Guardian of Calandria | ✔️

Chapter Nine

Ry lowered his voice to keep Sabina from hearing and unleashing another whining triad, "You and I, we can handle this pace. I'm the son of a farmer, trained in the duel blades and when my father died, I became the man of the house as the eldest of six children. I'm used to being at work for over half the day. Guardian or not, she was raised to be pampered. An honest day's work for her is lifting a tea cup or waving to a crowd in a parade. If we keep pushing her like this, her whining will only stop when she falls dead in the saddle."

"We have to get to New Calandria. It's the one place Rodyn can't get to, the one place we'll be safe."

Ry grunted. "Nobody wants to get to New Calandria more than I do. Hopefully, Kira is safely there already, waiting for me. But I can read people as surely as I can read parchment, especially women." He jerked his head toward Sabina. "And that woman is going to drop in her saddle at any moment."

Demitra pulled on her reins to slow the horse. It cantered for a moment before settling into place. Ry stopped alongside her and swung the horse around to face Sabina as she continued to lean in her saddle. One arm hung limply over the horse's neck, her eyes closed. Wind flapped the tattered remains of her dress. Ry grabbed the reins to keep her horse from continuing on. Sabina stirred and sat up, her body swayed in the saddle. Drooping eyelids hid her irises from view.

Demitra sighed. "What do you suggest?"

"I understand why we can't go into villages. By now, my face is on every poster in every square. And the Princess look alike here is probably being claimed as kidnapped. The vagrants she's so fond of hating would turn her in for a copper if they could. So if you're going to change her appearance, change mine as well. Use magic, use roots to dye my hair, whatever you need. Make it so we can go into villages for a good night's rest at an inn once in a while."

"She'll be hard enough to conceal and you wish me to do it with you?"

"Then I'll keep my hood up or I'll stay outside of the village while you two sleep at an inn. Look at her, Demitra. She's sleeping in the saddle! From the way you talk, we're still weeks away from New Calandria even riding non-stop. Her whining is as much her being a prat as it is her being exhausted."

"You both will be the death of me." Demitra turned her horse and galloped off. Ry smiled as he tied Sabina's reins to his saddle. She mumbled but didn't stir when he pulled her onto his horse. His strong arms curled around her wide waist as he situated her against his chest.

"You, dear Princess look alike, need a bath," he said. "And you owe me for the comfy bed you'll hopefully sleep in tonight."

His lips curled. The horse moved to a gallop when he snapped the reins. Sabina's horse followed in pursuit. Snow fell as they traveled. Hills coated with white rolled past them one by one until the land turned flat. Grass and rocks fell victim to snow banks piling higher. Their horses slowed in the rising powder as they struggled to cut through the white walls of snow. Ry unbound the front of his cloak and carefully held the reins while refastening it around both him and Sabina. She shivered under his touch. With one hand he pulled the hood over his head to fend off the onslaught of frigid white.

"Demitra!" His voice wouldn't carry far through the snow. It swallowed sound as surly as it swallowed the land, including Demitra. "Dammit."

Ry stopped his horse and twisted in his saddle. He'd never been this far west before and he didn't know where the village was. With snow covering the road couldn't find it either. It might've curved or fork at any moment and he wouldn't know how or in which direction to go. He longed for the signage which told the direction to the larger cities in Morag. On the way to the Glades there was a sign every hundred feet or so, but he hadn't seen one in miles since following Demitra.