“We’ve got to go. What do you want me to do?” Pharis was beginning to sound and look panicked.
I made a quick decision.
“Put the girls on Ruby with my father,” I said. “Papa, Pharis will help you mount.”
“It’s been a long time,” Papa said, “but I can ride. The girls and I will be fine.”
“Let’s hope so. We have no time for broken bones,” Pharis muttered.
He moved quickly, helping Papa then turning back to the girls.
Bending, he moved slowly toward Turi and put his hands around her waist. They spanned the entire circumference of it.
He gingerly placed the little girl in the front of the saddle then lifted Tindra and did the same. My father’s arms bracketed the girls in front of him. Pharis handed him the reins.
“Thank you,” Papa said. “It feels good to be on horseback again.”
Speaking to Turi in a softer voice than I’d ever heard him use, Pharis pointed to the saddle’s pommel.
“Hold on to this.”
She obeyed immediately, wrapping her little fingers around the hard protrusion at the front of the saddle.
To Tindra, who was taller and clearly older, he said, “Hold onto your sister and keep her safe. Guide your father well… you can do it.”
She nodded, looking a little scared but also excited to be on a horse for the first time.
In a move I was now accustomed to, Pharis lifted me onto Cimmerian.
Then he took a spare blanket from the saddle bag, folding it and tucking it behind me before mounting the horse himself.
He hadn’t done that when we rode Dargan together. It must have been because of the change in horse and saddle. Perhaps this one was larger?
I turned back to give him a questioning glance, but he didn’t even look at me, just stared straight ahead.
“Let’s move out.”
As we trotted down the road then broke into a gallop, I noticed several of my neighbors peeking from their windows, which was unfortunate.
One of them might be frightened enough to tell the King’s soldiers what they’d seen, but I couldn’t worry about that now.
Pharis seemed unworried himself. Though he was known throughout the land, he’d elected not to cast his shadows to avoid being recognized and reported to his father.
Sometime between now and when he’d left me at my door last night, he’d apparently decided to throw caution to the wind.
And he’d decided to come back and save me.
I couldn’t begin to imagine why he’d take the risk, even considering his loyalty to Stellon.
Leaning to the side and turning my head back, I took one last look at our cottage and my village receding into the distance.
And then I turned back around and focused on the road ahead, wondering where it might lead us.
Only Pharis knew the answer to that.
Chapter12
Haunting My Mind
