LadyAnnaLee

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin’t woke up to see Ridahne asleep. Darin was not surprised to see that the Elf slept with her knife. Darin look at her shoulder to see that it had been patched up. It was sticky too. She licked her finger, touched her shoulder, and then licked her finger again. It tasted like some sort of medicinal ointment; probably to fight infection. Darin supposed that was for the best. The human careful stood. She hadn’t had a chance to check on The Seed yet. She didn’t want Ridahne to see were she had put it. She didn’t want anyone to know. So, she pulled out her spare shirt to put on. Once that was down she carefully stepped over the Elf to exit the room.

Darin was not sure where a good place to check on The Seed would be. Without even thinking about it she left the tavern. She was glad to see the sun was just starting to rise. At least some of her habits were still instilled in her. Her head hurt though. She blamed that on all the alcohol last night. She never wanted to have to drink that much again. She found herself headed back to Talbot’s pasture. He wasn’t there. That was odd. Though that gave her an idea. There were plenty of the places in a stable to hid for a brief moment.

When she walked into the stable, she saw both Ridahne’s horse and Talbot. There were a few more, but those were the two Darin recognized. It was clear enough to see the difference between the horses; which one was meant for speed and battle while which one was meant for endurance and work. Both were beautiful. Darin supposed there was some sort of metaphor there. She didn’t care.

She walked over to Talbot’s stall, “Hey lovely. Mind if I come in for a moment?”

Talbot bobbed his head, so Darin took that to mean yes. She opened the stall and made sure she closed it behind her. She them hurried to the far back and bent down so she was hidden from view. Then she pulled her pants down just enough to see the band. It looked fine. Carefully she ran her fingers over it. She didn’t think the burning she had felt from The Seed yesterday had done any damage.

A voice filled the air, “That looks important.”

Darin’s head snapped up to see the farmer she met last night. This was not a good thing. She didn’t want anyone to see it, but she hadn’t heard him some in. This was not good at all. She didn’t think he was a threat, but that was because he could have put Talbot down when he proved unsociable. He didn’t though. So, that was a few points in his favor.

Darin quickly redressed, “It is.”

The farmer asked, “Important enough to kill for?”

Darin wasn’t sure she knew how to answer that question. Apparently, it was worth killing for. People wanted her dead so she couldn’t do her job. She wasn’t sure she could kill to defend it. She was prepared to just about anything else to defend it. Maybe that was the answer.

She spoke slowly, “Worth dying for.” She shook her head, “Worth living for.”

The farmer nodded, “Makes sense.” He nodded at Talbot, “Talbot says he’s going with you; if you’ll have him.”

Darin looked at Talbot. The horse nodded again. She supposed if anyone knew what he was saying it would be the farmer he belonged to. Darin wasn’t sure she could take Talbot with her. She already had person she was taking with her that she hadn’t planned on. An extra horse might be another story. Though Darin thought she rather had the horse. The only problem with that was at least the human knew the horse would be alright if she didn’t take him. She wasn’t so sure about Ridahne.

Darin reached out to stroke Talbot’s nose. I have to talk to my companion. In fact, I best get back to her.”

The farmer nodded, “That’s a good point.”

Darin passed by the farmer on the way out of the stable. They nodded at each other. They were the same breed of people. She could feel it in her soul. Darin left the stable and headed back towards the tavern. She couldn’t afford to be apart form Ridahne for too long. Who knew? More of Marks’s friends might show up.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin was just aware enough to know that Ridahne had basically thrown her over her shoulder like Darin threw her pack on. She was not aware enough to protest. She was aware enough to know that she was set done near something warm. She was not aware enough to get closer. Darin was aware enough to drink from the glass Ridahne had given her. She couldn’t help the coughing and sputtering. Whatever that was that did taste like alcohol. Darin still finished it the way she had been told. She was also aware enough to process that, yes, the door was locked, and that Ridahne had asked her to take her shirt off. Darin struggled to complete the task, but eventually she succeeded. That’s where her awareness of anything stopped.

Instead she started to think about everything and anything. She didn’t usually take her shirt off in front of anyone expect her mother. She wasn’t truly as flat as a boy, but it was close. Boys made fun of her for that. She had a scar on her abdomen from the first time she had tried to wield a sickle. She had another on her upper arm from a time she wasn’t paying attention and the rope she was using to get the sheep out of the well cut to deep. Girls ignored her for those and all the other marks that proved she had survived her battles. It was lonely in the village after her father left.

