Chapter Seventeen

When they awoke at the first of the morning’s shattered rays poking through the treetops, the events of the previous night seemed to fizzle away like a dream. For the girl and the wolf, that is. For the scholar, however, the night had never really ended. He had been far too wary to get any meaningful rest. His eyes had grown exhausted and red from scanning the darkness and wondering what sorts of beasts were out there, snuffing at the air, ecstatic at the scent of his blood.

Even if he might have set these thoughts aside—and during some hours he did—the soft, stifled sobs of Sula would have kept him awake. The girl hid them the best she could, smothering them in the wolf’s fur. Leuther spent at least an hour wondering if she hid them to spare him or to spare herself. In any case, no matter how quiet they might have been, they felt loud on Leuther’s heart. He heard the weight of her grief in each swell and marveled at how such a small girl could carry a pain so heavy. No wonder she had been so cold and distant.

When all the group had arisen, the groggy academic knew better than to ask about her sobbing. No, he thought it best to stay away from Sula’s past completely until she decided to share it with him. Instead, he endeavored to pester her with the senseless bauble he always found himself spouting. Anything to avoid a break in conversation he supposed. But before he could enact this plan, there was something he needed to set straight.

“Sula,” Leuther said, giddy at the newness of the word in his mouth, “I was wondering something. You see, I am terrible with directions. Have been since coming out of my dear, late Ma. Why, when I first learned to crawl I could only do it backward and when my Da and Ma told me to go to my room after I had accidentally caused them all sorts of trouble, I would end up in the kitchen or cellar or all sorts of places that weren’t where I intended on… going.”

Sula shot him a nasty look. He did not need to be a scholar to know she meant him to get to the point.

“Ah, sorry. I get a little carried away at times and have been know to ramble. Once when I was a…” Leuther began but caught himself. “Right, right. What I meant to ask was this. Would it be possible if I joined your company? I just know I would have terrible luck if I set out on my own. So many vines to snag myself in and all that, right. Actually I once got st—”

“Enough,” Sula demanded, crossing her arms and turning away. “You may follow us as long as you are quiet. But you are not our companion, just someone who takes up space and happens to be going the same way. Once we are free of these woods you are on your own.”

With that distinction firmly established the companions set off. Sula and the wolf took the lead, walking side by side. Leuther jumped for joy, clicking his feet before he chased after and settle in his pace just behind them. In this way they walked along the stream they had camped beside the night before.

It did not take long as they moved through the shade of tall sweet-fir trees for Leuther to grow bored of his imposed silence. Truthfully something had been burning on his tongue since they first met, but he had not found a chance to bring it up.

Sula knew long before his first “Erm” that Leuther was going to irk her. She felt the anxious build up. Within the first five minutes she had heard him sigh at least ten times. At the ten-minute mark, she noticed that he seemed to bounce from one foot to the other. After twenty minutes it was all he could do to bite his lip closed. At twenty-one minutes, he finally caved and Sula knew what little peace she had had was lost forever.

Leuther began, “There is something you should kn—"

“Not interested,” Sula shot, angrier than she had meant. “Be quiet.”

But quiet was long gone and the more she tried to reclaim it, the more Leuther would press. And try she did. And press he did.

Before the hour had passed Leuther had managed to ramble through a thousand questions piece by piece between Sula’s protestations that he stop talking. The cub refused to answer any of them and could not help but wonder if the Water Goddess had sent this man to her as some sort of curse to try her patience.

More than once Sula exploded on him. She spat out the nastiest of insults and nearly warmed the forest with the heat of her tongue. For Leuther’s part he took it well. He remembered her sobs the night before and thought she sounded better yelling than crying. No matter how bad her fits, Leuther smiled through them. The wolf ignored the squabbling. He had had siblings as a pup and thought this similar. No matter how cruel the insults or the pestering, all would be forgiven.

“You no good, stupid ydiotz!” Sula spat. “You would think if they taught you anything at that academy of fools it would be to shut up. But you can’t even seem to do that right. No wonder you were kicked out.”

“Wait, what did you say? Ydiotz?” Leuther asked his eyes suddenly wide with surprise. Her insult might have stung had the first portion not caught him so off guard. “I did not know that you spoke Mesovasilean.”

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“What are you talking about?” Sula said, as surprised as he was. “You are not making any sense. I don’t know what that is.”

“But you just spoke it,” Leuther protested.

“I told you,” Sula growled. “You are making no sense. Keep babbling and we are going to leave you behind. I don’t know what your Mesovasilewhosawhatsa is. Now stop annoying me, so that the wolf and I can find a way out of here.”

