Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!
Chapter 5
It took three days at the convent Chapter House of the Sisters of the Lake before Cori had gathered what she needed to continue with her plan. She had needed some supplies of food for the first day or so of travel, and she needed the information about the comings and goings of people around the Chapter House and surrounding community. On the third night, she was ready to move forward and not a moment too soon. She knew Logan’s plans were to start recruiting for the Legion right away. He planned to send out Legion sergeants to all the frontier villages to gather and train recruits, eventually meeting up with all of them on the road south to the capital city. There the Legion would travel by ship to the shores of Verona and begin the campaign to defend the Free Kingdoms from the Imperial invasion. She was going to have to travel on foot to reach the northern village she had selected. The journey would take at least five days. She had chosen Gladestown because it was a village on the northeastern frontier she had never visited and it would be unlikely that anyone there would recognize her.
She had other things in mind to make sure no one recognized her who might have seen her once or twice on a trip with her father. She’d complete that process on the trip there, but it began here in her chambers at the Chapter House in the late hours after the evening prayers. Cori stood before the mirror in her room and looked at the scissors in her hand. She loved her long curly locks of hair. Now, however, it was time for a change. She gripped a lock of hair in one hand and brought the scissors up to it. She paused for only a second and began to cut through the thick tresses, leaving a pile of brown hair on the floor around her. When she was finished, she looked at herself in the mirror and assessed the work she had done. Her hair hung just above her shoulders now, and she thought she already looked like a different person. When she donned her hunting leathers, cloak, and weapons, she doubted anyone hereabouts would recognize her as the young noblewoman who’d arrived in and wore nothing but fancy court attire.
Cori turned away from her hair styling efforts and looked over the things she had laid out on the bed. Her hunting gear, her weapons, her bow and quiver of arrows were all there. There was also a small leather backpack she had converted from one of her saddlebags. In that, she had a few other items of clothing and the bread, cheese and small ham she had squirreled away from the kitchen in her days in the Chapter House. Her cloak hung from a peg by the door and her soft leather hunting boots sat on the floor beneath it. She stood with her hands on her hips, assessing the assembled gear. She didn’t think she’d need anything else. She had a small purse of coins that she could use to purchase anything else she might need. Other than that, she was not sure what else to take.
Cori had never traveled without a group of traveling servants and companions before. There were tents when there were no inns and cooks who prepared and served the meals. She would have to avoid any inns at least for the first few days because she was sure they would begin searching for her right away when she was discovered missing. That meant that they had to look for signs of her passage, and she would have to avoid the roads and common paths. She was confident of her skills in the forest to move without a trace and avoid detection but to do that meant staying out in the open, which she had never done before. She looked around and decided to roll up an extra woolen blanket and tie it to the top of her pack. There, she thought. That was a suitable pack for a lone hunter traveling in the forest. If she showed up with too much gear, any who met her would know she wasn’t what or who she claimed to be.
She decided that everything was as ready as it could be. All she could do now was wait for the middle of the night to come and the night mistress to doze off. She was the sister set on duty to answer the door for weary travelers who might come calling. Cori had crept downstairs each night and seen the sister assigned there by the courtyard door, dozing in a large rocking chair. She was the only real obstacle to her escape. Once she had passed the night mistress, it would be simple to slip out the back kitchen entrance and through the gate by the stables. She considered again whether she should take her horse, but there was too much risk for a number of reasons. Horses were too easy to track, and she might wake one of the stable boys were she to retrieve her horse from the Chapter House stables. No, this quest began with her on foot. The Legion traditionally traveled on foot, being trackers and scouts. That would be fitting for her to begin this journey on foot as well.
Cori settled down to wait for the appointed hour. She took her long knife from its sheath and the whetstone from its pouch on her belt and settled on the corner of the bed to hone the edge. Uncle Vernon often talked about the importance of a person’s weapons being well-kept. When she was done that, she retrieved the tomahawk from its loop on the weapons belt and began to sharpen its ax edge, too. By the time she had checked all her weapons and sharpened the blades, several hours had passed, and Cori deemed it late enough to begin her escape. She donned her hunting leathers and boots, buckled on her belt with weapons attached, and shouldered her backpack. She slipped the quiver of arrows over her other shoulder and picked up her bow. She looked around the room, her gaze falling on the note left on the bed for whoever came looking for her in the morning. It detailed her plans to travel south and enlist in the King’s Guards in the capital of Rhodes to serve with her older brother Rad there. She hoped it would misdirect the search for her they would launch once she was discovered to be gone. She gave it a day. If she could make it away for 24 hours without discovery, Cori believed her plan would work. There were too many variables to make a search successful if she made it a full day’s travel away, especially if she stayed off the roads and trading routes. It would have to be good enough, there was nothing else she could do to prepare. Grabbing her dark forest green hunting cloak, she paused by the door, listening for sounds of anyone up and about this late in the evening. When she was sure she heard no one outside in the hallway, she opened the door and slipped outside and away.
