Chapter 48

The little group rode out right after breakfast. Azuki was back in trousers and jacket for ease of riding. She again rode double with Shota on Blackie, who pranced proudly. Yuta rode Red Wind. She decided she liked Yuta, so she made things easy for him. Except now and then, when she decided he needed a riding lesson.

"We'll go back the way we came," Yuta decreed. "We'll bring gifts to the charcoal burners and to the outcast village, as well as for people at home." The way they'd come was shorter in absolute distance, but went through more difficult country. Shota tried to explain it to the horses, but they found him sadly lacking in knowledge of terrain from the ground. At least they would take the most traveled road before and after they visited the outcasts and avoid the narrow and steep backwoods trails.