They left at dawn.
Maret had been up before them, which was becoming a pattern Darion had stopped being surprised by.
He knew of early wakers and Maret was sure one of them.
She had packed food and water for the road — wrapped bread, dried at, a small cloth bundle of sothing that turned out to be dried fruit when he opened it on horseback an hour later.
Aldra handed the bags to them at the gate and they rode out into the grey morning light with Percvale quiet behind them.
Garren stood at the gate and watched them go. He didn’t say anything other than ’Safe journey’. He had said what needed saying the night before.
The road south was different from the road to Valdenmoor. If was flatter, more open in the early stretches, the terrain switching between patchy farmland and long stretches of scrub where nothing had been cultivated in years.
The sky was clear and the morning was cold and the horses moved well on the empty road.
They didn’t talk much in the first hour. Probably because they didn’t know each other so it was kind of awkward.
Seren broke it first.
"She’s going to be difficult," she said.
Darion glanced at her. "Your mother?"
"Yes." She was looking at the road ahead. "She doesn’t like being asked for things. Even when she’s willing to help, she makes the asking unpleasant." A pause. "I grew up watching her do it to people. She enjoys the position it puts them in."
"But she’ll help."
"If the situation appeals to her and the paynt is right." Seren adjusted the reins in her hands. "She’ll want to read you. Ask you things you won’t expect. Try to find the weak point in whatever you’re asking." She glanced at him. "Don’t lie to her. She’s better at detecting it than most people."
"I wasn’t planning to lie."
"Good. Also don’t try to impress her. She finds it tedious."
"Also wasn’t planning that either," Darion smiled, slightly amused.
He decided that since what he would be telling her would be good enough.
Seren had ntioned that she liked ’Wars where soone smaller is being bullied into a corner by soone larger’
She should agree... he hoped.
Seren looked at him for a mont. "You’re not worried."
"I’m more worried about Valdenmoor’s knights," Darion said. "Your mother asking difficult questions seems manageable by comparison."
She almost smiled. They turned back to the road.
They rode.
By midday the landscape had changed. More trees now, denser, the road narrowing as it pushed through territory that felt less traveled than the open stretches they had left behind.
The sound of the road changed too, less wind, more the close sounds of a forested route, branches overhead and the occasional bird.
Seren had been telling him about Ghlk. Small barony, she said, southeast of Percvale and slightly southeast of Valdenmoor too, tucked into a section of territory that had never been particularly significant to anyone.
It wasn’t wealthy, not powerful either, not on any route that mattered to trade. Her mother had settled there years ago because nobody with real power was paying attention to it, which suited her purposes.
"She moves occasionally," Seren said. "But she’s been in Ghlk for several years now. Long enough that people know her and leave her alone, which is what she prefers."
"Does she know you’re coming?" Darion asked, he had for a second there mistakened this place for his Earth where you could call or chat the person that you were coming.
"No."
"Will that be a problem?"
Seren thought about it. "Probably not."
The road pushed deeper into the trees and Seren went quiet again, looking at the route ahead with the slightly changed attention of soone scanning rather than just watching.
"This part makes nervous," she said.
The trees were close on both sides now, the canopy overhead thick enough to drop the light. The kind of route that looked fine in daylight and would be genuinely difficult at night.
"Creatures?" Darion asked.
"Creatures," she confird. "This type of terrain between Ghlk and the open roads. Things move through here. My mother used to warn about it when I was young."
Darion was already checking prepare to summon sothing, almost feeling the inventory, running the ntal accounting of what he had available. Fifty knights and twelve animals currently.
He didn’t summon anything yet, no point burning energy on a precaution when the road was still empty.
"I’ll handle it," he said.
She looked at him, appreciating the statent in a way. It was at least assuring that they were safe.
They were maybe ten minutes deeper into the forested stretch when the horses both reacted at the sa mont, their ears forward, pace breaking.
Darion almost summoned sothing before the first shape ca through the undergrowth.
Three of them, coming fast from the left side. Low to the ground, heavy-built, moving with coordinated aggression.
They had four eyes each, the additional pair sitting above the primary eyes and oriented differently, giving them a field of vision that made flanking them difficult.
Their mouths were too wide, the teeth coming through at angles that suggested the jaw structure was different from anything he recognized.
Seren made a sharp sound.
Darion summoned the large wolf and the second wolf simultaneously.
They hit the first creature before it reached the horses. The large wolf took it sideways with total commitnt, using its full weight, no hesitation. The creature was heavy enough that the impact wasn’t instant, both of them going down and separating and the creature coming back up faster than expected.
It had four eyes and it was using all of them, tracking both wolves at once.
The second wolf had the third creature, the one that had been angling toward the horses. The horses were moving, skittish, but Darion held his mount and watched.
The large wolf was working through the first creature. It had it by the shoulder and was pulling, the tearing sound carrying clearly through the close air of the forested route. The creature scread, a sound nothing like what he expected, and the wolf pulled again and the scream changed quality.
User Comments
0 comments from readers