Zypheria's Call (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure)

by Nathan Lowell

  “Robert,” Frank said.

  “Robert,” Tanyth repeated.

  “’At’s me,” the young woman said, her voice the practiced tenor that shouldn’t have sounded so fitting coming from her mouth.

  Frank looked over his shoulder at Rebecca. “Well, boyo, you’re gonna wanna find a seat. We got a few rough patches to get through before we get out on the Pike.”

  “Can you use that thing?” Tanyth asked, jerking her chin at the bow peaking over Rebecca’s shoulder.

  “Ask him,” Rebecca said, pointing at Thomas.

  Tanyth looked to Thomas who nodded. “She’ll do. Make her practice on the way to Kleesport. If she don’t get enough game to feed ya, make her go hungry.” He winked at Rebecca. “Keep your gut dry, and your eye on the target.”

  “Anything else?” Frank asked, a smile that carried equal parts understanding, sympathy, and urgency pasted on his face.

  “You always this excited to get on the road?” she asked him.

  “Only when I’m with you, mum.”

  “That eager to be shut of me then?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “Get you away from this rabble so’s I can have you to myself,” he said loudly enough that the people in the back of the crowd could hear.

  “Hey, I’m still here!” Rebecca said.

  “You’ll be huntin’,” Frank said over his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows in Tanyth’s direction. “Now, siddown a’fore ya fall down. We’re rollin’.”

  With that, Frank lifted his foot off the brake lever and gave the reins a gentle snap. It was enough to get the lead horse moving and the rest ambled along behind. The team with its heavy wagon eased around the bulk of the inn, crunched across the newly graveled yard and rolled out onto the Pike. A flock of children ran along beside, Riley in the lead waving and shouting, “Goodbye. See ya in a moon. Goodbye.”

  Tanyth turned in her seat to watch the village disappear, a small group of adults—William and Amber, Thomas and Sadie among them—waving as the screen of trees blocked her line of sight and they disappeared from view.

  She straightened around and looked up at Frank, settling her hat firmly on her head. “Well,” she said.

  He glanced down at her with a half smile before turning his attention once more to the backsides of the horses ahead of them. “Yeah,” he said.

  “Oh, I can see you two are going to be loads of fun on this trip,” Rebecca said, clambering over the back of the seat to plop down beside Tanyth. She leaned forward and grinned at them both. “How long before we get to Kleesport?”

  Frank laughed. “We ain’t there yet. Be a while.”

  “How much of a while? Ten days?”

  Frank shook his head. “Two weeks, more like.”

  Rebecca nodded. “Good.” She sat quietly while the horses clopped along, their heavy hooves sounding hollow in the still morning air.

  After a few moments the wagon rolled by a distinctive looking tree beside the road. Tanyth tried to remember why it looked so familiar, until a dark shadow soared silently through the woods and landed on an outstretched branch with a flare of black wings.

  “Think she knows?” Rebecca asked, nodding at the bird.

  Tanyth stared for a long moment, trying to remember what it was like to see through her own eyes and the bird’s eyes at the same time.

  “She knows,” Frank said.

  Curious, Tanyth turned to him. “How can you be so sure?”

  He smiled down at her. “She’s here.”

  The rumbling crunch of wagon wheels filled the gaps between hoof beats as they watched the raven watching them. Long after they’d left the bird behind, Tanyth thought she heard the hoarse caw-caw-caw that reminded anything within earshot that she owned those woods.

  “Hope Thomas remembers to give her a rabbit now and again,” Tanyth said.

  “He will, mum. He will,” Rebecca said, patting Tanyth’s forearm. “He likes her almost as much as you.”

  Frank snorted a short laugh but offered no other comment.

  As the afternoon sun began sliding down behind the trees, Rebecca sat up in her seat, startling Tanyth out of a sleepy revery. “I don’t know how you two can sit on this hard bench,” she said, shifting back and forth.

  “You can always get down and walk,” Frank said. “I do sometimes.”

  “Can I?”

  “Sure, you can probably walk faster than the horses anyway. Grab your bow and get in a little practice, if you want.”

