Esra (18 page)

       Esra nodded once to show she understood, and then leaned forward to stroke the mane of Roja.  “So just how fast can these Horses go?  They’re so large, it’s hard to believe…”

       No sooner had she spoke the words then Arland and Fynn shot forward on Errol and My Lady, disappearing from the clearing before Esra could even open her mouth in surprise.

       “Very, very fast,” the blacksmith grinned.  Baelin gave a loud shout and took off after the other two at an incomprehensible speed.  Esra glanced down at Meshok, who was sitting uninterestedly on her haunches, licking her paw.

       “Don’t worry,” Nadia assured her, “Great Wolves are just as fast.  Meshok will probably be waiting fer us at nightfall when we stop to set up camp.”

       Satisfied that her friend would not be left behind, Esra gave Roja a soft tap with her finger.  The Horse responded with such force that Esra pitched backwards violently and had to grab frantically at the saddle.  Tightening her fingers around the edge of the seat, they began winding through Trees at an unbelievable speed.  Large Oak and Birch Trees flashed by her in a blur of color and motion as they went tearing through the forest.

       Esra clenched her thighs tightly against the Horse’s broad sides, terrified that she might fly off or run into a branch.  She was used to a Human steering their Steed, but obviously no one had told the Skycatchers this.  Wind whipped at her face and pulled her long blonde hair out of its carefully tended braid.  Her eyes watered with the intensity of the Wind so she leaned lower into the Horse’s neck. 

Feeling the steady rising and falling of Roja’s strong muscles underneath her, she slowly loosened her hold on the saddle just a bit.  Her legs were tiring already from the panicked grip she was maintaining and she felt them inadvertently loosen as well.  Leaning onto her stomach, Esra tried to flatten herself against the Horse instead of using only her legs to hold on, adjusting herself against the saddle.  She could see how a more traditional saddle would have been too awkward and constricting rather than this smooth adaptation that let her lay forward.

       Feeling somewhat more secure after surviving the first few minutes of the ride, Esra let herself look around a little at the forest.  Roja’s stride was surprisingly smooth, and she jolted around less than she did when riding smaller Horses.  All the Trees burst by in a flash of greens and browns, and she tried to focus her attention on an individual Tree up ahead.  After a few moments her eyes seemed to adjust and she could make out the more definitive shapes of leaves and twisted branches, the large round trunks.  The air was fresh and crisp, and Esra couldn’t remember ever feeling more alive.

       “I hope that ye know where yer going,” she shouted above the Wind rushing past her face.  “Because I’ve lost any sense to navigate and our Assembly is nowhere in sight.”

Other than a flick of his ears, Roja made no motion that he heard her or attempted to slow down.  Since he seemed to be confident in their direction, Esra reluctantly loosened her grip on the saddle and let him lead.  Inclining forward even further, Esra took a chance and threw her feet behind her so that she was lying flat on her stomach along the Horse’s back.  After balancing for a moment, she sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the invigorating sensation of Wind raking over her body.  She remained that way for quite a while, thinking that if anyone could see Roja running now they would not know there was a rider on his back.  The hazy colors and shapes of the forest soon became a sleepy blur.

       Perhaps it was the thrill of her first ride, or the calming sensation of being rocked on the Horses back, but Esra was genuinely surprised when Roja began to slow, waking her from her hypnotic state.  Sitting up, Esra noticed that the other four had stopped ahead at the side of a stream where the Horses were drinking deeply.  Sauntering next to them, Roja lowered his head, dipping the front half of his body so that Esra could jump off. 

       “Is it time to stop already?”  Esra asked.

       “Already?” Arland chuckled.  “We’ve been traveling fer hours.  It’s time fer noonmeal.”

       Esra looked up and saw that the Sun was indeed straight up in the sky. 

       “And everyone knows we cannot let a big beefy man like Baelin miss a meal,” Fynn patted Baelin’s belly as he started to unload the pots from My Lady.  “Specially if he still wants te pop me head like a Roja fruit.”

       Nadia rolled her eyes and began to take off her boots, motioning for Esra to do the same.  They pulled off their stockings, walking to the edge of the stream and stepping into the cool running Water.

