Honor-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book III ]

21

Uarria did not know where they were, but she knew it must be very, very far from home.

As much as she missed her mother and her father and the world she had known back in the Holy City, Uarria had been with Ealin, Neshar, and Telai for weeks now. Just as the faces of her loved ones were becoming unreliable in her young mind, so was the idea that she had a life or a future beyond this journey. These were the only adults in her life now, the only source of food, of comfort, of direction. She woke in the morning to Ealin's face. During the day, Neshar and Telai's conversation took the place of the lessons of her nurse. She went to sleep to the sound of Ealin's gentle humming, and she walked all day long between the three of them, footsore and lonely.

Just as Ealin had taken Uarria's voice from her, so this journey was eroding the spark of rebellion, the memory of who Uarria had been before she became the girl on the road.

"There's a river up ahead," Telai said. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes. To Uarria, he looked sick. They had traveled thrice now in the terrifying manner Ealin called the "blood-path," and it seemed to be taking its toll on him most of all.

Ealin glanced down at Uarria, offering her a smile. "Can you hear it, sweet?" she asked. She had not called Uarria by her name for a long time.

Uarria could hear it. It had begun as a gentle rustling and now it was a rush, and as they continued walking, choosing a path through a wooded area, that sound mounted until it was a roar. She followed without protest when Ealin took her hand. The trees here were strange; they had long branches that fell to brush the earth, fronded with feathery leaves. When Uarria passed, she brushed her fingers along the leaves; they were soft to the touch, and she sighed with silent pleasure.

Soon enough, they were on the embankment of a river. Just past where they stood, the ground dropped off sharply, giving away to the rushing water; farther along, a shoreline spread like a smear of paint in the wake of an artist's brush, bordered with more of those sleepy-looking trees and other kinds besides.

"Pretty, aren't they?" Ealin said.

"We should set up camp." Telai unshouldered his pack and threw it to the earth. He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face, and looked at Neshar. "How much farther?"

"House Aófe is a day behind us mounted," Neshar said. "More or less." He did not even take off his pack before lowering himself to the earth with a groan. Once he had sat for a moment, he worked his arms free of the straps and pulled a map out of one of the pockets. Out of another he produced the red stones he carried, which he used when they traveled by magic. Uarria did not fully understand what they were, but she had grasped by this point that they had something to do with the magic. "Are you up for another jaunt by the blood?"

Uarria's heart sank. She felt so sick every time they traveled that way. She hated it. What had happened on her last night in the palace had been scary, but traveling by the blood was far scarier. She never wanted to do it again, but it seemed that they would keep doing it, once every span of days or so.

"Not tomorrow. The next day, perhaps. If we could stay in one place—"

"No." Ealin dropped Uarria's hand. The two men turned to look at her, and she shook her head. "No. We keep moving."

Telai grunted. "As you wish, but I think you're a fool. We need rest, Ealin, and trekking afoot for weeks on end is the opposite of rest. We'll be dead by the time we reach Aólane."

"And we'll be dead if we stay in one place long enough for someone to find us," Ealin replied. She looked at Uarria. "Come away from the edge."

Uarria passed back through the trailing fronds of the weeping trees, following Ealin to where the two men were sitting underneath one of the largest of the trees. She looked up at the gloomy canopy from beneath. In the shaded area within, she could see a large bird sitting on one of the slender branches, a watchful bird with a curved beak and bright, golden eyes. Its banded wings were tucked tight against its sides.