What had just happened? She noticed a large onion lying on the ground not far from Zubin’s feet. Looking beyond, she noticed the young man she had seen earlier. He was standing up in the cart, holding another onion in his hand.
“What the…?” Zubin said, rubbing the back of his head. He turned around and looked at the culprit. The brothers Thomas were already moving toward the cart, drawing their swords.
***
Now, that may not have been the smartest thing I could have done, Rayne thought, watching the guardians approach him with swords drawn. Why had he done that? He hadn’t really thought about it, he realized. He had simply reacted when he sensed the young woman was in trouble. He doubted throwing more onions would be enough to stop the three advancing men.
He glanced around for something he could use to defend himself. His belt knife would do little good against three men with swords. But the knife did remind him of the wooden staff he had made earlier. He grabbed it and jumped down from the cart, then took several steps toward the guardians.
“You are in a lot of trouble, farmer,” growled the buck-toothed man.
One of the other guardians said, “You tell him, Zubin!”
Holding out the staff in front of him, Rayne said, “Look here, guardians. Just let the young lady over there go on her way, I’ll go on mine, and we’ll put this behind us. There is no reason for this to result in violence.”
“Bah! It was you who hit me in the head, so I’d say the violence has already begun,” Zubin said. “Thomas, bring him here.”
The two men on either side of the taller guardian advanced on Rayne. Spinning the staff in front of him, Rayne moved to his right, closer to the guardian who sported a long scar down one cheek.
The scarred man rushed in, swinging his sword high. The skills Rayne’s father had taught him kicked in as he parried the blow high with one end of the staff, and then quickly brought the other end around low, sweeping his opponent off his feet. The guardian hit his head hard on the ground and lay still. Sensing the other man coming in from behind, Rayne thrust the staff backwards, catching the man hard in the chest and knocking the wind out of him. He went to the ground, clutching his chest and trying to breathe.
“Arrrggghh!” Zubin yelled, charging.
Rayne brought the staff up just in time to block the sword that was aimed for his head. He brought the staff around, but Zubin jumped back out of the way. Zubin regained his balance and lunged in, his sword aimed at Rayne’s heart. Sidestepping, Rayne instinctively swung the staff at Zubin’s head, connecting solidly with a satisfying crack. The bucktoothed guardian’s knees buckled and he dropped to the ground.
Rayne spun around to the other two, but they were holding up their hands defensively. They stood up, sheathed their swords, picked Zubin up, and dragged him out of the street. Heart pounding, Rayne watched them go before looking over to where the young lady stood with her arms folded, wearing an expression he couldn’t read.
Walking over to her, Rayne asked, “Are you all right?”
She nodded her head and continued to look at him strangely.
Not sure what to do next, Rayne knelt down and started to gather up the candles that had spilt out of the basket.
“More heroics?” she asked.
Rayne stopped and looked up at her. “I’m sorry, what?”
“It’s not enough that you saved me, but now you’re saving the candles from getting dirty?” She knelt to help him.
Rayne looked into her deep brown eyes, and for a moment, couldn’t think of anything to say. When he realized he was just staring at her, he lowered his eyes back to the ground. “I’m just trying to help.”
She considered him for a moment. “I believe you.”
He put the last of the candles in the basket. “Um, well, there you go. Will you be all right getting home?”
She stood. “I don’t see where the guardians have gone. Although I don’t live far from here, it would probably be best if I had company.”
“Well, I need to sell my crops first.” Rayne rubbed his hand along his jaw as he thought. “It shouldn’t take very long. The merchant is just down the street from here. I’ll be happy to escort you home once I’m done.”
“I’ll wait with you.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
“And by the way, my name is Rayne.” He extended a hand.
Taking his hand in a firm shake, she said, “Well met, Rayne. My name is Sunshine.”
“Sunshine? Are you making fun of my name?”
“No. Are you making fun of mine?” She looked at him innocently and batted her eyelashes.