Leuther shook his head in disbelief. He could have sworn the girl had spoken in Mesovasilean. Still that much would not have been odd. There were plenty of wealthy or elite children who used Mesovasilean words in casual speech. It was the dominant tongue of Mesovasileus, the only powerful kingdom near Argonia, so it was not too uncommon to hear a broken version of it south of the border. But the way Sula had said it was not broken. No, the perfect accent she had used, the way she somewhat sang its cadence, the girl might have been a native speaker. She had to know the language.

With one word the girl had become infinitely more intriguing and much to Sula’s chagrin a million new questions dying to be asked sprouted up in Leuther’s head. The first of which was simple enough.

“So, where are you headed?” Sula paused at the question and looked back at him warily. “Come on. You were willing to profane the Goddess in front of me but are not now willing to tell me something so innocuous,” Leuther prodded. Of course, he knew such a question was anything but innocuous. It was a matter of life and death. Sula knew as much herself, but still decided Leuther had proven himself trustworthy.

“I am going South,” Sula hedged.

“South is a lot of places,” Leuther raised. “Any particular place you are leaning towards, or just South. Wait, you do not mean to the Southern Kingdoms, do you?”

“No, of course not,” Sula growled. “There is a city. I just can’t remember its name is all. If I heard it, I would know. Besides, I know how to get there.”

“What do you have that’s South?”

“What I have and don’t have is none of your business!” She yelled and then calmed. “A family friend.”

“Well, based on your choice of route and your ire towards the Goddess, I would guess you are some kind of fugitive,” Leuther said, looking aimlessly to the sky as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “If that’s the case, would it not be easier to go North? I hear the Guard’s presence there is small. If you go South, you will run right into their patrols.”

“I didn’t ask you did I? It’s none of your business.”

With that the two grew quiet. Sula had begun to feel a little out of sorts. Though she was stubborn, the more Leuther questioned her plan, the less she believed she would make it safe. It suddenly dawned on her that even if her papa had survived, there was no guarantee that she would live to see him. The thought weighed her down and made her drag her feet.

Perhaps Leuther noticed this—or perhaps Leuther could not go two minutes without hearing his own voice—whichever the case, he spoke up again. “Well? Don’t you want to know where I am heading? What I am doing out here?”

“Not really.”

“That’s cruel.” Leuther held his ‘wounded’ breast. “I am actually—"

“I didn’t ask.”

“Fine,” he let out in a dramatic huff. “I guess I will keep you in suspense.”

The company walked on for another hour or so, until they grew weary and decided to stop for a break. The wolf and Leuther had both begun to pant from exhaustion and as soon as the group slowed, they both submerged their heads in the stream. Sula’s raw feet had begun to sprout aching blisters that ran along her heel. She peeled off her sandals with a wince to let them breathe. When Leuther rejoined her, he found the cub rubbing at her toes.

“Curse it,” Sula sighed. “If only I had not lost my horse at the gate. This trek would be far easier with less walking. But I don’t suppose your education taught you where to find horses in a forest?”

“No, I do not suppose it did,” Leuther mocked. “But I do know where to find some if we made it out of the woods.”

“What?” she gaped.

“That’s what I have been trying to tell you. If we could get out of this forest and back onto the road, I have a caravan with two horses. I am a wine merchant,” he said, emphasizing the last two words.

“Well, why didn’t you say so? Some merchant you are. You can’t even sell a girl exactly what she needs,” Sula announced with a groan. “I know the way out. You’re telling me I could have been on my way a day ago. C’mon Leuther!”

“What do you mean you know the way out?” Leuther raised his voice for the first time. “I thought that is what we have been looking for?”

Sula shook her head. “No, I have been looking for a path to the next town that did not cross the road. The guards will be looking for me on the road and if I walked along it, they would get me for sure. But if you have horses then I was just wasting my time.”

“How does that even make sense?” Leuther rolled his eyes and kicked at the ground. “There is no way out of here without crossing the road. This whole forest is surrounded by roads you dolt.”

“Hey! No need for that,” Sula shouted. “How was I supposed to know? I have never been on the road before. You would think you could have mentioned that at some point during your endless yaking, but no. Not one time did you speak of anything useful.”

The two went on like this. While they bickered, the wolf took prerogative. He sniffed at the wine merchant’s pants and traced the scents which flowed like rivulets from everything. Separating the horse’s smell, he tracked it through the woods. The arguing humans followed him unconsciously as he moved along the scent like driftwood in a stream. For two hours he walked before the bickering behind him ended. In only a half an hour more, the company passed through a portal of branches and found themselves out of the forest at last.