The Horsehearted

Chapter Three: At the River Drell
"Just think, tomorrow, we cross the Drell, I haven't made this good a time since Daine worked for me." Onua said eagerly, the company of three had camped alongside the immense river and were going to cross into Tortall the first thing in the morning. Hunter was tense, it would be just his luck to be so close to safety and then get captured, Jo was nervous, she was afraid of water, she hated it. Two years before Jo had been pushing mares out of a draw when a flash flood had hit her. It was a miracle that she was alive, Jo had broken both of her arms, a leg, and her collarbone. Her collarbone had hurt three times more than any other bone she had broken in her life, but the thing that had scarred Jo more than any wound could were the remains of the horse she had been riding. All they had found were scattered body parts, for weeks Jo had nightmares about getting slowly ripped to pieces by swirling water.
Onua was the only one that seemed calm. "Jo, what's wrong, you've got this funny look on your face." She said.
"I've never been in a boat before." Jo said, trying to force a cheerful tone.
"You're worrying about something else and it's a ferry, not a boat." Hunter said, perking up from his own thoughts.
"I just don't like water is all and anything that floats is a boat to me." Jo muttered, focusing all of her attention on the dagger she was sharpening.
"Why not?" Hunter prodded. Jo told them about the flash flood.
"No wonder." Onua said thoughtfully.
"It's getting late, I'm turning in." Jo growled, sheathing her dagger and marching to her blanket. All of a sudden she felt so sick she could barely stand. For a second Jo was face to face with a large, furry, black thing, then it vanished into the woods. The sick feeling disappeared. Jo remembered the bad feeling in her mind. Maybe that thing was what was causing it, still, Jo wasn't completely sure she had even seen it. Jo didn't want to look like some flighty woman, so she said nothing to her companions.
Jo dreamed that the black thing and the river were chasing her. No matter where she went she couldn't escape the black thing and the river. Mercifully, Ferdinand let out an ear-piercing whinny. "Thanks, Ferdinand." Jo mumbled, stumbling from her blanket and running her hand over his silky coat. Jo went over to the fire and poked it with a stick, trying to stir up the coals.
Hunter stepped out of the shadows, "Couldn't sleep?" he inquired.
"No." Jo answered, giving the fire an extra hard poke.
"Was it because of the blanket, how about you take the bedroll." Hunter offered with a teasing grin.
Jo gave him a little punch in the shoulder and said, with a grudging smile, "Nice try." Smiling had gotten easier, the more she smiled, the more she could control the other emotions inside her.
Hunter grinned back. "Why can't you sleep." Jo asked, she hoped they had known each other long enough for him to trust her.
He just shook his head. "Does it have anything to do with the Healing Opal?" Jo asked, meeting his eyes.
"How do you know about that?" he whispered, his hand halfway to a dagger that Jo was almost completely sure he kept in his boot.
"Keep your shirt on." Jo whispered, looking at his hand, then back to his eyes, "I heard it from Sunny, and I am not about to tell anybody, if that is why you are trying to grab for your dagger. As far as I am concerned it is no one's business what you did in Cria."
Hunter relaxed, then muttered, "I can't believe that Sunny would tell a total stranger about me."
"Don't blame her, she can't help it." Jo replied, whittling on a new horse.
"But she hardly knows you." Hunter argued.
"No she doesn't, I'm the one that trained her." Jo retorted.
"You're kidding." He said flatly.
"What do you think I did for a living? She was the first horse I trained. If you don't believe me, ask her yourself." Jo growled, accidentally cutting off the carving's leg in her irritation.
Hunter marched off toward the horses. After consulting with Sunsinger he tramped back and made a shamefaced apology.
Jo grinned at him innocently. "Don't look at me like that." Hunter muttered grumpily.
"What am I doing?" Jo asked, beaming at him, "Maybe baby Hunter needs to go to sleep."
Jo and Hunter bickered and argued amiably until dawn. Both of them were bright and quick-witted, making for an animated argument that moved quickly. Changing the subject of the argument often occurred and they found themselves bickering over a subject that had nothing to do with the original argument. Jo and Hunter, however intense the dispute, never got in so deep that they couldn't get out and there was no resentment afterwards.

Onua got up; the arguing pair had somehow packed the camp. "Here's your breakfast." Jo said to Onua, bringing a brief halt to the debate as she gave Onua a cup of coffee and a plate.
Jo was astride a palomino gelding when she saw the river. She froze. It was huge. All of a sudden Jo started shaking. There was no way she could cross something so big and strong. The ferry was now in view, it was little more than a bunch of sticks tied together. The gelding skittered to the side away from the river. Jo had to get a hold on herself if not for her sake then at least for that of her mount.
