In This Life And The Next

“Let’s get him on the horse.” The person said and threw their hood off. Her hair was black as midnight and her face was pale and drawn. Aurora helped her put Ben over the saddle and she swung up on it. Aurora put Claire on the saddle first and then settled into it.

“What do you call yourself?” She asked.

“Aurora. This is Claire. Your companion is Ben.”

She gave Aurora a brilliant smile. “Faye.” She gestured. “Shall we?”

They rode hard, tried to catch up to the rest of their group. Time and again, they would be cut off by other riders and it was only because of Faye’s knowledge of the land and Aurora’s forethought that they avoided most of the groups.

After the fourth group, Faye pulled her horse to a stop. “We need to take the mountain trail.” She huffed.

“It will add a day to our ride.” Aurora replied.

“I’m sure the king would rather you delayed and not dead.” Faye resorted.

“How did you-”

“Your tunic. The cape. You are not well suited to subterfuge.” She pointed her horse to the mountains. “Your Majesty?” She prodded.

Aurora sighed and nodded.

They rode through the night, though at a slower pace. Claire dozed against her chest. Ben had finally woken and was all but laid over Faye’s shoulder. She didn’t seem to mind. The rode for hours through the night, barely speaking above whispers until they had to come to a stop.

They saw the fire first. The voices came later. There was a woman, angry and snarling and another voice, pleading. A voice answered and laughed and it echoed.

“Yours?” Faye asked.

“Possible.” Aurora murmured. “We were scattered, as you saw.”

Faye nodded. She shrugged Ben off her shoulder and swung off the saddle. Aurora handed Claire the reins to Faye’s horse and nodded at her. She nodded back.

Faye had the crossbow up as they got close to the fire.

Two men stood in front of Lisa and Hannah who were pressed against an a tree. Faye looked to Aurora and pointed to the left with her crossbow. Aurora nodded and went left.

One man darted in, the one on Aurora’s side and grabbed the back of Lisa’s head and pulled her in for what would undoubtedly be a horrible kiss. Aurora jerked Lisa back by her shoulder and used the man’s confusion to slice through his leathers and into his ribcage.

The other man was already on the ground and Faye was jerking her bolt out of his stomach.

“Your horse?” Aurora asked Lisa.

She looked around, tried to get her bearings and then nodded to the right. Hannah approached Lisa and they wrapped their arms around each other.

“Are you injured?” Aurora asked.

“No. You got here before-”

“Good. We must ride.”

Once the sun rose on their third day, they were descending the mountain. Even Faye was swaying in her saddle.

“Is that a village?” Faye asked, peering ahead.

“Yes.” Aurora replied and felt for the bag of coins Alec had given her before he left.

As they drew nearer, a woman stepped out between two small buildings. She kept her eyes forward and a basket of linens on her hip. “Your Majesty. Go to the end of the block. There is a stable there. Hide your horses there. The stable boys will see that they are taken care of.” She said before disappearing.

A young man appeared on Faye’s other side. “Bring your injured to the east side of the village. There is a healer there.” And stepped away into another alley.

“Her Majesty needs to go to the tavern. There we can discuss methods of getting her to her keep.” An old man said from a nearby stump and did not look up.

“How do we know to trust you?” Aurora asked.

“You are out of options.” The old man said. He raised his head and looked up. “The king sends his regards. In this life and the next ,” The old man leveled a look at Aurora, “He sends his regards.”

Aurora led their group to the stables. She paid the owner in coins and two men showed up and took Claire and Ben away. A little girl took Hannah and Lisa away by the hand and the old man from the stump strolled up to the Aurora and Faye and took them to the tavern.

Chloe sat behind the bar.

Aurora wanted to weep in relief.