Chapter 17

Deanna stirred and tried to raise her hand to her forehead, where a headache was throbbing, but she couldn't reach her head and heard the distinct clank of metal.
She opened her eyes and saw that she had been chained to a wall. She tugged experimentally on them, but they were well made and looked brand new.
She looked around to see that she was being held in a small room with straw laid out on the stone floor to offer little to no comfort. There was a window with bars on it that allowed a little light to shine in, eliminating the iron bars that made up one of the walls.
She was in a jail cell.
"Hello?" She called, confused as to why she had been kidnapped and hoping to get answers. "Is anyone there?"
There was laughter from the next cell across from hers. "There's never anybody down here, sweetie."
"Who are you?" Deanna asked, trying once more to loosen the shackles.
"My name is not important," The voice responded. "I've just been here a very long time."
"Do you know why I'm here?" She asked.
There was silence and then more laughter. "You're going to ask a prisoner that question? Because they tell me all of their plans, right?"
"I was only wondering if you had maybe overheard something." Deanna said defensively. She did not appreciate being laughed at.
There was the sound of a door opening and closing and then footsteps.
"Well, looks like your about to get your answer." The prisoner said.
                                                                       * * *
"Are you kidding me?!" Cadman said incredulously after the Inn Keeper had told him the price that he owed. "For just one night?!"
The Inn Keeper just stood there patiently until Cadman finished his tirade.
"Sir," The man began. "Those are our fees when a party of four plus four horses and a wagon, plus all the extras that you ordered. I am sorry."
Cadman just glared, the man's patience irritating him even more than the price of the rooms.
"Cadman, I'll pay for it." Cayle said, stepping forward.
"No." Cadman snapped. "I can pay for the damned rooms; I just don't like that this place overprices everything!"
After having paid, Cadman stormed outside and began yelling at Finn for choosing the most expensive Inn in the country.
Finn stood there patiently and let Cadman rant before calmly turning around and climbing up on the wagon.
"Not to mention," Cadman began again as he mounted one of the horses. "We still have to buy another wagon, so thank you, once again Finn, for choosing the most expensive damn place."
"I already apologized, what more do you want?" Finn asked calmly.
Cadman just glared at him.
                                                                      * * *
The footsteps grew closer and louder with each second.
Deanna waited expectantly until the lone guard approached her cell. He smirked at her.
"Well, well," He said. "Look who's finally awake."
"Where am I?" Deanna asked.
"You're about to find out." The guard said as he unlocked the door.
He walked in and took off her chains, which fell to the floor with an echo. He pulled out a pair of smaller chains and put them on her wrists behind her before pushing her out of the cell.
"Your feet aren't chained, you can move faster than that." He said as he pushed her again. ?
She turned to glare at him. "I have no idea where I am and you expect me to lead? I guess they don't teach brains or manners in guard-school."
"Why you!" He raised his fist to strike her, but another voice cut through his rage.
"Mike! If you hurt her in any way the master will put you in a cell with the rats and you know it! So don't be an idiot." The other guard walked up. "Put your fist down."
The first guard, Mike, after a few more moments, finally put his arm down.
"Here, I'll take her to the hall, you go cool off." The second said.
Mike just nodded and walked off, casting a glare in her direction.
"Now, just who is this 'master' you keep talking about?" Deanna asked.
"Keep your mouth shut." He said as he shoved her forward.
"When are you people going to realize that I don't know the way! So it's really pointless to let me go first." She pointed out.
"I said," The guard began. "Keep your mouth shut."
But he did begin leading her from her side.
Deanna shrugged mentally. At least he wasn't shoving her around anymore.
Now she had to turn her focus to this mysterious master of theirs. Who would want her captured?

