A little history goes a long way, but what Mina learns of Edvard and Yuila only leave her more confused.
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Mina awoke stiff and nauseated the next morning. The latter she blamed on the headache she still harbored. She wandered into the thicker part of the trees to be sick for a moment. Vomiting, even just water, only worsened the pounding in her head. She leaned against a tree for a moment, spitting as the foliage swirled dizzily around her vision.
"All done?"
She moved too quickly for her aching head to see Edvard behind her. "I think so."
He tossed her a cloth and she wiped her mouth. "You may not be a slave, but if you're running away from a husband, I think I should know that."
Mina sighed, still nauseated. "I am not married. I am not a slave."
"Then you're just," he paused, gesturing to the damp ground before her, "with child?"
"Of course not." She took a deep breath. "My head hurts and I got dizzy when I stood up. That's all."
He nodded slowly. "Because if there is a husband, I'd like to know before he shows up and wants to challenge me."
"There is no husband, no baby, and I'm not a slave, Edvard," she said limply. "Want to check my feet? My scalp?"
He shook his head, grinning. "Maybe later. Ready to leave?"
She decided he had a nice grin, but at the moment her head hurt too much to blush at his attention. She smoothed her hair back over her shoulder. "Yes, I'm ready."
It came as a surprise to both Edvard and Yuila that Mina could not ride a horse. Not even a little. Edvard had at first wanted Mina to ride the pinto mare, but she insisted on walking. When he began to say something about being ill, she could see where he was heading. She told him in no uncertain terms, despite Yuila's proximity, that she was not pregnant and that she wanted to walk.
Yuila had stopped listening somewhere along the line. "You're going to have a baby?"
"No!" Mina put a hand to her temple as the pain increased. "I am not going to have a baby. And I cannot ride a horse."
Edvard only nodded. "Then you can ride with me."
Mina had protested for a few moments, but by the time the animals were saddled and laden, she consented. She stood by the bay gelding's side and looked up at his back that was eyelevel to her, and then farther up at Edvard seated in the saddle.
"I've never been on a horse," she confessed meekly, too weary with the headache to argue.
He moved his foot out of the stirrup. "Put your left foot on mine and climb up."
Mina did this, letting him take her hand and pull her up swiftly. The swinging motion only added to her dizziness and it took a moment to adjust to the seating arrangement as the horse sidestepped at the shifting weights.
Edvard felt her fingers dig into his sides at the horse's movements. Her clutch lessened only minutely when the gelding stood still and he heard her sigh in relief. "You really can't ride, can you?"
"No. I was supposed to learn, but, well, I just didn't."
He moved the horse off at a slow walk with Mina in a death grip on his shirt. He would have laughed if her fingernails hadn't been biting into his ribs. Yuila nearly rode into a tree, busy as she was gawking at Mina behind him.
"How do you get anywhere if you can't ride a horse?" the girl asked.
"I walk." Mina looked at the saddle scabbard at the horse's withers. "Why do you have a sword?" She glanced at Yuila. "Is she dangerous?"
"No. But I'm not going to the coast without one." He felt her forehead bob off his shoulder. "Feeling any better?"
"Not really."
For a few long moments they made their way along the worn trail, Yuila humming to herself. She had certainly regained her strength, he thought, glancing at the young Crone. He wasn't sure if a fully charged Crone was better than weak one, but at least he didn't have two fragile companions for the journey. Mina moved behind him, then turned back.
"Are you any good with that?"
"With what?"
"The long bow."
He nodded. "Not as good as Elian, but good enough. Why?"
She sighed, sagging a bit. "I was just wondering."
It wasn't until an hour later that Edvard realized Mina was more than just sagging a bit. Yuila had lowered her humming and a dumbfounded expression had come over her face.
"What is it?" he finally asked the girl.
"She's sleeping."
"Are you sure?" He sighed as Yuila nodded. "Well, let her sleep then." He pulled Mina's despondent arms closer in front of him and held them tighter. "Tell me if it looks like she's going to fall."
Yuila threw a silvery-blonde braid out of her face. "She looks like she's—"
"Never mind, Yuila." He had noticed Mina leaning on him and had assumed she was still dizzy and unwilling to make conversation. He hadn't thought she fainted.
They made good time that afternoon and it wasn't until Yuila's stomach started growling that the girl exchanged her humming for an observation.
"Edvard, there's blood on her mouth."
He pulled the gelding up short in the shelter of some trees off the trail. He patted Mina's hand in front of him. "Mina?"
Yuila watched silently.
"Mina," he said louder, nudging her, able to see only the top of her black hair at his shoulder.
"Sapo," Yuila barked.
Mina raised her head, looking over Edvard's back. "It's Misato, you Crone."
"Good. You're awake," he said. "Hold on."
