The supplies he had didn't stand a chance against a pane's stomach – or indeed against Akela's – and began to dwindle noticeably within a fortnight. Not wanting to get this far only to starve, Akela and I headed to Eaglestone. Our plan was to walk there, buy all we could with a portion of the gold Atthis was holding onto, and pay someone to take us back by cart as close to the village as we could get without drawing suspicion. We could walk the rest of the way, and no one would know where we were going. Half a day into our journey, a woman taking cages of chickens to a farm beyond Eaglestone rolled past us, glanced back, and said if we didn't want to walk, we'd better hurry up. Beaming, Akela jogged after the cart, hopped into the back, and held out a hand to help me up. It was a far cry from the carriage I'd taken to Chandaran, as worn as it'd been. Akela and I sat on the same level as the chickens and the sides of the cart groaned as we leant against them. “Ah, yes. Much better.
