The Disgraced Queen

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Who knew I had so much luck?"

"Who knew, indeed. I just hope it doesn't run out any time soon and leave us dead."

Iora made to go back toward the cabin, but Aliana spoke up, causing her to pause. "Can we pick nuts while we're here?"

The guard shook her head in exasperation. "Don't you ever stop thinking about food?" When she saw Aliana's crestfallen face, she smiled gently. "Of course. We need a good stockpile of food at the cabin. We'd better hurry about it, though, I don't want to be close to these tracks for too long, in case our visitor returns."

"Thank you!"Aliana nodded eagerly. She turned her back on the tracks and went to the nut tree. With glee, she began stuffing nuts into her satchel.

Iora joined her, also putting the food in her bag. "I'm mad at you," she said after a while.

"What?" Aliana looked at her, confused. "That's random."

"The only way for you to have found the tracks was to go out of sight of the cabin."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

"Yes! I told you not to go out of sight of the cabin. You deliberately disobeyed my orders."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Aliana shook her head and put her hands on her hips. "The cabin is literally just over the hill. I understand you not wanting me to go for a jolly stroll through the woods, but all I did was walk down a hill because I saw food. And besides, I found the tracks, which I think is pretty important."

Iora obviously saw Aliana's logic, but she beligerantly stood her ground. "I told you to stay near the cabin! It's easy to get lost in the woods. Or what if the person had come by when you were down here? Can you imagine what would have happen if you were all by yourself and a stranger came by?"

"And I would be safer if I was in the cabin? With a blanket for a door?"

"Just gather food," Iora huffed.

Aliana, knowing she had won the argument, felt a smile creeping onto her face. Resisting the urge to smirk, she turned back to the tree and continued gathering nuts.

When they had collected as much as they could carry, they made their way back to the cabin. Iora trudged the entire way, each step declaring her anger and annoyance at the princess. The sun was beginning to set as they walked through the cabin's curtain door.

"It's freezing in here," Aliana complained. She pulled her cloak tightly around herself and felt a shiver travel down her spine.

"Of course it is, the fire needs stoked. Why don't you attend to that while I take a closer look at this door. That way we can get off to an earlier start tomorrow, since I will already have in mind what it is we require. We'll most likely be needing to go into town, seeing as we need something sturdy and secure. We'll also need to do something about the windows. We'll want to be able to see out of them, but also bar them up quickly for safety. Not to mention, it would be nice to be able to block out the snow. It'll be tricky to find the right material."

Aliana hurriedly added plenty of wood to the fire, grateful for the immediate warmth flowing over her thanks to its proximity. She would have stood there enjoying it, if it were not for her rumbly belly reminding her how hungry she was. She took their pot, emptied some of their water into it, and began adding bits of jerky. The vegetables were gone and the fish Iora had caught had not been properly prepared as yet. How she wished more could be put in with the jerky! Their supper would most likely be unpleasant tasting, or at least extremely bland. At least they had a few nuts and berries to go on the side. Perhaps they could get more either at town tomorrow, or along their journey.