What she was supposed to hold on to as he dismounted, Mina was unsure. She wiped her mouth, groaning at the dark blood on her sleeve. "I think I need to sit down."
She nearly pitched headlong to the ground, her quick descent broken by Edvard's immediacy. She tried to make her legs work to support her, but they seemed too heavy. She let him push her back, thankful for the sturdy bay horse.
"Easy," Edvard said as she leaned against the gelding, attempting to get her sleeping legs to work. He held her upright as she licked her lips. He fumbled with the canteen, but she pushed it away.
"Mina?" he called as she darted away.
She barely made it to the thicker choice of trees before the blood reached her throat. What is this? she thought as the dark red heaved into the grass. After the worst was over, she wiped her mouth with the cloth Edvard had given her earlier and sat back on her knees. With trembling fingers she pulled out the olive blouse and looked at her abdomen. Sure enough, a large black bruise welled beneath her left ribs. It had hurt before for brief periods of time, but now she was convinced the damage was more intent than merely the discoloration and internal bleeding was more problematic than a mere concussion.
So the truck had hit her. It wasn't just a dream. But where was she now? And how did she get there? And more importantly, how did she get back?
"We'll stay here for the night," Edvard said quietly from behind her.
Mina groaned and took a moment to get to her feet. "I can keep going if I ride with you."
"Mina, what happened to you?'
She kept her back to him as she tucked her blouse into her skirt again. What could she tell him? The truth? What was that? "I don't remember, Edvard. But I do know I'm not a slave, or married, or pregnant."
He nodded as she turned around. "We'll stop in a few hours for the night, if you think you can do it."
"I can."
She actually felt a good deal better after getting the blood out of her stomach. It was not a very comforting thought, however, because she knew whatever had caused the bleeding initially had not been addressed. But at least she had a few hours before her stomach would be full of blood again. Not a very good prospect, she thought wryly.
She tried to sit straighter behind Edvard, glancing at Yuila only briefly as they passed the endless trees on the endless trail to an unknown village. He had spent the first hour explaining Crones in more detail, to which Yuila had added what she deemed pertinent information, but Mina's aching head only allowed her to comprehend small portions.
She did understand that he was returning the girl to her homeland on the coast, and that it was Yuila's own fault she had become lost in the first place. But when the young Crone defended herself as to why she had left Prima Lūce in Tūtu, her story varied. At first it was because they had forgotten to take her with them, and then because she was supposed to go, and then for other, less believable reasons. Eventually Yuila allowed the pinto to drop behind the mule, content to lag behind rather than be the center of conversation.
Mina let herself lean on Edvard, her forehead warm on his back, which, after a while, led to her headache dispelling. She didn't tell him that, though. She could see Yuila trailing behind them. "Tell me about your father, Edvard."
"Well, he's a landowner in Sai Daden," he began, sighing. "He has two wives, and—"
"Two?"
"Yes. Equal."
Mina would have shaken her head, but she didn't want the headache to return.
"I have thirteen brothers, no sisters. Elian is the eldest. Sammis owns about 1500 sheep and as many goats. At last count we had 700 horses and 2500 head of cattle."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. And chickens and geese and ducks, at the summer and winter houses."
"Well, of course," she mumbled. His voice sounded more resonant with her forehead against his back. She sat up and sighed. "And you're the second oldest?"
"Yes."
"Why are you taking Yuila back?"
There was a pause before he answered. "Because she needs to go back. She'll just get lost again. Or get picked up by marketers and sold. Crones bring top prices."
"Why?"
He shook his head. "You really don't know anything about them, do you?"
"Only what you've told me."
He told her a little bit more about Crone's invisibility and mind-reading capabilities, and how some could even change shapes. Mina noticed Yuila didn't add to the conversation this time, and assumed it may bring up more about her story of getting lost that the girl did not want to share.
Mina well understood not wanting to divulge information about herself. She had decided to ask Edvard more about his family when she noticed she had relaxed a little too much and her left hand had slipped to the saddle in front of him and now lay in an embarrassingly close spot. She snapped it up so quickly that the horse flinched. She mumbled an apology and unclenched her other hand from Edvard's shirt. She stretched her cramping fingers, looking at the purple marks her fingernails had left in her palms from her tight clasp.
Edvard stared straight ahead of them, eyes on the trail so steadfastly that she knew he was aware. She was glad he couldn't see the blush that rose over her face. She tentatively took hold of the back of his shirt with one hand.
He shook his head and pried her hand from his back and reattached it to the front of his shirt where the leather ties laced his collar at his chest. "You're in no condition to be taking falls."
PG13, saga; teen, fantasy, non-Sci-Fi world travel, teen romance, clean romance, realm, magical realism, shadow world, school/new school, high school. #ReadFree with free signup. ♫♪
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Thanks to P.G. Waters for the use of her story!