She couldn’t help but think of the village as home. People may not have wanted to be friends with her or her mother, but they weren’t outright cruel. They still brought Darin’s barley and wheat. They still sold her soap and salt and other things that she needed but couldn’t make or grow or find on her farm. She was still a part of village life. No one had pretended to honor her when she was assigned her task. They just came together to make sure that she was as prepared as they could get her to go it.

Maybe that was why, if Darin was being honest, she didn’t want Ridahne to come with her. Ridahne’s attitude had changed the moment she figured it out. It wasn’t a complete change, but that “hope of many” thing really unsettled Darin. Darin already knew that she was letting Ridahne come with her. The human couldn’t let her go home to die when she could do something to stop it. She knew that if Ridahne ever figured out that was why Darin was letting her come the Elf was sure to be upset. The human didn’t care. Her Mama had taught her to be kind. Life had taught her to be careful, but Darin didn’t think Ridahne wanted to hurt her. So, she could be kind. She still didn’t like it though. She was just Darin. She wasn’t anyone important or grand like Ridahne seemed to think she was. The only thing important about her was her job, and she didn’t even want it.

And one-point Darin’s thoughts got muddled. It wasn’t long before she was dozing. She blamed the alcohol and blood loss. She fought the exhaustion. She didn’t want to fall asleep why Ridahne was still working on her injuries. It wouldn’t do for the Elf needed her to do something and the human was passed out. It was becoming harder to fight the exhaustion. She hoped it was over soon.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

It took Darin longer than she planned to get back to the inn. Her shoulder was starting to hurt. She had injuries before, and she had the scars to prove it. She had to teach herself how to run a farm. Blood was a common sight to the young girl. That didn’t change the fact that she hated pain more than she hated anything. She had learned to keep silent and work despite the pain, but mentally she was screaming in agony. It didn’t help that it was still bleeding. Even through the arrow had just grazed her it had cut deep. Darin had a hand pressed as tight as she could against the injury to try and get it to clot. It wasn’t working. The alcohol earlier wasn’t helping either. The human could already feel the changes to her mental state.

She staggered into the inn and looked around. It looked like she was too late to help clean up. That was probably a good thing. She was starting to feel her vision get fuzzy. She needed to get her shoulder looked out before the blood loss became greater than her body could take. For a brief moment the girl wished for her mother. Whenever Darin injured herself in the past her Mama would be there to patch her up and hover until Darin found her presence vexing. She did her best to never say that out loud though. The human had to cut off a sob as the wave of homesickness overcame her.

Darin spotted Ridahne and stumbled over to the Elf. As she fell into the seat she managed to get out, “I need someone to fix my shoulder please.”

Her grip was incredibly slippery. It wouldn’t be long before she wouldn’t be able to put the necessary pressure on the wound. Darin let out a shuddering breathe as she blinked to clear the spots that had entered her vision. It was worse than she thought. She really did miss home. If she was back home at this time of night Darin would just becoming in from her final round. There would be a cup of cool water and a pot of stew waiting for her. Her Mama would fuss over her and cluck at her pants and short hair. Then, after eating, her mother would insist on looking her over completely just in case Darin had missed an injury.

She spoke again, “Ridahne, I need to keep my clothes on.”

If the Elf or a villager tried to take off her clothes not only would they discover that she had lied about her gender, but they would find the band that hid The Seed. Neither one of those things could be allowed. Hopefully Ridahne would get that. Darin wasn’t sure. Her shirt might need to come off to see the injury. It was a shame. This was one of two shirts that the human had with her. She would have to clean it and patch it up. She may not be able to use a knife, but her sewing was passable. Actually, her sewing kit had been on the pack mule. So, that was a bust. Besides Darin wasn’t sure if she could get the blood out of this shirt.

A thud filled her hearing. It took a minute for Darin to realize that the sound was her head hitting the table. She let out a muttered ow when she finally felt the pain. This was bad. She was getting ready to pass out. She wasn’t even sure her hand was still applying pressure. She let out another breath. She just wanted her Mama.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin nodded her acceptance of Ridahne’s plan, “Tomorrow then.” She smiled at Talbot, “I’m going to see if I can get Talbot back into his field. I’ll see you at the inn.”

The human would watch as the Elf walked back towards the inn. Once Ridahne was out of sight Darin would let out a desperate sob that she swiftly cut off. She left Talbot to go stand in the field right next to the gate. Maybe she could lure him back to where he belonged. She didn’t think so, but she wouldn’t know for sure until she tried.

She called out to the horse, “Come on Talbot. It’s time to come home.”

