3

The Departure. A scary encounter and a fortunate chance meeting.

3

The Time of our departure was set for dawn the following morning and I was woken by Gemma. Once again I was drenched in cold water and once again Gemma was above me holding an empty pitcher.

“You’ve missed breakfast, we leave in a couple of minutes” she told me before I could complain. The events and questions of the previous day came flooding back and realising how late I was, I hurriedly dressed and ran a comb through my hair, I didn’t have any sort of style in mind I was simply trying to get the tangles out, and then, I headed for my dorm’s door. I saw Rick waiting there and that’s when some of the details I hadn’t remembered returned to me. Like how I would be traveling with him on this particular service.

“Morning. They want us at the stables in a couple of minutes not enough time to do anything really so I figure we might as well head over there now” he said. I ignored his greeting but nodded agreement with his suggestion to head straight to the stables. I still wasn’t sure why I didn’t like Rick. I had really only communicated with him when I was in no mood to talk to anyone but I avoid talking to him at any other time. I decided I should try and get to know him better. After all I had to work with him for the next few weeks at least and it wasn’t unlikely that we would work together again even if not for a while.

“So ummm…” I cast around for something to say then saw the sword hanging at his side and pointed. “Do you know how to use that?”

“Oh not really, I mean I can use it correctly my technique and everything is perfect but whenever I spar I lose so…” he trailed off then looked at me “what about that tiny dagger on your hip? D’ you know how to use that?”

“Um yes I suppose but I’ve never really gone to the temple sparring ground” Rick nodded but said no more as at that moment we came to the door that connected the stable to the temple living quarters. He opened the door and stepped back to allow me and Gemma through first and quietly closed the door after following me through. He seems to have manners at least that’s a good sign I thought as I walked up next to one of the horses and tied on my small saddle bag then I joined Gemma and Rick leading my horse by the rein out the stable to where the high priestess and priest waited for us. We mounted up, I with a little more difficulty than Rick which annoyed me but I calmed myself quickly thinking how silly it was that that should agitate me. The High Priest handed Rick an Envelope and a map both of which he put in a pouch on his saddle bags.

“Shed light on the truth and stay safe” They intoned to us as we passed. We all replied with two words in a more common phrase…

“We Will”. Then when we were out of sight Rick said

“Syrin! Catch!” and threw me an Apple That I knew the priest and priestess were unaware had left the temple.

 

***

 

“No!” I said stubbornly keeping my voice calm. Rick for the last half hour had been asking me the one in charge of the food bags if it was midday yet. Every time I responded no and every time he would ask me to give him a tiny bit of his lunch and every time I would again say no. Normally I wouldn’t get annoyed but normally they didn’t continue to ask me every two or five minutes like Rick was. I also wondered how much I was unconsciously trying to spite him because of my unjustified dislike of him. That dislike however, I decided, was starting to become very justified. We rode in silence through the trees listening to the birds for a few minutes before Rick said.

“Is it midday now?” rather than answer him I turned to Gemma.

“Is it time for lunch yet?” Gemma laughed at the pleading sound in my voice.

“Don’t start on me” she said “just give him some food he can eat while we ride and fill our water skins when we stop” the temple had taught all the brothers and sisters to ride while in training and although my mounts and dismounts were a little clumsy I was one of the best riders among all the brothers and sisters and while most had been taught only the basics I had been taught to ride with only my knees, which I did now dropping the reins and reaching into the saddle bag holding our lunch. Then guiding the horse with my legs I moved next to Rick and handed him his food. I sped up a little to ride next to Gemma who was riding at the head of our little group. We continued to ride in companionable silence broken only by the birds and a whispered muttering as Rick struggled to control his horse with one hand and eat his lunch with the other. After another Half hour we finally stopped under some trees for lunch. A trickle could be heard from a stream that was hidden from view. Rick sat down with crossed legs and almost immediately he was hit on the head from a water skin as another fell in his lap.

“Syrin’s and my water skin” Gemma said “we gave you food as we rode you get to fill the skins while we eat”

“But I couldn’t eat while we rode!” Rick complained.

“Tough, get” I said making a shooing motion with my hands. Rick grumbling picked up the two water skins and then grabbed his own before heading of behind some bushes toward the sound of the water. A few minutes later Rick still wasn’t back and that’s when it happened. Two men stepped out from the trees and seeing us stopped in their tracks, and then looking around and seeing no one else they smiled. ‘Not a good sign’ I thought.

“Well well well what do we have here” said the first.

“Two young women travelling without an escort that’s rather dangerous” said the second man “what if a couple of men were to come by looking for some gold? Why they might take it from you and then have their way with you too it’s just not safe!” both men pulled daggers from their belts. Gemma and I who had stood when the men had appeared took a step back and drew our daggers though we knew it was probably futile. With surprising speed both men crossed the distance between us and the first grabbed me while the other grabbed Gemma before we could react.

“You want to put that away before you hurt yourself” the man holding me said. Then he twisted my wrist painfully causing my hand to spasm and drop the dagger. Suddenly there was a pounding of hoofs and a group of ten armed and armoured men on horses rode into view they surveyed the scene as they approached and the two bandits looked at each other and started to run. Suddenly an arrow whizzed by my head and struck the man who had grabbed me behind the knee he fell yelling in pain as another arrow struck the other man in the ankle. The mounted men stopped on the road beside us and as the leader rode forward I recognized the tabard of the Kana city guard.

