by Laura R Cole
CHAPTER 4
Natalya made her way back to the inn’s stables, discouraged. She had scoured the town for someone who might be able to guide her to the capitol, but so far no one was headed that way and no one was willing to travel with her even part way. None of them believed that she wouldn’t be a nuisance on the trip.
She sighed. To make matters worse, she still had the gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that Alina needed her help. Her plan was to make it to the palace and request an audience with the Queen. She was sure that if she just explained the situation, Queen Layna would make it right. Natalya had the honor of being present for one of the Queen’s speeches and the impression that the woman had made on her had been extremely favorable. Natalya had no doubt that the woman would hear her plight and help her resolve it. There must be a good reason for her taking the talented, Lord Morven was just not a good choice for her Knights. Natalya could not blame her for not being able to personally oversee every hiring choice made in the entire country, and there was bound to be a bad apple or two. Once she made it to the palace to see her, everything would be fixed.
However, getting to the palace was proving to be more challenging than she had originally thought. Questions raced through her mind, but no answers followed and she sighed into the darkness. The sound of muffled laughter reached her ears as she passed the tavern, abruptly growing louder as the door burst open and a young man came stumbling out. The thick stench of ale filled Natalya’s senses, and the bright light from the tavern cut across the dark street like a blade. Inside Natalya could see that the room was bursting at the seams with drunken customers, clanking their mugs together and singing off-tune.
The door banged shut again and Natalya was left once more in the abandoned street, save for the lone patron calling it a night.
She stood for a moment, watching the drunkard stumble his way down the street until he finally fell into the doorway of the inn.
Resuming her walk, she came to the stables and silently slipped inside. It was pitch black, but she didn’t hesitate as her feet found the familiar path around piles of hay, and running her hand along the wall she found the latch. Flicking it open, she pulled at the door and entered.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said as a warm nose snuffed at her outstretched hand and gave a soft whinny. Natalya stroked the soft neck and buried her face in the mane of Ebony, the family’s carthorse. She felt a little guilty for having taking him with her, but her father wouldn’t need him again until much later in the season when he made his trek to the farmer’s markets in the fall, so hopefully her parents would forgive her for it. Besides, they would probably be too busy killing her for running away to worry about punishing her for taking the horse with her.
A light appeared at the far end of the stables and Natalya could hear voices growing louder as two men stepped through the doorway, the first carrying the lantern. He was a stable hand Natalya recognized as David, the one who she had bribed to let her stay with her horse in the stables, and he was followed by another man who looked vaguely familiar. As he came closer and his features sharpened in the light, she almost gasped as she recognized him as the Treymayne man she now knew as Hunter, leading his chestnut mare behind him.
“I’ll just need it for the night,” he was saying to David, “I’m leaving straightaway with the sun tomorrow as I’m told it will take a full day to the next town.”
“Oh, aye,” agreed David in a gruff voice, “The trip’s at least that. We’re pretty spread out here, you’ve probably seen all the people that lives in this part right here in the square today for the festival. I have a cousin up in Eastman who comes down to visit every so often, who always complains about the trip. But I tell him, when you have a job like mine you can’t just go dropping everything to go traipsing around the countryside to see him instead. Not everybody can do what I do you know, it takes skilled hands to handle some of the beasts that come through here. No offense to your little lady there, but we get some nasties. Let me tell you, this one hairy old brute…”
Hunter cut in as the man drew a breath to launch into his story, “Can she be ready at sun-up?”
The man looked unfazed by the interruption and answered, “Of course, old David takes his work seriously, like I was saying. It’s a good thing I already picked up the shoe for you; I’ll make sure I put it on right away. I have to tell you, you’ll have a hard time getting out of the city that early. The trade master likes his sleep, you know, and you have to pass everything with him before we let you go. Especially with all the ‘special’ cargo you have there.” He winked good-naturedly at Hunter who looked disgruntled and the man finished unsaddling the mare, closing up the stall as the horse settled in, munching on the straw happily.
