Rowena Through the Wall: Expanded Edition (39 page)

Kendra stared at me, one brow arched.

"No, really," I insisted. "I'm a one-man kind of girl. It's just…" I searched for the words.

"I understand what you mean," she assured. "In this place the safest thing to do—actually, the only safe thing to do—is go with the flow."

I fiddled with the chain around my neck and took if off. "That's better. This thing is heavy." I rubbed the back of my neck and looked down at it.

The Tintegal broach was lovely, with blue and green stones in an ancient setting. It hung like a pendant on the heavy chain, along with something else. Weeks ago, Cedric had left a Roman Coin in my hand to keep me safe. Later, I had attached the coin to the broach as a way of keeping track of both and they had somehow become fused. In theory, the combo worked to keep me alive. But in practice, I was noticing that Cedric seemed to know where I was at all times. Maybe it served as a magical homing device?

"You know, this kidnapping might not be such a disaster as I originally thought. Remember, Gareth was the guy who originally walked through the wall of our classroom. He once told me that he was the one who hired a wizard to build the portal into our world."

"You mean—"

"Yes. He must know where this wizard-guy is. If I can find him, I'm sure I could get him to open the portal again." Okay, not
sure
, but like the ant and the rubber tree, I had high hopes.

"Then we could go home for a visit," Kendra said, her brown eyes sparkling. "And bring back more chocolate."

Then we could go home for good,
I thought. But why ruin the mood?

"So," Kendra said, "all you have to do is…?"

"Sleaze it out of Gareth," I finished.

"So the plan is you find out where the wizard is from Gareth. We go for a ride and accidentally on purpose get a little bit lost and end up where the wizard is. He sets up the portal again so we can take a quick trip through it. Then we bring back something fab, pay off the wizard with it and head back wherever we want."

"Yeah, that's kind of it." She was actually ahead of me. I was proud of her. "I haven't worked out the details yet."

Kendra continued to speak, but I couldn't hear her anymore. My head was filled with thoughts of animals panicking. Horses were transmitting fear, birds were lifting and soaring away, smaller animals scurried into the dense underbrush.

I vaulted to my feet, but before I could say anything, the tent flap whipped open. Janus stood in the opening and his face reflected what I already knew.

"Cedric is coming," I said before he could speak.

He nodded once. "There's a line of riders on the other side of the rise. A hundred or more."

"He's after me, Janus. You've got to let me leave. Gareth won't be able to do a thing."

Janus's mouth gaped. "I—”

"Let us have horses. We'll get away and that will stop the bloodshed.
Please
, Janus! I don't want Gareth to die in this small encampment when he can't even call his own troops to battle."

It was the way to appeal to Janus and Gareth would be mad as fury when he found out I'd used the young man.

The cries of men were audible. I could feel the tension in the camp.

"Come quickly," Janus said. "There are horses tethered nearby. Keep to the forest. Head north until you come to the fork. Gareth is speaking with the scouts. He won't see you if you go that route."

I didn't hear the rest. I was out the flap and around the back in seconds. Kendra was right on my heels. It was easy to follow the trail of fear to the row of horses lashed together. We took no time to choose, but untied the last two steeds at the end closest to the forest trail.

I adjusted the stirrups of the first beast and then mounted in a ghostly whirl. The forest trail was right ahead. I coaxed the big animal forward and silently disappeared into the woods. The forest was deep, but opened up to mix of trees and grasslands only a few minutes into our escape.

In those first few minutes it became apparent to me that I had not been lucky with my horse. The one I'd chosen was a horse with no manners and no inclination to speak to me. When I tried to read its mind, it said something very bad in horse talk. Not that I am fluent, but the inference was not at all nice. It wouldn't even tell me its name, so of course I kept thinking of it as Horse. Or more accurately Damned Horse, which probably annoyed it further.

Damned Horse had a tendency to veer under very large tree branches with the express purpose of knocking me off. I countered by whacking said animal in the rump with my not so gentle boots. In fact, I had a good notion to tell this beast that it could be dropped off at the very next glue factory, except I was unsure if Land's End
had
a glue factory. To my chagrin, I needed this beast of burden to take my sorry hide away from the violent stand-off behind us.

Hopefully, Cedric would back down when he realized I wasn't there. If the past was anything to go by, he would. The man seemed to have a one-track mind and he didn't waste any energy or magic on things that would not contribute to his immediate goal.

I pulled Damned Horse to a dead stop. "Kendra!"

She pulled her mare up beside me. They were both out of breath. "What is it?"

"How's your horse?"

"Fine," she said, stroking the mare's mane. "Rather sweet really. Why?"

"Mine is the spawn of Satan."

Damned Horse had the nerve to snigger. Yes, horses snigger. It may
sound
like a whinny, but it's much more degrading when you actually know what they're thinking.

"Kendra, I left the Tintegal broach back in the tent."

She shrugged. "Maybe you'll get it back later."

"I don't want it back. The broach is magic and it keeps the wearer safe. But more important, it has a coin on the back that I think Cedric has been using to track me. Sort of like a homing device."

"And you left it back there? That's a good thing, isn't it? Cedric won't be able to find you now."

"Yup. That's what I've been thinking."

For once, things were going my way. Not that I could take any credit.

"Just hope it doesn't make him really angry when he finds
it
and not me."

"You're thinking he might kill Gareth?"

"I'm thinking he might annihilate the whole western seaboard. Then again, maybe not. He doesn't tend to waste magic."

Was his magic a finite resource? No doubt about it, I needed to learn more about the way things worked in this world.

