It was Sylvie that stepped around him and moved to her. There was an understanding, sad smile on the woman’s face. “It’s bathing that’s the most dangerous time for us. Even more than sleeping. Our usual protectors can’t enter a woman’s bathing chamber after all.” Sylvie’s tone said she knew it all too well.
“But you needn’t worry, Miss Denney.” Sylvie came right up to her and put an arm around her shoulders, the gesture strangely comforting. “For we have a magic phrase in the guild.”
“A magic phrase,” she repeated dubiously. How was a magic phrase supposed to make anything better?
“Indeed. Tran and I came into the guild only a few months apart. I told you that earlier, didn’t I? Yes, so I did. When he came in, he couldn’t always tell in a glance if I needed help or not. Sometimes men just flirt with me. Sometimes they push it too far. So he and I set up a code so that I could ask for help before real trouble broke out. Since you’ll be traveling with us, you can use the code as well.”
Denney felt like this was a little too good to be true. Traces of fear still rattled along her nerves but started dissipating under Sylvie’s forthright words. “You just say this phrase and he’ll show up?”
“Just like magic,” Sylvie responded, perhaps a bit of evil in her smile. “Actually, he’s not the only one. Wolf’s started to do it too. Fei comes in as well. But the one that reacts the fastest, always, is Tran.”
“That’s because the man’s been conditioned to drop everything and run to you,” Siobhan observed. “He’s better trained than a dog in this respect.”
Wolf snorted agreement.
Seeing their agreement, Denney felt more than a little curious. “So what’s the phrase?”
“I need a husband.”
Denney blinked at her. Then blinked again as her mind refused to accept that she had heard that correctly. “Come again?”
“You heard me,” Sylvie responded, eyes laughing. “It’s ‘I need a husband.’ Say just that and he’ll show up before you can draw your next breath.”
Thinking about it, Tran probably offered this phrase to Sylvie to reassure her that he would protect her. Denney wasn’t as sure about this offer extending to her as well. But still, it was kind of the woman to offer it to her.
A mischievous glint in her eyes, Sylvie dropped her voice a notch. “Want to see something fun? Try yelling that.”
“Me?” Denney objected. “But he doesn’t know to come when it’s me saying it.”
“I will bet you tomorrow’s breakfast that it doesn’t matter who says it. He’ll still come.”
There was such conviction in Sylvie’s expression that Denney found herself very curious. Would this actually work? Clearing her throat, she tentatively started to speak, then realized that she really would have to yell in order to be heard through the closed door. Taking in a deeper breath, she tried again, “I NEED A HUSBAND!”
From the other side of the wall, there was a loud clatter, a muffled curse, and then the thud of two feet sprinting for the door. In a heartbeat, the door yanked open. Wolfinsky had the presence of mind to skip out of the way, otherwise Tran would likely have bowled right over him.
Dressed in nothing but a towel and with a sword in his left hand, Tran jerked his head in both directions demanding, “What? What’s the problem?”
“See?” Sylvie purred, satisfied. “He always comes immediately when he hears that.”
Tran was quick on the uptake. Pointing an outraged finger at her, he demanded, “Did you just call me to prove a point?”
“No,” Sylvie denied calmly. “Miss Denney called you. It was to prove a point, though.”
That half-deflated him. “You can get back in the bath, Master Roroana, it’s just two women messing with a man’s mind.” Glaring, perhaps blushing a little from his distinct lack of clothes, he spun back into the men’s bathing chamber, muttering as he went. “Crazy women calling me when there’s no trouble.”
“But you’ll come again next time, won’t you?” Siobhan called after him.
“Of course I will, Shi-maee, but that’s not the point!” he grumbled back loudly.
Denney marveled at this. Never before had she seen a man that would literally hop out of a bath and come running. Even when a person he barely knew called him, he still came running. What manner of man was Tran Amar that he would always react that way?
Sylvie patted her on the shoulder before letting go. “See? Now, you have an overprotective husband whenever you need one.”
