Miach reminded her of Nicholas.
The realization came to her quite suddenly and with a settling somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. Perhaps she would never see Nicholas again, but perhaps she might find parts of him in the souls around her. That was reason enough to have not unkind feelings toward Adhémar's younger brother.
Miach looked back over his shoulder at her with one eyebrow lifted. She glared at him. He smiled briefly and turned back to listening to his brother complain in a language that Morgan didn't understand but found unsettlingly familiar.
She spared an unkind thought for Nicholas. Her life had been so simple before she'd touched that magical blade that hummed in her pack. Now, look at where she was.
On an endless road where the surrounding countryside never changed and magic hounded her.
She sighed, put her head down, and kept walking.
Two days later, she realized things were not going to improve in the near future. They had left a landscape of rolling hills and beautiful forests and come face-to-face with an endless plain.
Endless.
Her companions were standing in a line next to her, staring out across that flat land with varying degrees of surprise. Well, only she and Fletcher were surprised. The others looked as if they were viewing nothing out of the ordinary. Paien sighed lightly and began to study the sky. The others, save Miach, avoided looking at her. Miach simply stared at her as if he waited for her to come to some sort of conclusion.
She sighed. The conclusion was reached far sooner than she would have liked.
She cleared her throat and went to stand in front of them. This was a decision that had been quite difficult to arrive at, but she could see no other choice. She had looked at a map at the university, but somehow the continent had not seemed so, well, vast. She had little liking for it, but she knew she would have to find some other means to reach Neroche besides her feet. She looked at her comrades.
"This is a great distance to cross on foot," she said finally.
"I told you so," Paien said, looking at her from under bushy eyebrows.
"You did not!"
"You said "north." I asked "on foot?'" he said. "That was an expression of grave doubt and a suggestion that you look for other means of travel. "
She scowled at him.
Adhémar folded his arms over his chest. "You didn't truly think to cross all of Neroche on foot, did you? "
"What makes you think I want to cross it all?" she demanded. "I only said 'north.' "
"Have youeverlooked at a map?" he asked.
"Map reading is not my strong suit," she said unwillingly. She shot Paien a look of disgust. "I shouldn't have assumed someone would help me in that. "
"I didn't dare," Paien said, holding up his hands. "Besides, you didn't say how far north. You could have been going north and a bit east and heading for Angesand. "
"Why would you want to go to Tor Neroche?" Miach asked.
"I never said I did," she said. And she hadn't said as much. Never mind what she'd been thinking.
"You would need a horse, no matter how far north you intended to go," Miach advised. "And someone to call you foolish if you did not obtain one."
She pursed her lips. "Are you that man?"
"I might be. "
Morgan watched out of the corner of her eye as everyone backed away. Even Adhémar deserted his brother without hesitation. Morgan took a step back and drew her sword.
"My honor is at stake."
"And your map-reading skills," Miach said solemnly.
She had the feeling he was laughing at her and that irritated her enough to make her feel justified in having already drawn her blade. It was enough that he had bamboozled her in the inn two days earlier by disappearing from his corner; now he was poking fun at her and enjoying it.
