The sky was still clear the next morning. The horses seemed fresh from oats and sleeping in a stable. Riley felt refreshed as well.
As they tacked the horses and strapped on the packs, Cora gazed at the river. She said, “It sure would have been nice to clean the clothes.”
Alexander had been missing all morning, and Riley was just about to go looking for him when he appeared with his hands conspicuously behind his back. He had a huge grin on his face.
“I made you a little something.” His voice was lilting, lyrical.
Riley wondered what sort of tinker’s bauble he would find so funny. She said, “What is it?”
“Well, my fearsome protector, I thought you would feel undressed without one.” With a flourish, he revealed a cloth scabbard with a wooden hilt sticking out of the end.
Riley cocked her head and took it. “Is this an insult? It feels like a jape.”
He looked injured by her words. “I surely hope not! I spent all night carving the heart of a hickory tree into the finest simulacrum of your lost armament.”
She drew the blade out of the canvas. It was indeed beautiful. It was lighter than a training sword, but had enough weight to it to make the fine edge dangerous. It was also perfectly balanced. “I do not know what to say.”
Alexander looked away and scuffed a foot on the ground. “Usually people say ‘thank you.’”
“Thank you! I mean, how did you make this in one night? You were in the common room, singing. I saw you!”
He gave her a cockeyed grin, “My dear, you know I am a tinkerer of the Ellium. Did you notice the scrollwork on the handle?”
She took a look. “This is Ruskin!” Summoned by his name, Ruskin barked excitedly, putting both paws on her knee.
Following the Bandinette River north, Riley was grateful the group finally fell into a comfortable routine. They rose with the sun and walked the horses until lunch. After they ate, they would ride the horses until the light shone off the river. It was easy to find a place to camp, because the riverbank was shallow and wide. Alexander would fish and play his pipes. Lissie cooked. Cora gathered firewood and Riley spent the evenings mastering the weight of her new sword.
On the fourth morning the air had fallen crisp. Clouds finally found their way to mar the sky, and there was a heavy grey fog over the Bandinette. Autumn was a month off yet, but it seeped up from the soil with a smell like brown grass. Beneath her boots the path felt dry and crunchy. The sound of the birdsong was muted and echoed over the endless flow of the river.
Cora said, “The most exciting thing that’s happened in three days was waving to a bargeman.”
Alexander chuckled. “You’d rather—dashing escapes, close calls and imminent danger?”
Lissie reminded everyone, “There is a danger, we just can’t see it.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Cora backtracked, “It’s just, we’ve been walking for a week.”
Riley listened to them. She watched Cora running her fingers over and over through her red curls, and realized that she was nervous, not bored. It was only one or two more days before they reached Terndowns Castle. She asked, “Alexander, don’t you owe me a story?”
He replied, “I owe you four stories.”
Cora sounded excited. “I thought that was just a figure of speech. I didn’t think you were going to pay up.”
“My sweet strawberry, the Ellium pay their debts.” Alexander sounded courtly as he stared over the river. “Have any of you ever been to Fairfield?”