Chapter 30: Pushing forward

Koth watched Irin as she strained to study the landscape in the dark. She was tough, but he still worried how she would handle a snowstorm on top of everything. They hadn't slept for almost a day, and if possible, he wanted them to keep riding through the day. They were now on a road they hadn't travelled before, and the dangers of doing so at night were too great. Koth was used to sleep deprivation. When he got caught up in one of his projects, he could go days without sleep. He knew his body and its reaction to it. He didn't know if Irin could handle it. He briefly considered offering to let her ride with him for a while so she could sleep. But it wasn't a good idea. Irin would refuse, and even if she didn't, they were already putting a lot of strain on the horses. It would be unfair to ask Maximus to carry an extra rider. Just before dawn, the snow started falling. Irin held out her gloved hand and let some snowflakes land on it.

"It's not that bad. Let's hope it stays this way," she said. Koth agreed. She turned around and fished out some bread and cheese from a saddlebag, broke it apart with her hands, and handed some to Koth.

"Thank you," he said. As always, she had given him a bigger portion. The gods must have looked kindly upon them, Koth thought, as the snowfall remained light. They didn't talk about stopping; they both wanted to put as much distance as possible between them and the town. As morning turned to afternoon, they came across a brook with running water.

"We should stop and refill the water skins and give the horses a moment to rest," Irin suggested.

"You're right," he agreed. They let the horses drink and rest while they stretched their legs and made sure they had water. "We have about two hours of light left," Koth remarked. Irin looked up at the cloudy sky. It had stopped snowing, but the sky remained grey.

"When we continue, we should be on the lookout for a place to stay for the night," she said. Koth agreed. It irritated him that they didn't know if they were being pursued or not. It meant they needed to act as if they were.

"We should reach Na'ung in two more days if we travel during the day," he said. Irin nodded.

"It will be another three days until we get to the great lake," she said, "and that's if nothing goes wrong."

"Right." Somehow, the great lake had become their goal. Koth knew they both felt that if they could reach it without being caught, it would mean they had reached safety. They could rent a boat and cross the lake, and no one would be able to tell where they had landed. He also knew that wasn't the entire truth. There were ways of tracking, even on water. The relic they had in their possession was powerful enough to make their pursuers desperate and to warrant spending unusual amounts of money to catch them. They didn't stay by the brook for long. Koth made sure they kept a steady pace as they rode down the road. The landscape was starting to change from dense spruce forest to leafy forest and a hillier terrain. As they moved south, the snow on the ground was also lessening.

"How about that place?" Irin asked as it was getting close to dark. She was pointing at a spot where two hills met. Both hills had trees on top, but none along the sides. They formed a horseshoe shape. It was the best alternative for a camp Koth had seen so far. He just didn't like how open it was facing the road. "I can add some bushes once we get in place. It will not be as visible from the road then," Irin said, as if she had read his mind.

"You can do that?" he asked.

"Alesseja is the goddess of bounty, nature and fertility," she reminded him.

"Then I think it will do. The chances are we won't find anything better," he said. They turned off the road and made their way to the place. Koth noticed the hills on three sides sheltered them from the wind; it was a nice surprise. As Irin started to pray, Koth tended to the horses. They looked happy to get rid of the saddles. He gave them food and water, and as he turned around, he saw a thick patch of thorn bushes covering the opening to their hideaway.

"That's perfect," he told Irin with a chuckle. "No one will think we battled those things to rest for the night."

"That's the idea," she agreed. They cleared away the snow on the ground and rolled out their blankets.

"We can't afford to light a fire. Even if it's small and the light can't be seen through your hedge, the smoke will still be visible. It will get cold," Koth warned her. Irin nodded.

"We will make do," she said. They sat down, and Irin went through the saddlebags and put together a cold dinner. Koth took out their wooden bowls and filled them with water and some of Irin's herbs. He drew a rune circle on the ground for each of the bowls and infused it with his magic. It heated the water, and soon they at least had hot tea. "That's brilliant! Thank you," Irin said as he handed her one of the bowls. They ate and drank their dinner and made sure the horses were doing well. They had decided on a watch schedule. Koth would take the first watch. He watched as Irin curled up on her blanket and used her cloak to cover herself. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, judging by the sound of her breathing. He sighed. He needed to get her out of this situation. Not just the current one, but the whole thing with the relic. If she hadn't been as stubborn and loyal as she was, he would have tried to convince her he could keep going on his own. Koth knew she would never agree, and if he tried to sneak away, he would be hunted by both his family and hers. No, the only way to make sure she was safe, warm and back in Gahndas where she belonged, was to end it all. He needed to do it without placing her family in harm's way. He sighed again. Easier said than done when her father seemed to be one of the few people who could read the inscription. Koth cursed the high priest who had given Irin the mission. He knew it wasn't fair; the priest couldn't have foreseen this. But Koth was in a bad mood and needed someone to be angry at. He was just happy he had been tricked into joining the mission. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if Irin had gone alone. She wouldn't have got Jasper's help. She probably would have gone to see Mohind and tried to make a deal. That could have ended really badly. That is, if she ever had found her way to Behenoth in the first place, Koth thought. He had found out that Irin really was terrible at finding her way. He smiled at the number of times she had got turned around when she had been walking in the woods by the house. At the thought of the house, he felt a pang in his heart. He missed it. In a way, it had been harder to leave it than it had been leaving his tower. There were a lot of good memories he associated with that house. He willed himself to stop thinking about it. He listened to the sounds from the forest. It was mostly quiet. There were the usual sounds of smaller animals using the cover of darkness to find food, of larger animals using the darkness to hunt, the wind in the trees, and the creaking of the wood as the trees lightly swayed. No sounds that were connected to pursuers.