The two men started moving away and Natalya heard David’s fading voice take up the conversation once more, “So, like I was saying, this one old brute…”
Natalya stood, and was patting Ebony’s flank when she had a sudden inspiration. She hurried back to the street and caught sight of Hunter handing David a few coins and excusing himself from the man’s ramblings as he slid inside through the door of the inn.
Natalya quickened her pace even more and caught the door as it was closing. After slipping through herself, she looked around for Hunter. The common room of the inn was also a tavern and the stench and noise which Natalya had only had a taste of earlier now hit her full blast. She was disoriented for a moment by the commotion, but soon spotted Hunter as he climbed the stairs in the back.
She made her way through the crowd, ignoring the hoots and whistles and avoiding the wandering hands, and took the stairs two at a time, calling his name at the top. Hunter glanced up, the key to his room already posed in front of the lock. She closed the last few paces between them and stopped by his side. The shocked look on his face at her arrival was priceless. Another emotion flickered over it, but she couldn’t place it.
“I’m coming with you,” she stated defiantly.
He recovered from his surprise and raised an eyebrow, sticking the key into the lock, “Are you now.”
He turned the key and pushed the door open, entering without a second look at her. But he didn’t shut it behind him so she followed him in and repeated, “I’m coming with you, I need to get to the capitol.”
“How’s your hand?” he asked, unbuckling a belt which held a knife at his waist and tossing it upon the bed.
She raised her hand to look at it, his question derailing her, but then thrust it back at her side in frustration. “It’s fine.” She waited, but all he did was strip off his tunic to reveal a very tan and well-muscled chest with a white scar running the length of his ribs. She turned away and asked impatiently, “So?”
He didn’t answer right away. “So what?”
She turned back towards him, forgetting her modesty, and said, “So can I come with you or not?”
He looked at her and said calmly, “I thought you already said you were.” He stared at her a moment before sighing, and then he shook his head. “Look, I don’t have time for this.” He moved towards her as if to shuffle her out the door.
Natalya had a sudden inspiration and held out a hand to stop him from shutting it on her, saying excitedly, “I can get you past the guards even without the trade master, I’m friends with one of them.” This was a slight exaggeration, as the guard to which she was referring had been a boy who Darryl had once, in passing, introduced her to, but Natalya didn’t feel the need to share this particular detail with Hunter. “And I’ve got my own horse, so you’ll hardly notice I’m there.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked her over. Then he sighed again and ran a callused hand over his eyes, looking tired. “Be at the gate at sunrise and if you speed up the process, you’ve got yourself a deal.” Natalya smiled triumphantly and he added quickly, “but only if my dog likes you.”
Natalya squealed with glee, but promptly covered her mouth with her hand at Hunter’s exp
ression and showed herself out. She made her way out the back of the inn to avoid the commotion in the front room and settled down into the hay next to Ebony for the night.
When the first rays of sunlight cracked through the window, none too soon for Natalya, she quietly gathered her things. She brushed Ebony down before setting the saddle onto his broad back. She was pleased to see that Hunter’s mare was still in her stall, and she whinnied softly as she passed. Leaving behind the promised money for David, she gently opened the door to the stables and slipped smoothly out.
The air was crisp and cool, the early morning light just peeking over the horizon and casting a golden glow on the town. Ebony shook off the last vestiges of sleep and stepped happily along beside her as she led him towards the gates.
The horse’s pace quickened as they neared the gates; he knew that beyond them he was allowed to stretch his legs and gallop. She had to gently pull back on the lead to get him to wait while she entered the guard tower to try to talk her way out of Hunter’s required trader interview.
More than ten minutes and many pleading words later, not to mention ten coppers lighter, she returned to Ebony successful, and found Hunter leading his chestnut mare with the cart alongside him, looking at her expectantly.
“They’ll open the gate for us straightaway,” she informed him with a trace of smugness to her voice and he nodded his thanks, seeming more relieved than she would have expected from simply not having to wait a few extra hours to leave, and not meeting her eye. He was slightly aloof, and Natalya refrained from speaking to him, picking up on his desire not to converse.
