Chapter 9
Bree noted Horland move to the side of the track.
She checked the width and realized there was enough room for all of them to walk side by side.
Did he want to walk together now? She smiled and moved the girl from her left side to her right and moved alongside Horland.
He glanced down at the girl’s head and she was sure she sensed a sigh, although she couldn’t hear one come from his mouth.
When he looked at her, she beamed. “You changed your mind? You want to be friends now? You aren’t going to leave us to the forest monsters?”
“Yes, yes, and no.” He chuckled. “However, there are no monsters in the Forest of Uther, but there are wild animals and all the more frightening, wild humans.”
Bree made a face. “You’re right. Humans can be more terrifying than any wild animal.”
They walked into the ever-darkening forest in silence, but it was a different kind of silence than earlier.
Bree was relaxed in his company and she couldn’t stop casting sideways glances in his direction.
His expression appeared calm and although he looked like he was deep in thought, the way his gait slowed to an easy saunter told her he wasn’t in the least tense.
Bree tipped her head back and gazed at the thickening canopy.
It didn’t completely block out the sky but with the sun behind the gray clouds, it seemed later than it actually was.
She guessed it was about three in the afternoon.
They had spent too much time at the stream.
She hoped Horland knew where he was going, and she really hoped they found a safe place to stay that night.
After an hour of walking, the girl fell back. “You tired, sweetie?” Bree asked her.
She nodded and before Bree could say any more, Horland stopped and crouched down in front of the girl.
She scrambled up onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He made a choking sound and talked as if he couldn’t breathe. “Not so tight, little one. You’re strangling me.”
She must have loosened her grasp because Horland stood up and continued down the path.
“So, you’re just a big softie, huh?” Bree said.
“I am a knight of the realm and looking out for those weaker than I is the honorable thing to do. It does not make me sapless.”
“No, and I didn’t mean to suggest it did. In fact, I think it shows your strength.” She eyed his bulging biceps. Her fingers itched to touch his upper arm and her mouth went dry. She fisted her hands and cleared her throat. “I wouldn’t be able to carry her for long.”
The path narrowed again, and Bree’s shoulder encountered the very arm she had been leering at earlier.
Shivery tingles shot up her neck. She tried to move away but there wasn’t enough room and Horland didn’t seem inclined to tread the edge of his side of the track.
It crossed her mind she could fall back, and they could walk in a single file but for some reason, she ignored that thought and stayed where she was, enjoying the sensations every time their arms brushed against one another.
She kept glancing at Horland when they came together, but he appeared to not notice and kept his gaze straight ahead. Soon though, the path narrowed further, and Bree had no choice but to fall back. She didn’t want him to get too far ahead because she had no idea where they were going.
Looking around, she noticed the light around them had increased. The clouds must have cleared from the sky.
The sun’s rays couldn’t penetrate the forest canopy, but the light was enough to see by and she had a clear view of Horland ahead of her.
He still had his pack over his shoulder.
She wasn’t sure what he had in there, but she was certain it was heavy and although the girl was small and skinny, he had to be hurting carrying them both.
“Do you want me to carry your pack?” Bree asked.
“We will stop shortly,” Horland said over his shoulder. “But first, we need to quicken our pace.” He started to jog, and the girl yelped but soon she was giggling at being bounced around.
Bree trotted behind and smiled at the little girl’s happiness. It was nice, running through the forest, hearing Horland and the girl laugh. It was like Bree always imagined a real family would spend time together.
Horland turned back. “You want a turn?”
Bree laughed. “No thanks.” Bree noted a fallen branch in his path. “Watch—”
Horland fell forward and the girl screamed. He met the earth with a loud thump and Bree flinched. “—out.”
She hurried to them and pulled the child to her feet. “Are you okay?”
She nodded and smiled.
“Are you hurt?” Bree asked Horland. His eyes regarded her from a dirt-encrusted face, and she laughed at his perplexed expression.
He leapt to his feet and patted himself down with his hands. “I have no broken bones, and while the pain in my arm has returned somewhat, I am whole. Are you all right, little one?”
The girl nodded.
“Good,” he turned to face Bree, his expression solemn. “I apologize, but I didn’t hear what you said.”
“I saw the branch and tried to warn you, but I was too late.”
He rubbed his chin. “Ah, so it was your fault.”
Bree glared at him. “What? No! It was your fault; you shouldn’t have turned around.”
He chuckled and winked at the child. She covered her giggling mouth.
Folding her arms over her chest, Bree wasn’t going to let him get away with it. “You could have seriously hurt the child.”
His mouth dropped at the corners. “You are correct. I could have and for that,” he gazed at the girl, “I apologize.”
She smiled adoringly up at him.
“Oh please, you could at least pretend to be angry with him.”
She turned her smiling face to Bree with her eyes still full of adoration. Bree’s heart melted. Somehow along the journey, both she and Horland had bonded with the girl. It was going to be hard to say goodbye when the time came, but Bree decided then to enjoy every moment she had with the child.
Horland winked at the child and before Bree knew what he was doing, he scooped Bree up into his arms. “Your turn to be carried.”