Talbot eyed the human warily before letting out a snort. Slowly he walked back in. Darin walked backwards to lead him to the center of the field. Once that was done, she slowly circled the horse. She didn’t take her eyes off of him. He circled so he could keep her in his line of sight. She slowly walked backwards to the gate. Once she was there it was easy to walk though it and latch it behind her. Talbot had been returned. That was one challenge done. She turned to lean against the fence. Now she just needed to figure out what she was going to do with the other misplace creature she had stumbled across.

Darin supposed it wasn’t fair to think of Ridahne as a creature, but she was certainly misplaced. The human wasn’t sure what the Elf had done to be exiled, but it couldn’t have been good. Darin couldn’t comprehend doing anything to actually be exiled though. She may have not been the elders favorite, and the men in the village looked at her funny, but she knew she hadn’t done anything that would have caused her to be cast out. Even though she wasn’t home now she knew she could go home anytime she wanted or needed to. Home was a safe haven. She couldn’t fathom it being the one place she wasn’t allowed to go.

Darin spoke to the wind, “What do I do now?”

Ridahne’s life was in her hands and, Darin didn’t like that one little bit. Logically she knew that every life in Astra was in her hands, but that wasn’t the same at all. That was vaguer and fluid. This was solid. This was direct responsibility. Darin couldn’t pretend it wasn’t real. She could lie about it. She couldn’t run away from it either. She supposed there was only one option really. Ridahne was going to have to come with her.

Now came a different question. Did Darin want the Elf to come with her? She didn’t know the answer to that one. She barely knew Ridahne. She didn’t know her history. She didn’t know her heart. Darin didn’t think she was evil like Mark had been. Though she didn’t have any proof that the man was evil besides the fact that The Seed had reacted so strongly and so negatively to his mere presence. The Seed had not reacted that way to Ridahne. Though it hadn’t reacted to anyone, but Darin and Mark. So, that meant nothing.

Talbot came up behind the human and headbutted her softly. Darin laughed a little bit at that as she turned back around to pet him the way he was demanding. She ran a hand over the bridge of his nose. Now if Talbot had made the same offer that Ridahne had made Darin would have accepted in a heartbeat. Animals were better that people. Sometimes they did bad things, but usually that was because a person had trained them to be bad. Darin could usually tell if an animal like her and what their motives were. She was having a hard time with people though.

A voice filled the air, “I told you he liked you lad.”

Darin turned her head to see the farmer, “I guess you’re right.”

The farmer continued, “I saw what he did for you. I cleared thing up with the constable. Well I cleared up the horse thieving bit. The dead bodies I can’t do anything about.”

Darin sighed, “Neither can I.” She gave Talbot one final pat, “I best get back to see what I can do to help clean up.”

The farmer nodded, “Best of luck to you lad; on all your journeys.”

Darin smiled, “Thank you. Good night.”

With that she headed back to the inn. The constable had mentioned a mess. Darin could help out with that. The she really needed to find a place to hide do she could check on The Seed. She felt it pressing against her thigh, but she would feel better when she actually got to look at the band to make sure it wasn’t burnt. In addition, the human was tired. She would need sleep before the morning came.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Thank you!

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

would you be okay with me having Ridahne returning to the inn alone so that way Darin's alone?

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin scowled again. Ridahne had a point. Regardless of her ability, regardless of her confidence, regardless of the reason; the truth was that she was given a job. She was the only one that could do it. So, she had to do it to the best of her ability. No one but her seemed to care that it was going to be a complete disaster. She was positive that this whole thing was going to end badly. She supposed that she should stop worrying about that and get to work.

She moved over to were Ridahne was talking to Talbot. Darin had heard of that story. Well a variation. It was a story of horses that were well bred and well trained. She had heard the story from a traveler in Lively. They had called the horses Samsons. It was possible the stories were talking about the same breed. The line had been lost. If Talbot was a descendant of them, he wasn’t a pure descendant. Samsons were said to be pure brown. Talbot was patterned. Darin still thought he was gorgeous. She rested a hand on his flank. If he did pick his rider, he wouldn’t pick Darin. He was just helping out.

Darin had to ask, “What will happen to you if I say no?”

She kept her full attention on stroking Talbot. Darin already knew the answer. While they had been riding to Greyrock Ridahne had told her that she was an exile; that she had received her vision the night before she was supposed to be executed. Darin wasn’t a fool. If she rejected Ridahne’s service, the human wouldn’t be surprised if the Elf would have to go back home only to die. Darin wondered what would happen if they actually succeeded. Would Ridahne be allowed to go home? Would her honor be restored? Darin didn’t know why she asked that question. She only knew that she needed a n answer, an honest answer, from Ridahne. She didn’t think it would change her answer.

