The Horsehearted

Chapter 2: The Journey
The morning dawned bright and early-too early for Jo's taste, for she hadn't been able to fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning and even then she had barely managed any more than a thin, fitful doze. Despite the late night she had awoken before Onua, by the time the K'mir was up she had a fire going and breakfast was almost cooked. Onua dragged her body out of the bedroll and groaned sleepily. Something along the lines of "Oh you're up" seemed to escape Onua's lips as she feebly stumbled over to the fire and somehow managed to move her food from the plate to her mouth without any major mishaps. Jo poured both Onua and herself a cup of coffee. She took a sip and sighed, there was nothing like strong coffee to wake you up in the morning. All of a sudden Onua yelped and spat out a mouthful of coffee, choking and gasping for air.
"What did you put in this stuff." Onua said between wheezes.
"Just coffee." Jo said looking into her cup and taking an experimental sip, "It tastes alright to me."
Onua took a careful, tiny sip "Wow, this is strong enough to float an arrow head on." She said calmly and set her cup on the ground.

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Hunter dismounted, of all the things that had happened, this was by far the worst. "Oh, Sunsinger," he said, talking to his horse, "Why did you have to get hurt today." Do you think I did this on purpose, she said tartly, Get on my back, before I leave you to get caught by the two-leggers. "I am not going to ride you when you are injured." Hunter replied. What he wouldn't give for his mother Daine's ability to heal animals.
Hunter had been sent on a mission by the spymaster to find the Healing Opal, a black opal with enough magic stored in it to heal an army, it had been looted by Scanran raiders and sold to Galla. When the spymaster had found out, he had sent Hunter, nineteen years old and one of his best, to scope it out and see if it was possible to steal the jewel. Hunter had gotten caught and he had left Cria with a rush.
He trudged down the road under an invisibility spell. Hunter was tiring quickly, he only had a small gift and could not hold an invisibility spell for more than a few minutes without tiring; he'd held this one for an hour. He saw dust in the distance in front of him. Maybe if he could hold his spell for a few more minutes he could pass the people on the road and then the hounds that were following would lose his scent. He hoped. Get on, Sunsinger insisted, you won't catch up without my help. "Alright I'll get on, but only because I know we have to catch up with those people." Hunter put his foot in the stirrup and tried to mount. His strength was sapped by the spell, and he slipped when he was halfway on Sunsinger, hitting the ground with a thud. Hunter felt something-sharp gouge into his forearm. He looked down; blood was streaming out of a long jagged gash. Hunter said a few very impolite words. Sunsinger watched with amusement then said Stop talking and get on. "One second." He muttered, ripping off the sleeve of his shirt and tying it around his injured arm. He then mounted Sunsinger, this time with no major mishaps and set off for that cloud of dust in the distance.

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Josana and Onua were on the road. Jo felt something tickle her in the back of her mind. It drove her crazy, even though she blamed it on the dust she knew that the cranky mood she was working herself into was really because of the odd feeling in her mind. The ponies grew irritable and insisted on doing everything they could to delay the journey. Her face red and her teeth clenched Jo barked at a particularly troublesome bay pony. "Get back in line right now before I smack you so hard you won't know up from down." The gelding meekly scurried back into place looking as if his feelings were hurt. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Jo said, her tone changing to one of sympathy and affection.
"Are you okay?" Onua said, craning her head around to see Jo.
"I'm fine, it's just this dust is driving me crazy."
"Well, I don't care how much you hate the dust, I will have no one talk to my horses like that." Onua reprimanded.
Onua ignored the look on her face as best she could. She was surprised that Jo looked so upset. Most people would have brushed her comment off, but she took it to heart.
The tickle in Jo's mind grew stronger. All of a sudden she turned around. To her shock a young man was riding toward the center of the ponies. She saw a faint rose colored fire surrounding him and his horse. A feeling of stealth and sneaking around in dark corridors seemed to emanate from the fire.
Jo grabbed her bow, putting an arrow on the string and raising it she cried in a cold, hard voice, "Drop that spell and don't even think about going for your dagger."
