Tent World

Chapter Seventeen--Jutland

Cheryl awoke when her dog stirred against her chest. A chill gripped her, and her clothes were damp with an early morning dew. Overhead, clouds covered the sky and threatened rain. Johnny and Courago slept in the cradle of a hollow log near her, and she envied them, thinking that the log may have offered some protection from the cold. Irrigato slept by himself under a covering of fern at the perimeter of the camp.

With a groan, she rose slowly, unfolding her limbs and stretching her muscles stiff from the previous day's travel. As she hobbled toward the clearing, she tried to rub warmth back into her arms. The valley spread below her and appeared as bleak as a black and white photo, gray under cloudy skies and littered with patches of fog.

A heavy feeling, cold and foreboding, crept over her. She wanted nothing more than to be home in her own bed and to pull her blankets tightly around her neck. Somewhere behind her over the mountains was the door through which she entered this world. Maybe it wasn't too late to go back. How many days had she been here? It all seemed a blur.

She reached into her pocket and fished out a spear of the now familiar velvet fern, and popped it into her mouth. As she chewed, she waited for the warm feeling, and when it came, she returned to her friends and awoke them.

For three hours, they walked along the edge of the woods and then plunged into the endless field of grain. They had agreed to stay clear of the roads to avoid detection, but since the grain was planted by scattering seed, not in rows, progress was tiring. The grain grew thick and chest high in the rich soil between the hills but sparsely and only to her knees along the ridges.

Midday, they dropped off a ridge into a valley through which ran a Cos River tributary. Cheryl collapsed onto the bank, slipped off her shoes and socks, and inspected a blister on her heel. Beside her, Duffer lapped water and then snapped at a passing dragonfly. As she watched, she rolled a leaf around in her mouth, savoring its flavor.

"If we had a raft, we could float down this stream to Cos and right up to the city walls," Courago said. He sloshed his bare feet in the water. "The Cos is not far from here. My brother and I fished from this bank as boys, didn't we, Irrigato."

"I fished," Irrigato said. "You daydreamed."

"Daydreaming is a kind of fishing," Courago said and skipped a stone across the water.

"That's the trouble with you. You've never been able to accept things as they are. You always dream of changing them. What of our condition now? With two children, a dog, and two swords, are we going to attack Jutland and free the people of Land? Your dreams will get us killed."

"Your fears will keep us captive," Courago said.

"I'm afraid," Cheryl said absently. After deciding her blister wouldn't be fatal, she slipped her feet into the cool water.

"We're all afraid," Courago said, "but fear needn't stop us."

"Do you think Messema doesn't know we're coming?" Irrigato asked.

"She has informers everywhere, even among our people," Courago said. He spat onto the ground. "They betray for a reward."

"You mean she may know?" Johnny asked with concern.

"Perhaps," Courago said.

"Perhaps?" Irrigato interjected. "Absolutely, you mean. And she waits with power that will destroy an army before it crosses the plain of Land."

"Our plan doesn't depend on surprise."

"What plan?" Cheryl asked with a chuckle. The idea of a well-organized plan tickled her. She didn't have the slightest idea what she was supposed to do.