Chapter 156

  I took the mirror portal back to the Dark Court, startling the night guards by appearing suddenly in their midst in my night clothes. I went to my empty chambers and dressed before waking my squire and page to saddle our horses and pack. Within an hour we were riding out. Once we had cleared the castle, I cast a portal, and we rode through into a war camp, alarming the soldiers who guarded the boundary.

  "I have come to join the battle," I told them when they turned their weapons on me. "Aurien knows me. When he wakes for the day, tell him where I am camped."

  My squires and I unsaddled our horses and unrolled our backpacks and caught a few hours of sleep under the guards' watchful eyes.