‹ Prequel: The Pauper Princess
Status: Currently undergoing renovations.
The Game
Twenty
Despite my worries, nothing of any consequence occurs. After eating, we moved on and continued riding until dusk. We ride by a clearing near a small stream and the General decides this is as good a place as any to stop for the night. I gladly hand off the reins of my disagreeable horse to Calin and move toward the carriage.
“How on earth did you manage to fall asleep?” I wonder aloud. She’s settled on the floor surrounded by blankets and pillows. In her lap is one of the books she’s no doubt been reading for the past few hours. I lift her hand off it and quietly place it on the bench. She sighs in her sleep and nestles further into the blankets. With a sigh of my own I quietly shut the door.
“Is she asleep?” I flinch at how close Ekohl has managed to get without me hearing him. Without turning around I nod and start to walk away. I can feel him watching me still, but he doesn’t follow. With no real purpose in mind, I wander over to where the horses are tethered near the stream.
Glancing back, I can see that the guards are busily setting up camp. Six tents are being raised and a fire started. The horses have already been unsaddled, and I can see Calin filling several feedbags near one of the supply wagons. I settle myself by the river and start unlacing the boots Kahlin insisted I take from the surplus supplies. They were new and not broken in yet, and I have several blisters as evidence of the long day. I plunge my feet into the stream without a second thought and let out a sigh of relief. Lying back on the cool ground, I close my eyes for a moment.
I hear someone approach, but I decide it must be Calin with the feedbags for the horses. When the footsteps stop a few feet from my head- and don’t continue- I sit up to see who it is and what they want. Of course it would be the one person I wished more than almost anything to avoid.
“What are you doing?”
“The boots gave me blisters,” I say, pulling my feet out of the water as proof. I carefully dry them on the bottom of my skirt.
“That’s not what I meant,” he says quietly as he takes a few more steps and crouches beside me. I finish drying my feet, ignoring his comment and his proximity. He doesn’t move a single muscle as I pull on my boots, but as soon as I finish lacing them he grabs my elbow.
“Wh-,” He doesn’t give me a chance to ask what he’s doing. Instead he takes hold of my other elbow and pulls me to my feet. With a quick glance back toward the others, he guides me further into the woods and out of earshot.
“How on earth did you manage to fall asleep?” I wonder aloud. She’s settled on the floor surrounded by blankets and pillows. In her lap is one of the books she’s no doubt been reading for the past few hours. I lift her hand off it and quietly place it on the bench. She sighs in her sleep and nestles further into the blankets. With a sigh of my own I quietly shut the door.
“Is she asleep?” I flinch at how close Ekohl has managed to get without me hearing him. Without turning around I nod and start to walk away. I can feel him watching me still, but he doesn’t follow. With no real purpose in mind, I wander over to where the horses are tethered near the stream.
Glancing back, I can see that the guards are busily setting up camp. Six tents are being raised and a fire started. The horses have already been unsaddled, and I can see Calin filling several feedbags near one of the supply wagons. I settle myself by the river and start unlacing the boots Kahlin insisted I take from the surplus supplies. They were new and not broken in yet, and I have several blisters as evidence of the long day. I plunge my feet into the stream without a second thought and let out a sigh of relief. Lying back on the cool ground, I close my eyes for a moment.
I hear someone approach, but I decide it must be Calin with the feedbags for the horses. When the footsteps stop a few feet from my head- and don’t continue- I sit up to see who it is and what they want. Of course it would be the one person I wished more than almost anything to avoid.
“What are you doing?”
“The boots gave me blisters,” I say, pulling my feet out of the water as proof. I carefully dry them on the bottom of my skirt.
“That’s not what I meant,” he says quietly as he takes a few more steps and crouches beside me. I finish drying my feet, ignoring his comment and his proximity. He doesn’t move a single muscle as I pull on my boots, but as soon as I finish lacing them he grabs my elbow.
“Wh-,” He doesn’t give me a chance to ask what he’s doing. Instead he takes hold of my other elbow and pulls me to my feet. With a quick glance back toward the others, he guides me further into the woods and out of earshot.