All of which made it seem even more strange, Chestnut was one of the gentlest horses she’d ever met, and he was certainly no fiery young stallion anymore, which was why he was reduced to pulling this wagon on the trip. Not that he wasn’t still a fine horse, but only the fastest horses were ridden, all the others were drafted for pulling the wagons. In fact, the whole incident had so shook her that she’d even forgot to take her diary out to record the day’s events, not that there had been any light to write by, but she did have a small candle she could have used. Jehenna would have had a heart attack if she’d used Mage Light. Anyway, whatever the reason for the horse’s behavior, further inquiry would best wait until they got to Freehold.
Rupert finished scouring the kettle with the cleaning sand, and stood up. He walked to the back of the wagon and morosely hung it on its peg. The other kids were already in, so he just put his foot on wooden end rail and climbed in. None of the others said anything to him, they had heard from the adults’ conversations what had happened, and they apparently couldn’t think of anything to say. Which was fine with Rupert, he really didn’t feel like talking about it to anyone, he didn’t want to have to answer any questions. Thankfully, the only things anyone had said to him since the event were all work related. No one said anything, but he knew they were puzzled.
At this point Master Trisfelt climbed aboard the driver’s seat. Grabbing the reins, he looked back and said, “Are we all in?” Sydney and Chass simply nodded, Gloria murmured “yes sir,” and Rupert just stared ahead, unwilling to meet Master Trisfelt’s gaze. His eyes were still red, he couldn’t help it, he’d cried some more last night before falling asleep; he really just didn’t want anyone to notice. Taking the quiet responses affirmatively, the hefty wizard turned around on his seat and made a clicking noise and gave the horses the signal to begin following the wagon ahead.
The wagon train rolled out in the same order as the day before. They had camped just below the entrance to the first pass, so it only took about fifteen minutes before they hit the trail that would take them through the mountains. As they went on, the trail climbed higher and higher along the side of the first mountain. The trail was on the south side of a mountain, and to the left the ground quickly dropped away to a narrow valley between mountains.
Rupert and the other children sat very still in the wagon. They had looked over the edge of the wagon once, and seen how narrow of a trail they were following. They quickly decided not to move lest they throw the wagon off balance; even though Master Trisfelt had assured them that the trail was perfectly safe, and that there was no danger as long as they didn’t start a wrestling match going. The trail continued onward occasionally crossing small streams, or descending long grades to the bottom of a valley, only to climb again, up and around the next mountain.
At lunch time, they stopped along a slightly wider area to eat. The trail was still narrow enough that the wagons had to remain single file, but wide enough that people could walk alongside the wagons. Master Trisfelt climbed in the back of the wagon and began rummaging to find some meat and cheese for their lunch.
“Mind if I join you,” came a voice from the rear of the wagon. Rupert looked up to see Jenn’s smiling face peering at them from around the corner.
“Oh, I don’t know if we’ll have enough...” said Master Trisfelt, who had just produced a giant haunch of roasted beef from a sack along with a five pound wheel of cheese. “After all, we do have these growing boys to think of!”
“Don’t you mean your growing belly, to think of?” inquired Jenn with a sweet smile.
“Ahem,” Master Trisfelt said with mock dignity, “surely you jest, ma’am, certainly you can see that we have children here, who are on the brink of starvation.”
“Uh huh, oh yeah, I can see that clearly.” Jenn climbed up into the back of the wagon, “however, I do bring fair recompense for your hospitality.”
“Oh truly?” inquired Master Trisfelt, his curiosity peaked.
“Yes, this.” Jenn produce a bottle of wine from behind her back and handed it to the wizard.
“Hmmm, Scorzio wine, and a remarkable year at that. How did you get it?”
“Why, I’m sure it is simply payment from my lady for driving her wagon.”
“You stole it? My dear,” he said with a broad smile, “you’re finely coming around.”
“Hardly-actually, I brought it myself, the night before we left, I tried practicing with Fermi’s Fermentation Spell. I fear, it simply happens that the bottle was an empty one I found while helping pack my lady’s belongings.”
“Hmmm,” replied Master Trisfelt, crestfallen. “Fermentation spell eh? Well, maybe... have you tried it? I mean those things more often make vinegar than wine. Especially, when not performed by a Master such as myself...” he said while waving his nose haughtily in the air. All the children laughed at his imitation of Lenamare, even Rupert smiled.
“I leave that honor to you, as my glorious instructor... it is your duty to test my work.”
“As most assuredly I shall,” and with that Trisfelt pulled off the cork, snapped his fingers to conjure a wine goblet, actually it had been up his sleeve, and poured. Sniffing the wine, as a true connoisseur, he rolled his eyes slightly, and with a slight grin took a sip. Rolling it around in his mouth he appeared to think for a moment, “Aaah,” was all he said as he swallowed. He took another, larger drink, smiled and looked towards the sky. Once again he sighed after swallowing, and then pretended to notice Jenn sitting there watching him.
Quickly, he shook his head, and gave her a formal look, “Ahem, I suppose it is passable... you’ll have to do better next time though. Naturally, of course, I shall judge that one also.” The children giggled.
“Oh really. I think you liked it.” Jenn accused the wizard.
“Actually, Jenn, damn good. It tastes like the real thing.” Admitted Master Trisfelt with a pleased look, “you really are remarkable when it comes to these spells... I must admit, this wine is as good or possibly — and I remind you only, possibly-better than I could have done myself.”
Jenn smiled, “thank you, you’re too sweet.”
“Aaah, I know. However, now on to lunch, shall we?”
Lunch was finished in short order, and all parties managed to take care of personal business, so they were soon on their way again. The sky overhead was a brilliant purplish blue, not a cloud in the sky. Truly a lovely day, rejoiced Jenn as they rode along.
About an hour after lunch they road down to the bottom of a slightly wider valley than they had yet seen in the mountains. This one actually had moderately gentle sloping sides and even grass at the bottom. The hill sides were strewn with large boulders, everywhere. The basin, however, was easily wide enough for three wagons abreast. As the wagon train spread slightly out into the valley, Jenn suddenly felt a fluctuation in the air that signaled strong magic.
As she whipped her head up in the air, automatically thinking up counter spells in her mind, Jehenna stood up and raised her arms. From her lips spilled hasty words of warding, the air around their wagon shimmered, and just in time. For not six seconds after she felt the first twinges, their wagon was engulfed in a roaring ball of fire. Jenn could see nothing but flames all around her. Fortunately, nothing in their wagon was damaged because Jehenna had got the fire shield up fast enough. It didn’t take long; the flames were quickly gone. Without taking time to think, Jenn did what she’d been instructed early on to do in a battle of wizardry. She reached out her mind, seeking the source of the magic.