“You again?” Much like his tone, the terrier’s mouth had stretched thin. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“You very well may be the rudest man I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.” Faela placed her hands on her hips. “Look, I’ve got somewhere to be, but I’m not leaving unless I know this won’t devolve into you boys calling each other names and wrestling in the mud.” She paused suddenly as if something she hadn’t previously considered had just occurred to her. “Actually, that could be fun to watch. I think I have just enough time.” She gazed up at the columns of light streaming through the leafy roof of the forest. “Yeah, never mind me. Please, by all means, continue.”
The terrier felt the nagging tug of a half-formed memory at this brash woman’s mannerisms. Something about her demeanor and address danced just outside his recollection. While his mind tried to place why she seemed so familiar, he only managed to verbalize a single thought.
“What are you?”
With a martyred sigh, Faela spoke with deliberate care as she hooked her thumbs into her loose belt, parting the opening of her coat with her arms. “I thought we’d covered this bit already? I’m a girl.”
“Since I can’t get a single straight answer out of you that goes without saying.”
As if smelling something unpleasant, she wrinkled her nose, which only served to highlight its crookedness. “If that’s how you’re going to be, then fine. So be it. My name is Faela. My brother is sick and I’m traveling southwest to visit him.”
Still hunched over, the captive boy said, “It was a pleasure to cower under you, Mistress Faela. Some call me Jair the Destroyer, but you can call me, Jair. But to you,” he point down at his captor with a maniacal gleam in his grass-green eyes, “you will call me the Destroyer, Lord of Destruction—”
The boy’s command was cut off as he squealed in a higher pitch than Faela could have ever managed.
The terrier had pulled Jair down into a headlock. “If you stop talking, you get to keep breathing, mate.”
“Yeah, I’m convinced now. You are the rudest man I’ve ever met,” Faela said as she cocked her head to the side observing the tangle of limbs in front of her. “Because typically after someone introduces himself to you, it’s customary to introduce yourself, not put them into a headlock. So, if you don’t mind releasing the Lord of Destruction’s seemingly fragile and thin neck–“
“Jair, Faela,” he quipped from under the terrier’s arm with that same unruffled smile, “call me, Jair.”
Given his current state of imprisonment, Faela could hardly believe that this boy’s unquenchable good humor could be real. Yet all evidence pointed to his sincerity.
“Thank you, Jair. If you could release Jair’s neck, we could have a constructive conversation like adults, that includes more problem solving and less violence.”
“Kade.”
“Pardon?” Faela asked confused.
“My name, it’s Kade.” Now that Faela had attracted his attention, Kade’s brown eyes tracked her, seeming to search for something. Under that scrutiny, Faela felt a chill of fear between her shoulder blades, like she was being hunted. She tried to push the feeling aside.
“Well met, Kade. May you always walk in the brightness of the Light.” Holding onto the brim of her hat with a finger and thumb, Faela bowed low to the ground with a flourish of her coat. As she straightened back up, she smiled. “Since it seems no one taught you how to play with other children, let’s see if we can’t work this out so everyone’s happy and quickly, if you please. I’ve already traveled a long way and I’d like to get to my brother’s before he no longer needs my help. Otherwise, it’s going to make this entire trip pointless.”
Releasing Jair, Kade walked over to the tree to recover his throwing knife. He grasped the hilt and levered it clear of the rough bark. To test its edge, he ran his thumb along the length of its blade. His gaze followed Faela as she crouched down, her arms encircling her knees. Now that the tension had broken and the adrenaline was dispersing, she felt drained with as much strength as wet parchment.
“It’s very simple really. I was washing up in the stream when he stole my clothes. More importantly, he stole my boots. I just want them back.”
She looked over at Jair. “That seems fairly reasonable to me.”
“Ah yes, well,” Jair stared over their heads as if searching for a solution in the tree branches, “that’s where we come to an impasse. As I already pointed out, the boots should be enjoying the relaxation of the Kurinean beaches soon. They’re gone and they don’t plan on returning.”
Knife still in hand, Kade advanced in Jair. “Talking really is a poor replacement for thinking, mate. There aren’t any towns for leagues, which means I have to walk barefoot for leagues to replace them. I’m thinking that even if your boots are too big for me, they’d be better than nothing. And you’ve managed to really annoy me; so killing you to get your boots just seems like an added bonus. What do you think, Jair? What would you do?”