Denney’s racing heart finally settled and a slow smile stole across her face. “I guess I do at that.” She was definitely going to have to explain this to her uncle tonight, though, so he wouldn’t be confused if she ever had to use it. Well, maybe not, as Tran was probably half-complaining and half-explaining to Conli even now.
“Well.” Siobhan clapped her hands together. “With all that settled, let’s go to bed, shall we?”
ӜӜӜ
Denney had been coached by Sylvie on Fei’s probable reaction, so she sat in the main room of the inn the next morning, lingering over breakfast. Conli lingered as well, for different reasons than she did, but the rest of the guild was already out and with the caravan, getting it ready to move out.
Slowly, obviously nursing an aching head, Fei came down the stairs. He didn’t look up from his feet until he reached the main floor and, on spotting them, grimaced slightly. His memory of the night before was intact, eh? Still, he didn’t hesitate, but went directly for them. “Miss Denney. My profound apologies for last evening.”
After twelve hours, Denney now saw the humor in the whole situation, so she grinned up at him. “Not at all. Thanks to you, I now have a fun story to tell.”
He winced again, but this time with a spark of humor in his dark eyes. “Glad to be of service?”
“Sit,” Conli urged, pulling out the chair next to him. “I spoke with your guildmaster and Miss Sylvie at length last night and they told me about the dishes that you know are safe to eat. I compiled a list of ingredients that I think we should use as our baseline. We’ll try adding in other ingredients every two days and see what effect they have on you until we’ve figured this out. For this morning, however,” Conli lifted the canvas cover from a plate, “this should be safe for you to eat. The recipe is not like your hometown, but the ingredients are.”
Fei gave him a bow, voice husky. “You honor me with kindness. Thank you.”
Conli shook his head, negating this. “I can’t consider myself a man of medicine if I ignore a problem like yours. It might be humorous most of the time but randomly taking control from you like that is dangerous. Too dangerous. I will try to help figure this out by journey’s end or at least give you the means to diagnose yourself.” From a vest pocket, he drew out a small glass vial with a corked top. “Take this for the headache.”
Without question, Fei took it from him and tossed the contents down. “This must be wonderful medicine,” he observed dryly.
“Why?” Conli responded, eyes crinkling up. “Because it tastes awful?”
“Precisely so.”
Conli gave him a sage nod, as if imparting some great wisdom. “We make medicine taste terrible on purpose, you know. It scares the illness and ailments away, as the body doesn’t want to take it again.”
“That makes a great deal of sense,” Fei intoned, digging into his breakfast. “I always suspected as much but it is nice to have it confirmed.”
So the man had a sense of humor after all? Denney was relieved to hear it.
In between bites, Fei instructed, “Denney-gui, you are not to leave the inn without me. I have strict instructions on this from Tran-ren and Wolf-ren. They explained somewhat why, as apparently there are cultural prejudices involved, but have you encountered an obvious threat yet?”
He was aware of her situation? And still spoke so politely to her? Denney warmed up to the man a little more as she responded, “I haven’t. But then, I haven’t seen anyone from Wynngaard yet a
nd all of the people at this inn seem intent on going about their own business instead of creating trouble.”
“That is good. I will eat quickly, then, before trouble can find us. You are packed?”
“I think I am.” She looked at Conli, who nodded. “But maybe we should make one more sweep of the room to make sure that everything made it back to its bags?”
“Probably wise. After all, we bought several things yesterday and everything still fit. That’s not a good sign.” Conli stood and headed upstairs.
As he reached the middle of the staircase, she abruptly remembered that in the middle of the night, she’d grown too hot and toed her socks off. They were still under the covers. Denney hated losing good socks, they were a hard thing to replace with her narrow feet. So she popped up and ran to the bottom of the staircase to call up, “I have a pair of socks under the covers!”
Conli paused at the top and waved a hand to her, silently stating he’d heard her and would grab them.
