Origin (16 page)

“Well Thane, I can’t tell you that our conversation has left me feeling more prepared or more confident about possibly encountering these killers. I’m not sure if I even want stop to rest or get down from Gemma’s back as evening approaches.”

Elwyn spent the rest of the afternoon searching the surrounding woods and rocks with much more diligence than she had previously. The time came and went fairly quickly, with no sign of a threat. She shared Thane’s discomfort at finding that the farther north they rode, the more wooded and overgrown the land became. As they continued to ride, he contacted Keroc and asked him to look for an open area where they could set up camp for the evening. Elwyn could sense that the later it got the quieter and more serious Thane grew. He didn’t seem to want to talk about why and she decided not to push.

Elwyn felt very inadequate trying to support Thane in dealing with the potential dangers that faced them on the way to Kren. While she knew quite a bit about woodland survival and hunting the creatures of the forests, she felt woefully ill-equipped to deal with human attackers, especially those brandishing poison-tipped weapons that could kill in less than a minute.

Elwyn recognized that she was letting fear get the best of her. She worked over the next hour to focusing on what she did know in an effort to calm her mind. She began to concentrate on what she’d learned from the hunters in the village about archery, and what she learned about sparring with a short sword from her uncle Rhys. At some point, Thane broke her concentration, interrupting her thoughts to seek her opinion.

“Keroc senses nothing threatening in the area, but he’s also been unable to find a large open campsite for us. We have two choices, since it seems to be getting more wooded and overgrown as we travel north. We can, either stop at a small clearing that Keroc located up ahead and make camp, or we can try to ride through the night. Which option do you think makes the most sense?”

The grim look on Thane’s face and the slump of his shoulders told her that he favored neither choice.

“As reluctant as I am to stop with evening coming on, I do have some concerns about trying to ride through the night. I worry about our mounts. Raffe and Gemma have had a rough couple of days and deserve some rest; especially if we have a rough ride ahead of us tomorrow to reach the village. And then there is the matter of Keroc. He has been flying scout all day after standing watch all last night and probably needs some rest as well. We did promise him time to hunt and eat his fill. If we don’t see to it that he eats soon, he will be weak and not much good to us if we do run into a fight.”

Thane thought it was probably a good thing that she didn’t notice the snorts that emanated from both Raffe and Gemma at her concern over their need for rest. He was not overly concerned for them, because they had both eaten and rested well the night before. He was however, concerned for Keroc, who had neither eaten nor rested. He’d seen drakenhawks stay strong under the harshest of battle conditions, but he also knew that Keroc was very young and might not have yet learned his own limitations. He didn’t want the young drakenhawk causing himself physical harm, or exhausting himself to the point where he couldn’t fly and scout the area ahead of them as they rode.

“I know the right thing to do is to take a break and camp for the night. Why don’t we stop up ahead, as soon as Keroc leads us to the small clearing he located? We can set up camp and allow Keroc to hunt and eat his fill right away. If we do that he should be back by dark. He’ll then be able to keep watch during the night as we sleep, or if sleep eludes us, we can break camp and ride north again. We can make the decision whether to stay or go after Keroc returns from his hunt. I have to tell you though Elwyn that I, for one, can’t wait to reach Kren and the comfort and safety it will provide us.”

Within minutes, Keroc sent them an image of a small clearing he found and then flew back to join them and lead the way. As the sun was beginning to settle in the west, they arrived at the clearing, dismounted, and began making preparations for the evening. Elwyn unsaddled, brushed, and curried Raffe and Gemma, while Thane gathered wood, made a fire, and got some water from a nearby stream. They put a pot of water on to boil for tea and another for stew. She dug up some edible roots, while he added some dried beans and herbs from one of the pouches in his saddle bags. She then finished up the stew by adding in some of their jerky, and putting out some of Clayre’s biscuits to heat up on the rocks that surrounded the fire. The aroma from the stew made their mouths water. They were both famished and waited impatiently for dinner to finish cooking.

