The town of Oakhill loomed ahead. It took its name from the large hill it was built upon and the unusually large oak trees that grew on it with the largest of them at the center of the hill. It was a modest town of perhaps two dozen tall buildings and a ring of small homes.

The largest building in the town was the Silver Acorn, an inn that was built into the base of the giant center oak. The three-story building climbed up the trunk and was famous for its bread made from the acorns of the tree above which gave it a smooth nutty flavor.

Tavis and Ayawa approached cautiously their eyes ever watching for danger.

“If a message had been sent they will most certainly be waiting for us here,” Tavis said as they approached the town.

“We have no choice. Johns and Meril are here. They will be working in the smithy on the edge of town if I know them.”

“They were always good with a hammer, and Meril can sharpen a blade like no other,” Tavis said.

“There is a temple to Ulustrah here as well. We may be able to find a place to rest inside if we explain who we are to them.”

“If they know who we are, they would be smarter to turn us away,” Tavis replied.

Ayawa nodded as they reached the outer ring of small homes made up mostly of stone houses with thatch roofs. As they made their way up the slope of the hill, the buildings got taller, and the materials they were made with began to vary.

There were many people about, and the further they went, the more normal it all seemed.

The streets were bare dirt, but some of the buildings had wooden or stone walks built in front of them. They carefully picked their way down the streets, keeping a wary eye on the people around them. Few of them even looked up from their chores, and none of them seemed to pay them a moment of attention.

“You know we may be putting them in danger just by contacting them,” Tavis said in a whisper as he rode beside Ayawa.

“We have no choice. We don’t have time to watch the town for a day to make sure it’s safe to approach them,” she whispered back.

The two main streets in the town ran in a circle around the giant oak tree at the center. Nearly all of the buildings were built along these two roads or the ones that connected them. They worked their way around the outer most ring until they saw the building they were looking for. It was the only building that was made of stone on the whole street. It was set back from the road with a stone wall concealing a yard behind it. A chimney belching smoke rose up behind the wall. The ring of a hammer could be heard even as they approached.

They tied the horses off outside and walked to the building. The main room in front was just a shop with a long counter inside with some stout, simple tables. On these were various tools and implements of metal, and a few simple weapons. Nobody was in the showroom, so they went back outside. To the side of the building was a stone wall nearly eight feet high. A single arched opening led to the yard out back. As they walked through they could hear more hammer blows.

Once they rounded the corner of the building, they could see the yard. The entire space was paved in flagstone. A large stone hearth burned with an orange glow. Beside it, a leather bellows sat idle. Before it was a broad flat metal table bolted to a massive stone beneath it. On this was laid an orange piece of metal about an arm's length.

A man who rippled with muscles leaned over it. He had on a heavy linen shirt and over this was a thick leather apron. His arms were wrapped in leather from his elbows down, and his hands were covered in thick gloves. His face was firm, scarred, and clean shaven. His eyebrows were black and bushy except in the one spot over his left eye where he had burned himself years ago, and it never grew back. He had black hair, but he kept it short and wrapped in a cloth to keep the embers out. He stood a good hand taller than even Gersius. As they watched, he brought a heavy hammer down on the glowing metal beating it to flatten it out.

They let him work a moment, and when the metal cooled, he placed it back into the fire to heat it again.

“Johns,” Ayawa called out, causing the man to look up. He wiped his sweat-streaked face with a wide arm and stared at her.

“Well if it isn’t doom and gloom come to my very forge,” he said with a dry voice that sounded like rocks rolling down a hill.

“It is good to see you as well,” Tavis said with a smile.

The man folded his arms over his chest and glared at them both looking like a mountain of muscle.

“We are here because Gersius has sent us,” Ayawa began.

“Gersius? He is still alive?” Johns asked.

“He was last time we saw him,” Tavis said.

“We never got word. We snuck away as he told us, but that was weeks ago now,” the giant man said.

