It was easy enough to listen to Shira’s conversation as they examined the map.
“You owe me two more coppers, Cam.”
“Shira, I think I’m done rollin’ dice with you today. Dob’ll be furious if I spend all the coin I was supposed to give the blacksmith. I got to get that hammer and get back soon.”
“I’m glad you stopped in, but I’m still not sure that what you told me is true. How’s the king feedin’ all those people in Glenley if they’re usin’ their farms as training grounds? I’ll never understand city folk.”
Mariah’s attention, which had started to wander, snapped back to their conversation.
“From what I heard, they mostly turned the least fertile lands into trainin’ grounds for the army, the lands north of the city, where it’s too rocky for good crops. And as far as the others, the drudges, there’s a special farm where they go. The older kids, they work the land there.”
Drudges? What did he mean?
“Once they get old enough, strong enough, they get their cuff and their chain and start learnin’ how to serve the king as is right and proper.”
Oh, gods! Was he calling the Ceo San drudges?
“Sounds like they got quite the efficient system going.” Shira’s voice was as buoyant as ever.
Mariah bit her lip.
“Well, you can’t give those … folk … the same luxuries you’d give the normal guard, you know.”
“Luxuries? The soldiers get luxuries? Maybe I should have signed up, hey?” Shira chuckled.
Cam’s voice changed. It was softer, and Mariah could hear the pleading in it. “You’re too pretty to be an army cur, Shira. I still don’t know why you don’t stay in town a bit longer. You’re always in and out like a sweet breeze. Just when I’m happy to see you, you’re gone again. You never give me time to court ya properly.”
“I don’t know. You said they got luxuries in the king’s army. Maybe I should breeze myself right on into Draydon Keep and sign up.”
Mariah shivered. Sure, someone like Shira—at least in her animal form, with her sheer size and brute strength—would make a formidable addition to His Royal Majesty Rothgar Draydon’s army, but at what cost?
“That’s not what I meant, woman. I just mean, ya know, all the soldiers, they each got a bed and all the regular meals, at least when they’re not marching. They’re given a bit o’ land when they retire. Other people grow and cook their food, and they got some followers to tag along and sew for them and such. The drudges, they have to do it all themselves and for the Trappers that catch ‘em and train ‘em.”
“Maybe you ought to be a Trapper, then, hey, Cam? You’d have your own personal slave.”
“That’s not even funny.” His voice changed again, lowered dangerously. Mariah heard anger—or was it fear?—in his tone. “I heard things. Trappers aren’t safe, even with those chains of theirs. Don’t you know those drudges are really beasts? They’re just playin’ at bein’ people. If the king didn’t have a right hold on them, they’d be ruttin’ in the streets and eatin’ our babies for dinner, I promise ya.”
The bench beneath Xae scraped the floor as he started to push back. Mariah slapped her hand over his, holding him in place, staring hard at him. “How far do you think we can get before dark, brother?” Her voice was too loud, and her jaw was clenched.
Xae lowered himself slowly back to the bench and mumbled a response that she didn’t really hear. She let out the breath she’d been holding and tried to monitor him better. Cam and Shira didn’t seem to have noticed his reaction and went on talking.
“Speakin’ of babies, you said the older ones work the farm. Who takes care of all the young ones?”
“From what I heard, the animals that are too old to fight go there, too. Ain’t many of those that survive that long, though. The king uses ‘em hard. The rest, well, I don’t know. Maybe the drudges’ mothers? I’ve heard rumors … Anyhow, any parent that don’t kill those things when they first see what they are, well, they deserve whatever punishment they get. I mean, I know the king wants ‘em, but I bet we’d all be better off without ‘em.”
Mariah squeezed Xae’s hand again, catching his dark gaze with her own and willing him to stay put. Shira was silent for a moment, and Mariah worried what that meant. Just how good did someone have to be at all of this pretending to ignore something like that?
