Larana and Baxley were gone, and Nicco told me they’d gone to look around. We were to meet them on the outskirts.
Baxley appeared from the direction of a small village, leading two horses and looking pleased with himself. Larana was behind him with a third horse and an expression that suggested the town had not been her favorite place she'd ever visited.
“The locals were friendly?” I asked, by way of observation.
“Small places,” Larana said flatly. “Suspicious of strangers.”
“Think that’s just Crystallese,” I told her.
She looked at me sideways. “You're all like this?”
“Maybe? We're all alive,” I said as I thought about it. “There's a connection maybe?”
Something moved in her expression that might have been the beginning of a smile if she'd decided to let it go that far.
She didn't. Larana sure knew how to hold a grudge.
I was glad they hadn’t got me a horse. I didn’t know how to ride one, and now I didn’t need to tell them that.
“They only had three to spare,” Baxley told me. “Didn’t think I’d get the third one, but Rana used her charm.”
I was sure he was joking, but when she glared at me, I realized he hadn’t been. I barely bit back my laugh. Another strike to my tally.
“I’m good with my boots,” I told Baxley.
“You ride with me.”
I turned to look at Nicco. “What?”
He looked at me briefly as he passed to check his horse over, and then at the trail south.
“You ride with me. You may be good at walking, but horses move faster. You’re with us for now, so you ride with me.”
“Can I go with Baxley?”
Brown eyes settled on me. “No.”
That was it — conversation over. Baxley was already mounted, and Larana was putting her pack on her horse.
“Trailfinder. Up.”
I hesitated. He saw it. I looked away.
I heard his sigh. “Do you know how to ride?”
I refused to look at him. “No.”
There was a collective silence. No one seemed to have considered the fact that I wouldn’t know how to ride.
“Do you know how to mount?” Baxley asked me gently.
“No.” I glanced his way and saw his sympathetic smile. Nicco got on his horse as Baxley dismounted. “What’s happening?” I asked as Baxley approached me.
“Pack,” Nicco said from behind.
I half turned. “What?”
He looked exasperated. “Give me your staff and your pack, bunny. I don’t want it digging into me.”