“Gersius is alive and well and still on his mission,” Ayawa insisted.

“The one about the dragon? He still wants to unite those fool kingdoms?”

“He does. And he has sent us to gather his friends to help him do it,” Ayawa said.

Johns looked at her with eyebrows dipped low. “He needs more help than I can offer him; he needs a blooming dragon.”

Ayawa smiled a thin smile; her lips curling up just slightly. “That is a problem he no longer has.”

Johns deep dark eyes studied her under furrowed brows. “So the rumors are true? He found a dragon? Did he attack Whiteford with it then?”

Ayawa scowled at the man, and Tavis put a hand to her arm.

“You know Gersius better than that! He was ordered to Whiteford by the Father Abbot. They set a trap and tried to kill him, but he managed to escape,” she snapped.

“The word is his dragon cut a swath through the city and killed quite a few people.”

Ayawa nodded. “Yes, the dragon did. It was trying to escape while carrying Gersius to safety. The Father Abbot had him beaten and tortured and was about to execute him. The dragon was trying to save him.”

“It was trying to save him?” Johns said his scarred brow going up. “What are you not telling me?”

Ayawa looked at Tavis and sighed. “You enjoy telling people, you explain it.”

Tavis tipped his hat up, eager to be the one to share the news.

“Gersius has found a lady dragon, and he has managed to gain her trust and her affection. She would die for him I suspect, she will certainly kill for him,” Tavis said.

“He's found a female dragon, and she cares for him?” Johns said incredulously.

Tavis wanted to spill all the shocking news, but he thought better of it. If assassins were hunting them, the less everybody knew about the dragon, the better.

“He has her undying trust. They are inseparable, and she is committed to going with him to Calathen to help him become the dragon knight,” Tavis said.

“But the Father Abbot sent him to Whiteford and tried to kill him instead,” Johns repeated and spat into his fire producing a brief sizzle. “That old tyrant was always bad for the order. I never understood how he got elected to lead.”

“Neither did I, nor how he managed to stay in power, the council of bishops seems powerless to stop him,” Ayawa said.

“So he needs me to help him get to Calathen does he?” Johns said his arms still folded over his chest.

“He does, you and all the others,” Ayawa replied. “The Father Abbot has turned the order against him and barred the way. He won't reach the city without cutting a swath through them.”

“Where and when?” Johns asked.

“We are sending people to the old fort in the hills north of Windcrest,” she answered him.

“And we do what when we get there?” he asked.

“Gams is there. The old man is putting the army together,” Tavis said.

“And where is Gersius then?” Jonhs asked.

Ayawa took a deep breath. “We would rather not tell you. There are assassins looking for him and us. The fewer people who know where Gersius is, the better, but suffice to say he will come to the fort when he is ready.”

Johns nodded his head. “There were three men in town not five days ago asking questions about Gersius and any strangers. They asked about a red skinned woman and a man in a brimmed hat as well. I know it was you two.”

“Bounty hunters probably,” Tavis said.

Johns nodded. “They spent a night at the inn and moved on. The roads are not safe for you.”

“They won't be safe for you either, you have abandoned your post,” Tavis said.

“They don’t seem to be interested in us yet. Besides, Meril and I can take care of ourselves,” The scarred man replied.

Tavis looked around, “Where is Meril?”

Johns smiled. “It's past noon; the man is down at the inn to quench his thirst.”

“Will he come too?” Tavis asked.

“Meril would go even if I didn’t. You can bet we will be heading out soon,” Johns replied with a nod of his head.

“Good, we are going to head on and rally the others. Just be careful of whose on the road,” Ayawa said.

“Good luck to you then, and if you see Gersius before I do tell him I owe him a drink.”

“You do?” Tavis asked.

Johns smiled. “I bet that stubborn fool he would never find a dragon.”

Tavis nodded, and they waved as they left by the gate in the wall.

