"Don't stray far. There are creatures in the night you don't want to meet."
She hesitated several strides away and looked back, but he sat unconcerned. Was he serious or was this a joke? No, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of manipulating her into an angry outburst. If this was a game to him, she refused to play.
Instead, she sat on a cool patch of grass and ate the fruit, all the while glaring at him.
When he finished, he laid down on the grass, ignoring her.
* * *
Selina awoke to the sun shining on her face and the sweet scent of grass blowing warm on her cheek. A smile played across her face, until she opened her eyes.
She blinked at the black muzzle inches from her face and shoved it away. "Get away from me."
Faldon turned and walked away, his head down. He stopped when he found a patch of grass.
"Annoying pest," she muttered while rising and dusting strands of grass from her clothes. After a quick glance, she realized the man was gone. "Where is he?"
Faldon lifted his head a few inches. "Who?"
"The man. Whatever-his-name-is. Where'd he go?"
"He'll return later." Faldon dropped his head again without any show of concern.
"You sent him away?"
"Why does it matter? You didn't like him."
She opened her mouth to snap an answer but closed it again. The feyquin spoke the truth, but she wondered about it. "How would you know?"
"I was nearby."
Selina studied him, suspicions growing in her mind. "How convenient."
He pinned his ears flat and kicked out at her, his teeth tearing mercilessly at the grass.
"At least he..." Her cheeks warmed at the thought in her head wanting to escape. She tried to restrain it by picking out a fruit from the small pile left from the night before, avoiding Faldon's fixed stare and forward ears.
"Never mind."
Faldon snorted. "Humans!"
She growled and threw a fruit at him, startling him into tucking his tail and jerking his head up. "Yes, I am! And you can't change that, so take me to where Beth and Reen are."
"You'll reach them today." He galloped a distance away before settling down to graze again.
She turned to study the land around her and to avoid seeing him while she ate. Upsetting herself more would only ruin her appetite.
Hopefully, her friends waited at an inn, where she could bathe and find some fresh clothes from the carriage, assuming someone retrieved any of her possessions from the wreckage. She also needed a long sleep on a soft bed.
But how would they continue without the carriage? What happened to Doxon? Would the felipar return home or to Reen, or would the poor creature seek the wild? Poor Reen. He would be lost without Doxon, but at least Beth was with him. She might be injured, but she would still provide the sympathy Reen needed.
Selina ate quickly and wrapped up what remained of the fruit the stranger brought to carry with her. Beth and Reen needed her. That reason motivated her more than any other at the moment.
The three feyquin lifted their heads and watched her. She continued her walk on the road. They could follow if they wanted. While she didn't want to travel alone, neither did she desire their company.
The soft thud of their steps followed, grating on her nerves. Nevertheless, she found some relief in their presence. They wouldn't hurt her at least, and after sleeping in the open, she felt vulnerable; to what she couldn't imagine. Not knowing the land of Vastorn, she didn't want to imagine what she might encounter.
Although she despised him, Faldon's presence gave her some reassurance, especially after the stranger's warning last night.
Who was the man? He warned her in Breach's Pass, tried to scare off their felipar, and disappeared until last night. The feyquin didn't seem bothered by him. What was the connection? It couldn't be what she suspected.
Despite her sore feet, she trod the worn path, her head full of questions and explorations of possibilities.
Around midday, she stopped to rest near a stream, her feet blistered from walking in thin-soled shoes. She sat on a rock near the stream, pulled off her shoes to soak her feet, and opened the bundle of fruit. The cool water revived her feet as the food did for her stomach. After a while, she scooped the water in her hands many times to sate her thirst. Who knew when she would find water again?
While she rested and ate another juicy fruit, the feyquin grazed. Faldon wandered near to drink from the stream.
"We won't reach Willowbrook today as I expected. At this pace, we'll be half a day more."
Selina gulped down a bite and grimaced. "What?"
"You're too slow." Without another word, he dipped his chin into the water and slurped several long swallows.
"So this is my fault?
You
chased off my ride. If you'd left us alone, none of this would've happened."
He lifted his head a few inches from the water, which dribbled down his chin when he opened his mouth. "You should never have come. You were warned."
"Some warning." She put on her best mocking voice and said, "'Go back,
Na'Y'dom
.' Your friend was real helpful."
Faldon walked away without a word.
"You could at least apologize for scaring Doxon into leaving me and smashing my carriage."
He stopped and turned his head. "We didn't intend that."
She waited for more, but he walked away. "Do you call that an apology?"
"Yes."
