03 - Sworn (25 page)

As the sun reached its highest point and began its descent toward our destination, my legs began to numb.

At least I could keep my eyes open now, not like when Florizel and I first started flying together. I looked to my right, where Aren glided easily under his own power and in complete control of his flight. I decided then that if I survived this journey, and when I had a better grasp of my magic, I’d see about trying that transformation thing. Heights might not be so bad if I weren’t afraid of falling from them.

He flew ahead, scouting, then led us off-course to the south. He had no way of telling us what he’d seen, but Florizel followed willingly.

Each time he flew ahead or disappeared into the clouds, I felt the distance between us, and couldn’t help feeling that some day—not on this journey, but some day—he wouldn’t be back.

I didn’t want to think about it, but I had nothing else to do.
It’s this, or back to thinking about falling.

Aren it is.

I ducked my head down behind Patience’s to block the wind and watched him through the pale hair that whipped back against my face. The sun glinted off his feathers, making it easy to track him even with my eyes squinted half-shut. There had been a time when I called the eagle Aquila, until I found out who he really was. It seemed I still had much to learn about him. Every time I pulled back a layer, there were a hundred more beneath.

Aren had made it clear that he didn’t want to be king, but if what he said about Ulric being weak were true, what choice would he have?
And maybe it’s what he wants after all,
I realized, even if Ulric recovered and took his throne back. Maybe Aren had only convinced himself he didn’t want it because it wasn’t a possibility before. With Severn out of the way he’d be Ulric’s heir. He could have everything—the world at his feet, and all the recognition and respect he’d been denied all his life. I wouldn’t hold him back from that, especially if it was the only way to save the people of three countries from Severn.

And maybe he didn’t want to tell me until he figured out how not to hurt me with it.

The thought made my chest tighten painfully.

Just ask him about it, you idiot, and then you can stop worrying.

Patience’s weight shifted in front of me as she brushed her hair away from her face. “Aren’s going down!” she yelled over her shoulder.

I crouched lower, and my heart leapt into my throat as we dropped. We rushed toward the ground, and I wrapped one arm around Patience’s waist to hold her steady. Florizel landed hard and stumbled over the uneven ground. She went down on her knees, pitching forward and sending me and Patience tumbling forward over her head. I shoved Patience out of the way so I wouldn’t land on her and tucked my chin to my chest, landing on my right shoulder with a grunt. The grass provided a softer landing than I’d expected, and I was able to catch my breath and stand as soon as I’d stopped rolling.

I turned to see Patience lying flat on her back, not moving. Aren landed beside her and looked at me, obviously uncertain as to whether he should change and try to help, or wait until he could put some clothes on.

I knelt beside the girl.

She opened her eye, looked around, and laughed. “That was amazing!”

I gave her arm a shove and went to see about Florizel, who stood with her head hung low, long mane hiding her face. “Patience is fine,” I said. “We all are. You did well.”

She snorted and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Landing was just too much.”

Aren’s sharp shriek pierced the air. I looked for danger, but saw nothing. Not even the town we were supposed to be looking for. I turned to Aren, and he nodded toward me. No—toward the pack on my back.

“Right, hang on.” I looked for a sheltered spot for him to change, but the only things close by were the thin, wind-stunted trees that dotted the grasslands. “Patience, don’t look.”

The girl clapped her hands over her face.

I took Aren’s clothes out of the bag and set them on Florizel’s back. “Do you mind?” I asked her.

“Not at all.” She spread her wings out to the side, and Aren hopped around behind her. He dressed while I applied Nox’s ointment to Florizel’s knees, and brushed past me as he walked over to where Patience still lay in the grass. He nudged her side with his boot, and she giggled.

He gave her a thin smile. “You going to live, kid?”

“Probably.” She sat up. “Where are we?”

Aren looked around, getting his bearings again. “If the directions Jevan gave me last night were accurate, we should be a few hours away from the town we’re looking for. My wings were getting tired.”

That was a lie. I’d seen him fly farther before, and for longer. He knew Florizel needed a rest, even if she wouldn’t ask for it, and didn’t want her to think she was holding us back. He patted the horse’s neck as she passed him on her way to graze on the fat green grass next to a boggy place, and it was all I could do to stop myself from kissing him again.