———
This was hard. Cori pulled the wet wool blanket tighter about her shivering shoulders as she hunched down beneath the tree branches where she had taken shelter. It had been about 24 hours, and she had made her escape. The night mistress had been sound asleep in the rocking chair by the front entrance. It had been easy to creep past her and out of the building through the kitchen entrance. She had almost been discovered by a stable boy up late and relieving himself in the outhouse in the Chapter House courtyard. When he opened the door to return to the stables where he slept, Cori had been in the middle of the courtyard. She dropped to the ground and prayed the darkness and shadows were enough to hide her. He had walked within a yard of her but never saw the dark form on the ground at his feet. She waited until he had closed the stable door before rising and continuing to the back gate and out into the surrounding countryside.
That had been what seemed an eternity ago. She had trekked all through the night into the northern forest, guiding herself northward using the glimpses of starlight she caught between the trees. She had learned the constellations and how to navigate by them from Uncle Vernon and the Master Huntsman on one of their many trips with her father. Once dawn had arrived, she had stopped and eaten some of her food. Then she continued traveling. The clouds above darkened in mid-afternoon and the rain began before nightfall. She had tried to find shelter in an overhang of rock next to the game trail she was following. It had proved to be a poor choice. The increasing rain began to channel down the rock face and through her makeshift encampment. She was forced to move out into the forest where she finally settled under a thick growing fir tree. The needles above her helped to shed the worst of the rain, but she was already soaked through and freezing. The stories she had heard growing up never talked about cold camps in the rain, or blisters or any of that.
The thought arose that she should turn back, give up and return to the life her mother wished her to lead. The thought of it turned her stomach, and her characteristic Westgate stubbornness kicked in. If she gave up now, her brothers would know she could not do what they were doing. Logan was likely camping out in this same rainstorm right now with his companions. He was probably cold and wet, but he would never complain. She needed to remember that and soldier on. That was the way to think about this. It was going to be hard work, and the rain was just the beginning of the challenges she would face. If a little rain were enough to knock out her desire to complete this journey, then she’d never survive as a member of the Legion. So she pulled her cloak’s hood tighter around her face and clutched the blanket over her shoulders closer and stared out into the night’s darkness, resolute in her determination to succeed.
Morning arrived, and the rain abated some. Cori rose from where she sat against the tree and stretched. The cold dampness of the night remained in her bones and everything in her ached. It had been the most miserable night of her life, and she had survived it. That was something to be proud of, not that she had any choice. There was nowhere to go but forward at this point, and that meant staying on the trail north. She figured that she could search out a remote farmstead this evening and trade for some fresh food. She might even be able to do some hunting while she traveled and bring some meat to the table when she stopped. She tied the wet blanket and cloak across her pack so they dangled down. She hoped they might air dry some as she walked today. She shouldered her pack and quiver, picked up her bow. She removed the bowstring from her belt pouch where she had kept it dry through the night and restrung the bow. Then she looked up to gauge the sun’s position in the sky behind the clouds and started northward again. She knew that she would eventually meet the great north road that led to the Kingdom of Padon to the north east if she continued in that direction. Once she reached that road, she’d head east and should reach Gladestown within a day or so from there. But the great north road was still several days’ walk from here. Hopefully, the rain had stopped and would not return for the remainder of her journey.
Traveling got a little easier as the day progressed and the sun warmed the air. Cori dried out and began to enjoy the forest again. She was working hard to travel as silently as possible, leaving little trace on the ground of her passage that someone might use to follow her. She didn’t think that anyone was on her trail yet. They should be looking to the south first based on her note. It wouldn’t be until they sent word back to Westgate that her parents would suspect the truth. By then she would have a three-day head start on any pursuit. Of course, they would be on horseback, which was why she was avoiding the roads until the very end of her journey. She thought about this as she walked the forest path, taking the time to think about her parents’ reaction to her rebellion. She hoped they would eventually be proud of her determination, but her mother would never fully understand. Father would see her reasoning, though, maybe not right away but some day.
It was mid-afternoon when she spotted the farmstead in the valley below the tree line where she walked. There was smoke curling up from the chimney, and Cori thought about the warmth that would provide. She had shot two rabbits while on the trail earlier that day and hoped that the farmer and his family might appreciate the donation of some fresh meat to their pot. She started down towards the valley floor through the forest until the small clearing and farm fields opened up in the valley proper. She waved to the farmer who was plowing his field as she emerged from the forest. He took one look at her and ran for the house. Peculiar, she thought. Perhaps he was fetching his wife and would like to greet her properly. But then he emerged with his bow and an arrow nocked. He looked around, checking the trees around his farm before he settled his gaze on her as she approached.
