Between the Veil and Crown

Arvek 49

They had an audience as they got ready to leave the next morning. The townspeople had stopped in their morning duties to watch the Crown Prince and his cohorts gather themselves to leave. For Selim's sake, Arvek was not a fan of the attention, but he was not about to bark at them to leave. Their solemn faces said they still held concerns about his promises. They wanted a glimpse of him, as though to catch him there and then going back on his word.

When everyone was loaded and mounted, Kendra called to move out and started off at a brisk trot. Arvek gave the townspeople one last sweeping look, wishing he could do more for them in that moment. And then he followed after Kendra.

For the first portion of the day, travel went smoothly as it could be. They passed many bare fields, sown and waiting for spring to arrive. Trees dotted the horizon, punctuated with houses in the distance. On occasion, the sky would drop snowflakes on them, leaving a light dusting here and there.

As they traveled out of the farmlands, the path became less and less visible, until it vanished completely. Kendra continued on from memory. They were forced to slow down as road, or lack thereof, did not accommodate wagons and thus led to bumpy rides for Rasinod and, unfortunately, Selim.

Night fell as the tree line drew closer to their party. In the cold darkness, their looming shapes were ominous, daring them to enter. Had it not been so dark, Arvek imagined he would have been able to see the points of the taller buildings in the capitol peeking over the tips of the trees. Kendra stopped them for the night in the shadow of the woods, promising that the next leg of the journey would be difficult enough.

Their reward in the morning were sore muscles and bruised skin. There was a breakfast that was prepared and consumed quickly and quietly, as it was evident everyone's mood had been soured than the less than comfortable night. The exceptions were Kendra, who likely was used to this kind of arrangement, and Cor, whose spirits lifted in the presence of a friend and a closer proximity to home.

From the point forward, their pace slowed considerably.

While horse and rider were able to travel reasonably well over the knobbly roots of the forest floor and between the tree trunks, Rasinod's wagon had a much harder time. Stopping was a constant as Rasinod called out in complaint that his wagon would not fit. Kendra would then flit around the trees and work out a path that was wide enough, causing Rasinod to back out of his position and follow it.

The evening arrived with little regard to their lack of progress. They were forced to find a spot for the night. Rasinod administered Selim's treatment before dinner, prompting Arvek to stay with him instead of huddling around the fire like the others. He turned down Cor's offering of food. Seeing the look on his face, Cor made no insistence and returned to his spot at the fire. Selim's look of pleading before the treatment sent him under had killed Arvek's appetite and hunger.

As dinner was cleared, Kendra taught Cor a few camp songs. They were fund and clearly meant for lifting spirits and bringing entertainment, not a single one took itself seriously. There were guffaws from the guards as they processed what the lyrics were saying, and the inventive word plays the songs employed. Kendra then prompted Cor to dig up something from his repertoire to sing. At first he balked, claiming he knew no entertaining songs like she did, and only solemn ones. But after much insistence, he relented and began one that Arvek remembered with a shapr pang. It was a song their mother used to sing to her sons to get them to sleep. Rumored to have been written by a queen or a noble lady, the song told the story of the woman's lover journeying across the mountains bordering the Veil to fight in a war. Her song was a plea to the mountains to not harm him in the journey.