Chapter 16

Deanna knocked on the locked door, confused. She'd ridden up and had been in the process of dismounting when the Inn doors had slammed shut, and the windows locked up.
She had stopped ,mid-dismount, in confusion before continuing, wondering what on earth that was about.
There wasn't a soul on the street, and all the windows were shut tight, and no light seeped through. All was silent.
When she got no answer at the door, she walked back down the stairs to Krennan, who was looking around at the seemingly deserted town.
"This is kind of spooky." She commented. There wasn't even a rat in the alley-ways. "Do you see anyone?"
Krennan snorted and shook his head. Nope.
She picked up his reins and led him through the town to the other side where the woods began again, all the while looking at the buildings, all boarded up with no sign of life.
                                                                            * * *
Cayle opened his eyes. He'd come up the stairs to his room and had collapsed on the bed in total exhaustion and had immediately fallen asleep.
He sat up and stretched, coming to his feet to look out the window. It was mid-morning at least.
"I must have been even more tired than I thought..." He said, turning away from the window and heading to the door and down the stairs.
"Morning, sleeping beauty." Cadman's voice called to him from one of the tables. "What caused you to come awake to spend some time with us worthless peasants?"
"Do you ever shut up?" Cayle responded, sitting at the table.
Cadman thought a moment before shaking his head.
Cayle rolled his eyes.
"Where's the coffee?" He asked.
                                                                             * * *
Deanna sat by her fire, pondering what she had seen at the town. She chewed distractedly on her food, not really tasting it.
Krennan started snorting and stopping his feet, shaking Deanna from her revere.
"Whats wrong?" She asked, jumping to her feet. Krennan neighed loudly and stopped some more and tried to run towards her.
She turned to see what was making him so upset. A bag was thrown over her head, making the world go dark.
She started struggling and her captor hit her over the head with something, and she slowly slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing she heard was Krennan's panicked neighing.

Chapter 15

Herndon sat at the table, spinning his drink.
The staff was cowering from him, and the other customers had left some time ago. Either by choice or by being thrown out.
Herndon was very particular about who he spent his time with.
He looked at the bar to see the bartender cowering behind it. No longer was he cleaning the bar with a carefree attitude.
Herndon glanced at the body on whom he was resting his feet.
The man had tried to be a hero and make him leave, Herndon recalled. But his heroism was no match for Herndon's knife.
The only good thing the man had done in his life, as far as Herndon was concerned, was providing him a footrest.
He smirked as he called over the serving girl to refill his drink.
"She should be coming around any time now," He said.
The girl stayed a bit longer than he wanted. He glared at her.
She winced. "Pardon me, sir, I thought you were speaking to me." She kept her eyes lowered.
He did not respond, all he did was fix her with an ice stare until she went away.
Talking with her was beneath him.
He went to take a drink of his newly refilled cup, when the door burst open and one of his spies ran in, out of breath.
"Sir!" He said, saluting between his huffs.
"What is it?" Herndon demanded.
"She's coming south! She didn't take the bait." The man reported.
Herndon didn't respond, thinking it over.
"How did she know?" He asked quietly, glancing over at the bartender and the serving girl, who'd both peeked their heads out from behind the counter, ducking back when they saw that he'd seen them.
"I don't know, sir." The man said, standing at attention. "She just turned south after her horse threw a fit."
"Her horse?" Herndon repeated. The man nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Herndon thought for a moment.
"Get back to work, but reported back here tomorrow, I'll have a new assignment for you." He said.
"Yes, sir." The man said, bowing briefly before turning on his heel and running out the door, leaving Herndon with his thoughts.
                                                                          * * *
Deanna dismounted and led Krennan off the road into the trees for a rest where she loosened the girth to allow him to breathe easier.
She searched her packs for the food, taking out some bread and cheese and an apple. She held the apple out for Krennan to eat; when he was finished, she sat beneath one of the trees and ate her own meal.
                                                                           * * *
"I see them!" Finn said to Cadman as he glanced out the window of the Inn.
Cadman looked up from where he had been studying the map. "About time." He said as he got to his feet.
They walked out the door and stood by the wagon to wait for Cayle and Alroy to reach them.
                                                                              *
Cayle had been trying unsuccessfully to get Alroy to tell him how he knew the customs of the Gypsies, but Alroy would just change the subject or remain silent. So they spent the remainder of their journey in silence.
There has to be some way to get him to open up. Cayle thought to himself.
He saw his companions waiting in front of an Inn and decided to let Alroy be, and allow him to reveal more of his past to them when he was ready, though Cayle burned with curiosity, he finally let the subject drop.
"Have fun?" Cadman asked.
"Oh yes, tons and tons of fun." Cayle answered sarcastically. "Can we go inside? We've been on our feet all day."      

Chapter 14

(Happy 4th of July!!!!!!)