They rode in silence punctuated by yawns as the sun rose up above the treetops and breathed life into the sleeping world. After a while, Natalya couldn’t take it anymore and she cleared her throat and attempted to make conversation. “So where’s this dog that has to approve of me?” she asked him curiously, remembering the large dog which had loped about during the festival in Hardonia, but that she had not yet seen this day.
Hunter seemed to have to tear himself away from his own thoughts and answered, “Weylyn? He’ll find us eventually. He wanders off all the time, I can never keep track of him. He always comes back though,” he added almost affectionately.
“I see,” she said, though she was beginning to wonder if it was in fact a good idea to be traveling with a man from Treymayne, a country which inspired so many stories which Gelendan mothers told their children at night to keep them in line. He had been awfully relieved at getting out of town without having to go through the trade master…what else might he have beneath that tarp…besides rows and rows of knives? Natalya shook off the unsettling thoughts, there was no use second-guessing herself now. Her gut had given her a good feeling about this man, and she would just have to trust it.
She shifted her own knife beneath her dress. And be ready just in case.
“What brought you this far west? Or to Gelendan in general?”
He took his time answering, seeming unwilling to part with any information, but finally conceding, “I’m expanding my market. I hear it’s good selling during festival season.” He paused for a moment and Natalya thought that was all he was going to give her, afraid that talking to this man was going to be like pulling teeth. After a moment of thought, he confessed. “I’m also hoping to help repair relations between Gelendan and Treymayne. I’m actually from Gelendan originally,” he told her, glancing in her direction to gauge her reaction.
She raised her eyebrows and said, “Oh?” prompting him to explain. She hadn’t thought it was possible to go through the barrier.
“I was born and raised in Borden, up near the Ferryn Plains, when my parents decided that they didn’t like what was going on here and defected to Treymayne.” Her face scrunched up in confusion, wondering what he was talking about. He saw her look and explained, “I guess that up North the Bloodstone’s taint was more apparent, it was very obvious – to my parents anyway – that things were going down a dark road. I’m not sure exactly how they did it, but somehow they managed to contact Treymayne and they helped us get through the barrier.”
Natalya pondered this a moment. “What do you think about the King and Queen’s story about their grand quest and ridding the world of the Sleeping God, Nuko? A little far-fetched, huh?” She gave him a conspiratorial grin.
Hunter’s face hardened. “I don’t trust any government. They are all power hungry and will say whatever they have to to get the people to follow them. This Queen’s no different.”
“How can you say that?” Natalya asked in dismay, her smile fading. “Look at all the wonderful things she’s done, and she cares about the people, even I have seen her!”
He snorted scornfully, “Oh yeah, she cares a lot about her people. Especially the talented ones.” He gave her a rather pointed look and Natalya deflated.
“I’m sure there’s a good reason for it.”
Hunter’s expression darkened further. “There’s no good reason for that,” he said softly, and Natalya wondered if there was more that he wasn’t saying.
“You’re rather bitter, aren’t you?” she commented wryly.
He gave her a look and shook his head, clamping his mouth shut. No matter how she prodded, she couldn’t get him to speak again for the remainder of the evening. Whatever his experience with the government had been, it clearly had jaded him. Natalya wasn’t about to let his tough luck ruin her optimism, however.
Before she knew it, the sun seemed to have dropped suddenly over the horizon as they found themselves at dusk without ever noticing the passage of time. Trees closed in around them as they entered a forest, the canopy blocking out the thin shimmer of light that was left.
Hunter seemed to finally come out of his bad mood and he turned in his saddle, reopening their conversation, “I have to tell you-”
His statement was cut short by a loud cracking noise and he let out a curse instead. Natalya looked curiously for the source of the sound and soon found it. One of the wheels on his cart was bent sideways at an odd angle. Hunter dismounted and stalked over to it, mumbling to himself in frustration and going over and kicking the wheel.
