Free Zypheria's Call (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure) by Nathan Lowell Page B

asked.
    He shook his head. “Get you away from this rabble so’s I can have you to myself,” he said loudly enough that the people in the back of the crowd could hear.
    “Hey, I’m still here!” Rebecca said.
    “You’ll be huntin’,” Frank said over his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows in Tanyth’s direction. “Now, siddown a’fore ya fall down. We’re rollin’.”
    With that, Frank lifted his foot off the brake lever and gave the reins a gentle snap. It was enough to get the lead horse moving and the rest ambled along behind. The team with its heavy wagon eased around the bulk of the inn, crunched across the newly graveled yard and rolled out onto the Pike. A flock of children ran along beside, Riley in the lead waving and shouting, “Goodbye. See ya in a moon. Goodbye.”
    Tanyth turned in her seat to watch the village disappear, a small group of adults—William and Amber, Thomas and Sadie among them—waving as the screen of trees blocked her line of sight and they disappeared from view.
    She straightened around and looked up at Frank, settling her hat firmly on her head. “Well,” she said.
    He glanced down at her with a half smile before turning his attention once more to the backsides of the horses ahead of them. “Yeah,” he said.
    “Oh, I can see you two are going to be loads of fun on this trip,” Rebecca said, clambering over the back of the seat to plop down beside Tanyth. She leaned forward and grinned at them both. “How long before we get to Kleesport?”
    Frank laughed. “We ain’t there yet. Be a while.”
    “How much of a while? Ten days?”
    Frank shook his head. “Two weeks, more like.”
    Rebecca nodded. “Good.” She sat quietly while the horses clopped along, their heavy hooves sounding hollow in the still morning air.
    After a few moments the wagon rolled by a distinctive looking tree beside the road. Tanyth tried to remember why it looked so familiar, until a dark shadow soared silently through the woods and landed on an outstretched branch with a flare of black wings.
    “Think she knows?” Rebecca asked, nodding at the bird.
    Tanyth stared for a long moment, trying to remember what it was like to see through her own eyes and the bird’s eyes at the same time.
    “She knows,” Frank said.
    Curious, Tanyth turned to him. “How can you be so sure?”
    He smiled down at her. “She’s here.”
    The rumbling crunch of wagon wheels filled the gaps between hoof beats as they watched the raven watching them. Long after they’d left the bird behind, Tanyth thought she heard the hoarse caw-caw-caw that reminded anything within earshot that she owned those woods.
    “Hope Thomas remembers to give her a rabbit now and again,” Tanyth said.
    “He will, mum. He will,” Rebecca said, patting Tanyth’s forearm. “He likes her almost as much as you.”
    Frank snorted a short laugh but offered no other comment.

    As the afternoon sun began sliding down behind the trees, Rebecca sat up in her seat, startling Tanyth out of a sleepy revery. “I don’t know how you two can sit on this hard bench,” she said, shifting back and forth.
    “You can always get down and walk,” Frank said. “I do sometimes.”
    “Can I?”
    “Sure, you can probably walk faster than the horses anyway. Grab your bow and get in a little practice, if you want.”
    The surface of the Pike was level enough that she didn’t have any problem clambering into the bed of the wagon. Taking up bow and quiver, she lowered herself from the tailgate, letting the wagon roll away from her while she strung the bow.
    “Be careful, Robert,” Frank called.
    Rebecca raised a hand and stepped off to the side of the road, vanishing into the undergrowth.
    “Will she be all right?” Tanyth asked.
    Frank shrugged. “Thomas thinks so and she’s been hunting with him all spring.”
    “How do you know he thinks so? He tell ya?”
    “Where ya think she got the bow?”
    Tanyth looked over her shoulder to the place where