Into the Abyss

The golden rays of the morning sun had not yet struck the scrub land on which they camped, when Jehenna stepped from her tent. She looked around her in grim satisfaction to see her people almost loaded. All that remained was for the soldiers to pack her tent and for everyone to get the cooking gear cleaned up and stowed. She saw one of the two soldiers who had set up her magnificent red satin and gold trimmed tent, and motioned him to come and begin taking it down. He came reluctantly, motioning for another of his friends to come help him.

As they passed her on the way toward her tent, Jehenna looked towards the school. She could still sense the powerful wards, even at this distance; after all, she had been their center focus. They were still going, which meant that Lenamare still had Exador’s men fooled. Good, with luck, by the end of the week, she and Lenamare would be in Freehold with the book, and ready to pursue vengeance against Exador.

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Jenn finished hooking Chestnut and Drecilla to her and Jehenna’s wagon. As she’d suggested last night, she and Trisfelt had switched horses, she’d given him Timber Leaf and taken Chestnut. Actually, she knew Chestnut, had even ridden him a couple of times when she’d first arrived at the school. She’d always loved horses, and riding had been one of her few pleasures at an otherwise unpleasant school, at least until she’d come to know Rex and Alvea. She’d eventually gotten so busy with her studies and doing things with Rex and Alvea that she’d only rode sporadically, but still she enjoyed it.

All of which made it seem even more strange, Chestnut was one of the gentlest horses she’d ever met, and he was certainly no fiery young stallion anymore, which was why he was reduced to pulling this wagon on the trip. Not that he wasn’t still a fine horse, but only the fastest horses were ridden, all the others were drafted for pulling the wagons. In fact, the whole incident had so shook her that she’d even forgot to take her diary out to record the day’s events, not that there had been any light to write by, but she did have a small candle she could have used. Jehenna would have had a heart attack if she’d used Mage Light. Anyway, whatever the reason for the horse’s behavior, further inquiry would best wait until they got to Freehold.

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Rupert finished scouring the kettle with the cleaning sand, and stood up. He walked to the back of the wagon and morosely hung it on its peg. The other kids were already in, so he just put his foot on wooden end rail and climbed in. None of the others said anything to him, they had heard from the adults’ conversations what had happened, and they apparently couldn’t think of anything to say. Which was fine with Rupert, he really didn’t feel like talking about it to anyone, he didn’t want to have to answer any questions. Thankfully, the only things anyone had said to him since the event were all work related. No one said anything, but he knew they were puzzled.

At this point Master Trisfelt climbed aboard the driver’s seat. Grabbing the reins, he looked back and said, “Are we all in?” Sydney and Chass simply nodded, Gloria murmured “yes sir,” and Rupert just stared ahead, unwilling to meet Master Trisfelt’s gaze. His eyes were still red, he couldn’t help it, he’d cried some more last night before falling asleep; he really just didn’t want anyone to notice. Taking the quiet responses affirmatively, the hefty wizard turned around on his seat and made a clicking noise and gave the horses the signal to begin following the wagon ahead.

The wagon train rolled out in the same order as the day before. They had camped just below the entrance to the first pass, so it only took about fifteen minutes before they hit the trail that would take them through the mountains. As they went on, the trail climbed higher and higher along the side of the first mountain. The trail was on the south side of a mountain, and to the left the ground quickly dropped away to a narrow valley between mountains.

Rupert and the other children sat very still in the wagon. They had looked over the edge of the wagon once, and seen how narrow of a trail they were following. They quickly decided not to move lest they throw the wagon off balance; even though Master Trisfelt had assured them that the trail was perfectly safe, and that there was no danger as long as they didn’t start a wrestling match going. The trail continued onward occasionally crossing small streams, or descending long grades to the bottom of a valley, only to climb again, up and around the next mountain.

At lunch time, they stopped along a slightly wider area to eat. The trail was still narrow enough that the wagons had to remain single file, but wide enough that people could walk alongside the wagons. Master Trisfelt climbed in the back of the wagon and began rummaging to find some meat and cheese for their lunch.