Note: You know when in the Tamora Pierce books it says that the character takes two slices of bread and puts ham and/or cheese between them and then eats it? Well, it never says the word "sandwich" to describe it, even though that's what it is. And since they don't call it a sandwich, I'm officially going to take that name and use it to describe that type of food. So, instead of saying it's ham and/or cheese between two slices of bread, I'm going to say it's a "sandwich."
452 H.E. Kidnapped
In the stables the next morning, Tait said good-bye to the boy, now called Lowell. He had picked Lowell up and was now cradling him in his arms. Lowell had his arms wrapped around Tait's neck. "G'bye, Low'll. I hope someday to see ye ag'in," Tait said in his woodsman's drawl.
"Good-bye, Tait," replied the young boy. "I'm going to miss you. You were so nice to me. I'll never forget you. I'm going to write to you every week."
"I thought ye couldn't read or write," replied the man.
"Daine promised to teach me. She said I'd learn my letters by the end of this week! She promised." The boy looked stubbornly into Tait's eyes. He was determined to read and write and very proud that Daine had offered to teach him.
Tait laughed and looked at Daine. "Is this true?"
"It is," Daine responded. She grinned as Lowell gave Tait an "I told you so" look. "It's true as long as Lowell, here, promises to work real hard and not complain about how long it takes."
"I won't. I promise." Tait let the boy slide gently down to his feet once again then gave him one last hug. Lowell turned to Daine, who took his hand.
"C'mon, Lowell. Time to leave." She led him towards the horse she had borrowed from Greta and her husband. Lowell waved to Tait as Daine lifted him onto the horse and then mounted behind him.
On the road, a few miles from the village, the two travelers, the three soldiers, and the bandits stopped for lunch. The soldiers had ridden slightly ahead of Daine and Lowell and now they had stopped just yards away to eat their own lunch. Daine removed ham, cheese, bread, and three apples from her saddlebag. She cut strips of ham and cheese, put them between two slices of bread, and handed it to Lowell. With that, she also handed him an apple.
"I am to eat all of this?" he wanted to know.
"Yes. It is all for you. I am going to feed you well and once we get to Corus, I'm going to buy you some new clothes. Then, I'm going to see that you learn to read and write and that you learn to ride. I'm going to find you your own horse, too. We can't be always sharing the same one. Sooner or later you're going to become far too big to share a saddle with me," Daine said, biting into her own food.
"That's right. I'm going to grow big and strong and learn to fight like Lord Raoul, the Giant-killer! I want to kill giants, too." Lowell thrust a small fist into the air as he spoke to emphasize his eagerness.
Daine laughed. "Wait a minute! Who told you that you can learn to fight?"
"No one. I told myself! I'm going to go find Lord Raoul and ask him to teach me to fight just like him!"
"What makes you think he'll agree?" Daine asked, amused at this young boy's dreams. "What makes you think he's going to have time to teach you if he's always off fighting giants like you say?"
"Oh, he'll find time. He's going to take me along on his adventures!" Pride and admiration shone in his eyes.
"Okay, Young Giant-killer, time to move on. If we want to reach Corus by tomorrow night, we're going to have to press on. We can't sit around all day, talking about giants and adventures." Daine stood and went to put the food away in her packs.
When they were on their way again, Daine began to sing. "I know that song!" commented Lowell. He began to sing along. Soon, the soldiers as well as the bandits, who were still riding slightly ahead, joined in as well.
By nightfall, they had made good progress. They stopped to camp by a small pond. The soldiers and their charges camped in a separate spot from Daine, but not so far away that a loud shout wouldn't send them running. Daine dismounted and took her camping gear from her saddlebags. "Have you ever camped before?" she asked. "I mean, before you went to the cave?"
Lowell shook his head. "No. Lord Aaron, I mean, Lord Sinthya, never liked to camp. We always stayed at an inn."
"How would you like to learn? It can be so much fun when you're not in a hurry to go anywhere!" Daine handed him two blanket-like rolls of cloth. "These are bedrolls. Go spread them out over there." She pointed to a tall tree that had thick branches and leaves covering a good-sized spot on the ground. "When you finish that, come back here to get a light so you can search for firewood." She removed two fist-sized rocks that were glowing from a pouch around her waist and put them on the ground beside the rest of her camping gear.