Thane, remembering his promise to Keroc, sent the drakenhawk away to hunt as soon as they’d arrived in the clearing. Thane assured him that he and Elwyn would take turns standing watch until he returned. Keroc happily agreed with this arrangement, having just completed a search of the area and sensing no danger. The more the shadows deepened and seemed to draw closer, the more Thane hoped that Keroc would return quickly from his hunt.

A
s Ayron rode toward Port Strabo, he could feel the warm sun on his back as it rose higher over the tops of the eastern mountain range. He was focused on finding a small spring or pond so that they could stop to take a rest, replenish their waterskins, and allow their mounts to drink. Stopping for a meal and a short rest from the rigors of travel would allow everyone to refresh themselves. Ayron did a mental review of how his plan was progressing. From their end, everything was still proceeding reasonably well. Aside from the attack the previous night and a short delay while they stopped to fix the broken wagon wheel, they’d made good time and would reach the city by mid afternoon. If there were no other mishaps, they should be able to conduct their business in Port Strabo and get underway, headed toward Amarni, before evening. Ayron hoped they would be able to make their purchases and set up the new wagon before evening meal, because he was strongly leaning toward having them travel again throughout the night. He knew he was pushing everyone very hard, but felt he could not rest until he had Rhys and Clayre safe from harm and was free to join Elwyn.

As he was riding, Ayron reached his mind out attempting to contact Keroc to see how Thane and Elwyn were progressing. He was pleased and relived to hear that they were already traveling north, after camping for the night. He tried to impress upon Thane, during their one-on-one discussion in Tarlon, the importance of reaching Kren as quickly as possible. He was absolutely sure that some type of assassination attempt would be made during their travels; he just had no idea what kind or when. His niece had already suffered so many traumas in the past twenty-four hours that he tried hard not to make it any worse by providing her with so much information that she saw imaginary enemies at every turn. He was also pleased to hear that Thane and Elwyn were getting along so well.

He’d been torn about whether to send Thane or Alea along with Elwyn for the journey. They were both equal in strength and fighting ability, with Alea the stronger archer and Thane slightly better with a sword. Although both elves, Alea seemed to be much more personable so that coupled with the fact that she was a female almost led him to choose her to accompany Elwyn. In the end though, he chose Thane because he’d been through some training in combating shadow squads. Thane was very quiet and sometimes it took a lot of persuasion for him to speak about nonmilitary topics. He was ferocious in battle, however, and there was no one else he would have trusted any more with the wellbeing of his niece.

As he rode along the trade route the night before, Keroc sent him several mental images of Thane and Elwyn deep in discussion, setting up camp, and finally of him keeping watch over them while they slept. He tried hard to convey to Keroc what a find job he was doing and how proud he was of him. At some point after that, Ayron fell asleep in his saddle, not to wake until the wagon wheel broke. Between dealing with the attackers and overseeing the repairs, Ayron had been too busy to check in with Keroc. He also assumed that Thane and Elwyn were probably asleep and there would be little to report. After the repairs were complete and they were underway again, Ayron tried reaching out with his mind to his little drakenhawk again. He found Keroc a bit bored watching his two charges sleeping peacefully. Ayron filled him in on all of their recent activities and in return, Keroc sent him some images of the location where they were camped. Ayron was pleased to see that Thane was following his advice about keeping to the open areas and avoiding deep shadows.

After breaking off contact with Keroc, Ayron started worrying about the fact that Elwyn and Thane hadn’t been attacked yet. Normally this would be good news, but these weren’t normal times or normal conditions. If the attack yesterday was instigated by Stefan, there would definitely be more attacks coming. The question was only where and when. Ayron began to laugh at himself. He was so worried about Elwyn becoming paranoid, that he decided to take over the job for her. It was definitely time to take a small break and get some rest. The bad thing about spending so many hours in the saddle was that it allowed a person way too much time to think. He eased Gerrack into a slow trot to help distract himself from his dark thoughts. As he crested a small hill, Ayron spotted a stream in the distance that looked like a suitable place for them to eat a morning meal and take on fresh water. There was also some grass where the morden and horses could graze. Ayron gave his soldiers the signal to stop and make camp.

