Healer's Touch (Deadly Touch #1) [Complete]

Chapter 13: Leaving Aghacia

The farther north they went, the more Llew realized how isolated Cheer was: it seemed like a town on the edge of the world. Now they could spend nearly every night indoors and were even able to pause for the occasional lunch in a town. The food became more varied, too, and Llew enjoyed meals of stewed chicken steeped in spices, accompanied by a range of vegetables she had never had the pleasure of tasting before. The others, more worldly-wise, explained that the south of Aghacia just didn't have the same density of population, natural resources, nor the opportunities for trade that the north did.

Aris kept a close eye on the telegraph semaphore towers, deciphering the codes flying up the country. Soldiers from Turhmos had arrived in Ryaen several days earlier and they would cross paths with Aris's band in less than a week. There was little they could do to avoid the potential confrontation. They had to keep moving and couldn't afford to hide out until the soldiers had gone through, as they still had to get Anya to Rakun and, no doubt, still had Braph on their tail. Aris just hoped the soldiers would be inexperienced enough not to recognize him and Jonas this far from home.

"What would happen if they did? Recognize you, I mean," Llew asked when Aris warned them of the upcoming meeting as they were preparing to head out for the day.

"I'd have to kill 'em," said Jonas.

Llew watched him a moment longer, waiting for him to elaborate. He didn't.

"What, all of them?"

The flick of an eyebrow before he swung into his saddle was the full extent of his reply. Llew took that as a yes.

She grew wary as soon as the large contingent of mounted men appeared in the distance later that day, and she became doubly so when Jonas sat up straight in his saddle.

"Is that them?"

Jonas nodded. "Don't do or say nothin'. They're here for you," he said, pulling his jacket over his knives and tipping his hat down to partially obscure his face.

After witnessing Jonas's success against the Zaki warrior, and – more or less – seeing him down the men in Stelt, she only held the smallest doubt he could kill all the approaching men if he needed to. Llew shuddered.

Rather than moving to one side of the road, the soldiers split, surrounding them. They rode past Llew and Jonas, eying the pair, but riding on. Jonas somehow looked relaxed; he could have been sleeping. He didn't look like someone hiding his identity at all. Llew cocked her head slightly, tuning in to the murmurs of the passing soldiers while concentrating on appearing as relaxed as Jonas.

She estimated that the leading soldiers had passed the carriage and would be moving past Cassidy and Alvaro who, she hoped, wouldn't arouse suspicion at all, being neither from Quaver nor Turhmos. The soldiers farther back in the group were more at ease, and a couple even gave her a polite nod and smile, but she didn't relax until the sounds of horses and riders faded well into the distance. She risked a glance over her shoulder to see that the soldiers were behind them and then she turned a smile on Jonas. They were free.

Aris warned them to remain vigilant a few days later when he deciphered a message heading back to Turhmos stating the soldiers had seen the devastation Llew had caused near Osurnu and were confident the Aenuk was no longer in Cheer. If fact, it seemed they had plans to hurry back north to Ryaen.

***

Traveling as far as they could each day, they arrived in Ryaen just under a week later, confident the soldiers from Turhmos were at least several days behind them; there had been no further signs of Braph. For perhaps half a day, Llew could forget the trouble coming for her.