Rayne raised his hands in protest. “No, not at all. I’ve just never heard of a name like Sunshine before.”
“Ah. If you find my name odd, wait until you meet my brothers.”
CHAPTER 12
The sun was just starting to set when Rayne and Sunshine pulled up to her family’s house. He took notice of the bushes and trees around the house that had been trimmed into odd shapes and patterns.
They hadn’t seen the troublesome guardians while selling Rayne’s wares, or on the trip to the house. The conversation while traveling was, at times, confusing to Rayne. Sunshine was very pleasant and easy to talk to, but every once in a while she would say something that left him speechless.
She invited him into her house and found the rest of her family sitting around a large wooden table. By the looks of things, dinner was just beginning. Sunshine introduced Rayne as someone who helped bring the candles safely home. Her mother immediately invited him to stay for dinner.
Having limited experience with social customs, Rayne found himself uncomfortable at first with the people he had just met. Sunshine’s mother and two brothers seemed nice enough, but her father was a little odd—he would say things that reminded Rayne of Sunshine’s confusing statements, only Garth said them more frequently.
After the food had been served, Sunshine started recounting the tale of what had happened in town, when her father stopped her to clarify a point.
“An onion, you say?” He raised his eyebrows at Rayne.
Sunshine said, “Oh, yes. Right to the back of Zubin’s head. It was quite the amazing throw.”
“How far away was he?” Snapdragon asked with a mouth full of food.
Before Rayne could answer, Garth said, “That hardly matters. I do wonder, though…”
Sure he was going to be asked why he threw the onion, Rayne tried to come up with an answer. The fact was, he didn’t quite know. His father had always taught him to be aware of danger and to act on instinct, so perhaps that was what had happened. Ready to explain that to Garth, Rayne was surprised once again by the question he was asked.
“Why not a turnip? Or perhaps a potato?” Garth asked.
Everyone at the table stopped eating and looked at Rayne expectantly.
Blinking back at them, Rayne thought for a moment before he responded. “Well, I guess an onion seemed appropriate at the time.”
Garth nodded his head in acceptance and returned his attention to the food in front of him.
Iolanthe asked, “What happened after you hit Guardian Zubin with the onion?”
Rayne tried to downplay the fight. “Well, they took exception to my actions and wanted to discuss it further. After a brief exchange, they decided to leave.”
“That doesn’t sound like Zubin,” Oakleaf said. “The man is a bully. He wouldn’t have left you alone, unless…” Oakleaf looked at Rayne carefully. “What did you do?”
“Well, I, you see, I—”
“He beat them up,” Sunshine said.
Garth and Iolanthe nearly choked on their food.
“You beat up three guardians?” Iolanthe asked.
Feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, Rayne said, “Well, I scared them away more than beat them up. They weren’t hurt too badly, I think.”
Iolanthe turned to her husband. “Governor Eadward isn’t going to like this. You need to talk to him about what
happened.”
Garth snapped his fingers in agreement.
“You know the governor?” Rayne asked.
Sunshine’s father shrugged. “He sometimes stays at the house where my garden is.”
Confused, Rayne looked at Iolanthe for clarification.
“My husband is the gardener for the governor’s estate,” she explained. “The garden is well liked and appreciated around Bariwon. Over time, the governor realized this made him look good, and so he treats my husband well. He allows us to borrow books from his library for Sunshine to read, and he tends to keep the guardians away from us.”
“Yeah, but Shiny seems to have a knack for upsetting them,” Snapdragon said. He stuck his tongue out at his sister.
Iolanthe gave the youngest child a sharp look. “That’s enough, Snapdragon.”
“How could you have beat up three guardians?” Oakleaf asked incredulously. “These men are trained how to fight.”
After taking a drink of water, Rayne said, “My father has been teaching me how to fight since I was little. I guess all his teaching worked. He wants me to become a guardian, although I’m not sure that’s what I want.”
“Why not?” Oakleaf asked. “I’ve been preparing hard for the Mortentaun next spring. I think it would be a great adventure to become a guardian.”
