“Where are the cups?” she asked trying to be a little more useful and less in her own head.
“I’ll get them,” Rowen offered before allowing himself to get distracted by the temptation of a jar of sweet jellied pickled plums sitting on the shelf near the window.
“There’s the old sod, and Gyrren’s with him,” he announced seeing Tybor and the outpost keeper outside. “I’ll go see if they are coming in for breakfast anytime soon,” he leaned out the window and gave a big wave to them before eagerly heading for the door.
Before Rowen could make his way behind the outpost, Tybor met him around the first corner. Jumping from the surprise of seeing him so unexpectedly, he almost fell over. He forgot how quick and agile Tybor was; it amazed him how silently he moved too.
“You’ve got to stop doing that!” Rowen caught his breath. “Anyway, Tat’s got some breakfast all set up for us if you want.” He paused for a moment, noticing someone was missing. “Hey, where’s Gyrren? Isn’t he coming in?”
“Naw. He goin’ back to da keep. Came in las’ night to check in on da outpost, an’ den he went ta help me set off my traps dis mornin’. No use in ‘em bein’ set up if’n I’m gonna be gone.”
“It’s weird that he’s staying at the keep and not at the outpost.”
“Well, dun ya worry ‘bout it none. Da tribe’s jus’ makin’ sure everyone’s safe wid all da devotees aroun’. You better get in and get some vittles before deys gone. I’ve got some dings I need ta sort out before I go.”
Rowen didn’t quite know what to make about Tybor dodging his inquiry, as Tybor was usually upfront and honest with him about most everything, regardless if he wanted to know or not. He pondered it for a few seconds then figured that if it involved the Envarians, it might be best to just stay out of it.
“Ok man. Well, I’ll save you a bite if I can,” he called out as Tybor walked towards the place the blink wolves had found shelter during the night. Dismissing it all with a shrug, Rowen headed back, hoping he’d be able to get some of Tybor’s share.
They gobbled the small but sufficient breakfast down quickly. Tat packed away the slight amount that remained after everyone claimed what they wanted. She saved anything left over, not allowing any of it to go to waste. Besides, who knew how long this whole process would take. Once they’d eaten all the food that was packed, how would they get more?
She concluded that the food would now be her main contribution to this journey, and if they happened upon berries or other vegetation they could forage during the journey she would gather it. ‘At least then I’d be more useful’, she thought taking a deep breath and cinching up the pack.
They were ready to head out the door after a quick double check to see if everything was indeed packed up and ready. Tat insisted on this step. Aidan resisted at first then reluctantly gave in after a little arguing. He finally realized it was better to just do it if it meant getting her to agree they were ready and could finally be on their way.
Tybor met them out front with a small cart loaded with a few packs and tools hitched to the blink wolves. Aidan wasn’t sure of what to make of the beasts since they still made him very uneasy, but he supposed with them harnessed like that they must be at least somewhat domesticated and that put his mind at ease a little.
None of them were particularly chatty this early in the morning, not even Tat. Aidan was kind of glad of it. He was also glad that she hadn’t latched onto his arm again too.
The sky was less gray than yesterday, and the sun peeked out here and there behind the now yellowish tinged and white fluffy clouds. It would have been an ideal day for this trek if the roads weren’t mired down from all the rain from the day before. If the wind settled down, they might have even considered it rather pleasant.
Aidan’s mind flashed as he watched Tok enjoy jumping the puddles and gliding over particularly large ones. He thought back to a time when he and his father went on one of their unplanned camping and fishing trips early one Spring.
The trip resulted from an excuse his father routinely came up with when he didn’t want to spend the entire weekend at home with his wife. That particular time she’d insisted he take Aidan along.
He remembered struggling to keep dry in a very cramped tent, grumbling about how muddy the ground was the next day because his father insisted on ‘roughing it’, and getting a primitive spot closer to the pier rather than paying a few bucks extra to get one of the graveled pads that came with electrical hookups.