"Are you okay, Josie?" Hunter inquired, looking at her with a worried frown.
"I'm fine, Hunter." Jo whispered, her voice shaking with fear, pictures of drowning filled her mind.
Onua glanced back, "Jo, you look tired, maybe you should double up with Hunter so you won't fall off if you go to sleep." They all knew that Onua was lying, Jo wasn't tired.
Jo dismounted the pony and easily mounted Ferdinand, placing her body behind the saddle and gripping Hunter's middle more for comfort than for balance. She rode the rest of the way to the river with him. Soon, they were at the ferry station. While Onua was paying, Jo and Hunter helped to load the ponies. Jo felt sick, she was about to vomit from fear. Finally, Onua had paid for their passage and climbed aboard the swaying vessel. Hunter followed, and Jo reluctantly stepped onto the ferry. The minute Jo was aboard she hobbled to the center of the boat and placed her head between her knees, trying not to faint.
"Wow, Josie, you really don't like boats, do you?" Hunter asked, crouching beside her.
"No, I don't, Hunter." She whispered breathlessly, not looking up.
He draped his arm over her shoulders; "Do you know how to swim?"
"No I don't." Jo replied.
"How about after we cross the river and we get to Corus, I'll teach you how to swim." Hunter said.
"Okay." Jo murmured, raising her head slightly.
All of a sudden the boat lurched, Jo looked up fearfully, they were ashore, Jo dashed off as fast as her legs and the swaying boat would allow.
Onua and Hunter got off more slowly. Jo helped to get the unloaded horses out of the way as Onua, Hunter, and the people that had gotten the ferry across unloaded them.
"Onua, Hunter." Said a booming voice from across the road. A large, strong, young man that appeared to be in his early twenties trotted up to them. The last of the ponies had been unloaded; Jo stayed near Sunsinger and Ferdinand. Something about this man was different than Onua and Hunter. The ponies gathered around Jo, catching her reluctance to greet him.
"Jo, this in Sir Abram." Onua said.
Jo bowed gracefully, "It is an honor to meet you, your lordship."
"And this is Josana Falconsri." Onua continued.
"The pleasure is all mine." Sir Abram replied cordially, "Hunter, what are you doing here? I thought you were cavorting around Maren."
"I was," Hunter said coolly, "until I decided to go to Cria, I wanted a new horse, they do have the best horses after all."
Abram raised his eyebrow disapprovingly and pursed his lips. Something had happened between them, Jo thought, they certainly don't like each other.
Sir Abram went to get his horse, a large, bad-tempered chestnut stallion. The horse eyed the ponies and skittered over to one of them, pinning his ears and arching his neck. Sir Abram tried in vain to get the horse under control. "Leave the ponies alone." Jo growled at the stallion, narrowing her eyes at him and glaring. The stallion moved over to his side of the road sulkily.
"I don't need you scolding my horse, I can handle him myself." Sir Abram said pompously.
Jo turned pink and clenched her fists; they were now out of town and in the woods. The bad feeling grew stronger, Jo felt sick and scared, she groped wildly for her longbow and put an arrow to it as the bad feeling intensified. It was in the tree in front of her. Jo instinctively released the arrow and grabbed for another one. It was not needed. The bad feeling disappeared as a spidren dropped out of the tree Jo had shot into.
"Horselords." Onua whispered, looking from Jo to the Spidren again and again. Jo stared at her bow.
"Wow, Josie, how did you know it was there?" Hunter asked, grinning at her.
"I just felt a bad feeling coming from the trees." Jo muttered, picking at the grain of her longbow.
Sir Abram didn't say anything.

The journey passed quickly, the bad feeling was gone and Cyril was fading away faster and faster. Jo was coming to terms with his death. Sir Abram had warmed to her slightly after she had shot the spidren. Sir Abram wasn't a bad person; Jo learned, just opinionated and judgmental. Soon they arrived in Corus.
"Wow, I've never seen such finery, have you?" Jo asked Ferdinand as she stared at the goods that decorated the Market Square.
All of a sudden Sir Abram's stallion reached out to bite a woman that was hurrying by. "Don't you dare." Jo growled at the horse, he meekly lowered his head.
"Josana, I thought I told you that I can handle my own horse." Sir Abram grumbled.
Hunter was aboard Sunsinger, who had long since healed, "So Josie, what do you think of your first time in Corus."
Jo tried to think of a word that would encompass all of her surroundings.
Finally, she said, "It is very colorful."
Hunter grinned. All of a sudden a grubby little hand reached for Hunter's saddlebags. Jo's hand shot out and she grabbed the little wrist and gave it a squeeze. The hand dropped the purse that it had pulled out of Hunter's saddlebags. Jo snatched it and released the wrist, then handed the purse back to Hunter.