“Well, it’s a good thing I never go north of the city then. Wouldn’t accidentally want to end up in the middle—”
A savory aroma tickled Mariah’s nostrils, and she heard footsteps approaching. “Here ya go,” Addie boomed in a voice that seemed much too big for her compact body.
A tin plate was slammed down in front of Mariah, followed quickly by one in front of Xae. Each held a lumpy meat pie with a golden crust. She forgot all about Shira as her stomach growled in response to the smell of seasoned meat and vegetables. She hadn’t eaten anything that smelled this good since the Hideaway. Mariah was already trying to balance the pie in her hand and take her first bite when two tankards filled with pale yellow ale appeared next to the plates.
“I’ll wrap up the rest and have ‘em out for you before you’re done.”
“Thank you,” Mariah mumbled through a mouthful of pastie.
As Addie returned to the kitchen, she chuckled, and Mariah heard her say. “Those pies get ‘em every time. Every damn time.”
CHAPTER 24
THE SAWMILLER’S APPRENTICE
A few minutes after they had finished eating the first two pies, Addie brought out their extra ones. Mariah watched as Xae carefully wrapped them in his extra shirt and laid them in the top of his pack. As he was doing so, Mariah’s attention was drawn back to Shira and Cam, who had climbed off the stools and were making their way toward the door.
She watched the man from under her eyelashes and bit her lip hard. Her stomach churned, but this time it wasn’t from hunger. With his pale, freckled skin and red hair, he looked so normal. His smile at Shira seemed genuine as he took her elbow. “Come back to the mill with me. As soon as I give Dob what he needs, we can take a stroll together. I’ve some friends in the guard. I can take you for a tour atop the wall.”
“What’s that old sawmiller paying you for if you’re spending all your time in the tavern and taking strolls?” She punched him in the arm. “No, Cam. I’ve a job to do myself. I have to get to Glenley and make my purchases. My folks will be expecting me back soon.”
They’d gone out the door then and out of earshot.
Xae hadn’t bothered to hide his staring.
“You know Cam?” Addie asked from behind Mariah.
Xae’s turned to the barmaid. “No, ma’am. He just … looks familiar … like someone I know back home.”
Addie nodded, and they settled their tab before heading out about ten minutes after their companion had left.
* * *
Mariah and Xae made it to the north gate without issue. It was as straightforward as they could get in a place like Kannuk. However, neither Ruby nor Shira was waiting for them, nor were they within sight.
Murmuring to each other, they decided to keep walking, hoping that their companions had decided to wait for them out of sight of the town walls. About a half a mile from the walls, the emotions Mariah had been feeling as they sat in the Dragon began to surface.
She kept her eyes on the road, the interchange between Cam and Shira playing over and over again in her head, but she remained silent. She had decided to trust Shira. After all, the woman had proven herself time and time again. She couldn’t just give that up because her friend was a very convincing actress.
Xae, on the other hand, his mind obviously on the same thing, burst out, “She acted like it was no big deal, the things he, he said about … people like us.” His voice shook. “My parents, they told me that we were special, chosen by the gods themselves. And she let him talk about us like that? I thought she was on our side. Now … I don’t
know.”
Mariah stopped and put a hand on his arm. “Xae, it was just an act … you know that, right? Xae? Even if she wanted to, speaking out against the king, against his laws, could have gotten her arrested.” She knew the things Shira had said cut deep, almost as bad as the things her companion had said.
“Do you think she believes all that? Do you think she plans to give us up to the king once we arrive in Glenley?”
Mariah flushed. “Of course not! She’s been helping us. You know, she never had to leave the safety of her home, Xae. She didn’t have to hide us from the soldiers on the mountain or negotiate with a wolf pack to help us survive. But she did anyway.”
“Do you think … Nya and Ayla … do you think they’re chained? I’ve seen men like him before but not since …”
Mariah stared at Xae, her need to defend Shira forgotten as she saw the boy’s real fear. Tears streamed down his face. She could almost see the picture in his eyes of his younger sisters, cuffed and chained like the man in the marketplace. Without thinking, she pulled him in close. She felt his chest heave, but his cries were silent. “It should have been me,” he said into her chest. “I should have protected them.” His voice was fragile, as if it was about to break.
