The Lord Son's Travels (9 page)

Brendan
noted the eagerness with which the stranger wolfed down her food.
 
"When was your last
meal?"
 
he asked.

Elenna
pondered this a moment.
 
"Last
night, I guess.
 
Mom made spaghetti
for dinner.
 
I was late this
morning, so I didn’t stop for breakfast.”
 
She frowned at the thought.

“What do
you last remember?” Brendan asked, and the frown deepened.

“Walking
to school,” she answered absently, as she tried to find a coherent timeline for
several disjointed odd sensations that came to mind.
 
“It was morning there.
 
I assume that it was morning here, too, so I must have been unconscious
for a long time.”
 
Once she
explained the idea of unconsciousness to Brendan, he explained his relief on
her behalf.

“Tis well
you found us.
 
This is good land,
but there are still bands of brigands about that would be rather unpleasant
company.”
 
She fell silent,
finishing her meal and allowing Brendan to start on his.
 

When
Brendan next looked up from his bowl, he followed Elenna’s gaze to their still
silent companion.
 
He still had not
come to the fire for his meal.

"Please
excuse my friend," Brendan apologized with a friendly smile.
 
"He's a bit in his own world
sometimes.
 
He means you no
disrespect.
 
Adrien!" he
called.
 
"You'll end up with
cold meat and it won't be my fault."

Adrien
shuddered as the voice pieced through the fog of his thoughts.
 
He was watching the stars as they
ignited one by one in the early night sky.
 
He turned around to the others.
 
Brendan regarded him with a patient smile of exasperation,
while the woman appeared mainly curious.
 
She still had his cloak wrapped around her, hiding her strange unseemly
outfit.
 
Her hair was thankfully
still tied behind her back.
 
Here
was a new problem to add on top of all of the old burdens he was already bearing.
 
Adrien was still trying to decide what
to do with her.
 
There was the farm
they had passed, but his imagination had created several possible occupants of
the farm that made that solution seem less like a good idea.
 
As much as he didn’t want nor need the
added problems this stranger could bring, he knew he wouldn’t have peace in his
own mind from guilt until he saw her safety passed into another’s responsible
care.
 
Damn, he thought grimly.
 
Women would always be trouble, wouldn't
they?

He helped
himself silently to the meal and moved some distance away from the others,
dropping down gracefully to a seat next to the still unsheathed sword stuck in
the ground.
 
The woman stared at
him directly without any apparent embarrassment at her rudeness.
 
He chose to ignore her impropriety, but
allowed himself a few surreptitious glimpses in return at the stranger.
 
Her fear of them was gone now, replaced
by this impolitic curiosity.
  
He expected this to evolve into a barrage of questioning but she
remained mute,
keeping whatever ideas she
gained from her observations to herself.
 
As he rose to his feet to rinse out his empty dish, she made an
involuntary gasp, and he turned to see what had happened.

Elenna
had glanced around in the darkness, still seeking any sign of familiarity.
 
The stars were glowing brightly now,
with the moon beginning to peak over the tips of the trees.
 
She stared straight up and studied the
points of lights above her.
 
What
she saw there had made her gasp and draw the men’s attention.

"The
stars are different," she announced in wonder.
 
She rose up in astonishment, dropping her empty plate to the
side.
 
Pulling the cloak tightly
around her, she stepped to the farthest edge of the firelight.
 
Brendan and Adrien watched her in
concern.

"I
can't even find the Big Dipper!" she exclaimed.
 
She whirled around as her eyes remained locked on the
display of lights above her.
 
She
raised her hand to her mouth, nervously biting at the tip of her thumb.
 

"My
Lady," Brendan eased behind her, worried that her anxious spinning might
cause her to fall.
 
He laid a
gentle hand on her shoulder.
 

Elenna
turned to face Brendan.
 
"Did
you ever notice the stars seem to make pictures?
 
Do your people do that?"
 
Brendan nodded as she pointed to the sky.
 