He grinned and accepted it. Sir Abram looked at Jo with an odd look in his eyes. He had never thought that she had any virtue, to find her catching a pickpocket and acting quickly enough to retrieve the item surprised him. Instead of voicing his surprise Sir Abram said, "Why didn't you catch the little rat."
"He didn't steal anything did he?" Jo retorted, trying not to lose her temper with Sir Abram.
"He will steal again, you know." Sir Abram replied.
Jo had control of her temper again and didn't answer.
Jo soon forgot her spat with Sir Abram. The wonder of the Temple District drove all thoughts of grudges from Jo's mind.
Jo had thought that nothing would surprise her after she had been through the market place-she was wrong-the palace was amazing. Jo had never seen building so large All she could do was stare.
"This is my stop." Hunter said, heading in the opposite direction, "See y'all soon."
"Soon!" Jo called back cheerfully.
Onua led then to a set of paddocks with enough ponies to make up half of Onua's herd.
"Put those ponies in the paddock with the others."
Jo opened thee gate and ushered the ponies inside. She then dismounted Ferdinand and pulled off his bridle. "Good boy, I'll be back soon, I've got to go help Onua."
Jo trotted off to unpack Jenny and find a place to put her things. When her packs were off of Jenny, Jo placed them on the ground near the pasture and headed back in the direction Onua had gone. When Jo arrived there were three people with Onua.
"Oh, hello, Jo, this is the Daine, Sarge, and Buri." Onua said as they shook hands, "and this is Jo, the girl that helped me out on the trail."
Jo felt something tickle in the back of her mind, something was scrutinizing her. Jo looked around wildly. Daine was squinting at her thoughtfully. The way Daine looked at her gave Jo the creeps. Jo built up a wall in her mind, and the odd feeling stopped.
Daine felt confused, she would have sworn the girl had Wild Magic, but the minute she tried to get a closer look the aura had disappeared. Jo stood calmly, her face revealing nothing.
Onua had said Hunter had been on the trail with her most of the way. Daine would ask him.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Jo asked timidly.
"Oh, no." Onua replied, "Feel free to look around."
Jo struck off for the stables. They looked like the most interesting place to go. The barn was full of large war-horses. Jo petted and talked to them. Jo was almost at the end of the aisle when a cold voice demanded, "What are you doing here, you are not a knight, get out of here."
Jo left, wondering what would she do now? Jo wandered over to the palace and soon found herself meandering about the halls. After awhile Jo realized it must be getting late. After a few moments of dead ends and twisting corridors Jo found that she was lost. She looked for someone whom she could ask for directions.
Jo turned a corner to find two people deep in a conversation.
Jo could tell from the voices that one was Hunter.
"You got caught?" said a grizzled old voice; "YOU got caught? How could YOU get caught? You are one of my best."
"They had some sort of spell I couldn't detect." Hunter replied.
"An undetectable spell, that's the last thing we need." The man muttered thoughtfully.
Jo walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. The man jumped and grabbed for the sword strapped to his waist. Jo palmed her dagger, not wanting to start trouble but not about to let this man cut her down. Hunter forced a smile and grabbed the man's wrist.
"I would like you to meet Josana, she was that girl I told you about earlier."
Linus relaxed his hold on the sword and sheathed it. Jo sheathed her dagger and turned bright red.
"I'm very sorry." She mumbled, "I didn't mean to...uh...make you feel threatened."
Linus grinned and patted her on the back.
"The fault is mine, I'm not used to being snuck up on."
Jo gave him a cautious smile. "I'm really sorry about that. I was just going to ask for directions.
"Directions for what?" asked Linus curiously.
"Well, I need to find Onua, so I could find out where I sleep tonight." Jo replied.
Linus thought for a moment then said, "I could tell you how to get out of here, but the palace is difficult to navigate when you are new here. I'll show you. Come along Hunter."
Something is going on, Jo thought, but I trust Hunter and he wouldn't let Linus hurt me. Jo followed them through the complicated twist of corridors that was called the palace. Hunter grew increasingly nervous; this wasn't the way to the Rider's Barracks. Jo noticed Hunter's nervousness and caught his eye. Hunter indicated that he did not know what Linus was doing. Jo drew her dagger and place her hand on the hilt of another. Jo wanted to run away, but she was lost. Linus turned a corner and entered a dark room. Hunter's face changed to a look of panic. That was the last straw; Jo whirled around and ran. Hunter pretended to not see her, Linus had led them to the room where people who had caught spies were hurt to assure their silence. Hunter knew that Jo did not need to be hurt to be kept silent.
"Where did she go?" Linus asked Hunter, frowning.
"She must have snuck off." Hunter said, buying Jo some time, "You know how quietly she moves."
