Myshka

Chapter 14: Journey

Myshka looked up towards the sky sitting on her camel. They were crossing a desert now and she was about ready to die. It was so unbearably hot. The scorching sun had shown no mercy for days on end. Apparently there was a forest right after this. She couldn't picture it. Absolutely not.

The mountains and forests they'd passed were her territory. This was definitely not her territory. It was hot, rough and too dry. Yet the nights were so very cold and so very sudden. She was glad she wasn't born in the desert though she realised that if she was, then she would have been much more suited to the weather. She trudged on as she closed her eyes and tried to picture green all around. Green leaves, green ground, green curtains of vine covering the branches. Instantly she relaxed and felt much better.

She felt a nudge on her elbow and opened her eyes expecting to see Nitya or Rahara. For they were travelling in a small group now. Only her and her companions, alongwith the Prince and about forty soldiers. Elitist guards were also present for they were royalty but events that was small in numbers.

She fully understood the intentions of the Prince. He said he wanted to travel faster when indeed, he wanted to make it harder for her to hide among the soldiers. So far however, she had managed to avoid the Prince at all times. She travelled in close quarters with Nitya, Rahara and Belothra, who was a little upset having left behind her husband.

Roorkee was in charge of getting the troops together and taking them back to Dramero. As the army was quite scattered and some soldiers even wanted to leave and settle elsewhere the process was going to take months atleast. Belothra could have stayed back but the Prince didn't allow it. He knew that his wife trusted her, though he couldn't understand why. After all Belothra was a sharp tongued spiteful female from what he could gather from the gossiping in the camps.

He trusted Myshka to make the right choices though and knew that once she was in the capital she would need every ally she could get. Politics like in the Palace was a different kind of battlefield altogether, and not the kind she was used to. It would be stupid and cruel to throw her to the sharks without any help at all. As she was unlikely to take any if his advice directly, he would have to slyly feed it to her through her companions.

Myshka was surprised to see the Prince. When she had started avoiding him, even going so far as to sleep in Nitya's tent alongwith Myrrha, he had bristled with anger and tried to dissuade her a few times. When she didn't budge, he left her mostly alone. Only now and then she would find him beside her sometimes. Just quietly travelling, not making any conversation. Since he would be nonchalant, she wouldn't be able to protest and grudgingly travel beside him. A few times she would find herself beside him on her own. She hated it. She hated how comfortable she was growing with him, how much she yearned to be beside him and how much without her knowledge her body would automatically direct her horse towards him.

Since they had started travelling in the desert however he'd been a little more busy. The desert was a dangerous place and he tried to make sure everyone reached the other end safely, one person in particular. His wife. He would say it before he went to bed at night smiling to himself. Since she didn't sleep in the same tent, she would not hear him mooning over her. Sleep would sometimes elude him as he thought of her and every tiny thing she did while travelling. Unknown to her, he watched her every move. She thought she was hiding from him by travelling with her companions yet, in so small a party it wasn't easy to hide. She was always in his eyes view.

He would think of the way she would confidently direct her horse like she was born to do it. He knew she was probably a better rider than him. He understood why she had rejected being carried in a palanquin for riding. She enjoyed it, though shw tried not to show it. On the horse she would be at one with her ride, a free spirit, riding fast or slow, according to her will.