ICE

56. On The Run

Vyses quirked a small smile. "It's been a very long time for you, hasn't it, lass?"

"You hush your mouth," Ravenna snapped as she brushed dirt and leaves from her skirts.

Vyses chuckled and glanced at Lyth. "Go search around. We should be near a village. See if you can find our new friends some food." He gently patted his horses side and scrubbed at belly.

As Lyth vanished from sight, Ravenna eyed her horse warily. It's eyes still glowed red, so it was still under Vyses's control. She hesitantly reached out and stroked the side of its face. It seemed to like that. "Are you sure that we're far enough from the village?"

"Not yet," Vyses admitted. "But I will know more once Lyth gets back. It shouldn't take too long. In the meantime, we can stretch out and take a break from riding. After several hours, it starts to hurt."

Ravenna agreed. Her legs were beginning to ache. She carefully moved around, twigs and leaves crunching beneath her feet. She lifted her hand, palm pressing against her bodice, where Caelan's spellbook was still securely tucked away. It made her nervous to just stand here and wait, not knowing how far away the guards were.

Lyth reappeared moments later, two bundles of hay at his feet. He stepped away from them, allowing the horses to close in and nibble at their meal. "The nearest town is still a good ten minutes on foot," he said. "And there was no sign of any guards from home. I feel confident that we've lost them, master."

Vyses nodded and ruffled his hair. "Good work. Now, get us some firewood."

Lyth dispersed again. Ravenna's lips pursed. Vyses noticed, approaching her with a warm smile. "We'll be safe here for the night at least. In the morning, we'll hop back on and move farther. Once we get several towns over, it will be harder for the guards to find us."

"How so?" Ravenna asked, unconvinced.

Lyth reappeared with an armful of twigs and branches. He dropped them on the ground and arranged several stones around them. Vyses took a small handful of hay from the horses, much to their displeasure. His fingertips glowed bright red, until the browned strands of grass burst into flame. He tossed the fireball into the twigs and, before it could spread, snapped his fingers. The stones surrounding the flames turned crimson, holding the flames within their circle.

"The guards won't be able to leave town for long," Vyses explained as Lyth produced several vegetables, a pot, and a raw, plucked pheasant from a small knapsack around his waist. "There are still people in that town that they have to protect, lest we return and take more victims. I'll bet my tavern that not every guard knows could recognize you by face too. You may have lived in town for several months, but you were a traveler --and you didn't cause trouble until close to the end of your stay there. All they probably knew to look out for was a girl with blonde hair."

He smiled at her. "And once a few days pass, those guards will be reliant on gossip, which gets warped the more mouths it passes through. It won't be long before we come across a village that is searching for a witch with bright red hair instead."

Ravenna harrumphed, somewhat unconvinced. What Vyses said was somewhat true. Gossip did tend to get stretched and reworded the more that it spread. But the Capitol had already been alerted to her presence in the town, so surely a more detailed description was being passed around between the guards.

"It will be alright," Vyses told her, sensing her uneasiness. Then he summoned some larger logs for them to sit on.

Ravenna rested against one of the logs, watching Lyth prepare some sort of stew over the open flame. She wasn't that hungry --now that Caelan wasn't alive to eat with her, the novelty of it had sort of withered away. She glanced at Vyses out of the corners of her eyes. He sat on the log beside her, the copy of Caelan's spellbook open in his hands.

A small crease had formed between his brows and his lips were wrinkled in an unhappy line.

Ravenna couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Vyses realized that spellbook was a fake.

thank you guys so much for trucking through the caelan-pain! aha, I know it isn't easy, but i promise that it will be rewarded in the end. fun fact: the name caelan is a gaelic name that means many things, one of them being a "powerful warrior". 

ps. for those of you who don't know, i also have a youtube channel. is there any sort of content that y'all would be interested in watching? it can be writing related (like how i create plots/writing basics/character info/beat writer's block, etc) or not. i already have a few challenges with my sister, a makeup tutorial attempt, and gaming videos posted.

 i would love your feedback!! ❤