7. Chapter 7
Peiro wasn’t wrong. When we had finally returned, Ora scolded me like a child for being “gone longer than necessary” and chided me to never scare her like that again—no matter how many times Sury and Fyom tried to calm her.
Part of me wanted to laugh at her worry, while the other part desperately understood.
There was too much at stake.
Fyom said little to me, the anger in our previous exchange still fresh. So I kept my distance.
The next morning, Ora kept silent as we readied ourselves. We needed to cover more ground—and fast, before Dokvalon’s Black Raiders could sweep through Gria—so we walked toward the next township in search of horses. I was ready to rest my feet by riding a beast, even if they didn’t care for me.
Ora and I waited in the treeline as the men went ahead to procure what we needed. The summer air held a steady thickness and caused sweat to glide uncomfortably down my tunic, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as Ora’s lengthy silence.
“Are you going to keep giving me the silent treatment like you’re once again nine, or will you talk to me now?” I glanced her way, both of us crouched low beneath an evergreen limb.
“Oh, now you want me to know of your whereabouts?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh my giants, you’re insufferable.”
“Me?” Ora squealed. “I was worried sick about you and all you can say is I’m insufferable? I was too close to losing Sury, then you just disappeared…”
“We weren’t gone long.” I hesitated at the next admission. “And I needed to…clear my head.”
Ora whipped her daggering glare at me. “Why? What’s wrong?”
I looked at the ground under my boots. It was one thing to tell Peiro, someone who battled so similarly to me, but Ora? Would she understand?
No. And you know she wouldn’t. Ink decided to slither across my mind once again. She’s too perfect to understand and would have no remorse for killing a monster.
“I just needed a moment. After the urthen’s attacked, and seeing Sury in that state again… I just needed to process.” It wasn’t a lie, I decided. It was indeed the truth. I wanted to understand more about what I had felt before adding another layer of worry to her.
“Phe, I know things have been hard. Not just with what’s happened since Mother and Father died but… then our magic, and now we’re thrust into this strange unknown…” A look of sadness crossed her face. “But you know you can talk to me, right?”
The sun ray she was crouched in had momentarily highlighted the silver in her hair. No one else would have noticed the strands in her braid—but I saw them nonetheless.
I pasted a fake smile on my face to settle her worries. She was right—we had a lot ahead of us, and now wasn’t the time. We could figure out my woes later.
“How are you? Did Fyom say why your hair turned? Are you feeling alright?”
Ora let out a soft hum and nodded. “We’re chalking it up to stress for now. Seeing Sury like that… I don’t know what I would do if I lost him, Phe. I don’t know if his death would be one I could come back from,” she whispered.
I was just about to tease her about the possibility of her and Sury being bonded by the Fade, the mythical chance of two souls being intertwined until their end, but stopped when I heard horses’ hooves.
Down the dusty lane that led to the village were the men racing on horseback, with a mare in tow.
They passed us, as planned, and we quickly got to our feet to meet them at the designated spot deeper within the woods. It didn’t take long for Ora and I to find the small ravine where the horses were already drinking water as the men added our packs to the beasts.
“You realize there are five of us, right?” I shouted as we descended the steep bank.
“You think I don’t know that?” Sury responded, not giving me a glance as he tightened a buckle on the saddle of a beautiful black steed.
“Well?” I asked with an arched eyebrow and waved my hands to each of us.
“They only had four, Your Highness. Deductive reasoning.” Sury scoffed.
I playfully blasted a gust of wind toward Sury’s shoulder, knocking him back a few paces and earning a hateful glare that made me smirk.
“Children,” Fyom grumbled beside a beautiful gray spotted horse.
“Five would have raised suspicion from three riders. We convinced the merchant that the extra was for our hunting supplies,” Peiro stated as he handed me the reins of a dark palomino that matched his.
I stared in awe at the beast’s sheer size.
Was it made for the giants? “She’s harmless.
” He gave a small wink, seeing my hesitation around the large creature.
“I’ll take your word for it,” I mumbled as the horse looked me in the eye, causing me to take a healthy step back.
Ora huffed beside me. “And what about me? Am I just supposed to walk?”
“No, my queen, you are with me.” Sury smiled in a way that had Ora blushing. “I’m not letting you out of my sight. Not even for a moment.”
I feigned sickness at their exchange and readied myself to mount the horse with practiced ease.
“You’re a natural,” Peiro called from my side as he settled into his own saddle.
“Luckily we had practice at Grianmore.” I smiled, proud of the muscle memory.
“Be careful how you grip those reins, moonlight.” Peiro steered his horse closer to mine and leaned in with a whisper. “I could get ideas.”
My face reddened immediately as flashes from last night raced through my thoughts.
“Phe!” Sury called out as he led us down a deer path, and I thanked the giants for the distraction. “Remember that one time during our groundwork when you ran away screaming because the horse tried nibbling the apple out of your hand?” Ora playfully slapped him in the arm.
“I do,” I called out. “Was this before or after you fell off a horse and landed in a pile of shit?”
Fyom boomed with laughter as he steered his horse behind Peiro. The thought of Fyom’s withdrawal dissipating, seeing that the odd tension between us would be alright, warmed me.
Ora turned in the saddle to face us as she said, “It took the maids weeks to finally get the smell out of his clothes.” The joke earned her a playful nudge from Sury as they continued to lead.
“Not only does it seem that Sury cannot best me with kills, but it seems he also cannot get the upperhand in remarks,” Peiro called out with laughter in his voice.
