Inkblots: A Tale of Magic, Adventure, and Romance

XVIII. Reunited

It was only a few hours to the caves where they were supposed to meet Caddock, a fact Alia was incredibly grateful for, because when she put her seemingly-light pack on in the morning, it was all she could do just to stay upright. As much as she wanted to immediately return to the piece of metal that now nestled safely in the bottom of her pack, traveling was the first priority.

As they started off, Kit seemed in a lighter mood than previously, and Alia found herself feeling more cheerful too. The air was crisp, but still on the refreshing side of cold, and the sun shone down brightly on the scrubby sagebrush that lined the road.

"We're close enough that you might as well set the pace," Kit said when he noticed her lagging behind his quick steps.

"Thanks," she said shyly.

"I imagine you're feeling a bit stiff."

She nodded. "I'm not used to sleeping on the ground or carrying a pack. I'll adjust though—I promise."

The Hero just nodded in response, looking at the slope that currently carried them upward.

Alia finally felt brave enough to ask a few of the questions that had been bouncing around her mind. "So this is the way you came with—with the others?" Lingering memories of Mirabelle and the haybarn kept her from listing off their names.

"Yes," said Kit. "The wyrm cave was off to the North near a small village—Oh. I hope you don't think we need to go there as well."

"Oh, no," Alia said quickly, trying to reassure her companion. "I'm sure just the path of your council-bidden travel is fine." She hadn't even thought about it, in truth, but certainly the water-spirit and her strange magic—or the truths that might have been hidden in the telling of the Story—seemed more likely candidates for damaging the magic. Had something in the narration harmed the Book? The wayward thought crossed her mind again, and she was distracted until Kit started speaking.

"Well, good then. The cave was to the north, but as soon as we returned to the Council they sent us out the eastern road. We went a bit slower, with all the spare adventuring Gavin was determined to do"—Kit's voice was shaded with disdain or amusement there, but Alia couldn't decide which—"but overall, even our schedule was similar to the one we follow now."

Somehow, that made her feel a little more exciting, to be treading the same path as the Heroes that had gone before. Huffing and straining her legs up this sandy, steep hill was an adventure, not a chore. She wondered if they too had been incapacitated by the pain of sleeping on the hard ground with only a thin bedroll to protect them. It was hard to picture Gavin Heartstrike's strong, brave demeanor affected by something so silly as sleeping conditions, but certainly Kit and Mirabelle had proven more like everyday citizens than Alia had expected. A tiny, silly, girlish hope clung to the dark reaches of the back of her mind that maybe Gavin would follow with Caddock, that Alia could get to know him without nasty Mirabelle there. That was foolish, though.

Another question—one that should have been obvious—struck the young woman. "Kit, how long did it take you to get out to the water spirit before?"

"A tenday, maybe. Then close to another fiveday while we searched for her. We were already seeing the little magic disturbances as far back as Eastgate, though."

Alia's heart sank. Somehow it had all seemed so immediate in the Story, instead of slow, long days of trudging up hill after hill. Though, come to think of it, the hills eventually turned to the desert. "How close are we to the sands?" Now those were an exciting thought. She'd seen sandy dirt down by the riverbed, but imagining empty expanses of it was difficult.

"We should reach them the day after tomorrow if everything goes according to plan."

'Everything' meant seeing Caddock and having friendlier company, a fact Alia was acutely aware of.