The Wizard's Misery The Chronicles of the Midlands Book One

Chapter Thirty

They continued on, trekking southwestward and the mountains grew ever larger as they headed towards them. Deep Run was a sleepy, little town at the foot of the Falling Rock Mountains where the mouth of Deep Run Canyon opened to let the King's Road pass through on its way to the city of Land's End located on the coast of the Fierce Sea.

As they made their way towards town, Brandon thought about all the things that he had to accomplish there while Celine continued to ignore him, keeping her eyes locked onto the moving landscape. So, they rode mostly in silence. But, the trip went by smoothly without any trouble and they arrived at Deep Run early in the afternoon.

The first thing they did was go to the courier office and send a message to Celine's father that she was well and would be back home in about three days. Then they sent a message to Bruce Greene, the leader of the rebels at the base camp, telling him that they needed to meet in the canyon to deliver Jackman as they couldn't take the Wizard's Misery into the camp without potentially compromising it's hidden location. Afterwards, they entrusted Jackman to Henry Draper who managed both the the Deep Run Inn and the courier office and he placed Jackman in the inn's wine cellar for safe keeping.

They secured two rooms at the inn before going into the dining room to eat and as everyone was ravenous and Celine appeared to still be angry, they didn't engage in very much conversation while they ate. "We need to take you to the tailor's shop to get you some pants, the dressmaker's to get you a cloak and then the cobbler's for some riding boots," Brandon said to her when they were nearly finished eating and she just nodded her head in reply while Haverty looked between the two of them, sensing that something was wrong since Celine hadn't said a word the whole time they'd been eating.

When they were finished, Brandon and Celine headed into town and Brandon couldn't take her silence anymore and attempted to engage her in conversation but she resisted. Finally having had enough, he stopped walking and gently took her arm. "Look, I'm sorry that I can't take you with us to Sovereign City," he told her as he tried to catch her eye. "But, can't you at least try to understand my reasoning?" he asked her and then she finally looked at him.

"I understand your reasoning very well and it's okay. I'll just go back to Halfaway and talk to Mrs. Horsley and Robin about the courier office," she said and started walking again.

"So, you're not going to manage the courier office for me?" he asked her as they walked along.

"I know nothing about the courier business but Robin does. So, he should be the one to manage it," she said in a matter of fact manner.

"I'll teach you everything you need to know. So, that isn't a problem," he persisted wanting to have an excuse to spend more time with her while he taught her.

"No, thank you," she said coolly. "I'll just help Pa with the farm."

"Look," he said grasping her arm again as he stopped walking. "Why are you so mad at me? You said you understood," he asked her as he looked down into her large, sapphire eyes which were almost expressionless as she gazed back up at him.

"I'm not mad," she said firmly. "And I'll pay you back for the clothing once we get to Halfaway."

"Are you mad about last night?" he asked her. "I'm sorry I did what I did. But, I was thinking that Jackman would be more compliant if -"

She cut him off. "I said that I'm not mad at you!" she exclaimed irritated.

"See! He only did it because of Jackman! He'd never be interested in someone like me," she thought as she pushed the threatening tears away and briskly started walking again so that he wouldn't see.

He stood there for a moment completely surprised at her behavior as he watched her leave. "She must not like me after all,"  he concluded feeling very disappointed as he started after her, keeping a few paces behind.