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Face reddening, he looks to Jiron for help but finds him smiling, enjoying the predicament he’s gotten himself into. “No, it’s not that at all. Where I come from, women are considered equal to men in all things. What I was getting at was that the soldiers might’ve discovered you, or something.”

“I don’t let them ‘discover’ me,” she informs him. She gets up and says, “I think it’s time to go.” Without even waiting for a reply, she moves out through the woods at a quick pace. James and Jiron have to scramble to catch up with her.

James glances to Jiron who only gives him an amused smile.

That night when they stop for the night, James is about ready to die. The pace she kept the rest of the day had been unrelenting. No stops and he had to practically run in order to keep up with her. When she announced here is where they would be spending the night, he just collapses.

Coming over to him, she asks, “Tired?”

Nodding, he says breathlessly, “Yeah. Not used to so much climbing. Plus the air is thinner up here.”

“The sun’s going to be down soon and we don’t have time to rest,” she tells him. “You need to collect enough firewood to last through the night while I get dinner.” While stringing her bow, she adds, “It gets very cold up here when the sun’s down.” Once her bow is ready, she moves away from him and disappears in the trees.

Jiron comes over and gives him a hand up. He looks to where she disappeared in the trees and says, “I like her.”

James gives him a grin and says, “You like all the girls.”

Shaking his head, he says, “Not like that. But we better get busy if we’ll have a fire going and enough wood collected before she returns.”

Groaning, James gets his already stiffening legs moving again as he begins gathering small branches and sticks. When he has an armful, he returns and deposits it in camp where Jiron goes about lighting a fire. Four more trips are required before Jiron determines they have enough to last through the night.

About that time, she returns with two small animals and proceeds to clean and dress them for the fire.

While she’s doing that, James asks her, “You never even told us your name.”

She looks up from the rabbits and says, “Aleya.”

Jiron comes over to her and says, “I’m Jiron.”

A quick nod and then she returns her attention back to the animals.

Jiron just stands there not sure what to do, a simple nod was not the reply he expected. There’s just something about her that both annoys and attracts him. Finally realizing he’d been standing there like an idiot, he goes over and sits near James across the fire from her.

“How much further is this fortress?” James asks her.

“Another two days,” she replies. She points to an imposing ridge to the west and says, “We should reach that ridge by tomorrow night. It’s all downhill from there on.”

A deep valley separates them and their destination. The ridge is quite high and steep, higher in fact than where they sit now. James looks at the prospect of trying to climb it with trepidation.

She notices how his face has fallen as he stares out across the valley. “Don’t worry,” she tells him with a reassuring smile, “it’s not going to be that bad. There’s an old stairway that was cut into the ridge a long time ago which leads all the way to the top.”

“A stairway?” Jiron asks.

“A series of steps that wind their way up to the top,” she explains. “From there you can see the Fortress of Kern nestled in the hills below, which sits at Cardri’s southern border. An old road leads down from the top of the ridge and comes out somewhere near Kern. Never actually had the occasion to cross the ridge before. From there you two can go on your way.”

“What about you?” Jiron asks.

“I’ll go back to where you found me,” she replies. “Not much else for me now.” Having finished dressing the animals, she impales them upon sticks and hands them to Jiron and James. “You boys can do the cooking, if you don’t mind.”

“No, we don’t mind,” Jiron says as he takes the sticks from her and hands one to James.