The carriage had crested the hill and a trio of riders had galloped alongside. The lead rider had reached over and yanked open the door. Moments later Kailynn leapt from the flying carriage to land on her stomach across the horse of the female rider. The rider slammed the door shut and the three riders peeled away from the carriage. They had thundered off toward the dark line of trees in the distance with Kailynn bouncing and bobbing on her stomach on the horse.
❧
Kailynn vomited the last of her bread and gruel at the base of the tree. Her stomach felt like heavy, bruised bags of sand. Her throat had red hot razors in it from her stomach acid.
"There is a safe place ten miles from here." Sera was holding her hair for her while The Bard and Alac stood watch. "We need to be there in an hour. Can you stand riding for just that long?"
"Do I have a choice?" Kailynn sat down on the other side of the tree.
"Not really, no. Unless you count hanging as an option?'
Kailynn just glared at her.
Sera smiled. "It's good to see spirit in those eyes, My Lady. I wasn't sure if you were going to make it when I sewed you up."
"I had to redo part of it."
"I apologize My Lady."
Kailynn grasped Sera's hand. "It's just Kailynn."
"Okay Kailynn. We need to be on our way."
"Let's go then, we will let the hangman go without work today." Kailynn grinned at Sera then groaned as her stomach complained when she stood up.
Sera gripped her shoulders to steady her. Then they walked together across the sodden forest floor to Sera's horse. Sera swung easily into the saddle and held out her hand to Kailynn, "When I pull on your arm, you jump and swing your leg up behind me."
Kailynn gave Sera her hand and when she pulled, Kailynn slammed herself into the side of the horse. Still, she had managed to hook her ankle over the horse's back. Grunting with effort, Sera pulled Kailynn the rest of the way up behind her. Sera whistled to the two waiting men, and they all urged their horses into a run, headed north.
❧
The fire's warmth was delicious, Kailynn thought as she stretched her feet and hands toward it from her chair by the small fireplace. In the background she could hear the low murmuring of Sera, The Bard, Alac and their host. For the moment she didn't care, she had been given dry clothes when they had arrived at the squat little house out in the moors. Dry and warm. All she needed was a meat pie and this would be the best day of her life. Her stomach growled angrily at the thought of food. Well, maybe she would wait until her stomach didn't feel like one of those combat dummies she had seen all beaten up in the barn.
"Well, we can't just leave her here!" Sera's insistent tone broke through Kailynn's reverie. She started listening in earnest.
"There is too many of us to stay here." The Bard was saying.
Alac nodded in agreement, "And everyone is looking for the servant girl that stabbed a Lord."
"So, you just want to leave her here?" Sera was getting angry. "Joseph, tell them!"
Their host looked up from the table where he had been sitting, lost in thought. "My Lady, I'm sorry, they are right. The girl cannot travel without surely being caught. Four will get noticed. But if two of you go, a husband and wife perhaps? Then I can have my son and granddaughter stay with me."
Sera sputtered, "Joseph I..."
Joseph held up a hand, "Apologies My Lady. You trusted me when I trained you and protected you?"
"Yes."
"Then let me do it again. The North King has agreed to hear you. Go and speak with him. If it goes well, send for them. But here they must stay."
"You are wise Joseph. I do trust you. Will you promise me that she will be here when I send for her?"
"How can I promise Lady Sera? I am old now. But, I will do my utmost."
"I will promise you Sera," Alac cut in, his brooding face framed by his long wet hair. "Or, I will die trying."
Kailynn turned her attention back to the fire. So, she was going to be left behind. Abandoned with a stranger and the Deathdealer who had said five words to her in the entire time she had known him. But he was willing to face death for her? Why? Why was anyone dying? Why had Annie died?
Sera came and sat in the chair across from her by the fireplace. "I know you were listening."
"Oh?"
"You deflated right when Alac promised to keep you safe."
"Or die trying." Kailynn whispered, "He said that he would die trying. I'm tired of people dying around me Sera."
"You know, when my mother died, I thought it was my fault?" Sera leaned back in her chair. "I thought that maybe if I had visited her or sent more flowers, she would have gotten better. It wasn't my fault, it was her time."
"That's not what happened to Annie, Sera. She wasn't sick. She was killed." Kailynn took a deep shaky breath. "I can still feel her blood on my hands. I can still see her eyes." A hot tear slid down Kailynn's cheek. "In my dreams, sometimes she stabs herself. Other times, I'm the one who slits her throat and stabs her. I get covered in her blood and then I wake up."
Sera leaned forward to make eye contact with her. "My Lady, it is very likely that many more will die soon because of what we are about to do. This is going to happen. You have a responsibility to your people."
"Sera, I don't even know what that means or what you are talking about." Frustration mounted in Kailynn's voice. "Can I please have some answers?"
Sera leaned back and made eye contact with The Bard. Leaning back to Kailynn, "I think that's fair. It's time you knew what you were supposed to have learned about and trained for long ago."
Sera stood and left. The Bard came and sat down with Kailynn. He stared into the fire for a moment, his long frame absorbing the heat.
"My Lady, it seems as though I have a story to finish telling you." He stretched his arms out, clasping his hands behind his head.
"So it would seem." Kailynn stretched out herself, settling into the chair even more. "So, tell me. What happened with the wizard?"