Phew, that had been close. Turning around, she had every intention of rejoining Fei at the table but was abruptly checked when two men stepped into her path. They were both Wynngaardian, although not nearly as huge as Wolfinsky, square jaws and crooked noses, and a hard look in their eyes that Denney dreaded seeing. She knew what it meant all too well.
One of them, the older of the two, looked her over in an exaggerated way. “How much?”
She held onto her temper as much as possible while making her voice firm. “I’m not a prostitute.”
“We saw you with a daddy like that, and you’re still saying nonsense?” He snorted, the expression on his face vulgar.
Shouldn’t these idiots be busy getting ready to leave? They were the caravan guards the innkeeper had warned her about last night, weren’t they? So why did they think they could pick her up this early in the morning and do anything? Were they that desperate, this far away from home?
From behind the men, she saw a quick shape flit in between them, and then both men folded as if their knees had been cut out from underneath them, hitting the ground with their heads jerked back. Fei held both men effortlessly, hands gripping their hair, and a cold expression on his face.
The younger tried to squirm out of the grip, trying to wrestle free of the hand gripping his hair. “Let go, you—”
“This woman is under my protection.” His voice was soft and dripping with menace. “You will leave. Now.” As abruptly as he’d grabbed them, he let go again, and the men scrambled up to their feet. With sullen looks at her, they turned and left, not willing apparently to put up a fight to get her.
Denney let out a breath, heart racing. “Really, what do they think they’re doing, this early in the morning?”
“One of the wagon’s axel broke last night,” Fei explained, keeping a weather eye on the two. “I overheard them during dinner, saying they would be stuck here most of today until it was fixed.”
So they thought she was a good way to kill some time? Lovely. Thank heavens he had been close by. “Thank you, Man Fei Lei.”
He inclined his head to her, his cold expression fading away into a slight smile. “You are welcome.”
Conli came back down, a few items in the crook of his elbow, and took them in with raised eyebrows. “Problem?”
“Not at all,” Fei denied pleasantly. “Shall we go?”
Chapter Four
They left the inn and took their bags directly to the Deepwoods cart. Denney expected most of the caravan to be formed up by this point and was surprised to find that wasn’t the case. There was some kind of chaos as several crates were being quickly unloaded, then stacked into another cart that did not belong to the caravan at all. Sitting on the cart’s side, she watched this play out, scratching at her head in confusion. What was going on?
Siobhan passed by her and then stopped, leaning her back against the cart so that she could comfortably watch things progress. “Had a close call this morning.”
“Oh?” Conli uttered encouragingly.
“Our boss did some trading last night before we all went to bed, and swapped out some glass panes for some of this area’s wine. Good vintage, or was supposed to be. Sylvie double checked his trading and found that he in fact was rooked and had bought a bad crop. It’s all vinegar, or close enough to that to be undrinkable.”
Denney’s mouth filled with what she imagined the sour wine must have tasted like and gagged.
Siobhan grinned up at her. “Yes, Sylvie’s been making that sound most of the morning and washing her mouth out every so often. It must have been foul. Just the smell alone was enough to fell a man. But we’re delayed a mite while this is taken back and the glass is returned.”
“The merchant hadn’t hightailed off with the goods already?” Conli asked in surprise.
“He tried, as I understand it. But we weren’t the only ones that bought bad goods, and the other caravan boss figured it out at dawn this morning, so he didn’t have the time to escape. Man was caught leaving the south gates and hauled back.” Siobhan sounded quite evilly cheerful about the whole matter. “Between Sylvie and Wolf, there’s not much of the man’s hide left intact.”
“Sylvie,” Denney repeated dubiously.
“Our Sylvie is not much of a fighter, but don’t underestimate her,” Siobhan warned. “She’s like a cat. She has other, sneakier ways of getting even.”
Somehow, Denney didn’t have much trouble believing this.
“I expect the pair of them back any moment with—ah, and there they are.” Siobhan lifted a hand to cup her mouth and called, “What took you?”
