by Deb E Howell
Cleansed, dressed and altogether feeling pretty good given the circumstances, Llew headed for her bed. She stopped short when Alvaro called out to her in a hushed voice. He stepped out from behind a tree.
“You’re beautiful, Llew.” His doe-eyes shone, and his lips were curled in an awestruck smile. And then he floundered. “I mean, apart from–” He waved his hands down low. Well, no, blood trickling down a girl’s thigh wasn’t the most attractive look.
“Al, don’t.”
Alvaro froze. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “You’re real pretty.” This time the smile was apologetic.
Llew gave him a tight-lipped smile in return and moved past him to her bed, wondering just how many naked women he’d seen in his life.
* * *
Breakfast was rolled oats boiled in water, spiced with cinnamon and allspice, all prepared by Anya and Emylia while the others tidied away their camp and prepared the horses for the day’s journey.
Every time Llew looked up from her breakfast or travel preparations, she caught Alvaro watching her. He never looked away when she saw him, just smiled. She stopped smiling in return, and shook her head at him to try to discourage him. If Aris knew she was a girl, he might not let her continue on with them. They were meant to be a protective escort for Anya, taking her to meet her future husband, Lord Tovias, the Earl of Rakun and its surrounding areas. Another girl in the group likely didn’t feature in Aris’ plans. He needed good, strong men who could fight and, Llew suspected, one letter opener to the side of a man’s head did not provide the kind of conclusive evidence Aris would expect.
Llew sat in the cart, mostly ignoring the rocking and swaying as it trundled along the road. She was looking forward to riding the horse they’d acquired from the highwaymen. She wondered if she should have moved to the front of the carriage to sit on the cushioned seat behind Aris, Emylia and Anya each time they tackled a slope and the wheels of the carriage found all the corrugations left by historic rain showers. But she was enjoying her perch at the back: leaning against the canvas wall, back-flap hooked up out of the way, and with her leg slung over the tailgate, ostensibly keeping an eye on the pack horses. She watched the road disappear behind them. Cheer was falling farther and farther behind with each bounce, and she could feel the boy-girl she had been slipping away with it.
No longer did she have to be the pick-pocket trying to survive as life would allow. She had the opportunity to earn her way legitimately, and go on to . . . well, to do anything. When this journey was over she would be in a new land, with new friends and a world of options open ahead of her. There were schools in Phyos, or so she had heard, and cities that could swallow Cheer whole and still have room for three more. Opportunity. Challenge. Rewards to be reaped.
Jonas looked back at her now and then, and she would smile at him. He rarely smiled back, or held her gaze, and most of the time he looked as though he might be sleeping under that hat. But the animosity from their initial interactions seemed to have dissipated some.
* * *
By the time the group entered Orn the sun was dipping low. Orn: Population 1,500, the sign at the outskirts said. It was small and dusty, much like Cheer, though the smell of the sea was less pungent this far inland. By this part of the day the streets were mostly empty, and Llew breathed in the aromas of meats, breads and herbs and spices, some familiar, some strange, from meals in preparation. Her mouth watered and her stomach grumbled.
She looked up at the busy arms of the town’s telegraph semaphore as the tower sent a message down the line. Cheer had its own towers, but Llew had rarely seen them at work, and briefly wondered what people might say to each other over such long distances. Likely nothing to concern her. Aris seemed interested, though.
He led them to an inn and Alvaro and Cassidy took charge of the horses, unburdening the pack animals and settling them all into the stable. The rest of the group followed Aris inside.
The main entrance opened into a common area with a few free-standing wooden tables and benches, and several booths along the walls. To the right of the door was the bar. To the left, stairs climbed to a balcony off which were the guest rooms. The overall appearance, though dull in the limited light, was tidy and clean. Llew hadn’t known exactly what she was expecting, but her recollection of helping her father out of the bar in Cheer painted quite a different picture of the inside of such an establishment. She reminded herself that it was still early.
