“Better. But they plan to make us ride on separate horses, unless we’re alert enough to ride together.”
“Oh no,” she groaned. “Kiss me some more.”
“Kaevin!” said a stern voice behind him. “What are you doing?”
Kaevin jerked away and felt the blood rushing to his face. “Father, I was... we need to kiss. It makes our heads quit hurting.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” His father didn’t hide his irritation. “Since you’re awake, you can get up and help with the preparations. It’s imperative we reach the canyon ahead of Vindrake’s men. You need to be ready in a hundred breaths.”
Kaevin felt the burn of his father’s scathing glance before he spun around, racing back to the group. As he scrambled to his feet, Alora put her hand out to stop him. “One more?”
“I’m already in trouble. Why not?” He leaned down to give her one last forceful kiss, his lips lingering for a moment.
“Can you help me up?” Her voice was wobbly. “Let’s try to get them to let us ride together. I don’t think I can make it without you.”
Beth convinced Graely that Kaevin would be able to guide Alora to a safe transport destination should Vindrake’s men attack them on the road. Because of her argument, Alora got to ride on the spare horse with Kaevin.
The expedition group headed north at a fair but steady pace, with the six young riders in the middle of the pack, on three horses. Alora nestled herself against Kaevin’s chest, her headache completely gone. She glanced occasionally at her friends to see how they were doing. Despite a lack of sleep, everyone seemed to be faring well. Perhaps the adrenaline of the adventure was keeping them alert. But she wondered if it might be more than that.
Jireo was riding with one hand wrapped around Beth’s waist, as he taught her how to guide a horse without a bridle. Both appeared to be smiling too broadly for the subject matter at hand. Wesley was also sporting a rather silly smile as the feisty Arista entertained him with one story after another, pausing only to interrogate him about his compound bows and exclaim about his muscles. He seemed a bit too pleased wrapping his a
rms around the waist of the slight girl with blond hair flowing in long crazy tangles. Arista appeared to be oblivious to Wesley’s attraction.
As dawn approached, Morvaen halted the party. “We’ll stop to rest the horses, until the sun breaches the hill. Get as much sleep as you can.”
As she climbed down from their horse, Alora realized how exhausted she was. Every muscle in her body was aching. But at least her head wasn’t hurting. After they’d watered the horses Kaevin found a blanket, and Alora was about to lie down beside him, when Graely spied them. “Alora!” he called. “The women sleep together over here.”
Kaevin lifted his shoulders. “I guess you’d better go.”
Alora dragged herself to where the women were gathered and wrapped up in a blanket, immediately falling into a fitful sleep. It seemed she’d just closed her eyes, when Beth shook her awake. “It’s time to go again.”
She scowled at the sunlight. “Ugh! I’m sore! I hate sleeping on the ground.” She accepted the bread and cheese Beth offered for breakfast.
“You’ve always been grouchy in the mornings.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking... maybe I should take you and Wesley back. The crisis with Arista is over, and it looks like there’s going to be some big battle soon. You could be killed, and your mom would never even know what happened.”
Beth nodded agreement, but the corners of her mouth turned up wryly. “Yes, but I think I’ve found my soulmate.” She glanced over to where Jireo was tending Surefoot.
“Really? You guys are soulmates, too?” asked Alora, thrilled with the idea her best friend could share a similar experience.
“No—I’m just kidding. But I really like him, and I want to stay as long as I can. You understand, right?”
“Beth, you need to think logically and remember this is real danger, even though this world seems kind of like a dream. It might be smarter to take you back home.”
“I know you may not believe me,” said Beth, “but I actually have a feeling we need to stay here—all of us. And it’s not because I like Jireo. You know I’ve always said I don’t believe in coincidences. There are just too many coincidences that brought us here together to this place. I really believe we’re supposed to be here right now.”
“Okay,” Alora said, but she felt a heavy dread deep in her stomach. “I just don’t think I could handle it if something happened to you or Wesley. It would be my fault.”
“We’re both older than you, and we’ve made our own decisions. You will get neither the blame nor the credit for whatever we do here,” Beth declared with a decisive nod. “Now get up, grouchy-pants. Time to go.”
Back on their horses, they started off at a walking pace. Graely dropped back to talk with Alora. She attempted to sit forward, self-consciously aware of her proximity to Kaevin, with Graely watching them.
“Alora, I wanted to find out what kind of transports you might feel comfortable attempting should we come to a battle.” He smiled kindly. “To be honest, I wouldn’t ordinarily ask you to do anything at such an early stage in your training. A few days with Raelene hardly constitutes a beginning for such a powerful wander-jewel. But, you seem to be able to do more than we’d hoped for.”
“Father, I was hoping we could use Alora to move Beth and Arista to safety. She could take them to Laegenshire.”
“That is in line with my discussion with Nordamen and Morvaen. Can she do something like that?” Graely nodded.