Chapter Thirteen, Reading 1

The black horse drank greedily in the cool forest stream. Flindra was filling her water bags upstream from where Deru was standing. She rose and carried the dripping bags to him. She looked at her horse remorsefully.
"Sorry Deru," she said as she stroked his neck. "I didn't mean for you to do without water for so long, but I didn't think it wise to ride up to the last spring with all the King's Rangers camped there." She hung a water bag from either side of her saddle to keep her gear balanced on his back.
Flindra looked around and smiled at the tiny green leaves sprouting on the nearby trees. The infant leaves were a pale, yellowish green, which would quickly turn to deep green in the coming month. The first flowers of the season were bravely baring their delicate lavender petals to the fickle weather of early spring.
She had been surprised to find that spring was just beginning to break the hold of winter. She had spent the better part of a year with Kewero and only a season had passed here in the world. Kewero was right, it was futile to compare the time systems of the world and the caverns. They seemed to be entirely independent of each other.
Amidst the gentle beauty of the coming spring was the harsh evidence of an escalating civil war. Flindra knew that when King Audaz had died, Prince Storos was too young to assume the crown. The King's brother-in-law, Duke Bhrag, had been made regent of Ostar and the guardian of the young prince. Now Prince Storos had reached manhood and wanted to come into his inheritance. The problem was that Duke Bhrag had grown fond of power and was loath to relinquish the crown to his nephew. Even before Flindra had left to find Kewero, she had heard of the growing violence to the south of the Kingdom.
The violence had spread to the north in the time she'd been in the caverns. She had passed more than one burned ruin on her journey south. It didn't seem to matter if the dwelling was a cottage or a castle; everything appeared to be a fair target for the violence. Both the Prince's Rangers and the troops of Duke Bhrag patrolled the roads in force and it had been challenging to safely avoid the armed parties.
Somehow, Flindra needed to help Prince Storos gain his crown. Not only did he need to become King before he could prove himself equal to fate, but the fighting needed to end before too many innocents had to suffer. How she was going to accomplish this task was still a great mystery. She had to trust the Spirit to guide her into a situation where she could help Prince Storos.