Page 23 of Torin and His Oath (Torin and the Princess #2)

LEXI

B y mid-afternoon the land began to soften — hills rolled by instead of rearing, the ground was dotted with gorse and small stands of birch. Stone walls appeared, hemming in fields of grazing sheep. The path widened, packed with hoof prints and the deep grooves of wagon wheels.

We rode for a long time. I said, “My hips ache.”

“Aye, ye hae been a long time on the horse without bein’ used tae it.”

I nodded.

About ten minutes later, I said, “And my shoulders — why does everything ache so much? My elbows.” I flexed and straightened my arms. “It’s all achy, do you feel achy?”

He looked back at me with his eyes narrowed. “Nae.”

I rolled my neck. “It’s fine, we’ve just been riding a lot. That’s all.”

As we rode I occasionally flexed and straightened, adjusting my position. My joints ached, all of them. My legs felt heavy in the stirrups and my skin felt prickly with an odd, creeping heat.

He asked, “Ye well, Princess?”

“It’s hot, are you hot?”

I flexed and straightened my left leg and said, “It’s really hot.”

He drew his horse back to come up beside me. “Are ye well? Ye sound weak and ye hae gone pale.”

I moaned. “I don’t think I feel well.”

Our horses took a couple more steps and then a wave of nausea hit me. “How much farther?”

“Another hour.” He brought my horse to a stop. “Ye can ride with me.”

I think I said, “That’s good,” but I wasn’t sure I said it out loud.

I dropped down from the horse to his waiting hands, but as soon as he gently put my feet on the ground, a true wave of nausea hit.

I swallowed and grimaced, my eyes closed trying to keep it down.

He searched my face.

I said, “It’s okay, I’m fine. Let’s go, we can’t stay here.”

He helped me onto Lambo and set our horses moving again, with me nestled between his arms. I leaned against his chest and half-dozed, my head aching, at one point forcing myself to stare at the landscape just to keep from feeling sick.

A tower rose ahead, stone walls glinting in the light. “What is that castle?”

“Edzell,” Torin said. “Another of the Lindsays’ strongholds.”

I said, faintly, “The same clan?”

He chuckled. “Aye, they hae many keeps in these parts, and pride enough for all of them.”

He bent his head closer. “Ye feel better?”

“No, my head is throbbing. How much farther?”

I think he said, “Soon.”

The rest of the ride blurred. There was the uneven sway of the horse.

I was too weak to stay centered, I listed against Torin’s right side.

The smell of damp wool and manure turned my stomach.

The last stretch into Kirriemuir seemed endless — the sun was low in my eyes, the air heavy with the scent of cattle.

Torin’s voice reached me as if from far away. “Nearly there, the inn is right ahead.”

I nodded, then clamped my hand over my mouth as a wave of nausea hit that I couldn’t swallow down. I leaned over. Torin drew the horse to a stop, as I threw up all over the side of the horse and onto the road.

“Och nae, and we are in sight of it.”

I tried to say, “I couldn’t help it,” but his strong arm was around me as he drove our horse train up to the front of the inn. I looked up at the hanging sign, a crude red boar head.

The tavern was stone and timber, even larger than our last lodgings and for a moment I thought — good, maybe there will be a doctor in the house.

It dawned on me that I might need a doctor.

Torin dismounted from the horse in one movement and held up his arms, his jaw tight. “Stay with me, Princess.” I all but fell onto him, and went into a semi-conscious state as he carried me toward the tavern door.

“Ye are hot tae the touch.”

I nodded.

“Och nae, Princess, ye are nae well.”

I nodded again.

I heard Torin bark at someone, “Room, hot water if ye hae it.”

Then Torin carried me up a narrow stair, the steps creaking under our weight, and into a small room.

He placed me sitting on the edge of a bed, and unwrapped the plaid from my shoulders. The wool was damp from my sweat.

Torin pressed his hand to my cheek. “Ye are burnin’.” He pressed me down to the bed, pulled off my rainboots, lifted my feet up, and pulled the blanket up over my shoulders. “I hae tae go see tae the horses, Princess, I will be back in a few moments.”

“Where’s Dude, does he know where I am?”

“I will bring him.”

He left the room. I rolled up into a ball and tried to survive.