“Next spring, eh? That’s when I would be participating,” Rayne said.
“I don’t think you’d fit in, Rayne,” Sunshine said. “All the guardians I’ve met are selfish pigs.”
Oakleaf whipped his head around to look at his sister. “What does that say about me?”
Sunshine didn’t missed a beat. “Oh, you’d fit in very well.”
***
Rayne became more comfortable as the evening passed. At first, he wasn’t sure what to think about how Sunshine and her brothers interacted. Over time, it became clear that the siblings were often joking with each other and were not seriously antagonistic. It had always been just him and his father on the farm, and during dinner Rayne wondered what it would have been like to have brothers and sisters around while he was growing up.
With dinner finishing, he said, “I want to thank you all for dinner. I should get to the inn.”
“Nonsense,” Garth said.
“Excuse me?”
Iolanthe reached across the table and patted Rayne’s hand. “He means that after defending our daughter, the least we can do is put you up for the night. There’s space in the boys’ room. We wouldn’t think of making you go to an inn.”
“Well, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.” Rayne glanced at Sunshine.
The brown-eyed beauty gave him a smile while her mother said, “No trouble at all.”
***
The last thing Zubin remembered was the farmer jumping out of the way of his attack. After that, he could only recall waking up in his room with the brothers Thomas looking over him. Although his head was hurting, nothing seemed to be broken. He was a bit dizzy when he stood, but he wouldn’t allow that to keep him from finding this farmer and making him pay.
He was used to people cowering before him, and when they didn’t, it made him angry. Plus, assaulting a guardian was against the law, and Zubin couldn’t wait to arrest him. Guessing their attacker was in town to sell his crops, Zubin figured that checking with the merchants in town would be a good place to start.
The three guardians went from shop to shop, looking for information. Soon after the sun had set, they came to one of the last shops in town, The Pantry. The door was locked, with dim lights visible through the closed window shutters. Zubin pounded heavily on the door. After a brief pause, he pounded again. Soon after, it opened a little.
“What’s all the ruckus about?” asked an elderly woman’s voice through the crack.
Zubin pushed the door open and barged into the shop, nearly knocking over the gray-hair woman. “You took your sweet time answering, Theresa.”
She stepped back. “I—I’m sorry, guardians. I didn’t know it was you.”
“I’ll let it pass this time.” Zubin looked around the shop carefully. “Did you buy some food today from a young, blond-haired farmer?”
Theresa’s eyes opened wide. “You mean Rayne?”
Scarred Thomas scoffed, “What kind of name is that?”
Zubin smacked him on the chest. “Never mind that. Theresa, do you know where this Rayne is now?”
“Is he in some kind of trouble?” asked the store owner, looking worried.
Scarless Thomas pointed a finger at her. “Yes, and you will be too, if you don’t tell us where he is.”
“I…I don’t know, honestly.” She backed up even more. “But he must be at one of the inns. He’s from Tevoil, and that’s too far away to make it home by dark.”
Zubin took a step closer. “Where in Tevoil?”
Theresa backed up to the wall. “I’m not sure. It can’t be too far into that district, or they wouldn’t come here to sell.”
“Fine, we’ll check the inns. If you see Rayne again, tell him the guardians are looking for him.”
***
Zubin walked out of The Rabid Dog Inn and blew out a long breath. This was the last of the town’s inns they had visited, and there had been no sign of Rayne.
“Are you sure we checked every inn?” asked Scarred Thomas.
“Yeah,” Zubin said, frustrated. “No one has seen him—even the hunchbacked innkeeper in there says she hasn’t seen him. He probably knew we were going to come after him and risked the journey home at night.”
“So what do we do now?”
Zubin set his jaw and thought a moment. “First thing in the morning, we are going to Tevoil. We’ll find him.”
Scarless Thomas spoke up. “What about Sunshine? Are we going to let her get away with treating us like she did?”
