by Brian Beam
The wood carving kept Til’ silent for a while, but at one point he stopped to turn to me. “Hey, do you think we can stop by the McAlwains’ farm?”
“Farm?” Sal’ asked. “We should stop there if they have a barn. I could round up some more mice. At the rate I’ve had to use these things since meeting you, I need to restock.”
“And I could use some of Undula’s wonderful cooking,” Max added. “I wonder if she would make some more pork chops and gravy if we asked nicely.”
“Do you really think she’ll let a squirrel eat at the table?” I teased, looking down at Max.
“Well, if she let a rat like you do so, then I am sure she would not mind if a sophisticated rodent did,” Max quipped with perfect timing.
I childishly stuck my tongue out at him. “I don’t see why we can’t stop there in the morning,” I said to everyone.
I had planned on passing by Geeron on the way to Byweather and the McAlwains’ farm would be on the way. We’d have to stop to camp while still in the Sanderon Mountains, but we could be at their farm by mid-morning. I wouldn’t really feel like I was putting their life in danger if I wasn’t there at night. Little did I know, their life was already in danger because of me; I just wouldn’t realize it until that next day.
Chapter 16
Just When Things Were Looking Up…
I have to admit that it was quite refreshing to go a full day and night without having someone, or something, try to kill and/or harm me or my friends. It’s just sad that my I was at a point in my life where that seemed like a cause for celebration.
After Max got us pointed in the right direction, we made our way down the mountain. Sal’ had slept most of the day away in the saddle, and by most, I mean that she didn’t wake up until the sun had started its reddened descent. Max almost matched her in the number of hours spent sleeping on our way down the forested mountain. That left me the only one conscious to listen to Til’s relentless streams of questions and consciousness throughout the day and put me in the mood to join the other two in what must have been blissful sleep.
The coolness of the season was bearable, but I found myself digging out a blanket to drape over my exposed legs. Til’ indicated he was fine without one. The phantom eldrhim pain was starting to become tolerable, though it was still a major annoyance.
Sometime around midafternoon, after Til’ and I had finished a lunch in the saddle that we didn’t wake Max or Sal’ for, Til’ turned to me and handed me the thick piece of wood he had been working on.
“Here, your dad may like this. Well, the dad you know anyway,” he told me as he set the piece of wood in my hand. I must have told him about Mathual Karell’s love of Kolarin woodcraft at some point.
Staring down at the carved piece of tree branch as I continued to lead Telis with my other hand, I couldn’t help but let my jaw drop in awe. He had carved the dragon we had encountered in breathtaking detail down to individual scales. The dragon was perched on a rock with its wings spread wide and its tail wrapped around its body. Its neck craned up to the sky. The shading made by the various thicknesses of carved tree bark almost seemed to give the carving life. It was beautiful. I couldn’t begin to wrap my head around how he could carve such a flawlessly detailed sculpture with the jostling of the horse and without the stability of a saddle. Plus, he had only started on it that morning.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I had tried to keep my voice low enough to not wake Sal’ and Max throughout the day, though if shifting around to take food out of saddlebags hadn’t woken them, talking surely wasn’t going to. They deserved their sleep, however, so I still kept my voice low just in case. “This is beautiful. He’ll love this more than you know.” Then as an afterthought, “If I ever get the chance to give it to him.” My eyes threatened to tear up.
Til’ turned to me with those big silver eyes of his. “Don’t worry, you will,” he assured me. “Anyway, I was wondering…” With that, he launched into another tirade of questions.
After giving me such a thoughtful gift, I found that I was in no way annoyed and answered all the questions I could. It was still hard to believe that just the previous morning I had only animosity towards the little guy as I hunted him down for what I thought was a harmless red gem. Life can be funny with its little twists and turns.
Max awoke an hour or so before Sal’. Fishing out the other half of the salted ham slice he had started on earlier subdued his complaints that we had not woken him for lunch.
