Sail away

Three weeks later, on a bright cloudless morning, Mary stood at the docks and watched as the last preparations was made for the ship to set sail. She wasn’t alone; the dock was filled with family members and friends saying goodbye.

Mary smiled and waved as she saw Tenac. Tenac smiled back and walked up to her.

“You’re here,” he said.

“I told you I would be,” she smiled.

“Thank you for coming.”

“No problem. Have you said goodbye to your mother?” she asked.

“Yes, we had dinner yesterday,” he told her.

“Good. Take care of yourself, don’t do anything stupid,” Mary said.

“You know me,” he smiled.

“I do, don’t do anything stupid like trying to be a hero,” she told him again.

“I promise,” he nodded.

“Good. Now take this,” she held out a leather pouch. Tenac looked surprised and took it from her.

“It’s to stave off seasickness. I hear it can be an issue. The instructions are inside,” she told him.

“Thank you,” he smiled.

“This is for good luck. I expect to get it back,” she told him, holding out her necklace with the bone rose. Tenac just stared at it.

“I can’t take that,” he said.

“I’m letting you borrow it, so yes, you can. It has been around my neck almost as long as I have had my knife. I’m not letting you have my knife,” she told him.

Mary had been told that it was a tradition to lend something of personal value to someone going away. The tradition said that it would make the traveller more likely to return home.

Tenac took the necklace in his hand and looked at it.

“I will bring it back,” he promised.

“You better. And don’t forget to write, at least once,” she smiled.

“You want me to write to you?” he asked.

“Yes, you don’t have to, but it would be nice to know that you at least made it there in one piece,” she told him.

“Then I will write you,” he smiled.

“Now get going and don’t forget to have fun,” Mary smiled back at him.

“I will try,” he said, and he turned around and walked away.

Mary stood watching as the ship loaded all its passengers and set sail. It felt empty knowing she wouldn’t see Tenac in a while. But in two weeks, she would head out on her own adventure with Procecsa.

The two weeks were tough on her father. At first, he tried to persuade her not to go at all. That didn’t go well with either Mary or her mother.

Then he tried to find a way to go with her. That was stopped by Tariana after she had asked Mary if she wanted her father to go along. That led up to a long debate where Kopa tried to get his men to accompany Mary and Procecsa. The Lady’s guard was usually only used for the Lady or for official business. It had never been used to escort two aari to a sleepy town on the purpose of doing some research.

Kopa had refused to give up his idea. After almost a week of arguing about it, he and Tariana had reached a compromise. He could send two of his men and there would be two of the regular riders along as well.

As they now were putting the last things on the waggon that held their supplies, Mary was thankful that they would go at all. She had feared that her father’s valiant efforts could derail the entire trip.

 The two riders from her father’s company, she didn’t know. They seemed nice and treated her like she was fragile. That would get old fast, she thought. The riders from the regular company were Sinhera and Jontak. Mary wondered if her father had had a hand in that. But she decided not to think too hard about it.

Procecsa climbed on to the waggon and sat next to the rider that would drive it.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather go on the waggon with me?” she asked Mary.

“No, thank you. I prefer riding,” Mary told her and mounted Fizz.

Procecsa looked at the horse with a mix of fear and loathing. Mary had learned that her mentor absolutely hated horses and was deadly afraid of them.

As they headed out of the city, Mary rode next to the waggon, where Procecsa was sitting, on her other side, Sinhera was riding. Jontak was riding a little ahead of them and the last rider was riding behind the waggon.

“Does my father really think we need four riders?” Mary asked Sinhera. She laughed.

“Probably not. But when it comes to you, we all know he goes over the top,” Sinhera smiled.

“Was it his doing that landed you and Jontak on this trip?” Mary asked.

“No, actually, that was Tenac’s doing. He knew you would probably go on your first trip when he was away. So he made us promise to do everything we could to get assigned to you,” Sinhera chuckled.

“You are kidding?” Mary asked, shocked.

“I’m not,” Sinhera told her.

“I am so sorry. I know this must be one of the most boring assignments in rider history. We are going to a sleepy village, far away from any danger, to ask the villagers questions and have a look at the wildlife in the area. I’m mortified that my dad and Tenac made not only you take part in this, but two of the Lady’s personal guards,” Mary whined.

“This should have been an assignment for riders fresh out of being prospects,” she added.

“Don’t feel bad, Mary. I’ll agree that it’s not the most exciting mission. But I get to see a part of Salmisara that I haven’t seen, I get to do it with two of my friends. And best of all,” she said, looking at the two riders from the Lady’s guard.

“I get to watch those two run around, franticly trying to please you and keep you safe. I can only imagine what your father has told them. But I’m guessing they will have their panties in a knot. Me and Jontak, we know you are cool and have your shit together, those two does not. It will be fun,” she said.

Mary looked at her in disbelief.

“We can’t let them do that. I’m going to tell them they can relax,” she told Sinhera.

