Umber was annoyed.
She was annoyed at the snake she
was riding for taking such a circuitous route.
She was annoyed by the sound it
made when it moved that kept her from hearing the chatter of the birds in the
trees above.
She was annoyed it was almost dark
and she didn’t know where was going to sleep.
But most of all, she was annoyed
that she couldn’t just fly to the
home of the fairy queen.
Umber pulled up on the reigns and
said, “Shhhh.” When the snake stopped,
she looked around, brushing her thick blond hair out of her eyes.
They had been gliding across sand
for a while now, and she could hear a stream trickling nearby. She took her
feet out of the stirrups and dug her toes into the soft, brown powder. She sighed. “We might as well stop here,” she
told the snake, even though he couldn’t understand her. At least the sand would
provide a soft place to sleep.
Pulling her pack off of her back,
Umber found a spot under a fallen log that would provide some cover and
protection from predators. The snake would keep watch as well. At least that was what Tarn told her.
Umber dug out a spot in the sand to
lay in and put her pack under her head. Tomorrow
I can fly again, she thought. When
Tarn had first wrapped up the broken filament, that was how long he thought it would take to heal. I hope he was right.
Queen Imolene honored Umber by
asking her there to share her knowledge of the pinsprites, but if she had to
explain that she couldn’t fly to the entrance because she had broken her wing
trying to corral a spiny thistle-maiden, her credibility would surely be put
into question.
Umber closed her eyes and tried to
quiet her mind. Nothing would be changed by worrying about it.
When the snake heard her breathing
change, he curled up in front of her fallen branch and closed his eyes, too. He
hoped it would be another uneventful night.
You can check out Leah's. Her snake's name is Josie.
Great imagery!
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