Miko said, “You were great.”
“You are truly a great bard,” James exclaims. “I can’t believe you are able to repeat back the song after only one hearing.”
“Part of the job,” Perrilin says. “Now, I’ve got just a couple of questions.”
“Yeah?” asks James.
“Just what are buffalo and antelope anyway?” he asks.
Smiling, James begins to explain what they are and also clarifies the other different words in the song that are unfamiliar to him. All the while their discussion is going on, Miko lays down near the fire and drifts off to sleep. They continue well into the night and he tries not to let on to Perrilin that he comes from a different world, just from a far away land.
When Perrilin is finally satisfied that he understands the song, including all the words and phrases, he puts his instrument away and says, “I think it’s time for me to call it a night. Thank you for the song, maybe I’ll use it from time to time.” He lies down near the fire and soon the soft sounds of contented snoring reaches James just before he, too nods off to sleep.
Chapter Ten
The sun rising over the horizon awakens James to another beautiful, summer day. The spot where Perrilin slept stood empty, apparently the bard had already awoke and went on his way. Waking Miko, they begin to get their things packed and ready for travel.
Miko takes out an apple and eats it while he’s getting ready. “He sure left early this morning,” he says, referring to Perrilin. His words are barely understood through the oversized chunk of apple wedged in his mouth.
“I guess he was in a hurry to make Cardri this evening,” responds James. “And don’t talk with your mouth full, I can hardly understand you.”
“Sorry,” Miko says as he swallows the last of the now much reduced piece of apple. “Hope we can make it there tonight too,” he wishes.
“Well, from what he told us,” explains James, “I don’t think we’ll make it before tomorrow at the earliest. Maybe if we had another horse we might, but not by foot.”
It doesn’t take them very long before they are ready to continue on to Cardri. Taking the reins of the horse, James exits the copse of trees with Miko right behind and they make their way back onto the road, heading south.
Miko isn’t very happy at the prospect of walking for another two days, but is resigned to it as he has little choice. The day is nice, at least the weather has been cooperating, and their spirits are high since it seems pursuit is not forthcoming. It would seem that Miko had been correct about their pursuers’ unwillingness to stray too far from Bearn.
As the morning progresses, the sun steadily climbs higher into the sky and the temperature begins to rise, forecasting the approach of a very hot summer day. Much to James’ delight, a breeze manifests out of the southwest and allays the worst of the summer heat.
Throughout the morning they make good time, pressing onward with only one short rest break. The road is rather deserted and the only other souls they encounter are one lone traveler driving a wagon drawn by a pair of mules passes by on his way north and a couple fast riders that overtook them on their way south.
A little after noon the skyline of another fair size town on the opposite side of the river begins to appear up ahead on the horizon. As they draw nearer, they come to an aged bridge spanning the river allowing traffic to cross to the town. Asking a traveler that had just crossed over the bridge, they discover the name of the city is Collington. Not having any money left after buying the boat back in Bearn, they continue past and Collington soon disappears behind them.
Evening finds them still on the road with no inn in sight, nor are there even a few trees growing closely together to give their camp some shelter. So with the waning of the sun, they find a spot near the river and make camp. While Miko gets the fire ready, James searches for a stick he can use for fishing. Finally tearing off a long branch from a tree, he sharpens one end before wading into the river. Twice he enters the river and twice he emerges with a fair sized fish wriggling impaled upon the end of the stick.
James and Miko eat one fish entirely while saving most of the second for a meal in the morning. Wrapping the left over fish in some leaves, James puts it into his backpack for safe keeping. They munch on a few apples as well, making sure to leave a couple for the next day. Hopefully they will make it to Cardri before nightfall and will be able to stay at an inn.
As day gives way to night, another campfire springs to life some two hundred feet further north on their side of the river. A short time later, another one appears across the water, fifty feet or so to the south.
“Must be common to make camp along the river,” states James. Straining to see who the ones on their side of the river might be, he peers through the deepening dusk but can’t quite make them out. He can tell there are more than one, perhaps six in all.
Miko nods. “Even near Bearn,” he replies. “Some would rather avoid paying for inns.”
“Not me,” James says, turning back to his young companion. “I would have to be pretty desperate, or short on coins, to give up the comfort of a bed.”
Laughing, Miko gives him a grin. “I wouldn’t trade a bed for the ground if given the choice either.”
James chuckles and returns to the fire where he and Miko spend time relaxing and getting to know one another better. “What was it like growing up on the streets?” he asks the boy.
Miko’s face loses much of its joviality as painful memories surface. “It wasn’t easy,” he replies. “Always being hungry, the older boys would take what you have and leave you with nothing. After a while you know who your friends are, who you can count on to watch your back.” Growing quiet, he stares into the fire for several seconds then says, “You also know who to avoid.”
“Like those boys who chased us into the sewer?” prompts James.
Miko nods. “Yeah. You get on the bad side of the wrong people, and you’re dead.” Grabbing an end of a small stick sticking out from the base of their fire, he begins poking at the coals. “What about you?” he asks. “What’s it like where you come from?”
“Like here for the most part,” he replies. What can I tell him that he would believe? “People are people no matter where you go.”
“I suppose so,” Miko said.
Another hour is spent on trading tales of their past and James discovers that he is growing to like this lad from the streets of Bearn. As he takes turn relating tidbits of his past, James speaks of his grandparents, parents, Haveston, and school. Talking of home doesn’t elicit feelings of homesickness as it had before. Rather, they comfort and bring him peace. When the fire burns itself down to coals, they ready themselves for sleep.
The night passes uneventfully and both wake in the morning a little stiff from sleeping on the ground but all in all well rested. James gets up and walks around, trying to work the kinks out of his back and fervently hopes that come this evening he may be in a bed at an inn. Sleeping on the ground is starting to get a little old. Every time during the night when he thought he found a comfortable position, a new rock would make itself known, forcing him to change position yet again.
As they prepare to travel, a long caravan trundles into view on its way north from Cardri. James counts fifteen wagons passing by in the early morning light with a dozen mounted guards accompanying it.
Miko gets the horse ready while he goes to the river to refill the water bottle. He puts the bottle in the water and while he waits for the bottle to fill he glances upriver. Not far from where he squats filling his water bottle, several people stand in the water, by the looks of it doing their morning business. A feeling of revulsion overcomes him as he looks at the river flowing past those people, toward him and into his water bottle. With visions of dysentery running through his mind, he stands up completely disgusted and pours out the water.
Looking down and across the river, he finds another group of travelers filling several earthen jugs with the river’s water, water that could very well be carrying bacteria and waste products from the people and animals further up the river. He comes to the realization that any and all water, or for that matter all things drinkable, could
