Through The Fire: The Alawansi Book One by Valerie Puissant

Author:Valerie Puissant [Puissant, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-01-08T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

I had not been on a long trip since I had made the initial journey to the capital city. We had been on shorter jaunts to nearby villages and towns on various errands, usually gathering supplies for Wylan’s endless enchantment experiments, but we had not been more than a day away from home in over a year. Now we were attached to King Naser’s caravan and we were bound for Geronia City, the capital of Geronia, on a diplomatic mission. I was excited to be traveling to a different land. I had read so much about the wonders of Geronia and I had seen examples of Geronian stone carving in our own great city. I was quite disappointed when we had ridden through the gates of the great wall which separated our two nations and discovered the landscape was little changed from one side of the wall to the other. “The scenery will change as we travel further east. Most of the marvels you have read about in books can be seen in Geronia City.” Wylan had traveled to the city many times with his old master but this was my first time. I was truly looking forward to arriving in the capital, but the journey itself was tedious. Caravans traveled much more slowly and we had been on the road for weeks.

Wylan pulled out a white linen face cloth and wiped away the trickles of sweat that dripped down his forehead. As Wylan had predicted, the scenery had begun to change as we rode deeper into Geronia and so had the weather. The atmosphere inside our coach was close and over warm in the late spring heat. I did not feel the discomfort as he did because of my nature, but even I longed for a breeze to stir the stale air. I spoke into the silence. “It is hard to believe the weather can change so drastically in such a short time.”

Wylan wiped at his brow again. “Soon I fear we will dispel the myth that mages have no natural scent.” He looked at me for a moment and amended, “Or at least I will. I truly envy your ability to remain cool and dry under any circumstance.”

I smiled, “Given the general aroma of the caravan, I think we still come up smelling like roses, on balance. We, at least, have the advantage of warm washing water each night.”

He flashed me one of his famous half smiles. “Have I thanked you for that lately?”

I smiled back, teasingly. “No, you have not. I am beginning to feel very underappreciated.”

He came closer to a full smile this time. He bowed his head deeply, “M’lady, I am grateful for all your glorious talents. You have kept the atmosphere in our coach from becoming too rare to bear.”

I was a bit taken aback and almost ridiculously pleased at this acknowledgement of my true gender. Since he had given me the hair ribbon, the subject had not come up again, though I had taken to wearing the ribbon nearly every day.

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