“Hello the farm,” she called out raising her free hand in a wave. She watched as the farmer’s wife emerged behind him with a pitchfork in had. Two small children huddled behind her. Why would these people be acting so afraid of her? It was strange.
“That’s far enough,” the farmer called out. He didn’t draw his bow but waved the tip of the arrow in her direction. “What is it you want?”
Cori stopped, puzzled. “I am just a weary hunter traveling through and wished to find a warm, dry place for the night.” She slowly reached behind her and pulled the two rabbits loose from where they hung from her pack. She held them up for the farmer and his wife to see. “I brought some fresh game I shot on the trail.”
“Are you alone,” the farmer asked, again scanning the trees behind her.
Cori turned to see what he was looking at but saw nothing. She turned back. “Yes, I’m alone. I merely wanted to trade for some fresh food and perhaps stay in your barn this night. I was caught out in last night’s rain and would like a dry bed for a change.” She didn’t think she looked menacing to anyone, but this farmer was frightened of something.
“Okay, you can come on in,” the farmer said, lowering his bow. He continued to watch the trees behind her. Cori stepped forward slowly and wondered if this stop was a good idea. These people were not the open and friendly folk she was used to seeing on the farms around Westgate.
“If you are not open to having a guest this evening I will continue on my way,” Cori offered as she approached the man and his wife. “I mean no intrusion.”
The farmer’s wife softened her look and swatted her husband’s shoulder with the back of her hand. “Put your bow down, Clem. Sorry, deary,” she said to Cori. “There have been a few rumors from our distant neighbors of bandit about, one group led by a woman. We thought it might be you.”
“I’m no bandit I assure you.” Cori smiled and held up the rabbits. “I just didn’t want to have these all to myself. I thought I would share.”
“The game is welcome for our stew tonight. It is good to see a King’s Ranger in these parts, although you look a bit young to be one.” The woman gestured to Cori’s cloak hanging from the back of her bag. “We didn’t see the crest until you came closer.”
Cori realized it was the Westgate family crest embroidered into her cloak to which the woman referred. She winced inside. She had missed that detail. It would identify her as either a member of the household troops, a ranger or a member of the Westgate family. While it had been helpful here, it was going to cause trouble later on unless she did something about it.
“I’m just in training, Ma’am,” Cori said. “I’m on my way north to enlist in the Legion. There’s a war to the east and we have been called up.”
“War, huh?” Clem said. “Well, that’s news we hadn’t heard. I’m sure all the youngsters about the frontier are going to be running off to join up instead of staying home and tending to their chores. It’s a good thing our little ones are so young, eh, Mary? They won’t be running off to join some war we’ve never heard of.”
“There will be a blessing in that, I suppose, Clem,” the woman replied. She looked at Cori and at the two large rabbits she held. “Well, you can bring those in here and we’ll finish skinning them and get the meat into the stew pot for tonight’s dinner. It’ll be a nice addition to our leeks, potato, and turnips that usually go in there.”
Cori followed her inside the house as Clem returned to his field work. The small farmhouse had one large room and a small loft up above reached by a ladder. She saw a single bed in the corner and figured the boys slept on pallets up in the loft while the parents slept down here.
“I’m Mary. You’ve met Clem, my husband. The two little ones are Jared and Dean. What’s your name, dear?”
“Cor-, Corinda,” Cori stammered. She didn’t want to give her real name, but she hadn’t thought of something before being asked here and now.
Mary looked at her askance for a moment. Cori knew she didn’t believe it for a moment. “Corinda will do, I suppose. Come over here and help me skin those rabbits you brought us. You can tell me more about this war you are off to fight.”
Cori spent the next few hours helping the woman prepare the evening meal. She had to ask a lot of questions about what to do. She had seen the cooks work in the kitchen but had never done any of the work herself. Mary was patient with her and gave her the tasks that were easiest to master. She peeled the potatoes and turnips, cutting them into cubes and adding them to the pot next to the hearth. Cori found it especially pleasant to knead the coarse-grained bread dough that would be baked on the hearth for dinner that evening. The feel of the warm, sticky dough under her flour-covered hands was new to her and when she was finished and had shaped the loaf to rise she felt a sense of accomplishment at her work.
“It’s good to work with your hands, isn’t it, Corinda?”
“Yes, it is. I’m not used to doing this kind of kitchen work and haven’t made bread before. Thank you for teaching me.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” Mary said.
“Why did you think I was a bandit?” Cori asked. “Is there really a female bandit wandering about terrorizing the farmsteads?”
“There have been tales around these parts and to the north of a woman named Lissa or something like that,” Mary explained. “She has struck a few times at some of the traveling merchants, taking their coin and more valuable wares before leaving them on the side of the road. She’s never struck a farm that we’ve heard of, but it’s made the folk nervous round about these parts, nonetheless.”
