Taking Flight

Chapter Nine

Irith eyed the structure critically.

“So I never built a cairn before,” Kelder said defensively. “I don’t see you helping much.”

“I never even heard of a cairn before,” Irith said, tossing her hair, “and I think the whole idea is stupid. I wish I still hadn’t heard of one.”

Asha staggered up holding another rock, one she could barely carry. Kelder quickly took it, then looked over the stone oval, trying to decide where to place it.

“Are we just going to leave all Abden’s friends lying here?” Asha asked, as Kelder set the stone in place.

Kelder looked around at the mutilated corpses, wrinkling his nose at the sight and the stink, and then said, “Yes.”

Asha shrugged. “All right,” she said. “I just thought I’d ask.”

“Go find another stone,” Kelder told her.

“This is stupid,” Irith said, sitting down cross-legged on the grass. “And boring, too. How are you going to make it cover him without falling in and squashing him?”

“I thought I could make it arch over,” Kelder said.

Irith grimaced.

Kelder frowned. “I don’t think it’s going to work,” he admitted. He looked around, as if hoping to find inspiration.

All he saw was headless, decaying corpses, and an equal number of dead horses. The horses, at any rate, mostly still had their heads attached.

Irith, too, looked around, wrinkling her nose. “Ick,” she said. “I hate to say it, but what if you used some of the saddles to cover him, and then covered those with rocks? They look stiff enough to work.”

Kelder considered the matter, then nodded.

“That should work,” he said. He headed for the nearest horse. “I’m surprised nobody’s taken the saddles yet.”

Irith shrugged. “Looting corpses isn’t much fun,” she said. “Probably most people who pass this way have better things to do. Besides, they might be worried about getting cursed or something. But even with the smell, and curses or not, I bet you won’t find any purses here any more.”

Kelder looked up from the cinch-strap he was tugging at. “Do you think there might really be any curses here?” he asked.

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “Why would anyone curse us for trying to help a little girl give her brother a proper funeral?”

Kelder had no answer for that; besides, he was discovering that pulling a thick leather strap out from under a dead horse, even a mangled one, takes a great deal of strength. Being a champion of the lost and forlorn wasn’t much fun, so far. It didn’t seem to impress his intended bride, either.

“Um...” he said, as he lost his grip and fell backward, “could you give me a hand here?”

Irith gave a loud sigh, then came to help.

Together, they freed the saddle; Kelder then carried it over and fitted it across his half-built “cairn,” like a barrel-vaulted roof.

It fit just fine, and looked strong enough to serve as a frame for a stone covering. He turned to Irith. “Thank you for the help, and for the suggestion,” he said.

She waved away his gratitude. “I just didn’t want to be stuck here all day while you were finding out how hard it is to build arches,” she said.

Three hours later the job was done; Abden’s headless remains were entombed in leather and stone. It had taken three saddles to cover the cadaver.

“You’re sure it’s the right body?” Kelder asked, looking around at the others, still lying scattered across the grassy verge.

Asha nodded.

“Good,” Kelder said, straightening up and rubbing the back of his waist. His back was stiff and sore. “Then let’s get going.” He looked up at the sun. “I doubt we’ll catch the caravan today, but we can at least get started.”

Irith shook her head. “No, we can’t,” she said.

Kelder glared at her. “Why the hell not?” he demanded.

“Because it’s more than four leagues from Angarossa Castle to the town of Sinodita, and there isn’t a decent inn anywhere in that four leagues,” Irith said. “We’ve taken more than half a day on this stupid job, and I don’t want to be walking around here after dark.”

Kelder looked up at the sun again, then back at Irith. “It’s not much more than an hour past noon,” he said. “How far is it to the Angarossan border?”

Irith thought for a minute. “About two leagues, I guess,” she said.

“Are there bandits all over Sinodita, too?”

“What do you mean?” Irith asked, eying him warily.

“I mean, is the king of Sinodita as crazy as King Caren of Angarossa, and letting bandits run wild there?”

“Queen,” Irith told him. “Sinodita has a queen. And no, she’s perfectly sensible and there aren’t a lot of bandits.”