The few patrons sitting at one of the tables gave the newcomers a cursory glance and resumed their conversations and drinking. The innkeeper kept busy drying a tankard as Aris approached. Aris booked three rooms and ordered a warm bath to be ready in each.
“Dalea!” the innkeeper called, and a voluptuous woman appeared from a door at the other end of the bar. “Can you and the girls arrange three bathtubs for our guests?” The woman nodded, and withdrew.
They brought in what belongings they needed, while the rest was secured in a room attached to the stable.
Two girls, who Llew guessed were the innkeeper’s daughters, had placed a large tub in the centre of the room Llew was to share with the boys, and were filling it with steaming water from buckets they carried into the room. Cassidy scooted across to start a conversation with one of the girls, deftly easing the weight of her bucket from her grasp. Llew shared an amused look with Alvaro and Jonas as the girl started to giggle at whatever Cassidy had said to her quietly – too quietly for them to hear. Under a disapproving gaze from the girl’s mother and a not entirely damning look from the other sister, Cassidy poured the steaming contents of the bucket into the tub and handed the bucket back to the girl to refill. While she was out of the room, he stood beside his friends, rocking back and forth on his toes with a distinctly smug air.
Bath filled, the girl lingered at the doorway before her sister dragged her away. Cassidy sauntered back to the others, but before he could gloat over his impending conquest, Jonas and Alvaro announced that they were going down to the bar, and left the room.
“Don’t take too long. I don’t want a cold bath,” Cassidy said with a smirk, patting Llew on the shoulder before following the other two. “But I’m sure looking forward to nursing a glass of ale.”
Llew grinned as he “whooped” his way down the stairs, taking several at a time. And then she was alone. She locked the door and turned to the steaming tub. She wished she could enjoy the hot bath before her but, thanks to her body’s rhythms, it was not a luxury she could afford. She doubted those who came after her would appreciate it if she did. Still, she wasn’t going to let the chance to wash pass her by. She knelt by the tub, shimmied out of her shirt, and began to sponge herself down with the cloth the girls had provided. Even without submerging herself in it, Llew luxuriated at the touch of the hot water. She hadn’t had a hot bath in some six years.
Perhaps on Phyos she would find, or create, a job that would provide enough income to buy her own home – a real house – with a well and a fireplace to heat the water. Perhaps. She had to get there first.
Clean, dry and clothed, she descended to the bar where the boys sat, each cradling a tankard of ale.
“You spruce up nice,” Alvaro blurted out. “Better watch out or someone might mistake you for a girl.”
“Watch yourself.” Llew glared at him.
“I think you better have next bath, Al,” said Jonas. “Maybe you can sweat out some o’ that ale.”
“He’s not wrong, you know.” Cassidy looked at Llew with slightly bleary eyes as his cousin headed up to their room. “When I was your age, I was shavin’.”
“Ease off him, Cass. He’s still growin’.”
Llew gave Jonas a grateful smile then turned away. How keen would he be to stand by her if he found out what else she was?
“I was just sayin’,” Cassidy raised a hand in supplication, “you’ve got mighty smooth skin, is all.”
Aris joined them, and Anya and Emylia came down soon after. Cassidy loped
up the stairs as soon as Alvaro reappeared.
After each of them had washed up, they enjoyed a meal of boiled beef, potatoes and fresh salad greens before making their way to their beds. Llew felt as though she was living a life of luxury when she climbed into a soft bed with warm blankets. Cassidy was beginning the night in another bed, but Jonas and Alvaro’s slow breathing soon lulled her to sleep, and she only woke briefly when Cassidy came into the room during the night.
The following morning, Aris sent Jonas with Llew to get decent tack for her horse. The highwayman’s gear would have rubbed the poor animal raw if she’d ridden the length of the country on it.
