It turned out to be much harder to get away than Audain expected. Nearly a week had passed since the night of the full moon. Dressed for travel, she grabbed her bow with its quiver of arrows and headed out, ready for a day of riding.
“At last I am spared work detail,” she thought. “It was a long time coming. I can finally connect more fully with my Emerald and relax. Today I won’t even mind if the guards say I dress like a man.”
She stopped by the commons to get some supplies before continuing to the stables. Her favorite horse was a chestnut stallion named Arum. He was fleet afoot but not speedy, something of a cross between a mountain horse and the Sharanth breed from Sligo. Pleased to find Arum in his usual stall, she wasted no time in getting him saddled. As she led the horse outside, she saw that Rendel was set to go on a ride of his own. He was preparing a spirited gray mare named Tara. The expression in Rendel’s eyes told Audain that he was as surprised to see her as she was to see him.
“I didn’t know there was a hunt today,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “After all the trouble the last few days, I thought everyone would be resting.”
“There’s no hunt,” he answered sheepishly. “I’m just going to get out of the valley for a change. After working the fields for a week and then protecting sheep, I need some different air or something.”
“I know what you mean,” she replied. “I caught a little break on the last day of planting, I guess, being able to visit High Falls. But the guards finding those livestock dead in the pasture the next day, the morning after the full moon, sort of put a stop to everything.”
“Sorry, but I think your father overreacted. A few sheep killed by coyotes does not seem like it should cancel the holiday we were all ready for.” Rendel sounded uncharacteristically tense. “After all, we are surrounded by a Forest. The creatures who occupy it are wild. They have to eat too.”
“Sure, he’s a bit of a worrier. Maybe I’m to blame,” she said a little bitterly. “I’m the one who got everyone all tensed up. Sheep get killed now and then but something felt wrong this last time. I’m glad things have calmed. Still, I thought my dad was going to burst when I told him what I planned to do today.”
“And what is that?” Rendel asked.
“I’m thinking of following the road north,” she answered.
“If you are heading that way, we could go together. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about riding off alone. Not that I’m frightened, I just don’t want to be in hot water with your father when I get back. He’s always preaching to me about safety and common sense.”
“Same here,” she said with some caution. “I sort of wanted to be alone. But if we humor my father, it will probably pay off when we get back. It looks like you’re almost ready. I’ll meet you at the gate.”
She led Arum out of the stable and pulled herself onto his back. Two men were stationed at the guardhouse when she arrived. Usually, there was just one.
“Is anything new going on?” she asked. “Rendel and I are planning a trip along the north road.”
“No one has been out yet,” a large man answered. His name was Theodore, one of the Captain’s favorite guards and also a good friend of Rendel’s. “Does your father know about this? Since those sheep were killed he has been all over me and the other guards. He seems to hold us responsible. He forgets that it’s the scouts and hunting parties who police the Forest.”
“I’m sorry if he’s taking it out on you,” she replied. Rendel was now in sight. She waited a moment for him to arrive. “I think we’ve all been under some stress lately. He knows about my trip but I’m no better at keeping him under control than you are.”
“You should probably go before he gets here,” Theodore said.
Realizing that he was right, Audain passed through the gate. Rendel followed on Tara. They brought the horses to a trot but slowed once they were out of sight of the guardhouse. Rendel advanced into the lead after they had gone about a half mile up the slope. Neither rider spoke. They both enjoyed the quiet of the morning and were just glad to be away.
The trail was wide enough for a large wagon to travel. It switched back and forth as it ascended the valley, a distance that covered just over a mile. The road then leveled out and stretched northward another twelve miles through an area of heavy timber. The Forest then yielded to the grassland of the Arm.
When they reached the final bend at the end of the climb, Rendel stopped Tara so he could look back. “I love how you can see from here the way the city sits within the side of the cliff.”
“It’s beautiful,” Audain agreed. “You can study the whole valley. I’m surprised that the air is already clear enough to see as far south as the Highlands.”
They turned away and continued to ride. About two miles north of the valley’s rim, the road forded a small creek. They had been riding for about an hour when they reached it.
“How is Tara handling today?” Audain asked. She stopped Arum to give him a chance to drink from a small pool.
“She seems fresh, as ready to go as ever,” Rendel said as his mare also took advantage of the opportunity to gulp some water. “How far would you like to go?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it. The trail seems to be in good shape so we should make good time. With such an early start we might be able to get all the way to the Arm. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually left the Forest. I bet the horses would appreciate the chance to graze in the open grass.”
