Stay True

Chapter 11

The weeks flashed by, far faster than Clara could have possibly imagined. Soon, she was already having fittings for a traveling habit (why she needed an outfit for traveling, she was not sure; it was one of the many signs of excess in the castle). Though she did have to admit it was quite fetching, with the brown leather corset-style top and the flowing forest green skirt. It had a large, hidden slit up both of the sides, underneath was layered with more of the flowy material, and she could see that the skirts would be wide enough for her to sit on a horse with. Clara became a bit less excited about the prospect of her new outfit when she found out that she would need to wear it for three days without changing or bathing. She had gone longer without bathing, but that was before she had gotten used to castle life. But she bore up relatively well to the "hardship". She actually did not mind the lack of baths so much. Sometimes Eve decided it would be a good idea to use overly fragrant foreign soaps that left Clara smelling like a flower garden for days, even with further baths to scrub the smell off.

Finally, they left. Though the weeks had passed quickly, Clara had been dreading and anticipating the departure in equal measure, and the day seemed to drag on. She wished that she could just instantaneously appear at the Mescian castle, fully primped and prepared, so that she would not have to suffer the lag brought on by travel. Going on long journeys always made Clara anxious, especially this one, for she had never been in a horse-drawn carriage before. She knew what it looked like, of course, and had even persuaded Eve to let her sit in one of the ones kept in the stable, but she could not imagine being in the small area, bumping over the road without the shock absorber of being astride a horse. Clara couldn't possibly imagine that packing up the carriages would be easier than simply jumping aboard a horse, bringing another along laden with supplies, and leaving that way.

James insisted that carriages were far superior to horseback, as did Eve, but Colin confided that being in the same small space with someone for extended periods of time was never very enjoyable, regardless of the company. Clara privately wished that she could at least have him be in her carriage, but he had to stay with the prince. She would be with Eve and Sir Elliot. She needed a knight, not just guards, to protect her. The paths through the woods and the mountain pass they were taking were fringed with bandits. Clara desperately hoped that their little caravan would be safe, and Eve assured her that she was praying to her gods.

They set off at around noon. James wanted to be sure that the knights and guards were suitably prepared. Every few hours on the road, they were allowed a brief rest for the horses before moving forward at a rapid pace.

Clara found she intensely disliked the feeling of riding around in a carriage, as she felt almost as if some great, lumbering beast had swallowed her and she was being forced to ride around in its belly. The only part of the entire journey she enjoyed was getting out of the carriages after the long first day and getting to sleep under the stars, another first for her, excepting the night she was found as "Melanie". She had hardly slept, so she did not count that night. The forest setting helped her feel slightly more at ease, and with all of the forest creatures sending her messages she felt almost as though she was sleeping in her old mud-brick house with the thatched roof, listening to the scratching of the chickens and the snoring of her sisters.

Unfortunately, the night had to end. Clara helped pack up everything carefully, surprising all but Eve and Colin. She chastised herself as she was locked into the carriage once more.

Melanie would not even be caught dead doing something that a servant could do for her. I must remember to be less helpful.

The second day drew on much like the first, and Clara was ever so grateful when it drew to a close. As she settled into her blankets, Eve's comforting warmth only a pace away, Clara just kept thinking, as she had done all day. As she became increasingly uncomfortable in the carriage, she had begun thinking harder and harder to distract herself, retreating into her mind so much that if anyone had attempted to shake her out of it, she had not noticed. Her mind still swirled as she attempted to sleep.