Undestined: Fight your Fate

Chapter Eight: An Unexpected Encounter, Pt. 2

"Riya?"

"Hmm?" Riya had been staring steadily at the road for the last half hour. Without horses, they were now carrying their supplies, and everyone was feeling the strain.

"Do you have anything of Kade's?"

"Why?"

Silay shrugged. "Because right now we aren't really doing anymore than we were. And I thought, maybe if you had something of his, we could track him."

"I don't. It's not a bad idea, though."

Jarlen halted so suddenly the two women almost ran into him. He turned. "It's not a bad idea, at all. We've just been stupid. What can you use for tracking someone?"

"Possessions, blood, magical items." Silay listed the answer out automatically, as she had been taught in school, then paused, her eyes widening in realization. "Magical items!"

She and Jarlen both turned to look at Riya, who frowned at them. "What, is there something on my face?"

Silay couldn't hide a small smile. "Not on your face. On your neck!"

"On my..." Riya brought her hand up to the spelled collar. "Of course! But we'd need another magician to cast a tracking spell."

"I hate to say this, but," Jarlen glanced at Riya. "I think we need to go back to Sojan".

"In case you've forgotten, the last time I was in Sojan they put a collar on me. They're not likely to take one off."

Silay nodded her agreement. "Besides, that would be backtracking by a lot. I doubt Kade and company went that way."

"It's not only the closest large town, but they have several magicians who could help. Besides that, we know they have a Farstone and are willing to help us stop the plague."

"I don't like it." Silay shook her head. "They arrested us! And I, for one, could do with not being tied up any more."

"Think logically! We don't have horses, and we don't know where Kade is going. If we go back to Sojan, we can check in with the Seers, get horses and more supplies, and maybe even find out where we should go next! It's our best chance."

Riya sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "He's right, Silay. It makes the most sense."

"Fine." Silay glared at Jarlen. "But you better make sure we don't get arrested again."

***

The one thing they had to be grateful for, Silay thought as she knelt by the stream filling waterskins, was that whoever had kidnapped them had brought them back a little ways towards Sojan before leaving them. Even so, they had been over two weeks away from Sojan on horseback when attacked and even further on foot. 

Jarlen had already altered their plan this evening while setting up camp. Instead of making directly for Sojan, they would veer off a day to the east to Turvew, a closer town. They could get horses there, and maybe the help they needed. And if there wasn't anyone who could cast a tracking spell, then at least their trip to Sojan would be that much faster, once they had horses. Silay and Riya had agreed, Silay silently hoping that this side trip would save them from having to return to Sojan. There was something about the big city that put her on edge, and not just because they had been arrested there.

Caught up in these thoughts, Silay didn't hear the footsteps behind her as she made her way back to the campsite. But she felt the cold metal tip of the sword that pressed into the back of her neck. She froze.

"Don't worry, I'm not a thief." The voice was all too familiar.

The point of the sword moved around her neck as the wielder circled to face Silay. Talis smiled grimly at her. "I don't know why you've taken to carrying a sword. It's not like you know what to do with it."