The Lord Son's Travels (34 page)

“What
is this?” Adrien asked, raising the can of soda to his eyes to examine it more
closely.
 
This was the first item
she had ever shown them from her pack.
 
He had spent most of the ride trying to decide what it could be.

“Soda.
 
A drink.
 
Try some.”
 
Adrien sniffed the can, and took a quick swallow.
 
His eyes widened as he coughed
deeply.
 
Elenna reached for the
can, but he didn’t let go.

When
he had recovered enough to speak, Adrien declared to Brendan, “Try some!”
 
Brendan shook his head, smiling at his
friend’s enthusiasm.
 
Adrien tried
another taste.
 
This gulp went down
much easier.
 
“Why is it so … how
do I describe?”

“Carbonation,”
Elenna answered in amusement.
 
“Air
bubbles.
 
Do you like it?”

Adrien
nodded vigorously.
 
“It is so
sweet!
 
I’ve never tasted its like
before!”
 
In Allé-dôn and the rest
of the Eastlands, sugar was a legend to most of the people.
 
The only sweetness they tasted was
occasional fruit.
 
At Court,
sugared foods were served on special occasions when available. As he watched
his companion, Brendan thought back fondly to the parties they had attended as
children at Court.
 
Adrien would
slip away with entire platefuls of sweetened breads before the others guests
arrived, to return to the party with an empty plate and usually a stomachache
too.
 
As an adult he was much more
subtle, but he always managed to put away more than his share of the treats at
Court functions.
 
He didn’t offer
to share his new drink with his companions, instead relishing every sip with
occasional exclamations of its deliciousness.

Brendan
turned to Elenna, who was watching Adrien’s enthusiasm with evident
enjoyment.
 
“I’ll take first
watch,” he said, as he stretched his arms over his head.

She
shook her head, laughing.
 
“No, let
him.
 
After all that caffeine he’s
not going to sleep anytime soon.”

Brendan
looked puzzled.
 
“Don’t you have
any drinks or foods that fight off sleepiness?” she asked in surprise.

He
nodded in understanding.
 
“Like
cafu nut brew.
 
Farmers use it to
stay up all day during planting and harvesting time.”

Elenna
replied, “Well, this stuff is like wicked strength cafu brew.”

Brendan
was quiet for a moment.
 
Then he
laid back on his blanket on the ground, with his head resting on his pack.
 
“I forget sometimes you come from a
strange place.”

“Anyplace
with insects the size of my head shouldn’t call anywhere else strange,” Elenna
replied languidly.
 
Her fright was
starting to fade, to be replaced with sleepiness.
 
She smiled at the man across the fire.
 
“You never saw those before either.”

He
shrugged.
 
“In Allé-dôn we don’t
study very much about the rest of the Eastlands.
 
I think we will find much that is new to us, too.”

“Hopefully
nothing else new in the painful, deadly sense,” she replied, then yawned.
 
“Good-night, Bren.
 
Sleep tight.
 
G’night, Adrien.”
 
He acknowledged this with a flutter of his hand, too absorbed in reading
the label of the can in the firelight to pay much attention.
 
The words printed in such small type
were long and impossible to pronounce.
 
They reminded him of a spell he had once seen written in his father’s
Wizard’s book when the old man’s back was turned.
 
He wondered idly if Elenna had the skills to follow the
spell on the can and make more sweet drink.
 
He sighed.
 
At
this point, her strange skills were one of their few remaining strengths
against an overwhelming enemy.
  
He hoped she would be able to do more than create sweets with her
knowledge.

Chapter 33

Four
days later they staggered out of the last of the woods into a narrow clearing
bounded by a low cliff over the river’s edge.
 
This had once been the eastern edge of a magnificent stone
bridge crossing the river Ainslo.
 
None
of the three spoke for some time as they struggled to contain their fury.
 
The bridge had been efficiently smashed
into nothing but piles of rubble.

“Southlands
blew it up after his troops crossed,” Elenna voiced finally.
 
“He didn’t want any enemy troops using
it to cross his way.”
 
For the last
few days they had quickened their pace, excited by the sight of the rocky
jagged points reaching over the tips of the trees ahead of them.
 
Now the unreachable peaks were taunting
them from the other bank of the wide, fast-flowing river.
 
Brendan silently unpacked the makings
of the noonmeal, wisely avoiding his agitated companions.
 

By
his map, Adrien determined the closest bridge leading to a passable gap in the
mountains was miles to the south at a town called Crosspoint.
 
The forest reached right to the edge of
the river banks; traveling by land would be time-consuming.
 
There were a couple of smaller towns on
the way that would likely maintain regular barge service to Crosspoint.
 
