He side-eyed her. “Vade.”
Her stubby legs weren’t going to be able to keep up with him if he kept this speed the whole time, but she knew if she asked him to slow down that he wouldn’t. “So, tell me about yourself, Vade.”
He huffed and picked up his pace, leaving her behind.
“Fine. Message received,” she muttered, bringing up the rear.
As they made their way through the forest laden with tall, skinny pines, Orelia studied the handles of the weapons that disappeared behind his pack. One clearly belonged to a longsword with its hefty, elaborate cross-guard, while the other had a wide handle with a curved end she thought might have been an axe.
Hilts of varying heights decorated the entirety of his belt. She frowned when she recognized the hilt of the serrated dagger he’d pulled on her, noticing the sheath was only a couple inches long. An impossible length to be able to hold that weapon. She wanted to ask him about it.
“Can you please slow down a little?” Orelia called out.
He was a good twenty paces ahead, effortlessly weaving through the pines.
“Vade. Slow down.”
When he didn’t, she grunted. She was not going to do this all the way across Nivinia. She jogged to catch up and was trying to grab his arm when he halted. Orelia slammed into his back with an ‘oof’.
Sneering over his shoulder, Vade pulled a black stone from his pocket.
Obsidian. She had never seen gemstones, even though they were a recognized form of currency, though seldom used. Only commoncoin graced Minro. Nothing like the shiny, mesmerizing stone cut in an emerald shape sitting in his palm.
“Wow. That must have cost a fortune. What’s it for?” she asked. No gem was worth more, other than fire opal and azurite, but she’d deemed their existence pure rumor. No one she knew had ever seen the rare jewels, and Morton’s history books hardly mentioned them.
A gray mist swirled under the stone’s flat face, morphing into individual smoky letters that began rearranging themselves.
She leaned forward to get a better look, but Vade turned his shoulder, blocking her view. He stared at the stone for a few seconds, then began walking in a circle, focusing on the obsidian as if it was guiding him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He walked south, then turned west before eventually facing east. He moved in an easterly direction for a few steps, pocketed the stone, and continued walking.
She jogged up next to him. “What is that stone? What did it say?”
He kept his focus forward.
“Are you going to keep ignoring me?”
“Yup.”
She ground her teeth. “Look, I know you’re not thrilled with our situation, but we can’t travel across the entire continent together if you ignore me the whole time.”
“We can. And we will.”
“So you’re really not planning on talking to me the whole time?”
More silence. Not just a jerk, an incredibly insolent jerk.
After another wordless minute, Orelia realized they should have been headed north. The only person who lived further east of her was Gurn.
“Wait, why are we going this way? Shouldn’t we be headed to Dorsey?”
Vade abruptly stopped walking, and she almost ran into him again. “We will be making multiple stops along the way, and I only want to address this once, so pay attention.” He pulled the chunk of obsidian out of his pocket. “This is a tracking stone. When it vibrates, a name appears, along with an image of what the person looks like. After that, I walk until the stone vibrates again, telling me which direction to head. Then I go find the person to whom that name belongs.”
“Find them?” she asked, perplexed.
He huffed. “You have no idea whose wagon you’ve hitched yourself to, witch. But you’re about to find out.”
