Read Online The Lord Son's Travels by Emma Mickley - Free Book Online Page B

  She shook her head.   "Great.   Well, at least I got that going for me.”   This time she was able to rise up and
stand with certainty.   “I need to
move on before whoever dumped me here comes back, and I need to find someone
who can help me find my way home.   Where is the nearest city?"
    "A
few days’ ride yonder," Adrien replied, pointing to the west.   By now the sun had almost completed its
day's work and was about to slink down to its bed below the horizon.   Elenna squared her jaw and swung her
pack over her shoulder.
    "Then
I'm going to get moving," she said.   "Thanks for your help."   She marched across the grass to the road to hustle confidently if a
little shakily down the center.   Brendan glanced at Adrien for confirmation, then raced to catch
up with her.
    "My
lady," he panted, "We take that road too.   Travel with us.   This road is too dangerous for a woman alone."
    "I'm
fine," she replied, keeping up her pace.   She didn't face him, and forced him to continue jogging at
her side to keep up the conversation.
    Brendan
continued, "You have no supplies, and you don't know the land.   At least stay with us until the
dawn."   She slowed at the
logic in his answer.   The last
fifteen minutes, she thought somberly, might prove to be quite important in her
life.   Part of her wanted to keep
running until the world looked right again.   The logical part of her brain thought of the long lonely
road she faced through unfamiliar lands.   These men seemed friendly enough, she argued with herself.   If they were going to try anything,
they would have taken the opportunity with her lying out cold in the grass.  
    Turning
to watch the blond man's expression, she demanded, "You aren't going to
give me any trouble are you?"   He shook his head earnestly, his eyes twinkling at her bravado.   She sent a fleeting look at the dark
road ahead, then back to the place where Adrien was already setting up
camp.   "Okay," she agreed
reluctantly. “But remember I can take care of myself.   Behave.”
    Brendan
nodded, amused by her spunk.   He
glanced to Adrien, who gave the tiniest shrug and started emptying the
saddlebags.   They would lose some
travel time, he reasoned, but she had created some mysteries he would like to
see solved.   And he agreed with his
friend that it would not be just to leave her where they had found her,
mealless and defenseless in the night. Adrien resolved that in the morning, she
would best be served with a few supplies and directions to the farm they had
passed a few days previously.   And
they could return with pleased consciences to their quest.
    She
watched as the men went about their tasks for setting up camp for the night.
Though her fatigue and confusion were palpable, her eyes followed both men
carefully as they prepared the evening meal.   Both Adrien and Brendan concentrated on their own efforts
and left her to her own observations.   All of them had thoughts aplenty to keep them occupied as a joint of
meat roasted above the fire.   She
still wore Adrien’s cape, which she kept stroking absent-mindedly as she
eventually relaxed her vigilance and lost herself in her thoughts.   The strange black bag they found her
with she kept close at her side; any movement by the men in its direction
earned them renewed suspicious attention.   The Allè-dônians each decided independently that whatever it contained
was valuable, and they would most likely never learn its contents.
    "Where
are you traveling to?" she finally spoke up at a lull in the
preparations.   Brendan looked up
from the cook pot and smiled, glad their mystery guest had decided to
interact.   He wondered if perhaps
she had suffered an injury, causing all of this bizarre behavior they had
observed.   Her speech, her clothing,
even her walk was foreign; odder than he would expect even from a stranger .   The auburn hair contradicted
this plausible idea.   Whoever this
woman was, he thought, or at