“Don’t you dare do that, Mary, and ruin all my fun. Those two are always sneering at us regular riders, telling us how much better they are,” Sinhera told Mary.

Mary looked at the riders. She didn’t like bullies, not even when she knew no one was taking them seriously. But she could just tell her father about it when they got back. She knew he wouldn’t tolerate that behaviour.

Then she looked at Sinhera, that looked excited at her. There wouldn’t be any harm in not telling the riders to relax. They would just be following her father’s order, doing their job. And Sinhera and Jontak could have a couple of laughs along the way.

“I’ll let it be for now. But if it gets out of hand, I’ll talk to them,” Mary said.

“Thanks, Mary,” Sinhera smiled.

After traveling most of the morning, they paused at a small river to stretch their legs and get something to eat. Mary was more than grateful. She enjoyed riding, but she wasn’t used to doing it for long periods of time.

When they had travelled from Dermes, they had never stopped in the middle of the day. Her father had explained that the riders would pack food in their saddlebags that they could eat as they rode to save time on long journeys. Mary was happy they could stop along the way. They had calculated that they would need to spend one night on the road and be at the village around noon the next day.

As they all were full, and had gotten to stretch for a bit, they mounted up and started on the road again. They soon came to a ford they needed to cross. The river they had been riding along was wide and shallow and ran at a leisurely pace. The ford was even more shallow and looked to have a firm and flat riverbed.

Mary didn’t see any issues crossing it. Not until Sinhera, that had taken over from Jontak as the front rider, halted. They all followed suit.

“This could be an issue, Mary,” she said.

“Why?” Mary wondered, perplexed.

“The riverbed looks slippery,” Sinhera said, trying to hide a grin.

“Slippery?” Mary asked.

“Yes, I’m afraid that you could get seriously hurt if Fizz were to stumble,” Sinhera nodded.

“Yes, that could be an issue,” Jontak agreed.

Mary looked at her friends like they had gone mad.

“Don’t worry, Lomi and I will help you across, my lady,” the rider at the back said.

“I’m perfectly capable of managing to cross on my own,” Mary said.

“Now, Mary, you should let them help you,” Jontak told her.

“Watch how you address sir Teeran’s daughter,” Lomi told Jontak. That did it for Mary.

“It’s okay. I have asked him to call me by my first name. But I think you are right, I could need some help to get across. Fizz can be a little fussy,” Mary said.

The two riders dismounted and walked up to Mary. She smiled at them. After all, they thought they were helping her. She was grateful for that, at least.

“I’ll lead the horse and Hermen will stay by your side. If you get unsteady, he will help,” Lomi told her.

“Fizz,” Mary said.

“Pardon?”

“The horse’s name is Fizz,” Mary smiled.

“Of course,” Lomi nodded.

Mary could swear she heard a giggle and when she looked over to the waggon, Procecsa had her hand over her mouth. Mary shrugged at her and let Lomi take a hold of Fizz’s bridle and they started walking forward.

Even though the river was shallow, the water still reached halfway up to the riders’ knees as they walked in. Mary saw Lomi stumble on a rock and she could feel through the rains that he pulled on Fizz’s bridle to keep his balance. Fizz lowered his head in response to the added pressure and shook it a little.

That was enough to make Lomi lose the last little balance he had, and he tumbled down on his butt. He didn’t release the grip he had on Fizz as he went down. That caused Fizz to lower his head further down and move his front towards Lomi.

That meant that his hind quarters moved towards Hermen, giving the rider a nudge and sending him into the water as well. It all happened so fast that Mary didn’t have time to react. Before she knew it, she was sitting on Fizz with the two riders sitting in the river.

“Oh my, are you two alright? Do you need help?” she asked, genuinely worried.

“No need, my lady,” Lomi said.

“Please, just be careful,” Hermen agreed.

“Oh, okay. If you two are fine, I’ll try to get the rest of the way on my own,” Mary nodded and let Fizz walked the rest of the way without it being an issue. She turned Fizz around as she got to the other side and looked back.

Lomi and Hermen were getting back on their feet and on the other shore, Procecsa had buried her face in her hands and her shoulders were furiously shaking. Mary guessed she was trying to hide her laughter. Sinhera and Jontak had the biggest smirks on their faces.

Lomi and Hermen looked a little lost. They seemed to hesitate whether to join Mary or go back towards the other shore.

“Go get the wagon and your horse and I’ll wait for you,” Mary said.

“But you will be unprotected,” Lomi said. Sinhera had already started crossing the river and as her horse walked past them, it splashed them with water.

“Don’t worry, I’ll monitor Mary,” Sinhera told them.

As Mary and Sinhera watched them get to the other side and start preparing to cross. Mary turned to Sinhera.

“You couldn’t have planned for that to happen?” she asked.

“No,” Sinhera admitted. “At most, I thought they would get their pants wet from walking you across and maybe a bit annoyed at the unnecessary work. But this, this was priceless,” she beamed at Mary.

Mary couldn’t help but to laugh. This was going to be an interesting trip, she thought as the others joined her and Sinhera.