First, let me apologize to everyone for the delay in posting this. On the flip side, I'm going to be busy the next several days so I used the extra time to get chapter 4 ready to submit also (it's submitted separately, so click on my name to find it amongst my submissions)
Now then, for chapter 3 - John finds a way to lessen the boredom of long wilderness travels.
To start at the beginning of The Egg of Immorality, find chapter 2
here
. To start the Thirst for Power series fresh, please look for
Enchanted
. Thank you for reading and please look up my profile page if you have any questions, concerns, or wish to reach out to me.
"Hard to believe nobody's settled in this area," Helleen said to her sister. "It's beautiful around here. Could be a little warmer, but all this open land and we haven't seen anything dangerous in a while."
"Maybe something dangerous is over the next hill?" Roxanne said. She pointed to the north and south and added, "Or those hills?"
Helleen stuck her tongue out at her.
"Don't go giving me any ideas, Zynga got her feeding this morning so I might be high and dry for a bit," Roxanne teased her sister back.
"Maybe it's hard to get to. The undergrowth in that forest was terrible," Helleen shifted back to her original line of thought.
John leaned out of the open window of his carriage and asked, "My unstoppable gladiatrixes aren't complaining, are they?"
"No, My Lord," Roxanne said and shot a glare at her sister. "We're just talking about how nice it is here and we're surprised no one has settled it."
"I believe someone has," John said. "That's where we're going."
Roxanne and Helleen shared a look.
"Humans?" Helleen asked.
"I believe so," he said. "On an island in the middle of a lake."
"A lake?" Roxanne asked. She grinned. "Does that mean a beach?"
"Don't forget it's colder up this way," Helleen reminded her sister. "You're likely to put Zynga's eye out as it is."
Roxanne followed her sister's eyes down to her chest and then looked back up at glared at Helleen. She was wearing a comfortable shirt with travel leathers over them to keep her warm and protect her. A far cry from the skimpy armor she and Helleen fought in during their gladiatorial days.
"Don't worry, I can warm her back up," Zynga said.
Helleen let out a squeak and spun around. Zynga was walking behind her, a smirk on her face. "I thought you were in John's carriage? Where did you come from?"
"You probably couldn't pronounce it, but for simplicity's sake just call it Hell," the imp said.
Helleen's nose wrinkled and she turned to look at her sister. Roxanne shrugged and tried to hide the smile on her face.
"My sister's sleeping with a demon," Helleen muttered. "What would our mother say?"
"My sister was sleeping with a demon first," Roxanne retorted.
"Hey, I'm only part demon," John retorted. "Now quiet down, there's no telling what might be hiding in these weeds-- wait a minute, these aren't weeds."
"Looks like weeds to me," Zynga muttered.
"It's wheat," Sadie said from the other bench in the carriage. She stared down from the window at it for a moment before adding, "Looks untended. It's growing wild."
John looked at the wheat and then looked up ahead to where Artesia was driving the carriage. "Artesia, have you seen any sign of a farm or anything?"
"Just the wheat, My Lord," she called back. "It's poor farm country though, too many hills. This is poor country for your carriage too."
"I was wondering about that," John said. "Let's stop a moment."
Artesia pulled the horses to a stop and set the brake. Before she could finish John opened the door and climbed out. He looked around, stretched his back and legs, and then set out climbing up the hill on their left until he reached the top of it. Artesia hurried to join him while the others waited near the bottom of the hill.
"What are you doing?" Artesia asked.
John looked around in all directions. "Trying to make sense of this place."
Artesia grunted. "I've no idea if we've cut across Jennaca's trail yet, but she said she'd seen birds to the west. Water birds."
"Yes, she did," John said absently while staring to the west. There were more hills but he thought he could see a bit of shimmer beyond them. "I think I see it."
Artesia squinted as she tried to look where he was. "I don't."
John glanced at her before asking, "You've got good eyesight, don't you?"
"Why? Because my mother was an elf?"
"Because I've seen you eyeing up our surroundings and I've seen you with that crossbow," John said.
Artesia took a moment before nodding. "Yes, my eyes are sharper than most. Yours must be better still to see that."
"Yeah, well, I've got a little something extra."