“Neither can I,” he muttered as he gratefully slid from the saddle. He stumbled a bit, trying to get the feeling back in his legs. Kre had never really been as into riding as one would expect, especially given his father’s occupation and skill in working with horses. He much preferred walking or riding in a wagon to horses. He just didn’t have the same knack with them as hid dad did. Sometimes, he honestly felt like every horse just didn’t like him.
“Be grateful that you have a horse to ride. It is a long walk to the Citadel without one.”
He nodded slowly, his head still a little foggy from lack of sleep. A question rose in his mind and he sighed, knowing that he would probably regret asking it but he also knew that he had to ask. “Shouldn’t be keep riding on? To get ahead of the Rangers? Once they wake up, they’re going to come after us.”
“We have their horses,” Kitalia answered calmly. “We will be gone from here by the time they could walk the distance.”
“They could commandeer the horses from our wagon. Without a casket the carry, there isn’t much need for the wagon anymore, not that I expect the Rangers would bother worrying about asking nicely for the horses.”
Kitalia snorted. “Those horses are past their prime. It would take them twice as long if they tried riding those poor work horses. They would not be able to ride up and down the hills as we can, and they would lose significant time going around.”
“What time is it anyway? How long did we ride for?”
She glanced quickly up at the sky and nodded once, as it responding to some silent spirit that only she could hear. “We are about 35 miles south of the cabin. We have not ridden very long, because the horses are tired. Those Rangers pushed them very hard. Too hard.” Her horse gave a soft whiney as if eerily agreeing with her comment.
“So, it’s maybe midnight,” Kre calculated. “That’s not as late as I thought it would be, but I feel so tired anyway.”
“You have had a stressful day. It would be expected that you are exhausted.”
He considered it for a moment. “Probably true, but I feel like your day was much worse than mine. Being imprisoned by those Rangers, suffering under their hand, that can’t have been easy either.”
Kitalia gave a light shrug of her shoulders, “It was not… unbearable. I have suffered worse in my life.”
There was an implied statement there that even a male as dense as Kre was able to catch. She would not say anything more about it. They unpacked some blankets and rolled them out. Kre gave extra consideration as to the placement of his blankets. Not too close to hers, as to seem overly familiar, but not too far away such that it denoted a lack of trust. If she noticed his mental quandary, she said nothing.
Thankfully, the weather in this region stayed fairly warm, even through the night. The blankets were there more to keep the dirt and grass away and not really to serve as a necessary source of warmth through a chilly night.
After they had set out their personal items, Kre tended to the two horses while Kitalia worked on something else, her hands busy in her pack. Unsaddled, unbridled, and given a quick rub-down, the horses started to settle down a bit. Since they had eaten their standard dinner back at the cabin, Kre figured they would be good to graze and nibble at the grass if they got peckish. He realized suddenly that he wasn’t even sure if they had packed food for the horses.