Chapter Six

The night sky was calm and clear, inky black and dotted with stars. Selene sat back against the cave wall and tried to shiver away the cold. Part of her still wondered if she could trust this man, this Seros. If he had wanted me dead, he could have killed me while I slept. She told herself over and again. It still did not make much sense though, his rescue of her. How far had they traveled? she wondered. It could not have been far, for he must have carried her, but he was not very large himself. In the small cave he looked to be about six and one, if the gods were gracious. He was muscled, she had noticed that much, but not overly so. Perhaps he was a laborer when he was not traveling.

She thought about the Butcher and how she had barely escaped his grasp. It still made her skin crawl and her head spin when she thought about what nearly taken place. The Butcher would have turned her into slop and scattered her across the room. Such was the world she lived in, this terrible place that they called the civilized kingdom.

Trying to shake the memory, she thought about those few things she remembered from her childhood. They were dull, and she figured much was missing from them, but they were there nonetheless. She remembered a woman with dark auburn hair and beautiful brown eyes. The most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. Yet she knew that what she could remember was but a glimpse of how beautiful they truly were. She did not know if she sat there for a minute or an hour before she finally drifted off to sleep, but she did not wake until she heard the sound of Seros shuffling through his bag.

“Pleasant morning, child. May I interest you in a tart?”

She sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. “How long did I sleep?” She looked out of the cave and noticed that the sun was still creeping over the trees. First light had just passed.

“The entire night, I’m afraid.” He held a tart out to her and wrapped it with his smile. “Eat, please, we have a long way to go today.”

Once the sleep had drifted away from her mind, she realized that she was indeed famished. She took the tart from Seros and began to eat. “Thank you.”

“And these.” He pushed a small pair of boots closer to her and went back to packing his bag. “It was the best I could do, under the circumstances. I hope they fit well enough at least.”

She finished the last bite of the tart and shrugged on one of the boots. “It fits perfectly. Where did you find these?”

“There are always treasures to find, one only has to know where to look.” His white teeth glistened in the rising sun and she could not help but allow her eyes to linger at him for a bit longer than she should have.

“There is nothing here but old Seros, my dear, that I promise you.” He shrugged the bag over his shoulder and nodded at her, not a trace of evil present on his face. “Come, we head north, through the Mayberry and Fell fields. It will not be such a hard trip, and then over the second mountain range lies Adremia and all of its wonder.”

She pulled herself up and followed him out of the mouth of the cave. “Are you sure that the knights cannot track us here? Surely they will be out searching for me. I fear I wounded the Butcher’s pride, along with his eye.”

He smiled over his shoulder as they walked. “The Butcher has enough pride to do with a jest from a young girl. He was probably drunk anyways, gallant fool of a knight.”

“You talk as if you know the man personally,” she said curiously.

“Aye, I know many men and many men know me. There are but so many types of men in this world, my dear. It is safe to assume that I know him because I do. I have known his kind my entire life.” It was obvious, the feelings Seros felt about such men, but Selene wondered if there was more to his statement than she knew.

Was he talking in riddles? she thought. “And you…are you a noble, or are you lowborn like me?”

“If I was a sir, I am sure that I would have made mighty sure you knew it by now, wouldn’t you guess?” He chuckled to himself. “No, my dear, I am no sir, I am but Seros. A humble traveling man in look of honest work and a life I can call my own, that is all.”

“You do this often then?” She did not know where she gathered the courage to question the man so, for he was the only person in the world that cared enough about her to save her life.

“Travel?” He slipped a quiet laugh. “That I do. I could claim that I know this land better than any, but I would be lying. There are always the crows to compete with,” he finished with a wink and a smile.

They must have walked for hours in silence after that. Every once in a while, Seros would stop and tell her to get down. He would close his eyes and stand completely still and move his head around in a weird way. One time, Selene’s arm went to sleep and she tried to move it to find a better position, but when she looked up she saw him staring at her. His eyes were so intense that she dared not move another muscle. She had even forgotten to breathe and did not realize it until her lungs burned. And finally, he relaxed and began walking again. “Let’s go, my dear,” he said over his shoulder.

The sun was nearly atop the trees again when Seros finally stopped. He handed her a skinned pouch full of water and she drank graciously. “We are moving too slowly,” he said. “I fear we will not make camp until after dark.”

“Is it wise to travel at night?” The prospect of moving in the dark did not appeal to her. She had a hard enough time avoiding a spill in the light, much less in the shadows.

“If it keeps us alive, yes,” he answered. “I would not sleep in the foliage naked to the stars; no, my dear, not in these woods. There is far too much that goes bump in the night.”

Selene nodded in agreement and they set off once again. Her feet had swollen and she knew of at least four blisters that would be the size of grapes when they stopped. Her legs were dreadfully tired, and each step was sure to be her last. At least twice she had caught herself falling asleep whilst walking, and if not for Seros, she would have ran straight into a tree.

“Best not to dance with the trees, my dear,” was all that he said before starting off again.

Time fluttered by, and step after step Selene lost more and more of the night. She woke to Seros ruffling through his bag, the sun warm on her face. She stretched the sleep away from her body. Her legs were stiff and sore from walking, and her feet were swollen and red.

“I wrapped your feet after we stopped. I would have done it while you were awake, but you were fighting something fierce to not be so. Anyways, it should keep most of the swelling down, and hopefully keep the blisters at bay.”

She nodded at him. “How far did we go?”

“Not far enough. We will need to pick up the pace today. I dusted the trail last night after we stopped, but I ponder that they may pick it up again before half day.”

Selene sat up, alert and anxious, at his comment about them being tracked. “You mean they are following us, the Butcher and his men?”

“Calm, my dear. They are not half as clever as old Seros, and they know even less about these woods than a paltry hen. They stumble through the underbrush with dogs and horses, taking beaten paths and old goat trails. We carve right through the mountains and to Haxley. We will steer far clear of Castle Bondary, and soon be on our way to Adremia. Do not fret; we are soon to be rid of them.” He had a confidence about his words that did prove to calm her nerves. She had trusted him thus far and not had any problems, what would it hurt to trust him a little more?

“Do you have anything else to eat?” She did not like to ask, but the prospect of walking the day away on an empty stomach was not tempting.

He only nodded and broke off a large piece of dry, salted meat and handed it to her. “If it comes to when we are no longer being tracked, I will catch us a proper meal and roast it over a fire, but for now we must suck dry meat and pray to the Moon Gods for better days.”

Selene had to admit, she did not know the Moon Gods, but his cheerfulness rubbed off on her nonetheless. He was always upbeat, always friendly. She had never met anyone like this Seros. “Where are you from originally, if you do not mind me asking?”

I do not mind at all. I am southern born, from the southern coast of Ovum. As far away and different a place from here as can be. I don’t miss the old lands though. I find the whispering woods and cool air in the north a slight comfort. Besides, my business is better suited for the north, in the kingdom, as it were.”

“I have always wanted to visit the south. They say the beaches near Tristos are where the gods themselves go to bathe. Are they truly so beautiful?”

“Aye, crystal clear water and white sandy beaches blanket the southern coast. It is lovely, if you fancy that sort of thing.” A smile danced across his face as he thought about his home.