On the way to the tack shop, they stopped in at a tailor’s for Llew to buy a new shirt, jacket, and trousers that actually fitted, along with the finest boots that had ever graced her feet, with money Aris had given Jonas for the purpose. Aris had called it an advance on her fee for her – his – part in the job of getting Anya safely to Rakun on Phyos. Llew’s eyes had boggled as he divvied the money out to Jonas. If it was only an advance, and not the whole fee, she wouldn’t have to rush to find work in Phyos. How much was the man carrying? Instinctively her fingers had tingled at the prospect of a fat wallet, but she’d shoved her hands into her pockets. She would earn her money honestly from now on.
Later, strolling down the street, carrying her parcel, Llew realised Jonas was not keeping pace with her and turned round to look for him. He stood studying something in a store window. Llew walked back to join him at the dressmaker’s.
“Looking for something for yourself?” she gibed.
He turned a sour look on her, then his expression settled into something she hadn’t seen on him before – a kind of gentle consideration.
“You ever miss wearin’ ’em?” He nodded to the dresses in the window.
“I never did wear ’em.” She didn’t figure the one she’d been hanged in counted. “Don’t feel sorry for me. Pants are more practical, anyway. Come on.” Pants were a damn sight harder for someone else to get off, at least. “I think the store up here might sell hooks. Maybe I’ll catch us dinner one night.” She started walking away.
“A better view, too.”
“What?” She turned, quite certain she knew what he’d meant, but feeling a need for clarification. Plus, the comment made her very conscious of her cheeks – and not those on her face. They clenched.
“Trousers. They–” he started. Llew blinked a few times. It was both amusing and astonishing to see Jonas, usually so confident, flustered. “I was just sayin’ they look nice. Let’s go.” He strode past her.
She caught up with him and they walked together in silence.
Llew wasn’t sure how she felt about Jonas admiring her arse. True, she had assessed him in kind that first day, but that was different.
Anya had insisted Llew purchase a fishing hook should she get the opportunity to do so, so the Orn General Store had been added to their list of destinations. Once her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the store after the bright morning sunshine, she scoured the shelves for the store’s collection of fishing gear and set about sorting through it. Jonas gave every impression of casually inspecting the store’s wares without showing any real interest in any of it, all the while keeping himself just a step or two away from Llew.
“I’d like to see you in one.” Suddenly his breath tickled the hairs on the back of her neck and Llew swallowed, as though she’d been caught once more with his knife in her grasp. Recovering, she pinched her chosen hook between her fingers, but stopped short of turning from the shelf. Her breathing and heart rate quickened. He was far too good at sneaking up on people. “Think you’d look pretty,” he continued.
Llew froze. The storekeeper watched them suspiciously.
Jonas’ hand slipped round beside her, brushing her ribs and sending a jolt through her, and placed the coin she needed to pay for the hook on the shelf. Then, as silently as he had come up behind her, he moved away and left the store.
Heart pounding, she took the hook and the coin to the counter to pay before following Jonas out. As soon as she emerged squinting into the daylight, Jonas stepped onto the road, heading for the livery stable.
“What was that?” she asked when she caught up to him.
“What was what?”
Llew scowled at his back. She grabbed his arm, turning him to face her. There was the smallest of smiles on his lips. Thought it was funny, did he?
“Don’t play innocent with me. I know innocent, and you ain’t it. You were flirting with me.”
“I’s just playin’, is all.” He continued walking, his hands clasped behind his back. The ‘V’ drew Llewella’s eye down and she was struck by how easy it was to notice the nice fit of his trousers. She recalled noticing the same when she had first seen the knife at his side. Her eyes moved to the weapon and she admonished herself for her thoughts. This man had the means to kill her and, by his account, would have thought nothing of doing so if they’d met under different circumstances. In fact, he probably would have done it when they first met, had he known what she was.
But he didn’t know. And she would be long gone before he found out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
When they returned to the inn the boys, Llew and Aris set about preparing the horses and hitching up the carriage. Llew’s horse was a solidly built, gold and white-patched hack, far too beautiful for some highwayman to run into the ground. He dozed quietly while Llew attached her bedroll and canteen to the saddle.
