The Ancients

Chapter 9

They were right to leave in the middle of the night. They rode all of the night that they left and the entire next day. They rested for a few hours after sunset and continued to ride through that night as well. Yet, on the second day of their journey they heard the riders the king sent after them. They guided their steeds off the road, laying them down in a forest covered by branches. They heard the soldier's calling their names, more Liam's than Vipin's, and listened as their voices rode right past them. 

    "I don't know if we'll be able to stay on the roads, more riders are sure to come looking for us." Liam had nodded his agreement and they stayed close to the woods for the next few days. That stopped so much when they passed by the forest that almost swallowed them in dragon fire, and the fire had swallowed much more of the forest than they realized. The trees were collapsed and there hadn't been enough wind or rain or both for the ashes to be spread enough to be gone. 

    That was an uncomfortable ride with no conversation. Instead, they struggled to stay afloat in their memories, and their guilt. 

    Vipin remembered when people thought she was wasting her time training her horses things like laying down. Now, the time she'd spent getting Gael to trust her in vulnerable positions was paying off. Especially because it made training Toby that much easier when he could see that another horse was willing to do it. So, Vipin worked with him at night after she and Liam were done sparring and eating. 

    "You know, you would've been a hell of a kennel master," Liam had told her as he stood by the fire. Watching Vipin convince Toby to lay down on his side for her.

    "Yeah, too bad dogs don't live that long." Vipin didn't particularly dislike dogs, there was even something quite endearing about them. Floppy ears, wet tongues and tails that could barely be seen when they were excited. But for her to train horses she needed lots of time to spend with them, and in that time, it never failed she grew attached. Horses lived twenty to thirty years; she'd had three since she started riding. But dogs, you'd get a decade out of a dog if you were very lucky. 

    A decade wasn't much more than the blink of an eye in her life. Even if it felt like an eternity. If she'd had a brand-new puppy the day her father left, her dog probably would have passed away before her father came home.

    Liam didn't mind dogs. They were loyal creatures that loved purely, and sometimes if you trained it well enough it was a good hunting dog. He wouldn't mind having even a mediocre hunting dog right now. 

    Some of the supplies that Liam had brought with him included the pieces he needed for snares, he would set some up, occasionally with a little assistance from Vipin, at night and by morning usually they had a squirrel or two for the road. This had helped them stretch out the food they were given by the kitchens, and if they came in close to town, they could bag a deer or two for trading. Unfortunately, because of the riders, they were unable to hit any of the towns along the way.

    They had been heading west, towards the road that the soldiers used to make their way up to the Glaciese. When the war started Robert had negotiated with the Nix King to secure a path that cut through Tahlven to bring them into the Glaciese. The king had agreed to allow the human troops through his land, if they knew that they would be responsible for their own safety while they traveled. He wouldn't use his own soldiers to baby sit humans for a war he wanted no part in.

    From the stories Vipin heard, Tahlven was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it was full of an everlasting winter, the landscape was breath taking, and beautiful elves lived from the land. On the other hand, the climate was harsh and unforgiving, the cold would take you in a heartbeat and if it wasn't the cold snowstorms, were a common occurrence. While the Nix Elves were beautiful, the nature of their attitudes didn't differ much from the place that they surrounded themselves with, cool and harsh.