ROAD TO CORDIA (20 page)

     “Are you tired?” he asked.

     She wanted to deny it. She wanted to say, “Oh, no, just curious.”  Instead she nodded, ‘yes’.

     He came back to where she had stopped. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot you were…” His voice died off.

     “I’m what?” She glared at him.

     “I forgot you were not used to long land trips. After all, Fisherfolk usually travel by boat, right?”

     “Umm.”

     He was looking around. “Actually, there’s a pretty good camp site just over there.” He pointed to an umbrella-like tree that stood not far from the trail and near a narrow stream. She followed him to the tree.

     “You start a fire,” he said. “I’ll go see if I can run down some meat for dinner.”

     She nodded wearily and dropped her pack next to his. A moment later, when she looked up, he was gone. All around her, the darkening forest stood silent. She hurriedly began gathering stones for the fire ring and wood for a fire. This place was too dark, too quiet and now that Ee'Rick was not around, way too lonely and scary.

     Luckily, there were plenty of windfalls within easy reach. Ja'Nil quickly built a small fire. Both suns were down now. There was only a faint glow off on the horizon. As the wind picked up, the woods around her cast dark, moving shadows. She could hear the creak of swaying branches, and off to her right the rustle of leaves as some nocturnal creature made its way through the woods. She jumped in terror when there was a sudden agonizing scream as some creature met its destiny. Shivering, she held her hands over the flames.

     “Oh, Lord of the Circle,” Ja'Nil began to pray.

     “Good fire,” said Ee'Rick stepping out of the shadows.

     Ja'Nil gave a little squeak, which Ee'Rick politely ignored.

     “Dinner,” he said holding up two rabbits for her inspection. He had already gutted them but their pelts were still on.

     She took out her knife, preparing to skin them. “These are teeth marks,” she said after examining the two dead animals. “What did you do? Take them away from a wolf?”

     Ee'Rick didn’t answer. He was busy whittling points on two long, thin sticks as Ja'Nil skinned the rabbits. Ee'Rick handed her to two skewers he had been working on. Within minutes, the rabbits were threaded onto the skewers and cooking over the open flames.

     “Too bad we don’t have any salt,” said Ja'Nil as the juices dripped down into the fire, causing it to sizzle and snap, sending out a delicious aroma.

     Ee'Rick reached into his pack and handed her a paper spill of pink crystals.

     “Salt!”

     He grinned. “Be prepared,” he said. “Family motto.” Then he took a small multi-reed flute out of his pack and began to play softly. He was very good. The tune was unfamiliar to Ja'Nil, but the feeling of comfort and gentle happiness the music evoked was universal. He played until the meat was cooked. Ja'Nil handed him the largest rabbit. They sprinkled the pink crystals on their dinner and for a while, there was only the sound of satisfied munching to be heard.

     Ee'Rick finished first. Ja'Nil had eaten about half of her rabbit. “Do you want the rest?” she offered.

     “Don’t you want it?”

     “That’s too much for me,” she said, handing him the rest of her meal.

     “You didn’t eat very much,” he said. “Don’t you like rabbit?”

     “Ee'Rick that was a big meal.”

     He shrugged. “More for me then.” He finished off the rest of the rabbit while she washed the grease from her face and hands.

     Ja'Nil’s eyelids were growing heavy but she didn’t want to fall asleep. In the firelight, her bracelet made up of the beads Ee'Rick had given her, sparkled, and glowed. “They’re so pretty,” she murmured as she stroked the beads so that they moved smoothly along the wire holding them in place.

     Ee'Rick, sitting near her, was embarrassed at how happy she was with his gift. To him it had been a nothing special, just something that no longer fastened his braids, as they should, something that had been half washed away by the storm. If Ja'Nil hadn’t wanted them, he would have tossed them away. She was really very sweet, he thought. And pretty. Of course, she was just a kid, not an adult as he was with all his seventeen years. Well, almost seventeen years. By the time he returned from this mission, he would be seventeen. She smiled up at him. Yes, she was very pretty.

     Now that the fire had pushed back the darkness, now that she had a full belly and was able to rest her tired legs the woods were no longer creeping and creaking with unknown dangers, tomorrow Cordia could be faced with equanimity. Now that Ee'Rick was here all was well with the world.

