The Journey Home: The Ingenairii Series: Beyond the Twenty Cities Read Online Free PDF Page B

well, as the Rangers made adequate, but just barely adequate, progress on the western road towards Birnam Forest.  The wood had a reputation of being haunted, something that the gardening Old Ones of Exbury alternately laughed at and speculated might work in their favor, given their plant powers.
    On the fourth night of the trip the group swerved off the main road to take a shortcut around the city of Bracken, and wound up staying in a smaller, cruder village tavern than they had stopped in to that point.  Alec again left the group immediately after d inner to tend to the horses, treat ing their coats, sores and hooves, while Andi drew appreciation from the local ruffians in the tavern to the point that she fought one down to the ground using her Black Crag training alone.  Her standing among the rest of the Rangers rose even higher, and the next morning, it was the only thing that Alec heard tal k about, having missed the dust- up entirely.
    “She beat the lights out of that goatherder!” Tarry told Alec as Alec brought the saddled horses out of the stables to help expedite the departure of the group.
    The little interaction that Alec had engaged in with anyone to that point was Warrior training with Andi while they rode.  “I think she’ll be the one training you!” Cal had jibed Alec as he mounted the horse Alec had ready following Andi’s skirmish .  The training made no sense to anyone but the two ingenairii; the Rangers could not fathom that soft talk and mental exercises were training of any value.
    “So you put a man in his place?” Alec asked innocuously as they took their location in the rear of the squad.
    “It’s not the first time, and won’t be th e last time,” Andi responded.  Throughout the trip s he’d had no interaction with Alec of any real depth beyond the ingenaire training , as he withdrew and walled himself off from the rest of the world .  She could sense his feelings, and she knew that he was feeling frustration, impatience, and worry.  He was feeling everything but affection for her, she knew, and she strained to keep from bringing it out into the open, in a situation in which she could only hope that time would make him appreciate her, or restore his memories of her.  She could not shake him out of her mind, depressing as she found his spirit to be, and so she could only hope for a change in him.  And as the days went by, and they grew further removed from the day of his reawakening, her hopes for some miraculous, delayed restoration of his memories faded.
    She developed a pattern of spending her mornings with Alec, training in how to manipulate and maximize the Warrior power, and then in the afternoons she rode next to Amane, speaking with him, appreciating the comfort and attention he offered.  In the evenings, although she was attended to by every other Ranger, it was Amane who she chose to sit next to at dinner, and it was Amane who comforted her and bolstered her as she grew morose over the disappearance of Alec’s affections.
    “We won’t be a couple Andi,” Alec finally told her directly as they rode together.  “I will help you with your energies, I will be your comrade in arms and your friend, but my heart does not call me to love you.”
    “But that is all my heart does to me!” she cried so loudly that the heads of others in the group turned to look at them, and saw the tears streaming down her cheek.  “My spirit does nothing but tell my heart about your moves and your feelings , and it remembers your memories and reminds me of what we used to share, Alec.”
    He looked at her with sympathy.  “We used to, I understand and accept that, Andi.  But whatever person you knew me to be, a little bit of that person is gone, the part that would make me care for you.  We have to accept this and live together as companions on the road – nothing more,” he finally told her bluntly, then rode apart from her as she rode to see Amane and be comforted.
    Two days