The General's Daughter

Chapter 15

I assumed that we would have another endless day of near non-stop walking, but I was wrong. As we approached the edge of the forest, Reed stopped me.

"We'll rest here for a while," he informed me when I looked at him curiously.

"But there's plenty of daylight left," I said. It was either late morning or early afternoon.

"That's why we're stopping," he said. "It's too risky with so many people looking for you. Once we leave the cover of the trees, anyone will be able to spot us from a distance. And they'll probably be on horseback. It's better to wait out the day and travel when it starts to get dark."

I couldn't fault his logic, but I hated wasting so much time. I wanted to get home and make sure that Papa and Alex were alright, and to let them know that I wasn't a bargaining chip for whatever Garvan wanted. It had been far too long already.

"Try to get some rest," Reed said. "It's going to be a long night."

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Reed hadn't been exaggerating. We left the forest just before sunset and had hardly stopped for even a breather. I'd managed to take a nap during the day, but it hadn't been very restful and I was feeling it now.

"How much farther are we going tonight?" I panted as I lagged behind Reed.

He slowed, allowing me to catch up, but kept moving.

"We really can't afford to stop."

"So we're not resting at all?" I didn't even try to disguise my dismay. It had to be nearing midnight.

Reed pursed his lips and, mercifully stopped walking.

"We can stop for a few minutes," he said. "But not much more than that. We still have a ways to go with no cover to speak of."

Grateful for the break, I practically collapsed into the tall grass. Reed sat beside me, remarkably more graceful than I'd been.

"How far is it still?" I tried not to be annoying and ask that question too much. We were going as fast as possible, but it had been longer than the three days Reed originally told me the trip would take.

"We should start seeing outlying villages soon," he said. "There's a slim chance we could find someplace to rest in one of them...but they're all pretty small. Not many people or structures to blend in with, and I'd be willing to bet that a few of your admirers are at least doing patrols if they're not actually standing guard."

"And the kingdom?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear exactly how long I would have to keep moving after this.

"Officially, probably about five hours."

I felt myself sag at the thought.

"But it's fairly sparse at the edges. We can probably blend in with the villagers heading in for the day's business, but that my not help much or for very long. And we might be cutting it kind of close with sunrise. No matter what, it's going to be tricky, considering how...sought after you apparently are."

"At least I don't look like myself." I touched my hat and made sure my hair was still securely hidden beneath it.

"There's that," he agreed. "But I have a feeling that anyone passing through the gate is going to be noticed."

I hadn't thought of that. I assumed that the hardest part of the journey would be actually reaching the kingdom, but that might be the easy part.

"Okay," Reed said much too soon. "Let's move."