“That was awfully reserved of you. You didn’t tell him Gersius was married to the dragon?” Ayawa asked.

“I thought better of it. If we are being hunted, then so might the others. If one of them is caught then anything we tell them may be passed on. I even worry about telling them where to meet Gersius,” Tavis said.

“That can’t be helped, we have to send them someplace,” she said as they made their way to the horses.

Tavis nodded. He understood the need, but it didn't make it sit any better in his stomach. They were taking a significant risk on this mission. There were going to be over twenty men traveling north all with knowledge of where Gersius was going to be. If anyone of them was caught and interrogated Gersius could be walking into an ambush.

They returned to the horses and made their way around the outer road looking for the temple of Ulustrah. They found it nestled in a bed of flowers on the edge of the hill. It was a small stone building about at big as Thayle's tiny temple, and they doubted it had any more rooms than she had. It was buried in earth on every side, but the front and the whole thing was overgrown with flowers and greenery. They tied off the horses outside and approached the door.

There was some kind of letter nailed to the door, and Tavis leaned down to read.

This temple is hereby closed by order of the Priests of Astikar, for crimes against the good people of the commonlands and for supporting the murderous traitor Gersius the bloody-handed.

All people are hereby advised to turn in the location of any member or follower of Ulustrah to the nearest legal official.

Tavis lost his smile, and he glanced over to Ayawa, who flexed her hands into fists.

“This is going too far! The Father Abbot is insane!” she said.

“I cannot believe they have done such a thing,” Tavis groaned in shock. He looked around behind them and saw a man across the street, arranging apples in a basket in front of his store. He tipped his hat down, and briskly walked over.

“You there,” he called to the short man. “When did that notice go up?” Tavis asked him when the man looked up at him.

“I begin your pardon sir, what notice?” the man said in a mumbly weak voice.

Tavis crossed to within five feet of him. He pointed straight at the temple door. “That notice right there! When did that go up?”

The man looked over as if he didn’t even notice there was a building there before.

“I don’t want no trouble,” The man began to plead.

“If you don’t answer my question I am going to smother you in your own apples! When did that notice go up!”

The man backed away a step his eyes going wide. “It went up this morning when them Astikar priests came, they put the notice up and took the priestess away in chains.”

“They took a priestess away in chains?” Tavis said, shocked again.

The man nodded fumbling with his fingers in front of his chest.

“Yes sir, well not chains rightly, but they had her hands bound with rope, and they were dragging her along. She looked mighty unhappy about it, trying to kick them, priests, as they pulled her along. They took her and left down the road to Yellowglen.”

“How many were there?”

“Just the one priestess,” The man mumbled, but Tavis lifted his head back so the man could see his brows furrowed over his eyes.

“Not her! How many priests of Astikar!” he yelled.

“Three, sir! There were three priests.”

Tavis nodded and stalked away from the man.

“What did he say?” Ayawa asked.

“He said three priests of Astikar arrived this morning and arrested the priestess on duty here and took her away with her hands bound. They left on the road to Yellowglen.”

Ayawa scowled at the news. “We go after them then,” she said in a simple tone.

“I knew you were going to say that,” Tavis said with a smirk coming to his face.

“It's just past noon now. If they are on foot walking a prisoner, they can't be traveling fast. We can catch them by nightfall,” Ayawa said.

“Just one minute,” Tavis said, going to the door of the temple and ripping the notice down. He walked into the building and was gone for a long moment. He returned with a large sack and a short staff with metal ends. He walked over to his horse to tie it all to the side.

“Did you just rob a temple?” Ayawa asked with a sideways glance.

“No, I gathered the priestess's gear. Her bowl, a small glass pitcher, a knife, her weapon, her armor, and shield. Oh and a green robe and a hairbrush.”

“A hairbrush?” Ayawa asked.

“If she is anything like Thayle, she will want a hairbrush,” Tavis said, noting how often he had seen the woman brushing her hair.

