Chapter 7

It had clearly been a few hours of sleep that I had but when I opened my eyes I still felt exhausted. How long had I gone without a proper sleep was not clear; what was clear that I had not had enough here by the river to push off my tiredness. It was Owen that woke me and, somehow, he did not seem so irritable in the morning sunlight.

He allowed me to wake up and drink some water before offering me some breakfast. 'I'm afraid we did not bring much with us in the rush of things,' he apologised though the large chunk of soft buttered bread seemed to melt down my throat.

I must have been hungrier than I had realised. As I looked around I noticed my closer friend was missing. 'Where's Adrian?'

His jaw clenched a little as I mentioned his name. Standing up, he went to check the buckles on his horse's saddle, possibly as a distraction for himself rather than a need. 'He has gone to look around. I told him it wasn't necessary but he insisted.'

I stood up myself, leaving the old blanket discarded on the ground. 'Look around for what?'

'Who knows? I sure don't, probably looking out for remnants of patrol. No doubt you have been found to be missing by now. Lavina will be furious.' He gave a chuckle.

'How is that funny?'

'Hmm?' Then he saw my stern face. 'Oh. Simply the fact that she has no claim to throne but she has been giving orders as though she is the queen.' Thinking about what he said, along with the way he was looking at me, I smiled in a faintly amused manner and went to the river. 'What are you doing?'

Splashing my face with the chilling water, I replied. 'Having a small wash. You have no idea how filthy I feel.'

I had a suspicion he was about to say something to that though I did not find out as Beau returned, trotting wildly through the trees. I was just washing the uncovered parts of my arms when he told us of his short, lonely scouting trip. 'Nothing. Guess they think we rode all night and are much further away by now.

I ran my hands through my hair and giggled. 'See, I told you they wouldn't find us.'

'Still. We are much too close for comfort.'

'Are you going to be like this the whole way?' Adrian asked.

'In case you haven't noticed, we just broke Letty out of prison and someone will figure the reason for us missing too. It doesn't take a genius to work that out.'

Rolling my eyes, I walked around them, letting them argue their opinions with each other. As Owen had done just before, I checked the buckles and straps on my own saddle. One of them must have tied the mare's reins to a small bush of which she chomped at the leaves. Adrian was also stood by his dark brown colt and, in united silence we each took to the saddle and trotted off through the trees. We headed upstream where it grew shallower and soon shallow enough that the horses could wade through to the other side.

At the rate we went across the forest, it was about five days before we reached the other side. On the third night since leaving Black Ash, we decided it was safe enough to light a fire. Adrian turned out to be rather good at hunting rabbits which intrigued me a lot and I wondered how he knew what to do. Owen spoke to me more whenever Adrian was out of the way. He knew I was much closer to Adrian than him although the company from both of them was more than comforting. I was happy that the two now sat with me were those I trusted to an unexplainable degree.

The only thing I didn't like so much with sleeping outside was that had nothing to lie on in our sleep. I propped myself up against a tree, as I had the first night, and tried not to move too much in my sleep. It worked, for the most part and when I woke up one of my friends was missing. They took it turns to keep watch each night and refused to let take the burden off by offering. As often as I tried to insist it would be no bother, they insisted just as persistently back that they were alright.

Redbrick Palace was, for the better part, situated atop a very large hill. The small valley we had traversed down in the forest was merely the early stages of a large river. That river now flowed out through the main valley which we now saw below us. The sides of the two carved out hills were craggy and nearly as steep as cliffs yet there were still lush green plateaus covered in grass and hardy shrubs. The view was beautiful and somehow I had never really noticed it to be that way; mainly because the road from Redbrick that led to the north wormed on the far eastern side of the forest, curving away from the valley.

The valley, from the look of things, was home to very small settlements, the majority of which appeared to be farmsteads. The white specks dotted about the low fields were clearly sheep and the larger darker ones were either horses or cattle.

'Where to know?' I turned to Owen as he seemed to be calculating a few options. Adrian, it appeared, was here to make sure I was safe and had decided to keep most of his thoughts to himself.

'The people of the south owe little allegiance to you. However,' Owen began to add. 'Neither will they know our faces as they do the southern lords. If we are careful, we could stay a night or two in a tavern.'

As intrigued as I was with Adrian's abilities to hunt small animals, I was just as impressed by Owen's knowledge of the land and those that resided there (both lord and peasant alike).

'What if there are patrols?' Adrian asked.

'Then, if we are spotted, we ride out as fast as we can.'

'With little bloodshed as possible, I might add.' It had not escaped my notice that both of them had come to the woods with various arms. Besides there short swords strapped to their waists, they carried a couple of concealed knives and Adrian even had a half-length bow over his shoulder with a quiver of arrows buckled to his saddle by his left thigh.

'Of course,' they both said with a short bow of the head.

'Good, now how to we get down?'

Owen turned his head towards the south. 'There is a trail that leads down into the valley. It was carved out a few hundred years ago so the farmers had a way to reach the hilltops if the valley was cut off to the south.' Without invitation, he turned his horse towards the way he had looked. With a roll of his eyes, Beau followed and I soon trotted up next to him.