Zubin got an unpleasant look on his face. “Well, Governor Eadward has told me to stay clear of her family, but she likes to come into town alone sometimes. Next time she does, we’ll be waiting. She can’t tell the governor if she can’t speak.”
***
Dulcie tottered over to the window when she heard the hoof beats. She thought it must be Rayne returning from Lewyol. He was such a nice young lad. He and his father had dropped off food ever since her husband passed away those many years ago. She had baked a nice pie last night and hoped to give it to Rayne to take home to share with his father. It wasn’t much, but it was the least she could do for them.
Looking out, she was surprised to see it wasn’t Rayne after all, but three men wearing guardian uniforms. Going to the door and opening it, she waved and said, “Well, hello! Welcome, welcome! It’s been a while since I’ve had a visit from the guardians.”
In her old age, her eyesight was starting to fail her, but she could still see well enough to function. She did wonder, however, if her sight was getting worse, because two of the young men appeared to look almost exactly alike each other. But it was the third man who spoke up as he dismounted from his horse.
“Hail, Grandma,” he said. “Do you know this area very well?”
Dulcie chuckled. “I’m pretty sure you’re confused. I’m not your grandmother—I never had any children. But to answer your question, I’ve lived here all my life, yes.”
“Do you know a farmer named Rayne?” asked the guardian in front of her. “He’s from this area.”
Smiling, Dulcie said, “Oh, yes! Sweet, sweet Rayne. He lives with his father on a farm around here.”
He turned to his companions, and she thought she saw him grin. “How do we get there?” he asked her.
Dulcie thought it over a moment. “You know, in all the years I’ve known those two, they’ve never said. I’m guessing it is fairly close.” Her eyes lit up. “It’s possible they moved to George’s old farm. It would make sense. I started getting visits from them not long after George died.”
“Tell us how to get there,” he ordered.
“Just follow the main road that leads to Tev
oil,” she said. “You will see a lake along the way. Take the small road that branches off from the main road after you pass the lake. It’s not much farther from there. If that’s not the right place, then I don’t know where they live.”
The man got back on his horse. “Excellent. We’ll be on our way then.”
Dulcie waved again. “Say hello to them for me.”
The three men rode off without responding.
Going back into her house, she thought, I’ll need to make more pies if I keep getting all these visitors.
***
Rinan pulled out a blank parchment and thought about what he should write. With his ankle broken as it was, he was unable to do much more than hop around the house on one foot. While that was enough to do the basic activities of the day, it was also very tiring.
By the late afternoon, he didn’t have the energy to do more than read a book, or write in his journal. It was his father’s idea that he should write down his thoughts regularly—he said it would help him figure out things in his life better, and it had. He was careful what he wrote; he didn’t want Rayne to accidentally find out things about his past that might bring him harm.
Rinan didn’t cringe as much anymore when he thought about the past. He realized he had been very young and caught up in a situation that was bigger than he could understand at the time. He had loved Eliana very much, but over time he realized that marrying her privately was the wrong decision, even if it was for the supposed greater good. Living a lie had been a constant strain on both of them. The saddest part was that the lie was designed to prevent Abrecan from taking power, and in the end, he had done just that. Rinan had chosen a path, and it led to a place he hadn’t expected. At least Priest Sherwyn was right about that.
Rinan had always tried to be honest with his son, up to the point of revealing who his mother really was. He simply told Rayne he met his mother while he was a guardian and that she died in childbirth. Rinan still worried that Abrecan or Daimh would find out he was the father of Eliana’s child, and that the baby had survived. On the rare occasion when someone came to the farm, Rinan always reached for the sword he kept hanging on the back of the door, thinking that maybe the guardians had finally caught up with him. Some twenty years had passed, and no guardians had ever come to take his son away. However, both Anemone and Sherwyn knew the secret, and so, assuming they were still at the castle, there was always the possibility that the truth could come out.
The Hidden Sun (Bariwon Chronicles Book 1) Page 13