They set off across town heading down the road to Yellowglen. It was when the sun was low in the sky; they spotted the men on the road. One priest walked with a spear in one hand as he led a train of two horses with the other. The horses looked to be more pack animals than riding animals. Directly in front of him were two more priests both in full plate with swords and shields. They marched to either side of a woman with long brownish golden hair tied into a tail behind her head. She had her hands at her waist in front of her, and she walked with her head down.

“We wait until they make camp, and we hit them at night,” Ayawa said.

“Then let’s stay back and vanish. We can hide the horses and follow on foot,” he suggested.

Ayawa agreed. The priests of Astikar were traveling by foot and would soon stop to make a camp for the night. She could track them easily once they had a trail.

They hid the horses well off the road and after a quick spell to make them lighter, they moved back to find and follow the trail. The light steps meant they hardly left any tracks, and they could pass over leaves and sticks with little sound. The found the priests an hour later just a few miles up the road. They had pulled off the road and made a small camp in a clump of trees. They waited for the men to settle in and drop their guard.

When the moon was high in the sky, they drew lots and one man was set to stand guard while the other two slept. The priestess was leashed to a tree with a long rope, her hands bound, and the rope tied around her neck. She had tears on her cheeks, and she sat against her tree and sobbed quietly.

Over the next hour, they crept around the camp and came up behind the tree to which she was tied. The priests had three small tents set up and the pack animals tied to another tree across from the captive. The man on guard duty was alert and paced slowly across the edge of the tree line facing the road.

“Let's try not to kill any of them,” Tavis said. “These men are probably only following orders. They are being lied to by the Father Abbot.”

“I agree, but if we raise the alarm, we will need to strike them hard. We are no match for three priests at the ready,” Ayawa stated.

Tavis understood the stakes. If this went badly, they might have to kill the two men sleeping in the tents before they could get their armor on and be ready to fight. Ayawa would probably shoot them with her bow that even now she held at the ready.

She sat back in the shadows as he slowly crept up to the tree. The priestess sat at the base of it her knees pulled up and her head down. Carefully he reached around and put his hand over her mouth with a quick snap.

“Shhhhh! We are here to rescue you. Do not make a sound,” he whispered in her ear, keeping a wary eye on the man who paced not twenty feet away.

The priestess looked over her shoulder with wide eyes and just nodded her head.

Tavis slunk back into the shadow behind the tree and took the rope a foot behind the noose at her head. He gently cut through it with his knife. He gently let it drop so as not to make a thump. He wished he could make her light so her movements would be silent, but he didn't dare risk the noise it would take to weave the spell.

“Stand up slowly and try to be quiet,” he whispered.

Carefully she got on her feet. Her hands trembled, and she watched the man on guard with frightened eyes as she stood up slowly.

“Step as softly as you can and move behind the tree,” he whispered quietly.

She took a slow, careful step and then another as she slid around the tree. She smiled a little when she finally saw his face in the shadows.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Don't thank me yet. We need to get you away from here. Quietly now, let's get out of the light of the fire.”

Slowly they crept away, but their luck ran out when the priestess stepped on a branch with a loud snap.

The man on duty turned around and immediately called out. “She’s cut her rope!”

“Run fools!” Ayawa barked from the darkness and Tavis grabbed her bound hands and practically dragged her through the trees heading for the open fields beyond.

Shouts came out of the camp, and men came out of the tents.

“There in the trees! I can hear her running off!” one of them called.

A soft thwiip was heard, and a man called out in pain as Ayawa shot one of the men coming from a tent.

“Arrows!” A voice called out. “She’s got help!” another said.

There was another thwiip, and another yell of pain as Tavis dragged the poor woman on. A light flashed then a loud crack was heard as a hammer of Astikar shattered a tree trunk behind them.

A light went up illuminating the landscape around the trees as a hammer was thrown skyward its brilliance temporarily giving a bright light to the dark countryside.