“That’s a long trip, especially if we’re trying to relax,” he answered uncertainly.
“You don’t have to go with me. I can always go on alone.”
“Are you kidding?” Rendel’s tone changed to one of laughter. “If I go back to Gladeis and you aren’t with me, I think your father will send me away, permanently.”
Audain thought a moment and realized that he was right. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Like I told Theodore at the gate, I can’t control him even though there are times I would like to. Listen, I don’t have a plan. I just know that I don’t want to turn back just yet.”
“I was just wondering what you had in mind,” he answered with a hint of defiance in his tone. “I just want to get back before dark. The last thing I need is for your father to send a search party out looking for us.” Not waiting for an answer, he prodded Tara to continue.
“Let him ride ahead,” Audain thought. “I don’t need a schedule today. That’s the whole point of being out here.”
Well over an hour passed before she saw Rendel again. He waited at the edge of a shallow but steep-walled valley that stretched out before them. The road ahead turned and dropped down an incline cut into the north facing slope. About a hundred feet below, the grade leveled.
“The Green Flats look rather peaceful today,” Rendel commented when Audain joined him. “Maybe the horses will enjoy grazing in one of the meadows by the stream down there.”
“I haven’t been this way in quite a while,” Audain admitted as she looked across the valley. From the vantage, she could see that the road veered eastward to parallel the stream for about a quarter mile. It then turned north again and crossed over the water on a wooden bridge. Beyond the bridge, several groves of large trees were separated by another meadow that the road passed through before snaking up the valley’s northern bank and disappearing into the tree line.
“Why don’t you keep riding ahead, Rendel,” she said. “I love this place, especially the sound of the water as it flows through the rocks. I’ll catch up to you back in the Forest on the other side. I want to go slowly and enjoy the peace here.”
“I’m glad you are getting the break you wanted,” he answered. “Call out if you want to turn back. Otherwise, I’ll keep going until we get to the Arm.”
Audain waited several minutes until Rendel crossed the bridge and reached the opposite bank. As his horse began to climb from the valley, she reached out her Emerald and started Arum downward. She allowed her senses to interact with everything that grew a
round her. At a slow pace her stallion traversed the flats and eventually reached the top of the northern slope.
Back beneath the canopy of large trees, she continued riding the rest of the morning. Around noon she noticed that the gloom ahead began to brighten. A short time later she squinted when Arum emerged from the heavy shadow. Amid what seemed to her as an endless field of grass, she noticed Rendel sitting a few hundred yards away on an isolated boulder. He seemed to be enjoying the rays of sunlight that filtered through the partially overcast sky.
“I think you were right, Audain,” he yelled when she got closer. “No schedule, but here we are.” He grew silent and stared to the west. His gaze followed the roll of the grassland as the Arm, bounded by the Forest to the south and a rocky plateau to the north, reached toward a distant line of mountains.
“Right about what?” she asked feeling exposed, almost naked in the openness. Following Rendel’s example she dismounted and released her horse to graze. When she looked back to the south, she marveled at the darkness of the tree-line as it extended away as far as she could see to both east and west.
“That the openness helps you find some perspective,” he answered. “I can’t remember the last time I felt this way. The wind is blowing so freely I think it could easily lift and carry me wherever it chose. Yet I’m touched by an underlying sadness. I have no memory of anything before coming to your valley.”
“I’m sorry,” Audain replied. She struggled with the lump of emotion that welled in her throat. “I wish I could help you retrieve it and everything else that you’ve lost.”
Rendel did not reply. A gust arose from the west and blew past them. It swirled with bits of dirt and fragments of grass. He turned to watch the little dust as it traveled up a nearby slope and disappeared at the top.
“I’d like to walk up there,” he said with a wave, “take a peek and see if there’s a better view.”
“I was thinking that myself,” she answered.
They climbed to their feet and started walking up the rise. It was shaped like one of hundreds of narrow mounds that streaked this area of the Arm. Each was about a quarter mile wide and a mile long. The soil that formed them had been deposited by the wind over thousands of years. A hardy strain of grass covered most areas of the ground. It grew to their knees.
The length of the slope was deceiving and they both breathed heavily when they arrived at the top. A steady breeze blew from their rear as they looked eastward. Rendel laughed. After a long downgrade, the next mound rose up about a mile away. Another and another extended beyond as far as they could see. While their eyes adjusted to this unfamiliar scene, Audain looked closer at the roll of the land and noticed a thin line of brown that cut across it.