“Here.” Alvaro offered a wide-brimmed hat. It was rumpled, as though it had been shoved in the bottom of his belongings. “It’ll keep the sun out of your eyes. And rain, if we get unlucky.”
“Thanks.” Llew took the hat and pushed it down on her head. Her eyes instantly relaxed from their squinting in the bright morning sun. She headed across to help Aris with the final check of the pack animals while the cousins carried on some sort of game between them, throwing punches and feigning injury.
“Hey!” Jonas exclaimed as something kicked up the dust at Llew’s feet. She stooped to gather up the small object which, on inspection, proved to be a gryphon carved from a hard, dark wood. A shadow fell over her and she looked up. Jonas had an expression similar to the first she had ever seen on his face: this time his attention was focused on the object in her hand, not on her. She held the wooden creature out to him.
“What is it?” she asked as he took it.
“Nothin’,” he said, returning to his own horse and pushing the object deep inside a saddlebag.
She glared at his back. A gryphon, again: same as the design on the handle of his knife.
“Cut your foolin’, boys,” Aris admonished. “We’re late enough getting on, anyways. Go and help the ladies down.”
Cassidy and Alvaro scooted indoors, still trying to beat each other at whatever game they played, and Jonas steadied Llew’s horse while she figured out getting the correct foot in the stirrup and boosting herself into the saddle. Settling in place she felt pretty proud of her accomplishment. Then she watched him vault effortlessly onto the back of his own bay and white horse. She vowed to teach herself the same trick as she watched Cassidy and Alvaro repeat the feat moments later.
The group nudged their horses forward and soon they were on the road north. Alvaro and Cassidy took the lead again, followed by the carriage and the pack horses, with Jonas and Llew taking up the rear.
Glancing over at him, she could see the scar that extended around his throat. It was as though someone had gripped him with a burning hand, leaving the marks of their fingers. But if they had been burning, how had he not been more injured by the fire? She took a breath to ask him, but thought better of it. Instead, she made idle comments on the weather. After a taste of winter’s chill a few mornings earlier, summer had come knocking once more and the heat was almost stifling. She had no need for her new jacket just yet. Jonas stared straight ahead, outwardly acknowledging little around them, much less Llew’s chatter.
“How old were you when you . . . lost your folks?”
For a moment longer she thought he was still ignoring her. Then he gave her a glance and started talking, going back to watching the road ahead.
“I was seven,” he said.
She was about to ask what happened when she realised he was already preparing to tell her.
“We lived in Aldia, in northern Quaver. Turhmos, south of Quaver, had taken to raids targeting families on farms and isolated homesteads instead of facing us on the battlefields.” He paused. “I was outside playin’ with – I was outside playin’, when riders came to our house. This knife was my pa’s. But the Aenuks turned its power on him and my ma. By the time I realised what was goin’ on and ran back to the house, it was too late. They drained them.”
She watched him a while, imagining the little boy seeing his parents like that, drained of life like the man in the Cheer alleyway.
“How long you been on your own?” he asked.
“If I tell you, will you tell me about your gryphon?”
“No.”
“Alright. Five summers, maybe.” She shrugged. “I stopped counting.”
“What happened?”
She shrugged again. “My pa took to regular evenings in the saloon. I woke one morning and he hadn’t come home. And he wasn’t at the saloon, either.”
“So, you don’t know he’s dead.”
“I don’t know how I’d feel if he isn’t.”
Jonas nodded.
When she gave herself the time to ponder on it, she knew exactly how she’d feel and, if she was honest with herself, she felt anger more often than she’d care to admit.
“Phew! It’s hot,” she said, taking off the hat and fanning her face with it before returning it to her head. The wet band was cool to the touch, at first. She pulled at the front of her shirt, trying to get some air on her skin.
It was hard to walk after her first few hours in the saddle. Muscles she didn’t know she had cried for her attention until she sat in the lush grass to eat her lunch and all her little aches and pains eased.