Krennan woke Deanna in what seemed like an hours time.
She stood and tightened Krennan's saddle once more, almost in a daze.
She blinked and wiped at her eyes, digging the sand out. She took out her canteen and poured some water into her hand and used that to wipe her eyes; hoping that the cool water would make her eyes more alert, but to no avail.
"Why am I always tired, Krennan?" She asked as she led him back to the main road. "It just doesn't seem fair."
She mounted and they resumed their path.
She looked up at the sky and saw the stars were wrong for dusk, which is what it was when they first went into the forest.
She halted Krennan and stared at the stars.
"Why didn't you wake me earlier, Krennan?" She asked. "It's dawn, not dusk."
He snorted in reply and began walking forward again, ignoring the stunned girl on his back.
                                                                        * * *
Finn and Cadman reached the town before dusk the second night. Finn pulled the wagon in through the front gates and looked for the sign to the Inn.
Cadman was passed out in the back from having too much brandy.
He saw the grapes which signaled that it was the Inn and headed for it.
He jumped down from the wagon after securing the horses to the cart, and the cart and horses to the pole out front.
The horses each gave him a wounded expression.
He walked inside and spoke with the Inn Keeper about three rooms, which the Inn Keeper said had just opened up.
He took Finn to examine them. They were clean and modest. Perfect.
He bought the rooms and went back outside to take care of the oaf in the back.
He glanced in and saw Cadman still passed out. He climbed in and shook him, trying to get him to wake up, but to no avail.
"Fine," He said. "You want to play, we'll play."
He jumped down from the wagon and walked over to the watering box right in front of the Inn for the horses, took a bucket and filled it with water and began walking back to the wagon, a smile on his young face.
                                                                             *
The Inn workers were busy setting up the rooms that the newcomer had requested when they heard a scream coming from outside.
They all looked out to see what was happening and they saw a soaking wet man chasing around a younger man, who was laughing very hard, but, despite his laughter, still managed to stay just out of the other man's reach.
They all shrugged and resumed their work.
                                                                          * * *
"How did you know what to do back there?" Cayle asked. "I had no idea that woman was the elder."
Alroy shrugged as his only response.
"Aren't you going to answer me?" Cayle said. "How did you know to interact with them like that? I've never known how to tell the elder from a tribesman."
"Guess you weren't paying attention." Alroy said. "OK, we're almost there, should we stop for lunch or keep going?"
Cayle looked at the road ahead. He could almost see the towers that alerted any traveler that there is a town ahead.
"It's not that far, I say we just head straight there." He said.
Alroy nodded.

Chapter 13

They ran blindly through the thick forest, with no idea where they were headed.
Eventually, they reached a clearing and stood in the middle of it, listening for another sound.
There was nothing but birdsong.
"I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea." Cayle commented. Alroy nodded in response.
"Maybe we should turn back." Alroy suggested.
Cayle was about to reply when another scream ripped through the forest like a blade on grass.
They bolted after the screamer, once more getting lost in the brush with no idea where they were heading.
                                                                         * * *
Deanna stifled a yawn as she and Krennan walked along the road. She'd been letting him lead since he seemed to know where he was going, and she didn't.
Occasionally, they were passed by a wagon filled with food.
Probably being taken to some storage place, Deanna thought as the first one passed them, not giving them a second, barely a first, look.
She gently pulled Krennan to a stop. "Krennan, I know you're eager to get there, but I'm falling asleep up here." She explained. "So, I vote we stop so that we can both catch up on some sleep."
He snorted in protest.
"Look, I'm not thrilled by having to stop either, but it's human nature to have to sleep." She said. He gave her a look and locked his legs. "And horses, too, of course, but I thought that was implied."
He allowed Deanna to direct him into the trees.
They found a small clearing, though it didn't necessarily deserve to be called a clearing, as there was barely enough room for Krennan to fit.
She loosened his saddle, but left her packs.
"Well, this is going to be a tight squeeze." She commented as Krennan did his best to lie down in the tight space.
She sat down and leaned up against him. "We'll just grab a couple hours' of sleep, and then we'll start moving again."
She closed her eyes and was soon asleep.
                                                                         * * *
"Where did it come from?" Alroy demanded as he paced.
"Calm down," Cayle said. Alroy turned on him.
"Calm down?" He repeated. "Calm down?! How can you say that when someone's life is at stake?!"
"First of all, we don't know if this persons life is at stake." Cayle pointed out. "It's just speculation. And second of all, getting yourself all worked up isn't going to help anybody."
Alroy was silent.
"I want to help whoever it was just as bad, but there's nothing we can do since we keep losing the sound." Cayle said.
Alroy began to respond when there was another scream. And they both took off running.
"I'm sensing a pattern, aren't you?" Cayle said as he and Alroy chased after the sound. "Everytime we are about to go back to our normal business, there's another scream."
"Hadn't noticed." Alroy said simply as he changed direction, following his instinct.
The forest ended suddenly, leaving Alroy and Cayle in the middle of a massive clearing. There were wagons and people all around, all stopped when the two men suddenly came barging out of the woods like wild men.
"Uh, hi." Cayle said with an awkward wave. "We were just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by."
"Cayle," Alroy whispered.
"What?"
"Shut up."
"Who are you?" One of the people asked, an elderly woman with a basket underneath one arm, and cord in her white, wispy hair.
"I'm Alroy, and this is Cayle." Alroy said, indicating himself and Cayle.
"Why are you here?" She asked.
"Uh, well, you see, we didn't mean to be here, mam." Alroy said. "It was an accident, we apologize for bursting in on your camp."
The woman nodded, acknowledging the apology. "How did you come to be here?" Another asked, a man this time who looked like he'd seen his fair share of battles.
"We were following a scream." Cayle explained.
"We heard no such sound." The woman said. "Are you sure it was a scream you heard? Perhaps it was overbearing joy."
"Uh, mam, we are not sure." Alroy said, staying respectful. "But, I see we have interrupted you in your chore, so we must be going now. I apologize once more to the elder of the village and her people."
Cayle glanced quickly at Alroy. He hadn't known the woman was an elder.
Alroy bowed and glared at Cayle, who did the same. They then turned to go back into the forest.
"Wait!" The woman said, her voice sharp.
They turned back, Alroy with confidence, Cayle with a sinking feeling.
"You have shown me much respect, please, let us house you for the night." She offered.
Alroy smiled. "You are too kind, wise one." He said. "But I'm afraid we must not."
"Why do you decline?" She asked.
"We must meet with our friends soon, but we got sidetracked." Alroy said, bowing his head to show he meant no dis-respect by declining her offer of shelter.
She nodded. "I understand."
Alroy bowed and turned once more to leave.
"Which direction did you hear this scream?" The man asked.
Alroy turned back for the second time. "I believe it was north-west, but the directions keep changing. The wind is changing."
The man nodded. "Where are your friends housed?" He asked.
"The next town." Alroy explained.
Cayle was watching how he handled this situation, almost as if he had done it before.
"We shall investigate these screams you have heard." the man declared. "You and your companion go to your friends, I shall meet up with you at the town with my findings."
Alroy bowed. "Thank you, tribe-master."
He turned and left after one more bow to the elder.
Cayle stood there for a moment before bowing to them himself and following after Alroy, with new suspicions replacing old ones and too many questions to ask.
This was getting weird.