Everyone in their little group seemed very grateful for the chance to stop for a meal, stretch their legs, and refresh themselves. It had been a long time since any one of them had adequate rest and they were all weary. As Ayron’s men set up the camp and built a fire, he went over to speak with Clayre, who was down by the small stream getting some water for Rhys.

“Clayre, could I speak with you for a moment,”

“Can it wait for a bit, Ayron,” asked Clayre, turning to look up at him. Seeing the grave look on his face, she put down her bowl and rose to face him.

“What is it Ayron, what’s wrong? Is it Elwyn?”

“No, everything is just fine with her and Thane. Keroc says that there has been no sign that they are being followed. They got up early this morning and are already traveling north on the trail again. I’m actually worried because there hasn’t been any sign of pursuit. It is very unlike Stefan not to strike again quickly if his first attempt fails. Both of our groups are getting far enough away from Avrelan that his only alternative might be to send a shadow squad to attack us. I am fairly sure that will be the next type of attack on either one, or both of our groups. I wasn’t sure how much of my concerns I should share with Rhys. I would feel terrible if I caused him to lie there focusing all his energy on the dangers to Elwyn or us, instead of on healing from his injury. It makes it difficult to know what to say when I see him each day.”

“Well Ayron, I have found that it never works to try to keep information from Rhys or to try to deceive him, even if I think it’s for his own good. Somehow the man always seems to know. He has an uncanny sense about these things,” she said looking upset, but in control of her emotions. “I will take this water to him, clean and change his dressing, and then I will help your cook prepare a hearty breakfast. To be honest, worry is written all over your face, so when he asks you what is wrong, I would tell him the truth if I were you. If not, you stand to lose the trust you’ve gained, and right now that would probably harm his health as much as hearing your news. You might start with the good news though.”

After saying her piece, Clayre left Ayron and walked away toward where Rhys lay resting under a small tree. Clayre was true to her word, and a hearty breakfast was waiting for the soldiers by the time they’d seen to their mounts and washed up a bit at the stream. Everyone ate in silence, just enjoying the good food and the brief rest from the jostling and bouncing of travel. Ayron was certain that he was not the only member of their group that wished the camp time could be extended, for even a few hours. But it was critical they reach Port Strabo before they had any more problems with the wagon. Ayron wasn’t sure if they had enough skill or sufficient lumber to repair the wagon if one of the wheels or the framework broke again before they reached their destination. Keeping the wagon moving was crucial since Rhys was in no condition to be moved any other way. So regretfully after about an hour, Ayron signaled his men to break camp and prepare to move on. Shortly before he was ready to issue the command to move forward, Clayre signaled him to come over to the wagon.

Ayron walked toward where they sat feeling as if his feet were made of lead. Rhys tilted his head up and gave him a concerned look.

“It’s unlike you to stay so distant elf, unless you have some bad news to tell,” he growled, more than said. “Besides, Clayre here has been more nervous than a bride on her wedding night. How are my niece and that soldier guarding her getting along? It’s been a long time since we’ve received an update from that bird of yours,” Rhys said gruffly. “I saw you talking to Clayre by the water, and she told me that Elwyn is fine but I know that there is something else and she is as tight lipped as can be and won’t say a word on the subject. I need to know what is going on. Please be straight with me elf,” Rhys said worriedly. “That child is all I have in the world.”

“I give you my word Rhys that I won’t lie to you, even if it is bad news,” said Ayron slowly gathering his thoughts. “Please don’t worry about Elwyn and Thane. They are both doing well and already traveling again this morning.”

“Well then, why do you seem so troubled and look so glum. You look as if you’ve just lost your best friend and whatever you said to Clayre has her looking about the same. I feared the worst just looking at the two of you. What is it that’s bothering you, elf?”

“The good news is that Keroc is busy scouting the area in front of and behind the two of them as they travel and has detected no sign of danger. I don’t know if I am agitated for no reason, but I think that it is extremely strange that there hasn’t been an attempt to attack them yet. You know Stefan better than I do, and I think it is very unlikely that he isn’t aware by now that we’ve split up. As much as I despise the man, he is a brilliant military strategist.”