       “That feels delicious,” Esra moaned happily.  “I didn’t realize how exhausting it is to ride a Horse all day, even if yer lying down.”

       “Yes, and we still have a good bit of traveling ahead of us,” Nadia acknowledged.  “It will get easier though the more ye do it.”

       “Makes me wonder how the Horses feel.  After all, they’re the ones doing all the real work.”  Esra waded further into the Water, relishing the refreshing feeling of Water flowing around her.  It reminded her of all the times she had taken Meshok down to the stream at the farm to swim, and she felt a momentary pang of homesickness.

       “Have ye seen Meshok?” Esra remembered, looking around.

       “Over there in the Water.  I think she’s having a glorious time swimming about.”  Nadia pointed over to where the Great Wolf was panting heavily as she paddled deftly across the stream.  Whenever Water was near, Meshok was in it.  It was something they did often together.  And despite her size, the Wolf was a very efficient swimmer.  “She was waiting fer us here, just like we guessed.”

       “Oh Ladies!”  Fynn called out from a hastily built Fire he was tending farther back from the Water.  “And I don’t mean ye, Arland.”

       Arland, who was brushing down Errol, let out a mock laugh and whispered loudly to his Horse.  “That’s right, he’s the crazy one.”

       “Yes, Fynn?” Esra called back. 

       “I’ll gives ye all my love if ye just find me some good Corra Nuts te mix in with this stew.”

       “In that case, I think we’ll be drowning ourselves.” Esra took a dramatic pause before diving into the Water.

       “Oh ho, Fynn!  She’s catchin’ on to ye!”  Arland laughed.

       “She’s just playin’ hard te get.  Who can resist this?”  Fynn began pumping his arms up and down maniacally in a spastic dance.

       “Dear King Keridon have mercy,” Nadia mumbled as Esra laughed violently beside her.  They both began to slosh out of the cool Water and onto the fresh green shore. 

       “Maybe ye should take Arland with ye just in case,” Baelin warned.  “The forest here is unfamiliar and may hold some unknown Beasts.”

       “Nothing could possibly be scarier than that,” Esra motioned towards Fynn as she linked her arm into Nadia’s and started towards the Trees.

XV

       They had traveled hard though the second half of the day and it was well past dinnertime when they decided to stop again.  Esra watched with curiosity as the forested rolling hills of the Kingdom near Sorley morphed into a flat, open plain.  The air here seemed hotter and heavier, as if it were a living thing of its own.  If it was so different only a few days away from her home town, she wondered what it might be like farther away.  Would she even still recognize the land as LeVara?  Dismounting wearily to catch a quick supper before reaching Tirbaz, Nadia came over and sat down next to Esra.

       “Are ye ready fer yer first lesson in stealth?  I’ll show ye how to catch a rabbit with yer bare hands.”

        “Really?  I mean, yes, of course.”

       “Good, because it’s about time ye had a proper lesson.”

       “Ye sure ye don’t want to take Fynn?”  Esra teased.

       “Tempting, but I’d rather offer my own arm fer the cooking.”  She stood up and starting walking towards the center of the field that bordered a small grove of Trees. 

       “Don’t ye want to go hunting first by those Trees?”  Esra asked, perplexed.  “Ye won’t find much out in an open field.  At least not much ye can catch.”

       “True, but then again I need to show ye how my gift really works, and I can do that much better out here.  Besides, it’s hard enough to see me in the open, let alone a dark forest.”  A moment later she appeared on the other side of Esra, who could’ve swore that she didn’t even see her move.

       “The Ring of Haste, my second Gift.  There is a Keeper of Speed named Humi at the Stronghold.  She is fast in everything she does.  She can chop Vegetables or tie a saddle in the blink of an eye.  My Gift only makes me quicker on my feet, but I can’t perform tasks any faster like Humi can.  Don’t worry, ye don’t need my speed fer this lesson.  Come on, then.”

       They had been attempting to stay as close to the shadow of the forest in their travels as possible, but the closer they got to Tirbaz, the thinner the Trees became.  Esra felt strangely exposed, as if the surrounding forests in Sorley had sheltered her somehow.  It was hard to believe that someone could be stealthy in this open terrain.  They both walked in the fading light towards the center of the field while Nadia explained the basics of stealth.