     “I’m so glad we’re traveling together,” she said.

     “Are you, little one?”

     “It makes everything nicer.”

     He was sitting cross-legged his arms loosely clasped around his knees.

     “Ja'Nil,” he said.        

     She looked up at him. Without changing his position, he leaned his head down and very gently kissed her. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. She moved her head slightly away the better to see him. He had kissed her! He was looking down at her, a wry smile just touching the corners of his mouth.

     “Are you making fun of me,” she asked in a breathless voice.

     “Nay.”

     She sat up abruptly, put her arms around his neck, and leaned forward for another kiss. This time it was not a feathery touch on the lips, this time it was hard and demanding, and wonderful.

     It was Ee'Rick who broke the kiss. “By the Goddess,” he muttered.

     “What?” She was dazed, shocked by the intensity of feelings that were racing through her, as if she been struck by lightning.

     Ee'Rick gently removed her arms from around his neck and stood up. “Enough,” he said. “It’s time to go to sleep. We have a fair piece to travel tomorrow.”

     “Go to sleep?” she almost wailed. She didn’t want to sleep she wanted him to kiss her again.

     “Go to sleep,” he ordered.

     He seemed angry with her, but what had she done that was so awful, just kissed him back. Maybe he was the one who wanted to do all the kissing? That was Jadµ with her; he could kiss her anytime he wanted to. Should she tell him that?

     Without even a glance at her, Ee'Rick pulled his blanket out of his pack, rolled himself in it, turned his back to her, and seemed to instantly fall asleep.

     Well, that seemed to be that. Slowly Ja'Nil got out her own blanket, moved to the other side of the fire, rolled herself in her blanket, turned her back on Ee’Rick, and stared dry-eyed into the dark forest. What had she done wrong?

* * *

     Ee'Rick couldn’t believe he’d kissed her. She was just a kid! He was older, bigger, and tougher; he was a male for the Lord and Goddess’s  sake. He was supposed to be protecting her! But she was so pretty, so eager. He had to grin when he thought how she had reacted to his kiss. Practically devoured him, she had. Uh-huh, don’t go there.

     He turned to check on Ja'Nil. She was all the way on the other side of the fire, her slight form rolled tightly in her blanket. Fast asleep she was. Obviously, the kiss was not a big enough deal to keep her awake.

     He turned over again. He’d kissed lots of girls…well a few. He’d followed through on a couple of those kisses, too. So, why was he tossing and turning, like some inexperienced cub?

     She barely has breasts! Not true. Jadµ, so they weren’t all that big but he could see from the way her tunic clung that they were nicely shaped. They had a sweet bounce that practically begged for his touch. He gritted his teeth; this was ridiculous. At this rate, he’d never get any sleep. Pushing his blanket aside, he rose to his feet and moved off into the dark forest. He was going for a run.

     Ja'Nil, who was wide-awake, heard him rise and go into the woods. She had heard him tossing and turning. Was he thinking about her? We’re they both going to spend a sleepless night? It would be so much nicer if they could sleep together. Under the same blankets. Maybe with their arms around each other. Maybe he would kiss her again. Only this time a better kiss, a different kiss. Not the kind you would give some little kid.

     He thinks I’m just a kid.

     Maybe she could show him she wasn’t. After all, if she had the money she was old enough for the adult ritual ceremony; old enough to be a full citizen.

     He would be back soon. Abruptly but quietly she stood up. There was no sound of Ee'Rick returning. She picked up her blanket and crossed to where his lay in a crumpled heap. Straightening it, she added her blanket and lay down, being sure to leave enough room for Ee'Rick when he returned.

     What would he think?

     Maybe he would be angry. Maybe he would laugh at her. She couldn’t stand that. Maybe he would just take his blanket away and go lie somewhere else, completely ignoring her. She could feel her body heating with embarrassment at that thought.

     Oh Lord of the Circle, what am I doing?

     She sat up; still no sight or sound of him. She stood up, grabbed her blanket, and fled back to her side of the barely glowing fire. When he came back, would he notice his blanket was in a different position? Would he realize what she had done? He was probably standing just outside the circle of light watching everything. Waiting tensely for his return she imagined a dozen different scenarios, each one more embarrassing than the other.  She waited and waited.

