The Nun and King

Chapter 30

I lead the eleven of us with Markus taking up the rear of the caravan. We traverse through the rest of the vast grassy plain, then through a small bog that stinks of decay before finally ending up in a pine forest. With the horses spent already due to the heat, Nik takes them to a nearby pond and waters them after we dismount and collecting the necessities. Markus and Bastian begin pitching the tents while Claire and the other women sit patiently on a fallen tree. "What shall we do?" one of the women named Noel asks. Her brown doe eyes look up at me waiting for instruction.

"Why don't you ladies just relax?" I suggest, glancing at Claire. Her gaze meets mine and she quickly looks away. "If you'd rather keep yourself busy, we can use some firewood but please don't stray too far. This area is prone to bobcats." Noel's eyes widen in fear and the women stay put.

I take Uriah hunting and we spend the next two hours tracking down a deer. When we finally catch up to him, I see that he's small, not much older than a yearling. I give a nod to Uriah to take the shot and in one swift motion he pulls back his bow, releasing his arrow. It finds its target, sinking into the animals. It takes off with a squeal and collapses about a hundred yards away.

"Nice shot," I say to him as we walk up to the deer. He squirms on the forest floor gasping for air. Red tinted foam forms around the shaft of the arrow with each haggard breath. Its neck bears claw marks that haven't quite healed.

"You weren't kidding about the bobcats," Uriah says in a deep, clear voice. Pulling out my dagger, I stroke the deer's head hoping to allow it some comfort before expertly stabbing it in his liver, delivering the lethal blow.

"If you come across a soldier named Fletcher, ask him about his scar," I say lightly standing up. "He got it when I was a boy taking down one. He loves showing it off. The story has changed over the years of course, with the thing getting bigger by the decade." Uriah chuckles. As I go to bed down to pick up the deer and carry it back to camp, he stops me.

"Let me," he says. I cock a questioning brow.

When his light colored eyes look at my injured hand, I roll my eyes. "I'm missing two fingers, not an invalid," I retort, but allow him to hoist the animal over his broad shoulder. We make an agreement to let me help him when he gets tired, seeing as that we have a long walk back to camp. When we finally arrive, the two of us are drenched in sweat just as the sun begins to make its slow descent. A small fire crackles in the center of our camp that is surrounded by the women, Markus, and Bastian.

When we are noticed the two men stand to their feet with Markus dashing to his horse for some rope. When he returns we tie the deer's ankles and toss the other end over a branch, hoisting the animal up to clean it. Reaching into my pocket, Uriah clears his voice and holds out his hand for the blade.

"I don't think it's a good idea to get your injury tainted with this thing's blood," he says. Although it is a good point, I glare at him.

"What are you, my mother?" I pan, earning a laugh from Markus and Bastian. Uriah's face shifts to worry as he must remember that I am his soon-to-be-king. I then grin, taking a liking to the young man. "Relax, I'm not going to put your head on a pike for looking out for me. What I will do, is remind you that I've done this since I was a boy. I'll be careful and if I'm not, you can scold me then."Uriah's body relaxes slightly and he nods, hiding a grin. Nik gives him a playful slap on te back.

As I skin the deer, we chat and I begin to know my comrades better. Bastian hails from a noble family in our high district who didn't exactly approve of joining our military, wishing that he took up his father's trading company instead. I've heard of it as it is one of the more popular ones of Paevia. He's got a fiancé back home and plans to marry her in the next coming months who is one one of the palace's cook's daughter. Uriah is the fifth son out of six, and with no fortune promised, he decided to find coin in serving our army and has found a brotherhood far stronger than with his own by blood.