Chapter 22
506 Words
22
The sun was just above the horizon to the south when they packed up and continued east. They reached the Ridge an hour later. The Ridge was a low mountain range and a natural separation between the Wilds and the ten kingdoms of Bolaji. Their peaks, though not high, were grueling to travel on foot. The animals they’d brought would have just as hard a time navigating the rocks with their wide legs.
“The ridge is treacherous,” Lu pointed out.
“I know, that’s why no one will follow us there,” Rasha said.
“We could cross the ridge and make our way on the other side,” Jak suggested. They both looked at him with disbelief.
No one said anything for almost a full minute as they all considered the possibility.
“I don’t like it,” Rasha said at last. Chiza nodded in agreement, though she didn’t have a vote.
“I do. It’s brilliant. We’d have the best of both worlds. No one wants to deal with the Wilds and they won’t be able to track us through the desert. I think we should do it,” Lu said.
“Are you getting any communications?” Rasha asked him.
“Nothing. I’m still blacked out. Nothing going in or out. It won’t be better on the other side of the Ridge, but it also means we’ll have less of a chance of being traced or tracked.”
“There’s nothing on mine either,” Rasha said looking at the blank square.
“So, are we agreed?” Jak asked.
They took a few hours to traverse the Ridge. The tuskins had been hard to convince to navigate the rocky landscape. The Wilds close to the Ridge were desert lands made up of hard-packed and cracking dirt and a layer of shifting sands.
Their view was broken by a scattering of trees, bare branches reaching up to the sky as if to petition for more rain. The terrain wasn’t as rough but, although dry, they were far from warm.
Jak led the way. He knew where to stop for water, where to rest, and where to set up camp for the night. This time of year, the night winds were cold, the four of them (along with Temi) huddled together for warmth.
“How do you know so much about this place?” Lu asked.
“This is the route my mother took when she fled Winaka, the seventh kingdom, to raise me in the Wilds.”
If he’d said he’d been born with two heads and two horns they couldn’t have looked more shocked. Rasha clicked her tongue for her beast match the pace of Jak’s.
“You were raised in the Wilds?” she asked. She didn’t hide her surprise any more than the others.
“Yes. It’s not how people describe it. Just because we don’t abide by the laws of the ten kingdoms doesn’t mean we run around nude with spears in our hands.”
Rasha stifled a laugh. Jak looked at her sideways.
“What? Were you imagining me in the nude?”
Rasha’s mouth fell open in shock, but she recovered and rolled her eyes. “Not in the least.”
Chiza giggled somewhere behind them, which only encouraged her.
“That said, I’m sure that your thin legs wouldn’t look too bad.”
“My thin legs?” Jak looked down at his legs with concern.
“I’m sure with a little spear hunting you could improve on them,” Rasha told him as her tuskin overtook his.
- Writer
