Bel put down her stew and frowned.
‘If she comments on the burn,’ Kitalia mentally seethed, ‘I swear I’m going to leave her behind no matter what Kre might think of me.’
The admission surprised her a bit as she never once thought that she might care what the stupid farm-boy might think of her. The kid was just a means to an end, she told herself. A way to get an in with Red knowing how the latter felt about Dragon Knights.
‘This is what comes of dealing with dragons,’ she chided herself. ‘Father always said, ‘tis better to deal with the faie folk than with a dragon. At least the faie will screw you over immediately. With a dragon, it could take until the end of your life to realize you have been damned for generations to come, if you ever realize it at all.’
Kitalia could now see the truth in his wisdom. Dragons were nothing more than a pain in her…
“He is still southwest of us, but farther than he had been before. His troop must be pursuing something aggressively.”
Kitalia traced out some lines in the dirt. From what Bel had previously told her of their current location, she filled in some of the earthen map with the landmarks she knew. “Possibly…” she admitted, “but I do not like where they are headed. Southwest is the mountains, and none of those that live there are friendly, man nor beast.”
Bel nodded as if she already knew this. “We cannot reach him while he is among those folk. I dare say that we will need to meet him on the other side.”
“What then?” Kitalia asked. “What is your plan with him once we meet him again?”
Bel shrugged, “That is entirely up to him. I only wish to ensure his safety after our episode underground. I believe that he is still in danger from something that accursed spirit gave him down there and at the very least, I must rid him of that foul influence.
“After that,” she added, tilting her chin up slightly, “it is his choice as to what he does next and with whom.”
Kitalia felt that Bel unnecessarily emphasized that last bit, as if to say that she was not a suitable travel companion for Kre. Which was probably true, but it still didn’t stop her from feeling partially responsible for his well-being. She would at least escort him out of the wilds and back towards civilization… or, at least what the Tehynshins considered to be civilization. Then she would leave him and return to her own life. Whatever happened to Kre after that was between him and the Tehynshins and there was little she would be able to do to help him there.
‘They will tear him apart just as sure as any creature of these wilds,’ she noted. ‘The Tehynshins are the worst of all of the predators in this land and they will not hesitate to turn on their own.’
She knew that from experience, having watched it happen over and over again from her perch in the shadows. The Rangers were by far the vilest, as she had experienced first-hand when she got too complacent, but she had yet to meet any Tehynshins that didn’t deserve to be hated. None, that is, until she had met Kre.