Chqpter 27: On the Road

  Altaya

  Altaya's horse rumbled along the road next to the other knights. She kept back from the front but wanted to be close enough to protect Julien. Not that she was expecting trouble on this trip. But between the troubles of the forest and the looks the guards and knights around her were giving her had her on edge.

  She was sure they didn't mean to but her situation was just too weird. That was more true than they knew but she wasn't even sure how she felt about being no longer human. She didn't really feel any different. She was snapped out of her thoughts as a horse pulled up along side hers. They were only an hour or so into the march so she wasn't expecting conversation this early. She turned in the saddle to see Carlouse a worried expression on his face. She pulled on her reins a bit so that he could come up along side her.

  "What's up?" She asked without preamble. Carlouse glanced sideways at her.

  "How you know something is wrong," he asked. A small smirk played at the ends of his mouth. She just shrugged not answering. She knew him well enough to understand when he was chewing over a problem.

  "Your eyebrows are scrunched," was her only reply. She glanced up her eyes tracking Julien as he conversed with his father. He had been very conflicted when they had found out about their new heritage. He'd tried to hide it from her but she knew him to well. She felt bad for not going after him when she'd seen him wonder off but she had been more than a bit confused herself.

  "Are we sure going to the refuge now is a good idea?" Carlouse finally asked.

  "What do you mean? Why wouldn't it?" Carlouse licked his lips before answering.

  "With all the nobles arriving in the next couple of days shouldn't we be preparing for that?" The question surprised her, but she tried to not let it show. Instead she looked ahead. The road ahead was hard packed and wide. She knew if they stayed on that road in two days they would reach the Forest City of Balden. further to the north sat the northern Counties along with the cities of Taston and Marluke. to the east were the port cities of Ilmar, and Kastern. To the west across the massive Illstarium River were the fortress cities of Leonel, and Barstal. There were many other town but those were the cities that notables would be traveling from. At least the ones she could think about at the top of her head. Illasium was in the South of the Kingdom. While it itself wasn't a port city the port city of Linal sat only a few leagues beyond it and was responsible for much of the Kingdoms trade. All of which went through the Captiol. By her nearest count it would take at least two weeks for the furthest notables to arrive. But the Royal Curia would easily last a week or more.

  "We'll be cutting it very close, but I agree with the king this needs to happen before they can arrive." once again Carlouse raised his eyebrows in question.

  "Why does it have to happen?" Couldn't it wait till after We could.." But she interrupted him with the shake of her head.

  "No, it can't wait for one simple reason," Altaya's horse shifted to the side to avoid a fallen branch. So their conversation paused momentarily. until they got around the branch and came back together.

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  "Oh? and what the reason?" Carlouse asked. Normally, she would be asking Carlouse questions when it came to almost any subject. Except this one. Politics was something she had to learn as a necessity for protecting Julien. among their friends she knew she probably knew the most about the court and its games.

  "Us," She answered simply stabbing a finger at her own chest. Carlouse said nothing but she could feel his question so she continued. " How long after this meeting begins do you think they will be able to keep us as secret? We can't remain in the old Palace forever and even then their likely to have spies among the servant. They'll find out about us rather quickly. The king has to give his vassels a reason not to run to the nearest elven enforcer office and report what they know."

  A look of understanding crossed Carlouse's face. "So, he's hoping to find something with in the refuge that will allow him convince them that the whole kingdom can profit from helping us."

  "To protect us," she corrected. "I doubt they'll actually help us in any meaningful manner but he's got to give them a reason to support him not turning in his son." she paused weighing her next words although she thought they should be obvious. "And us." Carlouse went silent at her words, "Great Primordial's tits, that's messed up," He exclaimed. she blinked she'd never heard Carlouse swear like that he was usually more refined. then she shrugged "I guess he finally understands our position is pretty tenuous," she thought to herself. Carlouse fell back behind her his horse slowing down and his expression pensive. She returned her attention to their surroundings it was already shaping up to be a long day.

  They marched all day, their pace was considerably slower than when they had come the same way with the patrol. keeping everyone in formation and on the lookout was hard. When the sun went down Altaya found herself deep in the forest the canopy overhead shadowing the alrready darkening sky. the amount of insects had increases but the heat of the day had finally abated. The wind felt cool on her skin. She hadn't talked to anyone else on the ride and for the most part she rode silently except for a few times she spoke to Katrina about plans for when they returned to the city. As the sky went from a red orange to a dark purple the order was given for torches to be lit every other horse along the line. It appeared the King was determined to march through the night to get to the refuge. It suited Altaya just fine, she wasn't tired but that may have not been the case for the guardsmen. When she was offered a torch she took it with out thinking. She quickly realised the bright orange light of the torch all but ruined her ability to see in the dark. He was going to pass it off to another when she noticed the threads of red orange energy thick and bright coming from the torches. Maybe she could get in some practice. Before she could even begin however a halt was called to rest the horses.

  "A quarter of a glass no more, then we move out!' The king ordered. She dismounted with a grunt not realizing until that very moment how sore she was. Apparently enhanced body or not sitting in a saddle for a whole day was going to cause problems. She wondered to the edge of the grouped up knights. Every few lengths one of the guardsmen were keeping watch on the darkened forest around them instead of rubing down their horses. Altaya reached over and pulled a massive canteen off her horse that had been attached there. She pulled out a much smaller bowl and filled it with water. Going around to the front she offered the bowl to her horse, which it drank from greedily.

  A rustle behind her alerted her to Julien's approach. She turned her head continuing to water her horse as he approached. "Lose something?" She asked when he got close enough. A smile played across his lips as he shook his head ruefully.

  "Just wanted to talk to someone about something other than the path ahead." The horse finished drinking and she moved around the side to refill the bowl. "You know any of us could've guided the king. No one asked you to do it." He just shrugged. She refilled the bowl before going back to the horse to offer more. She kept one eye on Julien the entire time. He was scratching the top of his head underneath his cloak a sheepish expression on his face.

  "You know you're terrible at this talking think don't..." She paused as Julien's face froze. He was looking past her towards the shadowy underbrush. she whirled just as a chilling howl shook the forest around them.

  "Direwolves!!" A guardsmen down the line yelled. The still night air was rent with the sound of a hundred blades leaving their scabbards.