Even if the service had been interrupted
by the fighting, hopefully they would be able to buy or somehow acquire a boat
in one of the villages.
 

Adrien
shaded his eyes against the bright sunlight they had grown unused to during their
time in the forest.
 
He gazed up
and down the river searching for the barge, but no boats were in view nor any
human activity.
 
Brendan had moved
to the edge of the cliff.
 
He
looked down, then dropped low and hurried back to his companions.

“There
is a barge below us, tied up to the rocks.
 
I saw no one on board, but we should approach carefully
should any occupants prove unfriendly.”

“Agreed,”
Adrien replied.
 
“Let’s keep watch
for some time to see if we can spot its sailors.”
 
All three crept to the cliff edge to watch below for signs
of life.
 
After a quarter of an
hour, a young girl stepped out onto the main deck to lower a bucket into the
water.
 
An older woman followed and
called to the girl.
 
She answered,
and returned with the woman inside.

“I’d
say it looks safe,” Brendan declared.

“Are
you sure they’re not prisoners?” Elenna asked.

Adrien
considered this.
 
“I don’t think
so.
 
My guess would be
refugees.
 
I want to approach the
ship and see what news they may have of the fighting.”
 

They
noted a path leading to the water’s edge a score of yards away, and led the
horses carefully down its steep slope.
 
Elenna reached the water’s level first, dashing down the rocky slope
with a surprising amount of disregard, and waited at water level for her slower
companions.
 
She scrutinized the
boat moored a few hundred feet away.
 
It looked lived-in, with laundry hanging from a rope strung across the
length of the ship.
 
A fire pit had
been dug in the narrow strip of ground between the cliff and the water, though
no fire currently was burning.
 
The
girl ran out on the deck again and spotted her.
 
She turned on her heel and fled inside.
 
A minute later a man came out, waving a
large knife and yelling words Elenna couldn’t make out.
 

Adrien
stepped up next to Elenna and listened intently.
 
“I don’t think we are being welcomed, but I think we would
be safe if we approach and reassure the man we are not brigands.”
 
They crossed the rest of the distance
as the man continued yelling and waving his weapon.
 

“We
mean no harm!” Adrien called out.
 
He held up both empty hands.
 
“We only wish to speak with you!”

The
man stared at the weaponry hanging from his companions’ belts, though the
speaker was unarmed.
 
Even the
woman had a sword, he noted with surprise.
 
He hesitated, lowering his knife for a moment.
 
He knew that he could not win if this
came to blows.
 
“I have nothing of
value for you,” he advised as they drew closer.
 
“It is only I and I would not be worth much as a slave.”

“Slave?”
Elenna whispered to Brendan.
 

Adrien
was in range for a normal speaking voice.
 
“Goodman, we come only for talk, not to harm you or your family.”

“Who
are you?”

“I
am Rian of Allè-dôn.
 
May we
board?”

The
man thought for a moment.
 
He had
never met an Allé-dônian before. “Why are you so far from home?”

“I
am a metal-dealer,” Adrien improvised.
 
Dealers were the only men to regularly leave for the Outworld, though it
was an unusual event for even a dealer to be this far from his own land.
 
“My partner and I were traveling home
when the fighting started.”

“You
travel with a woman?”
 
the refugee
asked.
 
“Your slave?”

Adrien
replied before Elenna could.
 
“She
is a student bound for the School and my sister’s daughter.”

The
man motioned to Elenna’s barely contained defiant gaze and sword belt.
 
“I’ve not known that the School now
teaches fighting.”

Adrien
shrugged.
 
“In these days no one
may ride unarmed safely.”

The
man waved them aboard.
 
“Come in,
we shall eat our noonmeal soon.
 
We
have little, but you are welcome to all we have.”

“We
have a few provisions to share,” Adrien replied.
 
The man offered an arm to Elenna to climb aboard.
 
She shook her head and neatly leapt
over the short wall to the main deck.
 
Her companions followed less gracefully as she studied the craft.
 
The boat was long and wide, with a hut
built in the middle of the main deck.
 
A ladder leaned against one wall of the hut leading to a second deck
built on its roof, where the pilot of the boat could view the length of the
river and steer.
 
The front of the
boat had benches for travelers, while the back of the boat was empty.
 
Elenna supposed this was where the
horses and maybe wagons of the customers were parked during the crossing.
  

“Mae!”
the man called.
 
The woman Elenna
had earlier seen peeked out of the hut doorway, eyeing the strangers
suspiciously.
 
“They are friendly,
Mae.
 
Fix them some meal, too.
 
What’s your name?” he asked
Brendan.
 
Elenna approached the
woman, after a confirming glance from Adrien.