Darin couldn’t do this alone. Today had proven that. The whole last three months had proven that. She couldn’t keep her supplies, she was lucky that she hadn’t been eaten by wolves, and evil had targeted her. If she had been alone, she would be dead. She had Ridahne and Talbot to thank for her life. She wondered what Ridahne had done to be exiled. Whatever it was the human didn’t think she regretted it. Darin didn’t think Ridahne wanted to die without honor though either. She could have kept her vision to herself. Darin supposed there were worse protectors out there. He attention was still on Talbot. She didn’t have the courage to look at Ridahne as she answered. How lame was that?

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin’s relief at seeing Ridahne was almost palpable. She sat straight up on Talbot’s back as the Elf came running up. She was slightly alarmed at the blood almost all over her, but the human soon figured out that it wasn’t her blood. Ridahne appeared uninjured. Darin let out a sigh of relief. She knew the woman had to have been lying.

Darin moved to get off Talbot, “Yeah, there was another woman with the same type of tattoos as Luke. Do you think it means anything?”

Darin was having problems getting off of Talbot. For one thing he really was too big for her to sit on comfortably. She had managed to somehow get astride him in the slight mess of the fight. She needed to get both legs on one side. Then she would need to drop down. Darin didn’t want to think about that at all. He was huge. It would be a long way down. Suddenly Talbot bent his knees. Darin let out a gasp. When he was as close to the ground as he was going to get, he bucked her off. Darin lost her footing for a moment before staggering to right in front of Ridahne.

It sounded like the Elf had figured out that Darin had lied to her. Well, lying was the wrong word. Darin just hadn’t told her the whole truth. Darin wasn’t sure she wanted to tell her the truth now. It was clear that people were looking for her. Mark and his people didn’t think she was The Gardener, but they did think that she had a connection to The Gardener. How they came up with that Darin didn’t have the slightest clue. The important bit was that they were prepared to kill her because of it. The less people who knew the safer The Seed would be. The only problem was Darin wasn’t sure she wanted to lie to Ridahne anymore. Plus, Darin was pretty positive Ridahne had killed for no other reason than Darin said they were evil. Would it be wrong to return that trust?

Darin scowled as she said, “To be fair. Even this morning I knew you wouldn’t die from withering. You’ll probably be stabbed in the back or something.”

To be fair Darin had known nothing about the woman except she claimed to want to help The Gardener. The human was not able to magically detect lies. It would be better to trust no one than to trust the first person that said they wanted to help. Darin was trying to be smart. Okay, smart was the wrong word. Common sense felt like it felt Darin better. She was trying to display common sense.

Darin continued to scowl, “And I’m not the ‘hope of many’ or whatever. I’m so incompetent that Astra might as well be doomed.”

Wasn’t that the crux of it all? Darin had felt woefully unprepared for this role the moment she got it. She was a farmer. She wasn’t a warrior or and adventurer or a hero. She didn’t want to fail but felt that her failure was inevitable. At least she could take steps to avoid being killed. Even then she was failing at that. Mark had one conversation with her before deciding she needed to be taken captive, and Darin didn’t know why. Darin was almost positive that The Gardener made a mistake. She would just never say it out loud.

Darin turned back towards Talbot. He had jumped the fence to help her, so she needed to find a way to get him back into his pasture. He had stood back up but wasn’t making any moves to return to where he belonged. The human looked over at the fence. Luckily there appeared to be a gate. Darin walked over to it to see that the latch was simple. She lifted it and pulled the gate open.

She whistled at Talbot, “Come on Talbot.” She gestured at the open gate, “In you get.”

Talbot shook his head in away similar to a person shaking their head no. Darin scoffed at the absurdity of it all. Odds were she would have to bribe him back in. To that she would need to find the farmer. She had no idea where to look for him, and she couldn’t leave Talbot unsupervised anyways. He might wander off if she did.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin was incredibly alarmed when Talbot suddenly reared away from her one moment and then headbutted her in the next. She went flying towards the ground. She landed on her butt. As she was falling, she watched an arrow fly over her face. Sara had followed her. She landed and, quickly looked over her shoulder. It wasn’t Sara. It was another woman. She had her head shaved like Luke with similar tattoos. Darin had to wondered if that meant something.

