Astraea - The Lost Crown - Book 1

Chapter 22

They had been riding since dawn, and the sun had finally reached its highest peak. As he held the reins, from the corner of his eye he noticed Rae still fully engrossed in the seemingly imagined pull of the crown fragment. Suddenly her hand swung to her left and she called out,

"It's pulling us south eastward!" Playing along, he pulled the reins, causing the equin to shift its course. It was the sureness of her tone that caused Alastor to wonder, Could she really be feeling a magnetic pull? But why? Is there something more to her than I first thought? And what could this thing be leading us to? And if it belonged to the dryads, did they have something to do with this? As usual, his overthinking was getting him nowhere. He forced his attention to his surroundings and admired the changing trees they passed by. Hocking was an expansive and luscious forest, but with its beauty came need for caution, as it was home to many unaligned lycans and rogue beasts. His ears perked at a sudden growling noise, but his nerves calmed when he realised with some amusement, the source.

"Hungry?" He asked with a chuckle. Rae merely nodded, the tips of her pointed ears growing red with embarrassment. "We could stop and eat." Alastor suggested, lifting the reins to slow the equin.

"We shouldn't!" She interrupted, placing her left hand atop his. "The bandits took some of our food stores as well... We're going to have to consolidate if we want what's left to last." The way she spoke made Alastor believe this wasn't the first time Rae had had to go without food.

"Then maybe we should try stopping at a town to pick up more provisions-"

"What town? We're in the middle of nowhere! And time is of the essence, Alastor. We can't waste it searching for a town that may not even be out here, let alone able to help us. There are wanted posters of us now, remember?"

"Oh come on, can't you do that sky reading thing to figure out where we are? Surely we can find a town that way- and we'll wear disguises!"

"First of all, I read the stars, not the sky so I can't do it during daylight," She countered. "And secondly, what disguises?!"

"We have cloaks don't we?"

"Sure 'cause that's enough to look like entirely different people." He could picture her rolling her eyes.

"Come on, Rae! Think of everything we've been through so far- Take a chance! What's the worst that could happen?"

"Do you not remember what happened in the last town we visited?"

"Not really, I was asleep for most of it?" He countered sarcastically. "Besides, it seems it all worked out in the end right? We found Rosalva- or Yvaine."

"Fine!" Rae gave in. "We can take 30 minutes to search, but then we get back on course!"

"That's barely any-" He lifted his hands in mock surrender at her glare. "Fine, fine! 30 minutes."

They had been riding off course for almost the allotted time, and Rae was getting ready to demand they turn back, when Alastor picked up a scent carried by the cool wind. He inhaled deeply and felt victory rushing through him.

"Hey, do you smell that?" Woodsmoke, and lots of it! Only a town could produce that much.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me! There's no way it was that easy!" She scoffed.

"Come on, Rae, it's fate!" He chuckled.

"What's got you so optimistic all of a sudden?" She snorted.

"I just know it's going to be a good day."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"I just do." Alastor insisted with a coy smile.