"You're really sure about this route?" Wenrich asks again, sat on the bench with reins in hand, seemingly fine and ready to go, but his tone betrays his concern clear as his words.
Kesla's already spurring her destrier on up the scree-cluttered path, urging him on but careful as she goes, and I've never seen someone with such impressive control of a horse in my life. Me, I've never been that happy in the saddle. Oh, I can ride fine, they made sure I learned back in the Guild, but I don't think I'm really built for horseback. I don't mind the great outdoors, we're working and we're making progress, but I'm a city boy really. Always have been. Gimme street life and crowds and a nice noisy tavern over fields and woods and forests any day. I'll go wherever Kesla goes, but I'm happier when I can pay money for food and sleep in an actual bed.
Spurring after her, I look back over my shoulder to Wenrich and shrug. "Read into that what you will, Master Clearwood."
He doesn't scowl at me, although I reckon he wants to. Instead he just cocks a brow like he always does and shoots a look at Gael, who's clearly determined not to get involved as they simply urge their horse forward too and follow me. Krakka and Driver 8 are still behind the cart, waiting for Wenrich to set off, intending to take up the rear today. Once again Yeslee's gone on far ahead on foot, setting off scouting while we were still busy packing away our gear and saddling the horses, so her gelding is placidly tethered to the back of the cart.
Turning back to the road ahead, I stay on Kesla's tail, careful but as gently forceful as I dare with my own bay filly, wary as I can be given the poor footing these precarious mountain paths provide. We've left the woods behind for now, deep in the relatively barren, rocky environs of craggy boulder fields, jagged ridges and narrow gullies littered between the vast peaks that surround us. We're keeping to the more open trade routes as much as we can, but this is an ever-changing landscape with the possibilities of rockslides and erosion presenting a constant danger of fresh obstacles, and we've had to detour twice in the past day already. More than that, I doubt I'm the only one among us feeling a tad exposed after leaving the relative cover of the trees – we're too exposed out here, too easy to find. Last night's watch was a lot more pregnant with dread possibility than the previous ones.
The going is tough, but for the next few hours we seem to make reasonable time, navigating two more passes by noon and deciding to give the horses a half-hour rest while we take some food at the third. I pull out a few pieces of the new cured venison and throw one to Gael before they have a chance to start rummaging for themselves, and they smile back at me after getting over the initial surprise. They take a few idle strides round the rocky space, stretching their legs, and I join them as we chew, quietly ruminating.
"How you holding up?" I ask after a minute, giving them the subtlest sidelong glance I can. They catch it easily.
"How do you mean?" There's a slight flush to their cheeks, but it fades quickly enough.
"Y'know, with all this constant exertion." I shrug. "Kes has got you working your arse off every night before dinner with the training, then you're in the saddle all day. I'm impressed you're so steady on your feet."
"Oh, I'm ... I'm fine." They look round at the others, then down at the ground. Their hair falls into their face then, and they shove it out of the way without ceremony, only for it to tumble right back again. They've left their hood down since we entered the woods a few days ago, and I'm enjoying the relatively novel experience of getting to see all their features so clearly. "Um ... Krakka's been helping me out."
I think about it for a moment, then I get what they mean and I nod, smiling. "Oh yeah. Cool. That's real smart actually." I chew a little more, then swallow, all the time chancing another sideways glance at their face. Those eyes really are incredible, I don't think I ever saw eyes so blue in my life. "You're getting better, too."
YOU ARE READING
NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: The Adventures of the Creeping Bam (BOOK 1: The Job)
FantasyTAO is a broken world held together with nothing but magic and the will of the gods who protect it and its people. Ten thousand years ago THE SUNDERING struck and Tao was almost torn apart by a terrible magical cataclysm which resulted in the plane...
