Chapter 23
I SPENT A ROUGH NIGHT on the floor of the room. Everyone was tucked in and asleep when I finally entered, and I merely took off my boots and armor and crawled into my bedroll, with no pillow in sight.
The next morning I waited until everyone else had left before rising. I pulled off the bandages from the night before, the skin of my hands healed and new. Then I washed and dressed and met them down at the inn’s dining area.
“Hey,” I said, sliding into a chair.
Aven, Zig, and Rylan looked up from their bowls.
“Just wanted to say I’m sorry for yelling. And I didn’t mean what I said. It was cruel. So yeah.”
“It’s fine,” Rylan said, accepting my words eagerly. “We understand that you’re stressed.”
“Thanks.”
Zig pushed a bowl toward me, flashing a soft grin.
Aven gave me a cold shoulder, which I returned only because I was petty.
And Farrah… Wait. Where was Farrah?
“Has anyone seen Farrah?” I asked, shoveling what counted as breakfast, a bowl of some kind of ground corn, into my mouth.
“She left the room early this morning,” Zig said, nibbling a piece of bread. “She asked for some gold, so I gave her a few pieces.” He shrugged. “She might be getting supplies.”
“We need supplies,” Aven grumbled.
“So does Lord Ethan.” I took another bite. The stuff kind of grew on me as I continued to eat. “A lot of his things burned in the fire. He’ll have headed for the nearest town to regroup.”
Rylan squinted. “Which is here. Right?”
“No,” Aven said, rubbing a hand over their face. They looked tired. “He headed inland.”
Farrah burst into the inn, her long hair disheveled for once. Her smile was as bright as the morning sun, her brown skin glowing with excitement and purpose.
“Here!” She slapped a parchment down on the table, the tips of her fingers stained with ink. It was a map.
“What is this?” I asked, sliding my bowl out of the way.
“It’s a map!”
“We can see that,” Aven said wryly.
“A map of the kingdom. I found it in one of the shops. And I added all the shortcuts I know.” She beamed.
Rylan leaned over the table, his chest on the surface, his face right against the parchment.
“Here is that river in the south that Lord Ethan talked about. I remember one of the”—he dropped his voice—“primordial dots being near there.” He pushed the tip of his finger and made an indent with his nail. “Right there,” he whispered.
“With Rylan’s memory of the other map, and my knowledge of the kingdom, we don’t even need to follow Lord Ethan. We can find our own way to the southern river and find the waterfall ourselves!”
Aven pulled the map closer to them and peered at the routes with their brow furrowed. “The towns and roads around the castle appear correct, which means this is an accurate rendering of the kingdom,” they mused. “I think this could really help.”
Zig raised an eyebrow. “So in theory we could even beat Lord Ethan there and find the invisible realm before him?”
“Yes!” Farrah bounced on her toes.
“What do you think, Ellinore?” Aven asked.
What did I think? I wasn’t sure. My judgment was off. I’d done what I thought Ellinore the Brave would do at the campsite, and I’d lost the map. I’d almost lost my friends and myself in a fire.
Lord Ethan may have been the worst quester ever, but he was better than me right now.
He’d had the map for a whole day and had an entire retinue of squires and guards who could assist him with deciphering it.
He held all the cards, and I had a group that included the second-best quester in the land, my gregarious brother, a noble girl who had barely ever left the castle, and a mage with weak magic and a penchant for writing songs.
“I think,” I said slowly, “that we only have nine days remaining and we’re right back where we started.
Our best chance is following Lord Ethan.
It’s still the safest course of action. Just for a day or so, to ensure he is heading in that direction.
What if we went south and he suddenly took a turn north? ”
Farrah’s face fell. Rylan shrunk back in his seat. Zig cocked his head to the side, eyeing me with a frown. Aven pushed their bowl away and stood.
“I’ll ready the mounts and make sure we have enough supplies.”
“Wait! Aven!” I stood and reached to grab their arm, to stop them from leaving. I didn’t want them to be angry with me. But at Aven’s fierce expression, I stopped mid-motion, my fingers outstretched, almost brushing the fabric of their tunic.
Aven glanced down at my healed hand. And I could see their thoughts in the clench of their jaw. Our deal from the night before.
My stomach knotted. But Aven said nothing.
“I’ll go with,” Zig said, jumping up, breaking the tension.
They walked out.
That left me alone with Farrah and Rylan.
I sat down and gulped water from my cup and wiped the dribbles from my mouth with my sleeve.
