“Yes, are you?”
Herrick nodded. He then crouched down and filled his canteen. She took the moment to study him and his horse. Wealthy. Again like Wilm. This wasn’t a farm horse. His tack though dusty was of fine quality as were his riding boots. She shifted in her saddle. She didn’t own a pair of riding boots. Just her everyday boots which had been passed down from Cayla to Sussy to her. The clothes she wore were of slightly finer quality since they were Madelen’s, but not of the level Wilm or this stranger wore.
He rocked back onto his heels and hooked his canteen to his saddle. His movements were slow, careful. Was he trying to put her at ease? She sat stiffly on Ginger. Her pony had finally relaxed, but she just couldn’t dismount even if she looked like an idiot. Of course, his horse could easily overtake Ginger if she tried to run. But Ginger’s lack of height would benefit her in the trees and brush.
She would have missed him watching her from the corner of his eyes if she hadn’t been so nervous. He futzed some more with his saddle before turning to face her. His horse finished drinking.
He sighed. “We’re going the same way to the same place. It would be odd for us to travel separately.”
He had a point, but then again, just because he said he was heading for the Keep didn’t mean, one, he was trustworthy, or two, that he really was going there.
He turned away to mount his horse. “You’re welcome to ride with me or not.”
He urged his gelding forward to splash through the river. She suddenly felt completely and utterly ridiculous and let Ginger follow his bay horse. The river was deeper than it looked. He’d picked a path with the least amount of rocks, but being high up his feet were the only thing that got wet.
She wasn’t so lucky and quickly scrambled to raise her saddle bags above her head as Ginger sank to almost her own height and pranced across the water. With the splashing, Jiline was truly soaked. She should have waited. She wouldn’t dry off before it got dark and it was cold in the mountains at night.
Herrick rode a distance from the river and she followed him. Settling her saddle bags back down, she considered her predicament. She had one change of clothes which were already dirty. These had been her cleaner clothes.
But wet pants weren’t going to cut it. She also didn’t want to shove them wet in her saddlebags. If she stayed in the sun as much as possible she might have had some hope of drying them off, but as the trees towered over her she realized it was clearly going to be impossible.
Herrick’s horse suddenly stopped and she jerked her gaze from her wet boots to Herrick who was frowning at her.
“Right, pony,” he sighed as he dismounted.
Jiline gathered her reins up in worry. What the heck was he doing now? A blanket came out. He held it out to her.
“Once, we hit the trees, the temperature’s going to drop considerably. You’ll freeze.” His words were matter-of-fact.
“I’m aware of that.” But she didn’t reach for the blanket. “I have a change of clothes.”
He lowered the blanket. Shoot. Now she was going to have to change in his vicinity.
“I’ll wait,” he said, tucking the blanket back into his saddle bag.
She hesitated a second before urging Ginger into a trot to a grove of trees a distance away. Safely enclosed in the circle, she peered out to make sure he hadn’t followed. He hadn’t even remounted, but leaned against his horse looking back toward the river. She glanced around to make sure no one lurked. Though they would have to be awfully quiet for Ginger not to notice them.
She pulled her dry, if dirty, clothes from one bag and shivered. The damp material seemed to be clinging more than usual with the shade of the grove. Her tunic shirt came off easily and she dried herself with her cloak as well as she could before pulling on the other shirt. Water squished in her boots and she unlaced them. Rolling her eyes, she stepped onto the fallen pine needles with her bare feet. They would dry quicker if her feet weren’t in them. Tying the laces together, she hooked her boots to the saddle. She peeked out of the grove again. He was in the same position.
Her pants didn’t come off as easily and she had to sit down on the prickly pine needles to finally pull them off her legs. Stepping into her dry pants, she evaluated her saddle. It was just as wet and would make her dry pants soaked as soon as she sat on it.
Her cloak lay on the ground and she had her blanket. What did she need more? Probably her blanket for when they made camp. Folding her cloak, she set it on the saddle. Ginger shook her body and sprayed little droplets on her.
Jiline glared at her, but quickly ran her hands over the pony’s coat to push off any remaining water. As dry as she could get the mare, she tied her clothes to the saddle so they would dry.
Ginger shifted and turned to look back at her. She stared at her cute pony in mortification as she realized she looked like a walking clothes line. She was about to untie them to shove them in her saddlebags, but reminded herself to be practical. It would get everything else wet and she needed them to dry before they reached the Keep.
Shoving her pride down and hoping her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt, she mounted and rode Ginger out of the grove. Herrick mounted back up without looking at her.
It was only as Ginger reached him that she could have sworn his lips were twitching, but he didn’t laugh or say anything. So despite her flaming cheeks she let Ginger fall into step beside him as they hit the well traveled trail into the woods.
Darkness came swifter in the forest as she had expected. She didn’t know how she had known that it would, but it didn’t slowly gray as it did on the farm, but went from light to murky to dark.
Herrick kept his horse walking for a little while after dark and she had to admit it wasn’t completely dark with the harvest moon shining above them, but it made the forest a heck of a lot more creepy. Their ride was conducted mostly in silence. She wasn’t sure if he was normally so quiet or if he wasn’t talking since she was such a ninny about pretty much anything he did.