He silently laughed at the memory of how upset he was when he couldn’t recharge his phone battery. Given his circumstances now and how this world didn’t have such luxuries, the thought seemed absurd.
Lost in those now foreign memories, he snapped back to reality just as he clomped down in a big murky mud puddle. His shoe, sock and now soaked foot sloshed with each step. Aidan couldn’t help himself as he let out a string of obscenities.
The fact that he had no other choice but to wear the same clothes the past few days and not even a chance of a decent shower was bad enough, but now he’d have to also walk who knows how far with a soaking wet muddy shoe and sock. That’s it! He just couldn’t take anymore.
Tybor whistled, signaling for the wolves to stop, then busied himself with pulling something from one of the packs. Rowen attempted to appease Aidan, trying to tell him he understood as Aidan rambled about the lack of hot showers, the plant people and monsters, and all the torture this primitive world was to him.
The knots in Tat’s stomach tightened as Tok climbed up her pack to rest on her shoulder, as if she could sense the girl’s uneasiness.
Tat felt wholly responsible for Aidan’s misery, and why shouldn’t she? It was completely her fault that all of this was happening to him. She chose to do the only thing she could right now and kept her distance, letting him rant.
Rowen tried to reassure Aidan that as soon as they made it to Yon’s Pass they could get a room at an inn and then he could get a hot bath, looking over to Tybor to make sure what he was saying would be doable. With a confirming nod from Tybor, Rowen continued to attempt to get Aidan settled down.
“Here,” Tybor called out as he chunked a pair of rather strange looking boots over to Aidan’s side of the cart, “dey shoul’ fit.” Aidan stopped his ranting to look at one of the boots. Crafted of some sort of leathery bluish-gray material, the boots would be about mid-calf high, fastening with three wide straps and buckles on the side. He felt the bottoms and noticed thick but flexible wood carved soles. He imagined they were going to be extremely uncomfortable.
He didn’t know what to make of the elf offering them to him. Did Tybor know this would happen? Or did he just happen to have an extra pair of boots? Either way, it had to better than walking around with a mud filled shoe. It hadn’t occurred to him that both Rowen and Tat were already wearing similar footwear. He realized, lots of things like this hadn’t occurred to him before now.
Pulling off both shoes and wet socks, Aidan tossed them on the edge of the road, figuring there was no hope for them anymore since he’d seen no evidence that people here even washed their clothes.
He slipped on the boots. They kind of fit, but he couldn’t get them over his jeans. Rowen told him he’d have to roll up the cuffs of his pants too, pointing at how his was done as an example.
Aidan struggled with the boots while Tat took his muddied shoes and socks, wiped them in the mostly dry grass, and stuffed them in a small pouch she had left over from some of the packed food. She decided that she would clean them the first chance she got, reminding herself once again, Aidan and his needs were now her responsibility.
With Aidan settled again, the travelers continued their journey. Rowen did his best to keep conversation lite; hoping to not get Aidan riled up again, and perhaps as an attempt for his own mind to not dwell on what was happening back home at this very moment.
Tat kept silent unless they directed something at her, and then she kept her answers short. Aidan was also cu
rt with replies, still not happy about his current situation. Even Tybor seemed to have his mind elsewhere, so eventually Rowen gave up and joined in on the silence.
The four of them continued to walk down the muddy road for hours until their stomachs became rather audible from hunger. Upon finding a patch of bluish-green colored grass about ankle high and still somewhat wet from the storms, they stretched out a leathery tarp that Tybor supplied that would do as a makeshift picnic table.
Again, Tat busied herself laying out the food for everyone. Tybor also added food he’d packed. Tybor’s gesture made Tat feel a little inadequate, but she smiled trying to hide those feelings, trying to at least pretend to be polite. After gobbling down her meager portion, she excused herself to take this opportunity to do some foraging.
She felt rather accomplished when she followed Tok into the woods and lucked up on a patch of sugar-dandies, which was one of the first plants Clover had taught her how to harvest. It was in fact one of Clovers secret ingredients in most of her cakes and biscuits.
