The grass next to the sorrels was tasty too. I had plenty of time to chew while strolling to the next tasty patch. Nothing against the cabbages with carrots as a side which were the bulk of my provisions. But variety was the spice to life.

Before long, I was at the ford where the road from town crossed the river. This was where the party would disembark, the stakers were directing the boats close to this side of the river.

Some of the townspeople were already waiting at the ford. The arrival of a large cat-squirrel-taur naturally attracted their attention. I greeted them politely and told them my name. That alone delayed further interaction. I could hear them whispering 'A countess, but' or 'Is she harmless' and even 'A dragon to help in the war'.

"War is over," I could tell them.

Which silenced them totally. And they shuffled a bit further away.

"Coming, I not biting." And I smiled at them. They hesitated. And where were their children, the easier prey for the Kira piper from Krenburg? But they were workers, they had come for the boats that just arrived and were set aground at the ford next to us.

I think they were expecting traders, not passengers. There was not much help needed, no goods to carry to market and therefore not much money to earn. The only challenge was to persuade the horses to jump into the river. Even though the boats were grounded and did not sway when someone jumped off, most of the horses would not jump into the water. Only Prince John's stallion, obeyed his commands, and after a short hesitation, the guard's warhorse followed. Larina was most helpful in persuading the other three horses to follow her into the shallow river.

I fetched my saddlebag from the boat. Shallow ford or not, the river was up to the middle of my lower body and I had to carry the saddlebags on my head.

* * *

After a short while, everyone had their horses ashore and were tacking them up. Fast from their military training, Prince John and the guard had already finished and were waiting by their horses.

I had to apologise to the prince. So I went up to him and bowed. "Prince John, sorry about the swimming."

"That's all right," the prince sighed, "I think it's very much like I did expect of you, Countess Kiara. No one else would go swimming in the morning. And honestly, you swam very well."

The prince was indeed a true royal, turning his insult into a compliment. "Thank you. I liking swimming."

He smiled at me, but I think it was partly that smile reserved for the imbeciles. Then he turned to our guard, who also wanted to talk to him.

I went to Larina, who was also ready. "Good morning. I didn't know you could swim," she greeted me.

"Good morning. If horses swimming, you swimming too," I pointed out. Actually, with her second lung, Larina should have it easier than the horses. "I can showing arm moving."

She looked at me, then at the river. "I may not be a water person."

Then Prince John waved us to come.

When we were all gathered, he gave an update. "Last night a party of three clerics embarked on a ship for Kwal with no goods but three horses. They should have passed Ratern by now and will probably reach Kwal by tonight."

"They must have ridden very hard to get here in a single day", the guard added. "Yes," said the white cleric next to me, "Usually it is five days to Ratern." Everybody nodded. Apparently, they were going at a blinding speed by contemporary standards.

"Not catching?" I asked, as no one spoke.

"Yes, I am afraid. We cannot fight them in Kwal, and we cannot catch them before then."

"Then let us go to Lomaho," said Brother Rene, "it was Sir Hofengart's suggestion from the start."

"And which way?" asked Brother Tsuwangli. "Through Kwal or around?"

"How much longer it would take to avoid Kwal?"

"It may be even shorter. But the lands will be much less populated. It will be harder to get supplies."

"Have you travelled this route before?"

Brother Tsuwangli nodded.

"Then let's avoid Kwal."

With that, we set off in the same formation as before, the leading guard of honour, the prince and I, the three clerics and Larina as rear guard.

At the town gate, the road changed from sand to cobblestone, an unpleasant aspect of civilisation for me. With this, my concentration was once again fully on the road below my paws, avoiding sharp or uneven stones, or pigs' dropping, or whatever other nice surprises a medieval town road had in store.

The town itself was much smaller than Krenburg. After four crossroads we arrived at the market square and split up into smaller groups. The prince rode in front of me, parting the people as if it were normal to ride through a crowd. With my view now blocked by the big stallion's broad backside, I stepped more than once into something squishy.

The prince was looking for a wine merchant.

When he found one, he looked at the goods and then at me, expectantly. I shook my head. "No taking purse," which was true, I had left my empty purse with Freya.

"Dear countess, then choose one on me."

I hesitated. I had never known much about wines. And I saw just barrels and casks, no labels, nothing. Not that I could read a label anyway. "I not knowing no wine in Kren. But I liking fruit. In a bottle, please."

