Elwyn’s heart nearly broke again as she remembered the tears streaming down Clayre’s troubled face as she reached out her hand in farewell and said, “I pray that we will see one another again soon, in happiness and not in sorrow. Go now, daughter of my heart, and embrace whatever future lies before you with grace and courage.”
As Elwyn rode alongside Thane on the trail leaving the village, she remembered turning for one last glimpse of the only home she’d ever known. Tears streamed down her face as she realized that she was closing a door on her past that would never reopen. Slowly she turned again facing forward, ready to embrace her future.
Chapter 10 – Another Direction
Clayre and Ayron both stood together in companionable silence watching as Elwyn and Thane rode away from the village heading toward Kren. Each was lost in thought about the young woman that was riding away from them. Clayre was dreading the possibility that something horrible could happen to her, and wondering if she would ever see the child she’d raised from an infant again. Ayron, on the other hand, was wondering if he would ever get to know the neice he’d just met, have the chance to see her reunited with Azavon, introduce her to the rest of his family, and help her to learn more about her new homeland. He briefly wondered if she would come to love Silvendil as much as he did. From their brief meeting, he felt they shared a lot of common interests; a love of nature, a fierce protectiveness of those they loved, and the need to think things through. Clayre and Ayron both stood still, lost in thought, until Elwyn and Thane rode out of sight. Ayron then put his arm around Clayre’s shoulders, and gently began to lead the weeping woman back toward the hut where Rhys and the soldiers guarding him waited.
As they walked, Ayron began to share with Clayre the list of things that needed to be done before they could leave for Amarni. He still had a strong feeling that there was trouble coming, and soon. He and his men would probably be the group that was the easiest to follow and catch, so it would be prudent of them to leave Tarlon as soon as possible.
“Can you go and gather any personal belongings that you and Rhys will need while traveling to Amarni? It would also be helpful if you would pack up the herbs, salves, and other medicines you will need to treat him.”
Clayre anxious to find some distraction from her fear and sorrow replied, “ I should be able to pack what we need to bring along in about thirty minutes. Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“Since you know the villagers well, would you see if you can procure some supplies from them for our trip? I’ll be happy to pay for anything they are willing to part with. I just don’t think living on travel rations will be healthy for Rhys right now.”
“Yes, I’ll speak with some of the farmers and hunters to see if they are willing to sell us what we’ll need for the trip. I’m sure they will be happy to help Rhys any way they can.”
“Clayre, I’ll send three of my soldiers with you to help you collect and carry your belongings and any supplies you get. If you need me, I’ll be at the blacksmith shop with my soldiers finishing the repairs to the wagon that will be carrying the two of you. We want it to be as strong and stable as possible.”
When they arrived back at the hut, Clayre went in to check on Rhys. While she was gone, Ayron ordered Stuart and two other soldiers to go with Clayre while she gathered together the items they would need for the journey. He asked the three men to keep in mind the need for haste and to remind her of that need if she seemed to get bogged down in conversations with the villagers.
After watching the four of them leave, Ayron headed over to the blacksmith shop to join the rest of his soldiers, who were building a litter that was to function as a bed for Rhys during their journey. The soldiers he put in charge of the project found the base of an old wagon and had been working hard over the past two hours to repair and reinforce it, so that both the litter and the wagon would be as stable as possible. He was pleased to see that they had just finished attaching the litter to the wagon and were working to strengthen two other areas; one for Clayre to sit on, and another to carry their supplies.
Ayron’s current plan was to use their two best horses to pull the wagon, with the two riders trading off as drivers. Only a few horses in Silvendil were trained to pull wagons, and those animals were rarely used for military service. They were taking quite a chance using their untrained horses to pull Rhys, but there didn’t seem to be any other option. There were no horses that could be spared from the small village to pull the wagon. The few they had were needed to tend their crops and drag wood for building and burning. They’d been able to round up a few of the scraggly ponies that Crawley’s men rode, but were planning to leave them with the villagers to make up for the trauma they’d experienced earlier in the day. Ayron really hoped the horses they were planning to use wouldn’t panic or prove difficult and cause delays. He was interrupted from dark thoughts of pending disaster by Stuart, one of the men he sent to help Clayre.
