Chapter 12

The next morning, Corec left the inn early to find mounts for his companions. There weren’t any mules for sale, but he got lucky and found a farmer who’d ended up with some horses he didn’t need. It only cost sixty silver to buy a five-year old gelding for Shavala and an older mare for Bobo, plus saddles, tack, blankets, and saddlebags.

He returned to the inn and left the animals in the stable yard, then went inside to find his friends getting everything packed up.

“I just need to get my armor on,” he said. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Do you really need it?” Katrin asked. She sounded friendly this morning, as if she no longer considered him responsible for their situation.

“Probably not around here, but it’s a habit, and Dot and the pack mule don’t like it if I load it onto their backs.”

“You should call him Boy,” she reminded him, with a hint of a smile. “He likes it better.”

Corec laughed. “I’ve never noticed that he cares one way or another, but you’re welcome to call him that. Anyway, I was able to find some horses, so we can stop at the store if anyone needs anything. I sold the crossbow and bought food last night, but Shavala, Bobo, if you want a lean-to or some extra blankets, you can get them. The weather’s been hot and dry so far, but you never know.”

“Does the store have candy?” Shavala asked.

“Candy?”

“I had a copper coin once, but the traders wouldn’t give me anything for it except for a bag of something they called candy. It tasted like maple syrup.”

Katrin giggled, the first time Corec had ever heard her do that.

“Maple candy,” he said. “You might have better luck up north or in Larso. It’s usually only made around here in the spring, after the traders bring the syrup.”

“Oh.” Shavala looked disappointed.

“How do you know so much about it?” Katrin asked him.

“Remember the tutors I told you about?” Corec said. “I had to learn all the crops harvested in the Black Crow Mountains. The maple harvest was how my ... how the family I lived with made some of their money. Maple trees grow around here, but not the right kind, and the winter usually doesn’t get cold enough.”

While his companions were taking the packs and saddlebags downstairs, Corec put his armor on. He joined them in the stable yard, where they were saddling Dot, Flower, and the pack mule.

“Bobo,” he said, pointing to the dun mare, “this is Rose. She’s getting on in years, but she should be able to keep up on the trip to Tyrsall.”

“Thank you,” Bobo replied, and walked over to greet his horse.

“Shavala,” Corec said, “this is Socks. He’s smaller than our other horses, so I thought he’d be easier for you.”

“Oh, he’s pretty,” Shavala said. She walked around looking at the gelding, a roan with white markings going up most of the length of its forelegs. She was about to step behind him when Corec grabbed her by the arm.

“Wait! Don’t walk behind a horse!”

“Why?”

“It might kick you if it doesn’t know what’s behind it. If you’re going to walk behind him, be sure to touch him and speak to him the whole time so he knows you’re there. You haven’t been around horses before? Do you know how to ride?”

“Don’t you just get on that thing there,” she said, pointing to the saddle, “and then the horse takes you where you want to go?”

“It’s more complicated than that. We’ll teach you how to ride as we go. We’ll need to take breaks anyway if this is your first time, or it’ll be too hard on your legs.”

“It’s been awhile for me, too,” Bobo said.

“We’ll take it easy for the first couple of days.”

“Wait, why am I the only one riding a mule?” Katrin asked. Corec couldn’t tell if she was angry or not.

“I just bought what I could find,” he said. “The last village had a mule, this one had two horses. I thought you liked Flower?”

“I do!” she said, wrapping her arms around the mule’s neck. “I just don’t see why there’s always a horse available when somebody else wants one.”

He laughed. Katrin might be in a better mood, but apparently she wasn’t done giving him a hard time yet. “I’m not sure one time counts as always, but I’ll tell you what. When you’re ready to buy your own, we’ll wait until we can find a horse.”

She glared at him, but she was smiling underneath it.

Two days later, they’d gotten up and on the road early. To save money, they’d spent the night camping rather than stopping at an inn. With the long days and the pleasant weather, they’d been making good time despite frequent breaks. Now that everyone had gotten used to being in the saddle, they’d be able to speed up their pace.

They’d been riding for an hour when Corec realized that the faint whispering noises he’d been hearing were Shavala talking to her horse. Glancing back, he was shocked to see Socks wasn’t wearing his bridle.

“Whoa!” Corec said, bringing the procession to a halt. “Shavala, what are you doing?”

She had taken to riding easily. He’d watched her with her saddle and tack the previous day and she’d seemed to have it under control, so this morning he’d let her handle it on her own.

“Stop,” she said to Socks, who stopped. “What do you mean?” she asked Corec.

“Where’s the bridle and reins? You can’t ride like that!”

“Why not?”

“Because you can’t control the horse that way!”

She looked puzzled. “He does everything I want him to.”

“Even if you’re controlling him with your legs and your seat, you can’t do everything that way, and you’ll want the reins to reinforce the commands.”

“I’m not using my legs. I just tell him what I want him to do, and he does it. He doesn’t like the bridle or bit.”

“He’s trained to voice commands?” While most horses would follow a few voice commands, Corec had always been taught that a rider shouldn’t rely on them.

Shavala shrugged. “Socks, walk in a circle.”

The horse walked around in a tight circle, which certainly wasn’t a standard voice command.

“How did you do that?”

“Animals can understand what a druid says to them, if they’re smart enough. Remember the wolf I mentioned the other night? I asked him to leave us alone, and he did.”

“So, it’s magic?”

“It’s not a spell, but the elder magic is about more than just spells.”

“How are you going to stop him if he gets spooked and runs away?”

“I’ll ask him not to.”

“Do you really think that’s going to work?”

