Kingdom of Ash

city thrice now, and still couldn’t pronounce
it.
She supposed it didn’t matter. They
wouldn’t be here long. Just as they had not
lingered in any of the cities they’d swept
through, or the forests or mountains or
lowlands. Kingdom after kingdom, the
relentless pace set by a prince who seemed
barely able to remember to speak, let alone
feed himself.
Elide grimaced at the weathered witch
leathers she still wore, her fraying gray cloak
and scuffed boots, then glanced at her two
companions in the alley. Indeed, they’d all
seen better days.
“Any minute now,” Gavriel murmured, a
tawny eye on the alley’s entrance. A towering,
dark figure blended into the scant shadows at
the half-crumbling archway, monitoring the
bustling street beyond.