Mariah rubbed his back and smoothed the stubble on his head, glad they were alone on the road for the moment. He stepped back after only a few moments and turned away from her, stalking off the side of the road and into the grass. He sniffed loudly a couple of times and rubbed his hands across his face.
Seeing that Ceo San slave in the market, exploring the temple, and then listening to Cam’s filth—it had all been a little much to take in a single afternoon, especially after their experiences the day before with the wolves of Laikos.
She knew how Xae felt. Her own right arm itched to be out of its sling. She longed to be able to pull out her father’s knife and use it on the next unsuspecting Trapper, to free his charge and every slave she ever saw. She wondered if the knife would be good enough to pry open that awful chain. Her father had made the best weapons.
“Xae, come on,” she said instead. “I want to tell you something. It’ll help get your mind off that awful ‘friend’ of Shira’s.”
Xae shuffled back to the road and began walking next to her, although he didn’t speak or look directly at her. Hopefully, they would find Shira soon. In the meantime, Mariah finally told Xae about where she was from and how she had ended up in Cillian.
When she had finished with, “And that’s where Gwyn found me,” Xae looked at her solemnly for a moment but kept walking.
“I feel like a jerk,” he said a little while later.
“What?”
“I was so mad at that … that man, for all of the horrible things that he said … I blamed it on Shira. All she’s done is try to help, even when I was being stupid.”
“Yeah,” Mariah said, “it’s easy to forget when you hear stuff like that. I think I forgot, too, for a little bit.”
“Let’s remember to thank her,” Xae said, “for everything she’s done.”
Mariah started to nod but then saw something moving ahead. A skinny gray wolf stepped out of a patch of trees to the left of the road about a hundred yards past them. Ruby.
As soon as she caught Mariah’s gaze, she disappeared back into the shadows. Mariah broke into a quick jog, hoping that Shira had just gone off the side of the road for a quick break. She began calling for her friend, and Xae joined in.
They left the road where Ruby had disappeared. She was waiting for them. Instead of transforming or talking, she led them through the little patch of trees and across a narrow field. Mariah’s stomach twisted. Where was Shira?
A few hundred yards into the field, she heard noises from a bigger copse of trees ahead. Somehow, they had come to a place where there were no farmhouses in sight. All she could see was the field they stood in and the darkness under the trees. They stopped and listened.
“Hey, don’t you need to be getting back to the sawmill?” It sounded like Shira, but there was something so small and strained about her voice that Mariah second-guessed herself.
“Dob’s got his hammer. I told him I yakked up my lunch and everything I’d eaten all day, and he sent me home. He didn’t know that I really wanted to catch up with you. I’m tired of you running away from me every time you come to town. It’s time you give me some proper attention before you prance off again and leave me wanting. It’s just not right, fisher girl.”
Mariah stiffened. “Xae. Ruby. Stay here. Keep a lookout.” She took off toward the trees at a jog, her hand gripping the hilt of her father’s knife, never forgotten at her belt.
As she moved into the dimness between the trees, she heard a loud grunt.
“You don’t want to do that.” Shira’s voice was labored now. “Please, Cam. I’m warning you now. Go home, sober up, and we’ll talk next time I’m in town … I promise.”
“I’m sober enough. And what’s a little thing like you going to do to stop me?”
Cam held Shira’s face and body up against a broad oak, his tall frame pinning her. One of his hands gripped Shira’s upper arm, the knuckles white, and his other was working his belt.
“She’s not going to do anything, but I just might put this between your ribs.” At his back, Mariah pushed the point of her father’s knife into his tunic.
He looked over his shoulder at Mariah, but there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, he laughed.
“Two for the price of one.” The aroma of whiskey flowed over Mariah’s nostrils.
