“You’ve met others?” she asked, looking over at him. She never had; it was illegal for the Elvasi to breed outside their race, and it was punishable to have children with the Andinna. She figured it might happen, but she had never seen them in the pits and that had been the extent of her world.
“You know what the Elvasi do to their slaves.” He nodded sadly. “Yeah, I’ve met others. Some of them don’t like me because I look so much like Alchan. Some just hate themselves. Some bend more Elvasi, some bend more Andinna.”
She wasn’t paying attention to where they were headed as he spoke. When he stopped, she looked around and noticed they were in a much nicer area than she saw the previous day.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking around at the clean market square with merchants setting up their wares. There were a dozen shops as well, with fancy things in the windows.
“Rich district.” He pointed to a jewelry shop. “We’re going there first.”
“Why?”
“The stones and jewelry I was talking about. So, Andinna wear certain jewelry for certain things - festivals, events, rituals and the like. Many just wear them normally. As we get closer to the village, you’ll see the other males begin to put some on as they feel more comfortable. We can whip some things up for you and get some others that we can have the experts in the village create for you. We just need to take them the supplies.”
“And I need these things.” She wasn’t sure she cared much for jewelry. It’s just so…feminine. It screamed Elvasi to her, too: fine jewels and nice pretty things. Like the shampoo, it felt reminiscent of times in her life she didn’t like to think about and actively tried not to.
“You do.” He waved her to keep following him, and the owner of the shop got the door open right as they arrived. They strolled in and Luykas began to explain what they were looking for. “Precious stones, but nothing too outrageous. I don’t need diamonds, rubies, sapphires, or emeralds.” He turned back to her, considering. “Turquoise might be a good color for her.”
“Oh yes, light blues would work well for her.” The jeweler was also looking her over, staring particularly close to her face. “Do you have a preference, lady?”
“No.” She tried not to curl a lip at being called a lady. He was probably trying to be nice to a customer, even one in hand-me-down, dirty clothing.
“Let’s keep this simple, Ferris.” Luykas sighed. “If you have bracelets, the bangles, I would like to take a look.”
“Precious metals or leather?”
“I’m here.” Luykas raised an eyebrow. “Precious metals.”
Mave stood behind Luykas as he followed Ferris through the displays, pointing at different objects. She didn’t really know what she was supposed to be looking at, so she didn’t try. She didn’t care about any of this.
“Will you be in the city long enough to have these sized?”
“No. I’m going to ask a jeweler back home to size them. We’re leaving later today. Mave, come here and try these out for me.”
Mave held back a groan, moving closer to see what Luykas had selected. A combination of silver and gold bracelets, pretty bands of varying widths and design were laid out. He picked one up and held it out.
“Females often wear several of these on each wrist,” he explained. “When they’re looking to dress up, anyway. Nice events, really.”
“So do the Elvasi,” she muttered, eyeing the bracelet.
“They stole the fashion from the Andinna. The Elvasi are more into delicate things while the Andinna like hardier items. A simple chain bracelet will break if exposed to the rough lifestyle of our people.” He continued to hold it out. “So, try it on.”
She grabbed the gold band and forced her hand through it. It was a very tight fit, and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to remove it. Anxiety and fear ran through her. She struggled with it for a moment before it finally popped off and she handed it back to Luykas.
“No, thank you,” she said politely, handing it back to him.
“Mave?” Luykas frowned at her but she wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. She walked right out of the building, not looking back. When she was outside again, she took a deep breath.
I’m not there. That wasn’t a manacle. There were no chains.
“Mave?” Luykas called out again, stepping out of the stop behind her. “What was that?”
“Do I have to wear those?” She wouldn’t be able to do it.
“Uh…No, but you might be teased. You can wear leather too, if that’s more your style. The gold and silver is just a sign of wealth. Females of any race like pretty things. Males get those for their females as gifts-”
“I’ll wear leather,” she told him. “I can cut leather off.”
“Oh…”
She couldn’t see him, so wasn’t prepared when a hand landed on her shoulder, a finger just grazing her skin. In that simple touch, she was flooded by Luykas’ feelings. Regret. Sorrow. A strange need for her forgiveness.
“It’s okay,” she said, pulling away. “When I couldn’t get it back off, I was worried it might be like…”
“The collar. We’ll get you leather.” He pulled further away again. “I’m going to pick up some stones, though. There’s other things you can do.”
“Like?” she asked.
“We wear things that hang from our horns. We don’t fight in them, but they’re fashionable when everyone is hanging around the village. There’s also simple necklaces some of the other Andinna can make you, ones that won’t feel like the collar. Then we can go to fabrics. That should be easier. You can just pick out what you like.” Luykas left her outside when he was done talking. She leaned on the building, watching the crowd begin to grow. A woman walked with a young boy as they picked up vegetables at a stall and the young boy pointed at Mave. She froze, wondering what the boy would have to say. He just waved, smiling innocently. The mother looked in her direction, wondering what her son was doing. The mother smiled as well, waving.
