Chapter 64: Awfully Familiar
"We ought not to disturb the tracks as much as we can," Sir Gunnar ordered the others. "Who knows if these tracks will be useful to us later. The snow will continue to melt and erase the evidence anyway so we ought to use it while we still can."
A feeling of dread she was familiar with filled Irene’s heart as they all followed Sir Gunnar into the forest without any certainty that they would stumble upon a horrific scene. There hadn’t been monster activity, but what if it was just the beginning for them?
The snow had melted a lot that day, after all.
Rather than dwell on what she could not control, Irene kept her dominant hand, clad in brown riding gloves, tucked against her belt so she could easily access her sword if needed. Even though she wasn’t yet a confident archer on moving horseback, she could rely on her sword skills and she knew that much.
For a while, there was nothing more than the noises coming from riding on horseback through thick, melting snow and around tree trunks since the path the wagon took seemed to be directionless and on no usual trail in those mountains.
Occasionally drips of melting snow would fall on them from the trees and, a few times, Irene was caught by surprise to feel water on the top of her head. It reminded her that she needed to cut her hair soon. If she let it grow out too much longer she was sure she would look even more feminine than she did. However, it had been nice to have her hair against her neck through the cold winter. It did give her a bit of warmth. Others had grown out their hair as well was how she justified her decision.
Despite the constant internal thread of thought that seemed to always race through her head, Irene’s eyes were deftly watching their surroundings. They never settled on one place for long and she would occasionally look down at the tracks they followed but Sir Gunnar was doing a fine job of leading them along them without disturbing them.
However, Sir Gunnar soon slowed and it caused Irene to wind up right next to the knight.
Instinctually, she pulled out her sword at what lay before them.