“My
name is Elenna,” she said.
 
“May I
help?”

The
woman smiled.
 
“All is most
finished, I think, but I appreciate the offer.”

“I
have some bread and greens in my bags,” Elenna continued.
 
“I’ll go get them.”

Mae
beamed.
 
“Thank you, Elenna.
 
We’ve been living on Elmaer’s hunting
since we left our house, and ‘tis hard to find bread and such living on the
river.”

When
the meal was ready, the group assembled around the fire.
 
Mae brought out the youngest of the
family; the baby gazed with infant curiosity at each new person in turn from
within its cocoon of blankets in its mother's arms.
 
With the company of two friendly armed men, Elmaer relaxed
and became jovial.
 
He joked with
the men about the metal business, which Adrien had studied with his tutors
years before as one of the important trades of his kingdom.
 
He eyed Elenna from time to time,
curiosity evident in his eyes, but his daughter stared openly.
 
She had squirmed herself into a seat
between the strange woman and the handsome traveler, and took turns pestering
each with questions.
 
When her
mother chided her forthrightness, Brendan laughed and assured the good woman
that there was no bother.
 
When the
meal was finished, the young girl was sent to the boat to tend to the cleaning
up, and the conversation took a more earnest turn.

“How
has your journey fared you thus far?” Elmaer asked, producing a smokeweed
pipe.
 
Brendan shared a little of
his stash with the men.
 
The women
huddled at the opposite end of the fire, but listened carefully.
 
A warning glance from Adrien kept
Elenna biting her lip, but quiet.

“We’ve
seen some fighting,” Adrien replied in a neutral tone.
 
“What is your destination?”

“We
aim for Allé-dôn.
 
Tis said that is
the only land of refuge left in the Eastlands.”

Adrien
considered this.
 
“Long journey.”

“Aye,
especially traveling with young ones.
 
We’ve not many choices though.
 
You still trying to reach the School?”

Adrien
nodded.
 
“I’ve been told the School
still stands.”

“So
I hear also, though I do not think it has opened its doors to common folk
seeking refuge.
 
They’d not dirty
their shining tower with the scruff of the lowborn.” Elmaer frowned.
 
Mae gazed disapprovingly, but did not
contradict him.
 
“Which way will ye
travel there?”

“I’d
hoped to reach Crossroads to find the Low Pass,” Adrien answered.
 
His hopes were dashed as his host shook
his head.

“Crossroads
is fallen.
 
We’ve come from there
two days past.
 
Was only the
blessing of the Lady we escaped the fighting.”
 
Mae excused herself to carry the baby inside; her husband
waited until she was gone.

“T'was
difficult for her,” he confided.
 
“We nearly had to leave the baby behind.
 
We thought we’d need to swim for it, and there is no way to
bring a baby.
 
Then the girl saw
the old barge tied up, and we slipped off in it while the guards slept.
 
The Lady saw our need for sure, many
thanks to her.”

Adrien
had paled at the man’s story.
 
He
took a big puff of his pipe to cover his thoughts.
 
“There is no water way to Allé-dôn.”

“True,”
the man agreed amiably.
 
“We
thought to cross the woods towards Arden and the South road.
 
If you can use the barge, you’re
welcome to her.
 
I was thinking to
let her loose in the current, but if she will be helpful…”

“Many
thanks,” Adrien replied.
 
“We’ll
take her downstream, I think, and see what path we find.”

Their
host suggested a few passes far down the river, near the southern reaches of
the Eastlands.
 
Adrien nodded at
the information.
 
Elmaer yawned,
and offered them a room on the ship for the night, which Adrien accepted
gratefully.
 
The room turned out to
be the storage room below decks, reeking of a prior shipment of horses.
 
Elenna thought she would never overcome
the smell enough to sleep, but exhaustion overcame her sensitive nose, and she
awoke many hours later to the sounds of movement on deck.
 
Brendan was still lying nearby, but
Adrien had already arisen.
 
She
wrapped her cloak around herself tightly and joined him on deck.
 
He was leaning against the ship rail,
glaring at the massive rocky formations across the water.
 
Pink tinge from the imminent rise of
the sun glowed on the snow caps of the peaks, as the early fog shimmered on the
surface of the wide slow current of the river.
 

Adrien
felt her slide up next to him at the rail.
 
He continued to face the offending mountains.
 
“We’ll need to add weeks to our
journey.
 
If the ports are under
Southland’s control, then there is no way possible to travel that far without
being boarded.”

Elenna
turned to study what she could see of the mountains.
 
They were high; some snow clung to the very tips of the
highest point.
 
A few cliffs, but
her sharp eyes could see the possibilities.