Footprints in the morning mud put Edvard on high alert.
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It took the first few hours of bright sunlight after the fog had burnt off the next morning to dry the horses and mule. Their coats were fuzzy and thick from the humid air, and Edvard spent the time wiping them down thoroughly, not wanting to saddle and pack the animals while damp.
He frowned at the soft ground near Sova, the pinto mare. It wasn't his boot print, but a larger one, and there were more behind the horses. His hand paused on the horse's back, then he bent to look closer at the impression.
Someone—definitely a man, according to the size of the boot mark—had spent some time near the horses, and since the rain had abated that morning. He frowned. He hadn't heard the horses or Makka being restless last night or that morning. He stood and scrutinized the surrounding boulders and caves, seeing nothing amiss.
Nothing was out of order, yet someone had been right amongst his animals and yet not disturbed them. He followed the footprints to where they disappeared down the trail that led to the trade road. The prints led to and from the trail. Someone had visited, yet the animals had not alerted him, nor had they been stolen. He searched the area again, seeing no one. The prints centered around the horses and mule, and then to the trail, but not near any of the caves.
"We're all packed up," Mina said suddenly from behind him.
He flinched at her voice and turned. "I'll pack the animals."
Her eyes went over his face for a moment. "What did you see?"
"Nothing. Just looking at the trail. It's a little slick." He took her arm and turned her with him back to the cave.
"Did you see something, Edvard?"
He was going to say no, but this time her eyes held him for a moment longer. "Are you sure no one is looking for you? Would your mother send someone to find you, Mina?"
Her arm tensed in his hold. "No. There's no one to send."
He frowned, releasing her arm, more confused than ever by her answer. "I don't understand how families work in Japanese."
She smiled, but didn't correct him. "Is anyone searching for Yuila?"
"I don't know. Perhaps."
They packed the mule and saddled the horses quickly, rolling the cloaks and storing them on Makka, then moved down the muddy trail to the trade road. Before they reached it, however, Edvard felt Mina's fingers press into his side. He looked down to where she pointed to the double tracks on the trail that led to and from the road, the same sets he had seen earlier.
He nodded, glancing at Yuila, who was preoccupied with trying to reach the drooping pinecones that hung overhead. The reins to the mare dangled over her saddle.
"Hold your reins, Yuila," he said sternly.
The Crone made a face, but obeyed.
"Who is it?" Mina asked as she leaned close to him.
He tried not to grin at her breath on his ear.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
He shook his head, looking at the footprints. "I don't know who's been here, but they didn't come up to the cave where we were. They stayed around the horses."
"Who do you think?"
He sighed, looking to where Yuila had dropped her reins and was again batting at the pinecones overhead. "Yuila."
The young girl pouted at him, but took the reins.
"Edvard? Who?" Mina asked.
"Probably just another traveler. An honest one, apparently. We'll be more careful from now on."
Edvard kept a steady vigil that day, but saw no one. At the trade road there had been traffic already, so the footprints they had seen from the trail were lost among the many. The trade road curved in and out of trees and grassland, offering shade and some of a breeze intermittently.
It was far easier than traveling on the secondary road they had taken before, Mina thought, even if it did mean other travelers. They hadn't seen anyone yet, so maybe they would travel in a void, like a pocket, without seeing anyone.
The footprints were on her mind, and she realized that Edvard had been aware of them earlier, before they had left camp that morning. That was why he had been so cautious to answer, she thought. She wondered if a Crone left footprints while invisible. She had not been able to learn much about the powers of invisibility that Crones possessed because Yuila could rarely hold her invisibility for more than a few moments at a time. She was still weak, the girl had excused, because she had spent most of her trip before Edvard found her trying to stay invisible.
"Why aren't you married?"
Edvard's voice startled Mina from thoughts of Crones and their superhuman powers. "Oh, well, we don't marry that young in my homeland," she said hesitantly.
"Are you promised to anyone?"
"No. We don't do that either. We choose our spouses."
He nodded, thinking the idea over carefully. "We do, too, usually, but always under the father's blessing."
"That's pretty much the way we do it," she said, trying to ease into the subject as truthfully as possible. "Is Elian engaged?"
"No, but he will be soon. Our mother is busy setting the arrangement." He cleared his throat. "He's first born, so his first wife will probably be selected for him, but he can choose the next."
"Do you always have two wives?" She had wanted to ask the question before, but didn't want to insult his traditions or appear naive.
"No. Sammis is wealthy, so he could have more if he wanted, but most family heads have just one."
"But you say Elian will have two."
"We have a large estate. There's plenty of room for wives and children."
So that was all it was about, she thought, sighing. Well, not entirely, she reconsidered, or Sammis would have more than just the two. "Are you engaged?"
"No."
"How many wives will you have? If I may ask."
"Well, one, of course." He gave the question some thought. "I don't know about two."
She nodded, looking across the tall grasses that had emerged from the tree line to either side of the road. "I think I would only like to have one husband."
He laughed. "Well, of course only one."
"Why not two? If men can have two—"
"No. That's just not . . ." he paused, frowning at the road ahead of them, "it's just not done, Mina. Is it in Japanese?"
"No," she said with a giggle.
"Oh, you're joking," he said in relief. He looked to where Yuila was humming and pulling the leaves off a thin branch she had taken from a tree.
"I would only want one, but I'd choose him."
