Page 17 of Peregrine's Call
“Yes, but it’s a very important question,” she countered, even while she wanted to bite her tongue to stop her words. Why was she offering Octavian reasons to leave? She didn’t want him to leave. “It’s who you are.”
“I know who I am,” he said, and from his tone she guessed more prodding wouldn’t be welcome.
“You know who you are, but I barely do,” she told him. “Even if it’s been years since we first met, I can measure the total length of time we’ve been in the same place in mere days. A month at most. To be honest, we’re strangers.” And yet she was huddled right up against him—very familiar behavior for a stranger. She looked up, hoping to read his thoughts in his face.
He was staring into the fire, not at her, so she could watch him without shame. The truth was that Robin had never seen a more beautiful person in her whole life. Granted, she had lived in some seclusion for years, but she was not completely ignorant of the world. Most people were ordinary, like her. Octavian was astonishing.
And she was alone with him. Risking his life along with her own.
“Octavian?” she asked.
“What?”
“I can still go back to Cleobury. I’ll be safe, I promise. You don’t have to get in trouble on my account.”
He looked at her, his brow furrowed. “I can’t let you go alone,” he said slowly. “While I trust your ability to ride and scout and sneak about the whole country like a weasel”—he smiled to let her know it was a compliment—“I cannot risk sending you off again on your own.”
She nodded, acknowledging the tricky situation she’d put him in, all out of a desire to help.
“Besides,” he added, speaking slowly, “two people are better than one. You aided me in the fight, and you patched me up better than I could myself.”
“You’re saying I’m useful?”
He nodded. “The night I stayed at Cleobury, I prayed for assistance. Who am I to refuse it when it appears?”
She smiled, though she certainly couldn’t claim divine inspiration in her deeds.
“However,” he added, more sternly, “you have to listen to me in all things, understand? You know the woods, but I know the minds of the men involved here. And that’s the most dangerous part.”
“I’ll listen,” she promised. “You won’t regret it.”
“Let’s hope not.”
Chapter 7
After only a day, Octavianhad to admit that traveling with Robin was better than traveling alone. He spent half his life on the road, but Robin knew this part of the world far better than he did. She remembered useful spots, such as the clear-running creek in a little valley hidden from the main road, and the sheltered place to camp that allowed them to build a fire with wood that was somehow not sodden with moisture.
“How do you manage to find dry wood?” he’d asked. “I feel as though it rained every other day this autumn.”
She laughed. “The first thing is to look in the right places. People like to camp near water, which almost always means they’re camping in a flatter, wetter part of the forest. I always search for wood near uplands or hills, if they’re around. The water runs down the slope and any fallen wood tends to dry out faster. It means more walking to and from the camp, but a better fire is worth it.”
It sounded so obvious when she explained it.
“I need to go on foot for a while,” she said at one point, glancing around at the surrounding hills. “It’s easier to see where I’m going…” She trailed off without finishing her thought. It was a habit of hers, he noticed. She did it whenever she was focused on what she was doing more than what she was saying. Which was often.
She’d done it when she’d bandaged him up, her words dropping away as she noticed him staring at her like a dolt, half-dressed and dazed by her proximity. Robin had looked fetching when she was dressed as a lady within the walls of Cleobury. But she looked ten times prettier in the middle of the woods, her face streaked with dirt and her cheeks pink from the cold. He thought she’d never looked so vibrant.
The urge to tell her that was strong, or just to show her that with a kiss. But at the last moment, Tav restrained himself. Robin was virtually alone, except for him. The last thing she needed was her protector turning into yet another man to fend off.
Not that she looked in need of protection at the moment. He watched her as she blazed a path through the trees, her steps slow and sure on the forest floor. She barely made a sound when she walked while he seemed to hit every twig and crackle every dry leaf in the vicinity. The horses were quieter than he was, he thought in disgust.
“Ah!” Robin said at last. She looked back and smiled. She indicated a spot in the woods that looked just like every other part of the woods “This trail will lead us to a manor. We won’t get there tonight, but by tomorrow evening we’ll be inside the walls. Assuming the family is still friendly to travelers.”
Tav nodded.
That night they camped once again, after Robin found a good spot, sheltered from the wind. They ate, combining their supplies for a better meal. Robin loved cheese and packed far more of it than cold meat. Tav had done the opposite. Combined with the bread he’d got from his last host, the supper was definitely enough to satisfy any camper.
Robin cleaned up afterward, her movements quick and efficient. He was reminded again that she’d spent the better part of her young life living very rough.
