Page 10 of This Midsummer Heart
“I still need to see about tonight’s accommodations,” I grumble, looking away.
“You’ll stay here,” Titaine decides. “We must discuss an itinerary tonight. We can divide it fairly, alternating stops with the fetes and elves. As long as we make good time, we shouldn’t have to rely on human hospitality at all.”
It sounds like a command. And for once, I do not argue with the lady of the House of Fetes.
Even if Istillcan’t believe I’m traveling all the way to Nox with her.
Itinerary
Coronette Circle –Fetes
Stop at Mircose –Mortal
Trident Wood –Dark Elves
Lita Circle –Fetes
Dryad’s Keep –Dark Elves
Oakbell Circle –Fetes
Saer Forest –Dark Elves
The High House –Fetes
North Wolding Outpost (The Bridge of Miracles) –Mortal
Take the Low Lunar Road, SW
The City of Nadie
The City of Nox
Chapter six
The Journey Begins
Auberon
TheroadholdswondersI never imagined when Titaine came to me with this hair-brained scheme to travel together. The smells of nature. The riot of colors and sound. The feeling of being enveloped in something powerful, even when the vistas open wide around us, fields and forests as far as the eye can see.
The further we travel from the city, bypassing the progressively smaller mortal towns beyond it, the fewer travelers and merchant caravans we pass. Our horses move quickly for being less weighed down, but also for the enchantments woven into their tack.
The times being what they are, I am skeptical of Titaine’s ability to cast proper enchantments, but so far they are holding fast. Whenever we pause to water the horses at a convenient stream or roadside pump, they don’t drink as deeply as I expect, nor do they appear to be tiring.
We also manage to travel in perfect silence. I wish I could say this is the product of experience and maturity, but in truth, I think we are both lost in troubled thought. For as we left our home in the city of Avalonne at first light this morning, the heralds were already out in the streets, proclaiming dire news. A symposium of mortal scholars and mages has declared this a new era. Per tradition, our world has been given a grim new name to match it:
Duskhold, because the era of magic is at its end.
Today is not all brooding and gloom, however. Our stops for rest have been rather enjoyable. As I recline on a rock beside the first stream, listening to the sounds of wind in the surrounding copse of trees and tracing the path of a dragonfly, I am reminded of how peaceful nature can be. Something critical has been missing during my time in the city, always tied up in House business. It’s something I can only find in the outdoors, paused like this, the sun shining on my face and shoulders like in the clearings of Glowarian Forest where I both played and trained as a boy. It heats the metal links of my mail in a familiar, pleasant way. Despite being early summer, the mornings are still dewy and cool in this part of the world, and this strong sunshine feels like a balm.
As we head southeast, that will change. Drastically. I drink in the shade and gentle warmth of Laufee, savoring it while I have it. Even the horses are at ease here, or as at ease as horses get, at least. What do those mortal mages know anyway? There is nothing wrong with today. This is the perfect morning to relax and enjoy what summer has to offer, and I intend to do just that. Or at least Iwasdoing it, right up until—
“What’s that smirk for?” Titaine hisses.
My face snaps towards hers, away from the sun. I’ll find no warmth in this new direction. Titaine is glowering at me from beside her white mare, gripping the reins as if she suspects I mean to steal her.
“I didn’t smirk,” I reply, suppressing the immediate urge to wince. That is the wrong thing to say to Titaine.
