Page 16

Sixteen

T he path wandered through the forest at wide turns around the curve of the river or short switchbacks as they rose and fell in elevation. Asher’s father rode ahead, leading them along the narrow path. It wasn’t designed as a road to travel. It was more of a game trail with bushes, branches, and overgrowth often hiding the trail. All the while, the peaks of the Laind Mountains stood in the distance and never seemed to grow closer. They had traveled all night, and the sun had risen an hour or so ago.

Sand was asleep in Mardai’s arms, his head resting on the king's shoulder.

Lily sat in front of Asher, adjusting now and then to try to get comfortable riding the horse. He knew it would be impossible for her to get comfortable. He felt bad that she had to leave her home, and he wished Takai had just taken her back to her tower. The wizard wouldn’t have killed her, and Asher and his father wouldn’t have been burdened with her.

“I think we should stop and rest the horses here,” his father said. The overgrowth had cleared up and revealed a meadow with a shallow bank leading to the water.

“Are you certain we should stop now?” Asher asked, glancing over his shoulder. There had been no sign of the humans all day, but the idea of giving them any time to catch up bothered him.

His father nodded. “I have a feeling they won’t be following too closely.”

“Why is that?”

His father looked back at him. “Because what they really want is Merete. You and I were a bonus. Now that they have what they truly want, our freedom is an inconvenience, but it won’t be something they waste their time over when they need to prepare to free her.”

“Except they might want the girl.”

Lily looked over her shoulder at him with a frown on her face. “My name is Lily.”

“They might, but we cannot push ourselves or the horses, and this is a great location for the horses.” His father pulled his horse to a stop and dismounted, carefully balancing Sand, who rubbed his eyes now that they had stopped.

Asher pulled back on the reins, stopping the horse. “I’ll lay the bedrolls out, and we can eat something too.” He swung his leg back and landed easily on the ground. He walked to the back of the horse to start digging through the saddlebag for what supplies they might have.

Lily cleared her throat. “Can you help me get down?”

Asher paused and looked up at her. Into her beautiful green, completely ignorant eyes.

Percy squirmed in her arms, eager to be down.

“Right. Sure. I’m sorry, I forgot you didn’t know how.” He guided her foot to the stirrup. “Your foot goes here. This is the stirrup. Put your weight on this foot and swing your other leg off. It’s a bigger drop than you think it’s going to be, and a lot of people fall.”

Lily held Percy out to him.

He awkwardly accepted the dog and then put him down.

Lily did as Asher had instructed and managed to get her weight on one foot but ended up standing on that foot with her other leg on the same side, balancing herself by lying across the saddle.

Asher rolled his eyes. “Hold on to the saddle horn.” He guided her hand to the knob at the front of the saddle. “Now lower yourself.”

Lily very slowly lowered her right foot to the ground, but did as he suspected and let go with her arms before her foot hit the ground. Her left foot went through the stirrup, and she landed on her rear with her leg caught in the air. Her wizard’s robes flew upward to reveal her white nightgown and most of her legs. “Oof!” she sighed.

He sighed. “We will have to practice that.” He reached down and released Lily’s foot. “You don’t have shoes?”

“I didn’t think I would be gallivanting through the forest when I helped free you last night.” She sat up and pushed her nightgown and robes down. “Which is also why I don’t have proper clothing.”

Percy bounded over to her to sniff around her and flop in her lap.

“I know. It’s a long time to just be held.” She kissed his head.

“He is just a dog,” Asher muttered to himself.

She raised a brow. “What else could he be?”

“A Karasha,” he replied. “You speak to him like he understands.”

Lily shrugged. “He responds, for the most part.” She let him back down and got to her feet, dusting off what dirt and twigs didn’t stick to her robes. “There are breakfast muffins in one of the packs.” She walked to the horse and began digging.

Asher watched her. She intrigued him. Not only her ignorance of the world, but how she moved and the fire in her eyes. When they’d touched and had that strange connection, all he wanted to do was find out who she was besides being a wizard’s apprentice. But there was also a sense of danger around her. She had helped the wizard, whether or not she wanted to admit it.

“I did pack some things we can cook,” Lily said. “I can get a fire started, if you’d like.” She lifted her gaze to his and their eyes locked on each other.

Asher quickly busied himself by reaching around her to grab the blanket and then walked around the horse to get in the other side. “Not here,” he said. “A fire would tell the humans where we are.”

Asher’s father picked Sand up and set him on the ground.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Sand said softly.

He shook his head. “Just Mardai. You don’t need to be formal with me.” He turned to his son. “I’m going to take the horses for a drink. You stay with them.” He led both horses down a slight slope to the river’s edge.

Asher laid out the bedding, knowing full well they weren’t going to sleep too well with danger looming behind them.

Lily stuck her hand out in front of his face, a berry muffin in her hand. “For you.”

He accepted it. “Thank you.”

“Look, I know I made that potion Wester used on you. I don’t blame you for being upset with me for willingly handing it over to him. But what choice did I have?”

“I don’t know. Not giving it to him? Destroying it?” He took a bite.

