“Since we’re not welcome to return to Prince Ryne’s army, we should search for Belen after we rescue Melina,” Flea said.
Not a bad idea. “I’m in.”
“I’m all for it.” Kerrick pushed up on his elbow. “But before we go rushing off, we need to have an idea which direction to search. With Melina, we know exactly where she is. If Belen’s been taken by Cellina, he could be anywhere in Vyg, Sogra, or Lyady Realms. That’s a lot of ground to cover and it’s all in enemy territory.”
“But we haven’t heard a word. Not even a hint of where he might be,” Loren said.
“Tohon claimed to have turned him into one of his dead soldiers, but Sepp said he froze Belen in a stasis. Neither can be trusted to tell the truth,” I said.
“After Melina, we concentrate on Belen. Agreed?” Flea asked.
It was unanimous. Kerrick settled back. He pulled me in tighter.
“It’s fitting we make sure Melina’s safe first. Remember how upset Belen was when she went missing?” Loren asked.
“Good thing he didn’t find those kidnappers, or he’d have ripped their arms off.” Quain made a tearing sound.
“They deserved to have their arms ripped off,” I said. The men had quite a profitable operation. They’d kidnap older teens and sell them to men looking for wives. One of those activities that had benefited from the loss of almost all law enforcement due to the plague.
“The ladies we rescued wanted to cut off another body part,” Kerrick said. He still sounded horrified by the idea.
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “Too bad Mengels’s town watch had re-formed or I’d have given them my sharpest knife.”
The monkeys groaned in sympathy. Men.
“Uh, Avry. Can you heal...uh...you know...man pain or would a patient need a male healer?” Quain asked.
Suppressing a fit of giggles, I imagined his face was bright red, even the top of his bald head.
Loren laughed. “What’s the matter, Quain? Did your last encounter give you a case of the clap? I didn’t know cows carried that disease.”
A yell followed a grunt and then the unmistakable sounds of two men wrestling accompanied a cloud of dirt.
“That’s enough, you two,” Kerrick said in his no-nonsense voice.
They stopped, both panting from the exertion.
“Quain, you really need to ignore Loren’s comments,” I said. “He’s just doing it to get a reaction from you.”
“And he falls for it every time,” Loren said.
“Easy,” Kerrick said to Quain.
“If he stops, we’ll lose hours of entertainment,” Loren added.
Quain didn’t twitch, but his glower promised Loren future pain. Loren kept his amused expression, unfazed by his friend’s demeanor.
“Enough. Everyone needs to get some sleep. I want to cover at least twenty miles tomorrow.”
Ugh. The monkeys fixed their bedrolls and settled down.
My thoughts returned to Quain’s question. “I’ve never had to deal with any...man pain before, but if I do, I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Thanks,” Quain deadpanned.
Once again everyone quieted down. I was about to drift off to sleep when Flea said, “I miss being Flea.”
“You’re still Flea. Nothing’s ever gonna change that,” Quain said.
* * *
Dawn arrived far too soon. Groggy and achy, I balked at leaving the toasty warmth of Kerrick’s arms. The air had cooled overnight and a light frost coated the ground.
We ate jerky for breakfast and packed up, continuing east. Kerrick set a brisk pace. Gazing at the surrounding landscape, I searched my memories. When I’d traveled to Galee to become Tara’s apprentice, I’d cut through Pomyt Realm. While Grzebien was the largest city in Pomyt, the realm had many smaller settlements tucked around farm fields and wooded areas. That was true for all the realms. Most had only two or three large cities.
Which meant we shouldn’t have to go too far out of the way to remain in the forest until we reached Ozero. Now all we needed were some horses. Except Kerrick avoided all the small towns and farms we passed.
I understood his reluctance to ride the noisy animals, but time was critical. After we bypassed a farm with horses grazing in a pasture, I reached for his shoulder, or rather where I thought his shoulder should be, since he’d gone woodsy as soon as we had set off this morning. I touched nothing but air at first. Then he took my hand and my skin turned the colors of the forest.
“Hey,” Quain said right behind me. “Give a guy some warning before you just disappear, will ya?”
Flea stood next to him, but Loren stayed back in the rear-guard position.
“Sorry,” I said, but stared at Kerrick. When we both blended in, I had no trouble seeing him clearly. At those times, he was all mine.
“Something wrong?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes, why did you pass that farm? They had horses, lots of them.”
“We’re not ready for horses.”
“We or you?”
“We. Trust me on this.” He squeezed my hand.
“All right.”
He let go and vanished once again.
“Welcome back,” Quain said to me. “Remember those times we wished Kerrick would disappear?”
“I can still hear you, you know,” Kerrick said.
“Is that so? I’d thought maybe you had vines growing out of your ears or something. Since you’re now...a weed of the forest?”