“She sounds fierce,” Cori said. She had never heard of a female bandit before. It was an interesting tale.
“Farming is hard work for simple folk to do in these parts,” Mary said. “I suspect that she was raised on a farm and didn’t take to the hard work of farming or another honest trade. She decided to go outlaw instead, I guess though that hardly seems and easier life.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is an easier life,” Cori mused. “It might look that way from afar but living on the run would be a hard life for any long period of time.”
“Yes, I think that is true,” Mary said, eying Cori from the side. “Why don’t you go out to the trough and clean up. I’ll finish up here. You can get your belongings settled in the barn’s hay loft. It will be the best we can offer for the night, I’m afraid.”
“Thank you, I will do that.” Cori gathered up her things from where she had set them down in the corner by the door. She went outside and crossed the farmyard to the barn where there was a milk cow and a calf in the small fenced in enclosure. She lowered the bucket into the well for some fresh water and carried it back to the barn to wash up before dinner. She was startled by a voice from inside the barn.
“Mary will be happy to have a guest to dinner tonight.” Clem was standing in the barn’s loft with a pitchfork. He tossed down a forkful of hay to the animals below. She had not known he was up there.
“Yes it will be nice to have some other people to talk to besides me,” Cori said.
Clem climbed down the ladder from the loft in the barn and looked at her appraisingly. “Mary thinks your a Ranger recruit, but I think you’re something else. I don’t know what and I don’t care to know. If there’s trouble following you, I’d just as soon you move on without involving us in it if you get my meaning.”
“I understand,” Cori said. “I assure you that no trouble will come your way for sheltering me. I can pay for my lodging if that is what you’d like?”
“I don’t need your pay,” Clem said. “The two rabbits are enough for a night in the barn. I just think you should be on your way in the morning. I think you need to be on your way without lingering here with us.”
“That is my intention,” Cori said. “I have to get to Gladestown to make the enlistment group assembling there. I was serious when I said I wished to enlist in the Legion.”
Clem shook his head. “I don’t know why you’d want to do that. You’re wearing the cloak of the house guard of the Westgate family. I’ve seen that sigil on a trip to the provincial capital when I was a lad with my Da. Why are you all the way out here on your own when you could just join up with the soldiers there, I’m wondering?”
Cori paused and then started to answer but Clem forestalled that by raising his hand and shaking his head.
“I don’t need to know,” Clem said. “I’m just pointing out that if you’re going to have a lie to tell when you enlist in Gladestown, you might want to come up with one that makes some sense based on your attire and gear. Like I said, I don’t know what you’re running from but you need to get your story straight before it catches up with you. Either way, I think you should be on your way early in the morning before Mary decides to invite you to stay longer.”
“I understand,” Cori said. “Thank you.”
She finished cleaning up as Clem headed back to the house. Then she sat on a bench in the barn and, using her pocket knife, carefully picked out the embroidery of her cloak, pulling the threads that had nearly identified her as a member of the Westgate family. She was just finishing up when Mary called her from the house that dinner was ready. Cori rolled up her cloak and tied it to the top of her pack, leaving it in the barn with her bow and other gear and went to dinner.
The stew was delicious and with the bread, was a filling meal for her hungry stomach. Cori thanked her host and hostess for their hospitality and took the candle Mary offered her and headed out to the barn to sleep. She set the candle holder carefully on a board and laid her cloak down on the hay in the loft. Settling on top of her makeshift bed, she blew out the candle. Cori listened then to the sounds of the night, the chirp and whir of insects lulling her into a peaceful sleep.
———
Cori awoke early the next morning. She climbed down from the loft and saw that Mary was down in the lower part of the barn, humming to herself as she milked the cow.
“Did you have a nice night’s sleep, dear?” the farmer’s wife asked.
“I did, thank you. It was nice to have a dry place to sleep.” Cori gathered her things and prepared them for getting back to her journey.
“I put aside the bread we didn’t eat last night for you to take with you,” Mary said, glancing up from her work. “There’s also some vegetables that you can roast in a campfire if you have the time. They’re tied up in a bundle on the porch. Clem said you’d be on your way early, and I wanted to make sure you didn’t leave us empty-handed.” Mary looked back at the milk pail continuing her morning chore. “Don’t go getting yourself killed in this war you’re off to, Corinda. I think your mother would like to see you home and safe again someday.”
“I thank you,” Cori said. “I wish you and Clem a good and rich harvest.” She left the barn. There was no sign of Clem and boys. She stopped by the porch and saw he cloth-wrapped bundle of food there. Picking it up and stuffing it into her pack, Cori dug in her belt pouch, pulling out a few coins. Father always said to pay her way, and she knew that these folk didn’t have much. The few silvers she left for them would likely be more than they’d see in a year. It would pay them back for the hospitality and kindness shown to her on this journey. She picked up her pack, settled it on her back and continued her journey northward.
—-
Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!