“Well, we can reach the border well before sunset, and we should be safe enough on the highway in Sinodita; I know it will be dark by the time we reach the town, but the greater moon should be up tonight, I think, and if it’s not we could stop somewhere until the lesser moon rises, or carry torches, or something. We don’t have anything bandits would want, anyway. I say we go on.”

“Maybe you don’t have anything bandits would want, Kelder of Shulara,” Irith said, putting her fists on her hips and glaring at him, “but I don’t care to risk getting raped!”

Kelder glared back, rather wearily. She did have a point, he supposed, and he didn’t want anyone bothering his destined bride — even if she didn’t yet know anything about her destiny. “Then you, Irith the Flyer,” he said, “can fly on ahead and meet us at the gate when we get to Sinodita.”

“There isn’t any gate,” Irith said. “It’s not walled.”

“Fine. Then you pick a place that a couple of fools like us can find, and we’ll meet you there.”

Irith continued glaring, and chewed her lower lip. Then she turned and called to Asha, who was waiting for them several paces up the road to the east, “Do you want to walk another four or five leagues today?”

“No,” Asha called back, “but I will if I have to, to catch the caravan.”

Irith frowned, looked back at Kelder, then threw up her hands in disgust.

“Oh, I give up,” she said. “I just give up. You two are hopeless. I can’t let that little girl walk that far, after she’s spent the whole morning hauling those rocks around! She’s about ready to fall over right now!” She pointed.

Kelder looked, and realized that Irith was right.

He had not considered that, but it was true. Asha was just a child, after all; she was not strong enough, really, for a journey like this. Kelder was about to surrender, to agree to stay another night in Angarossa, when Irith turned into a horse.

Kelder blinked; Asha stared, then grinned, then burst out laughing.

Irith had transformed herself instantaneously into a horse, a fine white mare, and she was just as remarkably beautiful as a horse as she had been in human form. Her mane was long and flowing, her tail came within an inch or two of the ground; she was long-legged and graceful, slim and splendid. Her white tunic had become a saddle blanket, recognizable by its blue and green embroidery; her other garments had vanished.

“I didn’t know you could do that!” Kelder exclaimed. He wondered where the other garments had gone, and whether they would reappeared when she changed back.

The horse snorted, and gave him a withering glare. He had had no idea a horse was capable of such an expression.

“Can you talk?” he inquired.

The horse shook her head.

“This is so Asha can ride?” Kelder asked.

The equine Irith nodded.

“Should we both ride?”

Irith tried to kick him, but he dodged in time. He noticed that her hooves were not shod. That made sense; after all, she went barefoot in human form.

“I guess not, huh?”

She glared at him again.

“Asha,” he called, “come here!”

The girl approached, very hesitantly. Irith lowered her head for the girl to pet, but Asha shied away.

“Come on,” Kelder said. “It’s just Irith.”

“But she’s... is she a horse?” Asha asked, almost whispering.

“She certainly looks like one,” Kelder said.

“I never rode a horse,” Asha said, still standing back. “I’ve never even touched one.”

“Well, this isn’t a real horse,” Kelder said, reassuringly. “It’s just Irith enchanted to look like one.”

That did not seem to reassure Asha very much, but she took another step toward the magical beast.

Kelder picked her up and lifted her carefully onto Irith’s back. “Lift your leg over... higher, don’t kick her... There!”

Asha settled uneasily into place.

“Hold onto her mane,” Kelder advised.

Asha did, but she was still not particularly steady.

“I’m sure Irith will walk slowly at first,” Kelder said, patting Asha’s hand. “And you’ll get used to it. You’ll see.”

Irith took a step; Asha, frightened, grabbed the mane more tightly. Kelder kept a steadying hand on Asha as the threesome started walking.

“Maybe we should get a saddle,” Kelder suggested, seeing how Asha swayed.

Irith turned her head and glared at him.

“No?”

She shook her head no.

“I’m all right, Kelder,” Asha said. “Really!”

“All right,” Kelder said, and walked on. “There’s at least one good thing, Irith,” he said, when they had gone a few steps farther. “At least this way you don’t need to worry about being raped.”

She tried to kick him again, and Kelder had to dodge, then duck quickly back to catch Asha as she lost her balance.