30

By the end of that first day setting out from Lokokami, Lyra wasn't convinced riding a horse was much faster than walking, but at least it was easier. Her ribs throbbed every time Aeliana took a step, but she knew the pain would have been much worse if she was on foot – maybe even bad enough that she would have needed to stop. Her rear was numb from sitting in the saddle, but she still felt much better than she had after walking from Kyokami to Lokokami.

At least, until it was time to dismount that evening. They found a place, not by the river this time, but off the opposite side of the road, maybe a hundred feet through the trees in a small clearing Kel had camped in before with his sister. Aeliana followed Kel down a game path, carefully stepping over branches and fallen logs, and when they reached the break in the trees, Lyra felt daring enough to lean forward and pat her soft neck. She wasn't sure if it made up for having her side sliced open, but she was grateful that Galin and the people of Lokokami had given her the horse.

"Do you need help dismounting?" Kel asked after dropping his pack off near a tree.

She had already dismounted once earlier that day when they went down to the river to refill their water flasks and take a short break for lunch, and she had managed that on her own, though he had stood at Aeliana's head to hold her still. She was certain she could do it again this time, so she shook her head and carefully kicked her feet free of the stirrups, then grabbed onto the saddle and swung her leg over the horse. She slid down painfully on the other side, the straps and buckles of the saddle scraping her stomach through the tunic and the shirt she was wearing underneath. As soon as her legs hit the ground her knees buckled and she landed hard on her rear. Aeliana shifted away and swung her head around to look at Lyra with a snort.

She looked more worried than Kel, who simply asked, "Are you well?"

"Yeah," she said, wincing as she struggled to her feet. "I just didn't expect my legs to feel like jelly."

"You will be sore for the next few days as your muscles adjust to riding. It is swifter than walking, but not always more comfortable."

"I don't see how it's that much faster than walking. I mean, you were able to keep up on foot with Aeliana without any problem."

"Horses are capable of moving faster than a walk," he said wryly as he flicked the reins over the mare's head and led her over to a patch of knee-high grass that was growing in the small clearing. "I will purchase one as soon as we reach Ersgath, then we will be able to move more swiftly. You should prepare yourself; riding at a trot is far less comfortable than a walk. By then, you should be healed enough that it won't agitate your injuries unduly."

Lyra thought her first real experience riding a horse had gone well, overall, but she wasn't sure she was ready to go any faster. At least she wouldn't have to think about it until they got to Ersgath, wherever that was. From the way Kel spoke about it, she surmised it was a larger town, smaller than the city that was their end goal, but larger than the little villages she had seen so far.

"Are you really going to buy a horse just so we can get to Heliotheopoli faster?" she asked as she found a tree to lean against so she could stretch the muscles in her legs. "I have no idea how much horses cost, but they're probably expensive. I don't have any money to give you."

"The people of Lokokami gave us coin as well as your horse and supplies. I will use that, and my own funds if I must. Besides, I don't need a war steed – not that I would be able to find one. The best horses have been shipped overseas already. All I need is a horse that won't go lame before we reach the city."

"That's right, they did say something about giving us money. So, is that how it works? The wandering priests and priestesses get paid for going from town to town and helping people with the gods?"

He began removing Aeliana's tack, speaking as he worked. "Yes, though it is considered impolite to offer the wandering clergy payment for their services directly. Those who wander from town to town almost always travel with a companion, either a sentinel or, in days past, an apprentice, or in some cases a spouse or other family member. It's tradition to offer payment to the traveling companion instead of the person with the holy blood. They are there to handle the minutiae of the journey; the clergy are supposed to focus on the divine. It would have been more proper for Galin to give the horse to me instead of presenting it to you, but he is young and I believe he felt he owed you something personally."

"Plus he's scared of you because you tried to kill him."

"I'm still not convinced we did him any favors, but it's not as if I wish to spill a child's blood any more than you do. All I can do is hope that he will not suffer the consequences of his sin."

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She sighed, but it wasn't the time or place to talk about it more. She didn't want to think about what happened in that cave. She didn't really want to think about anything – she just wanted to eat dinner and go to sleep and hope her the gashes in her side felt better in the morning.

Kel set up camp again that night, though at least this time she made herself useful by brushing the horse, once he showed her how with the grooming equipment someone had packed inside of the saddlebags. Perra had packed handheld meat pies for dinner, which tasted almost as good as they did fresh after they heated them up over a fire, and Lyra took the time to comb her hair and reapply the numbing salve to her ribs before letting Kel rewrap the bandages.