“If he can hear me, yes.”

Corec sighed. “All right, but you still need to learn to use your legs and seat. It’s as much for you as it is for him. If you have to go fast or turn quickly, you’re going to need to grip him with your legs, and you don’t want to grip him the wrong way or it’ll conflict with ... whatever you’re telling him, and then he won’t know which command to obey. Besides, there may be times when it’s too loud for him to hear you, but if he can feel you on his back, you can still direct him.”

“Oh. I see. Can you show me again?”

As they drew closer to Tyrsall, the road got busier, with people walking, riding, or driving wagons or carriages. Midday on the sixth day after leaving the village, they crested a rise and saw the city in distance.

Corec brought the group to a halt.

“Oh,” Shavala said, bringing her horse to a halt. When he glanced at her, she was looking at the city in fear.

They were too far away to see individual buildings, but it was obvious that Tyrsall was massive. He still remembered his first view of it. He’d visited Telfort while he’d been training as a knight, but Tyrsall was even larger. The outskirts consisted of smaller hamlets that had gradually been absorbed into the city, and then farther in were larger industrial buildings and warehouses. It wasn’t possible to see the city center or the harbor from this distance, but they added to the indistinct grayish-brown mass that spread before them.

He turned to Katrin. “We’re an hour’s ride away. We can go back to that last village, which will add another hour, or we can set up camp if you still want to stay outside the city. If we stay, this is as close as we can get—the constabulary sends out patrols to make sure people don’t camp on the outskirts. And we’ll need to keep watch all night, to make sure nobody steals the horses.”

“I ... don’t know,” Katrin said, running her fingers over the rune on her forehead. “Maybe just for the first day, while you try to find a wizard?”

Corec had given up on trying to conceal his runes after a few days without any success, but Katrin had kept practicing. She could do it with her eyes open now, but she still had to concentrate or the mark became visible again. Shavala hadn’t shown any interest in hiding hers, though she’d replaced the hawk feather in her hair with three bluejay feathers tied to a leather cord, hanging down in front of her left ear.

“You could set up camp in that batch of trees we saw a mile back,” Bobo suggested. “That way, you won’t be right out in the open.”

“That’s a good idea,” Corec said. “I’ll come back tonight and let you know what I find out.”

Shavala hadn’t taken her eyes off the city. “How big is it?” she asked hesitantly. “It looks as big as the forest.”

Corec laughed. “No, it would take almost two weeks to go through the full width of the forest. Tyrsall is about twenty-two miles north to south, so you could walk its longest distance in a day, even if the streets are busy.”

If anything, hearing the actual size made her look more nervous. She stared at Tyrsall, biting her lip. “I’ll stay here with Katrin. Just for today.”

“What about you, Bobo?” Corec asked.

“By the time we get there, it’ll be too late to get started in the library, but I should at least stop by and make sure they’ll let me in. I can work on that while you’re looking for a wizard.”

“All right, let’s get going then.”

Three and a half hours later, Corec and Bobo reached the city center and split up, planning to meet after running their errands, so they could head back to the camp together.

It took Corec another thirty minutes to reach the constabulary building, and he went inside to the bounty office.

“I remember you,” the man at the desk said. “Any luck with those thieves?”

“Not yet, but I think I saw the old man. The bounty’s not worth chasing him down, but in case I can get him to come in willingly, what are their penalty fees?”

“Willingly? Good luck with that, but I’ll check for you.” The man pulled open one of the drawers and searched around, finally finding the paper he was looking for. “Here we go. Based on what they stole, the penalty’s assessed at seven gold for each of them to avoid prison. But it still goes on their record, so if we catch them at it again, it’ll be worse.”

“Well, if I run into him, I’ll let him know.”

“If you bring him in yourself, you still get the bounty, even if he pays his penalty.”

Corec nodded, then glanced at the other poster he was interested in. “I don’t think the Herman brothers will be a problem anymore. It looked like them, anyway.”

“Oh? You got any proof?”

“No, I was just letting you know. It looked like they tried to waylay someone who didn’t want to be waylaid.”

“I’ll make a note of it, but I can’t take down the poster without proof. It’ll be good if someone’s finally done them in.”

Corec’s next stop was the Senshall Trading Company’s main office, since he hadn’t found anyone at the western loading yard on the way into the city. Inside, he found the duty agent, a man named Cal, speaking with someone dressed in expensive clothing. Corec was waiting for them to finish, but Cal saw him.

“Corec! Jak wasn’t too happy when you didn’t show up. We weren’t able to find a substitute in time, since he expected you to be there.”

“I’m sorry—I had do something away from the city. I thought I’d be back in time, so I didn’t take my name off the list, but then I got delayed. I just got into town today, but I don’t think I’ll be around for the next run, either.”

“You miss two in a row, you’re going to lose your reserved spot,” Cal said.

“I know, but I can’t help it. I’ve got to head out to Four Roads ahead of the next trip. I’ll probably run into Jak on his way back, so he can yell at me then.”

“Four Roads?” the other man asked, looking over Corec’s armor and sword. “Heading through Dalewood? I’ve got a message going that way, and I’m looking for a runner. How long will it take you to get there?”

Corec thought about that. “Dalewood by the West Road is four hundred twenty miles. Figure ten or eleven days’ ride, but I’ve got some things to take care of in Tyrsall first, so it would be a few days before I could leave.”

“That’s still faster than waiting for Jak or the next Larso run,” the man said, “and you’ve got a good reputation, this little incident aside. I’m Varsin Senshall.” He held out his hand, so Corec shook it.