As it did, Cam’s elbow came up so fast that she didn’t have time to react, and pain erupted across her cheek. She stumbled backward and fell onto her backside, the knife falling from her hand.
Cam turned back to Shira, who had spun around while he was distracted. Mariah stared at his back. She wanted to tear his eyes out. She struggled to get her bad arm out of the sling, to give herself leverage. Then, she scrambled to her feet and jumped onto his back, her hands curled into claws.
At the same moment, Shira took the opportunity to knee him hard. He groaned and fell backward, taking Mariah with him.
Her breath flew from her lungs as she hit the ground and Cam landed squarely on top of her. The back of his ginger head filled her view, but she caught Xae out of the corner of her eye standing above them, her father’s knife in his hand.
“Come to help me, boy?” His voice was muffled, and he seemed to be struggling to catch his own breath. “You’re a bit young, but not too much. Who do you want first?”
Xae growled, and Shira stiffened, staring hard at Cam. Was Mariah imagining the golden glow in her eyes? As her companions rushed the man on top of her, Mariah pushed and kicked at his back, anything to get him off, to get her breath back.
Cam yelled and rolled off Mariah, scuttling backward like a crab before coming down on his backside. A dark red stain blossomed on the front of his tunic, his eyes wide and focused on Shira.
“What … What … What are you? … I need to …” He started to scoot backward, but his movements were slow and lethargic as blood seeped through the rip in his tunic at an alarming rate. He stopped when his shoulders hit a partially buried boulder on the ground. “Find … must find a … Trapper.” His eyes drifted shut, and his head fell back, hitting the rock beneath him with a sickening thump.
Mariah, who had scrambled into a sitting position, her hands clasped over her mouth, squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away from the gruesome sight.
“Your hands. Shira …” Xae’s voice filled the silence. It sounded wrong. “Your hands.”
Was Shira hurt? Mariah’s eyes snapped open, and she turned toward her friend.
Shira’s hands were covered with blood. No, not her hands. Her paws. Monstrously large paws that dwarfed the arms they grew from. Her fur was matted with dark fluid, her face was twisted and angry. Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath.
“What have you �
�?” Xae’s voice broke. His head snapped back and forth between Cam and Shira several times before he spun around and ran back toward the road. He passed Ruby, whose wolf sat silently a dozen feet away, and disappeared into the trees. A second later, a mournful caw ripped through the silence, echoing through the trees.
Mariah looked back toward Shira. Her friend sank to her knees, the rage seeping from her features. Her paws became blurry and were replaced with Shira’s small, pale hands. The blood smeared over them looked no less ghastly than it had on her matted fur.
“Oh, gods,” Shira breathed. “Why did he have to go and do that? Why couldn’t he have gone back to work like he was supposed to? You know, there was a time when I thought Cam wasn’t half bad, when I thought to myself, ‘If that man lived in Grof, I might just let him pay court to me.’ I never knew what a loathsome creature was lurking under that freckled skin of his.” She huffed and muttered her last line in a low voice. “And he thinks we’re monsters!” She chuckled, her bloodied hands still open on her knees.
“Shira?” Mariah’s head was swimming, and now this. Shira muttering and sounding a bit like she’d lost her sanity. Mariah refused to look at Cam, so she kept her eyes on Shira instead. What had she done? “Shira, are you all right?”
Shira, too, refused to look up, even at Mariah. “No, Mari, I don’t think so. Not all right. Not t’all.” Tears ran off her chin and down her arms, leaving little streaks through the blood smears.
Mariah crawled over to her. “Let’s get you cleaned up, okay?” She looked around. “Ruby, did you see any water nearby?”
She woofed and shook her head once.
A waterskin would have to do, but Xae had been carrying her bag, and he was gone. Mariah looked around. “Where is your pack, Shira?”
The other woman didn’t respond, although her tears continued to fall into the silence. Mariah felt something under her arm and looked up to find Ruby nosing her, Shira’s pack hanging from her mouth.
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