"So do my people.
 
If I was still in the same place, the
pictures would be the same.
 
But I
can't find anything familiar up there.
 
No Orion, or Cassiopeia, or Taurus.
 
I can't even find the Southern Cross."
 
She was babbling now, words flying out
at a frantic place.
 
"I don't
even know if I'm on Earth anymore!
 
But you speak English!"
 
Brendan tightened his hold on her shoulder as the full impact of her
dilemma hit Elenna.
 
She still
searched high, pulling away from his grasp and stepping even further out into
the dark.
 
Brendan turned to his
partner, his eyes dark with worry.
 
Adrien shrugged.

"My
Lady," he called, stepping around the fire to come after her.
 
His voice seemed surprisingly gentle to
Elenna, who whirled around at the sound.
 
"We will help you seek your home.
 
I don't know how to return you, but we will find who
can.
 
Until then you must travel
with us." Elenna nodded slowly.
 
She took a deep breath and calmed herself.
 
Meekly she returned to her seat, a little embarrassed by her
emotional outburst.
 
She refused to
peer up again into the mysterious sky, but morosely gulped the rest of her cup
of water while staring into the fire.
 
Brendan returned to the clean-up process.
 
Adrien moved to a seat near the stranger.
 

"We
travel at night, my Lady," he said.
 
"Can you ride a horse well enough to manage for an evening?"

 
She nodded.
 
"I've been on long rides before."
 
She searched around the camp to still
see only two mounts tethered to a tree.
 
He followed her eyes.
 

"You'll
ride with me on my horse.
 
He's a
good mount, willing and able to take a second rider.
 
If there is anything you will need from your bag as we ride
this evening, you should remove it now.”

"Yes!"
said Elenna, brightening at the mention of her bag.
 
She grasped the pack and eagerly pawed through its contents.
 
She didn’t offer any view of the
objects inside.
 
What Adrien could
see over her shoulder was unrecognizable.
 
He watched her fondle the exotic objects from her bag, and the faraway
look that had entered her eyes.
 
His gaze narrowed suspiciously as a faint smile crossed her
lips.
 
Whatever was in that bag had
given her confidence.
 
He would
manage to slip it away from her and check its contents later, and maybe answer
some of the questions she posed.

"Do
you have a change of clothes?" was all he asked now, replacing the
suspicious thoughts in his brain with more mundane concerns.
 
"Your current dress is not very...
warm."

"No,
I didn't pack very well for this excursion," Elenna agreed, glancing down
at her clothes.
 
"And I'll go
out on a limb here and say you don't have any women's clothes with you,
either."
 
He shrugged.

"We'll
find you appropriate wear in the village.
 
For now, keep the cloak.
 
I
have a spare."
 
Elenna
stretched her arms behind her back and yawned.
 
Adrien pulled his spare cloak from his saddlebag and pulled
it around his shoulders.
 
Elenna
handed him her bag to include with the rest of the baggage and waited patiently
for the men to finish their preparations.
 
Brendan doused the fire, plunging them into sudden darkness. Before her
eyes had a chance to adjust, Elenna could only hear her new companions as they
bantered ideas of the road ahead.
 
She could already recognize the friendly notes of Brendan's voice,
compared to the gruffness of the other man.
 
She inched her way around the ashes of the fireside to stand
at Brendan's side.
 

"We'll
not take many breaks," he advised her.
 
"Are you sure you can ride all evening?"

"Do
I have a choice?" she asked in reply.

He
shrugged.
 
"We are in a great
hurry, my Lady," he answered honestly.

She
frowned at the dark outline she could make out by the light of the moon.
 
"Don't call me Lady," she
said.
 
"Just Elenna.
 
I'm nothing special."

"As
you say, Elenna," he answered slowly.
 
"But I would ask you to keep your hood over your hair,
especially if we meet any people on the road.
 
Trust me, anyone who sees the color of your hair would cause
us great troubles."

