Chapter 11: Galia

There were no two ways around it: traveling cross country across Iskander was a slow, miserable and tedious affair. What would have taken three days of travel to the border on the imperial road had already stretched out to two weeks. My skill at navigation was good enough to know we were still headed in the right direction, but at some point any sense of how close or far we were from our destination had been completely lost.

We’d been further slowed down by having to stop and circle around whenever Cat’s new magic senses alerted her to the presence of “magic” and “danger” again. On three different occasions and one nerve wracking close encounter in the middle of the night that forced us to pack up and leave in a hurry her new senses had saved us from another dangerous encounter with magic beasts. However going around the potential danger still slowed us down by a not insubstantial amount. Cat had been enduring the hardships of the journey with more grit and resilience than I would have ever expected from an eleven year old, but eventually her mood and energy had inevitably started to flag. I did what I could to cheer her up with small talk but there was only so much I could do when the problem was the seemingly endless days of making our way through jagged hills, rocks and forests.

To further sour her mood we never ran into any more Power Stones. I think she really expected them to be scattered underground all over the countryside and when her expectations were dashed she became snippy and sarcastic when I could coax her to talk at all. She got over her disappointment after a few days but the constant hardship and exposure to the elements meant she didn’t exactly manage to bounce back to cheerful, either.

It was finally early in the morning of our sixteenth day that the endless forests gave way to gently rolling hills and magnificent fields of green grass as far as the eye could see.

“Whoa,” Cat exclaimed as we looked out at the sight before us. I couldn’t help but agree. We’d come out of the forest atop a hill high enough to see the landscape laid out before us for miles. Before us were green plains that seemed to stretch out forever with only the occasional tree dotting the landscape here and there. It was an idyllic, beautiful sight and neither of us had ever seen it’s like before. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, the air here somehow seeming fresher and more vibrant than back in the forest.

“Well, we made it,” I said lightly. “We’re officially in Galia.”

“Really?” asked Cat, her eyes never leaving the sight before us. “How can you tell?”

“Because Iskander doesn’t have anything like this,” I said, motioning at the rolling green plains in front of us. “Truthfully we probably crossed the border hours ago. But when the land changes this much, well, I think that just makes it that much more real.”

“So,” asked Cat, her voice hopeful. “Does that mean we’re safe from the priests for now?”

I had to hold back a wince. “The cult doesn’t have any official power in Galia,” I told her truthfully. “But I don’t doubt that they’ll find other ways to make a nuisance of themselves. We still need to be extremely careful. Just careful in a different way from now on.”

Cat look disappointed at that but not particularly surprised. “So what do we do now?”

“Well, we make our way to Bassett while keeping a low profile. Then we’ll figure out our next move from there.”

Cat nodded at that and seemed to take my words at face value. Truly, I wished that I had her confidence. I still felt like I was just winging it and making our next moves up day by day.

Scanning the horizon from our high vantage point I managed to spot the main road a few miles to our left. I took my time checking on the horses before pulling Catherine from her continued contemplation of the land in front of us. “Come on. The road should be relatively safe for now. Let’s see if we can find somewhere to sleep tonight that isn’t outdoors.”

“Oh Gods, yes please,” said Cat. “And a bath. I swear I have at least a pound of dirt caked on my skin.”

“Bassett is still about two days from here,” I told her with amusement. “But we’ll see what we can do.”

It took us a couple of hours to get the horses back onto the road and then we were on our way deeper into the heart of Galia. We thankfully saw nothing more than the occasional traveler on the road, usually greeting us cheerfully in passing, wearing lighter and more colorful clothes than what I’d grown up used to. My first impression on seeing various travelers was that the Galians tended to be a friendly, easygoing people, with a particular fondness for coiffed mustaches as opposed to the full bears that were so common in Iskander.

Still, I couldn’t help but tense up every time I saw a stranger on the road. I wasn’t even sure the cult knew which direction we were headed but it wasn’t insane to think they could have guessed or deduced our destination. If that was the case then what I would have done is pay the locals to inform them if a pair of individuals matching a certain description happened to pass by. Still, looking at Cat and at our own supplies I didn’t think we were up for another cross country jaunt across territory that I was frankly completely unfamiliar with. I’d simply have to do the best I could to keep us from drawing too much attention for the moment and hope for the best.

After a quick break for lunch and another half day of travel the grassy plains began to give way to farmland. Wheat and what I thought was barely were soon dominating the scenery in all directions, with farmsteads and farmhands hard at work dotting the landscape. A few workers waved at us as we walked by and Cat took every opportunity to wave enthusiastically back. Though on the outside I kept calm on the inside I was somewhat in awe of what we were seeing. We had not even seen a village yet and Galia already seemed like a much more prosperous and peaceful place than Iskander.

Of course it was just as I had been thinking that that Cat suddenly froze. I recognized her stiff posture as one of wariness and alarm.

“There is another Power Stone,” she said hurriedly. “Heading towards us I think. Going very fast. I – I’m not sure what that means.”

