Chapter 14
Theo knewhe had been a hard taskmaster, that he’d forced everyone almost beyond their limits.
Especially Melodie.
She wasn’t a trained soldier, and from what she’d told him, she spent long hours sitting at her workshop bench.
She wasn’t used to riding, let alone riding all day.
He had seen her fall asleep almost immediately the night before, and he had watched her more than once on his guard rounds. He’d set up his sleeping mat on the far side of the camp to her when it was his turn to sleep. His fascination with her was a little too distracting, so he forced himself to keep his distance.
They had ridden on the road to Warven until about midday, and then Gallain had taken them off it, through open fields leading to the distant hill he said stood above the town.
On horseback, without a cart, it would be a much faster route.
Caro had protested as they’d struggled over rocky ground for a bit, but the way got smoother, and Theo hadn’t been able to stop himself from riding ahead. Whenever he’d looked back, he’d noticed Melodie lagging further and further behind the group, but now, looking down the slope as the others emerged from the treeline of the forest that skirted the hill, he saw she was not even in view.
He had meant to stop a few times to wait for her, and he wasn’t quite sure now why he hadn’t.
He slid off his mount and gave it a rub down while he waited for the others to catch up.
They took the narrow path in single file, but even when they had almost reached him, Melodie was still out of sight.
He tried to remember why he’d stopped here, and then he heard the stream and recalled it was to water the horses. As soon as his horse was brushed down he led it over to drink its fill and then let it loose to pull at the thick green grasses that grew on the bank.
“Did you go the last bit up the hill to see Warven below?” Gallain asked as he slid off his horse.
Theo shook his head. “I heard the stream, then I looked back and couldn’t see Melodie with you. No sense going further until she’s caught up.”
While they rubbed their horses down and then watered them, Theo got a small fire going and boiled some water, acting on the ingrained routine of many journeys.
One by one the others drifted over and found a place to sit or lie, and eat something from their provisions.
They moved without urgency, and he had a moment of wondering at that.
When he looked at what food he had left, he turned to Gallain. “Warven is over the hill and below, and we can restock down there?”
“Yes.” Gallain chewed some bread and cheese and Caro got up and made tea.
“Still no sign of Melodie?” Ivan asked.
Theo shook his head. He was keeping an eye on the slope, and she still wasn’t visible.
“She’s not fit enough for the pace you set,” Jacinta said. “Not her fault, but she didn’t say anything, so she fell behind.”
“She’s used to trying to please,” Caro agreed. “I think she’s been trained to not cause trouble or be noticed and she tries to do what’s asked of her, even if it’s unreasonable. She should have asked us to slow down for her, but it isn’t in her upbringing to do that.”
“That explanation took an unexpected turn.” Ivan frowned, as if disturbed by the bluntness of the comments, then stretched out his legs, wriggled until he was lying flat on the ground. “It sounds like we’re trying to excuse ourselves, because we should have waited for her. We’re professional soldiers, she’s a civilian.”
“We should have waited,” Jacinta agreed. “I forgot to look back, because it was all I could do to keep up myself.”
“This is my fault, no one else’s.” Theo pushed himself to his feet. “I knew she didn’t have the fitness level, but I didn’t keep an eye on her. I’ll go back to find her.”
“We might end up staying the night here, then,” Gallain finally spoke up. “It’s already late in the day.”
“We can’t go on without her. We could walk straight into a magical trap. And we know we’re dealing with someone who can do that.” Theo didn’t like the thought of her being on her own, being left behind, either. This was really on him. He felt strangely removed from the decision to not watch her more closely.
He’d been so focused on reaching Warven, he hadn’t taken care of one of his most important assets.
Even that thought made him wince. She was an asset, but she was also a person who had intrinsic value.
And he had not taken the care with her that he should have.
“Your horse needs to rest,” Caro said.
“I know. I’ll walk.” They had two hours before the sun set, and that should be enough time to reach her and get back.
Unless she was far further behind than he thought.
He jogged down the hill, pleased to be off his horse for a bit, stretching his legs.
He loved to run, and he and the Commander often ran together, especially when they were stationed at Fernwell, and horses were less necessary than when they were at Ta-lin.
Of the two centers of power, one in Kassia, one in Cervantes, he loved Ta-lin more, the open plains and wooded valleys called to him, but Fernwell held its charms, too. The shouts from the merchant ships in the harbor, the smell of the sea and the strange and delicious scents from the marketplace made it an interesting place to be.
He had trained with his uncle, Rafe, since he was twelve. It was the earliest his mother, Rafe’s sister, would allow him to. The Chosen camps had only been destroyed a few years earlier, and his parents had spent his childhood in fear of him being taken—until the Commander and his uncle, and their friends, had broken free and turned the tables.
He was self-aware enough to realize his focus on being strong and deadly, the best Cervantes warrior he could be, was rooted in that childhood fear, that worry of being taken.
And that focus had helped him through the ranks.
He was the youngest lieutenant in the military, and there were a few grumbles that his uncle’s deep friendship with the Commander had given him a leg up, but those grumbles quietened when he challenged the mutterers to a training bout.
Perhaps some of the hard training he put himself through was in part due to the worry that they were right. Luc Franck was someone he had dinner with regularly. There was a special friendship between himself and Queen Ava, and in private he dropped her title altogether when talking to her, at her own insistence.
While he knew Ricardo, Jonquil, and Genevieve, the three students who’d been taken, he was like an older cousin to Viviane, and he had to admit the burning drive to go faster, to ride harder, was down to his terror at what might be happening to her.
He had let that worry blind him to Melodie’s limitations. She had done well the day before, but only someone who rode regularly could keep up with the advanced pace he’d set.
He had brought her along because he didn’t think he could be successful without her, so he was truly a fool to lose her.
When he reached the tree line he slowed, checking to make sure he was on the right path, and then wondered if Melodie had fallen so far behind she had taken a wrong turn.
If they’d kept to the road, that wouldn’t have been a worry, but as soon as they went off on Gallain’s shortcut, he should have made sure they kept together.
He cursed himself again for his negligence and began calling her name as he stepped into the dark cool beneath the canopy.
The sun was setting behind the hill, and it was already hard to see the way.
He listened for a response to his call, and was met with silence.