“Sir, if I could have a few moments of your time.”
“Of course Stuart, what is it?” Ayron said, knowing Stuart wouldn’t have interrupted him unnecessarily. “Is everything alright with Clayre and Rhys?”
“Yes sir, no problem there, in fact the villagers are trying to get us to take much more than we need, and Clayre has plenty of help. I came to tell you that my morden Tomak is willing to pull the wagon to Armani. He has taken a liking to both Rhys and Clayre and would like to help. With Tomak pulling the wagon, we wouldn’t need to have a driver, and Tilar says that I can ride double with him on his morden Krelan. We are both slight of build, so carrying the two of us shouldn’t slow Krelan down.”
“Stuart, that is a very generous offer on the part of you both and I will gratefully accept it. I felt that the weakest part of my plan was that we had to rely on two untrained horses to pull the wagon for the journey. Doing that raised our chances of an accident and ran the risk of overtaxing the horses themselves, which would cause us to lose precious time. Thank you very much, and please thank Tomak for me as well.”
“Then I’ll go now and fashion a harness for him sir,” said Stuart walking toward the blacksmith shop again. “I noticed a large stack of leather pieces inside earlier.”
As Stuart walked away, Ayron couldn’t help but think how grateful he was to have such loyal and resourceful men and women serving with him. Of course, that gratitude had to extend to the morden and drakenhawks traveling with them as well. Ayron then turned and began to help his soldiers finish working on the wagon, hoping that they would be able to set out within the hour.
For the next thirty minutes, they worked hard to get the wagon ready for the journey. Just as they were finishing up, Stuart walked up, with Tomak following closely behind. He was holding a hurriedly constructed harness in his hands. Stuart also brought along with him a bag of leather pieces, so that they could make repairs to the harness as they traveled. He and Ayron carefully put the harness on Tomak and then attached the four riveted traces Stuart crafted to the front of the wagon. Two of the traces would facilitate easy steering, and the other two would act as supports. Tomak then pulled the wagon slowly around the yard in front of the blacksmith shop to make sure that the bindings would hold, and that he could turn the wagon when necessary. As Ayron watched Tomak put the repaired wagon through its paces, he couldn’t help but marvel at the grace and stature of the big black-bay morden. They were truly regal and generous creatures. Tomak brought the wagon to a stop in front of Ayron and Stuart. Ayron felt that they were ready to go and was just about to ask Stuart to go see how Clayre was managing, when he heard what sounded like a crowd coming down the path toward them.
Within seconds, a large group of people came into view. Ayron was amazed at the tremendous love and loyalty that the villagers were showing Clayre and Rhys. Every single person that walked down the path was carrying something for them to take on their journey. He was just hoping that they had room on the wagon for all the gifts being offered. The couple that lent them their home to shelter and tr
eat Rhys brought six warm blankets, so that they would not be cold and uncomfortable. Another couple offered two down pillows and a large down pad to put on top of the litter so that Rhys would have a more comfortable ride. Still another couple brought a thick straw-filled pad for Clayre to sit and lie on during her long ride in the wagon. There were also many containers filled with food and beverages offered by the villagers to help them on their journey. Ayron was overwhelmed by their generosity and graciously accepted each gift with thanks. His men put the items that Clayre had chosen to bring for herself and Rhys into a large chest that they’d strapped near the front. By the time they had everything loaded; the wagon looked very full indeed. Ayron found himself giving a silent word of thanks that a morden and not horses would be pulling it to Amarni. Once everything was loaded, Clayre and Ayron thanked everyone once more and then bid them all farewell. They gave the wagon a once over to make sure everything was securely fastened, and then headed to pick up Rhys.
