“Sure,” he replies. Holding his hand out, he adds, “Name’s James.”
With relief evident upon his face, the young man takes his hand and replies, “I’m Kerrin and this is my wife, Gayle.”
“Nice to meat you,” says James. “If you wouldn’t mind going to get your wagon, we would like to leave as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” the man says. “Right away and thank you.” The woman gives him a slight courtesy but still doesn’t look happy about the situation.
As the couple goes to get their wagon, James and the others begin mounting. “Are you sure this is such a good idea?” Dave asks.
“What are you worried about?” exclaims Jiron with a grimace. He hates the negativity which always seems to come from him lately.
“Relax Dave,” James says. “It’ll be nice having them along. The more we have, the less likely anyone will trouble us.”
“True,” Uther interjects. “Not to mention giving us something better to look at than Jorry’s sorry mug.”
Turning to his friend, Jorry says, “I wish you would retire that sorry old joke. No one laughs anymore.”
Uther glances around the group and sees them all staring at him, some with disapproving expressions. He says, “Very well.”
Just then from around the corner a wagon turns onto the street, the couple is seated upon the seat. “You know that wagon is going to slow us down a little,” Miko says.
“Some,” replies James with a nod. “But I just couldn’t say no.”
As the wagon draws near, the riders take up position around it and they make their way through town, toward the entrance of the pass.
This pass isn’t nearly as steep as the Merchant’s Pass had been. The road rises much more gradually as the mountains are not as tall. For the first couple of hours they steadily rise toward the summit which looks to be a day or two away.
Riding along, James casts glances back to the couple on the wagon behind them. The man always gives him a cheery smile while the woman simply looks scared. She looks as if she thinks they are going to fall upon them and attack them at any moment.
Miko is riding beside them and is regaling them with stories of their exploits. James smiles at the embellishments which have already crept into the often repeated tales. At least he’s not making any mention of anything important, like the fact he can do magic. He knows James doesn’t like that little tidbit to be talked about, so glosses over those parts. Try as he might, nothing Miko does seems to put the girl at ease. If anything his stories are only making her more nervous.
Maybe it’s the heavily tattooed Qyrll that has her spooked. He does make a rather menacing sight. Qyrll generally keeps his hood over his features since he realizes the reactions people in this part of the world have to him. So it wasn’t until they were an hour into the pass when the hood came off for one reason or another. She gasped in fright when she saw his visage and the others tried to put her at ease but to no avail. Her husband grew nervous for a time but his good natured personality resurfaced and came to accept Qyrll as non threatening.
Near the end of the day, a river appears. It flows through the pass ahead of them alongside the road and then turns more northerly before disappearing into the mountains again. From where the river disappears to the north, the sound of a mighty waterfall can be heard.
They continue along the road as it makes its way along the banks of the river for another hour until the light begins to fade with the coming of night. Finding a suitable spot, they make camp at the edge of the river under the cover of a cluster of trees. Their overhanging branches afford them some protection from the rain that’s still coming down. It’s been falling continuously all day and even though they’ve worn rain gear, it has managed to infiltrate and soak a good portion of their clothes underneath.
Other than the occasional drops of water which make it through, the area under the trees is relatively dry and large enough to accommodate them all. Off to one side they stake the horses near the wagon and then begin setting up camp.
When Kerrin notices them taking their food out in preparation to fix their meal he says, “You let us handle dinner tonight. It’s the least we can do for you allowing us to travel with you.”
His wife gives him a glare behind his back which says feeding them is the last thing she wants to do.
James notices the look on her face and says, “We don’t want to be a bother.”
“It’s no bother,” Kerrin assures him as he turns to his wife. “Is it dear?”
As he turns to look at her, her expression changes from one of annoyance to that of willingness. “No,” she says. “No bother at all.”
Before James can come up with a way to turn him down, Uther says, “That would be wonderful.”
“Good, good,” the man says and then turns back to his wife, giving her a smile. She smiles back until he begins walking from the trees to hunt for firewood, then her smile disappears. With a brooding expression, she goes to the wagon and begins removing several pots in which to cook their dinner.
Jiron comes up behind James and says with a grin, “I don’t think she wants to cook for us.”
Glancing back to him, he replies, “I got that feeling as well. But it’s too late now, Uther’s gone and accepted for us. Set up the watch for tonight, we can’t afford to be caught unawares if bandits make an appearance.”
“Already taken care of,” he says. “Uther gets the first watch and you’ll take the last. Everyone is taking a turn but Dave.”
James arcs an eyebrow at that. “Why?” he asks.
“We don’t trust him to stay awake,” Jiron replies. Lowering his voice, he adds, “Actually some of us just don’t trust him at all.”
“I know,” James says sadly. He glances over to his friend who has staked out a spot with his bedroll near the center of the trees. Lying down on his back, he has his arms crossed behind him under his head as he stares up into the trees. James goes over and sits down next to his friend.
“You okay?” he asks.
“A little depressed is all,” Dave admits. “Homesick.”
“I know how you feel,” he says.
Turning on his side, he props his head on one hand and looks at James. “I miss the arcade,” he says. “Not to mention tv, pizza and milkshakes.”
“Pizza we might be able to manage here,” James says. “Maybe a pepperoni one when we get back to The Ranch.”
Perking up a little, Dave says, “You think so?”
Grinning at his friend, he says, “I don’t see why not, it’s just dough, sauce, cheese and toppings. In the winter we may even be able to do milkshakes.”
“Or snow cones,” adds Dave with a grin.
“Now sure what to flavor them with but we’ll figure something out,” he says.
“Would be nice to have some things from home like that,” Dave says. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.”
“That’s the spirit,” James says encouragingly. “Since we’re stuck here, we may as well make the best of it.”
“When life gives you lemons make lemonade?” asks Dave with a grin.
“You know it,” agrees James with a nod. “Remember that time…” It’s an hour before Gayle has dinner ready and all the while he and Dave reminisce about the old days back home. Seems they’ve been doing that a lot lately. Those are the times when Dave seems to perk up the most and be his old self.
Gayle finally calls everyone to eat. She’s made a stew with plenty of meat and vegetables. They bring their bowls over and are given a hearty portion, then take position around the campfire.
“We are very grateful that you have allowed us to accompany you,” Kerrin says as he takes his place near his wife.
“Glad to have you with us,” James assures him.
Through a mouthful of stew, Jorry says, “You make a good stew ma’am.” The others offer their praise as well.
“Thank you,” replies Gayle, a shy smile coming to her face.
“My Gayle is one of the best cooks anywhere,” Kerrin says as he gives her a one armed hug about the
