Under The Rain

By the time Tirikala, Jenna and I set out it was raining heavily and completely dark, not that it stopped us. The first part of our journey followed the road to Archenland which lead west for a way before turning south towards the mountain pass. Since we didn't really need much light we pressed on whilst we could, flying close to the road.

The road to Archenland deviated from our route just south of Owlswood, so we stopped there for the remainder of the night. It was only then, when I was sodden and weary, that I realised that I had left the map behind.

Whilst I had been packing it had occurred to me that plotting our route before setting out would save time. The map was at this moment sitting on the desk in my bedroom, as warm and dry as a map could be. Meanwhile, I was out here, wet and freezing cold.

It was not what I would call an auspicious start to the journey.

Thankfully Tirikala did not seem to be too fazed by the lack of map, saying that as long as we carried on due west we would eventually reach the southern end of the western wood and from there it should be easy to find our way.

On that note we went to sleep, all of us hoping that the next morning would bring clearer skies and warmer temperatures.

OoOoo

The next morning dawned, still cold, but the downpour had lessened to a steady drizzle. After a quick breakfast we pressed on, although not quite as quickly as we had hoped. A wind had sprung up whilst we slept, making flight difficult and our progress was slow. Still, at least it was progress.

Around midmorning we became aware of a horseman a few miles back and for rest of the morning he followed our trail, never quite managing to close the gap but never falling behind.

This unnerved me, and I was more than ready by midday to find out just who it was. It seemed to me to be too big a coincidence that someone had just decided to head westwards to nowhere in particular on a day like today so we stopped, waiting for him to catch us up.

As he drew closer it became apparent that the rider was small, smaller than a full grown adult and a truly appalling though occurred to me.

By the time Corin rode up half an hour later I was thoroughly unamused by the whole situation.

"Hullo," he said cheerfully, by way of greeting. "You got anything to eat?" Then he spotted my glare and took a small step backwards. Jenna sniggered quietly in my ear, but I tried to ignore her.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" My voice cracked like a whip and I wasn't surprised to see him take another step backwards. I have frequently been told that I can be quite scary when in this mood. I was beyond unamused by now. The silly boy hadn't even thought to bring any food.

"Um," he supplied weakly. I rose one of my eyebrows and he quailed. He had never seen me so angry before. I think he actually believed that I never took things any more seriously than he himself did and assumed I didn't do much of importance in the running of the kingdom.

He was completely wrong.

"I thought you'd be pleased to see me," he burst out. "I thought we would have an adventure!"

"You what?" I spluttered. "An adventure? Are you mad? This is a rescue mission in the hope that we might be able to save my brother's lives! This is not some silly adventure jaunt! It's a matter of life and death! Peter and Edmund's deaths!"

I turned my back on him and stalked over to Tirikala, Jenna still sitting on my shoulder, sniggering quietly.

"Any ideas on what to do with him?" I demanded of the pair of them. "We can't leave him or send him back - he'll only follow us and Aslan knows what I'll say to the Archenlanders if he gets hurt."

When he got hurt. This was Corin we were talking about after all. The Corin who couldn't stay out of trouble for more than three consecutive minutes.

"We could escort him back to Cair," Jenna suggested but I shook my head, reluctant to lose our lead that we had gained.

"We could take him with us," Tirikala suggested dubiously. "There's a family of fauns who live in the southern end of the Western Woods. We could leave him with them."

It would mean a large detour to find a bridge but it probably would be the quickest thing to do. That wasn't to say that it was going to be a good idea (and I was sure that it wasn't going to be nearly that easy) but I couldn't really see anything else to do with him.

"Would his horse head back to Cair if we left him?" I asked Tirikala.

She shrugged.

"He might do. There's a herd around here that might escort him. It depends. They probably would if you asked them to."

That was a much better solution to the problem. Corin wouldn't weigh too much, and since I wasn't overly heavy it was Tirikala would be able to carry both of us without too much trouble.

"Would you be able to find them, do you think?"

"I'll find them."

"Thanks." I smiled at her, relieved that we wouldn't have to lose time making the large detour to the bridge. "I'll wait with His Highness until you get back." I stepped backwards as she launched herself into the sky.

Fishing around in one of the packs, I extracted a lump of bread and stalked over to him, scowling.

"That's all you're getting," I told him bluntly and he looked taken aback. Good. He could jolly well get used to the fact I wasn't happy with him.

"Since you decided to come along on this jaunt of yours without any food we're on light rations for a day or so." He looked crestfallen, in that way only hungry boys could and for a minute he reminded me of Edmund when he had been the same age. He too had been relentlessly hungry. Still was, truth be told. Peter too.

The realisation that he was probably going to be hungry for the next couple of days seemed to hammer home how much trouble he was in and he sat in an uncharacteristically quiet huddle for at least half an hour. Nothing, however, could keep Corin down for long and eventually he piped up with what he evidently hoped would be a sufficient peace offering to stop me being cross.

"I brought the map," he told me.

Clearly he wasn't above a poke around in my room, even when I wasn't there! Bah!

OoOoO

An hour later and we were on our way again. The leader of the herd, a sensible older horse, had been only too happy to escort Corin's horse back to Cair which solved our problem nicely. Isn't it nice when things work out like that? It's just such a shame that it doesn't happen more often.

The rest of the day was as soggy as the beginning part had been and slowly, oh so slowly, Corin's chatter faded into silence.

To start with the peace was bliss, but when the uncharacteristic silence had been going on for more than half an hour I cracked and looked back over my shoulder at him. He was sitting in a miserable heap, looking exceedingly sorry for himself as he shivered. I hadn't really thought about it much, but I had to admit that it probably wasn't exactly dry as we flew through the mizzle that had replaced the rain. Corin was probably more than a little bit damp.

Sighing, I decided it would probably be better for the trip if he didn't get pneumonia and reluctantly shrugged off one of my many outer layers of clothing which I handed back to him. He took it and pathetically put it on, sniffing dolefully.

I really couldn't wait for us to finally reach Tirikala's fauns in the Western Woods.

Only another day or so to go.

Bah.