She scowled, realizing the futility of arguing. He was one of those types, the ones who never admitted their wrongs. Too many people she met wouldn't admit what they did to deserve their injuries, but she healed them despite her judgment. As one of the chosen of Y'dom, her job was to heal anyone, regardless of their crimes.
After what the feyquin did, the least Faldon could do was apologize properly. With an ego like his, she understood why the White Prince cursed him. Part of her wondered what that curse fully entailed. No one explained it, but she suspected part of it involved the strange man.
After a brief rest, they continued along the road, until the sun dipped to touch the Sunders Mountains in the west once more.
She stopped at the crest of a high hill, where she looked over the trees thick along the road. No sign of a town. Only more road and open country dotted with the high stone fences of farmsteads. "You're sure this Willowbrook is only a half day away?"
"At your pace, yes." Dewel stopped near her.
Selina glanced aside with a dirty look, but her eyes caught something more interesting—a familiar door a ways ahead, the door of her carriage. Her heart thumped in her chest. Poor Beth and Reen. What happened?
"We'll reach it
tomorrow
," Faldon said from behind.
"If we keep going, we can reach it tonight. They may have left something." Seeing even that small part of her carriage gave her hope that they were close.
"The others will find us here and relay any messages." The finality of his statement stopped her argument.
He galloped away before she could object.
"Where's he going now?"
"He has other affairs to tend. I suggest you rest, and stay close," Dewel said. "The night mares are loose."
Night. Selina shuddered. Night in this strange land spooked her. "What are night mares?" She found a place off the road near a boulder and a tree forming a suitable shelter.
The stallion stepped down the incline near her shelter, his eyes on the trees around them. "Horrible creatures. They were feyquin long ago. They made a pact with a demon for the power to trick humans and were transformed by their hatred. They're no longer feyquin but something vile." He paused and turned to her. "We may not like humans, but we respect those who respect us."
His last words stuck in her mind, along with his warning. She shivered at the chill tone of his voice and what she imagined about night mares. They heard few stories in Hallor, where such creatures didn't exist, except to scare children into behaving. "What will these night mares do?"
"Nothing...to us. But you're human, a target for their hatred. Guard your mind from deceptions."
"How?"
"Know what's real."
Whatever that meant. While she sat and ate, she searched the darkening landscape. Where did Faldon go? Where did he go the night before? Did he care about protecting her from these night mares, or would that simply end his troubles?
She shuddered to consider what he might intend for her. Perhaps he left on purpose, to leave her defenseless. Perhaps Dewel and Meris intended to sneak away after she fell asleep. She hated him if he planned to leave her.
After she finished and checked the nearby positions of the stallions, Selina laid down to rest. She knew what was real—the hard, cold ground, the two feyquin standing watch, and Faldon's disappearance at night.
She wished they could continue to Willowbrook that night. It couldn’t be far. She would bet no night mares would cause trouble for people behind locked doors.
Sleep would be reluctant to come that night
.
* * *
Selina awoke to a sound that irritated her. It shattered the odd dreams and continued with regularity until she opened her eyes and stretched.
On the ground nearby lay the man without a name, his hands behind his head. The sound came from him, a snoring loud enough to rouse her in the middle of a thunderstorm, but the night was calm—far worse.
She peered through the weak moonlight. On a nearby hilltop stood the shadow of one of the feyquin. The other stretched out on the ground, the dark mound of its body highlighted by the white of its leg and face markings—Dewel.
Once again Faldon was nowhere to be seen. Where was the feyquin leader?
The land fell quiet, except for the rustle of grass nearby.
Selina looked aside at the stranger-without-a-name. Seeing him with the scraggly gray and black hair reminded her of Faldon.
No. It couldn't be. Every fiber in her body hated Faldon's presence. This stranger intrigued her. She must be wrong.
Had
to be.
Impossible!
He finished his stretch and sat up.
"Where'd you come from?" She tried to keep her voice hushed, but in the still of the night, her voice could have been a bugle.
He said nothing, but watched her with a neutral expression.
"Never mind. You're here. I suppose I'm stuck with you." Irritation grated in her voice almost as much as she intended.
What she thought was a smile flashed across his face and vanished a moment later.
Awkwardness warmed through her, despite the chill of the morning. "Who
are
you? Where were you yesterday? Why'd you come back?" Would he admit the truth she suspected?
"Does it matter?"
"Yes!" The sharpness of her reply rang out, and she slapped her hands to her mouth. Dewel lifted his head from the ground where he rested.
The man's smile returned, a sparkle of amusement in his dark eyes highlighted by the lightening hues in the sky. "I am no one of concern, but I can't stay while Faldon is near."