The girl laughed and bobbed on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands.
Bree wriggled and kicked her legs. “Put me down.”
He pulled her in closer to his chest. “I promise I will watch where I place my feet.”
Bree tried not to take notice his stunning smile, or the hardness of his chest, or the spicy, earthy scent filling her nostrils.
He strode on. “Keep up, little one.”
But after less than twenty steps, he stopped and gently let Bree down onto her own feet, letting her go completely. Disappointment flooded through Bree; she was just beginning to enjoy the experience.
She looked around at the small clearing. Misshapen bricks, some intact, some broken, but all charred, were strewn over the ground and a large fireplace stood at the opposite edge.
“A fire must have destroyed everything.”
Horland sighed. “It did. A great fire burned through the entire forest many generations ago.”
Bree trailed her hand over the stone mantel. “It must have been beautiful.”
“I know not.” He scuffed a broken brick as he passed and his expression turned wistful, a small smile raising the corners of his mouth. Bree got the distinct impression he was remembering happier times.
He turned full circle. “Garlain and I used to play here when we were young.” Then almost immediately, his lips tightened into a hard line and he shook his head. “That was a long time ago.”
“You and Sir Garlain are close? Like father and son?”
He gave her a funny look. “No. We used to be like brothers.”
Garlain would have to have been a much older brother. Bree gave a small shake of her head. He spoke in past tense. Bree ran her fingers through her hair, trying to straighten out the tangles. “Used to be? You’re not friends now?”
His brows drew together in a hard line as he knelt near the fireplace, plonked his bags down and started the fire with what sticks had been left there by the last visitors. “We’ll camp here.”
Bree collected more sticks and branches and piled them beside the fireplace while the girl ran about collecting what she could.
Making a seat out of the whole bricks she moved together, Bree sat down. The girl kept throwing more sticks into the fireplace, snuffing out the fire Horland had just managed to get going. He grunted and pushing the newly acquired sticks away, he set about relighting the fire.
Bree narrowed her eyes at Horland. “She was just trying to help.”
He let out another grunt but kept working.
The girl was about to throw more sticks on the fledgling fire and Bree held up her hands to stop her.
“That’s enough, sweetie, we’ll chuck on bigger pieces of wood once the small stuff burns down a bit.
Come and sit with me.” Once the girl was settled, Bree said to Horland, “You’re not friends with Garlain now? What happened?”
He didn’t answer; in fact, he completely ignored her.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
He blew on the small fire while gently placing more kindling on top of the smoking pile. “I did.”
“Then why not answer?”
“Why do you not be quiet. A woman should not question a man.”
“Oh, please, don’t start that nonsense. I am a modern woman and if I have a question, whether it be for a man or woman, I will ask it.”
Bree smirked. If he only knew how modern.
His answer? Another grunt as he got up and left the clearing.
Bree hugged the girl’s shoulders. “What’s got him so peeved?”
The girl looked up at Bree and raised her shoulder as if saying she didn’t know.
“It’s okay, sweetie, the question was rhetorical anyway.”
Although Bree tried to make small talk during their evening meal of the rabbit Horland brought back into camp and the stale cheese, Horland kept quiet. And by the time they settled down for the night, Bree stared up at the blackness and worried about his behavior.
He and her father were once friends, but they obviously weren’t any longer.
What could have happened to make two men, who thought of one another as brothers, become so estranged?
And if they were now enemies, why did Horland want to find Garlain?
Bree rubbed her face. Well, it wasn’t to have a drink and a chat, that was for sure.
The only reason two men could have such a bad falling out she could think of, was a woman.
But Horland and Garlain couldn’t possibly be interested in the same woman.
The ages between them didn’t make sense.
Unless the woman was much younger than Garlain, of course.
That would make sense. But Bree sucked in her lips. Just how old was Horland anyway?
She studied him though her lashes. He couldn’t have been much older than Bree was. Maybe early thirties at the most. How old would Garlain be? From what she could remember he was in his thirties when she was born. She was twenty-seven, so that would make him late fifties or early sixties now.
Nope. It couldn’t be over a woman then. Horland would have been a child when her father and mother met.
But the way he spoke of Patricia told Bree he cared for her a lot. Maybe like the bond Bree had developed for the little girl, her mother and Horland had become like mother and son. He did seem enamored with the orb, the orb he insisted was Patricia’s property.
Bree rolled over and shoved her arm under her head. He was right, of course—it was Patricia’s once, but that was in another time. In this time, it was hers, and she needed it if she wanted to return to Garrett and Laura.
She screwed up her face, considering that it wasn’t a different time to Horland. And he was acting as if Patricia was still alive and he intended to take the orb to her. Did he think Garlain had done something to Patricia?
But how couldn’t he know she was dead? Dianne had told Bree, Garlain had returned to his time, and the king and his eldest daughter already knew Patricia was sick and they also knew she had died.
But somehow, no one thought to tell Horland?
It must have been years since he and Garlain had saw one another.
Maybe Horland left Pradwick for some reason or another.
Great. How was Bree going to tell him what happened?