Raewyn
As soon as we were out of sight of the village, Pharis directed Cimmerian off the road into a field. I glanced back to make sure the mare and her riders followed us.
Our pace stayed at a gallop for a couple of miles before slowing to a canter so the horses didn’t tire too quickly.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I’ve been trying to decide that,” he said. “I’m thinking eastern Sundaris, the land youclaimedto be from when you masqueraded as an Elven noble.”
“To Altum?” I asked, remembering the unique name of the southern stronghold there.
Stellon had said its lord—I couldn’t remember his name—was rather independent, daring to defy the King when most others wouldn’t and refusing to send a representative to the Assemblage like the others did.
“Not to Altum itself,” Pharis said. “But the region, yes.”
“The Elves there keep to themselves,” he explained. “They don’t mix with the humans and would pay no mind to a human family moving into the area. It’s quite a distance from Merisola as well, so it’s the safest spot I can think of, apart from taking you across the Great Gray Sea to Valtameri or Solmeria or Marindros.”
He took a moment, perhaps considering that option, then I felt his head shake behind me, stirring my hair.
“No, there’s too great a chance of being recognized on board a ship. The two of us could evanesce, I suppose, but even if we happen upon someone with evanescing glamour, it wouldn’t work for this many people.”
He looked over at my father and sisters, whose horse ran alongside ours now. Though smaller than Cimmerian, she carried a lighter load and seemed to be doing well.
Never a tall man, my father’s form had shrunken in recent years thanks to disuse.
Until recently, he’d been too crippled to even walk very far, and the muscles he’d honed as a blacksmith had atrophied.
My little sisters were light as feathers, though I was gratified to see they’d continued to put on weight in my absence.
They were both smiling at the exhilarating speed of the ride.
“How would you convince someone with that sort of glamour to transport us in the first place?” I asked Pharis. “This… Evanescer, or whatever they’re called, would report us to the King, I would imagine.”
Pharis hesitated before responding. “Quite right. So we ride for Sundaris then.”
“How long will it take?” I asked.
“The horses can travel about forty miles in a day—mine anyway, we’ll have to see how Ruby fares. And eastern Sundaris is close to nine hundred miles from here, so let’s see, that’s twenty-two days, give or take a few?”
Twenty-two days on horseback. I wasn’t sure howIwas going to stand it, much less my father and two small girls. I still felt saddlesore from the ride between Seaspire and Waterdale.
Better than death, though.
“Of course if there’s bad weather, that’ll add some time,” Pharis said, “and we’ll be traveling by night, so that might slow us down a bit. Keep your eyes open for a place to wait out the daylight hours, by the way.”
I started looking around, though Pharis’ sharper Elven vision would locate a likely spot far sooner than mine did.
Apparently finishing his calculations, he said, “Let’s say a month to be safe. If it takes less time, it’ll be a pleasant surprise.”
“Will you not be missed?” I asked, surprised at his blase attitude toward leaving his pampered royal life behind for a month—and being willing to spend that long on the road with us.
“I mean, you must have duties at the castle or something, and Stellon said you and he are very close with your sister.”
“Stellon and Mareth know what I’m doing,” he said. “And I don’t care whether anyone else there misses me.”
“It’s the final day of the Assemblage. You didn’t locate any suitable candidates for bonding?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure why since his love life was none of my business. I was just curious.
“I wasn’t really looking,” he said. And that was all he said.