"Oh? Maybe he would choose you."
She shrugged, watching him flick a fly off the gelding's ear. "That could work, too."
"When Elian marries, my father will build him a great house, one of the best in our region. Elian already has 300 head of cattle, sheep, and goats."
"Won't your father build you a house, too?" She watched his features cloud, then an indifference settle over him.
"Oh, yes, but not as grand."
"Because you're second born."
He said nothing and Mina thought more on the issue. "I don't see why it matters where you're born in a family."
"It matters."
She could see it did to him, but she didn't want to offend him. "It wouldn't to me. Maybe that's because I'm a girl, though," she added quickly, feeling she had said the wrong thing. "But it won't matter to me if my husband is born first, or even fourth, when I marry."
He only nodded. "You would change your mind about that if you were engaged to someone like Elian."
"Why?"
"Because he'll be very wealthy."
She sighed. "Well, then maybe it's better not to marry a first born; I wouldn't want him to have another wife." It was certainly not a conversation she ever thought she would have with anyone, on any world. It seemed to amuse Edvard, however.
"You would change your mind, Mina." He urged Neito to pick up his pace a bit. "You would get bored and want another woman around for company."
"No," she decided. "I wouldn't want to share."
"There would be plenty of room for wives and their children," he said. "You wouldn't have to share rooms, unless you wanted to, for companionship."
She sighed. "I don't think I'd want to share my husband."
They had left the conversation at that.
They camped that night at the edge of a stream that crooked near the trade road. Yuila immediately headed for the water with her loosely woven basket in hopes of catching a fish.
Any fish, Mina had learned. The young Crone would settle for even raw fish, and while that was okay with Mina, Edvard had withdrawn at the idea. And he had a hard time believing Mina when she had sided with Yuila over the suggestion.
Not that it mattered, she thought, stowing the pack from the gelding near the fire Edvard had made. It wasn't as if they had an abundance of fish to where sashimi was a staple in their diet. She added a few pieces of kindling to the fire as a whiff of wind blew at it. And not with Edvard's hunting skills. If one thing was certain, she thought, satisfied with the fire as it grew stronger, no one would ever starve with Edvard. She had never seen him use the long bow, but she knew he must be skilled. After all, he hadn't used the sword to hunt the rabbits or deer.
She watched him pat down the horses and mule, speaking lowly to them and then checked their hooves. She had grown a little more at ease on Neito, but had no wish to ride by herself, not that Yuila was ready to hand over the reins to Sova.
Edvard came to the fire long enough to collect the copper pot to draw water from the stream and bring it back.
"How is Yuila doing fishing?" Mina asked.
He shook his head, watching her break apart the roll of sausage into the pot. "Nothing yet. The water's too shallow to really dip the basket. It's deeper upstream, but there're beavers and a dam. I don't think she likes the varmints."
She stirred the pot over the rocks as it rested on fire. "How long until we reach Prima Lūce?"
"About another two weeks."
She added a few handfuls of dried beans they had bought in town to the pot, stirring them into the seasoned meat. "Is there a reward for her?"
"No."
She decided against approaching the subject Yuila had brought up the previous day. "I'd like to see your arm. Now."
He obliged her, kneeling beside the fire where she had arranged the small braided bread loaves and dried plums and figs. She unwrapped the bandage to reveal two lines of dark red. The lacerations were healing well, with no signs of blood poisoning or infection. Her finger traced along each line. "Do they itch?"
He grinned, nodding. "A lot."
"Then they're healing." She washed the area gently with water and let it air dry. "It looks good. I don't think you'll have any problems."
"Thank you."
A sudden splash drew their attention to the stream, and he bolted as Yuila's scream reached them.
By the time Mina got to the stream, the young girl was bobbing near a beaver dam in the deeper part of the water, grasping at the makeshift barrier. The dam branches and twigs broke away in her hand and the girl went under.
Edvard mumbled something Mina couldn't quite hear and then he waded waist-high into the water. He searched the stream for Yuila, then dove under.
Mina watched frantically, seeing the water pull at the dam, slowly breaking it apart. Neither Yuila nor Edvard appeared for several long moments. The dam weakened and finally gave way to the water that rushed stronger into where the stream opened up to a small lake.
Her eyes followed the path of the waterway, desperately searching for signs of Yuila or Edvard as the water rushed faster. "Edvard! Yuila!"
Her attention went over the swelling water hurriedly, then she spied a hand pull at a larger log of the dam. The wood held, and Edvard emerged with a very soggy Crone under one arm. Yuila coughed and sputtered, clinging feebly to him as he dragged them onto the dismantled dam.
Part of it fell away as he heaved Yuila onto the wood, but enough of it held for the girl to get out of the water. Mina tried to near them, then stopped as more of the dam fell into the water.
"Crawl over to Mina," he told Yuila, coughing. "And be careful. Don't try to walk."
Yuila did as he said, making her way slowly to where Mina reached for her near the bank. She leaned on the older girl when she got to her, sobbing and sputtering, wiping her face.
"I fell in!"
"I know, Yuila,” Mina said, hurrying her to the bank. “Let's get you warmed up."
PG13, saga; teen, fantasy, fantasy world travel, teen romance, clean romance, realm, magical realism, shadow world, school/new school, high school, fiction, serial. #ReadFree with free signup. ♫♪
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Thanks to P.G. Waters for the use of her story!