As they drew close to the hut that sheltered Rhys, the four soldiers who’d been left to guard him carried him from the hut and gently placed him down on the litter. Clayre had already lined it with the down pad. She tucked a down pillow beneath his head and covered him with two of the warm blankets. Rhys was awake, but seemed very weak. She gave him some water, climbed into the wagon next to him, and signaled to Ayron that they were ready to go. The whole village turned out to watch them depart. As they started to slowly pull away heading toward the old wagon trail leading north out of the village, Ayron watched as Clayre and Rhys waved good-by to their oldest and dearest friends. Ayron could see Clayre fighting hard to hold back the tears and not give into the deep sorrow that was threatening to consume her, lest Rhys become upset. Ayron’s troops, now mounted, formed a column on either side of the wagon. Alea, one of his soldiers, rode ahead as point to scout the area ahead of them since they were without Keroc, while Krill, Kormir’s drakenhawk, flew behind them scouting for any sign of danger.
Now that they were underway, Ayron felt comfortable contacting Keroc to see how things were going with Elwyn and Thane. He knew Keroc would have contacted him if there were problems, so he assumed that all was quiet; at least for the time being. Keroc seemed happy to hear from him and sent him several mental images of Elwyn and Thane riding along at a steady pace. Keroc reported that the two of them seemed lost in thought. His mental images came with the report that Thane was spending most of his time strategizing and planning the next several days, while Elwyn was still just trying deal with her feelings. After he broke contact, it occurred to Ayron that it was very unusual for a drakenhawk to surmise what a female was thinking or feeling. He shrugged off the thought and attributed Keroc’s attempt to figure out what Elwyn was thinking to his desire to provide him with as much information about her as possible.
After breaking off contact with Keroc, he rode over to the side of the wagon to let Rhys and Clayre know that Elwyn was doing as well as could be expected. Rhys was asleep, but Clayre seemed happy to hear the news. He then turned his thoughts to the villagers at Tarlon. He felt a little guilty at having provided them, as well as the village elder Ston, with misinformation about their travel plans. After asking Clayre to plead ignorance if asked about their trip or intended route, Ayron led anyone who asked, to believe that they were heading east towards the city of Port Galba, and from there north into Silvendil. Another piece of misinformation he fed them was that Elwyn was waiting for them just past the edge of the village to the north, and would be traveling east along with them. That way, if Stefan’s men came to question the villagers, they could answer honestly and tell them what they knew. The villagers were simple folk and would not hold up to the rough interrogation techniques that might be used on them by Stefan’s troops if they felt they were withholding information. Ayron made sure that he did not request any of the villagers to keep anything secret. He did not want issues of loyalty or friendship resulting in an innocent’s death.
Even though Ayron was pleased at how quickly they’d gotten underway, he was still very much afraid that they would soon be followed by more of Stefan’s assassins. Stefan was a man of little patience and an overactive sense of paranoia, and Ayron was absolutely certain that he would send more of his men after them. The only questions in his mind were who and when? Most men trained as assassins were used to being in the saddle for days without rest, surviving on very little sustenance, and living off the land. They were also relentless in the pursuit of their goal. That he and his men had foiled the first attempt to end the lives of Rhys and Elwyn today, would only fuel their resolve to try harder. Ayron knew that a few of the assassins escaped their clutches in the village. Any of those men might have found one of the scattered ponies and made his way back to Avrelan to report the failed mission. Because he was so certain of being followed, Ayron decided that, after they were a safe distance from the village, they would stop briefly for an evening meal, and then continue traveling through the night. Barring any unforeseen delays, they would arrive in Port Strabo by the next afternoon. As he rode along the trail, Ayron suddenly realized that he was still very tense. He tried using some of the relaxation techniques he learned as a young man. As he felt his body begin to relax, he could feel fatigue setting in. It had been a very long day filled with all sorts of physical and emotional challenges. He continued to relax his mind and muscles until he felt himself dozing off to the regular drumming of hooves hitting the hard ground.
