Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“It does not bode well that you hesitate. Now tell me and be done with it.”
It was a stern warning that she was not to keep anything from him, and she didn’t. She told him exactly what the figure said.
Dar remained silent for a moment, considering what she told him. “Why didn’t she tell us that from the start?”
“I can only guess she thought a warning to stay away, not find her, would be enough, but it wasn’t.”
“Yet this time she tells you that you are meant to find another who will change the tides of war. Why does she tell you this now and not before?”
“A necessity? Or perhaps time grows short? I don’t truly know.”
“Who is this other you are to find? And how will I help you?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Then what good is her message if we don’t even know who to look for. A man? A woman? And where do we start?” Dar asked frustrated.
“Think on what she said, I am not meant to find her but another. The only way I can do that is to continue my search for her. It must be along the way that we find this other person.”
“Everyone must believe we continue to search for the healer, for if word gets back to the king, he will demand our return. And then—”
Elara rested her finger to his lips so he would say no more. “This search goes the way it is meant to go. We continue to search for the healer so we can find the person who changes the tides of war. In the end, the king will be pleased and see our mission succeeded in a different way.”
Dar moved her finger off his lips. “I want to believe that, Elara, I truly do, but the king expects his orders to be followed. And when they aren’t, he is not a forgiving man.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Journey Continues
To Ancrum
* * *
They left Wedderlie early the next morning, after enjoying a meal. They hadn’t been traveling long when Elara felt the forest close around her.
The shift came quietly, a subtle thickening of the air, the way the wind threaded through the branches differently here, slower, more deliberate. Leaves whispered against one another overhead, not restless, but watchful. The earth beneath the horses’ hooves softened, rich and dark, holding the imprint of each step as though reluctant to let them pass too quickly.
It was not merely trees and ground, but memory layered upon memory. Roots that remembered storms. Stones that had heard vows sworn and broken. Moss that crept patiently over scars left by steel and fire.
She wished she could stop and forage, perhaps find plants unknown to her, add sketches of them to the journal in her collection pouch and to study for potential use. She missed her work as an herb-scribe, and she feared how long it might be before she was able to return to it.
“Something troubles you,” Dar said, having watched her eyes brighten with delight only to fade in sorrow.
She shared her feelings with him. “I miss my work. I so enjoy learning about the foliage and what help it cannot only offer healers but as potential food source as well.”
“Why an herb-scribe? Do you come from a family of herb-scribes?” he asked, taking advantage of the moment to learn more about her.
“Nay, my mum is a weaver and my da a record keeper.” She smiled with thoughts of them.
“Children usually follow in the steps of their parents,” Dar said, thinking of the path ordained for him since birth.
“Aye, it seems that way. But I spent a lot of time in the forest when I was young and my mum, thank goodness, realized it was where I was the happiest. She asked an herb-scribe if I could apprentice with her. It was contingent upon how I did after spending a day helping her forage.” She chuckled. “I knew every plant she collected, pointed out a couple that had me curious, told her how the leaves tilted in the rain and how there was silence before a storm. When the day was done, she claimed me as her apprentice. She told my mum that it can take years for an herb-scribe to learn to listen to the forest and that I already possessed that ability.” She turned curious eyes on him. “What about you? Did you ever want to be anything other than a Hunter?”
“My fate was sealed the day I was born. I trained from an early age, my duty clear. I would be prepared to lead the Hunters when the time came.”
“Is that what you want to do… lead the Hunters?”
“It is not about want. It is about duty.”
To Elara, he sounded as if he needed to defend his fate and perhaps accept it as well.
“Regina mentioned something about—”