The Rogue Lady

Chapter Five

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     At dawn, the letter was sent ahead of us by a messenger bird. I watched the bird fly off into the sky until it had completely disappeared from view. I had shown William the letter I had written so that he knew what was in it, but afterwards I had added a little something for the brothers that neither William or anybody else was supposed to see. Camp had been broken down in a matter of minutes with the help of magic, and soon everybody was walking again.

     I was glad I was sent ahead of the group as a scout again today, because I wanted to put some distance between them and I. After last night, I wasn’t entirely sure if Eric didn’t have some questions for me. Maybe William did to. How did I know the Roseacre brothers? Why would they come at my request? It might be a question of time before I wasn’t asked exactly those things, nevertheless, I would do my best not to answer them. Some things were just meant to stay unknown. At least for now.

     Darrick and Eric were a few feet ahead of me, discussing something about Roseacre. It felt like they were the only ones willing to talk to me, aside from William, who had to. Not that I cared. Or at least, that was what I told myself. But I did care. I wanted people to like me and to trust me. It had always been like that; people always trusted me and never had anyone ever had a problem with me. Now the opposite was happening, and I didn’t like it. I wanted things to go back to the way they were before. This mess should never have happened.

     Around us, the landscape was changing slowly. The hills that had been distant yesterday seemed to be coming closer now, and the fields became smaller and fewer as the forests grew. The sky was covered with gray clouds, unlike yesterday, when the sun had been visible the entire day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it started pouring later. The lack of sunshine made everything appear gloomy, cold and unwelcoming. The road we had been following was no longer dusty and sandy; it became muddier from the frequent passage of horses. Rocks lined the road, protecting it from the trees but leaving it completely exposed to whatever hid behind the rocks themselves. Staring at the shadows between the rocks, despite trying to pull my eyes away, a shiver went up my spine. Who knew what was hiding there, watching us?

     Something touched my arm, making me shriek and pull a blade out of my belt, bringing it around to whatever touched me. To my surprise, as I looked at what was at the end of my blade, I came face to face with a pale looking Eric. But he wasn’t looking at me, he was eying the blade. Behind him, Darrick was staring at us with his eyes wide in shock. Once he recovered, though, his shoulders started trembling as he tried not to laugh at the situation.

     “That is twice now that you pulled that stunt on me,” Eric swallowed loudly.

     “And yet you seem to have learned nothing,” I smirked, not lowering the blade just yet. He raised his eyes from the blade to my face and looked straight into my own eyes before he narrowed them. My smirk turned into a grin and I put the blade away.

     “Next time I’ll use magic to keep it away, just so you know.”

     “Didn’t you examine them, like, two days ago? Have you already forgotten the layers and layers of protective magic? Some of them are mirror spells, so I would suggest you don’t.”

     He eyed me like he didn’t fully believe me, but before he could say anything, Darrick cut in. “Save it for later, we have a job to do.” Eric looked away, ending the little staring match. That left me feeling a little smug, but the road ahead wiped that away in one go. There was a fork in the road. “Now, who is going what way?”