Sury replied by holding a vulgar gesture high into the air.
***
We rode for hours, only stopping to water the horses, before we camped for the night. At the next day’s end, we would be at Ventus Bluff, the home of Lord Beralt, Hailer of Wind.
The land continued to flatten and turn to rock, with the occasional boulder, before sloping up into rolling hills.
The grass grew tall with the wildflowers as the ground continued to dip and climb.
In the distance sat a large mountain with snowcaps on its tops surrounded by trees at its base.
An easy wind rippled through our path, granting us momentary reprieve from the sun that threatened to bake us.
Ora and I took turns manipulating the water in the air to fill our waterskins before Fyom warned us of burning out from not having proper rest since we left his cabin.
“Phe!” Ora gasped a whisper over her shoulder. Sury didn’t dare stop their horse, but he pointed in the direction that had caught Ora’s attention.
I turned my head and gasped too. “What are those things?”
We all stopped our horses to watch the strange creatures in the distance. It didn’t appear that they noticed our presence as they continued to graze in the tall grass. I could just make out their deer-like shape, but the antlers were…extraordinary to look at.
The tissue and structure was that of the common creature but these strange counterparts were various shades of brown, and the tips were edged with what looked like faux leaves. Strands of green interlaced their points like an intricate headdress designed by nature to hide perfectly in the trees.
And yet their brown coats swirled with beautiful white designs that could make them an easy target for a skilled hunter.
Urthens. The peaceful kind, from the looks of it.
The magical creatures that had suddenly made their appearance known after we were attacked at the Rising Rock Temple.
We’ve seen the typical ruron and bratrian, with a few sightings of the lilac-colored birds I’d briefly spotted when Peiro led us to Fyom’s cabin.
This time, I noted they had two sets of wings, with the feathers tipped in orange, and three beady eyes like glowing embers.
From that moment, I was determined to find a book of fables about urthens and compare the notes to what we’ve seen to try and find what they were called. I silently giggled at the memory of when an ruron had flown inside of our tent, making Fyom and Peiro scream at a comical pitch.
But why do urthens show themselves now? Decades of stories were coming to life around us.
One by one, I noticed more antlers bobbing in the grass and assumed a herd was having their fill on the flora.
The creature closest to us stopped eating, stared in our direction, and sniffed the air.
It made a low rumbling noise that signaled the others to stop their grazing.
Nine more looked at us, their ears twitching in tandem. Were they communicating?
“Sury,” I asked as low as possible, “have you seen these before in the Northern Woods?”
He shook his head. “Peiro, you’re older than dirt at this point. Have you seen these before?”
Peiro growled his response. “You’ll pay for that, Little Lord. But to answer your question, no.”
“Do you think they’re dangerous?” I glanced in Peiro’s direction quickly before refocusing my eyes on the creatures before us.
“I don’t think so, but I’m not sure.”
It was almost a battle of wills between us and the urthens as we continued to stare, all of us too nervous to move for fear of what the other may bring.
A glow next to me caught my attention as Ora brought her Wielding into her palm.
The creatures must have sensed her power because they bolted into a hard run across the fields and to the scattered trees beyond.
“Well. That might answer your question,” Fyom said with a chuckle.
We remained silent the closer we rode toward the city, thankful no one had crossed our paths so out in the open.
If Lord Ivan Beralt were a smart man, he would have scouts that would have spotted us by now.
But if my memory served me correctly from our crossings in court, he was the biggest idiot I’d ever laid my eyes on.
And I saw Sury daily.
“That cluster of trees there,” Peiro called out from the lead, “we’ll camp there before we enter Ventus Bluff.”
“Hopefully a scout hasn’t spotted us quite yet.” Sury echoed my thoughts and steered himself and Ora right behind.
Fyom steadily passed my horse without sparing a second glance. It was strange being on this side of our friendship and not feeling his warmth or direction. He had simply stayed silent since the night of the attack.
We sat in the tent, fully enclosed in Fyom’s spell that hid us from the outside world as it grew dark, lost to our thoughts.
To the naked eye, any bypasser would just see the cluster of trees—but to us, we sat in silence as we each sipped the strong drink within our cups that tasted absolutely horrible.
“This tastes like earthy piss, Fyom,” Sury said as he took another large gulp. “What the hell is it?”
“Don’t ask,” Peiro grunted as he slowly sipped.
“Liquid courage for tomorrow.” Fyom laughed as he swirled the contents. “My own recipe. It gets the job done.”
“The job?” Ora and I asked at the same time. Our answer came from Sury standing up then suddenly swaying and toppling over his chair.
“Like I said, the job. Best when sipped slowly. The mix of pokeroot and bindweed mimic that of the strongest ale, but downing it too quickly will make you think you just had a few gulps of liquor from a greasy tavern.“ Fyom chuckled again as he took another slow sip.
“You should call this the Seven Circle Sipper,“ I teased, earning a small smile from Fyom.
“Please tell me you have something to fix that?” Ora asked as she nonchalantly pointed to Sury, who was sprawled across the floor whistling an off-melody tune.
Fyom rolled his eyes. “Of course,” he said. He went to the cabinets to rummage through bottles before producing a small vial of a viscous gray liquid and then poured it down Sury’s throat. “Best get him to bed.”
Ora nodded in agreement. “Tomorrow,” she said before helping Sury to his feet and leading him to their section of the tent.
“Tomorrow,” I called after her. I was grateful that the tent created small rooms, each just large enough for a bed, with privacy flaps. We all bid Sury a good night before resuming our silence.