* * *

     In the morning, Ee'Rick was there. Ja'Nil awoke to the smell of roasting Gundi bird. Barely awake, she scratched her stomach just above her belly button (for some reason she always had an itch in the exact same place every morning) then she twisted around onto her stomach and stared blearily at Ee'Rick who was busy tending to not just one but two Gundi birds.

     “Morning,” he said with a cheerful smile.

     Oh Lord, he was one of those morning people, who got up at the crack of dawn all bubbling, and eager to start the day.

     Ja'Nil hated morning people. They always acted as if there was something morally superior about waking up hours before a sensible person was able to crawl out of bed. Finally she had found one flaw in the beautiful, perfect Ee'Rick. Mornings. Ugh!

            Ja'Nil grunted and rolled over onto her back and stared up at the awakening world. It was going to be a beautiful day, no excuse to curl back into her blanket and sleep for a few more hours. Suddenly Ja’Nil realized that for the first time since she had left her village she was waking up to a new day completely unafraid.

      Her eyes fell on Ee'Rick’s blanket, neatly rolled and ready for travel. Her bizarre behavior of last night came crashing back to her. Had he noticed his blanket was in a different position than he had left it? Could he possibly have seen her lying in his blanket?

     She groaned to herself. He probably knew all about it; probably laughing at her. She hated him!

     “All right, are you?” asked Ee'Rick.

      “Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled, crawling out of her blanket.

     “You’re one of those, ‘I don’t do mornings,’ people,’ aren‘t you.” He grinned a morally superior grin. She didn’t bother answering him, just staggered off into the bushes.

     Ten minutes later, bladder emptied, face washed, teeth brushed, hair damp from the ice-cold stream that she had dunked her whole head in, she returned to camp.

     When she pulled out a clean tunic from her pack, Lady Fayre’s ring tumbled to the ground. There wasn’t much of it left. She carefully placed it on her right thumb; better than carrying it around in her pack.

     Ee'Rick was still cheerful. “Can you eat a whole Gundi bird?” he asked.

     “No.”

     “Didn’t think so.” He took out his knife and cut one of the birds in half, handing her one of the halves.

     “Thank you.”

     “You’re welcome.”

     She squatted down next to him and tore into breakfast.

     They washed their meal down with a spicy tea Ee'Rick had made. By this time, Ja'Nil was in a much better mood.

     “Did you wake up during the night?” Ee'Rick asked as he bent to slip his knife in his ankle sheath.

     Ja'Nil hesitated then said, “Once I fell asleep I was dead to the world.” Well it was the truth. She didn‘t mention how long it took her to fall asleep.

     They finished eating and washed their greasy hands in the stream, then strapped on their packs and were off to Cordia.

CHAPTER 22

     It wasn’t that far. After only two hours of walking, Ee'Rick called a halt on a modest hill overlooking a small fertile valley. On the far side of the valley, on top of a much larger hill they could see the walled city of Cordia, capital of Cancordia. The walls were made of some red-pink-orangey material that glowed under the two suns like a tiny faceted jewel.

     However, by the time they had crossed the valley and were starting up the hill, Cordia had grown to gigantic proportions. There was just one road up the hill and, wide as the road was, it was crowded with people coming and going, carts pulled by strange draft animals that Ja'Nil had never seen before and whole families riding small furry, six-legged beasts with sad eyes.

     “What’s that?” she asked, pointing at the six-legged beast.

     Ee'Rick squinted at it, and then reluctantly shrugged. “Don’t know.”  He disliked not being able to answer her questions. Being a know-it-all big brother to Ja'Nil was a real ego booster. He didn’t like letting her down.

     Considering how much effort had been expanded in putting up the city walls, it was surprisingly easy to enter the city. There were guards at the gate but they were busy talking among themselves and seemed to pay no attention to the people coming and going. The only difficulty getting in was the groups of people who had stopped just inside the gate to talk in low excited voices. These people kept looking over their shoulders, staring rudely at everyone who passed them. Some even stopped talking until Ja'Nil and Ee'Rick passed, then they started excitedly whispering again. A number of people stopped and stared directly at Ee'Rick, some even pointing fingers.