‘I’m sorry, all right?’ he said. ‘I wasn’t thinking.’
Gripping the strap of my rucksack tightly and throwing it over my shoulder, I said, ‘I just … I want to keep this a secret, okay? I don’t want word getting to some Realm Official that a Fire-Mage is making their way to the capital. If I had been home at the time of my families arrest … well … I would have been imprisoned too. It won’t be hard for The Realm to work out that I am related to the other Fire-Mages they’ve detained.’
Jack nodded, his ears turning pink.
‘Just … just wait until we find them, okay? Then you can flirt with as many people as you like,’ I said. ‘And don’t tell anyone what my Power is. Please.’
Jack nodded, ‘All right.’
Chapter Four
Fire Demon
Forty minutes later, when we went behind the stables to be reunited with him, Hawthorne was extremely grumpy. As a way of an apology, I bought a large leg of ham from the lodge and gave it to him. He was thoroughly delighted and it took only minutes for him to devour it. Now much happier with me, Hawthorne allowed me to sit upon his back while Jack walked alongside us. Jack was not too pleased about this, but I reminded him that his Healing abilities meant he could walk much further than I.
What’s really bothering you? The fact that I talked to another girl? Or that someone seems genuinely interested in me?
Jack’s words reverberated around in my head as I rode along on Hawthorne. I watched Jack walking only a few steps ahead of us. He wore a thick coat to protect himself from the cold and large, heavy boots which loudly crunched fallen twigs and leaves. Mist cascaded from his mouth with every breath he took. On the other hand, I wore nothing but a thin dress and simple leather shoes, for the cold did not affect me in the way it affected other people.
Why was I so upset about Jack making new acquaintances? It was a protective feeling that I had inside my chest. Yes, that was it. I was disgruntled because I thought of Jack like a brother – and I didn’t want him getting hurt. Regardless, I could not afford to lose Jack when my family’s liberty was at stake. Jack had promised to help me, had he not?
Several hours passed and I ignored the burning sensation in my stomach. Jack barely spoke to me as we walked. After a while, I dismounted Hawthorne and tried to fall in to step with Jack, but his legs were too long and he ended up several paces in front of me. In the back of my mind I knew that he was slightly annoyed with me and had perhaps increased his pace so we would not have to talk.
After another hour of silence I began to jog in order to keep up with him. Jack noticed my persistence and slowed down a little.
‘I’m hungry,’ I said, rubbing my stomach. ‘Aren’t you?’
‘We have some bread and cold meat left,’ Jack told me, his eyes staring straight ahead.
I could tell by the position of the sun that it was nearing midday and we would need to stop and rest for a little while.
Lunch was a quiet affair. Jack and I ate the bread and cold cuts and were disgruntled to find that our supplies were running low. We needed water and more food, but we did not have much money left. Jack’s decision to spoil us the previous night had severely damaged our funds.
‘We shouldn’t have done it,’ I grumbled that evening when we were cooking our pitiful dinner – chopped vegetables stewed in water.
Jack poked at the floating vegetables in the pot that we had brought from home. ‘The next town is still a few hours away. We can stock up on supplies tomorrow.’
‘But will we have enough food to last another three days?’ I asked.
Jack shrugged. ‘We could always steal food.’
I frowned. ‘I don’t know how I would feel about that.’
‘Me either.’
Something landed into my lap with a soft thump. Looking down I saw a dead bird sitting there – it’s neck broken. I screamed and leapt away from the animal, backing straight into Hawthorne.
Jack laughed heartily. ‘It looks like he wants to share his catch.’
My heart rate returning to normal, I saw Hawthorne look at me, then at the bird and back to me.
‘Is that for us?’ I said with raised eyebrows, pointing at the feathery mess.
Hawthorne nuzzled me and I took that to mean yes.
‘Thank you!’ I said, scratching him behind the ears. ‘How nice.’
Jack picked up the bird by it’s legs and it dangled sickly in front of him. It was a plump pheasant.
‘I guess I’ll be the one plucking and skinning it, right?’ he said, pulling a face.
‘Naturally.’
While Jack got to work preparing the bird, I made myself useful by collecting more firewood. Hawthorne sniffed the dirt around me while I walked about picking up sticks and twigs to burn. He found some mushrooms growing underneath a mossy tree and I inspected them, but I was not confident enough to pick them, I didn’t know much about edible fungi in the forest.