Much like the dandelions from the Otherworld, the white flowered sugar-dandies were wholly edible from their root which made a great tea, their greens that made for a great salad, to their small white fluffy like flower petals. If dried correctly, she could grind it up and it would taste sweet like sugar and that would be a great bonus.
She couldn’t be more pleased with herself when she returned. This small act made her feel somewhat useful again.
It only took a moment of Aidan’s cutting remarks, ‘of all the stupid things, you went flower picking?’ to turn her small joy sour. All of his snarky comments were enough to make her want to scream as he rattled on about how he was really starting to hate this place. Angry, she opened her mouth to tell him off, but then bit down hard on her tongue. No, he has a right to feel this way, she reminded herself, and it’s my fault.
Days passed and they all began being rather worn down. Yon’s Pass was represented as a short line on the map and didn’t look as if it would be as arduous as this journey. However, it was in fact over 200 miles – a long distance to go on foot.
Aidan had nearly given up on the idea of ever getting a bath again. Taking pity on him, Rowen showed him how to bathe and rinse their clothes out using water from streams and the soap powder Tybor brought with them.
Tat continued doing what she could to stretch the food out and continued her foraging as often as possible being sure to always tell Aidan what she planned to do, if not asking his permission outright before going on her short treks in the forest.
It helped that every time they set up camp Tybor would demonstrate how to track or hunt. He even instructed them on how to fish without needing a rod and reel and to set up traps without using rope; things he’d shown Rowen over the past few years.
Each morning there was a decent supply of either fish, scuddlerabbits, or hikhadi and ebony birds to clean and add to their meal. Tat never cared much for eating meat and scowled at the site of it, often giving her portion to Tok. But as Tybor reminded her, she needed to get the protein somehow; so she picked at it now and again, being sure to make sure everyone else had plenty first.
As time went on both Tat and Aidan learned to trust the elf, leaning heavily on him to be their guide. Rowen seemed happy about that too because he’d feared they would continue to want him to be the one to guide them, and he was uncertain if he could even guide himself at this point.
After they’d had their morning meal and were fully awake, they began packing everything away. As usual, Aidan found something to complain about. Today it was how his shirt got soaked through with dew and never fully dried from being rinsed last night, so Tat offered to give him one of her tunics.
“I’m not wearing that!” he snapped at her, unaware that it hurt her feelings. “I’ll manage without a shirt until it dries I guess, or whatever,” he continued to mumble noticing she looked like she was about to cry.
“Just wear your girlfriend’s shirt man, it’s not like anyone will notice,” Rowen teased, something he’d started doing to poke fun at Aidan and get him to not be so serious about everything.
“She’s not my girlfriend!” Aidan snapped back as he usually did when Rowen teased about that.
“That’s right! I’m not” Tat snapped back at them both, then shoved the tunic back into her pack. “At this point, I don’t even think we’re friends!”
“Ooh! First lover’s quarrel!” Rowen giggled and Tat scowled at him as if she were ready to knock him out.
“Rowen,” Tybor barked disapprovingly, “Let ‘em be, an’ give ‘im one of yer shirts fer now.”
“No it’s fine!” Aidan pulled his damp shirt over his head, then sighed and tried to change his tone. “I’m sorry Tat. I know I’m being a pain. It’s just, well, this is a lot to have to adjust to. But that’s not your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” she crossed her arms, “I mean I am the one that forced you to be here against your will, made you lose your seal and now you can’t get back.”
“Ok yeah, all that happened, but–”
“Then it’s my fault! And now you’re my responsibility and I just have to deal with it, but I don’t have to like it and I don’t have to like you!”
“Wait, what? I’m not your responsibility. I’m not anyone’s responsibility but my own. Even if I did lose my seal and am stuck in this weird world, I’m still responsible for my own actions and… well, I’m sorry that I keep complaining and losing my temper…” he turned away from her, he’d never been good with apologies. “I’m sorry if you hate me now –”
“Hate you? I don’t hate you. I just…” her voice broke, “I’ve been trying to make this whole thing easier for you but all I keep doing is making things worse!”