Farrah and Rylan were gracious enough not to ask what that was all about.
So I carried on. “I really appreciate your initiative with finding the map, Farrah. And I know you both mean well. It’s just… he’s my brother.”
Rylan nodded in understanding.
Farrah sighed. “We get it.”
“Look,” I said. “I know what I said last night was borderline mean, but you two have to realize, questing isn’t always fun. It’s not like in the tales.”
Rylan perked up at that, eyes wide, and oh, I was going to regret that later.
“And it’s not always adventure-type things either, like battling salamanders or surviving a cave-in.
Sometimes it’s boring. And more often than not, it’s gross.
And sometimes it’s making the hard and unpopular decisions.
” I grimaced. “Whatever romantic notion you have, temper it, then add, like, ten times more sweat and bucketloads of mysterious goo.”
Rylan nodded like his head was on a string. Farrah raised her chin.
“I know from the songs it sounds like you can hack your way through the world with a sword and that’s the best and only way to do things. That’s what guys like Lord Ethan think. It’s what they do.” I took a breath. “But it doesn’t have to be like that. It shouldn’t be like that.”
Farrah frowned. “Like the fire salamanders. You only used enough force to defend us, and then we ran.”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“But the bards’ tales,” Rylan said, brow furrowed.
I rubbed my forehead with my fingers, a headache burgeoning behind my eyes. “You weren’t wrong in believing that not all the facts are completely accurate.”
He snapped his fingers. “I knew it! You promised to—”
“Yes. I did, and I’ll keep my word.” I grimaced again. “Maybe not in front of Aven. If we can avoid it.”
Farrah’s eyebrows shot up, and her smile pulled into a teasing grin. “Oh. Something did happen in the cave.”
I straightened from my slump. “What do you mean by that? Did Aven say something?”
Farrah merely smiled brightly.
“Thank you for explaining everything, Ellinore.” She rolled the map up, then tucked it into the bag at her side. “I’m going to get ready.”
Rylan stood. “Yeah, me too.”
“Wait… what?”
Farrah laughed. Rylan squeezed my shoulder in a friendly gesture as he passed.
And then I was alone. I closed my eyes and thought of the child who had accidentally defeated an ancient, and wished she’d never taken up that sword at all. But then she’d… I’d be dead, so that wouldn’t be great either.
A faint strum of strings broke the silence of the inn. “And now it’s time to listen to the story of the mighty Ellinore at the start of her glory.”
“Oh my ancients, no.” I abandoned the remainder of my breakfast and left.
We rode out shortly thereafter. Zig and Aven had replenished the supplies we needed for travel, so our saddlebags were fairly bursting.
I led our group, the others dropping back to ride behind.
Rylan still rode with Zig, his lute strapped to his back.
Farrah rode next to Aven, which was an odd pairing, as they continued to snipe at each other over trivial things.
I’d been frozen out. My outburst the night before had done its damage.
As did my decision to continue trailing after Lord Ethan’s retinue.
It… surprisingly hurt. But no matter. This gave me what I’d wanted in the beginning—quiet so that I could think about our next steps and ultimately complete the quest.
We stopped in the next town to confirm Lord Ethan had been there. It was easy. We merely asked if a man with a winged horse on his chest had strutted around like a peacock, flashing a sigil of nobility and demanding things, which he had, and then we found his trail.
We continued on, heading inland, crossing over a slow river late in the afternoon.
The grassy plains of the flatland stretched out before us much like an ocean.
Long stems swayed in the breeze, brushing against our legs.
The land hummed with the sound of insects and the whistle of the breeze through the long stalks.
The fragrance of wildflowers wafted from patches of blooming bright blue, deep purple, and a blushing pink.
The birds chirped and squawked as we passed, some following to see if we’d throw food, others flitting from small clusters of saplings, mostly short serviceberry trees and the occasional fruit tree.
Lord Ethan’s group was much larger than our own, and their trail cut a swath through the empty land.
They moved slower due to needing more supplies and pack animals than we did.
We’d catch up with them within a few hours if we kept at our pace.
Not that I wanted to catch up. I wanted to stay half a step behind.
I didn’t want them to know we were following.
Lord Ethan thought I was defeated. I didn’t want to disavow him of that notion.
Aven moved beside me and shielded their eyes from the bright sun. “Do you see that?”
“Oh, you’re talking to me now?”
They frowned. “I’ve been talking to you.”
“Not since last night.”
“Well, maybe there is a reason for that.”