       “A person is usually detected by four distinct ways.  The first is touch.   Even if ye were deaf and blind, ye would obviously know that something is there if ye can feel it.  The second is smell.  This is usually not a problem fer most Humans, since our sense of it is very dulled, but fer Animals this is especially important.  The third is sight and the last is sound.  My gift gives me the ability to conquer all of those things when I so chose.”

       “Ye mean, the way ye get all shimmery sometimes isn’t all ye can do?”  Esra asked, genuinely surprised.  Although Nadia tried to appear in solid form when Esra was around, there were other times she didn’t.  It was as if she was in a place neither here nor there, like the flickering waves on the ground of a hot summer day.

       “Actually, I prefer to be in the ‘shimmering’ form as ye call it when I am alone or with others I trust.  It is just more natural to me.  But I realize this may make ye uncomfortable so I have been more conscious of my solid form.”  She wavered and Esra squinted hard to try and grasp her shape, not able to follow the flickering ghost of her friend.  Instantly Nadia snapped back into focus, becoming as real and sturdy looking as Esra had ever seen her.

       “Can ye go completely invisible?”  Esra’s mouth was open in astonishment.

       “Not completely.  And it is harder fer me to go undetected around advanced sorcerers. They may not get a good solid picture like ye are getting right now, but a vague glimpse.”

       “One of the things that drives Tallen mad, fer example,” she continued, “is that there is no spell that can stop me from being like this, even temporarily.  That is the advantage of the Keepers, of having these natural gifts.  Because Elite magick is forced and identical, we are able to directly counter their spells but they cannot do the same.  They may be able to put other spells around to keep me out of somewhere, or alert them when I enter a place, but they cannot remove or counter my powers of stealth directly.  And many times I can get around those other spells as well.  Tallen once had an Elite magnify his hearing to try and discover me sneaking into one of his camps, but it didn’t work very well because he heard
everything
ten times louder, including the Wind or a buzzing Fly.  They’ve really been frustrated with me.  Imagine the information I’ve been able to gain on tasks to penetrate the Elite camps.  It has been immensely useful fer the Keepers lately and it is certainly keeping me busy.  Especially since my fourth Gift, the Bracelet of Evening Eye, allows me to see in the dark as well as I do at midday.  That combined with my speed and stealth has been called upon fer many tasks as of late.”

“So what does it feel like?”

       “Kind of like when yer in Water.  Sort of weightless and free.  Or maybe even a little like the Water itself, fluid and smooth, uncommitted to a specific place or time.”

       Esra pondered what Cane had said about Tallen trying to turn people against their will and about the difference between natural and forced sorcery.  What Nadia did seemed very much a part of her, an extension of her being.  She could imagine it would be very different if it was some type of a spell forced upon her.

       “So yer going to try to teach me, the loudest, clumsiest girl in the Kingdom, some of that?  Hasn’t Baelin told ye?  I couldn’t sneak up on a stampeding herd of Vernok.”

       “Well, we’ve no time fer a true discussion of magick but we can start with the basics.  I can at least give ye some advice so ye can make it with the stampede, but I don’t recommend trying to break into Tallen’s fortress after just one lesson.”

       “Deal,” Esra laughed. 

       Nadia placed her finger to her mouth as she pointed out a Rabbit in the center of the field.

      
I know she’s talented,
Esra thought to herself,
but I doubt that she can catch a Rabbit in the middle…

       There was a brief flash and Esra saw various waves of what resembled Nadia racing across the Grass.  Suddenly her ghostly form was upon the creature and she saw the Rabbit’s realization.  It crouched down into the Earth, preparing to bolt, but it was too late.  Nadia grabbed the Animal firmly by the scruff of its neck and held it up proudly.  She came back into full focus as she walked back towards where Esra stood.

       “Jumping jig!” Esra clapped her hands as Nadia took a well-earned bow.  “I thought ye were going to try and take me with ye this time.”

       “Then I fear ye wouldn’t have had a true appreciation of my skill,” Nadia teased as she set the Rabbit on the ground and watched it hop quickly away.