Chapter 18
Clan Fairfrith Camp
Cai
I woke up to unfamiliar sounds of chatter and rustling outside the cabin. As expected, my ribs ached in protest as I sat up from Lara’s bed, while purposely ignoring the fact that it smelled like her hair. I searched for her, but apart from me the room was empty of human life.
After proceeding to get dressed, I washed my face in the bowl using the vase of water on one of the small tables. There wasn’t much in the form of decoration in the cabin. Not that I would have expected it from Lara. Apart from a few objects lying around the room, there was nothing personal, nothing to tell you that anyone lived here. I listened carefully for the possibility of someone approaching the cabin, before I started looking through everything. Knowing what I did of Lara, it was impossible for her not to have a weapon lying around here somewhere. Even if I didn’t want to admit it, I was in enemy territory and I was completely unarmed. I reached under the mattress and my hand wrapped around the hilt of a knife. Good. I slid it into my pocket.
The smell of burnt-out fires filled the air as I stepped out of the cabin. Most of the activity seemed to be at the centre of the camp. Between the firepits were wooden tables and I spotted Ray seated at one. I sat down opposite him and he nodded in greeting. “So you’re still alive? Not bad.”
“Good morning to you as well.”
“Word of advice.” He tore off a piece of bread from a loaf that was in the middle of the table and placed it on a plate, which he pushed to me. “If you want to survive here, you’re going to have to stop talking and acting all royal. People here don’t appreciate it. I wouldn’t tell them I was a prince either. The less they know, the better.”
I took a bite from the bread. “Thank you.” It was practically stale, but I didn’t say anything. My eyes caught Lara prancing over, and she fell into the seat next to Ray.
“Good morning, boys.” She reached for bread herself.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” Ray teased her and she smiled, spreading some of the questionable-looking jam on her bread.
“What happens today?” I dared to ask and Lara looked up at me in surprise.
“You should be resting, with your wounds.”
“So should you.”
Lara bit her lip in the way she did when she got annoyed.
“Some of us are going hunting — we need meat for tonight’s feast,” Ray said.
“Feast?”
“Tonight is the summer solstice.” Lara took a big bite of the bread. “Around here, we usually celebrate it with a feast.”
“I hadn’t realised it was here already. Has it truly been that long since I arrived in Everness?”
“Afraid so.”
“When are you leaving?” Lara asked Ray.
“You probably shouldn’t come.” Ray chuckled. “You’re not a very good hunter. Even a kid could beat you with a bow and arrow.”
“Oh, so that wasn’t a lie?”
Lara met my eyes with a half-guilty expression.
“I am capable of telling the truth, you know,” she retorted.
“Really?” I lifted my cup of water to my lips. “I had no idea.”
She angrily took another bite of her bread and I couldn’t help but smile then.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’ve got some jam on your face.” I grinned and she wiped it away in embarrassment. “Definitely not a princess.” She threw a berry at my face in response, which I dodged.
“You brute,” she muttered, but she was grinning all the same.
I remained quiet and observant as the hunting party gathered and we left camp. Drawing attention to myself would lead people to ask questions. This part of the forest was dense and humid and I wondered how these bandits didn’t more often get lost. Though I supposed it was different having grown up in such an environment. Same as I knew every corner and nook of my palace back home. We stepped quietly, causing us to move forwards more slowly, quite different to the horseback hunting I was used to.
Our group consisted of about ten, spreading out further the deeper we went into the forest. Apart from the sound of chirping birds, it was quiet enough that I heard my own breathing, and I suddenly found myself feeling sort of inexperienced, though I’d been hunting with my father since I was a child.
It wasn’t long before I felt the skin of a somewhat delicate hand, pressing the back of its palm against my own.
I met Lara’s eyes and she nodded left, gesturing for us to move that way. I frowned, but followed her nonetheless and we moved away from the group. Ray joined us as Lara pulled me further and further away.
“Where are we going?” I whispered.