She slept in the hammock under the clear night sky and woke only twice to smack away buzzing insects. When she woke in the morning, the injury to her ribs didn't hurt as much, but it had started to itch, and her legs, especially the muscles of her inner thighs, were so sore and stiff that she had to use the trees to support herself as she looked for a private bush to take care of her morning needs behind.

When she returned to the clearing and walked over to her pack to fetch her water flask, she spotted a perfect peach sitting on top of her bundle of supplies. The sight made her freeze.

"Did you put that there?" she asked. Kel, who was trying to reignite the remnants of last night's fire, looked up. She gestured at the peach.

"No. I didn't bring any peaches; they tend not to travel well." He rose to his feet, frowning. "I take it you did not, either?"

"No, Perra did almost all the packing for me. Even if she packed one that I didn't see last night, I definitely didn't take it out and put it on my backpack this morning."

"Perhaps the god favors you. Did it say anything to you before you left?"

"They gave me a blessing." Her eyes widened as she looked at the peach. "Saofoth said it was their Blessing of Daily Fruit, and something about the temple orchard never being far from me. Do you think they gave me this peach?"

"It must be part of the blessing. Is that the wording the god used? If so, then I believe you can expect a new peach every day."

"For how long?"

"Until the blessing is removed." He stooped and picked up the peach, turning it over in his hand. "It's safe to eat, if you want it. It is not the most useful blessing I've seen, but I am certain you will be grateful for it the longer we are on the road and you grow tired of traveling rations."

He handed it out to her and she took it. It felt just as real as any peach. Had it come from Lokokami, somehow transported miles in an instant, or had Saofoth formed it out of nothing before making it appear on her bag?

She handed it back to Kel. "You can have it. I'm not sure how I feel about eating magic fruit."

If he was right and Saofoth's blessing meant she would get a free peach every day, maybe she could collect them and sell them or something useful like that. Or maybe she would get sick of eating their traveling rations and get over her wariness. She hadn't noticed anything bad happening after she drank the water from the temple or ate that other peach, but it still weirded her out to eat something that had appeared from nowhere. It wasn't necessarily a bad blessing, but she wasn't sure how useful getting a peach every day would be. Would it keep happening even after she got home?

"You do not have to worry about the blessing harming you, but I will take it if you don't want it," he said. "Have you figured out what the blessing Towr gave you does?"

She shook her head as she fetched her water flask from her bag. "I guess I haven't really thought about it that much. It's the Blessing of Learning; Language, so I can probably learn languages faster or something, but I don't know how to try it to be certain."

"I know some phrases in Aketian, if you wish to test it," he offered. "While blessings aren't dangerous to the people who receive them, it is a good idea to know what they do."

"You're right. I probably should have tried to figure it out right after we left Kyokami." She should have been asking questions the whole time they walked, not plodding along silently, feeling bad for herself. "At least it will give us something to do today while we're traveling."

"There is something else I wish to practice," he added. "You can see the gods, but I cannot. However, the relic I carry is our only defense against them. You need to learn to direct me well enough that you can do so smoothly and precisely, without giving much thought to it. I am your sword, but you must be my eyes and my ears. I cannot go in blind as I did in the cave."

"That's fair," she said. "How do we practice that, though?"

"Ready yourself to travel, and I will come up with something."

Kel's solution turned out to be a blindfold. He tied it around his eyes as soon as they reached the road, and told her to guide him as they traveled that day.

"The whole day?" she asked, shifting in the saddle as Aeliana began to walk down the road. She wondered if she could use some of that numbing salve to help with chafing. "What if something happens? I don't know where we're going. What if I get us lost?"

He somehow managed to give her a flat look despite his eyes being covered with a strip of fabric. "If you are able to get lost following a straight road, I will be impressed. Simply continue heading west. For now, the sun should be behind us but as the day goes on, it will be ahead of us."

"I know what direction west is," she grumbled, glad he couldn't see her face flushing. At least the cardinal directions were the same here. "What if you trip over something, though? Or run into a tree?"

"Then I will be mildly irritated that you didn't warn me about the obstacle. We must practice this. Being the eyes of those who cannot see the gods is one of your duties, just as keeping you safe is mine."

She wasn't sure if he meant to guilt trip her, but it worked. She could do this; she could describe the world to Kel and guide him down the road while riding a horse and also trying to learn a few phrases in a new language to see if she could figure out what Towr's blessing did.

She had always said multitasking was one of her skills on job applications, now it was time to put that to the test.