At last his horse stopped and Ginger stopped behind him.
“We should make camp here.” Herrick pointed to a clearing in the forest just ahead of them.
It was only as she dismounted Ginger that she noticed the fire ring in the middle of the small meadow of grass. The grass against her bare feet made her feel at home after traveling in the prickly pine needles and dirt for so long.
As before, Herrick was silent as he unsaddled his horse, hobbled him, and then stepped into the woods. She could hear some cracking and breaking, but wasn’t sure what he was doing, until he stepped out with an armful of branches of various sizes. He kneeled down at the fire circle and Ginger nickered at the gelding.
Moved out of her stupor, Jiline untied her damp clothes and boots. They weren’t quite dry. She would need to hang them up for the night. Hopefully they would be dry in the morning. Looping them over her arm, she shook out her slightly damp cloak. It had done its job of soaking the water up from the saddle. She walked Ginger back to a smaller tree and carefully hung the clothes on its springy branches.
Her saddle and bridle followed. Digging in her saddle bags, she pulled out Ginger’s hobble and buckled it around the pony’s front legs. A pat on the neck and Ginger walked carefully if slowly toward Herrick’s horse. She hoped he was friendly or at least tolerant. Ginger could be a little too social.
With nothing else to do, she did her own slow and careful walk to the small fire Herrick had built, a skill she had yet to master on the trail. Lighting a fire in the stove at home appeared to be a lot less complicated than one on the trail. All she’d been able to do was get some smoke last night.
She felt as if Herrick was staring at her, but he looked steadily at the flames. She set her belongings down and slowly lowered herself to the ground. The grass had been mostly trampled or cleared right around the fire ring. She glanced around the meadow and wondered at how many people had camped here. How many children her age or younger had stumbled across this small
little meadow on their way to the Keep?
“Where are you from, Madelen?” Herrick asked softly.
She jerked her gaze back to him. He was staring at her now. Again, the vulnerability went through her. Which was totally unlike her. She was always the brave one and now she realized how silly it had been to think of herself as brave when she’d been surrounded by things and people she knew.
Forcing herself to breathe when she realized she was holding her breath, she glanced at the fire, before looking back at him. “Ainsley, a small village a few days south of here.”
“Your family sent you alone.”
Of course they had, they had believed she was traveling on a well-traveled road to the closest city with Wilm as her escort. But she didn’t say that. Instead, she sat up taller. “You’re traveling alone.”
“I’m not a child.”
She glared at him. “I’m not a child either.”
“You couldn’t be more than fifteen.”
Her irritation grew at his accurate guess. “Good guess. You can’t be much older than I.”
He shook his head. “I travel a lot. This journey is nothing.”
Raising an eyebrow at his dismissive tone, she asked him, “Where did you come from?”
“The sea.”
She glanced back at the fire. He had traveled a lot farther than she. The sea was at least a week from her village in the opposite direction as the Keep. And the sea stretched on forever according to her father. He’d shown her a map of the coast once. There was more water than land.
“Have you seen the sea?”
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself. She watched him dig in his saddle bag and pull out the blanket from before. He held it out and offered it to her.
Embarrassed, she shook her head. “Thank you. I have my own.”
Dropping it on his saddle, he watched her again. She was going to have to get used to having the stranger’s eyes on her. She didn’t know why he made her so jumpy, but it was something she was going to have to get over. He hadn’t threatened her in any way and in fact had only offered his assistance. So what if he acted annoyingly know-it-all. He did know how to start a fire. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was a little early to go to bed.
Biting her lip, she pulled her own saddlebag a little closer and opened one of the bags to pull out the small amount of what was left of the food she had packed. Traveling food was completely uninspiring, she’d been able to eat berries, some greens and fruits while she was in the grasslands and known what she was passing. But the farther away she’d gotten from home the less she had found that she recognized and knew was safe.
She also pulled her blanket out so he would stop offering his own to her. He hadn’t spoken again since he’d offered. She really needed to work on her social skills.
Unwrapping the food bundle, she considered the hard biscuits and meat. Yep, very uninspiring. But considering his own generosity, she lowered the bundle so he could see.
“Would you like some? I have soda biscuits and smoked meat, if you’re hungry?”
He smiled and slowly shook his head. “I have my own, but thank you.”
Setting the bundle in her lap, she chewed on the end of a piece of the salty meat. Though it was probably about an hour away from when she would normally fall asleep, she found it was harder to keep herself erect and her eyes open. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball.
She slowly wrapped the bundle back up and tucked it away in her saddle bags. She wasn’t really full, but no longer hungry anymore. Hopefully she would be able to spot something more appetizing on the trail tomorrow. Of course, she would have to get over her self-consciousness around Herrick. She was going to be around a lot of people she didn’t know for possibly the entire winter. She didn’t believe it would take them that long to discover her soul wasn’t pure, but she wasn’t sure.
Herrick flicked his blanket out and lying on his back, he tucked his hands behind his head. He was now on the other side of the fire and she couldn’t see him as clearly. Which meant he couldn’t watch her as easily either.
