A sudden change

“Excuse me? What do you mean the hour is at hand, and my coming was foretold, by whom?”

“By your mother, dear boy, and we, sadly, do not have time. We must hurry, I will make the preparations. Send him to me soon, Fillit.” The old lady walked out of the room, gliding almost effortlessly across the floor.

Aarni was perplexed, he looked to Mother Fillit.

“Sadly, I have few answers to the questions you must have, they will need to wait for your next stop.” Mother Fillit handed him his sword and a small satchel, inside was some bread and a waterskin. “But with the few minutes we do have, I will answer what I can."

Aarni had too many questions, but he wasn’t some spoiled noble that would demand answers before acting, he could read the energy of the room, and could only assume he was fleeing danger. Of the many questions in his mind, was his brother after him? Did they know he was here? What did they mean his mother foretold his coming here? What the hell was that rock? Who was the old lady? Where exactly was he going next? All of those took a back seat to one thought.

“What of Darya?

Mother Fillit laughed. “Oh, to be young again. Darya will follow the original schedule, she will be told nothing of the changes, she will follow her orders.”

“Will I see her again?”

“I can’t answer that now, and you must go, out the back, find the cloaked rider, she will take you further.”

Mother Fillit handed him a riding cloak that matched the one the old lady had worn, he slipped it on and put up the hood. Aarni walked quickly and purposefully through the Abbey to the back door that led out towards the stables. He saw her there, on a large, fine horse, it would carry them both easily. He went over, climbed up, and put his arms around the other rider.

“Hold on, young one, we ride for your life.”

They rode quickly away from the Abbey, not on the main paths, but through the woods, on unmarked trails. When they were far enough away, she slowed the horse and they set in a pace for a long ride.

“Can you tell me yet where we are going?” he asked.

“Not yet, the Abbey should have been safer than it was, and we may not be alone even now.”

Aarni looked around, he knew how to track, and how to look for someone tracking them, he didn’t see anyone.

“I’m pretty sure we’re alone now.”

The old woman laughed, “Pretty sure means you do not know, young one.”

He scowled, he already didn’t like this lady, he had come of age, he did not like being called young one, and he didn’t like how she laughed at him, he had been trained by the best in the kingdom, and this old woman acted like she was better than him.

He kept quiet though, his ego was wounded but he wasn’t stupid and she was right, he couldn’t say for sure they weren’t being followed, so he sat and rode quietly.

The sun was sinking low when they first stopped, a small stream providing water for the horse, she took out her food and he followed suit.

“Where are we headed?” he asked. If someone had been following them, surely, they would have been confronted by now.

“No questions, young one. Idle talk reveals a fool’s mind.”

His face burnt, again she disrespected him, she was either paranoid, pompous and mean, or she was testing him. Akim would do that to, dismiss his thoughts like that, see how he would react, see if words could break him in a tense situation. He didn’t break then and he wouldn’t lose to this old woman either. He would remember her slights though.

They sat quietly, eating a bit of bread. He watched to see how much she ate; it might be his only clue for how far they would be travelling. They were still headed South, the sun and the mountains revealed that, but they were heading to the West, while he expected the South-East road to the temple. He knew there were other Abbeys, he could be headed there or even to the border of Fleuria. He couldn’t imagine leaving Mnozimar, but he couldn’t rule it out either.

The old lady ate little, refilled her waterskin and prepared the horse. He refilled his skin as well, then joined her on the horse.

“Did you hear that, young one?”

“Hear what?”

She paused. “What indeed. Do not look around, we are weary and will create an opening.”

Aarni must have missed something, and the old woman was expecting something to happen now. He followed her words though and pretended to fall asleep. It didn’t take long for the monotony of the ride to turn his pretend slumber into a reality.

“Wake up, we make camp here.” The voice was accompanied by an elbow to his ribs.

Aarni opened his eyes, stretched his neck and shook off his grogginess. He climbed down from the horse, felt the weariness in his legs from the long ride. The sun would soon set, daylight was fading fast.

“Gather sticks, we’ll need a shelter tonight.” She said coarsely.

Aarni was beginning to resent the woman, she showed no respect to him at all, told him to do things like he was a child, and anytime he said anything, she insulted him. What made it worse is so far, she’d been proven right, and from the look of the clouds, and the feel of the air, she was right again, they would need shelter. He started gathering sticks. He’d been in scout training, knew how to make a quick shelter and cover it with grass or leaves to make it harder to detect in the moonlight, he selected sticks that would work well, and he gathered them quickly, the light wouldn’t hold out long.

He came back to the horse and saw the shelter frame, started laying the sticks on top. His mind started to wander back through the last few days, he had been on the run from his brother, but he had been mostly comfortable, consistently dry and he couldn’t complain about the company he had kept. If he had a night curled on the ground under a rough shelter with Darya he would feel much better about it, but curled up next to this miserable old lady. . . he knew things could be much worse, kept telling himself that he was lucky to even be alive, but still. . . this sucked.

They did a good job camouflaging the shelter, and the lady led the horse off a way, out of sight of where they would sleep. He assumed the horse was well trained, but he still felt more than a little afraid it wouldn’t come back in the morning.