“That’s the road,” she exclaimed. “If we were to follow it, we could go all the way to a little town called Sligo. My father let me go there on one of our trading missions. I was about fourteen. It’s the only time I ever really left Gladeis. We exchanged a few wagon loads of wooden furniture for some horses and cattle. I think Arum was sired from those horses.”
“What else is out there?” Rendel asked. “It looks like miles of nothingness.”
“There’s another Foedan city out that way. I seem to remember seeing its walls from the road. It’s called Garth. Rhecca says everything there is made of stone, even the hearts of its people.”
Rendel noticed a shift in Audain’s tone. He glanced at her but she did she did not look back at him.
Transfixed by the movement of the grass dancing away to the east, they found another boulder and sat down to eat lunch. The sun continued to break through the clouds on occasion. Rendel seemed to thrive in the open air. His face was bright with elation. An hour quickly passed before Audain realized that they needed to begin their trip home.
“We’d better go,” she said as she rose. “As beautiful as this is we have a long ride back.”
“Just a second,” Rendel answered. He sounded a bit preoccupied.
“Sorry. I was just remembering what you said earlier about a search party. I don’t want you to be right on that one.”
“I’ve been watching something for the last few minutes,” he answered while pointing eastward to a spot just below the crest of the nearest mound. “What I thought was just a bush or a boulder seems to be moving. I wonder if it’s a rider.”
Audain focused. At first she did not see anything, but as the spot grew a little larger she picked it out. “Yes, it does seem to be someone riding. What do you think they’d be doing way out here and all alone?”
“I don’t know. We may as well wait and find out,” Rendel said flatly.
“Let’s get to our horses,” Audain replied. “I feel vulnerable just sitting here. The road must pass us over there a ways.”
They retreated down the slope, retrieved their horses and rode a few hundred yards north to where the main trading road intersected with the southern branch that led to Gladeis. The rider they anticipated soon crested the northern face of the grass dune. He appeared to be a young man. He rode a large bay stallion with an auburn coat and a black mane. Audain nearly gasped at the magnificent grace with which the animal carried itself.
When the rider saw them he slowed his horse and turned slightly off the path into the grass. He seemed to eye both of their bows, especially the unusually heavy one Audain bore.
“Hello,” she called, trying to sound cheerful. “There’s nothing to fear. We are just out enjoying the afternoon.”
The young man nudged his horse to direct it back onto the trail. It pranced nervously, reluctant to get any closer. He drew back on the reins bringing the animal to a stop. About twenty-five feet of grass separated him from Audain and Rendel.
“I am Audain and this is Rendel. We don’t come this way often. We are surprised to see you. Is there something we can do to help? We are not well-provisioned but would gladly share what we have.”
It was the third day since Jerrid had broken off alone. His supplies were low. “No, but thanks. I have plenty of food.”
Audain eyed his thin saddlebags. “Do you have a destination where you plan to arrive in the next few days?”
Jerrid looked at her uncomfortably. “There’s food on the Plains and the Forest. One only needs to take the time to harvest it.”
“That’s true,” she answered. “Or, there might be a city where you could trade for such things.”
“I think that Gladeis is the only city near here,” he answered carefully. “I’m not sure I’d be welcome.”
“Why would you think that?” she asked. “Gladeis is a warm and beautiful place.”
Jerrid began to answer but paused when Feor took a few nervous steps away from the other horses. “Because I’m Amber. I’ve heard that we are not welcome in Gladeis.”
“That’s nonsense,” Audain replied more harshly than she intended. “Since you seem not to have noticed, we are from Gladeis. I am daughter of our city’s Captain.”
Jerrid looked back at her. “Jerrid is my name,” he said slowly. “An outcast from Garth you might say.”
“Rendel and I were about to begin our trip back when we spotted you. If you are not a criminal, there is no reason why you’d not be welcome. Even an outcast needs only the leave of the Captain to stay for a while.”
“I am no criminal, just misunderstood by my father. He too is a captain. I accept your offer.”
“We need to leave right now,” Rendel said suspiciously. “The afternoon is wearing down and we’ve a solid ride before us. Is your horse rested for a fast pace?”
“My mount, Feor, has spent little time in the Forest,” Jerrid answered. He leaned forward to rub the crest of Feor’s neck. “I may need some time to convince him, but after that we’ll keep up.”
“Convince him of what?” Audain asked.
“That the Forest is not an evil place, of course. But don’t stop and wait for us. We will find our way.”
“I won’t worry about that,” Rendel wh
ispered as he set out.
Chapter 6: Time to Mend