"Agreed,"
she said, and pulled the covering up over her offending tresses.
 
She smiled at her new companion, which
he returned warmly.
 
Adrien called
for her, and motioned for her to join him by his mount.
 
She glanced at Brendan with a tinge of
regret.

 
"He's not half as scary as he
looks," he reassured her with a glint of amusement in his eye.
 
"He's just not used to pretty
women."

"I’m
shocked.
 
I was sure the women here
all loved his charming personality," Elenna replied dryly, and to the
sound of Brendan’s surprised guffaws made her way to the horse-like shadow by
the tree.
 
Adrien was already
astride.
 
Elenna knew very little
about horses, but from what she could see, the horse was bridled but with a
saddle unlike any she had ever seen.
 
It didn't rise in the front or rear, but lay flat almost like a leather
blanket across the horse's back.
 
It would seat two small people comfortably, and people their sizes well
enough.
 
When he realized the woman
didn’t know the way to climb up, Adrien reached out an arm, motioning for her
to take hold and put one foot in a leather stirrup.
 
She held on gingerly, as he pulled her high enough to swing
her legs into the correct positions.
 
Adrien flinched involuntarily as she nestled uncomfortably close in the
saddle.
 
He had to reach around her
waist to hold the reins, with the folds of her hood obscuring his view.
 
She shuffled around in an effort to
find a secure position that required less touching.
 
He didn't move, allowing her to get as comfortable as
possible for the long ride.
 
Behind
them Brendan mounted his horse and trotted to a position to their right.

"Ready?"
he asked, and received a grunt from Adrien in reply.

Chapter 9

They
started out at a steady walk, allowing the horses to warm up for the
journey.
 
The moon had fully risen
over the treetops to a position over the road behind them.
 
There was little else to see in the
darkness but the never-ending shadow of the forest to either side.
 
Elenna wondered about the population of
the land.
 
They had yet to pass
another traveler.
 
She hoped to see
another resident of this strange land, even if it would be as awkward as the
men had warned her.
 
The night
remained silent.
 
Once something
howled, almost spooking Elenna out of her seat with its sudden interruption
into her thoughts.
 
After a period
of bumps and muttered apologies, Adrien and Elenna had found a shared rhythm of
riding that kept them most comfortable and out of each other's way.
 
He was a good horseman, and his mount
Madoc was well-behaved and seemingly tireless.
 
They traveled at a quick pace, stopping only for quick
breaks for gulps of water and muttered comments on the condition of the road.
 
As the night passed the monotonous pace
became soothing; a couple of times Elenna jerked herself back to wakefulness as
the rhythms of riding lulled her into a doze.
  
As the sun crept up over the horizon, Adrien called
for the other rider to halt for the day.
 
He slid off their mount, then helped Elenna down from her perch.
 
Immediately her legs screamed with the
agony of too many hours in the same position.
 
She bit her lip and tried to walk it off.

"Where
are we?" she asked.
 
She bent
over and tried to touch her hands to the ground.
 
This was a lost cause.
 
All of her muscles protested and tried to rebel by cramping.
 
She ended up lying down at the side of
the road, stretching out and rubbing the sorest parts while murmuring terms of
self-pity.
 
Both men tried to
ignore the sight of her bare legs poking out from under the cloak.

"
We are
within a day's ride to the river," Adrien announced.
 
"There is a village there where we
may purchase needed supplies." He was still in fine shape from their ride,
though Brendan winced a little as he moved about the camp site.

Brendan
frowned.
 
"I still don't think
it is wise to go to any villages yet," he said to Adrien. Elenna could see
this was a continuation of an old argument.

"We
need more foodstuffs, Brendan," his companion answered calmly.
 
"And find what news we can.
 
That is the purpose of this
journey."

"Yes,
but what if there are men already there..." he glanced to the woman
listening eagerly and paused.
 
"Well, Adrien, you know the situation."
 

Elenna
shrugged.
 