We’d talk as soon as we could get away from Patience for a few minutes. I needed to know whether I should start ignoring the way my heart swelled when he insisted on being amazing.

We ate some of the food from my pack. “I should have hunted before I changed back,” Aren said. “But I thought we should talk about our plans.”

“Definitely,” I replied. “What we do next, but I also wanted to talk about—” I cut myself off as I saw Patience listening. “Well, the other things can wait. What do you think we’ll find when we reach this town?”

It might have been my imagination, but I thought Aren looked relieved when I only asked about the near future.

“I don’t know,” he said. “A lot of it will depend on how this town is operating right now, whether they were prepared for an influx of strangers in need of aid. It will also depend on how the people who came from Darmid are handling all of this, whether they’re opposed to magic. They might not have run into much of it yet, if Severn has taken magic-users from the area back to Luid. If all goes well, we’ll get to town, find your family, make sure they’re safe for now, and ask your aunt to accompany us back if she’s with them.”

I frowned. “Yes, but since when has all gone well for us?”

He gave me a dark look that should have been frightening, but that sent pleasant tingles through my body instead.
Down, girl.

Patience dug through her pack and sighed. “I forgot a hair brush.”

“Hang on,” I said, and found the broken comb I’d picked up after the stables were packed. I motioned for her to come closer, and she scooted over to sit in front of me. “Why so concerned with appearances?”

“We’ll want to make a good impression. They’re not going to welcome us if we show up looking like a tiny band of thieves, right?”

Aren watched as I pulled the comb through the wind-tangled ends of Patience’s hair and worked my way up. “Good thinking,” he said. “Did your mother teach you that?”

Patience looked down and picked at the sleeve of her sweater. “It was just the way we operated when we traveled. Best foot forward and all of that.”

Aren’s gaze moved to me, to my face, and he smirked. “You might want to give that thing a run through your own hair.”

I tried to pull my fingers through my hair, but couldn’t get far. The wind had pulled much of it free from the tail I’d had it in when we took off. I glowered at him as I untied the rest and shook out the strands. “Fine. You don’t have to look so smug about it, feather brain.”

Patience giggled as Aren flashed me the most self-satisfied grin I’d ever seen and shook out his own hair, which had suffered absolutely no ill effects from a trip taken in eagle form. If he was as confused about things as I was, he did a good job hiding it.

I finished brushing Patience’s long hair out and helped her adjust her scarf, and she stood.

“I have to go... you know,” she said.

“Come with me, child,” Florizel said. “We’ll find a place, or I’ll make one.” Patience hesitated, looked at me and Aren, and then followed the horse away.

Aren held out a hand. “Give me that.”

I passed the comb over, turned my back to him, and he went to work on my hair. I winced as he pulled through the tangles. Once he was past those, it was heaven. He dragged the tines of the comb over my scalp, sending waves of pleasurable shivers down my back. His fingers followed, pulling freely through my hair then pushing it forward over one shoulder. He leaned in close on the other side and rested his face against the side of my neck.

“Much better,” he whispered. His hand crept around my waist and pressed against my stomach. I turned and moved closer, resting my shoulder against the solid support of his chest, and he caught my lips with his own as I turned my face toward him. So gentle, such a contrast to the rough treatment he’d given my hair moments before. I lost myself, until Patience hollered and brought me back.

“Hey! We going?”

Aren sighed. “Yes.”

He stood and changed, leaving me to pick up his clothes this time. I stuffed them in my bag and stood on legs that had grown stiff while we rested. I braided my hair behind my neck with a ribbon, tucked it down the back of my jacket, and tied my scarf over my head. I did the same for Patience. When I was done, the poor girl’s head looked like a bundle of rags.

“You’re sure you’re all right?” I asked Florizel. “We can walk, if it’s too hard.”

“No, I feel refreshed. Thank you.”

We climbed onto the trunk of a hunched-over tree and mounted from there, and after another few false starts Florizel had us in the air. My thighs ached with the effort of holding on, but I couldn’t force them to relax.
Just a few more hours.

