After leaving Bersi, Edvard, mina, and Yuila find refuge in the village.
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Edvard, Mina, and Yuila left Bersi at the well and made their way slowly through the thronging streets. Yuila looked with interest at the vendors calling their foodstuffs, the smells of assorted meats and breads wafting among the animals and people.
"We'll try the tavern he told us about," Edvard said to Yuila as the younger girl started to complain of her empty stomach.
The crowd suddenly parted ahead of them and a troop of soldiers passed by on foot. Mina's curiosity got the better of her discretion and she moved her hood to see them better. There were only about twenty, but they were taller than most of the villagers, and well armed. She watched them pass, swords clanking as they moved out of formation in a leisure manner.
She looked to Edvard. "Why soldiers?"
He shook his head, looking after the troop. "I don't know of any detachments in the area. Unless the king sent them for the auction." He looked back the way they had come. "It's a big event, but not that big."
She nodded. It hadn't escaped her that he had worn his sword since Bersi had joined their company, or that he had been warier than usual the last day. Yuila followed closer with them, leading the mare and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
They saw no more soldiers before reaching the tavern Bersi had told them about, and found an empty table inside. The building was made of stone, like many others Mina had seen in the village, and one entire wall was a fireplace. This was not lit now, being summer, but the establishment was plenty warm from the cook pit in the rear of the building.
They settled at a benched table in a darkened corner and Edvard ordered the lamb stew Bersi had recommended. The portly maid smiled, her teeth belying stained and black-ridden teeth, and left them with a trio of bronze cups and a pitcher of darkness.
"This is wine," Edvard said to Mina as he poured the three cups full. "It won't be too strong. They wouldn't bring that out before paying."
Yuila immediately drank half of hers. Mina gave her a sour look. "You'll get a headache," she warned.
The girl shook her head. "I'm hungry."
"You can flip your hoods back a bit," Edvard decided, judging the ill-lit eatery.
"Can we stay in town tonight?" Yuila asked. "Please, Edvard? Just one night."
He looked around the tavern at the filling tables. "We might. If we can find a place to stay. This auction will have every hotel full."
"We could just move on," Mina said, sampling the wine, which she had decided was red.
"One night off the ground doesn't sound too bad to me," he said with a sigh. "Not you?"
She smiled. "Actually, it sounds very good."
The barmaid returned with the stew and placed a bowl before each of them. "Here for the auction?"
Edvard nodded. "Lot of traffic."
"Oh, yes." She put a platter of bread in the middle of the table. "You come in on the east road?"
"Uh, yeah." He looked to Mina.
"Well, you're not going to be wanting to leave on the west." She looked at the girls in Edvard's company. She cleared her throat. "Word is a band of Derans are on the move that way. Brought in the soldiers, just in case."
Mina frowned at Edvard, trying to read in his face just what that meant.
"How close?" he asked.
The plump barmaid's hands rested on the table as she leaned closer. "Too close. If I were you, and I was wanting to head west, I'd go through the pass. It's not too cold now, and there's the mountain people. You stay on the path and they'll put you up. For a price."
"What's the price?" he asked.
The barmaid shrugged. "Anything they ain't got. Money is no good to them. Town goods, those they'll take in exchange." She looked to Mina. "You traveling alone?"
Mina couldn't see the maid's face clearly because of the poor lighting, but she saw Edvard nod.
"Well, you won't find lodging tonight, not with the marketers in town. Stalls are cheap, though."
When she left, Mina sighed, watching Edvard study his stew. "We can't use the trade road?"
He stirred the bowl with his spoon as Yuila ladled her first bite into her mouth. "It doesn't sound like it."
Mina tried the stew, surprised by the light, pleasant taste. "Do you know the way through the hills?"
"I've never been there," he admitted. He accepted the bread she broke off for each of them. "It's on the map."
"I don't want to go over the mountains," Yuila said between bites. "Can't we just stay on the road, Edvard?"
"Not with the Derans moving this way." He watched Mina sip her wine. "Do you know about them?"
"No. Who are they?"
"Just nomads, but their bands have gotten so large they've started invading small villages. The king sends out troops to quell them, but they're becoming a bigger problem."
She looked to Yuila as the girl's gaze dropped down to her meal. "The maid said it isn't too cold yet, and she's right. The mountains might not be so bad."
"We wouldn't have to go over them," Edvard promised. "Just enough to clear the trade road and Derans. We don't want to get caught on the road alone with them."
Yuila sighed. "We can't go into the mountains alone."
"We're not alone," Mina said. "We're together."
"But I've never been to the mountains."
He shook his head. "We'll be fine. We'll just take enough supplies to trade as we go. It shouldn't be more than a day or two."
As he said it, Mina could tell he wasn't sure. She wanted to ask him more about it, but not while Yuila was in earshot. She resorted to eating her stew, wondering about the next leg of their journey.
The barmaid had been right about the hotels being full. They found lodging in the loft of the stable where they bedded the horses and mule. Mina didn't much care, as the loft was roomy, dry, and smelled of straw. Edvard hung the lantern from a beam that crossed the ceiling in the dimming light, looking around at their surroundings for the night.