Hunter froze. The girl had caught him. How? She was such a young thing, fourteen at the most. How could she catch him, Hunter Salmalin, one of the best spies in Tortall? Hunter shed the spell, exhaling loudly, so she'd know he didn't like what was happening at all. All of a sudden the girl paled.
"Where did you get that horse?" she asked in fast clipped words.
Hunter, whose pride had been hurt by his capture, replied lazily, "Why should I tell you?"
"Because I have the bow and you will tell me what I want you to tell me." she snapped.
Onua rode up and demanded, "What is going on?"
"I found this young gentleman riding through the middle of your ponies under some sort of spell." Jo replied, never relaxing her grip on the bow or moving her head.
"Uh...Onua could I talk to you in private for a moment." Hunter said. The spymaster had always told him that in a pinch he could trust Onua to help him.
"Why sure Hunter. Jo, go tend to his horse, and put that bow down." Onua said, puzzling over why such a nice person as Hunter would try to steal her ponies.
She dismounted Ferdinand and eagerly trotted to Hunter's horse, Sunsinger. Sunsinger was the first horse Jo had ever trained and she had thought that she would never see Sunny again. "What's wrong, Sunny?" she asked, feeling a shadow of pain in Sunsinger's mind. It's nothing Sunsinger said. "Liar." she stated. Jo bent down and ran her hand down Sunsinger's left hind leg. When her hand was right above the fetlock she then pinched gently. Sunsinger obediently raised her hoof, still protesting. There is nothing wrong. "Then why are you limping?" Jo insisted, scraping dry mud and bits of rock out of the hoof with her fingers. Gently feeling the soft tissue of the frog Jo said. "Your frog is bruised. I can't believe you let him ride you." I did it of my own free will, Sunsinger replied haughtily; I had to help him escape. "Escape what?" she inquired. And unthinkingly Sunsinger spilled Hunter's secret.
Onua had easily understood Hunter's predicament and was glad to help. Hunter returned to the horses, Onua was going to hide his trail. The girl was putting a poultice of dried herbs on Sunsinger's afflicted hoof.
"Hello, my name's Hunter Salmalin." He ventured sticking out his hand.
"And mine's Josana Falconsri." she said looking up from her work. With a great deal of shifting and rearranging she managed to meet his hand with her own and shake it.
"Can I help you?" Hunter offered.
"No, I just about have it done." she said, putting down the hoof and dusting off her hands.
"Josana," Hunter said thoughtfully, "that's a pretty name. Can I call you Josie?"
"You are going to call me whatever you want so it doesn't matter." Jo said grumpily, not knowing how to react to such a compliment. Then all of a sudden she noticed Hunter's forearm "You're hurt." she exclaimed, concern creeping into her voice. When she reached for his arm Hunter pulled back. "Let me see." she said sternly. Warily, Hunter gave her his arm. Jo daintily removed the bandage with gentle fingers. She winced, "You need stitches."
"What do you know about wounds?" Hunter retorted.
Jo released his arm and went to her packs. "I've stitched up enough horses to know when someone needs stitches and you need them." Finding everything she needed, Jo handed a small flask to Hunter. "Three big gulps ought to do you."
He eyed the flask, then took a gulp. Hunter coughed and gasped. "Wow, that stuff is terrible."
"Two more." Jo prodded.
Hunter drank almost choking. He felt exhausted, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. Then he saw Jo threading a needle "No, please don't." Hunter begged his tongue felt heavy in his mouth and hard to move. Jo indicated that he should sit down on a nearby tree stump. When Hunter was seated Jo grabbed hold of Hunter's forearm and plunged the needle into his flesh. Hunter passed out and fell to the ground. Kneeling over him Jo grasped the needle; still embedded in his skin and proceeded to make nice, neat stitches.
When she was finished, Jo pulled her bedroll off of Jenny. Since Hunter obviously had no supplies, she decided she would let him have her bedroll. She got the bed ready. When the bed was ready, Jo dragged him over to the bed. She was just covering up Hunter when Onua came trotting back up the road.
Jo didn't ask Onua where she'd been. She believed that what Onua had been doing was none of her business and if it concerned her Onua would say so. "What's wrong with Hunter?" Onua asked.
