They rode in silence for a time and the sky began to grow darker.  Ildri did not want to talk to Ty.  He was altogether too frustrating and she could not wait until they reached the capital so that she could be rid of him for good.

"How long until we reach the capital?" she asked.

"A couple of days."  His answer was short, and she wondered if he might be angry with her.  It was not as if she cared, she assured herself.

"Good," she muttered, thinking about how he deserved to be miserable.  She hoped she was a thorn in his side.  It would serve him right after everything that he had done.

"I thought you were unhappy about going to the capital," he commented.  Ildri was confused for a few seconds and then she pieced it together.

"I am, I was thinking that it was good that you were in a bad mood," she corrected in a rather snotty tone, not really caring if it made him even angrier.  "But it's good that we'll be at the capital soon, because then I'll never have to see your face again."

Ildri almost regretted her choice of words, but any guilt over his appearance was removed by his response.  "The feeling is more than mutual," he said in a very even tone.  "The thought of never hearing your voice again is music to my ears.

Ildri could not believe that he had dismissed her so easily.  She felt a nasty twinge at his words.  It was most definitely her pride that he had nicked.  It was not as if she cared what he thought.  After all, look at all the horrible things he had done.  His regard meant nothing, no, less than nothing, to her.  He was the one who had ruined all her future plans of a happy life with Saul.  He should be prostrate with guilt, not casually dismissing her.  She cast dark looks at the fading landscape as they moved on.

* * * * *

After a while, Ildri's pique gradually wore off.  The swaying of the horse and the boredom of the scenery brought her an overwhelming sense of tedium that was only occasionally broken by jolts of anxiety or pain in her muscles.  She was really sore, not accustomed to being dragged through the forest and unused to riding long distances.

Saul had taught her how to ride nearly a year before, but the gentle lessons had little prepared her for this ordeal.  The horse continued swaying and Ildri's muscles continued feeling more and more poorly used.  Even though she did not want to go to the capital, she hoped that they would get there quickly since the whole thing seemed inevitable.  She could happily go without seeing another tree or rock for as long as she lived, not to mention that there was probably still two hard day's journey ahead of them.   It would be nice if something would break the monotony, like buildings or people.

"Will we reach any towns before the capital?" she wondered out loud.

"Yes."

Ildri felt annoyance rise up at his unhelpful response, but she tried again.  "How soon?"

"Soon enough."

Ildri gritted her teeth.  The man was insufferable.  Was he deliberately trying to aggravate her?

"We'll reach Valence in the morning," he added as an afterthought.

"Valence?" she protested.  "I thought we were heading to the capital!"

He sighed as if she were somehow the tiresome one.  "Yes, we are going to the capital.  We're taking a different route.  They'll expect us to take the most direct way."

Ildri swallowed and felt a nervous sickness in her stomach.  She had told them they were heading to Valence.  Ty could hardly know that.  He was leading them right into danger unknowingly.  Ildri took a deep breath.  "But, wait!  I told them that was where we had been heading.  They'll find us there," she protested, even though she did not really want to admit it.

He did not answer immediately and Ildri did not dare look back at him.  "Ty?" she asked hesitantly.  "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, I did," he said.

"And?"

"I'm not surprised.  Don't worry about it," he said.

Ildri ignored the slight on her character.  "What if they find us?" she insisted instead.

"They won't."

"You can't be sure."

Ildri thought that she heard Ty sigh, and she risked a peek back at him.  He looked a bit condescending and not at all concerned.  "Listen, Ildri of Wildwood, I know what I'm doing.  Even if they believe that you were not lying to them, they won't really think that we would go exactly where you said we were going."

"You can't know that," she insisted.

"At worst they'll send a small detachment to search Valence.  Five or six men at most."

"Five or six men?" she squeaked.  That was a lot.

"The rest of the force will search elsewhere and move towards the capital," he explained, ignoring her protest.

"So what about when we get close to the capital?"  Ildri never wanted to see the soldiers again.  If they were all congregating at the capital, then how would she and Ty make it there?

"That's why we're going to Valence first.  I left something there."

"What?"

"You'll see," he said mysteriously.  Ildri looked back at him again.  She could barely see him, but what she could see seemed amused.

He also looked different than he had when they first met.  She would swear that his face was not nearly as lined and wrinkled as it had been even that morning.  Was it a trick of the light?

"Your face looks different," she told him.  "Why is that?"

He shrugged.  "Because your imagination is overactive."

Ildri scowled at him, but he probably could not see it.  Ildri knew she was far from the smartest woman alive and had proved simply dismal with learning magic, but she was observant in her own way.  Something was odd and Ildri would figure out what it was whether he wanted her to know or not.

Especially if he did not want her to know.

She smiled grimly and looked ahead.

* * * * *

"We'll stop here," Ty told Ildri.

"Stop giving me orders," she muttered irritably.

He heard her.  "Do you want to keep going?" he asked in a incredulous tone.

Nearly every muscle below her neck was sore.  "No.  But I'm not your servant and I don't take orders from you!" she declared.  The only people to whom she owed allegiance were Lord and Lady Wildwood and the King, and chef of course.  Missus White could boss her around, but she listened to the old shrew only for the sake of Lord Wildwood and for the sake of not having to listen to Missus White's lectures.

She did not have to let the obnoxious man who was dragging her all around the country against her will tell her what to do.

"Do you want to live?" he asked innocently.

"Is that a threat?" she asked him, turning around to look at him again with narrowed eyes.  She suddenly realized that she was not really afraid of him any longer.

"No.  It's a warning.  We both want to get to safety quickly and if you choose to gainsay me at every opportunity it will only make our journey that much more difficult."  His voice was very even and logical and for some reason that annoyed her more than ever.

