Taking Flight

When they were safely out of the inn and on the streets of Sinodita, Kelder turned left. Irith corrected him, grabbing his arm and turning him around.

“That’s west,” she said. “We’re going east.”

Kelder stood where he was and shook his head. “No, we aren’t,” he said. “Or at least, I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Asha asked, looking up at him.

“No,” he said. “I’m going home, to Shulara.”

Irith put her hands on her hips and snorted. A lock of hair fell across her face; she blew it out of her way, and glared at Kelder.

“What about me?” Asha asked timidly. “What about Abden?”

Kelder looked down at her. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I’m tired, and I don’t have any more money, and I can’t see what we can do, anyway. If we caught up to the caravan, what would we do? Why would they help us? And how long will it be before we catch them, anyway? Where will we eat and sleep?”

“I don’t know,” Asha whispered.

“Neither do I,” Kelder said. “And that’s why I’m going home. I can sleep on the grass by the roadside, and pick a little food from the fields, and that should last me long enough to get home to my family-if I turn back now.” That probably meant giving up on Zindre’s prophecy, but just now, tired even after a night’s sleep and humiliated by his experience with the innkeeper, Kelder didn’t care.

And maybe he could try again in a few years, become the champion of the lost and forlorn then. It was much easier to be a hero when one had money.

“What about me, though?” Asha asked. “I can’t go back to my family!”

Kelder frowned. “Don’t you have any relatives except your father?” he asked.

Asha shook her head; a tear ran down one cheek.

“Kelder of Shulara,” Irith said, with her hands on her hips, “if you think for one minute that I’m going to let you break your promise to that poor child, then you’re a complete blithering idiot! We, both of us, are going on to Shan with her, and we’re going to find her brother’s head and bring it back and build a proper pyre! And after that we’ll find some place for her where she’ll be safe. And then, if you want, you can creep back home to your stupid little farm in Shulara and let your mommy and daddy take care of you-but not until then! Do you hear me?”

Kelder blinked. “Irith,” he said tiredly, “I don’t. Have. Any. More. Money.”

“Well, so what?”

“So I can’t go anywhere.”

“Kelder, you’re being stupid! What do you need money for? We aren’t just any bunch of travelers, you know; you aren’t in this alone. You’re with Irith the Flyer!”

Kelder looked at her for a long moment, then asked, “So what?”

“So, you silly ass,” Irith replied, “I’m a shapeshifter and a famous magician! Everybody on the Great Highway knows me. I can get money any time I want!”

“You can?”

“Of course I can! Do you think I’ve lived all these years off people like you?”

Kelder had not thought at all about how Irith supported herself; the question had simply never occurred to him. Now that it had been pointed out, he felt rather foolish.

“Oh,” he said.

He thought for a moment.

Asha was staring up at Irith now, and the expression on her face and in her eyes looked suspiciously like adoration. Kelder felt a twinge of envy; wasn’t it he who was supposed to be the honored champion?

“I must be just as stupid as you said,” he said. “I don’t see how you can get money any time you want.”

Irith let out an exasperated hiss and turned away in disgust, then turned back to say, “I work for it, silly! I can do things that nobody else can!”

“But how do you find work?” Kelder asked.

She shrugged. “I ask around. And if there isn’t anything handy, I borrow money-people know I’m good for it.”

“Oh,” Kelder said again. He hesitated, and then asked, “Do you have any money now?”

“Of course I do!”

“You do?” Kelder’s weariness and confusion began to give way to annoyance. “You do?”

“Yes, of course!” Irith repeated.

“Then…” Kelder stopped, calmed himself, and tried again. “Then why…” Again, he paused, but finally the entire thing burst out, unrestrained.

“Then why in all the depths of Hell didn’t youtellme that before I embarrassed us all in front of the innkeeper?” he shouted.

“Because you didn’t ask!” Irith shouted back. “I didn’t know you were out of money! You didn’t tell me! The first I knew of it was when you counted out your coins for Bardec!”

“Well, why didn’t you say something then?” Kelder yelled back.

“Because I was too embarrassed, that’s why!”

Kelder started to say something in reply, but no words came; his breath came out in a rush. He took another breath, but it, too, came out as wordless noise.

“Are you really going back to Shulara?” Asha asked.

Kelder looked down at her, and his anger dissipated.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“It’s only two days from here to Shan,” Irith said. “At most; we could make it in less if we pushed.”

Kelder looked at her, remembering the long walk from Shulara, and then looked down at Asha again.