After he had finished off the ham slice, he turned towards my ear and said, “Korin, I really am thankful you made it through everything with Menar and the eldrhims. I am sorry I wasn’t there to help.” Max’s beady squirrel eyes were drawn down sadly. I guess his guard had finally come down since he was rested and he was letting a little more emotion through.
“We did just fine without you,” Til’ cut in rudely. “You should have seen it. I went charging towards Menar and—”
“You got a broken nose and knocked out,” I finished for him. Til’ promptly quieted, crossing his arms with a huff. “Thanks, Max. Besides, how can I fulfill that prophecy you talk about if I’m dead?” I continued. I had meant what I said as a joke, but Max’s expression seemed to become more anguished.
“Korin, I wish I could just tell you everything.” He took a deep breath as he stared out at the trees ahead of us.
“It’s okay, Max. Really.” The thing is, I genuinely meant it. As much as I had already learned, from Raijom’s intentions to my actual birth name, I was sure that by the end of my journey, all the puzzle pieces would fall into place and everything would make sense. I had come to terms with accepting Max’s reservations. “So, now that you’re a squirrel and with Winter coming up in the next couple of months, do you need some time to forage for nuts?” I joked, trying to dissipate Max’s somber mood.
Max’s sorrowful expression turned to a heated glare. “Real funny, dress-boy. Did Sal’ get you some lace to go with that outfit?” I let out an honest laugh. It felt good.
Til’ found Max’s insult to be hilarious and broke out into gales of laughter. That brought him out of his sulk and he started shooting questions and stories at Max instead of me. To be truthful, I was incredibly entertained by their interactions. Til’ never seemed to quite catch onto Max’s sense of humor and was insulted several times over without even realizing it. Max seemed to be having fun, so I stayed out of it.
Once Sal’ awakened and voiced her ravenous hunger, we decided to stop for the night. The red glow of the sun still provided plenty of light through the trees, but we had already travelled as far as I hoped we would that day. We were close enough to the base of the mountain that we would still make it to the McAlwain’s farm well before the sun reached its noonday peak the next day.
Til’ dug some sort of sling from one of his bags and went out into the fading daylight, coming back minutes later with a good sized rabbit for dinner. I would never have expected the little Kolarin to be a good hunter and was pleasantly surprised. He gave some kind of prayer for the rabbit before I was able to take it from him. He explained that the Kolari have no problem with killing for food, but a prayer must be given to Loranis for every animal life taken. That was just another example of their life-respecting values.
After skinning the rabbit, I pulled a pan from one of my saddlebags and we roasted it with some diced apples and ate a very satisfying meal. Til’ informed us of a small creek he had found which we all took turns going to in order to clean up and fill our waterskins. Well, all of us but Max, that is. Deciding collectively that a watch would have to be kept through the night, Sal’ offered to take her turn first and started a circuit around our camp.
After an hour of tossing and turning on one of Sal’s itchy blankets, I finally figured sleep to be a lost cause and got up to join her. Sal’ was sitting on a large rock jutting up from the mountain slope, taking a break from circling the camp. She had one of her silverish balls of light, dimmer than the others I’d
seen her make, and was somehow making it jump back and forth between her hands.
Sal’ turned as she heard me approach from the dead leaves crackling under my boots. The small orb of light paused over one of her hands and illuminated her beautiful face. Her long, sandy hair had been thoroughly washed and combed at the creek and shone in the light. As I neared, she gave me a welcoming smile and patted the rock beside her, pulling the wicker case onto her lap to give me room.
I obliged and hopped up onto the rock with my feet hanging over the edge next to hers. “Can’t sleep,” I said, realizing how stupid the comment was after it had already escaped my lips.
“I never would have guessed,” she replied with a giggle, her eyes lighting up with her smile. She started passing the orb back and forth between her hands in a juggling motion again. The rings on her fingers shone with reflected light. “Korin, I really want to thank you for everything.”