Damned Horse jerked on the reins and kicked up its front legs. I think the cause was Kendra's mare. Wouldn't you know it? Another randy male in Land's End.

"We'd better keep going," I said. "Slow your pace a bit. I think this horse from hell is wearing down."

A few minutes later we came to the fork in the forest.

"What do we do?" Kendra asked.

"Let me think…"

As I said this, I noticed a strange thing. The garnet stone in my bracelet was glowing. Just a faint glow, but definitely something I could see. What could it mean?

"Wait here," I said to Kendra.

I guided Damned Horse down the path to my right for about ten paces. The stone continued to glow. I stopped, turned the animal around and continued back to Kendra. The glow became more faint. Then I steered Damned Horse onto the path to the left. Nothing. We walked for about twenty feet down that path. No glow at all. I maneuvered my horse back to Kendra.

"So cool!" I said. "This bracelet is showing me the way."

Her dark eyes watched me, skeptical. "What do you mean?"

"Look at this. When I start down this path, the stone glows." I showed her.

"Okay, so the stone glows."

"I'm thinking it may be attracted by other magic. Maybe it'll show us the way to the wizard."

The mare jolted skittishly as Damned Horse tried to sniff her butt. Kendra pulled the female away. "You sure you want to trust an assumption?"

"It must have some reason for wanting me to go this way. I'll bet there's a source of magic at the root of it all. And we need magic to get back through the wall. Besides, it is a witch's bracelet."

"Oh great," Kendra muttered. "So it's going to lead us to a bunch of witches. That makes me feel a whole lot better."

"Don't be silly. They wouldn't be witches because there aren't any witches left in Land's End. They burnt them all."

Except for my great-aunt, I remembered. Thane said his mother had died in childbirth. That would have to be with his birth because I hadn't heard of any other younger siblings. It was a sorry fact that before 1920 fifty percent of women died in childbirth.

"Okay," Kendra said with a huff. "We'll let the bracelet signal the direction we take. I mean, how far can it be?"

Two hours later grew into three.

"Stop!" Kendra cried. "I can't take it anymore. Doesn't this wilderness ever end?"

"Hold on. I see blue up ahead."

At last we came to the river.

I slowed and signaled for Kendra to pull up beside me.

"What do we do?" she asked. "It's too deep for the horses, isn't it?"

I scanned left then right. "We look for a narrowing and we jump. I've done it a hundred times in Arizona. Well, not jumping water exactly, but jumping over cacti the size of garbage cans. And cacti will do a whole lot more damage than water, believe me."

I could feel her eyes on me.

"You're kidding. Tell me you're kidding."

"Look, Kendra. We'll keep going until we find a reasonable approach. It'll be easy, I assure you. The horses will know what to do." I paused, wondering if Damned Horse would agree. " I'll go first and your horse will follow."

She shook her head. "We could go back. Or we could just follow the river north. Maybe we'll end up back at Gareth's castle."

I sniffed. "It's a fortress, not a castle, and I'm not going there. Honestly, Kendra, you aren't missing anything. Drafty old thing with no proper beds. The bracelet is telling me to go this way so that's what I'm doing. Don't you see? If we can't get to the source of the magic, we may never find our way back to the States. I've got to go back. My Dad will be frantic."

"Row, you don't plan to stay, do you?"

"Don't worry," I said. "I'm only suggesting a visit. Only a day or two, so that I can see Dad and explain things, maybe pick up more supplies. We need supplies. We're out of chocolate." I grinned, knowing I had her at
chocolate
.

We walked our mounts for twenty minutes until we came to a place where the river narrowed.

"Here's a good spot," I said. "I'm sure we can make it across."

The gap was about six feet and the bank on the other side was grassy.

"Are you sure?" Kendra frowned. "The water looks rather deep. And fast moving."

"That always happens when a river narrows," I said. "All the water gets pushed into a smaller space, so it moves faster." It sounded like it could be true, but I was from a desert state, so what did I know?

"I don't think you should do it, Row."

"Nuts. I've jumped this distance in my bare feet. I can certainly do it on horseback." I pulled Damned Horse about twenty feet back from the bank and then kicked him hard. "Go, dammit!"

Damned Horse galloped like a bat out of hell, then lurched to a stop at the edge of the riverbank. I, however, did not. I flew over the beast's head.

Splash!

"Row, are you all right? Row?"

I came to the surface, choking on water. "I'm okay. I can stand here. It isn't deep. "Damn, but it’s cold. This m-must be a m-mountain stream." My teeth chattered.

"Um…" Kendra paused. "I think your horse is gone."

"Sonovabitch!"

I saw Damned Horse trotting off in the distance. I could hear the equine snickering in the wind.

"Here, let me help you out." Kendra dismounted, moved to the edge of the bank and stretched out her hand.

"Thanks. This bank is—oh crap! There goes your horse."

Sure enough, the mare decided to follow Damned Horse. Off she trotted without a care in the world.

Kendra hauled me up. "Bloody hell. What now?"

I shook like a dog and got her all wet. "We go north, I guess. Unless you want to walk across the river."

She shivered. "Nope. You look freezing."

"It's nothing," I said nonchalantly. "I'll dry in the sun."

"Your dress is ripped."

I looked down. The skirt had a slit running up the side to my thigh. I sighed. "Another one bites the dust."

"I don't know how you do it." She shook her head. "I haven't wrecked a single one."

We continued north, walking single file along the riverbank. The hot sun dried my clothes, then slowly sank over the horizon.