She undid her own blanket and wrapped it around herself before laying down. Using her saddle bags as a pillow, she stared at Herrick’s boots.
4. THE KEEP
The chill of the morning woke her. The fire pit no longer glowed in the gray dawn and Herrick’s boots were no longer where they had been. She jerked up and glanced around the meadow. He was saddling his horse. Maybe the chill hadn’t wakened her. He finished brushing grass and dirt off his gelding and swung his saddle up.
Rubbing her eyes, she stretched and slowly rolled to her feet. Her body was not happy. She’d been so distracted by her company she’d practically forgotten the soreness which had begun the second day of her journey. Several days in the saddle, followed by nights on the ground was not doing her a lot of good.
Ginger nickered as soon as she saw Jiline up and slowly ambled over to the camp fire while Jiline gathered up her things and stomped her feet into her now dry boots. She only had to walk a few steps to meet up with Ginger. No dirt or grass on her, but she did a visual look over for any saddle sores. Clear, thankfully. She wasn’t sure what she would do if Ginger developed any. Setting the saddle on her pony, she was ready shortly after she realized Herrick was watching her again.
Or rather he probably wasn’t watching, but was waiting for her to finish. Unstrapping the hobbles, she tucked them into the saddle bags and looked around the clearing until she found the small tree she had left her clothes and cloak hanging on. She was relieved to find them dry, but she glanced quickly at Herrick. He was waiting for her and she hated the idea of changing near him again. Despite the dunk in the river, the clothes in her hand were considerably cleaner than those she wore.
Stifling a groan, she led Ginger behind a large tree on the edge of the meadow away from Herrick. Hiding behind the tree, she changed as quickly as she could, a task considerably easier when her clothes weren’t wet. She folded her dirty clothes swiftly before tucking them into her saddle bags.
Checking Ginger’s girth, she swung up and bit back the groan as her sore bottom touched down. The soreness would fade to numbness in a little while if her previous days’ journey were an example, but the first hour was not going to be a comfortable ride. Ginger walked the few steps to take them around the tree and back into the meadow.
Herrick was mounted and waited on the other end of the meadow. Ginger set forward eagerly to catch up with Herrick’s horse before he could leave them. She almost reassured Ginger that they were waiting, but realized Ginger wouldn’t be the only one hearing her talk to her horse. Instead, she gave her a pat and a slight sushing noise.
“Ready?” Herrick asked.
She forced a smile. “When you are.”
Herrick nodded and turned his horse to head back into the woods. It didn’t take long for the serious climbing to begin. Herrick alternated between a walk and a trot depending on how steep the trail was, but she worried about Ginger keeping up and that they hadn’t passed any source of water since the river yesterday. She thought of every pound weighing her pony down and was tempted to toss what was left of her food to lighten the load. But the food couldn’t even weigh a pound and it would be foolish on her part. Though the letter had made it seem like it was about a day’s journey to the Keep, it could be longer.
Herrick suddenly stopped. She pulled Ginger up and tried to look around him and what had caught his attention, but all she could see was his horse and trees.
“What’s wrong?”
He was silent a moment. “People.”
This time she really leaned to the side to try to see around him. Herrick’s horse started walking again. Whoever he had spotted must have spotted him as he raised his hand in a greeting.
“Can we get a ride?” a high pitched voice asked.
Herrick shook his head. “Sorry, they’re too tired to carry extra weight. You’ll be at the Keep soon.”
Jiline still couldn’t see who the we was and tightened her hold on Ginger’s reins. Three people came into sight a few feet away from her as Herrick’s horse passed them. They were glaring at Herrick, but transferred their angry stares to Jiline. Two girls and one boy about her age or maybe a little younger. They had been walking the trail.
One of the girls stepped into her path. “We could take turns riding your pony. It would be the fair thing to do.”
Herrick glanced back. “Out of her way, the pony belongs to her.”
The girl shot a mulish look over her shoulder at him and didn’t clear the trail. Thankful for Ginger’s size, Jiline urged her off the trail and around the tree to trot back up behind Herrick’s horse. She tried not to, but she couldn’t help looking back at them. They had started walking again and were staring angrily at her. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their mouths were moving.
“They look tired,” she said guiltily and forced herself to stop looking at them and to focus on the trail. Walking it had to be awful. She couldn’t imagine how long it would have taken her on foot.
“Their journey is almost over.”
“How do you know?” She tried to look around him again, but was still obstructed by his horse and the trees.
He glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Because I’m very familiar with this trail.”
She stared at his back as his horse started trotting again. Ginger didn’t need any urging to pick up her own pace. He started cantering and then they were both racing up the trail as they broke from the trees. She nearly dropped her reins in shock at the massive stone castle looming over her. It didn’t matter since Ginger was completely attached to Herrick’s horse and slowed to a stop to stay next to him.
Herrick gestured. “The Keep.”
It rose above them. Dwarfing everything around it. She counted four windows above her. She’d seen pictures of buildings that were more than a single story and except for the barns with their hay lofts this was the tallest building she had ever seen in person.
Unicorn Keep Page 3