Chapter 26

Aicha

Even I understood that it was a bad idea to go alone to try to find Sara. But Bruno and Alex really needed to help their families with the harvest, and Sara could not trust Emma since her family collaborated with the captain. Also, as Bruno pointed out, I had the strongest tracking magic of us all, and Emma added that if I went, I could ask Sara to spare my uncle Jale once she came to the valley with her army. Even if he was a traitor, he had always been nice to me and gave me sweets when I was younger, so I suppose he didn’t deserve to die.

Also, only I lived in a hunting community, so we could easily craft a tale that I had left with the hunters for one of their longer trips and keep my family from worrying too much about what I really intended to do. I sighed. Alex could also come up with a tale of visiting his family on the river, but he was needed for harvest…

I had never left the valley before, but I tried not to worry about it too much. After the meeting, when we decided that I would be the one to go, fuelled by more of the liberated cider, I began to feel excited about the adventure in front of me. Especially when everyone started to hail me as a hero in the end.

With newly found enthusiasm, I prepared for my journey. Our funds were pretty depleted after Bruno’s mission, but when Emma gave me a pouch with our money, and I saw the few silver coins it contained, I felt richer than the mayor and reassured everyone that it for sure would be enough to last me until I found Sara. Anyway, I could hunt for food on my way, right…?

In the last few days before leaving, I couldn't think about anything else. I was so curious about what lay beyond our borders. Father always tried to limit my freedom and keep me in the village. Sometimes he seemed worse than the Queen, to be honest. After all, I was fifteen, so I considered myself almost an adult and fully capable of taking care of myself.

Sadly, we could only tell my father that I had gone with the hunters once I had left, since he would never allow me to go in the first place. Which meant we needed to liberate most of the things I would need for this journey. Emma seemed to be caught up in the excitement too, and the pile of blankets, flasks, and bags stacked up in our camp, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t need all of it. And did I really want to carry a cooking pot and a tent? Not really… I guess I would be back in a couple of weeks, so I didn't care about winter clothes and things like that. They looked heavy and uncomfortable to carry in a backpack. After Alex kept nagging, though, I agreed to take a cloak in case of rain and a blanket to sleep on.

Of course, I packed my bow, and Bruno gifted me a dagger he had liberated from one of the drunken soldiers who had fallen asleep behind the inn, so I felt well armed.

Unfortunately, I feared that my parents suspected something, and I didn’t dare to take any of my spare clothes. So I was forced to settle on what Alex gave me, following the logic that too big was better than too small. Anyway, I could always wash my clothes in the river and let them dry in the sun.

When the full moon came, and I was ready to embark on my quest, everyone gathered in our secret place to bid me farewell. My backpack looked really heavy with all the food Bruno had rescued from his house, so we sat down and decided to share our last meal together and a flask of cider that, as Bruno pointed out, would only weigh me down on my journey.

It was late, and my head was spinning when I finally got up and quietly left, taking the path to the East, leaving my friends sleeping around the fire pit.