The trail was not that particularly steep. It wound around buttresses of rock. In and out of large crevices and in some places it was not that wide. In the usual manner, I rode behind Owen and in front of Adrian. We rode and rode, keeping the horses steady on patches of loose rock. We must have a third of the way left to go when Owen raised his hand and gave an order for us to stop. I squinted at him for a moment, I was not used to taking orders off anyone.

'Look.' We each peered down into the valley.

If we had been back on the hilltop, I would not have noticed them but from here, it was much, much clearer. A group of about ten or fifteen, cantered hard towards the village (this one was situated in the middle of the valley that we could see). It was a strange moment; the sun had now just peered over the hill from which we had come and shone upon the armour the riders wore. It was soon clear that these were soldiers from Redbrick; the orange tinged red cloaks they wore spilled out behind them like fresh blood.

'We should head back,' Adrian declared.

'No. They will search the village and then move on.'

'How would you know?'

'Because that is what I would have ordered them to do if they were my men.'

Once again, I was caught up in an argument over status and prowess between the two. 'Enough. If I have to endure one more day with you two arguing over some petty feud then I will leave in the night. We shall wait here until they have moved on and then continue down to the village.' That was my order and for the most part, they obeyed.

'If you ask me, I don't think this is a good idea,' Adrian complained after only ten minutes.

Owen, I saw, bit the inside of his lip to stop him from saying whatever it was he wanted to. I, on the other hand, spoke my mind. 'Beau, you can head back if you want. I would like some time spent on an actual bed rather the ground. Besides, trouble has never exactly stayed out of my path so I'd expect to do some fighting if I were you.' The only experience I had in fighting was with my own dagger. That was far away from me now, and all I had for protection were two men I held dear and their own steel and iron. The only thing I could do if there came a fight was to hide or run and neither appealed to me; cowering away like a whimpering child or fleeing like a coward. With a stern stare at the village, more to myself than anything in particular, I made a decision. Whilst a whole load of images raced through my head, I came across a decision without much thought given to it. By the position of the sun, a good hour must have from the men entering the village and then leaving. 'They're leaving,' I pointed out. Owen and Adrian were now slumped in their saddles in boredom. 'Owen, wake up.' He soon shifted and with a flick of his reins, his horse began to continue its walk down the trail.

*****

The air in the village was very tense and that was without Owen, Adrian and I entering past the outer farm buildings. There were shattered doors and windows. Bales of hay were strewn across the paths between the houses. I stopped, Owen and Adrian did so as well. This was my fault, though through no direct choosing of my own.

'We should never have come here,' I whispered.

'This would have happened either way. Whether we came this way or not,' Adrian told me.

Weirdly, Owen dismounted and led his horse towards a small inn. Exchanging a confused look between ourselves, Beau and I followed whilst remaining in the saddle. Owen did not behave the way I had expected; he tied his horse to a post and immediately turned to an elderly couple tending to a threesome of children. I felt utterly responsible and I could no longer sit and watch. I too dismounted and did as Owen had done. Of the children there were two girls and a boy who was the younger. He looked scared and lost and, somehow, I knew something was wrong. Why would two elders of a village be tending three children unless their parents no longer lived?

'Owen?' I called softly.

He stood up and backed away. 'The soldiers murdered their parents when they refused to let them search their home. There was an older brother too but he also died trying to avenge his parents,' he informed me.

'Is there nothing we can do?' I asked desperately. Owen shook his head and I bowed mine with closed eyes.

He took my hand and pulled me away. My eyes remained looking downwards as he took me into the inn. The rush of heat from inside knocked me back a step and suddenly, I did not feel so hungry. Owen released me only for Adrian to take his place by putting an arm protectively around my waist.

'You need to sleep,' he pointed out from seeing my exhausted features.

The trek up the creaky wooden stairs was sore for my hard-ridden legs to climb yet Adrian prevailed in leading me up them. Atop the stairs was a short hallway with doors either side to rooms. Ours was about halfway along as Owen unlocked a door with a key he obtained from the innkeeper. The bed was only small and i could tell from the doorway it was a hard hay-packed mattress and nothing like the soft feather beds I knew in Redbrick and Dovehall. The two men set down their saddlebags in a corner whilst I perched on the edge of the bed. I felt uneasy but from what I could not tell. Too much had happened in such a short space of time that I barely knew how much time had really passed. It could have been a few weeks or a few months yet I was still none the wiser.

There was dull thump and a metallic click as one of them locked the door. 'I still don't like this plan,' Adrian complained once again.

'Shush, Beaufort. We did not come here for your benefit.' Owen knelt down in front of me and cradled my limp hands in his. He was waiting for something which must have been for me to speak.

I had one thing on my mind. 'Can I trust you two not to kill each other while I sleep?' Owen smiled one-sidedly whilst Beau folded his arms across his chest in that stubborn way I knew. 'Good, now do what you want and leave me be.' And before they could retaliate to my suggestion, I rolled onto my side, facing the wall and shut my eyes.

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