Elizabeth climbed to her feet looking refreshed and ready to travel, party, dance, or climb a mountain. The sleep the Blue Lady had promised had been accurate. Even Tater looked unusually eager as Springer raced in circles and acted like a puppy. Elizabeth took one look at Kendra and turned to me. Clearly, she knew something had happened last night, but let it pass—for now. She would return to the subject when she had time to question us fully.
Kendra helped me with the packhorses, and whispered with a touch of humor, “Now, you’re gonna get it.”
“Am not,” I responded with a brotherly laugh. Once in the saddle, the sway of my horse threatened to put me asleep. I wore a blanket over my cloak to ward off the intense cold. The snow deepened and hid the road, the sky darkened, and more tiny flakes fell. They were more ice than snow.
Tater had to dismount and kick aside drifts to find traces of the path a few times. There were also a few blazes on trees provided by previous travelers. It followed the contour of the landscape. I would have expected my mind to be centered on the events of the night before, but it was not. My brain insisted on considering what would happen in two or three days when we arrived in Mercia and waited at the gates for Lord Kent and Princess Anna, and the servant, Avery to arrive. I looked forward to the confrontations.
The scandal of Lord Kent and Princess Anna traveling alone together was enough to bring down a royal house, so the fact they’d done it openly revealed more. I had no idea of what that might be. Whatever their motivation, it must be important to jeopardize their reputations. No, more than important, it must be critical.
Whatever their reasons, I mentally pictured us waiting at the city gate as they approached on the road and saw us there for them. What would their reactions be? Clearly, they had wished to ride ahead and arrive first. Would their expression reveal fear, anger, distrust, or even, as unlikely as it might be, pleasure?
Bringing my thinking back to the present, it was cold. With a small twitch of my forefinger and a little applied magic, the air under my cape warmed. I sighed with content before feeling guilty at not doing the same service for Kendra and Elizabeth. Tater would never know, but I gave him a small burst of warm air. Not hot air, but warm. Then I did the same for each of the women, only warmer. Enough to stop the shivers. My forefinger pointed and twitched at each of them in turn, and a while later I intended to do it again.
Ahead, Elizabeth felt the sudden warmth and turned. She flashed me a grateful smile. I didn’t have to look behind to my sister to know she felt the same. The short days of winter meant we didn’t have much daylight to travel, so we hurried. A stale biscuit and later a strip of dried, spiced meat with three kinds of pepper became my meal. After that, I wanted to stop and drink, but where streams might flow in summer, only snow and ice existed.
I kept an eye on Tater. As the snow deepened, he’d reached down and grabbed Springer under his belly and brought him to ride in the saddle, sitting ahead of Tater and enjoying the scenery. Now and then, we passed by a small crater in the soft snow where he’d spat.
The horses trudged on, until at last Alexis’s gait subtly changed. We were heading down instead of up. We had passed the crest of the mountain pass and were on the other side. The snow came up to the hocks of Alexis and made the going hard. I stayed in the tracks of those ahead and now and then created another puff of warm air for each of us—even small ones for Tater, of course. I’d have liked to include him with the warmth we enjoyed, but our rule was that I did no magic for any but the three of us. Besides, he now had Springer under the blanket he wore, and the dog would help keep him warm, probably an inaccurate observation. But one I clung to.
The sky darkened, and snow fell harder, the flakes small and hard. I noticed Tater had picked up the pace when I’d have thought he would tire and slow. He must have been worried about getting trapped in deep snow and having to spend the night sleeping in a drift. I glanced ahead to find him sitting taller and his head watching from one side to another, as if listening.
His wariness should have come from the storm about to cut loose on us, but instead, he looked to the sides of the trail. Why? My hand went to my knife. I wished we’d have taken the time to unpack the small crossbows last night. Even a bow would have made me feel safer.
It was not clear if the fear in the air was from the approaching storm or the uneasy actions of Tater. Riding ahead to speak with him would draw attention from the women and possible enemies. From his actions, I believed they were out there, perhaps a bear, or lion. However, I was not powerless.
I reached out to Tater with the magic of my mind and offered him a slight stimulation, a lifting of his tiredness. He would repay his body for the boost later, hopefully by sleeping well. Magic cannot be created. It is more of a shifting of natural events. Draw a little from here and apply it there. I pulled from his reserves. His body would demand its return.
The droop in Tater’s shoulders was gone. He sat tall and appeared attentive and wary. If an enemy intended to slip up on him, it wouldn’t work. I felt Alexis shudder under me, a sure sign the horse was about worn out. The snow she slogged through didn’t seem any less. A pat on her neck and a few words of encouragement seemed to calm her. No magic, other than that of a man and his horse.
An arrow buzzed through the air just as I sat up, missing me and flying off into the trees to my right. My shouted warning was more of a wordless cry as I leaped to my right, unfairly using my horse as cover. My shoulder hit the snow, and my body rolled, avoiding another arrow.
Whenever there is excitement, my mind slows and considers odd things. Now, it questioned the worth of weapons carried on packhorses a dozen steps away, along with stupidity of them being there instead of in my hand. A glance revealed Tater on one knee, an arrow drawn. He didn’t release it, so must not have seen an enemy clearly.
Behind me were both women, also in the snow, anxiously searching for who or what had attacked. I climbed to my feet and ran to the packhorse carrying the case with the small crossbows. A single slice of my knife and my hand held it as I changed directions. Ten steps took me to Kendra. The fastened straps barely slowed me down, as the case opened, freeing one crossbow. She took it, along with a fist full of bolts.
Moving to the side of Elizabeth, she silently accepted a weapon and cocked it. She loaded a bolt before I had mine ready to fire. Her other hand held more bolts. I grabbed more and loaded my weapon while searching for something to shoot.
But there had only been those two arrows flying at me, no more. We lay still and waited. Patience is often the winner in battles.
Elizabeth snarled, “Use your magic. Find where they are.”
If there had been a bird nearby, I’d have sent it innocently flying. When it flushed in reaction to someone on the ground, I’d know where they were. In this case, I was as blind as the other three.
But not helpless. My voice carried, “Tater. Two arrows. Both came from the direction of that twisted tree.”
My finger jabbed at it as if giving him an order, telling him to move from his position to his right, while I did the same, to the left. After crawling a dozen paces, I grew tired of making myself a slow-moving target for the archer to anticipate where I’d appear next. He could put an arrow in me at his leisure. I leaped to my feet and charged forward another ten steps, then dived head first into the knee-deep snow.
An arrow missed by a wide margin. He’d exposed himself and knelt as he fired, but hadn’t accounted for Elizabeth, who had also moved closer, reaching the cover of the trees and then paralleling me. Tater was moving to my right. When she saw him, she fired her crossbow. It was only accurate for eight or ten steps and lost all power shortly after. However, her rushed shot drew his attention to the unexpected source, and he turned his head to see where the unexpected bolt had come from, a natural enough reaction. It was also a deadly one, as Tater’s full-sized arrow struck the man in his chest with enough power it appeared he leaped backward.