Page 38 of Grave Situation

The sound of a choked laugh draws my gaze to Jaimin, but the shadows hide his expression from me as he swings easily into the saddle of his tall horse. At least Sweetie isn’t a million feet high. It would hurt to fall that far—trust me, I know.

Sighing, I lean in to whisper to my horse, “Listen, a little mutual respect can go a long way. You like apples? I can get you apples.”

I’m close enough to see the way she stares back at me disdainfully, and I give up. Keeping a hand on her neck so as not to startle her in the dark, I take the few steps necessary to reach the saddle. Fuck, it seems a long way up. Do I even remember how to do this?

Five agonizing minutes and a humiliating scramble later, I’m finally mounted. “Let’s go,” I order, as though they haven’t been waiting for me.

Leicht launches with a giant flap of his wings, the backdraft making me cling to my pommel. Sweetie doesn’t even twitch, so at least the stablemaster wasn’t lying about that.

However, it takes three attempts from me to get her started, and even then I think she just notices that Jaimin and the packhorse are leaving and doesn’t want to be left behind.

The stories about glorious quests never mentioned this part.

We reach the city gates in the pearly light of dawn and are the first to go through when the guards open them as the sun breaks above the horizon. After our slow walk along the chasm path and then through the city streets, I’m more or less used to being on a horse now, but still wait another half hour, until the city road meets with the highway, before I begrudgingly tell Jaimin we should pick up the pace. There isn’t another village or town for miles yet, so it’s unlikely we’ll accidentally ride right past the champion. Not to mention, if they’rethisclose to the city and the stone has made me go through all this rigmarole, I’m going to find a hammer and smash it into pebbles.

Jaimin’s mouth quirks in the way that irritates me so much, but he obligingly nudges his horse into a canter. It takes me a moment to convince Sweetie to do the same. I’m starting to think that when the stablemaster said “steady,” he actually meant “stubborn.”

Or it could be that she just doesn’t like me.

The highway is well-maintained, but even though we’re already at a lower elevation and most of the snow here has melted off, the mud remains. It’s been a long time since I rode, too, much less at this pace, so I bump along like a sack of flour until I remember how to keep my seat properly. I hope Jaimin was serious when he said he was bringing something to help a bruised ass, because mine is going to be black and blue after this.

Tia stays in more or less constant contact with me as she and Leicht scout ahead and behind us, occasionally returning to circle overhead, but the first part of the morning passes uneventfully. We trade off walking with cantering a few times, pausing to water the horses, and it’s a little past nine when we approach the second village off the highway. We’re well below the snow here, and it’s definitely warmer—though at this time of year, that’s not saying much. I slow Sweetie before we get there, reaching out to Tia.

“Is there somewhere around here you can land? The horses need a break, and I think we should talk.”

“Let me look.”

“Is something wrong?” Jaimin asks, slowing beside me. I glance over and see him looking at me with a curious expression.

“No. I’m just hungry and thinking this might be a good time for us to rest the horses. Do you know if there’s somewhere nearby where Leicht could land? That way when Tia circles back, she can join us.” I mentally pat myself on the back for that clever idea.

Jaimin looks around. “Hmm. It’s been some time since I came this way, but I think if we head over that way, there’s an old quarry. It’s only a few hundred feet off the road, through those trees. There should be a small road somewhere…”

While he looks for the road, Tia says,“Leicht’s spotted a clear space off to the right of you, about a hundred yards into the trees. I think I can see a road, too.”

I hide my grin. I really am a genius.“Perfect. Jaimin’s about to lead us there. Give us a ten-minute head start before you join us.”

“There it is.” Jaimin points just ahead, where an overgrown road branches off the highway into the sparse forest. “Do you want to try that? Or maybe we shouldn’t leave the road, in case Tia can’t find us.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I assure him, trying to get Sweetie to turn and succeeding on the fourth attempt. “Leicht’s eyesight is a lot better than you’d think, and Tia says they can see pretty much everything that’s not under cover. Besides, I’d still rather we stopped out of sight, at least until we’ve got our stories straight. We’re likely to get some questions.”

He follows me, but there’s a doubting look on his face. I don’t blame him. We’re following a major highway, not a backwoods road. The villagers who live near highways are used to seeing travelers and don’t usually ask a lot of questions.

Despite the condition of the road, we reach the quarry quickly enough. It’s probably not the best place in the world for Leicht to land, what with all the random rubble strewn around, but I know the dragons can manage with worse conditions—and it was his suggestion, anyway.

“Is that a well?” I ask, squinting toward a cluster of abandoned buildings that were probably used for… whatever it is that people use buildings for at quarries. I wouldn’t know, not having any interest in digging for rocks.

Jaimin’s already headed toward it. “Yes,” he calls back. “Let me check if the water’s safe.”

Huh. Looks like having a healer along is going to be more useful than I thought. Though, now I think about it, it’s possible I was taught how to use magic to check if water is foul or safe. It was a long time ago, and since I never planned to be away fromthe comforts of a well-stocked kitchen, I didn’t pay that much attention.

Sweetie ambles to a stop beside Jaimin’s tall gray horse, and I maneuver out of the saddle, trying not to wince as my muscles protest. I spend a moment clinging to Sweetie while my legs learn that yes, standing is something they know how to do.

“It’s good,” Jaimin says just as I attempt a few faltering steps. I manage to stay on my feet, and as he drops the bucket to pull up some water, I rack my brain to remember what I need to do for my horse while she rests. Water, food… check her hooves. That’s going to be fun. Loosen the girth? Yes, I need to loosen the girth a little too.

I do that first, since it’s the easiest. There’s plenty of grass along the edge of the trees, so they can graze on that while we talk. Maybe I can check her hooves while she’s distracted by the water Jaimin is right now pouring into an ancient trough.

That’s if I can even remember how to do it.

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