The Seamstress

CHAPTER NINE

Rehan wanted to ask Kae how she knew he had lost someone, but no part of him wanted to dredge up that part of his past, so he decided it was best if he let the conversation be. Snowmark slowed to a walk and he could tell by the way she was acting that she was getting too hot and tired. If they weren't careful, she would overheat. "We need to stop for a minute. Let her drink," he said. His stomach still twisted from the scorpion poison and the antidote, but he ignored it as he hopped off and grabbed his canteen.

Snowmark excitedly bobbed her head as he poured some of the water out of the canteen and into his cupped hands. She eagerly lapped it up and he gave her more.

"I hope we find them soon. At least it'll be night soon," Kae said.

Rehan glanced up at her as he rehooked his canteen onto Snowmark's saddle. "No, you don't. Worse creatures than that scorpion come out at night while it's cooler to hunt. It'll be harder for us to see, too. There's hardly any moon out here."

Kae frowned as he hopped on in front of her. "That doesn't make any sense."

Rehan shrugged, enjoying the feel of her hands touching his hips. "It's just how it works, Kae."

"Do you think the mule's okay?" He felt her move and assumed she looked back at the mule trailing along behind them.

Rehan nodded. "Mules, especially in Farowyn, have a higher constitution than horses. I'll give him a drink in another hour or so. If we don't find the nomads by then, we'll have to turn back to get more water and rest."

Kae sighed and it sounded as if she was close to tears. He hated when people got upset—mostly because he didn't know what to do about it—but with her, it was almost like he didn't want her upset because she shouldn't be upset. "This may turn out to be more impossible than I thought it would be."

Rehan reached down and intertwined his fingers with hers. "It'll work out. Especially if God wants it too, right?"

Kae gasped. "I thought you didn't believe in God?"

Rehan shrugged it off. "I don't know. I said it was easier not to." In honesty, it was more accurate to say he had been angry at God. Working his whole life to become a soldier in the army, just to lose someone close to him and be forced to leave his home country. It was part of the reason why he had never settled; why he kept moving from kingdom to kingdom looking for work as a mercenary. The other part of it was that he craved a fight; Rehan had always been a soldier, so fighting was what he wanted.

Up ahead, massive walls of dust rose up along the horizon. Rehan cursed. The last thing they needed was a storm, but he didn't think they were too common here. Maybe one sandstorm a year or so. Yet one had to happen right as they showed up? What luck, he thought, but that only reminded him of their previous conversation.

As the cloud of dust rolled closer to them, he realized it wasn't actually dust.

"What is that?" Kae asked.

"People," Rehan answered. "Hundreds of them." They marched across the desert, horses and camels in toe, each of them full of supplies. From what he could see across the rolling sand dunes, the people stopped on top of one across the horizon—probably several hundred feet away from where he and Kae were.

"Are those the nomads?" Kae's fingers twitched.

Rehan nodded and urged Snowmark to ride faster. "Yeah. See how they're pitching tents? That's definitely them." There were hundreds of them, bustling through the camp where they had stopped. Each one of them pulled long cloths, wood, and ropes off their animals and worked together to pitch hundreds of tents, some of them as large as houses. The fast way they worked would impress any military commander.