Chapter 8
It was dusk.
Raven packed for her trip to Corus. All the arrangements were made for her and Jeremy's time in the capital. Rosanna was to stay home and monitor the village boys they had hired for harvest.
She sighed; this really was a stupid idea. She was putting them at risk by travelling. After all, how many black-haired girls ran around with a violin strapped to her back? Not many, last time Raven checked. And if she was discovered...what would become of Jeremy and Rosie...by putting up with her they had unknowingly assisted a fugitive.
Should she tell them about the real her, the one who had seen gang fights, murder and wooed the members of the Underground Court with her voice and then the members of the Royal Maren household with her violin. If she didn't tell them and she was discovered, Jeremy could claim complete and untarnished ignorance, same for Rosie, but if she informed them...then they would be completely knowledgeable of what they did.
'Fine, we won't tell them about our past,' Raven thought to herself, 'should we use our alias whilst there.' She pondered this for a moment, 'Maybe I can use a name like Katherine 'Raven' Trallem. To honour Demetrus...'
She looked out the window; the sky was rosy at the horizon from the fading sun. She hoped this would work.
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"So where are you from?" Merric asked the blond before him. The boy looked to be about seventeen, had long, elegant fingers and currently was picking at his food with an apprehensive look. When Merric spoke he lifted his head and looked on with polite interest.
"Maren, sir." He said quietly, "you?"
"The fief of Hollyrose, in Tortall...obviously." He replied. Silently he was frustrated, getting this boy to talk was hard. He looked at the other members the boy's party.
The chestnut-haired, burly violinist Thetar was currently engaged playing a game of dice with two of the knights, laughing easily. The odd, lithe, blue-haired man named...was it Dragon? No, Draguen...well, he was speaking rather animatedly with two knights of whom he recalled to have the Gift. The other young one, Cairn, was...brimstone! He and Esmond were at what looked like a drinking contest; hadn't Dom 'cured' Esmond of that three years ago? Apparently not, anyway it looked as though the brown-haired knight was winning so he'd leave them be.
Merric turned his attention back to the quiet, young man before him. After an hour of conversation all he knew about his was that he was a cello-playing Marenite named Korosh on his way to the Tortallan Royal Palace for a music competition. One hour equating to five facts, it was irritating!
"So, Korosh," the blond lifted his head again showing a handsome face, "do you have anyone special?" Merric grinned in what he hoped was an amicable manner. The blond boy stared at this question, flushing from a moment and then showing a great deal of sadness. He turned his face away.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude." The redhead said.
"Oh, it's okay...sometimes it still hurts." Korosh looked at the redhead, "I have-had- someone but I'll likely never see her again." He looked anguished as he stated this. "She was-well, I guess I'm trying to say is that she had to move for her own safety and I couldn't go with her, no one could...heck, I tried to rationalize her decision to leave but I don't see why she could not have hidden and waited for the danger to pass. I likely will never know...." The boy scanned the camp, eyes emotionless until he saw Cairn and Esmond 'duking' it out with ale.
"Bloody ass, what does he think he's doing?" the blond asked crossly jumping to his feet.
"Trying to do the impossible and drink Esmond under. Don't worry; we can toss him in the wagon if he's too hung-over to ride tomorrow. Sit and enjoy your meal." Despite Merric's encouraging words, Korosh strode over to the rosy-nosed Cairn who was beginning to show the effects of inebriation.
"'Ello, Korosh, care to join us?" the under-the-table Cairn asked. Esmond, apparently unaffected by the draught, smiled at Cairn's slurred words. Korosh looked at the drunk, young man, annoyance his mask.
"No, I'd care for you to stop this nonsense and leave the ale alone." The younger of the two 'Roses' demanded taking the stein out of the elder's hands. Looking at the empty stein distastefully he gave it back to Esmond and dragged the inebriated to his feet. After setting Cairn up for bed, Korosh returned to Merric, a look of barely contained mirth writ on his face. The two looked at each other in silence and then began to laugh.
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Rosanna checked her saddlebags, occasionally stuffing in an extra item or two, once satisfied; she turned to Raven with smile.
"All set?" the older woman asked. It was at least an hour before dawn, the sky still as night. Raven nodded in reply, hoisting the bags onto her shoulders. The two women then went out and hitched the bags to Stone's saddle. A light clippity-clop, led them to the shed's entrance where they saw Jeremy leading a creamy dun quarter horse.
'Note to self, the Cornfields are definitely not ordinary farmers.' Raven's mind remarked cynically. In the past days, Raven had learned all about Jeremy and Rosie's families and had discovered that both came from rather well to do families. Add to that some of the best corn in the country and one would be shocked to have a mule instead of a horse.
After preparing Camomile (the dun), the trio of humans went in, had breakfast, cleaned up and said their farewells (a rather long and somewhat emotional affair). With that Jeremy and Raven set out on the first leg if their journey.
As they left the village square, Raven knew this was it; she was going to Corus.
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"How's the lad?" Thetar asked the violist as he emerged from the tent.
Draguen ran a hand through his hair causing it to stick up in disarray; he quickly smoothed it.
"He'll be in the wagon today I'm afraid." The blue-haired man responded. Catching sight of one of the knights he'd conversed with the night before, he turned to Thetar, "Give me a moment." Striding over to the knight, they talked for a few seconds and the knight gave a hearty laugh. The pair came back over to Cairn's tent and entered. Thetar shrugged and followed.
Cairn sat bent over, head in hands.
"Ow," he muttered, "Why did you not stop me?" he looked accusingly up at the two 'Roses' and the knight with them.
"If you recall, Korosh, sent you to bed." Draguen said kindly, "now Prosper here," he indicated the tall, pale knight, "is going to help you get into the wagon."
"Wagon?" the boy echoed. Thetar gave him a look.
"You're hung-over, far too much to ride today." The burly musician stated. " Come on." They got Cairn into the wagon with little difficulty and proceeded to travel again. They were four days from Corus and not inclined to waste anytime.
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