"I want to go back to Wildwood," she said stubbornly.

"You are already aware that is not an option and surely you're getting as tired of listening me say that as I am of repeating it.  You can go back once you're under the king's protection if he so chooses."

Ildri scowled again.  "It would be an option if you would just let it be an option."

He ignored her comment.  "We're going to camp here," he announced as he reined the horse to a stop.  With one smooth motion he dismounted and helped Ildri down.

"Is that safe?"

"Safe or not, the horse needs a rest."

Ildri's legs were shaky but it did not stop her from speculating on Ty some more.  He did not move like the man his appearance proclaimed him to be.  And the wrinkles on his face had lessened even in the time that had passed.

It was obvious in retrospect.  It was magic.

Ildri was by no means an expert on such things.  The small amounts of magic Chef had taught her was related to cooking.  Ildri had given up after multiple failures.  She could remember Chef's words clearly, "Ildri, you clearly have plenty of magic, but you have no control.  You need to concentrate harder."

Ildri had concentrated as hard as she could, and then finally gave up.  She just was not gifted with the ways of magic, and there was little enough that she could do about that.

But just because she could not do magic did not mean that Ildri was blind to the effects of what it could do.  Ty was obviously a wizard, all the evidence pointed to it.  It made perfect sense of the discrepancy between how he looked and how he moved, and it also explained the unnatural black smoke that covered the camp when he rescued her from the peril that had been entirely his fault.

Of course, he would not tell her that he used magic.  Ildri pouted at the thought even though he might have good reason.  He thought that she could not keep a secret to save her life.  Which was of course wrong and terribly annoying.  She would show him she could keep a secret.  She would not tell him what she suspected.

Because Ildri was tired of being underestimated.  She was not an empty headed girl.  There were a lot of things she could do, strengths that she had.  Like...  Such as...

Never mind that she could not think of any.  She definitely had strengths.  Everyone did, right?

"Ildri of Wildwood," he said, breaking into her thoughts.

"What?"

He tossed a blanket to her.  "Lay down.  You need your rest."

She narrowed her eyes, but did as he said.  He had started a small fire, and she curled up beside it.  "Is it safe to have a fire?" she wondered.

"I think we can risk it."

"I don't think you're taking those soldiers seriously enough."

"Don't worry.  Farrel is keeping watch."

She glanced around.  She could see the horse tied a short distance away but there was no sign of the big wolf anywhere.  The horse seemed unconcerned so it could not be close.  "How do you know?"

He shrugged as he leaned up against a tree on the opposite side of the fire.  "I just do.  Go to sleep."

Ildri rolled over and her muscles groaned in protest.  She could not remember ever being so sore in her life.  She should have fallen directly asleep but for some reason she did not.

Across the fire, Ty seemed to have fallen asleep with a soldier's haste.  For the first time Ildri paused to wonder who he really was and where he came from.  She was struck again by how much younger his face looked.  Even the skin on his hands seemed less frail.  There was definitely magic at play.

It made sense for a spy to hide his true appearance, she supposed.  But she wondered what he really looked like.  He was definitely not as old as he first appeared.

Ildri was struck by the sudden curiosity that so often got her into trouble.  Without pausing to think as wiser heads might have done, she got up from her sleeping spot slowly.   Her muscles pained her, but she paid them no mind as she walked very carefully and quietly around the fire until she was right next to him.  She crouched down and reached out her hand.

She smiled to herself.  She had been correct.  The skin on his hand was not that of an old man.  Why, Ty might not even be ten years older than herself.

Ildri started to move away and was hit by a solid wall of snarling fur.

She screamed as she landed backwards on the hard ground.  A sharp rock was pushed into her back but that was the least of her worries.  Much more troublesome was the bared gleaming rows of cruel teeth that were displayed directly above her.  Its front paws were digging into her stomach and it issued a low growl.  Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard the horse whinny in alarm.

"Farrel!  No!" she heard Ty say loudly, and gradually Ildri realized that she knew the beast who had attacked her.  It was Ty's horrible wolf monstrosity and he was still on top of her, although he had stopped growling.

"Off.  Down, Farrel," Ty said again, and the wolf reluctantly moved off of her.  Ildri scrambled to her feet.  Farrel cast a final reproachful look as he disappeared back into the trees.

Ty looked at her.  "What were you doing?"

Ildri was slightly hysterical.  "What was I doing?  What was I doing!?  What was that monster doing!?"

"Protecting me," Ty said as he looked at her intently.

"Nothing," she said stubbornly, although she was still shaking.  There was no way that she would admit the embarrassing truth to him of all people.

He looked suspicious.  "Did he have a reason to worry?"

"Of course not," she snapped.  "You're the murder and kidnapper, not me."

"Then why were you on this side of the fire?"  She glanced down at her feet.

It was a good question and she had no good answer.  "I was looking for a drink."

"Oh."  He definitely did not believe her assertion.  She did not care.  He was not telling her everything.  Why should she tell him?

He stood up and went over to the horse.  It was moving its feet uneasily on the ground.  Ty caught its muzzle and spoke gently to it.  Ildri moved back over to where she had left the blanket and tried to get comfortable.

When the horse was calmer, Ty moved back and leaned on his tree.  "Try not to provoke Farrel again.  It stresses out the horse," he said as he closed his eyes.

For a few seconds, Ildri stared at him, filled with irritation as she heard his obnoxious words ringing in her ears.  Then she realized that her mouth was hanging open.  She closed it and glared at him.  How was she supposed to know that his rabid beast was so oversensitive?  Monsters like that should be outlawed!  She had not been doing anything wrong!  Not really.

She was so angry that she did not think she would be able to sleep but before she knew it she was lost in dreams.