Linus just scowled and took off at a run in the direction he thought Jo had gone.
Jo scrambled through the corridors as quickly as she could. Jo was a silent mover and she didn't make a sound. Jo tried to go the way she had come, but she was desperately lost.
All of a sudden she heard steps behind her. Jo ducked into an empty room and closed the door behind her. The footsteps paused at her door. Jo searched frantically for a place to hide. She found a door, opened it, and stumbled into what looked like a secret corridor, I can't run forever, she thought, they know the palace better than I do. Jo drew both knives. If it were Hunter who stepped through the threshold, she would make him show her a way out. If it were Linus, she would kill him.
Hunter and Linus searched the room; "I was going to ask her to join our number. You know, become a spy. From what I've heard and seen Jo has a great affinity for that sort of work" Linus said grumpily.
Hunter breathed a sigh of relief and opened a door to see if Jo had gone through there. Something roughly grabbed him and forced him against the wall. A sharp knife was pressed against Hunter's throat. Jo drew her face very close to his and whispered barely audible words, "Show me the way out before I kill you."
Hunter looked at Jo's face; it revealed nothing of her feelings. Hunter leaned forward slightly until their cheeks were touching, then whispered as softly as she had, "Linus just wants to ask you to work for us, that's all."
"I don't need any comments," Jo whispered fiercely, "Just show me the way out."
All of a sudden Linus burst through the door, sword in hand. Jo yanked Hunter away from the wall and placed him between herself and Linus.
"This is a mistake," Hunter gasped, "Jo, Linus is not going to kill you, he just wants to offer you a job."
Jo snorted and gave a harsh, cold laugh, "I'm not stupid, Hunter, Cyril thought that just because I trusted him that I wouldn't protect myself. Well he was wrong and so are you."
Hunter had never heard Jo speak like this. He was shocked. Who was Cyril? What was she talking about?
Linus caught the confusion and fear in Hunter's eyes. The situation was explosive and Linus feared that he would lose his best spy to a mere fourteen-year-old girl. "Calm down and release Hunter." Linus said in the voice that he used to calm scared horses.
"Not until you drop your sword and daggers." Jo retorted.
Linus dropped his sword with a clatter and unsheathed the dagger at his waist.
"The one in your boot." Jo prodded her voice infinitely patient.
Linus pulled the last dagger out and laid it down wondering how had she known; Linus never told anybody about the dagger.
He slowly straightened. Jo released Hunter. Linus then darted back down and retrieved the dagger that he had placed on the floor.
Jo lunged at Linus, her knife flashing. The two artfully fought for a long time. They seemed to be dancing. Hunter was awed. Jo matched maybe even beat Linus's skill; however; Linus had superior strength, which kept the fight going.
Hunter had to stop the fight before one of his friends got hurt or killed, already Jo was sporting slashes on her arms and several cuts on her face, while Linus bled steadily from gashes across his chest and a slice on his leg. Hunter boldly leaped between them and yelled, "Enough!"
Jo froze. Linus did likewise and stared at Jo curiously, first she had been willing to kill Hunter and now she was practically risking her life for him.
"Now, look." Hunter said calmly, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, "Nobody is going to hurt you, okay, Linus was just trying to be nice and offer you a job"
"What kind of job?" Jo asked, raising her eyebrows skeptically.
Hunter and Linus looked at each other, then Linus continued, "I am offering you a position as a spy for the Tortallan Government. Hunter says you are quick-witted, have good instincts, are great with a bow, calm in dangerous situations, and today you have proved that you have remarkable skill with a dagger. To think that I, a sixty year old man was almost beat by a fourteen-year-old."
"Fifteen." Jo added, "I turned fifteen last week."
"Fifteen-year-old-girl." Linus continued with a glare at Jo, "So, any questions? Comments?"
Jo flooded them with questions, all of them well thought out and reasonable. Hunter was impressed that Jo knew what sort of questions to ask. When he had been offered the job, his head had been spinning too fast to even think of asking anything."
"A year and a half." Jo said, breaking into Hunter's thoughts, "That's not bad for training."
"Well, I'll all out of questions so how about you gentlemen escort me down to the Rider's Barracks so we can discuss this with Onua."

Onua grinned at Jo; "I'm so excited. You get to have the chance of a lifetime. Of course I will let you go, but you do have to help me with these trainees for the next three weeks before they go to the summer training grounds."
Jo returned Onua's grin. She still had to tell the spymaster that she was accepting his offer. "Well, I'd better tell Linus." Jo said as she opened the door to leave.
Hunter met her halfway to the palace. "So have you decided yet?" he asked anxiously.
Jo smiled at him and said, "Are you kidding? I would be crazy to refuse this job."