  The surface of the Pike was level enough that she didn’t have any problem clambering into the bed of the wagon. Taking up bow and quiver, she lowered herself from the tailgate, letting the wagon roll away from her while she strung the bow.

  “Be careful, Robert,” Frank called.

  Rebecca raised a hand and stepped off to the side of the road, vanishing into the undergrowth.

  “Will she be all right?” Tanyth asked.

  Frank shrugged. “Thomas thinks so and she’s been hunting with him all spring.”

  “How do you know he thinks so? He tell ya?”

  “Where ya think she got the bow?”

  Tanyth looked over her shoulder to the place where “Robert” had disappeared into the woods. “Oh.”

  He grinned and sidled closer to her. “Now that I’ve got you alone, old woman...”

  She grinned and wrapped her good arm around him, leaning against his comforting warmth.

  “Can’t leave you two alone for a minute, can I?” Rebecca said, stepping out of the bushes just ahead of them. As the wagon rolled by, she tossed a spring-mottled hare over the side of the wagon. “How hungry are you?”

  Frank eyed the hare. “That’s enough for me. What’ll you eat?”

  Rebecca grinned and disappeared back into the woods.

  “This was a good idea,” Tanyth said.

  Frank cuddled a bit closer. “Yes, I think so, too.”

  She blew a small laugh through her nose and hugged him back. “Yeah, but I was talkin’ about her.” She jerked her chin at the woods. “She’s been huntin’ with Thomas?”

  Frank’s eyes followed her gaze and he nodded. “After Birchwood, Willam and Thomas thought it be a good idea to have another archer or two trained. Thomas asked a couple of the boys in Jakey’s crew but they couldn’t spend the time. She heard about it and talked Thomas into teachin’ her. Took to it right sharply. Even made Thomas give her some exercises to build up her arms so she can hold the draw.”

  Tanyth sighed, “And now she’s leavin’ the village to go with me?”

  “She’s never really been at home in the village, I think.”

  “She seemed to fit in well enough.”

  Frank shrugged. “Mebbe. I’m just an old fool myself, so what do I know.”

  She hugged him again. “You’re the smartest old fool, I know.”

  He looked down at her, pulling away slightly to get a good look. “How many old fools do you know?” The mock seriousness on his face made her giggle.

  “Well, not that many. Mostly just me—besides you, that is.”

  He resettled beside her. “Beside me is just where you belong, I think.”

  The noises of horses hooves and iron-shod wheels on gravel hid the sound of his sigh, but Tanyth felt his frame expand and collapse. She closed her eyes and nuzzled his shoulder, drinking in the musky scent of him, the texture of his sleeve against her cheek. She wanted to remember him on the cold, lonely nights that lay ahead.

  They rode in silence. The sun slipped lower in the sky, sending streaks of brilliant gold into the puffy white clouds drifting over head.

  “You gonna drive all night?” she asked, shifting her backside against the hard plank seat.

  He shook his head. “Horses need to rest and eat. Campsite’s just ’round the bend. We’ll stop there.”

  As they rounded the bend, Tanyth made out the flicker of a fire through the trees. “Looks like we’ll have company,” she said.

  Frank grunted. “Me
bbe.”

  She felt him tense. “Trouble?”

  He sucked air through his teeth for a moment before answering. “Have ta see who’s there first. Not likely, but ya never know.”

  The gathering dusk masked the campsite but as they approached, Tanyth slid away from Frank, giving him room to maneuver, and pushed her hat firmly onto her head. She glanced over her shoulder to see where her staff lay behind the bench seat. When she turned back to face the road, only a small stand of trees blocked her view. She didn’t see any sign of animals or wagons.

  As they cleared the trees, a lone figure stood from the far side of the fire. “’Bout time you two made it. What’d ya do? Stop and neck?” Rebecca yelled.

  Frank laughed. “No, we don’t have ta stop ta do that,” he shouted back.

  By the time Frank got the wagon situated, and the horses relieved of their tack, Tanyth and Rebecca had a respectable meal of fresh rabbit, hot tea, and pan bread ready.