“Over there!” a deep voice called out.

“Keep running! We will circle around for the horses latter!” Ayawa yelled as she ran up behind them.

“I thought we agreed not to kill any of them!” Tavis yelled as they ran.

“I didn’t kill any of them! I wounded them so they would have to stop to heal,” Ayawa barked back.

“You should have killed them all!” the priestess they were dragging along barked.

Tavis looked at Ayawa with surprise in his eyes.

“There is much you need to know priestess, but we do not have time to explain it now,” Ayawa replied. “They have recovered much more quickly than I imagined, and they are already pursuing.”

Ayawa turned and let loose another arrow. It was caught in a glowing shield of orange and answered by an orange light that raced up from behind. They heard the roar of the hammer coming causing them all to duck into the tall weeds or be pummeled.

“Cut my hands free!” the woman cried.

“We need to get to safety first,” Tavis said.

“We are never going to reach safety, cut my hands free now!”

Tavis fumbled with a knife as they ran cutting at the ropes as carefully as he could. When her binds started to come free, she took the knife from him and did the rest herself.

Ayawa rolled out of the way of another hammer. The priests were a good hundred paces behind them, and the two priests hadn't put their armor on so they made easy targets. She kept trying to wound them to slow them down, but the priests of Astikar were good healers, and they recovered in seconds and returned to pursuing them.

The one in full armor, however, was coming on strong racing through the waist-high weeds with little fear of her. She cursed her luck and took aim for the visor slot of his helmet when the man suddenly called out an alarm as the plants around him suddenly came to life.

All around him, the weeds twisted and turned to twine around his legs and arms, pulling him first to a stop and then down as they doubled and then tripled in size.

One of the other two priests yelled. “Shes channeling! Put her down!”

Two orange hammers formed, and two lights streaked across the field. Tavis Tackled the priestess to the ground as the hammers tore through the sky.

Ayawa took a deep breath and nocked an arrow. “Forgive me,” she whispered and let fire.

One of the priests came to a dead halt and sputtered as the arrow took him right through the throat. He fell to his knees and grabbed at the shaft as his eyes glazed over. The man with him fell back to help him, and Ayawa slipped away into the darkness of the night following Tavis and the priestess who were now running again at a wild pace.

“What did you do?” Tavis asked.

“I seriously hurt one of them. It will take more time to heal it, assuming he survived,” Ayawa said. She turned to look at the priestess who ran with a sprint. “That was an interesting way to use a growth spell.”

“That is a blessing known as twining brambles. We use it to snare people or animals.”

“Whatever it was, it was effective,” Tavis said as they ran on.

When they were sure, the priests were not pursuing they stopped to let the priestess catch her breath, and Tavis put a proper weave on her to make her light.

“Those vile men!” The woman fumed as she got her strength back. “They arrested me for worshiping Ulustrah! Who do they think they are?”

“They are men who have been lied to and deceived by their own Father Abbot,” Tavis said.

She turned to look at them both and studied them clearly for the first time.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I am Ayawa of the Su Niem tribe,” she said, putting a hand to her collar with a nod of her head.

“You're a warrior maiden then?” The woman asked.

“I am,” Ayawa answered.

“And who are you?” she asked, turning to Tavis.

Tavis tipped his hat up and smiled. “I am Tavis Ji’Duren, from the kingdom of Eldonis.”

She looked at him with dubious eyes. “You're a weaver then. You have the Ji' title from the house Alloric.”

“You are very well versed in Cellic lore,” Tavis said.

“Are you a fire weaver or a water weaver?” The woman asked, ignoring his comment.

Tavis shook at the question. A haunting image of his past came to him, and he heard screams he thought long buried. His faced scowled, and he turned away.

“He is neither,” Ayawa answered for him.

“Nearly all of house Alloric are fire shapers,” the priestess pressed.

“I told you he is neither,” Ayawa repeated.