Lily hesitated and shook her head. “The king was there. I was afraid. Wester...he’s never done anything cruel in front of me. After I saw what they did to you, I worried what they might do to me if I disobeyed.”

“Would they have tortured you?” he countered.

She clamped her mouth shut and turned away from him, hurt. But she deserved it. She found a seat on a rock on the far side of the meadow.

Asher took another bite of the muffin and saw movement in the tall grass. A little chipmunk crept towards him, likely wanting some of the crumbs. Sand stood still, watching its little twitching nose as it drew nearer to the fallen muffin pieces.

“Do you ever eat them?” Asher asked.

“Sometimes,” he replied, breaking his attention narrowed in on the rodent. “Out of desperation. My sister doesn’t like it, though. She’s always worried we might eat someone.”

Asher chuckled a little. “I hunted a rabbit once, when I was a child about your age. My mother lectured me about the same thing and then spent a month teaching me how to smell the difference between a wild animal and one of us.”

Sand finally left the chipmunk and sat on one of the blankets. “You don’t like her, do you?” He asked in a low voice and glanced in Lily’s direction. She was giving pieces of her breakfast to Percy.

“It’s not that I don’t like her.” He sighed and lay down. “I’m just...annoyed.”

“Did she hurt you?”

“No.”

“Was she one of the people who caught you?”

Asher sighed and looked at the viper. The boy’s head was tilted. “She took care of my shoulder. And then gave the wizard a potion to help him hurt me.”

Sand’s eyes widened. “Oh. If she’s bad, why is she with us?”

Asher tucked his hand behind his head. “I don’t know. She helped get me out and then had to run too so they wouldn’t execute her.”

“Are you sure she’s a bad guy then?”

“Just go to sleep.” He sighed and sat up before climbing to his feet and walking to the river, to his father. “I laid out the blankets. I’ll take the first watch. You get some sleep.” He absently rubbed his shoulder, which suddenly ached deep inside.

“I overheard your conversation with Sand.” His father gave him the raised-eyebrow look, the one that he used to tell Asher to open up and tell the truth. “I don’t blame you for feeling a bit betrayed. But look at all of her other actions.”

“She’s a danger to our people. She’s the wizard’s student. Even if they weren’t coming to Vasha for the tree, they’ll definitely be coming to demand her back. Her presence is more of a risk to us than help. And you know that too.”

“And what if we can make her an ally?” His father patted him on the shoulder. “Wake me in a couple of hours.”

Asher sucked in a big breath and let it out, allowing his shoulders to drop. He looked over his shoulder to where Lily sat. She needed rest too. He walked over to her. “There’s another blanket for you. You should sleep.”

Lily looked over to the blanket laid out. “What about you?”

“I’m going to stand guard.”

She silently nodded and walked past him to get to the blanket. Percy sniffed the ground as he followed, getting distracted more than once to snort at and then pee on particular spots.

Asher rubbed his back. Maybe he was being too hard on her.

Lily lay down on her side and Percy curled up against her stomach. She lazily stroked his back and closed her eyes.

Asher looked at her pointed ears. She’d been told that meant she had been blessed by magic. But he’d always been taught it was a trait of the Karasha. Since Wester had the same kind of ears, Asher believed her.

He climbed the cluster of rocks just off the path to get a better view. The birch and juniper trees were anything but sufficient to climb. He kept his ears and eyes focused all around, on alert for anything that would cause them to move.

Some hours later, the afternoon sun was high in the sky. Asher knew he should have woken his father and rested himself, but he knew his father deserved good sleep. But it was late enough in the day he knew it was time to move.

He walked over and shook his father’s shoulder. “We should eat and move. We can take another break in a few hours.”

His father sat up with a groan and stretch. “Sand, wake.”

Asher shook the boy, then stepped over him to wake Lily. Her wild brown hair and dirt-covered fingers stood out to him. She wasn’t afraid to get dirty to do whatever she needed. He gently shook her shoulder.

Her eyes flew open. “Are you okay?” she blurted before sitting up.

He was a little taken by surprise that was her first question upon waking. “I’m...fine. It’s time to go.”

She winced as she stood and placed one of her hands on her leg.

He looked her up and down. “What’s wrong?”

“You were right about being sore. Everything hurts. And I wasn’t even on the horse that long.” Lily tried to smile through a grimace.

He had to give it to her, at least she wasn’t whining about it. He walked over to their horse. “Would you like me to teach you how to mount a horse now that you’re an expert on dismounting them?” He smirked a bit.

She smiled, which he hadn’t expected, and walked over to his side. “I imagine it’s the opposite of what I did before. So my foot goes back in here?” She tapped the stirrup with her finger.

“Yes.” She lifted her right foot, but Asher stopped her. “Left foot. If you’re on the left side of the horse, you have to use the same foot. Otherwise, you’ll end up on his back backwards.”

“Oh.” Lily switched feet and reached up as high as she could, but the girl was far too short to reach on her own. “Don’t laugh at me,” she said.

Asher hadn’t even realized he’d been smiling. He grabbed her foot before she could set it down and lifted it into the stirrup.