That brought a chuckle from me. “For drawing you into a situation in which you’re lucky to still be alive?” I asked.
Sal’ playfully nudged me with her shoulder and resumed tossing the light from one hand to the other. “I’ve spent so many years with so much expected from me, being looked down on by everyone around me when I didn’t live up to those expectations. You, though…” She stopped the ball of light and looked into my eyes. “You don’t care about any of that. I could have gone back after that dragon. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay with you.” She finished with a coy smile and promptly turned away from me.
I let out a sigh as I realized I still had to tell her about my plan to go to the Wizard Academy after I completed Galius’ Contract terms. I turned to confess and was met by her soft lips pressing into mine. All thoughts of the Academy escaped my mind as I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of those full, pouty lips. After a few seconds, she pulled away bashfully and I let out the breath I had been holding during the kiss.
“Sorry,” she muttered, looking away into the darkened forest.
I had felt something in that kiss that I hadn’t felt before. Feelings that I hadn’t felt before. I told myself that there was no way I could be falling for the crazy girl. However, I also realized that after spending a couple of days with her, she was so much different around me than she had been at first. When I had first met Sal’, she had always seemed to be on the defensive, snapping at every other word I said. After just a short time together, though, she had really loosened up. I wondered if she had ever had many chances to be that relaxed around anyone before. I could only imagine how she had been treated by those at the Academy who viewed her as a failure.
My brain took a moment to take in what had happened before my mouth could work properly again. Once I recovered from my speechlessness, I gave her a warm smile. “Thought I wasn’t your type,” I chided playfully.
Hovering the light above her right hand, she used her left to lightheartedly give me a shove, a demure look painting her face. “Don’t read too much into it,” she giggled. “Just saying thanks, that’s all.” Even in the dim light, I could see her face redden with the lie, though. She had felt something too.
“Fine, be that way,” I said teasingly with a smile. “I’m still going to tell everyone you kissed me.”
“You—you—,” she sputtered, slapping my arm. Her consternation was so cute that I couldn’t help but laugh heartily.
After a moment, once she realized I had only been joking, she joined in. Finally, she took in a deep breath and looked at me seriously. “Korin, I do mean it, though. Thank you for everything. I only hope that I can be of help during your journey.”
Grabbing her free hand into both of mine, I told her, “Trust me, you already have been. You can go on to bed and I’ll take over the watch. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping anytime soon.”
I jumped down from the rock and held a hand up to help her down. She took my hand with a smile. I accompanied her to her blankets. She leaned towards me and gave me quick kiss on the cheek. “Goodnight, Korin.”
“Goodnight, Sal’,” I responded with a smile. Maybe I was falling for her. Maybe. I turned away to give her some privacy to get undressed for bed.
Moonlight gave enough illumination for me to make my way to Telis after Sal’ let her light extinguish and went to sleep. I dug my journal, black-feathered quill, ink bottle, and my flint and steel from Telis’ saddlebags. After starting a small fire with some tinder and placing my journal supplies on the rock, I made a quick circuit of the camp. I had left my belt on to have my sword at hand even when I had lain down to sleep earlier.
After circling the camp a few times and being completely sure we were alone on the mountainside, I took a seat on the rock again and started writing in my journal for the first time in days. Although I was mostly glad that Telis had survived in general, I was also glad that I still had my journal. I took pride in chronicling my adventures. I couldn’t wait for Mathual and Harriet to read it, especially the events since I became a Contract Holder for Galius. I was also excited to take the storyteller role as I penned my recent events. Telling Til’ about my adventures before had given me the inspiration to make the accounts of my adventures a little more exciting.
Time escaped me as I wrote, but eventually I stopped and hopped off the rock, my backside aching from sitting on its rough surface so long. I knew I had to get a little sleep or I wouldn’t be worth anything the next day. Unlike Sal’, I have never found it easy to sleep in a saddle. Then again, I’m sure that wizards have a different definition of weary than I do.
