***
Three days in a saddle were enough to convince Kohau that he'd never volunteer to leave the library ever again. Or if he did, he'd travel by wagon or coach or something at least that didn't involve being perched on the back of his horse. He preferred something less stubborn and more human between his thighs.
Yelve had told him the night before that he'd get used to it after a few more days. Then she'd been nice enough to toss him a tin of ointment to help with the soreness. To his surprise it had worked better than he expected.
"We might make it to Gallane this evening, if you'd rather sleep in a proper bed."
He turned his attention from the golden leaves overhead. "I'm getting the hang of sleeping under the stars. Though I vote the next time I do this when the weather is warmer."
Yelve's laugh drifted back to him. "The nights are still cold in summer."
"Then I'll have to remember to bring someone to cuddle with." Kohau tried to nudge his horse closer to her. "A fire, someone to cuddle with. I could do with more nights under the stars."
"Just be careful where you go. Your cuddle toy might not enjoy bug bites all over their ass. Or other spots."
"That would put a damper on things."
"The foothills along the eastern range are nice in the spring. You could always go to one of the flower festivals. I've heard they're quite nice."
"You've never been?"
She shrugged. "I go where manyol needs me to be. But I have been at the pass long enough to see the Thaw Bloom Festival."
"Not many people show up for that one I'd bet."
"Depends on how much snow and if they’ve been able to keep the roadways clear."
Kohau nodded as they drifted back into silence. He had observed that his traveling companion wasn’t always one for long conversations about nothing in particular. Not that he needed to fill up the hours of the day with idle chatter, but sometimes it felt strange to not talk at all.
They left the small copse of trees behind as the road turned to travel between empty fields. Smoke twisted skyward in lazy trails from a few distant farmhouse chimneys, and he could pick up the baying of cows and other animals from time to time. He had expected to see more travelers until Yelve announced that she was keeping them to lesser traveled back routes. Unfortunately she hadn’t told him why.
Shifting in the saddle, Kohau wished again that their midday stop had been longer. Though he supposed it didn’t take long to eat a few slices of cheese and gnaw on a couple hard travel biscuits. Yelve still hadn’t explained why she called them hard tack. It wasn’t a term he was familiar with. Then he hadn’t heard her term of endearment for the High Lady before either. Perhaps he could keep himself occupied in the evenings by compiling a dictionary of Yelve-isms.
“Ho the wagon!”
Her voice pulled him from his meandering thoughts. Before them off the side of the road was a rather lopsided wagon surrounded by a woman and children. One of the children gave them a shy wave before ducking behind her mother. Kohau could see as they drew closer that the wagon sat leaning on a broken wheel.
“Are you in need of assistance?”
“We could probably use a hand when my wife returns with something to prop the wagon with while we change the wheel.” The woman gave them a tired smile. “I told her it needed to be fixed before we left.”
“We’ll be glad to lend a hand.” Yelve dismounted with enviable grace. “Do you have much further to travel today?”
“We’ll hopefully make it to Gallane for the evening so we can make any other repairs. You folks from the temple?”
Kohau slid to the ground, gripping the saddle until his knees decided to cooperate. “Yes.”
“Then you’ve heard about the attacks at the Dellard Orchard?” The woman’s voice took on a hard edge.
“When did this happen?”
“Two, maybe three days ago. We wouldn’t have left the farm except my wife’s family is from around there and they said there were killings this time.”
“How many dead?” Yelve’s knuckles turned white from where she gripped the horse’s reins.
“No one knows for certain yet. Not that we’ve heard anyway. One of the reports we heard in the last town was that the raiders came from Usha.”
He wasn’t certain what Yelve was growling under her breath, but Kohau could tell she wasn’t happy with this news. “Usha?”
“Their main export is mercenaries, mainly to trade caravans and the like.” Yelve’s eyes were hard as her gaze met his. “If I find out they’ve broken their accords with the council…”
“You’ll take on an entire town?”
“I just need to take out one man in particular.”
Kohau couldn’t stop the shiver that made the skin along his spine crawl. Something in Yelve’s voice right then terrified him.