She gave a little yelp as she was thrown off-balance and snatched the saddle.

“There you go,” he praised. “Now hoist yourself up.”

“I’m going to fall! What makes you think I could possibly pull myself up!” She leaned precariously, her knuckles white with effort.

Asher chuckled and placed his hands on her waist. “I’ve got you now. Go on.”

“Pull myself up,” she scoffed to herself. She grunted and pulled with all her strength.

Asher lifted her at the same time and easily placed the light girl on the horse.

“Thank you.” She flipped her braid over her shoulder and looked down at him.

He nodded once, crouched to snatch Percy before the horse could stomp on him, and handed the dog to Lily. Asher stuck his foot in the stirrup and easily mounted.

“That’s not fair. You’re at least a foot taller than I am,” Lily said.

He reached around her for the reins. “It’s not my fault you’re short.”

“Just wait. I’m going to be an expert horse rider by the time we get to Vasha.” She returned her attention forward.

Asher resisted the urge to roll his eyes, because there was no way Lily would be able to do that.

His father stretched before snapping the reins of his horse, and Asher followed.

“Sand, I noticed the cool scales on your hands,” Lily said loudly. “Are you a lizard?”

“No.” The boy shook his head and leaned to look past the king’s shoulder. “I’m a viper. We were cursed to have our animal always show.”

“Why is that?”

A pained expression crossed the boy’s face before he disappeared behind the frame of Asher’s father.

Asher leaned down to Lily’s ear. “His father is the one who let the humans and elves into our land fifteen years ago. When Rose discovered this, she cursed every traitor and their families. All of them are vipers now, and the visible scales are a reminder to them and us of who they are and what they did.”

“That’s horrible,” Lily replied. “It’s not the children’s fault what their parents did.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t give the curse.”

She frowned up at him. “You think it’s okay?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. They’re marked.”

“And outcasts?” she pressed.

Asher finally focused his attention on her, a stranger to their culture and beliefs. “Not to be rude, but you have no idea what happened to our land during the war. You lived in blissful ignorance in the human kingdom while my people were unjustly murdered.”

“What did I do to you?” she suddenly snapped, whipping around in her seat to look at him, inches from his face. “Why do you hate me so much? Yes, I gave Wester the potion. Yes, I promised I wouldn’t help him. But if I hadn’t, he would have probably done something worse, so I figured I would do whatever would hurt you less. If you want to stop the horse here and drop me off, fine. I’ll figure out how to live in the woods on my own. And then I won’t have to deal with your bad attitude.”

Asher looked down at the young woman he barely knew and couldn’t deny that the fire and anger in her eyes turned him on. He felt the edge of his mouth tug in a little crooked grin. “I’m not leaving you in the middle of the forest. You might know how to use magic to start a fire, but you wouldn’t survive the week.”

“Then stop complaining about me.” She faced forward.

Asher caught his father looking at him over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised in the way that said Asher should have been more careful about how he spoke. Asher rolled his eyes at his father, who shook his head in response and said, “Your mother raised you better than that.”

Asher frowned. It stung. His father didn’t know what Lily had done. Or...hadn’t. He regarded the back of Lily’s head, considering if he really was being too hard on her for what was clearly out of her control.

Luckily, the tense silence was interrupted by Sand. “Lily, you worked with the wizard!” He blurted it loudly, as if the thought had only just occurred to him.

“Yes,” she replied.

He grinned as he peered around Mardai’s side. “You know magic, then!”

Her tense shoulders relaxed and she nodded. “I do. I’m very good at some things, and barely learning others, but I do know magic.”

“Can you turn into an animal too, then?”

“Um. I don’t know. I’ve never tried. I did accidentally turn Percy into a ladybug a couple of days ago, though.” She stroked the puppy’s head.

“Maybe you could break the viper curse.” He held up one of his scaled hands as if to remind her.

She hesitated. “I don’t know, to be honest. Maybe I can consult your library and see what spells it might contain.”

“Library?” Sand lifted his big yellow eyes to Asher’s father.

“It’s a big room with lots of books.” He turned his attention to Lily. “Although, I’m afraid what we consider a library is not going to match what you might be used to. We have books, but very few.”

The path led them close to clusters of trees, and Lily reached her hand out to touch the bark every time they got near to one. Asher saw the profile or her smile as she did so. “I am sure your collection of books is more than adequate,” Lily replied.

“Maybe you can see my home too!” Sand said with continued excitement. “Sometimes I come out of the canyon and just watch everyone. It’s so different to see everything so green and alive. Where I live there are so many rocks. And it’s brown. It’s so hot in the summer. Sometimes I sneak out and into the canyon. It’s a lot cooler. One time, I came down and Bashton showed me a swimming hole! He said Asher and Trayden built it, and I got to swim in it!”

Asher noticed Lily glance at him from the corner of her eye. He shrugged. “It’s pretty shallow because of the kids. Took us nearly all summer to dig out, though.” It didn’t surprise him at all that Bashton would invite the little viper. He couldn’t care less whether someone was or wasn’t a viper.