“I’m sorry,” Lyra apologized, straightening her posture and regaining control of her horse. “I will pay attention. Lead on.”
Antello looked at her sadly and nodded. Without another word, he turned and headed towards the trail. Lyra followed and wiped her last tears from her eyes. She did have to maintain control of herself if she was to survive and regain her father’s freedom. Rhodella had not promised her an easy time of it, but she had instructed Lyra about what to do, and Lyra realized that she must shove aside her grief if she was to succeed.
Antello picked up the pace again as soon as he was sure that Lyra was going to follow him and soon they were charging through the forest once again. Antello kept a fast pace, slowing periodically in an attempt to let the horses regain their strength. The forest grew darker and Lyra wondered if the sun was going down or they were just getting deeper into the darkness known as the Sakova. So far they had not seen any of the wild animals or savage humans that the tales spoke of, but the Sakova was huge and she was sure that they would see both before their trip was done.
Suddenly, Antello halted and held up his hand for silence. Lyra was practically beside him when she stopped and she looked at him curiously. Antello seemed to be peering at one particular spot and Lyra followed the direction of his gaze. The woods were fairly dense here with a scattering of both the ancient fargi and the more common sevemor. The land rose gently in the direction Antello was looking and the side of the hill was covered with a low brush, which Lyra could not identify. The leaves were large and bright green and the bushes appeared to be connected by vines as if they lived in communities or groupings.
“I thought I saw someone or something move,” Antello whispered. “Maybe we have just been riding too hard.”
Lyra cocked her head and suddenly she realized that she was experiencing complete silence. There was not a sound in the forest. No crickets, no birds, no lizards scurrying under the brush, nothing.
“I think the sun is setting,” Antello added. “Maybe it is time to find a hiding spot for the night. The horses have had enough for the day anyway.”
Lyra said nothing as they started moving again, slowly this time. The trail had ended a long time ago and Antello just picked his way through the trees and bushes. She wondered if Antello even knew what direction they were traveling. The trees were so tall that you could only see the sun at the height of the day and she figured the stars would not be much better. The forest looked the same in every direction. Sometimes there would be small hills or little depressions in the level of the ground, but that information meant little to someone who had never traveled here before. She could only wish that they were not hopelessly lost.
Antello suddenly made a right turn and she followed him, not asking what he was up to. He rode for a short distance and over a small hill and then dismounted.
“We will sleep here for the night,” he announced. “It will be hard enough for them to track in this dark forest in the daytime. It will be impossible for them during the night. Just in case, I turned off the track we were heading and I will go back on foot to make sure that there is no sign of us turning off in this direction. Even if they continue tracking through the night, they will miss us.”
Lyra just nodded as she dismounted and took the packs off the horses. Antello disappeared over the hill as she fed the horses the last of the grain they had brought with them. She looked around for a source of water and the forest looked the same in every direction. Shaking her head, she waited until the horses had finished the grain and then gave their drinking water to the horses. Their own food supplies were also diminished and she wondered if they would end up starving to death after all they had been through.
Lyra spread two blankets out for them to sleep on and laid out some bread and dried meat for dinner. It was the last of the bread, although they had some dried meat and cheese left. They were supposed to get supplies as they traveled through cities, but that plan had expired at Gatong when they found out the Imperial Guard was searching for her.
Antello returned and sat on his blanket, eating the food Lyra had left there for him. “He will get away,” assured Antello. “You wait and see. I am doomed to have him at my side for the rest of my life. It is preordained, you see. He will get away.”
Lyra did not even nod. She lay down and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.
Lyra was not sure how long she slept and it took a moment for her to realize what had woken her. She sat up and looked over at Antello’s blanket and found him gone. The sounds pounded into her head, louder with every step and her eyes frantically searched the dark for Antello, but he was not to be seen. She knew what the sound was and what it meant and she felt a shiver shoot through her body. The invaders had found them in the dark.
She sat for a brief moment trying to reorient herself in the dark. Finally, she located the horses and from that piece of information, knew the direction of the track they had made through the forest. She grabbed her sword and crouched by her blanket, facing the direction of the small hill they had rode over, and waited for the invaders to appear.
Unmoving and silent, she listened to the sounds of the horses. Eventually, it dawned on her that the invaders were not coming closer. As Antello had expected, they continued along the track, not noticing where Antello and her had turned off. She crouched in silence until the sounds of the horses faded in the distance and then collapsed on her blanket with a sigh. Moments later Antello appeared out of the black night.
“I counted twenty of them,” Antello whispered. “Not sure which group it was, the ones at the bridge or the ones that went in search of another path across the canyon. We need to arise early before they backtrack and find where we left the track.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?” Lyra asked.
“I knew they would go on by,” Antello grinned.
“More likely you knew that if they didn’t go by, it wouldn’t matter if I was awake or not,” Lyra countered as she curled up in her blanket and went back to sleep.
Antello stared at her for a moment and shook his head. This was not the fun-loving Lyra that he knew. He couldn’t blame her for her attitude, but still he wished for the old Lyra back. Antello lay back and drifted off to sleep moments later.
Hours later, Lyra opened her eyes and stared up at the giant trees stretching up above her. The sky was light, but not bright. She guessed it was probably early morning and she slowly sat up listening for sounds of the invaders. As she sat up, her mother’s ring rolled down her chest and onto the blanket. She reached for the chain around her neck, which the ring was supposed to be strung on, and found it missing. She reached out and snared the ring and pivoted onto her knees, searching the blanket for the chain. She searched the entire blanket and the ground around it and could not find the chain. She noticed that her sword was not where she left it, but was farther away from the blanket. Anger built inside her when she realized that Antello had been messing with her belongings. She rose, grabbing her sword as she did, and walked over to where Antello lay sleeping. With the sheath still on the sword, she placed the tip at Antello’s throat. Antello came awake instantly with a look of horror on his face. The look faded to puzzlement as he gazed up at Lyra.
“I do not like people going through my belongings while I sleep,” she growled. “Where is my chain?”
Antello pushed aside her sword and sat up. “What are you talking about?” he hissed. “Why would I go through your belongings? What chain?”
Lyra frowned down at Antello for a moment and then whirled and ran to where she had left the packs. Swiftly she opened each pack and looked inside.
“Someone has been here while we slept,” she declared. “They have gone through everything. I don’t see anything missing except my chain though.”