Verange

Chapter 19

Hayden and Arya parted ways after their spar and Hayden went back to his room and off to bed. The next week sped by quickly for him. He would meet Belden at 10, spend an hour on vocabulary and the other learning about the customs he would need to be familiar of during their stay.

Then Arya met him for lunch and took him off to Gerard at one. There he spent an hour learning how to ride recklessly and carefully, standing, crouching, and sitting from nearly every place on his horse. He then learned how to mount and dismount while his horse was moving and he learned how to properly fight with a sword from the back of his horse. Gerard was never easy on him.

After that, Arya would meet with him again and they would go see Fartha and he would oversee their sparing, giving both of them tips on how to become better.  They both tended to end in a tie, their swords locked, neither gaining the upper hand. Other than that, they won and lost almost equally and Hayden often laughed as the three of them made jokes about almost everything.

Arya and Fartha would then go meet Gerard and they would all eat supper together before Arya and he spent the evenings together, reading books about the Ruikans as Elis had instructed Arya to do. There wasn’t much to know and they often just fell to talking. During all that time, he never once saw Elis and whenever he asked Arya about it, she changed the subject. He didn’t know what had become of her and he grew ever more worried. However, when he walked into the stable early on the morning of their departure, he found all four of the elves  waiting patiently for him. June was already saddled and stood next to the four elven steeds. Her gray coat looked odd next to the three white and one black horse. They had longer legs and thinner bodies than she did, but Hayden knew she would be able to keep up with them. He carefully packed his bags in her saddlebags and climbed up onto her back.

The other elves mounted up as well. Elis was in the front on her black steed and Belden moved his white horse next to hers. Heelio and Balue Went behind them and Hayden was left to take up the rear. “Are you ready to go?”  She said it as if she was asking all of them, but her gaze was locked on him.

“I double checked everything before I left my quarters and I have everything on the list you gave me.” He gave her a small smile, but she did not return it.

“Then let’s go.” She nudged her steed and he stepped forward. They all rode silently until they were out of the Verange. It was at that time that Elis stopped and took one glance backwards. She whistled softly and three animals bounded out of the bushes and stopped before them. He recognized Albit, but not the deer or the silver fox.

“Hayden. Almost every elf has an animal that it is close to. It’s like a best friend. You’ve met Albit, but these two belong to Belden and Heelio. Balue has a small snake that remains around his wrist. They will accompany us the whole way there.” As she spoke, the fox jumped up behind Heelio and curled up at his back.

Hayden just nodded silently and tried to catch her eye. She avoided him. Without any visible encouraging, her horse stepped forward again and they were once again off. They kept up a decent trot for most of the day, eating lunch in their saddles and stopping only once to let their horses and themselves drink from a stream.

By dusk, they had stopped and began to make camp. Few words had been spoken during the day, but they seemed to make up for that now. Heelio and Balue made jokes to each other and Belden spoke quietly with Elis. Once Belden turned away, Elis finally turned her attention to him. “Let’s see what you learned last week.” She drew her sword and stared blankly at him. “Out here our swords aren’t protected so I’ll give you a choice. Protection, or being ripped to ribbons.”  Her voice held no hint of joking as she spoke and he wondered if she was actually serious.