The prince haggled a little and bought a quarter cask and a bottle, the latter for me.

I thanked him and carefully stored the bottle between my cabbages and carrots. The prince also went to three other stalls and bought some meat pies and a lot of dried salted meat. No, thank you. But I accepted his offer of two more bunches of carrots.

Not much later, we met the other at the end of the market, our saddlebags full to the brim. Another five crossroads later and we were at the southern gate of Trategyrn, following a cobbled road. Soon we came to a junction and I was so happy I almost danced: The road to the south-west was less travelled, which meant no cobbles, just a sandy cart track.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Now that my concentration was no longer tied to the road, I could talk to the prince again. "Prince John, about the race. I sorry for you. You having very fine horse."

He looked at me strangely. "Countess Kiara, you were faster. Why should you be sorry? You did very well. And this is indeed a fine stallion. His name is Thunder." He patted Thunder's neck. "Actually, we are going through disputed territory now. Kwal Kingdom for 50 years. But having lost the war, the neighbouring kingdom of Taturak would like to retake it. And there has been a drought here for some years now, weakening Kwal's hold. That reminds me." He stopped, and with him the whole party came to a halt. The prince dismounted and went to the guard and returned with a long knife, or rather a short sword in a sheath.

He held it up to me expectantly. "Countess Kiara, please accept this humble weapon."

All eyes were on me. I did not want a sword but I could hardly refuse the prince. So I took it. It was about as long as my forearm and lighter than I thought. The scabbard had a faded exterior padding of red and white ribbons held together by blackened brass wires. The top of the hilt, the pommel, had an inlay of four red and white stones and the crossguard had fine metal engravings. All in all, it looked very expensive and would be the centrepiece of any castle's exhibition on Earth. Here, however, it meant business. No rust, it had recently been polished, sharpened and greased. I looked at the prince.

"This was the sword of the late Queen Cratega, my great-great-great-grandmother. The last queen who officially fought for Kren. I was surprised to find her weapons in the armoury."

I only understood half of what he was saying, but it was already too much. Not only was it an expensive sword, it was even a royal item. No way! I gave it back, "No taking, this is queen's sword. Not countess sword."

"Please, countess. She would be proud to see it in your hands. A weapon worthy of the Countess of Litra who will fight for Kren. No better weapon for you. And made in Kren, the kingdom once founded by a queen!"

For a few moments, I wondered what would have happened if I had not been bestowed my title so quickly. There would have been a race, but maybe not against the prince. Just the beast woman against some random soldier on a horse. I doubt Count Laral would have considered me his heir then. And thus, Sir Hofengart ...

"Countess?"

"Sorry, Prince John. The sword is very, very, er, good. I not good, I no fighting good."

Of course, my excuse was too lame. "Dear Countess, you are the only countess in Kren who would fight with a sword at all."

That got me. Yes, I would fight if necessary. Even with a sword and regardless of what I had promised Freya. As any normal woman should do, countess or not. I am quite sure that a maid would use a knife to defend herself. Did the nobility really care so much about their appearance that they never touched a weapon? "But they fighting when needing?"

Prince John smiled. "Yes, last woman standing, famous saying in Kren. But no longer openly. You volunteered, Countess. That is different. And you even promised to train with the centaur."

Promised was an overstatement, I had said that I had sparred with Larina. "But," I started and then stopped, lost for words.

"You need a weapon. Do you have one?"

I returned the sword to the prince and took out the knife from my bag, knowing even before I showed it that it would not do.

He handed the sword back to me. "This is one of her 12 swords. The smallest and mostly used for ceremonial functions when size did not matter. It is still a well-made blade and has been sharpened. And it is mine to give as I am a direct descendant of Queen Cratega."

Ok, one sword out of twelve made it a little less scary. "I seeing." There was no way I could politely refuse. And everyone was waiting for me so we could continue. "Thank you," I almost sighed.

Larina smiled as if the sword had been given to her instead.

The guard rode to my side and helped me fix the scabbard between the left and right saddlebags.

Then we continued. I asked the prince again to explain in simple words why he was giving me the sword now, until I understood. For us, disputed lands meant that there would be no lodging in towns, almost no settlements at all, and there might be highwaymen lurking around. We also changed our formation, with Larina and the guard now going in front.