"I had to stitch up a wound on his forearm. He passed out." She replied simply.
"Let me see it." Onua ordered.
Jo went to the bedroll and grabbed Hunter's forearm, removed the bandage and let Onua have a look. "Whoa," Onua said, "I couldn't have done much better."
Jo snorted and went to work at cleaning up the ponies. When the ponies were taken care of, Onua showed her how to set up the fishing lines. "Wow, you really have fish?" she inquired, "What do they taste like?"
"I don't know. Fishy, I guess." Onua said with a grin.
When the fire was burning and the fish was cooking, Jo had a peek at her patient's arm. It was fine with no sign of infection.
"What did you do to him?" Onua asked as she stared at Hunter's sleeping form.
"I gave him some of this, it just puts folks to sleep." Jo said, producing the small flask.
Onua gave it a sniff and said suspiciously, "Where did you get this? I thought healers liked to use magic to make folks sleep." The K'mir' squinted the inside of the flask.
"Fredrick gave it to me in case of an emergency, like the one we just had." Jo said, working on the carving she had started the night before.
"Who's Fredrick?"
"The camp cook and healer."
"Hey, that looks pretty good." Onua said, nodding at the carving.
"No, it's not." she mumbled."
Hunter moaned. He felt terrible. He moaned again, rubbing bleary eyes that wouldn't focus. His head hurt more than it had ever hurt in his life.
Jo tried not to grin, instead she grabbed the pot that held the coffee and offered it to him. Hunter took it and feebly poured himself a cup.
"Before you drink that," Jo said, grabbing a packet of herbs and adding a handful to the cup, "That may help your head and get your eyes to focus a little better."
Hunter swished the herbs around the bottom of the cup. She could see him test them magically. The herbs passed Hunter's test and he took a small sip. "This sure is weak."
"Blame Onua, she made it." She replied, then shot Onua a fearful glance. Onua didn't look angry, in fact, she looked amused.
Hunter grinned, he wasn't in the least handsome, he had short, dusty brown hair that was trying to be curly, but couldn't because of the length at which he kept it, he had dull, dusty brown eyes, and an unattractively stubborn chin. The only redeeming qualities that Hunter had were his long eyelashes and his full, sensitive mouth. Not that Jo was any better. She was gangly and skinny, her eyes had the appearance of muck floating around in a sewer, her dark blonde hair was kept in a severe bun, and she had a too big nose and a too small mouth. The fingers on Jo's right hand curled a little, she never had been able to straighten it out completely after a rattlesnake had bitten her when she was little. Hunter, now completely awake said, "Come on, Onua tell us some stories."
Onua started on the tale of how Veralidaine Salmalin had destroyed the palace in Carthak. Jo was carving her horse and Hunter was listening fascinated. When Onua finished, Hunter said, "Okay, it's my turn to tell a story, and he immediately started to tell the story of the time his older brother glued his foot to the floor. "...And then he had to use the privy." Hunter said his face red from holding in laughter
"What did you do?" Jo asked eagerly
"We had to bring down a chamber pot and let him go in that." Hunter snorted and started to laugh so hard that Onua had to finish the story.
"Now it's your turn to tell us a story." Hunter said.
"Well," Jo said dubiously, "I don't have any as funny or exciting as yours."
"I don't care as long as it's a new story, Onua and I have already heard all of each other's stories. I'm sure you have a new one." Hunter replied
"Well then I'll tell you how I was found." she answered.
"One day the Shang Falcon was riding out on the prairie and rounding up stray mares when he heard an odd sound. The Falcon feared it was a native so he rode his horse Ferdinand to the noise. Ferdinand was a flighty horse and it spooked the Falcon that he wasn't afraid when he himself was near trembling for fear of an ambush. The Shang Falcon wandered around for a few minutes before he found what had made the sound. It was a baby. The Falcon decided that the thing was near death, and he had not the time or resources to raise a child, besides he it was getting late, so he mounted Ferdinand and tried to ride away, but Ferdinand wouldn't leave. The Falcon spurred him and whipped him, but Ferdinand wouldn't leave the baby, no matter what the Falcon did. It was getting dark and soon it would be cold, so the Falcon finally picked the baby up in his arms and mounted Ferdinand, and to his amazement the horse eagerly cantered back to the ranch. The Falcon tells me that the smoothest ride Ferdinand ever gave him was when he carried me home that day."
