The Traveller's Tale: Tales of Darkwood Book 1 by Stacey Upton Bracey

Author:Stacey Upton Bracey [Upton Bracey, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EWP Publications
Published: 2022-01-24T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bella slowed the huge dark horse to a walk as she entered the verge of the trees. He was blowing hard after the long, steady trot punctuated by runs from the city. Bella patted him on the neck and murmured, “Atta way, Destry. Good boy.” Her legs ached from the wide girth of the horse. It’d been ages since she’d ridden anything but their ponies. This was Aisha’s fine horse that was the envy of all the Travellers. Aisha claimed she won the charger from a knight on a bet years ago, but she’d never told the full story. Aisha never let anyone but herself or Malik ride him.

But they had needed the strength and speed of the stallion to do what they needed to do in just a few scant hours.

The canopy of the trees was still in early bud, vivid spring green tipping out of bare branches. The outliers of Darkwood were beautiful. Miles further away in the heart of the forest, the deep green needles of the firs stayed constant, but here the trees created a mass of soft color as winter passed. Bella let her eyes roam for a moment. There were times she wished the forest spoke to her as it did her father, but she felt nothing from the trees.

She’d have to find what she was looking for using her ordinary senses. First here at the edge of the forest for the poison, and then on further into the deeps of it for the cure. Sliding down the horse’s side, bending her knees to absorb the landing, Bella flicked the reins over Destry’s head and led the horse towards the babbling of the stream she heard up ahead. The horse plodded along with her with its ears pricked up and forward.

“You hear it too, don’t you, boy? You must be thirsty.” The bushy undergrowth grew thicker. Soon Bella was pushing her way through dense willow clumps. Destry snorted in annoyance as branches flicked against his sides, pulling up on the reins as if to tell her they should turn around. Bella’s feet were sinking into the loamy ground, which was getting more and more damp with each step. Tiny gnats spun around her head with their irritating whine. This was what she was looking for, boggy ground.

The merry trickle of water was barely an arm span wide as it whisked past, eager to join the larger river some fifteen miles distant. Even riding the excellent horse, it had taken nearly two hours to get here. Bella felt impatience rise in her chest and forced it down. She just needed a few black berries—not green or red—from a Belladonna plant. Or if she spotted the pretty white flowers of glovewart, she could gather their stems, but she’d need a lot of those to get the sap. Or foxgloves would work as well. Bella reached into the satchel she carried slung diagonally across her shoulders and withdrew some gloves. She kept the knife Aisha had loaned her tucked into the satchel.

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