Breaker of Rings

Chapter 10

Content warning: Burned corpse; someone gets burned in a fight. If you need more info, let me know. Also I might need a bit of a posting break. This isn't a cheap ploy to get comments, I promise; the story is done. I just need to finish editing, and I thought my replacement printer ink would be here by now and it's not. Blame Amazon!

"For someone who's always cold," Charlotte remarked as Bex finished suiting up for their ride, "it's strange that you don't like the sun more."

"I like the sun just fine," Bex replied, squinting against its brightness. The extra layers she wore, borrowed from one of the villagers, added bulk to her frame and limited her range of motion a bit, but the added warmth was worth it. If they had been walking, she would have been fine within minutes, but riding a horse for hours on didn't do much to stir the blood. "Regrettably, the feeling is not mutual." The sun might have warmed her in a way that fires sadly could not, but it also burned her skin, making it crisp and redden painfully if she wasn't well covered. When they were travelling, Bayley would often enchant a mud mixture for her and help her slather it on her arms, neck, and face, but it dried out out her skin and always had to be washed off before they entered any village lest the dwellers think she was some sort of demonic creature.

"The village scouts say the best way there is just to follow the bend of the river for a few hours," Sasha reported as she and Bayley trotted up on their horses. Over time, the Horsewomen had found that if all four of them lingered, it was nearly impossible to get away from a village without being drawn into someone's request for help, so two of them would wait further out, ready to signal if the remaining two were taking longer than expected. "Then we need to look for an old stone bridge and that's where we'll want to cross over. Then there's a second smaller river, and we'll have to cross a wooden bridge to get to the village." After checking the ties on a bag of provisions behind her, Sasha added, "Everyone ready to go?"

The other three nodded. Each of them still had their own opinions about what was the best way to proceed, but they had agreed to go to a village further west that had taken in many refugees from the south. There they would listen to as many stories as they could bear and then decide whether they wanted to head back to their main settlement to regroup—hopefully arriving before Drew's knights and Finn's warriors so neither king would be upset—or if they should head south and see more of the desolation for themselves. When she looked south, Bex sometimes thought she could spy plumes of smoke, but she kept telling herself it was only her imagination. If the Skull King let the land burn too long, it would be useless to him as well.

Hours riding under the steady beat of the sun made Bex sweat, but it barely warmed her. Charlotte gathered her hair into a braid and conjured a gentle cool breeze for them as they rode. "Yes, I know this is a luxury, Sasha," she said curtly. "But if we pass out from the heat, we'll be of no good to anyone."

"I'm not complaining." She poured some water out of her leather bottle, sealed with both wax and magic, into her hand and made it into a mist to cool her face. "I think the bridge is close, though. We've been riding long enough, and I can feel a change in the flow."

"We're stopping for a break, right?" Long rides tended to lull Bayley into an almost-sleep, and Sasha flicked some water over at her to help her focus. "I know we don't have much time to spare, but I need to stretch and eat."

The Four Horsewomen had only intended to take a brief break, washing up and eating in the shade, but then Bayley started to doze and Sasha was drifting serenely in the river, listening to its currents, leaving Bex and Charlotte alone. "Do you ever wonder if this is because we've relied so much on our powers?" Bex asked. Over the trees on the southern side of the river, she could see dark clouds gathering. The thought of making a camp for the day and letting the storm pass was tempting, but she knew this was no ordinary journey. Wherever the Skull King turned his ambitions, people died; the longer he went unchecked and unchallenged, the more people would suffer. "I know we've tried to be responsible and fair, and we try to help others, but maybe our gifts aren't meant to be used this way. And now we have to fight the worst versions of ourselves, or at least of me—"