"I can't tell you how true it is, it's just what the Falcon said happened." Jo said with a shrug.
"I can't believe he would have left you on the prairie." Onua said, shocked that anyone would have let a baby die in the middle of nowhere.
"It's your turn again, Onua." Hunter said, changing the subject. Onua started about how Veralidaine Salmalin had killed Ozorne.
Jo had finished her carving of the horse, and was sorting through the blocks of wood, looking for another piece of wood to start carving. Hunter reached out his hand in a silent request for her carving. She handed it to him. Hunter ran his fingers over the carving. It was remarkably well done. He leaned around the campfire and whispered in her ear, "Hey, Josie, this is really good, you should sell it."
"No, just toss it out, I've done better." she said dismisively.
"Well if you won't sell it, do you mind if I keep it?" Hunter asked.
"Feel free. You can have all of them if you like." Jo stated calmly.
Onua craned her head around and said, "Hunter, give it here."
The carving was very realistic, the horse looked as though it wasn't sure of its surroundings, wondering if it should bolt or make itself at home. Onua looked from the horse to Jo, the carving seemed to reflect her indecision of how safe her surroundings were.
"Hey, guess what, Sir Abram is going to join us at the Drell River. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough help, now I am afraid I'll have too much. Sir Abram is going to teach the Riders how to use a knife, maybe you could take some lessons while we're on the road." Onua said, looking at Jo.
"I could." she said thoughtfully.
"Well, it's late and I'm tired so I'll set the ward and we'll go to sleep." Onua said, getting up and stretching. As Onua walked in circles around the camp Jo grabbed the saddle blanket from her packsaddle and wrapped up in it.
"Let me take the blanket and you have the bedroll." Hunter offered.
"You have drained yourself magically and you have hurt your forearm, you need a good night's sleep." she replied, laying down and curling up in the blanket and pretending to go to sleep.
"Okay, I guess I'll just sleep in the bedroll." Hunter muttered.
Jo couldn't sleep, the light was driving her crazy, and in addition to presence of magic in her mind, she felt something unpleasant and wrong brush the back of her mind, it kept its distance, but she knew something bad was out there. The ward will protect us from whatever it is, she thought. She couldn't go to sleep, so she set to mending her old pairs of breeches and shirts.
Jo was bent over her needlework when she heard Hunter approaching, "What are you doing? Can you not sleep? Why don't you take the bedroll and I the saddle blanket." He offered
"No, I can't sleep because of the ward Onua placed, not because I don't have my bedroll, I've been in rougher spots on colder nights with less cover and slept like a baby." she answered, "Go back to sleep before I poke your eyes out with this needle."
Hunter sighed and went back to sleep. She mended for an hour before finally going to her pallet. Jo tried to go to sleep, but Cyril tormented her. She remembered the Shang Falcon falling ill and eventually dying. She had discovered Cyril, the foreman, had slowly poisoned him. Jo confronted him before telling the others and Cyril had tried to kill her, by a stroke of luck she managed to stay alive, but Cyril was dead. She had shown the hands her proof, and reminded them that Cyril would have inherited the Falcon's riches. The hands had understood and Jo stayed for a while, but the memory still tormented her, so she left the place that reminded her of Cyril to try and find some peace.
The next morning Jo was the first one up, followed quickly by Hunter, they were almost ready to go when Onua lurched out of bed and feebly went about eating breakfast while the others packed and readied the horses.
The days went by quickly and Jo found herself liking Onua and Hunter more and more. The road seemed to be crawling with soldiers, but they didn't seem to see Hunter. She had let Hunter ride Ferdinand because he was so tall that he couldn't ride the ponies. Every night they told stories of the past and Jo grew to know and love the people of Corus just as much as Onua and Hunter did. The bad feeling remained in the back of her mind and she tried to shrug it off but it wouldn't go away. She started to get used to the presence of Onua's ward at night. The bad feeling and Cyril made her lose more sleep than the ward.