“You Lady’s alright?” he asked as he dismounted and motioned for the rest of the guards to do so. His voice and tone was gruff but in a strange way friendly.

“Yes Sir though I think my friend is a bit shocked from that arrow that whizzed by her face” Gemma said. I realised that since the arrow had gone by my thoughts had moved fast but I physically hadn’t moved at all. I shook my head and said.

“I’m ok though it was a little too close for comfort”

“I do apologise for that it seems one young man here feels a need to help a pretty young lady like yourself despite the fact that doing so runs a risk of harming you even more”

“That’s ok” I said. It was an automatic response to the apology more than anything else.

“No its not it put you in harm’s way when those two thugs had decided to leave you alone” the leader said jerking his thumb at the two bandits. There was a rustling sound and the guards all drew swords and pointed them at the bushes as Rick appeared he stopped as he noticed the ten swords aimed at him.

“Syrin. Gemma!” he croaked. The leader put his sword away and the other guards dropped the points to the ground but otherwise didn’t move.

“Judging by the fact he just named you two and there is a 3^rd horse here with its rider unaccounted for, this young man is traveling with you?” I nodded.

“Rick was filling the water skins”

“And who Sir are you?” Rick said.

“I am Sergeant Gaston at your service or rather the service of these charming young women here” Rick for the first time noticed the two men moaning in pain on the ground.

“Who are your friends?”

“These two tried to get acquainted with these fine Women, we thought the ladies might disapprove and took action to discourage these men… however the Ladies might appreciate some water after the small scare” Rick immediately began to apologise to me and Gemma Handing us both our skins I took it and drank Gratefully the water was sweet and surprisingly cool.

“Where are you three headed?” Sergeant Gaston Asked.

“Zentor” Emma supplied after a gulp of water.

“I’m headed in the other direction but I will assign two men to help escort you three if you like”

“That would be appreciated” I said. “Perhaps they could show us how to use these properly were not very good” I indicated the dagger’s Emma and I had returned to our hips as Rick had appeared.
“Well we train in Swords more than daggers and for many years but I suppose Jason and Murin could give you a few pointers” the sergeant said indicating a young man and a stern looking older man.

“Thank you” Gemma said. And Gaston nodded taking the reins of his horse from one of his men who had handled the horses when everyone had dismounted.

“Well I will leave you in their capable hands then but as for the rest of us we must return to Kana with these two miserable excuses for men” he said indicating the two thugs that were being slung over the neck of two horses. “Fare Thee well you three. Jason, Murin Escort these three but look for any signs of bandits. Do not pursue but notify travellers and then ride out with the Zentor city guard when you reach them and return giving me a full report of anything and anyone you encounter” the 2 men nodded and the guards rode off leaving Jason and Murin with Rick Gemma and myself.

 

***

 

The rest of the day passed without incident. Jason the younger of the two Guards turned out to be a friendly and Chatty man and the three of us took a liking to him immediately. Murin the older of the two was a different matter he would simply grunt when spoken to and had what seemed a permanent scowl. At first Jason made lots of jokes that were directed at Murin but he stopped when at one point Murin rode up beside him and slapped Jason on the back of the head. We stopped at an Inn called ‘The Weary Traveller’ and after a meal we all stepped outside to use the remaining light to train with our daggers. Jason showed us a couple of tricks and then turned over to Murin who showed Rick how to use his sword more effectively by barking a few quick short words at him sometimes not even making a full sentence such as at the very begging when he said to Rick

“Hold hilt, Draw” rather than ‘Hold the hilt, and draw’. Jason continued to teach Gemma and Me while Murin Sparred (though really it was more of a beating) with Rick though rather than show us how to use our daggers he pointed out tell-tale signs of an attack Gemma and me Got the general idea and by the time we went back inside and headed up to our rooms we could tell when someone was going to swing their weapon however despite Jason’s Best efforts we still could not tell if the attack would be a side swing, over head, or lunge.

Reviews

[Shep]

Wow the year does fly fast. You have set a new record in my eyes how long it takes to come back to write a new chapter. Then again i too haven't worked on my looking Glass series in a long time either so i can,'t complain. even longer on my other two books. So here we go. First of all and i stress this. I really like where this book is taking me. Like the characters, they are very life like and comical. You show great strength in character building and flow of store by getting to point A to point B. Excellent use of details. No for the one thing that bothers me. it is the font, the font you are using gives me a migraine, and the lack of white space. If you want someone to enjoy it, change to a font that is easily readable like Times roman size 12. Add white space to break up characters lines. or indent them. Best way is open a novel any novel and see how they do it. Good work in keeping up with the people that have read your books, most people i have noticed that used to read mine have dropped off the site. So i get very few readers. It happens so i applaud the effort.

[Matthew Ian Herrawood W]

Thanks Shep. a few people have mentioned the Font. I usually do Romans 12 but i bold and Italic it those that have noticed the bold and mentioned the font think the bold is fine but i should get rid of the italics... so far i have been Lazy and only done grammar and spelling editing... and even then its only on my personal copy's. i had not posted in a while because i was having computer problems and i NEVER write my story straight to writers cafe i copy and paste my word documents.

[Shep]

I do the same thing when i copy and paste having to go back and change the font every time.