She looked at the farmer, “Run! Get inside!” He seemed frozen so she shouted, “NOW!”

She needed to get back to Ridahne. That was the only chance she really had. The woman fired off another arrow. Darin dropped back to the ground. She managed to avoid the second arrow, but now she was stuck. She didn’t think that she would manage to get up before she was fired at again and there was nowhere to go. Darin started crawling to the fence while remaining flat on her stomach. Maybe if she got there she could hide behind the bale of hay. Than again, she didn’t want to make Talbot a target.

The woman shouted, “Just surrender boy. My companions are taking care of the Elf as we speak. I don’t want to kill or injure you. I will do both if I have too.”

While her boyishness irked her mother, her mouth was the bane of the village elders, “I’ve never had an arrow wound before. It would be a learning experience.”

The woman scoffed, “So be it.”

Darin held the wiz that meant she had loosed another arrow. Darin shut her eyes tight only to roll away. When she opened her eyes, she saw an arrow on the ground where her neck had been. She reached out with a hand to feel the fence. She hurriedly used it to get to a standing position. She looked to see that Talbot was watching her. He was too close to the action. Darin looked to see the framer was nowhere to be seen.

She yelled at Talbot, “Go home!”

Most horses knew that meant they were supposed to return to their stable. Darin was relieved to see that Talbot turned and took off towards the stable. She turned to face the woman. She did not look happy. Darin couldn’t blame her. Darin was clearly not a warrior, yet this woman already had to use three arrows on her. Darin for fairly positive that her luck was just about to run out.

The woman pointed an arrow straight at Darin’s face, “Mark says you have a connection to the Gardener. Tell me what you know, and this arrow goes back in the quiver.”

Darin let out a laugh, “Me? Connected to the Gardener? You must be joking.” She gestured at herself, “I mean look at me. The Tree, and by extension The Seed, is the most important part of Astra. I am so incompetent that it’s not even funny.”

The woman scoffed, “Then what are you doing with an Azurei warrior?”

Maybe honesty would be better than a lie at this point, “She found me stuck. I’m just on a journey for my mother. She’s the one who decided I was her apprentice.”

The woman screamed, “You lie!”

The arrow went flying. Darin prepared to fall. Her knees hit the ground. The arrow grazed her shoulder. She let out a shout of pain as her hand flew towards the injury. Darin looked up when she heard another sound of alarm. Talbot had jumped the fence and was currently racing towards the woman. He may not have been trained for battle, but he was still over 1000 pounds of muscle. Darin knew that if she saw veteran plow horse racing towards her would scream as well. The woman tried to fit another arrow to her bow, but she was too late. Talbot reared up. Then he came down. Only the woman’s quick instincts saved her skull. Like Darin she fell. Talbot’s hoofs hit her arm and her bow. Both had to be shattered. Talbot looked ready to rear again.

Darin moved quickly to throw her arms around his neck, “Talbot! That’s enough!”

The woman saw her chance, “You idiot.”

She had grabbed a knife with her good hand and lunged at Darin’s abdomen. Talbot reared again. Darin increase her grip. This time the horse’s goal was to get Darin out of the way. The momentum swung Darin on to his back. The woman missed and went failing towards the ground. She had to drop the knife so she could break her fall. Darin let go of Talbot’s neck to sit up straight.

Darin was surprised at how cold her voice was, “I won’t stop him again.”

There was promise in that voice. The woman couldn’t use her broken bow with a broken arm. If she lunged for the knife Talbot would react. Darin could feel that. She wrapped her hands in her mane to avoid falling when he reared again. The woman looked at Darin’s eyes and Talbot’s stance. She scurried to her feet and hurried away. Darin watched her go. She couldn’t relax until she was sure she was gone.

She was unaware just how ridiculous she looked. She was sitting astride a horse that was much too big for her with her back ramrod straight. She was covered in dirt from her multiple falls. Her shoulder was still bleeding even though she couldn’t currently feel the pain. One hand was bloody from when she had reacted early. She was breathing hard from a mix of adrenaline and exertion. She may have looked ridiculous on the massive beast, but she also looked like, well, like a warrior’s apprentice that survived their first encounter.

That look ended when the woman was out of sight. Darin let out a breath as she fell backwards so her head landed on Talbot’s rump. She supposed that she should get down and find Ridahne. She didn’t think Mark and his crew and bested her, but Darin figured she best check. That could wait just a moment until her heart calmed down.

She patted the part of the horse she could reach, “Thank you Talbot. You saved my life.”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Okay. Sounds like a plan. Thank you.