I imagined that the pain and exhaustion I was feeling couldn’t be anything compared to how Florizel’s wings felt, and decided not to complain.

The sun moved ahead of us, the wind grew colder, and I lost track of time as we flew. Patience tipped forward, then snapped her head back up.

I leaned in closer. “Don’t fall asleep, now.”

She nodded and hunched forward, holding her body parallel to Florizel’s neck. Florizel’s wings continued to beat in their hypnotic rhythm, and I too had to be careful not to fall asleep. I forced my eyes to remain open and watched as Aren flew ahead of us, catching updrafts and spiraling off-course as the wind lifted him, but always returning to us. Later on, he pushed farther ahead before returning and dropping below us, indicating that we should land. Not near the town, I noted. I could only imagine the stir we’d cause if anyone saw us.

Florizel landed with a little more grace this time, at least managing to keep us on her back, though I slipped to one side as she slowed to a walk. We dismounted and Florizel stood still, wings hanging toward the ground, muscles trembling.

“It was too much, wasn’t it?” Patience asked.

I ran a hand from Florizel’s forelock down her nose. “Poor thing. You need to rest.”

Florizel’s eyes rolled up to look at us without lifting her face. “I am a little tired. Perhaps a snack, and I’ll sleep while you all go to town. We... we won’t be flying back with another person, will we?”

“No, I think two is our limit,” I said. “Do you need a rub-down?”

“Thank you. If you have time, that would be lovely.”

I left Aren’s things in a patch of trees near a burbling stream and grabbed a handful of fragrant leaves to wipe the sweat from Florizel’s coat. She sighed as I worked the knots out of her muscles. I retrieved Nox’s ointment from my pack, and rubbed more on the scrapes where she’d gone down on her knees earlier.

“Rest well,” I told her.

“I will.” She lifted her head and sniffed the breeze that came toward us from the mountains that now loomed ahead of us. “Smells like home.”

“You’ll get there,” I told her. “If we go to Luid, we’ll find Murad.” She’d said that if she ever succeeded in rescuing her stallion from Severn, they might try to go back home.

She sighed. “I know. I keep reminding myself that helping you folks is helping him, but it takes so long.” Her ears flicked forward and back. “Not that I wouldn’t want to help my friends, anyway. I think you are my family now.”

The tears that burned my eyes shouldn’t have surprised me.
Once a sentimental fool, always a sentimental fool.
I couldn’t help it. I’d once dreamed of having adventures and interesting friends, and it was all far more incredible than I’d dreamed.

“Of course we are,” I said. “And we’ll be back soon. Rest while you can, please.”

Aren stood at the top of a rise in the land, looking beyond it. I climbed up to join him and found a pretty little town in the distance, much like one we’d once stayed in before. The whitewashed buildings and peaceful farms were surrounded by ploughed fields that hugged the curves in the land.

“Is that it?”

“If the name you got from the scout back at camp was correct, it is. Seems quiet enough.”

Patience appeared beside me. She shook out her hair and adjusted the scarf over her missing eye. “Best foot forward, remember.”

She started down the hill, and Aren and I followed.

17

ROWAN

^“
C
an’t we walk on the road?” Patience asked as we neared the town. “My feet are getting wet.”

“No,” Aren said. “In fact, I’d like to stick closer to that ravine.” He waited for her to catch up, and we made ourselves disappear as well as we could into the thin forest that grew at the top of the broad cut in the land.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. The town seems perfectly normal, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s the problem.” He stopped walking, and appeared to be listening for something. “I don’t know what it is. Let’s find a place near the road to watch from for a while, get a sense of what’s happening. I don’t trust that there’s no one following us just because I can’t feel them. There seem to be a few people slipping past that lately.”

He didn’t look at Patience as he said it, but she ducked her head and stepped away from him.

I wasn’t about to argue. Much as I wanted to hurry up and find my family, and much as my grumbling stomach yearned for a hot meal at an inn or a tavern, I trusted Aren’s instincts. His cautiousness balanced my own tendency to see only the possibilities in a situation. Trusting people had got me in trouble too often lately for me to object to taking things slowly here.