“You’ll see.” She gave me a devious smile, suggesting that I wasn’t going to like any of what was about to happen. I followed her and Ray away from the hunting trail, stepping over roots and ducking small branches. I glanced at Lara in confusion when we were about to step out into a road but she pressed a hand to my chest.
The three of us were dead quiet and I realised she and Ray were listening for something. “They’re coming,” Ray said, and I sent a frown Lara’s way.
“Who’s coming?”
Ray started climbing one of the nearby trees and a sickening feeling developed in my stomach. Lara pulled me towards another tree trunk and I let out a gasp as my ribs protested at the movement.
“Ray caught news at a nearby village that the Earl of Pearson would travel the road this morning. I have to admit, however, that our timing is impeccable.”
“Impeccable for what?”
Ray had disappeared into the overgrown branches above the road.
“For robbing him, of course.” She reached out for the tree trunk and I pulled her back.
“You cannot be serious.”
“Of course I’m serious.” Lara pulled out a large bag from the satchel she had been carrying. “Here, hold this and hide in the bushes.”
“I’m not helping you commit a crime.”
She turned to face me, her eyes lit like fire, and I thought, perhaps for the first time, I was truly seeing the real her. The person who hid under her skin. The bandit who was whispered about, like a breeze through tall grass, standing in front of me, with her dark hair and devious smile.
“I’m not asking you to commit a crime. I’m asking you to hold the bag.”
“This is wrong, Lara.”
“So is the money the earl carries for selling orphans into slavery. An eye for an eye, right?” She wouldn’t say anything else and pulled herself up into the tree. I watched her squirm as her injured leg didn’t appreciate the action. I cursed internally, knowing full well I could do nothing to stop her and somehow angry with myself that I had so quickly forgotten the truth — forgotten who and what she really was.
After taking a few steps back, I was safely covered by the brush next to the road, though my eyes didn’t waver from Lara as she perched on a tree branch in her black cloak with her hood over her head. I heard the hoofbeats from a distance as the carriage wheels rolled all the closer.
Just as the carriage was about to pass, Ray dropped from the trees in front of it. The horses caught fright and stopped abruptly, letting out wild cries. The carriage driver himself looked flabbergasted as Ray held up a bow and arrow towards him. “Move and I shoot.” Needless to say he didn’t move. Lara swung herself down until she was on top of the carriage and gave me a wink between the leaves, before she put on her mask and swung herself inside.
I heard people scream — my gut twisted. There was nothing I could do — I was too injured to stop them. The carriage door flew open and Lara jumped out. Ray moved out of the way and Lara slapped the rear of one of the horses, sending him running off down the road, and the carriage along with him.
She emerged from behind the trees, taking off her mask and cloak, grinning in a way that made me slightly uncomfortable. “You should have seen their faces.” She tossed me a bag, which I barely caught. But to my surprise it wasn’t filled with any coins or jewellery. Instead, it was full of food... bread and fruit. I looked up at Lara in confusion.
“I thought it was money?”
“No, I said he stole money, which is why I didn’t feel bad for taking his lunch. One thing the earl is very famous for is his love for overindulging in eating.”
I didn’t know what to reply, though I hated the smug look on Ray’s face for some reason.
“Come on.” Lara put everything in the bag I was holding and I wordlessly followed the two of them back to camp. Upon our arrival, we found out that the hunters had in fact caught something for tonight’s feast. One of the children noticed Lara and ran up to her.
Lara bent down to the small boy’s height and told him to close his eyes, which he did obediently, a smile evident on his dirty little face. I watched Lara pull out an apple and hold it before the boy, telling him to open his eyes again, which lit up upon seeing the apple. He greedily grabbed it with a mumbled thank you and ran away.
Of course, this caught the attention of all the other small children as well, and soon Lara was handing out the food to them, one by one. It made my stomach twist to see the hunger in the children’s eyes. The only time I thought I might die of hunger was during the war. And I would never wish that upon any child.
A thought crossed my mind while I watched the satisfaction in Lara’s eyes as she gave the skinny children something to eat. I realised that maybe she was more than a bandit.