Hope

Chapter Fifteen: Magic on the Road

It wasn't long before we were off again. None of us wanted to stay by that forest any longer than we had to, especially after Zack's story last night. Tasha only muttered something about 'coastal deathtraps' before taking the horses' reigns. Even the horses were spooked and trotted away from the forest at a faster pace than I remembered them ever going.

Everyone was rather quiet inside the wagon. Stan was picking at a loose thread on his trousers, thinking of something, while Jing and Zack sat on opposite ends of the wagon and sulked. Rebecca had withdrawn deep into herself and only the occasional flickering of her eyes testified that she was still paying attention to the world around her. Tornheart had shifted into his cat form and curled up on my lap in order to take a nap.

I was staring out beyond the wagon at the blue sky. The scenery was quite beautiful, with forest going right up to the cliffs that dropped down sharply into the sea. The sea was quite wild on this part of the coast and slammed against the cliffs mercilessly. Parts of the road were so close to the edge that they looked like they might fall in. I could see why Tasha didn't like taking this road in order to reach the capital. Fortunately, it was a rather lonely road and we hadn't passed many people on the way. There weren't even many robbers to worry about because nobody important ever took this road. There were better places to steal things. Besides, we had three people who could work magic, not counting Tornheart and myself, and the two that weren't mages could fight pretty well.

Tornheart then awoke and started batting at my braid, which was dangling above his face temptingly. His amber eyes and slightly curly black pelt gave him the look of a raggedy alley cat, but his rather large size reminded one that he was, in fact, a shifter. He observed me watching him and he twitched his whiskers at me before swatting my braid a few more times.

"Tornheart, you're acting like a kitten," I scolded. "Stop that."

/Hey, we could very well be headed to our deaths/ Tornheart pointed out. /I might as well act like a kitten while I still can./

I then pulled my braid out of reach and Tornheart narrowed his eyes at me. "Maybe so, but you're awfully big for a kitten. You should act dignified like a cat your size normally would." I then stroked his pelt to let him know that I wasn't mad at him and he purred.

/Since you put it that way, I think I'll go back to my nap/ he replied, his mind-voice filled with mock-humor. /I didn't get enough sleep last night./ With that, he curled up once more and tucked his paws under his body. He then laid his long tail over his muzzle and shut his amber eyes, drifting off to sleep.

I rolled my eyes and gently picked Tornheart up. I then placed him on top of one of Zack's discarded blankets so he wouldn't weigh down my lap any longer. I stretched out my legs, wincing as they cramped, and then settled into a more comfortable position so I too could take a nap.

It wasn't the sound of thundering hooves that awoke me, but the sudden sensation of the wagon being stopped in its tracks abruptly, which threw me across the wagon and at Rebecca's feet. She had gotten plastered to the wall and looked upset.

"What's Tasha gotten into this time?" she grumbled, rubbing her head. "That felt almost like magic!"

It was then that I looked around the wagon to see the rest of the damage. The crates Jing had been sitting on had toppled over, sending Jing flying onto Zack's lap. Zack looked shocked for a moment at the unexpected contact and Jing's face was red with embarrassment. Stan had almost fallen into Rebecca's lap himself, but he had a more stable seat than Jing. Tornheart had slid all the way to the other end of the wagon where the curtain separated Tasha from the rest of us. Tornheart's head was on the other side of the curtain now, ready to give Tasha a scolding. But the words never came. Something was wrong.