Chapter 11 – Preparations
Thinking of Thane brought Elwyn’s focus back to the present. She watched the young soldier riding down the trail deep in thought. Elwyn felt a bit sorry for him. The responsibility of guarding her seemed to weigh heavily upon his shoulders. On top of that, he had to complete his mission alone, and not in the company of the small band of soldiers that had learned to depend on one another in battle. He was also without a seasoned commander to guide his actions. He only had her, a stranger, to help him if they ran into trouble. Just thinking about the journey to the village made her nervous and jumpy. For the first time in her life, she was not at ease in the woodlands. She’d only used her hunting and fighting skills in village contests, to spar with her uncle, or to bring game home for the table. Until today, she’d never encountered a person who was actually trying to harm her. Elwyn wasn’t really sure how much help she would be to Thane if the assassins came looking for them.
Thane, on the other hand was working hard to slow the ideas and thoughts swimming around in his head, so that he could deal with them one at a time. Here he was alone with a strong willed, possibly unskilled, and definitely ignorant young woman, facing any number of dangers. He wasn’t sure how much to tell her and how much to keep to himself. If she was capable, than any help he might get if they were attacked could possibly save both their lives. But, if she had been raised like most human girls, she might end up hysterical and actually endanger them more. She said she’d won an archery tournament. That sounded promising to him. Maybe he should share everything with her and just hope for the best. Normally he had a leader, like Ayron, to discuss his concerns with and make these decisions for him if he felt confused. He really missed that now. It was a small comfort to know that Keroc was out ahead of them flying and searching for danger as they rode. He also found it encouraging that, so far, Keroc hadn’t encountered anything of note.
Something else that confused him was Gemma. It was obvious to him that Gemma was a morden and had life-bonded with Elwyn. Thane didn’t know how this had been possible, especially since Elwyn thought her a beautiful, but regular, horse and had no idea that any bonding had taken place between the two of them. He thought it would be best for them to stop and make camp early in the evening, so they would have some time to talk before settling in. He just wanted to make sure that they were far enough from the village to be safe; in the event a second group of assassins showed up looking for them. He also hoped that his fellow soldiers, especially one small but feisty elf, named Alea, were safe. They ha
d, over the past few seasons, become the best of friends. But Thane promised himself that he would tell her exactly how he felt about her when they were united again.
After about four hours of steady riding, Thane slowed Raffe and pointed to a small clearing next to a stream by the edge of a thicket of brambles and small trees.
“I think we should stop and camp here for the night. Dusk is fast approaching and we have a lot to discuss and some planning to do, if we are to reach the village of Kren safely.”
As they approached the clearing, Thane lifted his hand high, and whistled. The responding keen was shrill and high pitched. The noise stabbed sharply at Elwyn’s ears, causing her to grimace. From high in the sky, a small form came hurtling down toward their location. Just as Elwyn started to duck for cover, Keroc landed on Thane’s outstretched, heavily gloved forearm.
“You don’t need to fear Keroc. Ayron commanded him to defend us with his life and he is a more ferocious warrior than I am by far. He will also be able to warn us of any impending danger, and help us to communicate with the others heading toward Amarni.”
“I’m not afraid of him,” Elwyn replied, slightly miffed at being considered ungrateful for the drakenhawk’s help. “I just wish he would stay out of my head. He seems to think that something gives him the right to know how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. If nothing else, it’s rude, considering the day I’ve had. Besides, he keeps sending me different images of what he is seeing as he flies and I have no idea why. This has been a difficult enough day for me, without feeling as if someone is popping in and out of my brain.”
“You are probably just stressed and imagining that he is communicating with you Elwyn”, replied Thane smiling. “No drakenhawk has ever communicated with a woman.”
“Well this one does. He lets me know when he’s happy, how much he misses Ayron, and wants to know how I’m feeling. He also wants us both to know that he takes his mission to protect us very seriously. He really misses his nest-mates though,” she said, a little miffed that Thane would doubt her.
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