Mave just waved back, unsure why. It felt like the right thing to do. She shifted, turning away to avoid more of the strange interaction. When Luykas walked back out, she didn’t bring it up.
“What were you waving at?” he asked lightly.
Of course he’s going to bring it up. He must have seen it through the window.
“Some…child waved at me. I waved back.”
“Was this child human? They like waving at us because we’re big and different.” Luykas chuckled, holding out a pouch. “This is yours now. Take good care of it.”
“What’s in it?” She took the pouch, noticing it had some weight in her palm. She could hear things knocking around inside.
“Stones. Gems.” Luykas sniffed, looking around. “You might not really understand why, not yet, but one day you will.” He rubbed his hands together, looking nervous. “You know, I was nearly a hundred when I began to learn anything about being an Andinna. I didn’t understand either. Not at first.”
She pulled the pouch to her chest. “And?”
“Your father, on the way back to Anden with me, stopped to see some dwarves and their wares. Onyx was the stone he picked out for me, along with some others, but mostly onyx.” Luykas reached out, drawing closer to her than she really wanted him to. “Because you have his eyes, I picked out some of the colors he used to wear. Light blues, for the most part. Some touches of grey and silver. I threw in some orange, though. It’s Matesh’s favorite color and the contrast with your eyes…” He continued talking, but she stopped hearing it.
Truthfully, she had stopped listening after he told her how her father did this for him. A touch of jealousy filled her, nuzzling beside the confusion and appreciation. She was confused by why she needed any of it. He explained, but she wasn’t getting it. Appreciation that he even considered it and paid for it.
Jealousy that once, he spent this sort of time with the male she should have been raised by.
“How does this normally happen?” she
asked, cutting into what he was saying.
“What?” Luykas frowned. They were still standing in front of the jewelry shop, not moving on to their next destination.
“How do Andinna normally get these?” She held up the pouch, indicating what she meant.
“Ah…The parents will choose a few pieces here and there as the child grows older. Some for the child to wear, some to start an adult collection. It’s normally necklaces for young children. Horn decorations start when they’re going into that awful puberty time. After they turn fifty, normally. Bracelets, those are normally for adults only. Well, the ones that are gold or silver, sometimes jade. The precious metals are kept for adults. Leather is for someone who works hard and doesn’t want to ruin fine things or younger Andinna.” He opened the bag and pulled out one silver bangle of a bracelet. “You don’t like them right now, and that’s understandable, but I got one, just in case. You’ll notice, this one is not completely enclosed.” He turned it over to show how it didn’t create a perfect circle. “So it has a lot of give to put on and remove.” He dropped it back in the bag, taking a deep breath. “Let’s go get the rest of this done.”
She wasn’t able to find something to say before he started walking away, leaving her to nearly scramble to keep up. He pushed through the crowd, not waiting for them to make space. She was still stuck on how her father did all of this for him and now he was doing it for her. That meant something, she knew it.
And then she thought of it for longer.
“Did you know Andena when my father took you to Anden?” she asked suddenly, as loudly as she could so she knew he would hear her over the bustle of the crowing market crowd.
He turned slowly, shaking his head. “No. He had to teach me on the road, and it took me a long time to become proficient at it.”
“You were like me.” She felt so stupid for not putting it together sooner. He was exactly like her. He was raised by the Elvasi - he was kept by them. He was taken by her father to go be with his other people.
“Yes and no,” he replied. “I fit with the Elvasi…a little. General Lorren found out about me when rumors started circulating around my area, about the white-winged Andinna youth with a temper. You see, I had no idea why I was acting the way I was. My mother kept me in complete isolation from the Andinna. I never saw one until your father showed up. It clicked in an instant for me.” Luykas sighed, waving her to keep following him. As they walked, he continued to explain. “My mother was also on the cusp of getting married and her new husband couldn’t know about me, couldn’t know that I was hers. General Lorren used that against her.” Luykas snorted. “Not like she loved her new husband, but it didn’t matter.”
“Luykas, you don’t need to tell me this if you don’t want to,” she said, cutting in. He was getting personal, very personal.
“I want to. Honestly, I’ve messed up every chance with you, but you need to really understand why this means a lot to me.” Luykas took a deep breath, running a hand through his black hair. “Your father gave me everything, including a place with our people. He taught me how to be Andinna. He introduced me to my own brother and the other half of my family. He made me feel less alone in the world. Without him, I would have nothing.” He looked away from her. “And if I can pay him back by helping you…”
“So this isn’t about me…”
“It is!” Luykas groaned. “This is what we do, Mave. We’re brought into the community by another Andinna. We continue those communities by showing that kindness to another to bring them in. He taught me that. He also taught me how to slaughter my enemies, but we’re a strange race.” His lips twitched into a small smirk. “We build bonds that can handle the stress and pain of war and death. We’re like that. So it’s about all those things your father taught me and now…I can pass them on to you. I couldn’t do any of this on the ship, so I waited for us to get here to Namur.”
“What do you want?” she asked softly.