"You don't need to
worry about my ears, guys.
 
I
really don't care what you're running to or from.
 
Will there be anyone there who could maybe help me?"

Adrien
grimaced slightly as she pulled down her hood.
 
He had nearly convinced himself during their ride that her
hair color had merely been a trick of the evening light; not really the
unallowable hue he recalled.
 
He
had spent a good part of that night’s ride planning what to do with her.
 
As much as he wanted to unload this extra
burden, he realized that it was very unlikely that she could find aid at a
local farm or village.
 
The effect
of her traitorous hair was strong on him and Brendan; he doubted she would be
treated with much patience or respect by less educated commoners.
 
He thought of the list of supporters
that Tarien had supplied him.
 
One
of them would be her best chance, he concluded, and none of them were close by.
 
She would have to stay under their
protection until they were able to find one of the names on the list.
 
But for the safety of the group until
then, he had vague memories of the whispers of women at Court he had heard in
some banquet or another in the past.

Elenna
repeated her question, and brought him back to the present.
 
"I doubt," Adrien replied honestly.
"I would talk with you about this later this day when we are at
rest."

 
Elenna had wondered during the boredom
of the ride what it would be like to camp out with these new strangers.
 
It would certainly be different than
the camping trips she had taken with her family when she was younger.
 
She watched in wonder from a bystander
seat as the men each tackled their usual tasks for setting up camp.
 
The campfire was smaller than her
father's usual bonfire; Adrien managed it easily enough without a match or
lighter that was the usual go-to method in the Davidson household.
 
No tents or other shelter; Brendan
merely spread out a number of blankets at a safe distance around the fire.
 
Elenna shuddered slightly at the mental
image of a rainy day before she managed to acquired a roofed residence
again.
  

The meal
was much better than the instant mush that was camp food when she was a
kid.
 
Once the three of them were
gathered at the fire, they simply handed back and forth the last aging chunk of
bread, pulling off pieces with their hands.
 
To Elenna's amazement, Brendan produced out of his
saddlebags a number of fresh, unbroken eggs which he cracked and fried quickly
in their only pot over the fire with something that smelled like bacon.
 
There were small metal plates for
serving the eggs and bacon, and water poured into small cups from a big metal
pot that Adrien had filled with fresh water from a nearby stream.
  

   
The analytical part of her
was still nervous about falling asleep in the company of two strange men; the
rest of her brain demonstrated its opinion by yawning continuously throughout
the meal.
 
By the time Brendan
finished the clean-up she was already stretched out asleep on her share of the
blankets, underneath the borrowed cloak with her mysterious bag within reach of
her fingers.
 
Adrien watched out of
the corner of his eye with amusement as Brendan adjusted her coverings
slightly, as fussy as a nursemaid over his new charge.

She
didn't wake until late afternoon, well after both men were awake and busy with
their duties.
  
She yawned and
pushed herself out of the comfort of her nest to rise up, leaning back with her
palms on the blanket.
 
"What
is the probability that you have any coffee?" were her first words of the
day.
 
She frowned deeply at the
blank looks they returned to her inquiry.
 
"Well, that settles that question; yes, I am in Hell.
 
Now I get to go through caffeine
withdrawal on top of everything else.
 
I'm not even going to bother asking about TP."
 
She rose to her feet and stumbled off
into the privacy of the woods, leaving the man to stare at each other with
expressions that switched from amusement to bewilderment and back again.

   
"My father always warned
me about the odd ways of Outlanders," Brendan finally said with a shrug
and a rueful smile.

Adrien
only shook his head in reply and continued packing up Madoc for the day's
ride.
 
Soon enough everything was
ready for departure.
 
He summoned
both of his companions to discuss his plans for the day.

"We'll
reach the river by morning," he said.
 
"I think it is best perhaps if only one of us goes into
the village itself. The others could wait in the woods."
 
Brendan nodded.
 
So did Elenna too, when she realized
she probably didn't have a vote anyway.
 