  “You keep huntin’ like this, and we won’t use half the supplies I got on the wagon,” Frank said, leaning back on his elbows and patting his belly in appreciation.

  Rebecca beamed, her smile nearly as bright as the fading fire.

  “Will we have to keep a watch?” Tanyth asked.

  Frank leaned his head back and gazed up at the starry sky. “Normally, I’m here by myself, so I can’t,” he said. “Don’t see any reason to start now. I ’spect we’re all light enough sleepers that nobody’ll be sneakin’ up on us in the night.” He nodded at the wagon. “Sling the bedrolls under the wagon. It’s shelter if it rains.”

  “Bet it leaks,” Rebecca said, eyeing it with a dubious expression on her face.

  “Yep, but a leak here and there is better than a soakin’,” Frank said with a grin.

  “Bitter voice of experience?” Tanyth asked.

  He chuckled and gave her a nod. “Too many nights on wet ground.”

  “Why don’t you sleep in the wagon?” Rebecca asked.

  “You remember how hard that seat was?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You only sat on it part of the day. My bony backside has put up with it since early mornin’. I got a chance to get off the wagon? I’m takin’ it.”

  Rebecca laughed and stood to fetch her pack and bedroll out of the bed of the wagon.

  “She’s gonna be a big help to you.” Frank’s voice was barely loud enough to be heard over the breezes sighing through the spruces all around.

  She looked over at him and saw his mouth twisted in a half grin. “I hope so,” she said. “I still feel bad about puttin’ her at risk. My arm’s almost healed. Might be good enough by the time I get to North Haven.”

  He snorted. “I doubt that. But what if it is? You’ll send her home? Alone?”

  Tanyth sighed. “That’s not likely, is it?”

  He shook his head slowly. “No more likely than you stayin’ to begin with.”

  The hollow clunk of head against wood, followed by a low voiced mutter, reached them from the wagon. They laughed softly and Frank clambered to his feet, brushing the back of his trousers off, and mounding dry soil around their fire pit with the side of his boot. “You all right, over there, Robert?”

  “Fine. Just fine.”

  Frank laughed again and held out is hand. “Come on, old woman. Best get some sleep. Mornin’ comes a’fore breakfast.”

  The moon showed her the shallow creek again. The dark shadow along the stream bed was barely visible. Shadows of new pebbles marked where it lay buried. Only a small dark seam remained. The pebbles kept clicking together and the burbling of the water seemed to laugh in the darkness as the moon’s light faded again.

  Tanyth woke with a start and a pressure in her bladder. “Damn runnin’ water,” she grumbled.

  “Hmm?” Frank asked, not really awake.

  “Nothin’,” she whispered. “I’ll be right back. Save my place.”

  “Mmm,” he said.

  She snickered and slipped out of the bedroll to go crouch behind a bush. The moon smiled down at her between the treetops to the west. It would set soon. Business complete, she crawled back into her bedroll and snuggled into Frank’s warm embrace, letting the cold and the moon and the silly little stream all fade away.

  Chapter Eight:

  Horses’ Behinds

  Life on the road soon fell into an easy rhythm of rising with the dawn, caring for the animals and themselves, then wheeling the heavy wagon out onto the packed gravel surface of the Kleesport Pike. They rolled along through the day, occasionally stopping at streams and waypoints to water the horses. Every so often they’d pass a hamlet or village. When the sun set, Frank guided them to the next in a string of campsites and lay-over points where they’d make camp, fix dinner, and stretch weary bones out under the scant cover of the wagon.

  Occasionally they’d meet a wagon coming the other way. Twice they were passed by the jingling mount of a King’s Own messenger bound north for Kleesport. When he heard the bells on the harnesses, Frank guided the team to the side of the road until the rider had passed.

  “I don’t know how they do it,” Rebecca said after the second one rode by in less than three days.

  “What’s that?” Tanyth asked.

  “Ride day after day with them bells goin’ jingle-jingle-jingle all the time. It would make me crazy after the second day,” she said.

  Tanyth snorted. “You hear the tack jangle on these horses?”