“Worse?” He turned around with a confused look on his face, “how is what you’re doing making it worse?”
“Well like when I went foraging and came back with the sugar dandies you–”
“Yeah. I’m sorry about that too,” he interrupted, “Rowen explained it to me later. I should’ve said so already, but I’m just not good with that kind of thing. It’s just I couldn’t find you and I got worried.”
“You were worried? About me?” her voice softened.
“Of course I was worried. I don’t know what’s out here and neither do you, you’ve told me over and over how you’ve never been this far away from home.”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I just figured, you know, Tok was with me and all–”
“Tok is just a cat. How does that make it alright to just up and disappear like that?” Aidan quipped before thinking about what he said.
“It’s not like I can’t take care of myself. What, you think because I’m just a girl that I can’t handle myself?”
“I didn’t say that–”
“I guess you think I’m some kind of weakling because I’m a human girl living in a fae world. Well let me tell you that this IS my world and I think I’d know better how to handle it than you would!”
“I never said that! Stop putting words into my mouth that I never said. You don’t know me; you don’t know what I’m thinking!” Aidan raised his voice to match hers, obviously growing outraged.
“Well, I guess now’s a good’a time as any,” Tybor announced seeing where Aidan’s outburst was headed and hoping to cut short any future tears with Tat, “I’ve gots ta leave you’ns for a bit.”
“What do you mean leave us?” Rowen swiftly demanded to know, as if he decided he had a right to be upset now as well, not giving Tybor a chance to explain.
“Well, dat’s Crown bisness, an’ you’n knows I can’t tell ya–”
“But you were insisting you had to come with us all the way to Graymark and now you just up and change your mind. What gives dude?” Rowen cut him off again.
“Dun worry, I’ll meet you’ns in Yon’s Pass before ya head out. If ya follow da road ahead an’ don’t stop, you’ns shoul’ be dere ‘bout sunse
t.” Tybor dismissed his inquiry while fishing out a small pouch. He dug out and counted a few coins before handing the rest of the bag to Rowen.
“Dat shoul’ be ‘nuff for a room, a bath an’ more clothes for da boy. Fin’ ol’ Perry Winkle at da Pixie Dust Inn an’ tell her I sent ya, she’ll do ya up righ’. Might not be whatcher use’ to, but it’ll do. An’ if you’n all can quit quarrelin’ you’ll get dere a might quicker.” Not giving any of them a chance to say much else or even agree, he signaled for the wolves to follow as he jumped into the trees off the main road. After a moment Tybor, the wolves, the cart and all had completely vanished from sight.
“Woah! Where did he go? Does he have some kind of superpower ninja skills or something?” Aidan said sarcastically.
“I don’t know about being a ninja,” Rowen sighed displaying his annoyance, “but he’s definitely got being a jerk down. I’m going to tell him so when he gets back too.”
Rowen clenched the pouch of coins as if gripping it hard would make his agitation go away. “Oh well, we might as well start heading up the road. Once Tybor decides something then that’s just the way it is,” he sighed.
Agreeing with him, they finished packing everything up. Tat felt like crying but didn’t want to give Aidan the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She kept herself busy, reminding herself that it didn’t matter what Aidan thought, even though he was still her responsibility until she could fix all this.
Chapter Eight
Yon’s Pass
J ust as Tybor predicted, they arrived at Yon’s Pass just before sunset. Aidan stared intently at just about everyone and everything that crossed his path. This was the proof he’d been waiting on. The proof that all of this was real and not something he was imagining. There was absolutely no way his mind could have ever dreamed up this level of craziness.
The buildings made him think he’d been thrown back in time rather than abducted into a different world. The streets looked like something straight out of the old TV westerns that his grandpa used to be so fond of. The people however didn’t look as if they fit the scenery.
The Fateless: Errata Page 9