Things Unseen: (An epic fantasy adventure series) (The Caris Chronicles Book 1) by Melina Grace

mare.
    “I was wondering if I can come into the village with you, when you go in? I was hoping to wash my clothes in hot water, but I don’t think anyone would appreciate me using the food pots to clean my soiled clothes. I don’t think I’ll be able to do my pants as that will leave me nothing to ride in, but I can wear my dress over the top of them and at least clean my top.”
    “Of course you can” Bonny replied enthusiastically as if Caris was bestowing a huge treat on her.
    Caris smiled, “I’ll get you some food”.
    “Thanks” Bonny replied warmly. Caris went and got a plate of food for each of them.
    After they had finished eating, she grabbed her hunting shirt and soap and she and Bonny joined Syngar and Belti and headed to the village square where people had gathered with bags of grain, dried meat, hard cheeses, blankets, twine, needles, and an assortment of other items that are needed on a long ride. Some of the women had been up early baking and the smell of fresh buns made Caris’ mouth water even after her big breakfast.
    Belti walked around, pointing at different items, while Syngar and Bonny followed him, Bonny handing coin to the owners of the items they required. After a while, Syngar walked over and bought three rolls, crossing to Caris he handed her one, “I’m not really needed here, Bonny always overpays everyone in remote villages anyway,” he said with a grin. Before Caris could ask him why he was there, he asked her, “Why are you here anyway?”
    “I wanted to wash this,” she replied, holding her shirt out.
    “Well you better get a move on; we won’t be here for long.” Seeing Bonny glance his way, he sauntered over to join her. Caris heard him calling out, “not a very good quality grain Belti, I don’t think we need it anyway,” before she turned away to the daunting task of approaching someone to beg for the loan of a large pot.
    Finally, she approached one of the women with some tasty looking iced buns; she decided to buy one for each of the band, handed over the coin and begged the use of a large pot. The woman looked at her clothes dubiously, “I’m new to The King’s Horse, we don’t get our uniform until we reach the army,” Caris explained, red faced. With a shrug, the woman nodded to her daughter, a tall thin girl with dark blonde hair, only a couple of years younger than Caris.
    With a shy smile, she led Caris back to her house. Once out of ear shot of her mum, her shyness evaporated and she talked incessantly to Caris about her excitement over seeing The King’s Horse, plying her with questions about what it was like to ride with them, and not giving her any time to answer. Caris had thought to take the pot back to camp to do her washing but Sudi insisted on heating the water herself and so Caris found herself, for the first time, hearing about what life was like, for a girl almost of age, in another village.
    Sudi’s village was a little larger than Caris’ had been, and, with the river only a hundred paces away, food was easier to grow, and fish added another staple. The belt of trees growing fifty paces to either side of the river meant wood was plentiful and creatures to hunt more numerous. Sudi had never worked the land and found the idea quite humorous; young women in her village were expected to cook, sew, look after families, and nothing else.
    As she walked back to the camp with her dripping shirt, Caris mused over what she had heard. In many ways their village sounded very similar but for all their prosperity, Caris thought their roles were even more limited than where she had grown and she didn’t think she would’ve liked living in Sudi’s village very much.
    Caris arrived at the camp to find everyone packing up. A few of the men were loading the new supplies onto the back of the packhorses as the villagers dropped them off. Caris was surprised to see the grisly man with the old grain and his red-faced son dropping off six large bags. We must