Riley put one foot in front of the other. The reins were limp in her hands. Sugarsnap nuzzled her. Riley flinched. “Riley, did you hear me?” It was Cora’s voice.
“What was that?” Riley mumbled.
“I said, do you want to stop here for lunch?” Cora sounded concerned. They all sounded concerned.
“Yeah. Yes, that’s fine.” Riley kept walking. Dazed, she looked around and came to a stop.
The packs were opened, and an apple was pressed into her hand. She looked up at Lissie’s face as she took the food. It was red, but not blistered. Riley looked at the apple. It was bruised, but not old.
Lissie asked, “Alexander, how much farther until the village?”
Alexander answered, “Maybe another four hours at this pace,” he paused, “Maybe six.”
Cora sat down on the boulder and patted it, “Riley, sit next to me.”
Riley looked at the sky, then at the road and the forest around her. She saw a tree marked by a forester. There was no clearing here, but there was a nice boulder. She sat on it and stared at the apple in her hand.
Was this one from home? Riley wondered, Or did Alexander trade for it?
She took a bite.
Cora leaned past her, “What’s this village like, Alex?”
Alexander swallowed the walnuts in his mouth and answered, “It’s not much. It’s mostly just a river town. There’s a mill and an inn for the ferrymen. This is the Log Way, they take the trees on carts to the barges that go up the river to Terndowns.”
“Don’t tell me I’ll see the Bandinette, I haven’t seen it since the last time I visited home,” Cora exclaimed.
“People around here just call it the Band. When we would finish in Terndowns we would load the carts on the emptied log barges. Easier trip than the one I just took. Right, Ruskin?” The little dog barked his agreement.
Lissie said, “A few hours, a night, then a ferry and we will be out of Switforst and into Kisten. From there how far to the Plains?” Riley looked at the bandages on Lissie’s hands as she spoke. They were dirty.
“Not quite, Switforst stretches past the other side of the river. If we kept going west past the Band, we would have to cross through the Broken Swamps. You have to go north into Terndowns and then across the bridge to Kisten.” Alexander’s words fell without rhythm. Riley wondered if he would ever find the song in his voice again.
Cora said, “Do you know what’s in the Broken Swamp? I grew up in Terndowns but we never talked about it. I asked a tutor once and he left the room.”
Lissie said, “I know one thing. Banshees. My grandmother told me about them.”
Riley looked down at her apple. There was one bite missing. She took another.
Alexander looked up at the sky, “I’ve never been into the swamps. There was a fortune teller who was traveling with us a while. She wasn’t really Ellium, she hadn’t taken the oath. But we let her travel with us. I shared a bottle with her one night. She told me there were people who lived there under the roots of the trees.”
Cora said, “Why? Underground? Wouldn’t it flood?”
Alexander shrugged, “I asked her. Apparently they stood straight in the water and the trees’ roots reached up into the air like they could walk away. That’s what she said.”
Lissie asked Riley, “Did your father ever say anything about the Broken Swamps?”
Riley looked up at her, “He said they were never conquered because the cavalry couldn’t walk through water. The old king eventually gave up on it.” She forced herself to take another bite.
Lissie asked, “Can we take a barge up the river, then? To get north?”
Alexander replied, “How much money do you have? Coming south the barges are empty, so it’s a cheap fare, but northbound they’d be sacrificing a load of timber to Terndowns.”
“Maybe I could tell them my mother would pay them when we got there? I mean the castle is right on the dock.” Cora smiled as she spoke, and Riley looked at her red hair in the sun and thought of the blood running down Jon’s chest.
“Lady Maribelle, yes,” Alexander’s cheeks flushed, “Were you planning on stopping there then? I thought we were in a hurry?”
“We have to stop there!” Cora burst out, “I mean I know we didn’t really talk about it before we left.” She stood up from the boulder and turned to face Riley, “I have to warn mother. I thought perhaps you’d want to send a message home, just to let them know we are safe.”
Riley took the last bite of the apple. All that was left was a core now. She held it between her thumb and her forefinger. “Lissie, did you pack apples when we left?”
“No?” Lissie sounded confused.
“I see.” Riley threw the core into the forest and stood up from the boulder. She grabbed Sugarsnap’s reins and mounted.
“Riley?” Cora laid a hand on her leg, “We’re stopping right, to see my mother?”
“What?” Riley looked down at her from the horse, “If you think we should, I trust you. Can we ride for a while?”
Riley saw Cora and Lissie share a look. Riley turned back to stare at the sky while Sugarsnap ate the grass on the side of the road. There wasn’t a single cloud today.
It was better riding. It was always better riding. The movement cleared her mind, Riley’s thoughts wandered. The distance between her and the others was as big as Sugarsnap, and growing. She laid a hand on the hilt of her sword.
It wasn’t really an accident, she thought.