The Book of Terrus: The Wise and Powerful

Chapter 24 - To the Sea

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You look...uneasy."

Lhara could feel the eyes of the two Guards on her from beneath the rims of their polished helmets. The spears in their hands didn't make them any more approachable. Trying not to be rattled by their presence, she shrugged. The cart went over a bump in the road and she had to swerve to avoid stepping in it herself.

"I was going to ask you the same question. What happened in Moaan?"

Jath flexed one of his hands in a little waving motion at Lhara. "Well, I suppose it's obvious enough that the regents of the south were amenable to my solution." When Lhara didn't respond at his glib answer he turned serious. "They knew the royal army had passed by heading south, and they knew about Utunma's rebellion. When Gideo asked them for help they hardly seemed surprised at all. In fact, I think Lord Xolani and Lady Oesu may have already been prepared to march, and were simply waiting for Vinie to come to them."

Lhara, jogging to keep up with the cart, huffed. "All signs seem to keep pointing toward what looks more and more like a war. Has Goran ever fought a war before?"

"Not for thousands of years, and certainly not against its own people. Not since the days of First King Amenthis and his campaign against the ancient beasts of this world, actually."

"Did anyone say what might happen to you when we get to Utunma?"

Jath shook his head. "No...but for now, I've made up my mind to enjoy not having to walk the rest of the way there." He chuckled softly, raising the eyebrows of his two guardians.

For a short ways Lhara followed the cart in silence. The Guards didn't seem particularly opposed to her presence. Swallowing her shyness of them, she boldly seized the edge of the wagon and hopped up into it. When Jath looked up at Lhara questioningly she folded her legs and settled down beside him.

"Well, if you're going to be lazy then I may as well too. Yidu says it's still some ways to Utunma." She winked. "Where were we in our Tale of Tales?"

Despite essentially being a prisoner of the cause he had fought for, Jath's smile seemed to warm his entire face. "I do believe the moth and the sparrow were on their way to the Wishing Waters."

The two passed many long hours on the road chattering away in the back of the cart. And if their Guards happened to find themselves getting quite wrapped up in the story as it unfolded, well, that was something the Guards kept entirely to themselves.

OoOoO

Vinie knew this stretch of road so well, she imagined even after twelve years that she could still walk it blindfolded. A twist to the right, a bend to the left, a short climb up a hill past where the stream tended to flood, out of the jungle, and there would be Utunma, cradled by the sea with beaches as white as a gull's wing. The urge to dismount from her antelope and run all the way home was practically irresistible. It had been almost two years since she'd seen the town where she grew up, and now that they were here Vinie was terrified. The royal army's company would have been here for at least a day already. Who knew what kind of justice they'd exacted on Utunma?

The mood of their company was likewise fraught with anxiety. The Factionists were quiet, and the Moaanese Guard fierce. Lord Xolani and Lady Oesu hadn't spoken much to Vinie during the journey from Moaan. She likewise had been too caught up in her own worries to talk. The antelope beneath her seemed to sense its rider's unease and flicked its ears often.

When they turned the corner to the right, something dark by the side of the road stuck out against the lush greenness of the jungle. The buzzing hum of flies reached Vinie, turning her blood cold and dropping her heart into her stomach. Her hands shook. Cries that she vaguely recognized as her own rang in the back of her mind, bubbling up unchecked from the memory that to this day haunted her dreams.