Beyond The Stone

Chapter 38

Tristan had managed to slip out of sight late that evening when Brantly's men started to return to his command at Dorser. The fiend had taken up residence at the White Horse Inn with his men, forcing a cruel eviction of other patrons who at least paid for the service of sleeping there. From what Tristan could tell, the men were now searching south of Dorser for Ava. Some had even been sent on to Sir Rowan's Academy to see if they could find her along the roadway before she reached him. While the abundance of activity in the area was not ideal, it was certainly an improvement on the situation that morning. He hid and waited tiredly until the hour before midnight, then slowly and cautiously made his way to Mod Hollow to meet his squire and his lady.

'Where are we?' Ava asked groggily.

Tristan smiled warmly at the sleep clinging to her voice. It was good to know that she'd rested. She had endured much – the repose would have done her good.

'We make our way to the stone, my lady,' Tristan told her.

'Was I asleep so long?' Ava asked with annoyance. 'I should have been helping you. You must be exhausted.'

'I can endure it,' Tristan reassured her as he picked the way forward carefully for them.

He was fighting to stay alert and ready for them both.

'Then you must have amazing stamina,' Ava replied in an attempt to help revive his spirits.

His understanding of her innuendo brought a grin to his lips.

'Perhaps one day I shall be fortunate enough to acquaint thee with it,' he suggested wryly.

'I thought it was not proper for a lady to be taken advantage of by her champion,' Ava shot back teasingly.

'Rest assured, it shall be at my lady's behest,' he told her confidently.

'Cocky bastard, aren't you?' Ava noted with a little grin.

'How can I not be, when thee doth keep me half-cocked?' he shot back cheekily.

Ava laughed at that. Tristan grinned and reined in the horse. He dismounted and tethered the animal to a sapling.

'We are here,' he told her. 'It be just beyond that ridge.'

Ava could sense his apprehension. He was concerned. She was too.

'Tristan... maybe there's another way,' she began to reason.

'Thy spirit must be returned to thy body,' he replied firmly.

The truth was that he'd been musing over the old man's words all day. What he'd told them had been a mixture of half-truths, he was sure of it. His manner of speaking had reminded him of the riddles that his master had tormented him with during his training. Still he had not yet been able to drawn any other conclusions from his reflections.

Tristava slithered through the foliage and slipped down over the rocks they'd used to defeat the ogre as they entered the clearing. Tybalt should know he was there if they came, so Tristan made himself plainly visible as they waited.

'I don't think we should do this – not yet. Not until we know that there is no other way,' Ava told him wearily.

'Nay. The fates brought thee here. Thy hast a purpose to fulfill. Thy shall overcome nothing, I am sure of it. I was the one who taunted the spirits. If anything untowards happens, it will happen to me alone. Thy hath naught to fear.'

'Are you kidding me?!?' she shot back incredulously. 'There are so many scary things in this place! Monsters and soldiers and megalomaniacs...'

'I be a learned man, but there be times when thee dost test the limits of my knowledge with thy strange diction,' Tristan noted dryly.