The woman looked at Ayawa with intense eyes and a stern face. “He should have burned them all in the trees!”

Ayawa took a deep breath to steady herself. She glanced at Tavis and saw the haunted look in his eyes.

“Who are you?” Ayawa said, trying to distract the angry woman.

“I am Gedris, priestess of Ulustrah, and I will not be told I cannot love my Goddess!” she said defiantly.

Ayawa shook her head. “We don’t care who you want to worship. We rescued you because you needed help. We are not your enemies, but there is much about the priests of Astikar you don’t understand. You need to hold the that sharp tongue until you do.”

Gedris looked at her with a frown but nodded her agreement.

“Good, we need to circle around and get to our horses and then get as far from here as possible,” Ayawa said.

“I need to go back to Oakhill and my temple,” Gedris said.

“That is where they are going to go looking for you,” Ayawa said.

“I can’t just run from my duty. I serve the town and keep the oaks healthy.”

“What duty will you perform if they arrest you and drag you off again?” Ayawa asked.

Gedris paused to think about it a moment. “Then what am I supposed to do?”

Ayawa locked the woman's eyes. “You come with us, and you help us fight back.”

Gedris looked at her with a frown. “Fight back how? You won’t even kill them.”

Ayawa shook her head at the angry woman. “We are gathering support to overthrow the Father Abbot of the order of Astikar and replace him with a man who will undo the harm he is causing.”

The angry priestess looked around as she considered the thought. “Are there many more people supporting you?” she asked.

Tavis returned to the conversation his moment of darkness passed. “We are building an army to support Gersius, the man who will become the dragon knight. He will overturn the order of Astikar and restore the peace between you two.”

The woman staggered back, and her eyes went wide as her lower lip worked silently for a second. “Gersius!” she whispered as if saying the name would bring doom on her. “You support him?”

“Yes, and so do you! Why do you think the priests of Astikar arrested you? Your Prim Arlin has thrown the full support of your order behind Gersius,” Ayawa said.

Gedris looked at them with wide eyes and shook her head. “I am a little temple in a small town; I have not received any notice or letter. I didn't know.”

“Come with us, priestess. You can help us rally more of your order to help as we gather our friends and send them to fight back,” Tavis said.

“I have no armor or weapon. I have nothing to work with,” The priestess said.

Tavis smiled. “We visited your temple before we came after you. I took the liberty of borrowing a few items you might need. They are back with our horses.”

She smiled a little and nodded.

“Good, we need to move. They will be searching for us we can’t linger here any longer,” Ayawa said.

With that, they slipped into the night and made their way silently back to the horses where Gedris delighted to find her weapon and armor. After a quick change, they headed off with Ayawa running on foot leading the way across country avoiding the roads as they went. Gedris rode on Ayawa's horse beside Tavis as they picked their way across the landscape.

When they were a good hour away from the road, and hopefully the priests of Astikar, Ayawa called a halt in a dense cluster of brush and trees.

“We can camp here tonight. We need to get some sleep,” she said to Tavis and Gedris.

Tavis nodded and dismounted while Gedris looked around frowning.

“This is not appropriate, I am a priestess, not an outlaw,” she said in a huff.

“You are both,” Tavis said, “You are a priestess of Ulustrah an outlaw religion.”

The woman huffed again and got down from the horse. “At the very least, it can be a pleasing place to hide.”

With a sudden gesture, she began to sing a musical chant and swept her hands upward. The ground under their feet suddenly moved blanketing the ground with lush green growth instead of the dead brown leaves. Flowers suddenly bloomed all around them and in moments they stood in a green glen surrounded by flowers.

“Why didn’t Thayle ever do that?” Tavis whispered to Ayawa.

Ayawa scowled at the woman who still didn't look happy. “Thayle has more respect for her power. She felt no need to waste it because she was angry.”

Tavis shrugged and pulled his pack down from the saddle on his horse.

