Beyond The Stone

Chapter 37

"There are riders approaching from the west and south. Am I right in understanding that you do not wish to meet with them?" Uhtre'al asked suddenly.

Tristava stared at him with open-faced incredulity.

"Never fear. They are yet some way off. There is time," he told them. "Nevertheless, I confess that I too am not eager to meet them."

"How..." Tristan mouthed.

"Bright lights in fleshy envelopes, my friend – to me they may as well be fiery beacons on a hill," he told them with a little smile as he rose to collect their empty cups.

He turned to face them after placing the cups in a pail of water.

"I am overjoyed to have met you, Ava, great grandchild many times over of Bithilal," he told Ava warmly. "Please visit me again one day. It would be my pleasure to guide you in your quest if I am able."

Ava didn't know what to say, so instead she kinda gargled a little, then bowed her head to him. A strange wash of vapour rushed over them, then suddenly they were sitting on the ground in a small clearing next to the olive grove. The cottage was no-where in sight. Their horse snorted uncomfortably, it's eyes wide and ears alert.

"So we are both to touch the stone," Tristan mused uncomfortably as he got to his feet and made over to the horse.

The old man's words were playing over and over in his mind like some sort of tricky riddle.

"I... I'm scared," Ava admitted feebly.

"We cannot let our fears overcome us," he replied studiously. "We should away to Tybalt hastily."

He nudged the horse into a trot and they jogged towards the edge of the olive grove where a small, feminine figure was approaching.

"Has the lady been found, sir?" the little woman inquired timidly from beneath her head covering.

She clearly found the idea of speaking to a soldier intimidating, but she was doing it anyway. She kept her eyes diverted, so he couldn't see her face. She fidgeted with the scarf around her head, as if to make sure that it would keep her from his view.

"What know thee of the lady?" Tristan asked, pulling the horse to a stop.

That some unknown woman would know the affairs of the household struck him as odd. The little woman fidgeted awkwardly for a moment, then relented.

"She was my mistress, sir," she told him. "I only wish to hear that she is safe."

Tristan sensed the duplicity in her words as he realized that there was something familiar about her.

"Was?" Tristan pushed.

"I have been dismissed, sir," she admitted. "The lord considered me to be complicit in her escape."

"Olivia?" Tristan queried gently.

Olivia looked up at him with unmasked surprise. Ava was overjoyed to see her. She smiled warmly.

"You be Olivia, my lady's maid?" Tristan noted, thinking how he might explain to her how he recognized her.

Olivia looked even more surprised.

"You know my lady?" she whispered.

Tristan nodded that he did.

"We should make haste," he suggested as he offered her his hand. "Soldiers approach at this very moment."

Olivia considered him for a moment with a mixture of fear and skepticism. Then she took his hand and he pulled her effortlessly up to sit behind him on his pilfered horse. A second later, they were racing for the tor.