"I'll go," Adrien
declared, and received no argument.
 
He paused, then added to his fellow rider, “I think at this time it is
best if we can make some alterations to your dress.
 
I shall see if I can acquire women's’ attire, but your
hair…” he sighed.
 
“Are there not
some potions women use to change their coloring?” Elenna sighed when she
realized his meaning.
 
Adrien felt
her frustration, but was pleased when she nodded in assent.
 
"I’ll make enquiries within the
village.
 
Let's go then."
 
Elenna stayed silent, flipping up her
hood again so that it covered
most of
her face.
 
She took a long deep
draught from her water cup, but refused the hunk of bread Brendan offered.
 

They
mounted and rode on until the sun had rose above the tops of the trees.
 
They found a small clearing off to the
side of the road, far enough away that their presence wouldn't be noted by a
casual glance from any traveler.
 
They had passed a trio of farmers an hour previously, cantering on broad
sturdy horses towards town and market.
 
Elenna watched with fascination
from under the hood of her cape.
 
All three were plainly dressed, riding their mounts on either side of a
wagon filled with early wheat and vegetables.
 
They hailed the travelers gaily and inquired of their
business.
 
Brendan gave them polite
but terse answers and waved them on.
 
Adrien never acknowledged them but remained hidden under the hem of his
dark cloak.
 

As the
men made camp for the day, Elenna stumbled on her aching legs a slight distance
from the site and plunked down on a fallen tree trunk to search through her
backpack and think.
 
She had half
memories of something about minerals and their properties that could be useful;
she made sure she was unobserved, and peeked through her mineral geology
textbook for information.

At this
camp, it was Adrien's turn to make their supper.
 
He dropped the last of their meat into the pot and added
water to make a weak stew.
 
This
was, to his best friend's chagrin, the only thing he knew or cared to prepare
for their meals.
 
Brendan was busy
unloading their blankets to prepare their bedding for the day.
 

"I
need charcoal," Elenna announced loudly.
 
The men looked up, intrigued by the sudden announcement.
 
"If I powder it and mix it with
some kind of oil, it should darken my hair long enough to go out in public
safely.”

"How
do you know that?" Brendan demanded.
 
He eyed her in surprise at this new bit of knowledge, then turned his
gaze to his companion to gauge his reaction.
 

Adrien
nodded. "I can get that easily enough."
 
He glanced at the bag slung over her left shoulder, and
filed that thought away for future reference.
 
He stirred the half-filled pot at his feet, then decided spontaneously
to add the last of the potatoes.
 
They finished their preparations
and settled down to their meal around the remains of the cooking fire.
 
Elenna made a face at the blandness of
the dinner but still wolfed it down hungrily.
 
Brendan and Adrien watched in amazement as two platefuls of stew
disappeared into her thin frame.
 

"It
will take a wealthy man to support that one as wife," Brendan muttered to
his friend as he picked at the remains in the pot.

Adrien
dropped his empty plate and finished his cup of water in a gulp.
 
"It would take a deaf man, I would
think."
 
He arose and crossed
to his mount.
 
"I'll be a few
hours.
 
Stay here and out of
sight."
 
He climbed up and
urged Madoc to the road.
 
As soon
as he was gone, Elenna breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out on the
ground.
 
Brendan remained in his
seat, tossing her a blanket he had placed at his side.

"Sleep
now, Elenna," he instructed.
 
"I will keep watch until Adrien returns."
 
She caught the blanket and placed it
under her head, again using her cloak to cover herself.
 
Yawning, she decided to keep trusting
the blond man watching her with friendly eyes, and fell into the welcoming arms
of sleep.
 
She had no dreams, an
unusual occurrence for her.
 
It
felt that she had barely closed her eyes when she heard her name called out
impatiently.
 

"Dad?"
she mumbled drowsily, using her arm to block the sun's light from her
face.
 
"Did I forget to put my
alarm on?"