  Rebecca looked at her with furrowed brow. “Well, of course.”

  “Do ya? Really? Clop, clop, jingle, jangle, jingle, jangle, clop, clop? All day? Every day?”

  She rolled her eyes. “No, that’s just the sound of the team.”

  Tanyth jerked her chin in the direction taken by the messenger. “And that’s just the sound of his horse. Prob’ly pays no more mind to it than you do. Only time he notices is when it stops.”

  Rebecca frowned but gave a slow nod. “Prob’ly so.” After a moment she said, “It’d still prob’ly drive me crazy.”

  Frank added, “Me, too.”

  They laughed and Rebecca vaulted the back of the seat to get her bow. “Well, I’m gonna try for some grouse today. Rabbit’s are getting a bit old.”

  “Be careful. We’re comin’ up on Foxrun,” Frank said. “You’re apt to find another hunter or two out to fill his own pot.”

  She nodded once. “Thanks for the warnin’. Will we be stayin' there over night?”

  Frank eyed the sun’s position in the morning sky and shook his head. “Might stop for water, catch up on the news, but too soon to stop for the night.”

  Rebecca gave another short nod and dropped from the tail board onto the road, disappearing into the undergrowth in moments.

  The drumming of heavy hooves coming fast from behind alerted them and Frank guided the wagon to a wider spot on the Pike and reined up. In a few moments, a passenger coach hauled by a four-in-hand rattled by. The driver waved from his high seat and pale faces peered out of the dimness as the coach rumbled past. They were gone in an instant, disappearing around the bend ahead.

  “May as well water the team now we’re stopped,” Frank said, and set about suiting action to word by dipping from the barrel of fresh water and giving each horse a brief slurp.

  Tanyth kept her seat and twisted around to watch the road behind.

  “What’re you lookin’ for, old woman?” Frank asked, clambering back aboard and taking up the reins once more.

  “King’s Own.”

  Frank frowned and cast a glance over his shoulder. “That’s odd, all right. I didn’t notice. Usually there’s a pair not too far behind the coach.” He shrugged and snapped the reins. “Gi’up, there.”

  The horses took up the slack on the harnesses and soon had the lorry rumbling along again.

  “How long we been on the road, Frank?” Tanyth asked once the team had settled into their plodding rhythm again.

  Frank squinted at the sky. “Lessee. Four nights? Five?” He s
hook his head, “We’re coming up on Foxrun so must be five nights. Why?”

  Tanyth nodded. “Not even half way, then.”

  He gave her a sad smile. “So eager to be shut of me, are you?”

  His comment found a home in her heart and she leaned over to hug his arm with a sigh. “No, dear ole fool. Just wonderin’ how much longer I can enjoy your company.”

  He nodded and leaned into her. “Yeah. Another week and a few days, we’ll be in Kleesport. Road’s in good shape for spring so we’re makin’ good time. We’ll have a few days there before I head back.”

  She sighed again. “In that case, I better start movin’.”

  “How’s that?”

  Tanyth stood and followed Rebecca’s path over the seat into the bed of the wagon. “Time to get the walkin’ muscle in shape. Been a long winter without exercisin’ it.”

  “You want me to stop?” Frank asked.

  Tanyth shook her head. “I can manage.”

  She made her way to the back of the wagon and laid her staff down in the corner before stepping over the back, letting herself down, one hand on the tailgate and stepping onto the roadway, letting the wagon pull her forward for a step or two before letting go and snatching her staff.

  Frank grinned at her as she strode up and along side him. “For a poor old lady, you seem pretty spry.”

  She grinned. “My walkin’ muscle needs a work out but some foolish ole man been keepin’ my hips limber all winter,” she said with a wink.

  Frank’s face clouded for a moment and Tanyth wished she hadn’t mentioned it.

  “That foolish old man’s gonna miss you,” he said.

  She pulled her arm out of its sling and reached up to rap the side of the seat with it, her fingers idly tracing the numbers carved into the wood. “That foolish ole man’s gonna be missed,” she said, turning her eyes forward and letting the brim of her hat block his sad, sharp eyes from seeing her tear up.