* * *

It was late afternoon, and I was at the limit, especially after two nights of little sleep. And we were moving at a good pace, even faster than when I travelled to Litra with Count Larel. If Freya had ridden me, I would not have been able to keep up.

The white cleric's horse was also very tired. His horse and I had to work the hardest, as we both had shorter legs than the others. Larina had no problem, her massive warhorse legs did one step where I needed one and a half. And Prince John's stallion was the finest horse in Kren, and the guard rode a well-trained warhorse as well. Even the brown clerics had powerful horses.

Of the three villages we passed today, two had been abandoned, one only recently. There were even some self-seeded carrots and cabbages, which I plundered during the short break to water the horses (and myself). Then it was back through heathland with occasional patches of pine forest.

In the third village, we were invited to dinner. The forty souls there, about two-thirds women, were eager for news. We were the first outsiders in four weeks. Which confirmed that the emissary had taken a different route.

We were still close enough to Kren so most of the villagers understood it. Brother Rene held a service for them and blessed the village.

We set out again after dinner. My body ached and I was on the verge of toppling. But we did not go too far. We spent the night in a ruin on a small hill near the village. Perhaps the castle of the former lord of this area. I was asleep the moment I lay down, not even bothering to take off my saddlebags or get out my blanket, just my head on my paws.

* * *

The morning came all too early, the sun had barely risen above the horizon when the prince woke me. I had slept well, but I could have slept for much longer. And as soon as I got up, every muscle ached. Even Larina complained, although she was still full of energy. If I had understood the mage, our journey would change her still malleable body with such heavy travel so soon after the soul merge. In the end, she may become the fastest and least fatigued of us all.

I asked the prince to start a little slower today. Even though he nodded and no one complained, I was not sure if we were really going slower. Soon the aching muscles were numbed to just heavy legs.

Since the last village, our path had been nothing but a patch of lower vegetation. I took the rear as my broad paws and short legs were not well suited to stamping down the undergrowth. Now I walked behind the white cleric. We rode side by side at the short stretches of low grass. I had no breath left for conversation, but the cleric was eager to talk, even if the exchange was mostly one-sided. His name was Brother Johens. He told me that the white clergy had separated from the brown clergy also during the War of the Republic. But both were united in their rejection of the Nuncipal as a representative of The Soul. The Soul did not need a representative, no single soul could possibly speak for The Soul. And worse, the current Nuncipal was even a very cruel one, which meant a lot considering that more than 1000 years had passed since the Soul Wars and the first Nuncipal. My lack of Kren was especially gaping in religious and historical matters, and thus even this elementary exchange took almost all morning. But I was happy for the knowledge and for the distraction.

But most of the time, the path was too narrow and I had to walk behind him, putting a stop to the conversation. I nibbled at carrots all the time, and I saw Larina eating her grain nonstop as well. It must be hard to feed her big warhorse body with her fine elegant mouth.

The further we travelled, the more parched the land became. By midday, we passed the ruins of an abandoned village whose well had dried up. From now on there was not even a trace of where we were going. I think we were just walking in the general direction.

It took us until mid-afternoon to reach the next water source, tiny, not much wider than my hands. First, the bags were filled, then Larina and I drank, and finally the horses. I drank as much as I could hold, still determined to avoid the stale water from the leather waterskins. And I found that I could go as long as the horses without water, so I hoped to drink only fresh water all the way to the desert.

Being at the back had another advantage. Unlike the horses and even Larina, I could not pee while walking. At the rear, I could just fall back a bit more and do my business without stopping the whole group. The downside, of course, was that I had to avoid stepping in said remnants of the whole leading group.

We walked all day, stopping only in the evening when we came to another small waterhole. Larina and I drank in front of the horses and then poured a leather bag of water over our sandy hides. It evaporated in an instant. Still, it felt great. I tried to massage Larina's massive legs. Even my big hands had trouble getting around them. And I am sure my skills were lacking, but she enjoyed it.

Tired, I laid down my blanket and stretched my legs skywards, kneading them as well. But with little hope for tomorrow. I lay on my back and chewed some cabbage leaves as the stars came out. Then I rolled onto my belly, upper body on my paws. I was fast asleep, too tired to even dream.