Reader Beware

Chapter 36

            “You are sure there’s nothing more I can do for you?” Zobah said from where he stood on the raised steps that led to the front door of his manor.

            Despite the fact that the sun was only half over the horizon, the lord was up and seeing them off. Rika was more than a little surprised. She’d always thought that nobles were supposed to be night-owls, but here was Zobah, looking perfectly alert at an hour she wouldn’t have gotten up at, even for school.

            She shook her head, shifting carefully so she didn’t drop Ahisu’s staff. She was riding double with him again just as Elthia was perched in front of Damek, both of them having decided to ride with their companions behind them as opposed to one of the soldiers. “We’re fine. You’ve given us more supplies than I think we’ll need and let us stay here for the night, not to mention feeding us. That’s more help than we expected.”

            Zobah nodded. “It was truly the least I could do. If you run into any problems, are in need of aid, I will let my soldiers know that they are to help you in anything you need. Just seek them out. I think you know their uniforms by now.”

            Rika nodded. “Thank you. For everything.”

            “It was my honour.”

            Damek saluted the lord before giving his horse a little kick to get it moving. Ahisu followed suit, the six guards escorting them doing the same. It was an odd feeling, being in this little cavalcade. Despite Damek and Rika’s protests, Zobah had insisted they keep the horses they now rode, to do with them what they wished. Damek had said, once they got to the next city, he fully intended to sell them. The less they had to identify them, the better. Rika had to agree. Especially now that she knew that Zobah, and probably Atelic, had agents working for them that had descriptions of her. She was sorely tempted to come up with some sort of disguise.

            Rika sighed, leaning back a bit. Not too far back. She didn’t want to press herself against Ahisu. She didn’t think he’d like that much, though he hadn’t voiced a single complaint about the riding arrangements, and she’d half expected him to. He was weird about physical contact and she’d half-wondered if he had a germ phobia or something. If that was even a thing here.

She’d actually thought he was stick-thin under the robes, right up until the last time they’d ended up riding. He’d really surprised her when he’d been able to lift her with no apparent trouble. And a couple of times, when the other horse had tried to make a grab for grass and Ahisu had been forced to pull its head away, she’d actually been able to feel his arms against her. There had been definite definition there. That thought made her want to “accidentally” lean back and see if his chest matched his arms…

Shetton chose that moment to appear beside the horse, running at a speed that kept up with the horse’s slow canter with no apparent effort. Rika could feel Ahisu shift behind her, and guessed he’d turned to look at the demon. After a few seconds, she heard a faint hiss from the mage.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

“Followed.”

Rika thought through a few possible meanings, then asked “Zobah’s sending people to follow us?”

“Yes.”

She winced. “We’ll have to do our best to lose whoever it is. You think he’s told them to interfere with us if…Who am I kidding? Of course he did. If we get somewhere big enough, and pick up some stuff to change our appearances before we get there, we can disappear in the crowds. He already has a description of me circulating around his people. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had ones of all of us by now.”

“Problem.”

“It will be a problem. At the least, it’ll be annoying. But there’s not much we can do about it right now. We just keep riding until we get rid of the escort, then we can all talk about how we’re going to lose our tail.”

Ahisu snorted. Rika twisted around so she could face him, giving him a stern look. “You need to be nicer to Damek and Elthia, especially Damek. You’re really rude to him and it’s not helpful to anyone. Do you know that Elthia’s scared of you? It’ll be harder to work together if you don’t change your attitude a bit.”

His expression shifted into one that told her that he didn’t care. She glared. “You might not care, but I do. And you’re stuck with me until you repay your debt. And won’t it make it harder if you can’t get along or at least be civil to the other people around me?”

He stared at her for several seconds, then flicked his gaze over to Shetton. After nearly a minute, he looked back to her. “Consider.”

Rika frowned. “You’d better do more than consider it. Or it’ll be a serious problem. Damek already tries to avoid having to talk to you. Before long, he won’t even be telling you important things,” she said, before turning back around to face the road.

She got another few seconds of silence before she heard a soft “Fine,” from behind her. Rika couldn’t help the small triumphant smile that tugged at her lips. But the only other person who knew about it was Shetton, and he only laughed silently at the sight of it.