Lowell left to do his job while Daine began to build a fire pit. Lowell returned to grab a glow stone and then together the two of them went in search of firewood. They found only a few big chunks of wood so Daine had to return to camp to split the wood into small logs. She removed a small hatchet from her camping gear and found a stump to serve as a chopping block.
"C'mere, Lowell. I'm going to teach you how to chop firewood," said Daine.
"But I know how to chop firewood. That was one of my jobs when I worked for Lord Sinthya. I've been chopping wood since I was five!" replied Lowell, taking the hatchet that Daine was offering. He hefted a piece of wood onto the stump so that it was standing on its end and carefully but swiftly plunged the ax into the wood. Deftly he raised both ax and wood into the air and then chopped down, causing the wood to split. "See?" he asked, beginning the process again with the newly chopped log.
Daine laughed. "Very good. Cut off some pieces for tinder then I'll get supper started." So, Lowell chipped off some splinters of wood and handed them to Daine. She went to the fire pit and began the tedious process of starting a fire without magic. Daine knew how long it took to start a fire with just flint and steel so she was surprised when only seconds after she had begun there was a tiny spark and the tinder began to burn. Carefully she blew on the splinters and soon, after adding larger pieces of wood, she had a nice blaze going. Over that, she placed a circular, four legged, iron frame and on top of that, she placed a small iron skillet. She sliced off bits of ham and cut thin slices of cheese. She placed a slice of bread in the bottom of the pan to toast and on top of that, she placed a slice of cheese, a slice of ham, another slice of cheese, and finally another piece of bread.
By this time, Lowell had finished chopping all the wood and had sat down beside Daine to watch her cook what seemed like an interesting meal. Suddenly, he found himself being handed the hatchet again. "Quick," Daine said. "Take one of those logs and chop off a long, flat, broad piece for me." He did as he was told and handed the wood to Daine. He watched as Daine slid the wood between the bread and the pan and skillfully flipped the sandwich over.
A few minutes later, Daine used the flat piece of wood to scoop the sandwich out of the pan and onto a wooden plate. She handed the plate to Lowell with a warning to be careful because the sandwich was hot. Carefully, he picked up the sandwich in one hand and took a bite. Daine was right. It was hot; but not hot enough to burn him. It was very interesting. The cheese had melted and the ham was now nice and warm. "Mmm. This is good! What do you call it?" asked Lowell with his mouth full.
Daine replied, simply, "Grilled ham and cheese sandwich. My soldier friends back home showed me how to make it." All the while, she was making a sandwich for herself. When hers was finished, she removed it from the pan and put it on a plate. Then she poured some liquid out of a canteen and into two wooden cups. When Lowell took a sip, he found it wasn't water, but apple juice. "I found it tastes a lot better than water when you are on a long trip," she said.
When they finished their supper, Lowell helped Daine by washing the plates and cups with hot water and then drying them with a towel. Daine, meanwhile, took two towels, wrapped them around her hands, and used them to remove the iron skillet and its stand from the fire to cool. The two used the latrine the soldiers had dug before then returned to camp. There, she removed a handful of small, glowing stones from the pouch on her belt. These glowing stones, though, were different. Instead of the shimmering green-yellow of the other glow-stones, these glowed a bright black. Daine got up and walked some distance away from the fire. There, she placed one stone. Then, she continued in a general circle around both her and the soldiers' camps, placing one stone at certain intervals along the way. When she had completed her circle, she spoke a word and the shimmering black from the stones rose, meeting in the middle of the circle to create a dome over the camps. "There. Now we're completely safe. Thank you, Numair, for giving me these protection stones." But she didn't notice the shadow lurking behind a clump of bushes on the outskirts of her protection.
Daine settled Lowell into one of the bedrolls then settled herself into the other. They fell asleep quickly and were soon dreaming. Out of the bushes crept the shadow. Silently, it spoke a word, causing the protection barrier to vanish. It was the same word that Daine had spoken earlier to close the barrier. He crept over to the sleeping boy and touched a finger to each of Lowell's eyelids. Dark blue magic shone around the shadow's finger as he did this. Quietly, he picked up the boy, bedroll and all, and carried him off, remembering to re-close the barrier once he had left. As these events unfolded, Daine, the soldiers, and the convicts slept soundly.