Chapter 12

Deanna glanced up from where she was examining the dirt, looking in the direction that the horse had gone. It had sped away quickly, almost as if startled. Though she hoped that it was a lead on Herndon, and not just the hoof prints of a scared horse.
"What do you think, Krennan?" She asked. He neighed in response.
She smiled.
"I think it's a lead too." She said, getting to her feet and walking over to him. "Shall we go see?"
                                                                    *  *  *
They'd stopped a little before midnight that night. Alroy went out to collect some firewood, while Cayle set up the campsite. They had a warm meal of leftover stew and tea, before rolling up in their blankets to sleep.
After a while, Cayle could hear Alroy's steady breathing, signifying that he was in deep slumber.
He laid awake, thinking over ways to try and get Alroy to open up about his past, and why he was being so secretive about it.
Tomorrow, he said to himself, I will find out more about you, Alroy, and then we'll see if you're trustworthy.
Eventually, he fell asleep. Awakened soon after by Alroy so they could move.
                                                                    *  *  *
She stopped when she reached another fork in the road.
"Why are there so many of these things?" She asked Krennan as she dismounted. "Very inconvenient for following someone."
She knelt on the ground once more to examine it.
"This must be one of the active roads." She commented, noting all of the footprints. "Looks like this won't get us anywhere; any one of these could be Herndon's. It's your call, Krennan, which way?"
There was a pause, and then Krennan stomped his feet and trotted over to the south.
"South? But the trail was heading east..." Deanna said. "Are you sure?"
Krennan snorted and shook his head, moving a little farther south.
Deanna held up her hands in a peace making gesture. "Ok, ok," She said. "I was just making sure, no need to bite my head off."
She mounted again and headed off to the south.
                                                                    *  *  *
"So tell me," Cayle said after they had been walking for an hour. "Where are you from?"
Very subtle, Cayle. He thought.
Alroy glanced at him. "Here and there." He answered, dodging the question. "Any idea which direction if there is a fork?"
"We just continue in the same direction we're going; and I'm fairly sure there are no forks in these parts." Cayle said. "And you're avoiding my question."
"How could you tell?" Alroy said with a grin. "I don't like to talk about myself, alright? Can we just move past it?"
"Alroy, you do realize how suspicious you look by not talking about yourself and dodging every single question that brings anything up, right?" Cayle said.
"Vaguely." Was the answer.
"Look, Alroy, I'm not trying to be rude here, I just need to know that I can trust you." Cayle explained. "And I'm sorry if this is uncomfortable."
"You can trust me." Alroy said simply.
"I'm going to need more than that to go on." Cayle replied.
Alroy was about to respond when they heard a scream coming from the woods.
They both stopped in their tracks and looked at each other briefly before running into the woods.

