Risk

Chapter X

Jasta woke to the soft chirping of a bird. The sound was at once confusing and joy bringing.

For the first time, she realized how much she missed the sound. The forest had been so silent up until that point.

Her head cleared itself of the fog of sleep and she reasoned, if there was a bird, then they must be getting out of the dark forest. She sat up and stretched.

Then she heard a rustling from outside of the tent, and she paused, listening for any threat. But the sound didn't come again, so she pushed herself onto her knees with a hiss at the stiffness that sleeping had brought to her injury.

When she stepped out, leaning on her stick for support, she saw Rowan. He had just walked out of the forest. She had nothing to say to him so she stepped back and waited for him to collapse the tent.

When everything was done, she allowed Rowan to help her onto the horse.

The sun's rays were slanting through the close-growing trees. She rode in the same position as the previous day, more hesitant this time about leaning against Rowan, but she had no better option, so she just accepted it.

After a while, she started to notice small patches grass growing on the side of the road. Then she realized that trees had thinned considerably. Tiny, pink flowers grew clustered in the pale grass. The road got a little wider and she started to see a new kind of tree on the side of the road—a fresh change from the burnt-looking excuse for trees of the dark forest. The new trees were dark brown with pale green leaves, and the faint scent of early summer seemed to fill the air where before there had only been fog.

Birds fluttered in the branches, chirping merrily to each other. She saw a gray, bushy-tailed squirrel on more than one occasion.

The horse rode on, and before long, there were almost none of the dark, twisted trees from before. She was glad to be leaving the dark forest behind, and her shoulder felt lighter now that they weren't pressing down on her.

After what felt like a couple of hours at least, she started to see small cottages and farms between the trees, the wooden walls barely showing, as they were made out of the very same trees that they were trying to peep through.

She looked down at her leg. The bandage was thoroughly soaked with blood. She thought about asking to stop and re-wrap her leg at one of the cottages but thought better of it. Instead, she reveled in the warm sun shining on her face and tried to ignore her leg.

The horse seemed to be happy to be out of the dark forest as well. It let out a happy neigh and she thought it started to go faster, but that might have been her imagination. All the same, she felt closer and closer to home as the day wore on.

They rounded a bend and she was sure she saw a village through the trees. The closer they got, the surer she was. Her heart lifted at the thought of a village, even though it wasn't her own. At least it was something just slightly familiar.

As they neared the cluster of brown buildings, Rowan slowed the horse to a trot, and even still they got many stares from the villagers passing by. A bloody village girl—obviously not a local, and a Risk. She would have stared too, had something of the like come parading into Yarul.

But unlike her own little village, hidden in the foothills of the Ondrae mountains, this village was much larger. It was more of a town, really.

Just when the village square came into view, Rowan suddenly veered off of the main road and into a spacious stable. Dust motes flitted lazily upwards among hazy beams of sunlight as the horse scuffed its way into an empty stall.

Rowan slid off first before grabbing her around the waist and lowering her to the ground. She stiffened at his touch but offered no other resistance. She could hardly hope to get down on her own.