"Well," he said, looking to Mina, "there's plenty of straw."
She shared his grin and watched as Yuila piled into a mound of straw. Actually, the idea of sharing a hotel room had been a little too uncomfortable for her, but she didn't know what to say about it. He seemed to feel the same way. The thought hadn't seemed to reach Yuila.
Edvard adamantly refused to let Yuila out his sight for her meditation that night, and she pouted under her hood near a corner of the straw. She did get a little privacy, however, when Mina and Edvard went back down to the ground level of the stable to check on the horses.
Mina walked around Sova as Edvard brushed the mare's back, rubbing the spots where the saddle had worn. From the other side Neito swung his head over to her, nearly knocking her against the mare.
"Look at all the straw to eat," she said, petting the gelding's long nose. "All for you."
Edvard laughed. "It's hay."
She looked at the fodder with a shrug. "Oh. I always get them mixed up." She watched him check the mare's hooves for stones. "Can we really go through the mountains? I mean, do we have to?"
"We can't use the trade road. Going farther south will put us in the midst of any Derans on the move. The mountains are the safest chance."
She looked to the stable entrance as two young boys came in with three donkeys. The boys hitched the animals to the wall near Makka and quickly left. She looked at the line of eight animals.
"The auction sure did bring in a lot of travelers."
"Yeah. Probably one of their biggest events of the year."
She saw him hesitate before he spoke, but wasn't sure, as darkness was settling in over the stable.
"I have other maps, Mina," he finally said slowly. "Just because you don't recognize anything on the one, well, you might on another."
Her eyes went to Sova between them. Why not tell him? she thought. What was the worst he could say? He already believed Yuila could become invisible. How much more shocking to believe that she . . . ? Well, even she had seen Yuila fade before her very eyes. Seeing was believing.
"I'm not from here, Edvard," she heard herself say.
For a moment he just stared at her across the horse, then he nodded and straightened the mare's mane. "Well, maybe a country more north, like Tarsia, or Morenia, or Phodehi."
She sighed. She couldn't even tell him. Not what she really meant. She found herself nodding.
"But that would mean you're weeks away from where we found you." He watched her carefully, seeing her waver over something she left unvoiced. "And we are going the wrong way, Mina."
"Nothing sounds familiar. I understand if you want me to find my own way." But please don't make me, she added silently. On one hand she felt terrible that he thought he could take her home when she knew he could not, and at the same time she didn't want to be abandoned, but . . .
"Why would you think that?" His eyes narrowed. "Did Yuila say something to you?"
"No, no. I just," she shrugged, uncertain what she was going to say, "don't know how to get home. Or where it is."
"We'll find it. We'll figure it out."
From that conversation they had departed back to the loft to find Yuila had finished her meditation and was curled into a corner. She pulled her hood back and looked up when Mina reclined beside her on the mound of straw, then put her head near the older girl's stomach.
"She seems to have adopted you easily enough," Edvard said, shaking his head at the young Crone and turning out the lantern.
"She must have been a mess when you found her," Mina said lowly.
"I was just tired and hungry," Yuila said, her voice muffled.
Mina sighed, pulling the shawl over the girl better as Edvard sat on the other side of her. The night was too warm for blankets, but Mina and Yuila both kept on their shawl and cloak, respectively, for the sake of the hoods. She breathed in the alfalfa scented air, deciding it was quite possibly the first time she had ever considered the smell favorable. Edvard stretched and leaned back against the soft straw beside her.
"Much better than the ground," he said.
"You bet." She looked to where two moons were visible out the loft window. Yes, it was definitely not right, she told herself. She lay still in the darkness, Yuila's head on her stomach.
"Just move her off if she gets too heavy," he said.
"I will." She lay still, then closed her eyes as the day's travel reached her. A day on foot was a lot longer than a day on the horse, she realized. She tried to think of a way to explain to Edvard where she really came from, but was asleep within minutes.
She awoke a short time later to sounds of someone moving in the stable loft. She remained still, slowly becoming aware that her forehead now leaned on Edvard's shoulder in the darkness. Without moving, she opened her eyes, then shut them halfway when she saw three men across the loft near the ladder.
They were clearly soldiers, belching loudly and still wearing swords and knives. One of them gestured to where Edvard, Mina, and Yuila were sleeping, and their actions quieted some. They took the opposing wall, shuffling into comfortable positions to sleep, one griping about the quality of ale at the tavern and lack of overnight quarters.
Mina was glad Yuila had moved off her ribcage, but was still close by. The Crone slumbered on, oblivious to the men now sharing their roof space. It was too dark to discern where the men were looking, and she hoped they would soon fall asleep.
She chanced raising her eyes to Edvard, and saw that he was very much awake. His gaze was on the soldiers also, watching the men move in the dark, but he said nothing.
Mina remained unmoving as his hand covered hers possessively. She resisted the impulse to flinch, and closed her eyes.
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. ♫♪
Thanks to P.G. Waters for the use of her story!