Silently I cursed under my breath. Truth be told I didn’t know what it meant either, and that meant I had no intention of being caught flatfooted in the middle of the road in case whoever this was spelled trouble. However looking around I realized there was no cover anywhere. On either side of the road there were just half grown chest high fields of wheat as far as the eye could see. The only break from the uniform monotony was an anemic looking tree growing on the side of the road.

I thought fast and made my decision. “Let’s tie up the horses on that tree and hide in the field,” I said hurriedly, already dismounting. “Hopefully whoever this is won’t be looking for any trouble.”

“Are we ever that lucky?” Cat asked sarcastically.

“One can only hope,” I replied seriously, before setting to work.

In less than a minute we had the horses tied up and the two of us were hidden among the wheat, crouched a peeking though the gaps in the foliage. A minute after that the people who had set off Cat’s magic sense finally came into view. It was a large armored carriage being pulled by four horses with a driver who was setting a hard pace. Four heavily armed guards on horses flanked the armored carriage, all of them with the look of seasoned men and carrying pristine equipment. On the front and side of the armored carriage was a proudly displayed symbol I had never seen before: a diamond encircled by a laurel wreath. I wasn’t sure what the symbol meant. It wasn’t in the style of a typical noble family’s coat of arms, that was for sure.

The group didn’t even slow down to investigate our horses. They continued at what had to be a punishing pace for their horses, pushing them down the road for all they were worth. It only took a few more moments before the armored convoy was out of sight.

“Maybe we should follow them and, ah, relieve them of the Power Stone when they go to sleep at night.”

I blinked before turning to look at Cat incredulously. “You want to what now?”

“I mean, we obviously need it more than they do,” said Cat defensively. “We need more Power Stones. Do you think we’re going to find more just laying around somewhere? Besides there were only five of them. If you catch them by surprise I’m sure you could take them down easily.”

My incredulous look quickly turned into a displeased frown. “You want to become a highwayman now? A thief? Don’t we have enough problems dodging the cult as it is? What is wrong with you?”

“I noticed you didn’t deny that you could take those men,” Cat said smugly, as if that was the salient point of this whole conversation.

“We may be in a bad spot now,” I said, voice dead serious. “But the law and order of the empire isn’t something to be broken on a whim. The empire is the edifice which keeps all intelligent races from oblivion. It’s something precious and enduring anyone who tries to pick at her stability is no better than a barbarian or a savage. No,” I said, shaking my head. “We’ll get out of this, but we’ll do it by following the law.”

“The law?” Catherine replied sarcastically, her lips twisting into a sneer. “You and I followed the law. Father followed the law. The cult followed the law. And look where we are now! Screw the law. From where I’m standing following the law didn’t do a damn thing to protect us. So why should we be so worried about following it now?”

“Look, that’s just how it is,” I said, worried and displeased by her attitude. “You don’t want the label of a criminal. Those who are labeled criminals will have the good men of the empire harry them constantly until the end of their days, or until they are brought to justice. If you want any hope of living a normal life once all this is over then you must absolutely do everything in your power to stay on the right side of imperial law. So no more talk about robbing people or brazenly breaking the law, all right?

With a frown Catherine crossed her arms and looked away with a huff. “Whatever. Do you really think I’m ever going to be able to just live a normal life after all of this?”

I found that I didn’t really have a good answer to her question.

We got back on the road after that, but for the rest of the day the atmosphere had become noticeably more tense and silent between us. Around dark we came to a tiny farming village with an inn. However at the time I couldn’t help but think that someone at that inn, the proprietor or even a barmaid, could easily have been paid to inform on our movements. It was the only inn within a day’s distance of the border after all and that made it the perfect place to have someone keeping an eye out for a particular pair of travelers. Instead of staying there I carefully had us skirt the village while doing our best to keep out of sight. A couple of miles past the village I negotiated with a farmer to let us stay in his barn for the night and paid him a little extra to keep his mouth shut about us. Cat wasn’t pleased at having to stay in a barn instead of an inn and the weird and tense atmosphere between us remained as we turned in for the night in the farmer’s hayloft.

Though it was great sleeping under a roof for the first time in weeks fitful dreams and half remembered nightmares left me feeling bleary and tired in the morning.

Thankfully whatever issue there seemed to have been between me and Cat had apparently resolved itself overnight and come morning it felt like things had gone back to normal between us. We made light conversation over breakfast and she joked that she couldn’t decide if she was going to go for a fresh hot meal or a hot bath as soon as we set foot in the city. We would be arriving at Bassett sometime that very day and the prospect of being done with life on the road for at least a while seemed to lift both of our spirits.

Doing my best to ensure we kept a low profile we were soon back on the road. Bassett was only a few hours away now. While Cat was excited at our imminent arrival back to civilization for my part my mind kept going back to the problem I’d been debating since this whole ordeal started. Now that we had come this far what were we going to do next?