Chapter 11

"That's it!" Cadman screamed after the wheel fell off for perhaps the fourth time that morning.
He jumped down and walked to the back of the wagon and started removing the contents.
"Cadman, what are you doing?" Cayle asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Cadman responded.
"Let me rephrase that." Cayle said, jumping down from his own wagon. "Why are you doing that?"
"Where the hell have you been for the past two days?" Cadman demanded, pausing for a moment. "The damn wheel keeps coming off, so I say we ditch this cursed thing and just use the one wagon."
"But then there is a chance that the wheels on the other wagon will come off from the excess weight." Alroy pointed out.
"Got any better ideas?" Cadman demanded as he started loading the contents into the other wagon.
"You realize this is going to slow us down considerably, right?" Cayle asked.
"We can buy another wagon at the town." Cadman said. "Now, are you going to continue to stand there and argue some more, or are you going to do something productive and help me?"
                                                                        *
When they finished loading the second wagon, Finn positioned it on the side of the road, out of everyone's way. He jumped down and unhooked the horses and walked them over to the other wagon.
"Do we all ride in the wagon or do we go as normal with only two?" he asked.
"I say we stick with two, that way the horses won't have to pull the weight of two more grown men." Cayle said. "Just what do you think you're doing?" he said to Cadman as he caught sight of the man preparing to mount one of the two horses.
"Uh, mounting?" He answered. "Why?"
"This was your idea; so that means that you get to drive the wagon." Cayle said.
Cadman was speechless for a moment, before he consented and climbed into the wagon beside Alroy.
They glanced at each other, but didn't say a word as Cadman clicked the reins, and started crawling along the road, leaving Cayle and Finn to mount the remaining horses.
"That's going to be an interesting ride." Cayle commented to Finn as they started out after the still slow moving wagon.
                                                                       *
After an hour of this, they stopped for a rest.
"This isn't working." Alroy said. "We're moving too slow, and we're almost out of daylight. Nice idea, Cadman."
Cadman glared at him, but otherwise didn't answer.
"Why don't we use these two horses? The wagon would move faster." Finn suggested, dismounting.
"We dismissed that one already." Cadman said.
"And how's that going for you?" Finn asked calmly. He retained his calm expression even after the glare he got from Cadman.
"Why don't we get something to eat?" Cayle suggested. "We can come up with some ideas while we do that."
"Works for me." Cadman said as he climbed down.
Finn dug out the vegetables and meat to make a stew; and while he did that, the other's tried to think of what to do about their singular wagon problem.
"I told you this would be a bad idea, Cadman, but you didn't listen. You never listen to me." Cayle pointed out.
Cadman was about to retort when Alroy stopped him. "Can we just think for a second without arguing?"
They were silent as they thought, thinking up and dismissing several ideas.
"Don't hurt yourselves." Finn called over from the camp fire.
They all glared at him.
He turned to them with an innocent expression. "What?"
They ignored him.
"I say we just hook up the other two horses, at least we'll go faster than we are now." Alroy suggested.
"Well of course you'd go faster than you are now, you're not moving." Finn said as he walked over with the pot. "Stew anyone?"
                                                                       *
After they ate, they attached the other two horses to the wagon.
"Let's see how easily this is pulled with all four of us." Cayle said.
Finn, sitting in the front, nodded and clicked the reins.
They were going faster than they had before, but not by much.
"Well, this isn't working." Cadman commented as Finn brought the horses to a stop again.
"Why don't two people hop down, and we'll see about that?" Alroy suggested as he jumped down off the wagon. Cayle followed.
Finn clicked the reins again and he went forward at a steady trot, going a lot faster than they had for the past couple of days.
He stopped the wagon again and waited for Alroy and Cayle to catch up.
"Well, that settles it." Cayle said. "You two go on ahead, we'll meet you at the Inn."
Alroy grabbed their packs from the back, handing Cayle his.
"OK," Cadman said. "We'll see you there."
Finn clicked the reins again and they headed off.