The Prince, the Thief & the Artifact

Chapter 13: Arrows

The man drew himself to his full height. "My house is not far from here. I do wish you would do me the honor of being my guests for the night. It is the least I can do. My place is not very far off your path."

Al and Ida glanced at Leon. He quietly observed the man for a few seconds before nodding. "Then we will gratefully take advantage of your hospitality for the night."

Sage beamed.

His house was, indeed, not far off their road. It was also close to the Red River.

The heavy tree canopy opened to reveal a stretch of grassy land where two buildings stood. Beyond them, Summer could hear the river rushing wild and relentless.

The night would fall shortly. Sage showed them to one of the buildings. It was a stable and a shed, where they could put their horses for the night. As they settled their horses in the stables, Sage and his sons preceded them to the house to let his wife know they had company, as Sage explained.

Summer helped Felix rub down his horse, made sure the animal had water and food for the night, then went outside to see the river.

The wind had a bite in this part of the kingdom, even with spring settling down. Summer looked up at the gray sky. The gloomy clouds looked heavy. Rain was coming.

Boyd had told Summer about the Red River when she was about ten or eleven years old. She had wondered with fascination and disbelief at the time, about how a river could truly be red.

As she looked down the cliff at it, now, she suddenly missed Boyd with a sharp ache in her chest. He was essentially the only parent figure she'd had. The only person, other than Rose, who had cared whether she lived or died.

Summer shook off the somber thoughts, blaming it on the weather, and picked up a rock. The river had dug deep into the ground in this part of the land. The cliffs on either side were almost vertical, with a few protruding rocks on the way down.

Summer let the rock drop from her hand and counted. One, two, three, four.

Roughly four seconds. Hmm. That would make it round a two hundred feet fall. With the rocks jutting out haphazardly and the racing river down below, it was certainly a risk.

Ida and Leon joined her. "Quite a drop," Ida said, looking down.

"But it's beautiful," Summer said. And it was. The water appeared red. Summer knew it was an illusion of the red algae coating the river bed. Illusion or not, however, the sight was still supernaturally beautiful.

"It's going to rain tonight." Ida shivered. "We're lucky we happened upon Sage."

Lucky. Summer smiled. Spending a rainy night in a dry, warm bed was definitely lucky.

"Let's hope we stay lucky." Summer grinned, wagging her eyebrows at Ida. "You have me, after all."

***

Sage's wife was as tall as he was. A slender dark-eyed beauty. The long locks in a thick braid down her back were almost blue black, and her pale skin was touched with gold. Both children inherited their mother's coloring, but their features were purely their father's.

The house was big, in Summer's standards. A living space, with a long table and chairs, opened into the kitchen. There was no plumping. They got their water from a well Summer had spotted earlier.

Sage, his wife and Al chatted cheerfully as the couple set the table for dinner. They explained their big house and large dining table by the frequent visits of their relatives. The small town where the couple was from was located a small distance south of the river.