Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,65
moment.
I tucked in an errant sleeve on the folded tunic beside me and placed it on top of my small stack of clothing. “Adriel, I don’t want you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with. I just want you to know that I would love for you to join us, if you want to. If not, then I will hope we meet again, in this life or the next.”
She glanced at Foxglove, who had returned to sunning himself in the window. “I can’t bring a cat on the road, Nor.”
“No. I suppose not.”
“I’ll ask one of my customers to look after him for me while I’m gone. Just promise me that you won’t leave me behind.”
I leaped up, toppling my stack of folded clothing, and hugged her. “Never.”
* * *
We joined the rest of our traveling party at Fort Crag that evening. Roan seemed surprised to see Adriel with me, but he didn’t question it. There were eleven other Galethian soldiers, their mounts saddled and ready, waiting outside the fortress. Sami, still learning to ride, had been loaned Duster, who was so wide and cushiony that Sami said he felt more like a sofa than a horse.
Roan looked powerful atop a stocky, muscular gelding with a golden coat, dark mane and tail, and a dark stripe down his back. I could tell immediately this was a special animal, one that seemed far more fitting for a commander than Duster ever had. I wondered if he rode Duster just to show that he didn’t need a fancy horse to be the best rider in his region.
“I’d like to go over a few ground rules before we set out,” Roan said. “First, Nor, Zadie, Sami, and Adriel should be in the center of our group at all times. If I ever find one of them riding first or last, I’m going to make sure your next few days of riding are incredibly uncomfortable.”
A few of the soldiers winced, as if they’d experienced the alluded-to punishment before and weren’t eager to try it again.
“We will be walking and trotting for most of the journey. We’re not going for speed. This is about safety, first and foremost. I know, I know,” he said to the grumbling riders. “Not the most exciting. But we don’t know what to expect, what Ceren has planned, or even what the terrain will be like. Our mission is to see our guests safely through to the woman king’s camp, not to have an adventure.” He paused and grinned. “All right, I’m hoping for a little adventure along the way, too.”
The soldiers whooped and cheered. It was clear they both respected and liked their leader, similar to the way Talin’s men regarded him. There were five female soldiers in the group and seven men including Roan. There didn’t seem to be any hierarchy among them. They trained, ate, and slept together. Most of the women had shaved heads or close-cropped hair, like the men. To avoid the spread of lice, Adriel told me. But it also made them look fierce; Varenian standards of beauty—grace, delicacy, softness—had no place here. These women were tanned and muscular, unadorned and rough around the edges. But the way they moved with their horses, as if they were one with the animal, was far more graceful than any curtsy I’d ever seen.
One rider, a tall woman with short blond hair that matched her palomino’s mane almost perfectly, had found her way over to where Adriel and I stood.
“You should take a saddle pad from the supply room before we go,” she said quietly to Adriel. “Your mare needs a riser to counterbalance her flat withers.”
Adriel arched a dark eyebrow. “You think I don’t know what my mare needs?”
“I can tell you’ve never ridden her for more than a few hours at a time,” the woman said, but there was nothing accusatory about her tone. She was merely stating the facts. “And I can tell you care for her and wouldn’t want her to suffer on our journey.”
Adriel nodded. “Would you show me which one would work best?”
The woman escorted Adriel to the tack room while the others made their final preparations.
I mounted Titania, checking her girth one final time.
“Are you nervous?” Roan asked, his gelding earning a skeptical eye from Titania.
I cut him a similar glance. “About what?”
“Getting back on the road. You have no idea what you’re facing.”
“No,” I retorted. “But then, neither do you. Isn’t this your first time leaving Galeth?”