Warsworn by Elizabeth Vaughan

reaching us on the wind. I held my breath, but no heads appeared, no rocks, no arrows. Just silence, and the sound of the warriors around us.
    Rafe called again, and then set his horse to walking back and forth in front of the gates as he stared at the wooden structure. I held my breath, and then had to breathe again and again as he stood before the walls and called. My sorrow grew as the silence did. How many were dead? Or dying?
    Keir signaled to Ortis, who put his head back and warbled a cry. Rafe raised a hand, turned his horse and headed back to us.
    At the midway point, he stopped as instructed, took out the bottle of vinegar, and leaning over, washed his hands and face with it. I'd told him to repeat the action, and watched as he did it four times. I could just make out his lips moving at this distance, and I was sure he was invoking each of the elements.
    Once that was done he rode up to us, his face red from the scrubbing. "Warlord, there was no response, no sound, no movement that I could see through the chinks in the gates."
    Keir nodded. "My thanks. Return to your guard duties."
    Rafe grimaced, spat the cloths out of his mouth and snorted them from his nose. "Warlord, I'd ask leave to go plunge myself in the nearest stream. The Warprize's precautions are almost more that a warrior can bear." He looked at me through swollen eyes. "That's a truth, Warprize, whether or not I hold your token."
    Keir nodded his approval, and Rafe took off like a startled bird.
    "So." Keir looked out at the village. "Iften."
    "Warlord."
    "Disband the warforce. Tell Wesren to make camp for the night, away from these walls. In the fields beyond that willow, perhaps. His decision."
    Iften glowered, but made no objection. He turned his horse and left us, calling to his men.
    Keir continued to sit, staring at the village as the warforce melted away. "Brave people, to enclose themselves within those walls and wait for death." A shudder went through him. "I doubt I could do the same."
    "Wait for death?" I replied, sharper than I intended. "Not if I can help it."
    "How so?" Keir asked mildly. I wasn't fooled, for his gaze was sharp. "How can you help them?"
    "By going in there, of course."
    Keir gave me a long, incredulous look. I returned it unflinchingly. There was no change in his expression, he just reached out and grabbed the reins near my horse's chin. "No." Without another word, he turned the horses and started to follow the warriors. Marcus and the others moved into position around us.
    "Keir—"
    "No, Lara." He didn't even look at me as he led the horses forward.
    I threw my leg over, grabbed the saddle with both hands and slid to the ground. My horse's pace was enough that I stumbled back a step or two as I landed, enough to throw Prest's horse off his stride. Isdra got hers stopped and the look she gave me almost made me laugh out loud.
    But Keir's face choked off my mirth. His face was a storm cloud building in the sky, dark and angry, and his eyes the lightning. He dismounted and stalked over to me, leaving the horses to stand where they were.
    Prest leaned down to push a strip of privacy bells into my hand. I closed my fingers around them, but never took my eyes off Keir.
     
    "There aren't enough bells in all the tribes…" Marcus let his voice trail off as he and Isdra pulled away, as Epor and Prest did the same. They gave us plenty of room, but kept their watch just the same. I wasn't sure why, since the biggest danger of all was standing, towering over me, the muscle in his lower jaw pulsing with his anger.
    "What means this?"
    "Keir, we have to help these people."
    "Didn't you just finish telling me the dangers of this plague? Of the deaths it causes? 'A danger greater than any army' That is what you said." Keir ran a hand over his face. "Why would you even think to enter those gates?"
    "To aid the sick, and care for the dying. To learn which plague it is, and where it came from.
    Keir, it may already be in the kingdom. We