Jewel and the Mares of Fantasy [A Fantasy Novel]

C H A P T E R |4|

| The A U T H O R Puts Some Depth to her Characters |

The forest was a breath of fresh air, a relief from the autumn sun, and a mixture of darkness and light. A beautiful wonder to ride through along the cut trail.

Calium moved easily underneath her, moving in tune with the older mare Remi, keeping pace easily and not jostling her rider in the slightest. Whis smiled and to her it seemed real, no matter how grim anyone else saw it as. She liked the wind whipping at her back, the feeling of freedom that it gave her. She'd been free from slavery a day, but now it felt as if she'd always been free. Always been able to explore these fields, the brook, and the light forest. For a moment it seemed real, those thoughts, those emotions. But Ani slowed Remi from the gallop to a nice trot and Calium follow, and those feelings left her. She was reminded of what happened yesterday, of what had happened all the years before yesterday. She was reminded of the scars on her back and the tremor that sometimes took her when she thought the slave-master was going to round the corner and force her back in those cold, iron cuffs to be tugged along behind a wagon or thrown into a cage.

Ani suddenly rounded Remi on her, making Calium stop short. "You're free, Whis. They can't touch you, and won't ever."

She didn't question how he knew her thoughts, how he could guess, she just nodded quickly, swallowing the fear back.

He considered her for a moment and then spun Remi onward again, Calium following and stepping into place easily. A tense pause followed, and Whis found it too uncomfortable to not say anything. He seemed to like when she spoke her mind, and so she'd do so.

"Why does everyone in town call you Milord?" She said it so quietly that she feared he didn't hear it. But the slight adjust to his head that she saw, because she didn't look away from his face in case she were to say something offending, told of him hearing her.

"My cousin is royalty – well, okay, actually I am royalty through my father, but she's a little more so and so I am just Milord."

"Who's your cousin?"

"I'm not sure you'd know her." She could guess what he really meant; you've been a slave your entire life, how would you know anyone in the court? She didn't feel hurt by the unsaid, because it was true. But she was free now and wanted to know the world. Ani sighed. "She's just very high up, let's leave it at that."

Whis decided to take the answer and continue in her exploit. He didn't seemed annoyed of her yet. "Why do you live all the way out here by yourself?" He'd said his wife had died, but it seemed strange for a mourning man to take in a slave-girl, even if his hobby seemed to be in saving a rare breed of Fantasy creature. She could be considered rare, was that why he'd saved her? Just to save her race?

"I told you, I'm not always alone. Now I'm really not alone." He gave her a pointed look.

"You said I could come with you." She didn't mean to be snarky, but cringed back when she realized the snap to her tone.

Ani clicked his tongue. "Don't feel so guarded of what you say, Whis. I would like you to think before speaking, yes, but I'd also like you to speak your mind. I will not blow up on you if you say the wrong thing and I will tell you if you've crossed a line."

Whis nodded, but the thought of speaking whatever made her head spin. If she ever spoke out of turn before she'd be whipped or smacked, now she was being given the freedom to say anything she wished. She was going to get a headache from all this newness. It was so strange, yet so amazing.