“It’s the First Brother River. If you follow it to the north, the Second Brother joins it, becoming Brothers’ River. It tumbles over the Two Brothers Falls.”
I smiled. “Apparently, there was a set of brothers you all liked at one point.”
“So the stories say. The ones in the stained glass in the entrance way, supposedly.”
I filed that information and promised I would get over the fountain and spend some time studying the windows.
With the horses moving again, we followed the river for a while, then turned right into the grasslands there. A group of bushes appeared for a moment. In the next, the ground sloped down again, and an expanse of grasslands dotted with trees appeared there.
“Welcome to the Range. The common people of East S’Kir train here. It’s a recreational area. Most of the people here are rebels.” Aiko snorted. “Most of the people of East S’Kir are rebels.”
We dismounted and walked the horses to a line that had been set up with a trough and a few hay bales.
Aiko untied a bundle from his saddle, tossed on his shoulder, and motioned me to a path.
He disappeared in a blast of wind.
I couldn’t help the roll of my eyes. Vampire speed and he thought I could catch up?
With a sigh, I started walking down the path in the direction where I could hear faint explosions. I figured those noises were the guns going off. It certainly sounded like the weapon that had torn into my leg.
It took five minutes for Aiko to finally reappear. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Clearly.” I pointed to the path beneath my feet.
“Well?”
“Well what? I’m walking.”
“Why don’t you run?”
“Because I’ll wind myself, and then you’ll be able to take me out with the sword.” I grinned.
He stopped walking. “You… can’t run?”
“No, I cannot. Not like you.”
“But…” His words fell off, and he was clearly confused.
“Roran is older than the Spine,” I offered, knowing that’s what he was thinking of. “None of the younger generations had any idea we were supposed to be able to do that. Dorian was going to teach me, but we—”
“You were caught in hostile territory.”
I answered with a simple nod.
With three long strides, Aiko was behind me, and one more stride allowed him to pick me up.
I screeched, which immediately turned in to a scream when he started running.
Everything sped by in a blink, and less than a minute later, he was putting my feet back on the ground, probably a third of a league from where we started.
I punched his shoulder. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“I’ll have to so I can get you back to the horses.”
“Warn me then!”
He walked away from me, chuckling.