“I don’t think that will help,” Natalya couldn’t stop herself from saying, and hid her smile behind her hand at the dark look Hunter shot her.
“We’ll have to set up camp here looks like,” he said in a tone that suggested he thought this prospect would frighten her.
She quickly surveyed the area around them and spied a suitable spot. Pointing to it she announced, “I’ll set up over there while you take a look at that wheel.” She threw her leg over Ebony and hopped to the ground, marching with him over to the place she had just pointed out. She unbundled her supplies and set them on the ground, tethering Ebony and heading back to the cart and unharnessed the mare.
Hunter watched her for a moment and then shook his head, turning his attention to the problem at hand. When he had finished inspecting it, he rummaged around in the cart for a few minutes, pulling out a tool from here and there stuck into the oddest places. Natalya watched him out of the corner of her eye, leading his mare over to where she had tethered Ebony and leaving her there to graze as well. When Hunter had gathered all his tools and had settled in to fix it, Natalya went off in search of firewood.
She took several trips back and forth, making sure that they had enough to make it through the night and then started filling her arms with kindling. Her search brought her farther away from the campsite and she eyed the forest warily as shadows danced through the trees in the retreating daylight.
Something made a snuffling sound and leaves and twigs broke under its feet. Natalya froze and listened. She followed the sound to her right and got out her sling, hoping it was something small enough to kill with the pebbles she had on her. She was a fairly good shot, having added rabbit to the family’s stew more than a few times, but even the best shot could take down something only so big
.
She snuck through the underbrush, emerging suddenly into the clearing from which the sound was coming, and she swung the sling in a circle, ready to let it fly. The animal lifted its head and Natalya swore as she realized too late what it was.
The wild boar grunted in surprise and rounded on her, charging at her with razor-sharp tusks slashing. She let fly the rock and it connected squarely, but bounced harmlessly off the thick hide. She scrambled out of the way and abandoned her kindling, throwing it towards the advancing beast in an effort to slow and confuse it.
She turned heel and ran. The boar shook its head, freeing it from the tangle of wood, and resumed its chase. Out of nowhere, another creature appeared, flashing from the side and latching onto the boar’s ear.
A mixture of ear-piercing squealing and ferocious snarling filled the quiet forest and Natalya quickened her pace, swiftly leaving the commotion behind. After a few moments the squealing grew fainter as the beast fled and Natalya spared a look behind her. The boar’s attacker loped towards her, and she increased her pace once more. She crashed through the underbrush and looked back once more to see how much it had gained to find that it was still simply loping along behind her, not charging as if to attack. She strained her eyes to see the things more clearly and saw that it was letting its tongue hang loosely out of its mouth as though relaxed. The razor-sharp teeth gleamed in the dimming light and Natalya had a pang of fear before she recognized the creature as the dog that had been by Hunter’s cart at the festival.
She slowed and turned to face the dog guardedly. It slowed as well and side-stepped towards her. It drew its lips back in a frightening-looking grimace and Natalya sucked in her breath before realizing it was doing it in play. It dropped down into a bowing gesture at her feet, wagging its tail and she held out her hand to it.
It immediately started licking her with a vengeance. She laughed and ruffled the fur on its head. Once she was sure that the boar was not still hanging around, and feeling safer now that the dog was following her, she gathered up the abandoned kindling and made it back to the camp without further incident.
Hunter was still working furiously on the wheel and he barely glanced up when she returned. “Did you hear that pig out there?” he asked through a mouthful of some tool or another.
“What pig?” Natalya answered and proceeded to start the fire, smiling conspiratorially at the dog.
She had it roaring and a pot of soup already simmering over it by the time Hunter finally made his way over. She was in the middle of wrestling with the dog, and he plopped down next to them with a bored expression, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried not to smile.
She grinned at him. “So do I pass the dog test?” she asked, holding the dog’s head next to hers and sticking out her bottom lip in a pleading gesture.
The combination of her pout and the dog’s forlorn expression, which he had compliantly put on for her, broke through Hunter’s walls. He chuckled, “Apparently so.”