“I want you to accept my apology and the gifts I’m trying to give you. I’m an ass and an idiot. Would groveling work?” Luykas sounded sincere. Too sincere. Like he would actually drop to his knees and grovel right there in the street, with everyone watching. “I screwed up with the blood bond, Mave. I know I did. I know I messed up with the spell to get you to sleep. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I’m sorry. I just want to do the rest of this right because you deserve better than I gave you to start with.”
“Fine!” She didn’t know what to do with his behavior. “Fine, I forgive you!” She backed away from him a couple of steps.
“Do you mean it?” He seemed shocked, leaning away from her as if she had just spit venom at him.
“Yeah, sure,” she muttered, feeling unsettled by him.
They let an uncomfortable silence settle for a moment over them, ignoring the crowds of people who had to go around them in the street. She was angry at a few mistakes, one in particular that would last a very long time. She would probably always be angry over it, until it faded and she no longer had to deal with it. Even if it had saved her from the Empress, it angered her. It had already been a pain trying to reconcile those two feelings. Grateful and angry. In the end, she had just avoided him.
But hearing his story about her father and realizing he was once exactly where she was? That changed her perspective just enough to forgive him, even a little.
“It’s going to be hard,” she told him. “Being nice to you. That will be hard. The bond wants-”
“I know what the bond wants all too well. I’m just…tired of this animosity, Mave. I’m tired of seeing you and getting bared teeth like this morning. I’m trying so hard to make up for what I did. It’s not perfect, but I just want a chance to do more things like this for you.” He sighed, looking defeated, and tapped the pouch in her palm. “Will you allow me to help you now? It’s all I want. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
She knew he had a point. The two nights she spoke to him weren’t bad ones. He told her a lot about her family once, while Bryn worked on Company things for him, and then there was the storm. He’d called her difficult, and she realized that she was being difficult just for him. She was more than willing to wait for Leshaun, Matesh, Bryn or anyone else to explain something. She wasn’t giving Luykas the chance. But she found it very hard to let go of how he bonded them together. It felt like a perverse ownership he had on her now. She could barely handle it, which was why she avoided it so much.
“I’ll try,” she promised. “I’ll try to be nicer and not push you away when you’re trying to help.” He held a wealth of knowledge she wanted, mostly about her family. She needed to get over herself if she wanted that knowledge. “So…fabrics now.”
“Yeah. That should be a lot easier. Just pick colors and textures you like. I’ll get some choices for winter gear. You’ll need more gear thanks to the climate here. It gets a lot colder than Elliar.”
He led her to other stalls, and together, they picked out things. She had no idea what would be made out of any of the colors she picked. She just went with her gut. If a color looked nice, she picked it out. Luykas picked a similar color in the wools for winter clothing.
They were heading back to the inn with what felt like a mountain of things. Looking back on the morning, she realized Luykas hadn’t been bad company. She was the one who had made the trip difficult, and once she decided to try and deal with him, everything went smoothly.
I’ll make this work. This is just another thing I can learn to do. If he can grovel this much, I can at least honestly try.
19
Rainev
Rainev woke up in his shared room with Bryn. The rogue had been kind enough to give his father his own room and let Rain hide with him. They had talked about it the night before, Bryn understanding his need to have a quiet place.
And Zayden was never quiet. His father didn’t know the meaning of the word. He was a grumpy, chattering ass who wanted everything the way he wanted it. He was overbearing and annoying, r
efusing to treat Rain with any amount of respect.
“Stop growlin’. Too early in the morning for that.”
He stopped, pulling back his anger.
Bryn looked up from his spot. He slept sitting on the bed, as if he was too uncomfortable to lie down and relax. “Ya need to calm down. Ya can’t let the anger fester. Ya need to let it go.” Bryn slid off his bed and began grabbing his clothes off the floor. “What has ya so angry this early?”
“I was thinking about my bodra,” he answered.
“Ah. He was really good last night. Gave ya lots of space and didn’t bother ya. Why ya mad at him when he did good?” Bryn frowned his way and Rain could only give an angry groan.
“It’s not going to last long. I know Nevyn talked to him and so has, like, everyone else. I just want him to see me as an adult. I am one!”
“Ya are, but I don’t think that’s why you’re really angry,” the rogue countered. “He left ya alone yesterday and he probably will today. So why ya mad?”
Rain didn’t answer this time, jumping out of his bed. He was dressed faster than Bryn and walked out, leaving the rogue. He didn’t know why, that was the problem. Bryn was right, too. He should have been happy his father gave him some space to have a good time the night before. And he had a good time. Enough alcohol, and he could pretend it was like any other time he drank with the Company, just with Mave now.
He went downstairs, hoping to get breakfast, and saw Mave and Luykas walk in carrying so much stuff in their arms, he was worried for a moment that they would be buried. He ran to them as Luykas began to list to one side.
“Whoa!” Rain reached up, grabbing several packages off the top so Luykas could see better. “What did you do? Are these supplies?”
“No, these are for Mave,” the other mutt explained. “Stuff so she can have some real clothes when we get settled in for the winter. A while off, since the Company needs to get a mission done before that, but that’s no reason not to prepare.”
The Mercenary's Bounty Page 20