The crowd shifted and everyone got their first clear view of Wolfinsky. In his hands were two puppies, both darkly colored fuzzballs with floppy ears and wagging tails. One of them was enthusiastically trying to chew on the man’s iron right hand, the other had stretched up on his hind legs and was licking energetically on Wolf’s ear. There was a pained, patient expression on the giant’s face as two creatures the size of his spread hands treated him like their chew toy.
Sylvie, not at all trying to be helpful, was nearly skipping along at his side and enjoying the show. Cheerfully, she greeted her gathering guildmates with, “We were on a rescue. Turns out that thrice-cursed merchant had a litter of Colliers in his wagon. There were four altogether, and the other caravan boss said he’d take them as repayment of sorts for the trouble, but that left these two.”
“I couldn’t leave them behind,” Wolfinsky said defensively, as if already gearing up for an argument on why they couldn’t take the dogs along on the road. “They’re barely two months old!”
“Well, of course you couldn’t—” Siobhan agreed, eyebrows clear into her hairline, a hand covering her mouth as if trying to hide a smile.
Denney’s hands twitched instinctively. She adored dogs, truly couldn’t resist them, puppies especially. Wolfinsky still alarmed her, truth be told, but seeing this huge man patiently putting up with being licked and chewed on was quickly putting some of her fears to rest. If he could be so gentle with puppies, he couldn’t be a bad person at heart, could he? Without really making any conscious decision, she hopped off the side of the cart and gravitated toward him like a moth to flame. “Um, may I…?”
Relieved, he immediately handed them over. “They won’t stop chewing on me. I mean, you’d think he’d give up after a while at least on my hand.”
“Teething just comes with the territory with puppies,” she crooned, nestling both of them into her arms. The puppies were just as happy to be with someone else and instantly started licking at her cheeks, making her laugh and squirm. “Oh, you’re both darlings. So sweet. But I’m not yummy, really I’m not, so you have to stop that.”
“You don’t sound at all convincing,” Conli drawled, reaching over to take one of them out of her hands. “Well, Guildmaster, what shall we do?”
“Truth be told, we’ve been talking about getting dogs,” Siobhan admitted, eyeing the pair, “as they’d be good watchdogs whi
le we’re traveling. And Colliers are some of the best dogs in the world, so I have no problem taking these two on. Not sure we have the means to take care of them on this leg of the trip, though. This young, don’t they need milk?”
“You can wean them off of that and onto moist food,” Denney informed her. “They’re old enough to get their teeth in about now. That’s why they’re chewing everything, they’re cutting teeth.”
Siobhan pursed her lips judiciously. “Is that right. Know much about dogs, do you? Good, good, I don’t have much experience raising or training ’em. Tell you what, why don’t you and Sylvie go back to market and buy what we need. I’ll re-sort the caravan while you’re doing that. Sylvie, you’ve got a half-hour, so be quick.”
“Understood,” Sylvie said, business-like. “Who can I take?”
“Fei?” The way Siobhan said his name, it was more a question if he wanted to go or not.
“Of course I can,” Fei agreed promptly.
Denney understood, intellectually, that it would be easier to shop if she let someone else watch the puppies for a while. It was just that her hands wouldn’t let go of him. Settling the puppy more firmly into the crook of her arm, she set off for the market.
“You can leave them with us, you know,” Siobhan called to her back.
“It will take a pry bar to make her let them go,” Conli chuckled, trailing along with her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be her hands while they shop.”
This made Denney flush a little, especially as Siobhan did nothing but laugh. To their parting backs, the guildmaster called, “And don’t be naming them while I’m out of earshot!”
“Actually, that is a good thought,” Sylvie admitted, admiring the puppies. “We do need to name them. What do we have, boys? Girls? One of each?”
“I’ll have to set them down to examine them,” Denney responded. “So let’s get into market first and get what we need. We can figure that part out later.”
Origins: A Deepwoods Book - a Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories (Deepwoods Series 0) Page 26