Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 279

Chapter 279: Unintended recipient
Anaisa’s mare tossed her head lightly, breathing a heavy sigh out through her nostrils.

“Hm,” The woman narrowed her eyes and looked closely at the surrounding terrain. There weren’t many places large enough to easily hide a horse, but apparently Ford didn’t need to hide anywhere at all. She sighed to herself lightly and spoke aloud.

“I know you’re there. You don’t need to hide anymore.” She announced, to no avail. She glanced over her shoulder where Seth, Grandpa, and Mia were getting steadily further away. Ford had good reason not to come out, in all likelihood.

Seth had probably threatened to kill the fellow.

“You can talk with me, I don’t hold it against you that you’ve followed us,” Anaisa continued. “In fact, I think you could be quite helpful to us, if you’re willing to be.”

Anaisa looked around, hoping to see the young man appear.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, so far as it is within my power,” She promised. “If you stop hiding and join us, things will be much better. Camping out alone in the wilderness is dangerous, after all. There are wolves, and coyotes, and in the territory beyond, I’m not even sure what dangers lurk. I don’t think it will be entirely safe.”

Silence. She waited. Maybe she was speaking just out loud to the air, and no one was following them after all. Anaisa pursed her lips, and she wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.

“This is your chance to come out without consequences for trailing behind us,” She used her best mothering tone like she did with the boys. “I would like to have this conversation face to face, if you’re mature enough to own up to following us. I’d like to think you are.”

An appeal to his pride as a young man was the best tactic she could think of, and it worked. A rustling of pebbles, and out from behind a large boulder—

Came Daniel.

“What are you doing here??” Anaisa cried, jumping off her horse to scold her son. He was leading his by the reins, apparently walking to keep a lower profile. He looked like a startled deer, staring at her with wide eyes.

“You told me to come out, that there would be no consequences–”

“I wasn’t talking to you! You were supposed to–” She bit down on her lip with dismay. Her temper was about to get the better of her, and that wasn’t the kind of mother she wanted to be. Hands shaking with emotion, she took a deep breath and tried again.

“You were supposed to stay with your Grandma and Aunt Sarah and your brothers. Didn’t Grandpa tell you about your important job?”

“This seemed more important,” His lip protruded in a slight pout. “I need to help save Papa.”

“You do not get to make the decision about which job is yours,” Anaisa’s eyes flashed. “Instead of being a help on this journey, you will be a hindrance. You will slow us down and endanger us. Go home immediately, I’m sure your grandmother is worried absolutely sick.”

“But–”

“Didn’t you see how hard it was on the family when Mia left??” Her voice rose as she struggled to keep a lid on her emotions. “How worried we were, how terrified that something would happen to her? That she would be hurt? And she’s eight years older than you! How much more will they worry about you being gone??”

“I left a note when they left for town for supplies,” Daniel ducked his head. “They’ll know I’m with you, that I’m not alone.”

“You have been alone,” Anaisa pointed out. “For a day and a night and another half a day, you have been alone! If you’d been eaten by a bear, none of us would have even realized!”

Her voice ended on a tone that was a borderline screech, and she could see that her volume had captured the attention of the other travelers. They were now headed back towards the mother and son with mixed expressions.

Grandpa seemed strangely unsurprised, Mia chagrined, and Seth frustrated.

“I’ve been camping before, Mama,” Daniel reminded her, and her blue eyes sparked with anger.

“Camping is a fun time out in a safe area with your father and grandfather,” She snapped. “Camping involves singing songs around a fire and sleeping outside for a few nights before going home. We are on a months-long rescue journey into territory that I’m not sure humans have even seen before, to get your father back from dragons and wights, and you hold up family camping trips as evidence that you are prepared for this???”

“Annie,” Grandpa dismounted as he drew close. “Would you like me to speak with the boy?”

Her face was flushed. Her heart was thumping wildly, and her vision constricting. Her children had the ability to make her angry faster than anyone else in the world, and Daniel endangering himself to this degree was sending her into a fury.

“If you think you can get through his thick head!” She turned away, angry.

“I’m sorry my child set such a poor example for yours,” Seth said quietly.

“Papa. That’s not helpful,” Mia cut in.

Anaisa flinched. The father-daughter pair were not resolving their differences, and sooner or later it would lead to true alienation. That’s not what she wanted for herself and her son. She couldn’t let her rage at his dangerous disobedience create a rift between them, but she was too emotional right now to mend things.

Grandpa had laid his hand on Daniel’s shoulder and was speaking in low, even tones. The boy’s face fell, and he was nodding intermittently.

Anaisa focused on her breathing, on calming herself. The boy had to be sent home, immediately, but now she was almost afraid to send him back alone. Would he be able to find the way? In theory, of course he should, but a boy alone could face so many dangers!

And to send someone back with him either meant they had to reduce the size of their party or delay their progress to wait for the person to return. Neither was ideal. Closing her eyes, Anaisa clenched her shaking hands and tried to think of Trace with her, calming her.

He was her rock, her stability, and she needed that badly right now.

“All right,” Grandpa announced after several minutes of whispered discussion. “The boy and I have come to an understanding, if you’ll hear us out for a minute.”

“I’m listening,” Anaisa gritted through her teeth.