Gedris went to start a fire, but Ayawa stopped her saying the light would be too easily seen, pointing out that was how they found the camp she was captive in.

Gedris settled for a tree to lean against her arms folded over her chest. She sat there in her armor as Ayawa settled into a bedroll.

“Are you not going to sleep?” Gedris asked Tavis.

“I am going to meditate and cast my sight to watch over us,” he said.

“I could just set a ward,” The woman protested.

“A ward would alert us seconds before they were on us. I would rather see them coming long before that,” he said.

She frowned and ignored him as he sat down.

He began to make a low tone and focus his mind as his hands weaved the dance. When he closed his eyes, the sight of the weave opened up, and he quickly went up circling around them and searching for any threat to them.

The night passed quietly, and Tavis was grateful when Ayawa finally put a hand to his shoulder to let him know he could stop.

“Did you recover any strength?” she asked him concern in her voice.

“Some, I managed to slip into a good long stretch of meditation,” he replied.

“You look fatigued. We will try to find an Inn to spend the next night in,” she said.

Tavis shook his head. “To risk staying in a town is foolish.”

He glanced over at the priestess sleeping against the tree. In the light, he could see how young she was. Her hair was a golden brown, and she wore it tightly pulled back and tied so that it made a sort of tail in the back of her head. He couldn't see her eyes, but she had round cheeks and a gentle nose. If it wasn't for the frown she wore even in sleep; she would be attractive. She had a thin frame far more suited to robes than armor and stood maybe five foot six at the tallest. He noted her hands looked soft and delicate as if she was more accustomed to gentler tasks. Her attitude, however, was sharp as a sword. He recalled her suggesting they kill the priests of Astikar several times during the night.

He was tying his and Ayawa’s packs back to his horse when she finally moved stretching with a scowl on her face.

“Do you not eat breakfast?” she said, noting they were preparing to leave.

“We don’t want to risk a fire,” Tavis said as he finished tying off the pack.

Gedris frowned and turned to look around the trees. She walked through her flowers and approached a gnarled old tree that barely clung to life with a large open area of decay on its trunk.

“Do you plan to finish eating what the bugs have not?” Ayawa asked.

Gedris looked over her shoulder a moment to give her a look of disapproval and then began to sing again. A soft musical chant with long haunting tones. Her hands glowed green, and she put them to the trunk of the tree and channeled into it. The branches above began to bud, and pale, sickly leaves suddenly became vibrant green. New branches started to grow with a strange sound like a twisting rope. She kept the tone up until the buds turned into the flowers, and the flowers became small dark fruits growing with astounding speed. When the branches above were so heavily laden with fruit they dipped down low she stopped and casually plucked a handful of the small fruits known as Sweet plums and walked back them snacking on the perfectly ripe fruit.

“I don’t need a campfire,” she said in a flat tone.

Tavis looked at Ayawa, who shook her head and walked over to them both.

“We will go west, the land there will be mostly flat with a few hills. We can pick up the road that traces the river and get to Mudwater not too long afternoon.

Gedris looked up at the sky. “The dawn was hours ago. You plan to move at great speed if you want to reach Mudwater around noon.”

“We do plan to move at speed,” Ayawa stated.

“Across country? You will be twisting and turning around hedges and gullies the whole way.” Gedris replied.

“You seem to be very talented at growing flowers and fruits priestess, but I can navigate in the wild, Some barriers can't be helped, but I can find a path where we need one,” Ayawa replied.

“She really is very good at this,” Tavis added.

Gedris looked as if she wanted to argue but just turned and walked to the horse and climbed back up.

Tavis smiled to Ayawa and climbed on to the back of his grey mare.

Ayawa straightened her light leathers and took off at a brisk pace racing out of the trees and into the meadow of tall weeds beyond. Tavis and Gedris followed in her wake and hoped the road ahead was not as dangerous as the one behind them.