CHAPTER 7
KIDNAPPED
It was not a pleasant journey that day after Mabryl’s death. Carthinal was sunk into himself, not speaking to either of his companions, Asphodel was in deep misery from Carthinal’s hasty remarks, and Basalt was annoyed with Carthinal for hurting Asphodel with his angry, thoughtless words.
The day was cold, and so they walked briskly to keep warm and stopped for only a relatively short time to eat some of the food that Elpin had packed for them. The land was once more wooded, which gave some protection from the wind that swept down from the mountains in the east, and over the hilly land that they were crossing. They trudged along, each with their own thoughts hardly speaking to each other. It seemed an inordinately long day to all of them with the bad feeling that was between them. Every so often, Asphodel’s eyes filled with tears as she remembered Carthinal’s angry words to her that morning, but she blinked them away, determined not to let him see them, just as she was determined to prove to herself that he was wrong and she would make a good healer.
Basalt was fuming. He liked the elf, and he liked Carthinal too. He had not thought he was capable of such cruel words. Asphodel seemed to have taken them to heart. He knew Carthinal’s reasons, that he was hurting, and like an injured animal he had struck out at the nearest person to him. How he wished that it had been him and not Asphodel who had been there this morning to receive the tongue-lashing. He could take it. He had been through worse in his time, but the young elf was more sensitive it seemed.
‘Well, he’ll come to his senses eventually,’ muttered Bas to himself. ‘I only hope it’s before we get to Hambara, so it won’t be too late for him to apologise.’
Eventually, the day ended and they had made quite good time. There was a clearing in the woodland ahead of them with a stream running through it when they decided that it was time to stop. They were still a morose band, but it was necessary to communicate in order to sort out the watches. Basalt took the first watch, with Asphodel the second and Carthinal the third. They decided that they would rest until dawn, which meant that they had over twelve hours in camp. Each watch was to be for two hours at a time and each of them was to take two watches. That decided, they made a fire with wood they collected from the forest around the clearing. This had become a routine with Carthinal and Asphodel, and not much discussion was required, so the evening was a silent affair. Almost as soon as the meal was finished, Carthinal rolled himself up in his blanket and turned his back on them. Asphodel and Basalt exchanged glances.
Basalt was the first to speak. ‘I know that the half-elf hurt you with his remarks, but he didn’t really mean it. He was hurting and struck out at the nearest target, which just happened to be you. A bit like an injured animal will often bite the person trying to help it. Get some rest, lass. I’ll wake you when it is your turn to watch.’
Asphodel decided that he was right, and she should rest so she, like Carthinal, wrapped herself in her blankets and tried to sleep.
Basalt’s watch went smoothly. He kept the fire going and after a couple of hours, he woke Asphodel. She seemed a little less distressed, much to his relief, and he quickly fell asleep himself.
Asphodel watched for some time. She was thinking about things that had transpired in the last few days. She decided that she was foolish to take Carthinal’s words to heart. In a couple of days they would be at Hambara. He would go to the Mage Tower for his tests and she would be at the temple, probably never to see him again. (She found this thought a distressing as she had come to like the half-elf, and was more than a little attracted to him.) Anyway, she resolved not to let him hurt her again, so she settled down to her watch feeling much calmer.
