." He stood up. He was quite tall. "I can explain everything while we walk. We should walk."Kael looked at Maren. Maren looked at him.