I roused Til’ for his turn at the watch. Til’ tried to start asking me questions including why I seemed to have such a happy glow about me. I cast him off with a glare and a pointed finger before settling into my blankets.
My mind was filled with thoughts of Sal’. Not only was she beautiful, but she was nice, smart, and funny too. Well, when she wasn’t bouncing back and forth between emotions, anyway. If only she were more confident. I could tell that her magic suffered from her lack of confidence. From seeing her stand up to everything we had run into, I knew that the confidence was there, she just needed to take hold of it.
With a sigh, I remembered about what I had kept from her. She wasn’t going to be happy about going to the Wizard Academy. Our kiss had distracted me from letting her know about it.
Still, that wasn’t enough to break my joyful mood and I drifted off to sleep easily. For the first time I could remember, my dreams weren’t filled with fuzzy memories of my parents; they were filled with Sal’.
****
Sunrise came way too soon for my liking, but Max woke us all up at the crack of dawn after his watch. We figured the earlier our start, the better. That, and Max really wanted some of Undula McAlwain’s cooking. Okay, mostly that. Besides, the sooner we got rid of the dragon egg, the sooner I could focus on finding Raijom and bringing him to answer for all he had done.
Breakfast was eaten in the saddle. Sal’ and I were all smiles with each other and found ourselves joking and laughing the morning away. Til’, oblivious to the change in our interactions, tried to join in on the fun. Max just gave us suspect glares throughout the morning.
Max tried to give Sal’ some advice on her magic casting. Til’ didn’t seem to catch onto why she would need any advice. After a couple of spells that didn’t go quite as intended, Max gave up, but not without saying, “Maybe if your mind was not preoccupied with a certain lunkhead, you could keep it clear enough for spell casting.”
“Who’s a lunkhead?” Til’ inquired. Then, without pause, “Why are you trying to teach Sal’ about magic?” Sal’ didn’t seem to care that he used her shortened name. Maybe it was growing on her. “Her father’s the Grand Wizard, you know. Some people think Kolarin healers can use magic, but that’s just a myth. I don’t think there’s ever been a Kolarin wizard in our histories. Korin, do you think you could show me how to use a sword?”
“Maybe someday,” I laughed, amused by Til’s ability to move on to a question no
where near related to his first, even when that first question had not been answered.
“So, Salmaea,” Max rasped as Til’ started rambling about how great a swordsman he would be—even better than me in no time. “Do you think you can get us an audience with your father when we get to the Academy?”
“The Academy?” she questioned warily. “What do you mean?” Her voice grew harder when she asked her second question.
I involuntarily cringed. I couldn’t bring myself to turn my head to meet what I was sure to be an unpleasant gaze. This was not going to be good.
Max whispered, “Oops,” but a smirk turned up on his rodent mouth. Sure, I have said that I need to appreciate the little rodent more, but at that moment I wondered exactly how happy I was that he had lived.
“Well, Max and I have no idea on where to start the search for Raijom, so I figured that maybe we could find some help at the Academy,” I explained cautiously, my shoulders tensing.
Sal’ took her hands from around my waist and brought one of them to smack me on the side of the head. A hard smack at that. My left ear literally started ringing.
“After all this, you’re going to take us there? Do you think that my father will just let me set back out with you once I get home?” Sal’ was practically screaming in my ear, but I could still hear the ringing from her slap. Til’ had turned around with wide eyes before slipping into an amused smile. At least he and Max were enjoying the show.
“Hey, I was going to tell you last night before—” I began defensively, turning my head now to meet a glare that could melt ice in the middle of winter. Thankfully, I snapped my mouth shut before I dug the hole even deeper.
“I didn’t exactly tell my father that I was leaving, Korin. I’m sure he knows why I left by now. Once he discovers that I was unsuccessful, I’ll not only get chewed out for running off, but for embarrassing him once again.” Her eyes started to glisten.