“Well,” Jair stopped as if thinking through the possible scenarios, “clearly, I’m against the killing me option.”
“But that’s the fun part.” His dark tawny eyes sparkling with glee, Kade grinned.
Faela assessed Kade. From all she had seen, she believed he was capable of exactly what he suggested, but something about his eyes told her that he took more pleasure in making Jair uncomfortable than anything else. Betting on that likelihood, she stood and interposed herself between the men and faced Kade.
She placed a hand on his chest stopping him. “You can always kill him later.” Addressing the boy, she asked, “Jair, can you compensate him for the boots or not?”
“Obviously he can’t. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken them in the first place,” Kade concluded, twirling his knife in a habitual gesture causing it to flash in the increasingly golden daylight.
Faela turned back to Jair who surveyed a nearby knobby tree branch as he whistled absently. She sighed in resignation. For a morning that had started off so well, this day seemed destined to bring her trouble. Then again, no matter where she traveled trouble seemed to have become her one constant companion.
“Fine then.” Unlatching the pouch at her belt, she removed several iron and bronze coins. They bore the stamp of a crescent moon and a harp. She grabbed Kade’s free hand and dropped six bronze and five iron into it. “Look, I can’t change the fact that you’ll have to walk barefoot, but this should more than cover his debt.”
Standing only a little more than a head taller than Faela, Kade tried to get a better look at her shadowed face around her hat. While he had enjoyed playing with the boy, it had not been his intention to involve this stranger that seemed so familiar, yet was completely unknown to him. But he still wanted to see the boy squirm just a bit more.
“That covers the cost of replacing the boots, but does nothing to compensate my time and the inconvenience he’s cost me.”
“Interesting, you didn’t strike me as a bandit,” Faela said reaching back into her money pouch. “How much more will satisfy you?”
“Oh, it’s not money that will give me satisfaction.” Kade stopped spinning the knife and settled his grin on Jair.
Faela pursed her lips unhappily at that grin and also at how bright the forest had become. She had lost too much time already.
“I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” she said more to herself than the two men. “Jair, I hope you didn’t have any pressing engagements.”
“No,” Jair answered automatically before pausing. “Why?”
“Because you’re in my debt now and this wasn’t charity. You’re going to pay that off.”
Jair swallowed and licked his lips. “How?”
“You’re coming with me. I could use the company, because I always know how conversations with myself end and it couldn’t hurt to have a strong, strapping young buck like yourself along for protection. Travel as my companion and we’ll call it even.”
&nbs
p; Jair glanced at Kade then back to Faela as if weighing his options. “How could I ever refuse a lady desiring my company? It would be my honor and a pleasure to escort you, Faela.”
“Then it’s settled.” Faela grabbed the front of Jair’s jacket as she dragged him down the game trail after her.
As they disappeared marching to the northwest, she raised her voice so Kade could hear her. “Ravenscliffe is over that ridge to the northeast. You should be able to replace your boots there. Ask for Marvin and show him those coins. Don’t think me as rude as you, but I would live a happy life if I never saw you again.”
As her voice drifted bodiless through the forest and back to the clearing, Kade called after her. “I thought your sick brother lived to the southwest?”
*****
Chapter Two
Faela bit into a yellowish-green apple with a juicy crunch. Startled by the noise, Jair stopped and spun looking in all directions for its source. When he finally saw Faela chewing loudly with an amused smile, he sighed at his own stupidity.
“My, aren’t you wound tight,” she said after swallowing the tart fruit.
“It would seem so,” he said eyeing her snack with obvious lust.
Faela produced another apple from her coat pocket and tossed it to him before she started walking again. It bounced off the side of his hand, but he caught it with the other before it dropped to the dirt. With a cry of success, he took a huge bite, which dripped juices down his chin.
“He’s not following us,” she reassured him addressing the unspoken question raised by his earlier jumpiness. “He headed east a couple hours back. He can’t catch us before we reach Aberley and once we’re there he’ll lose our trail. I don’t care how good he thinks he is, he shouldn’t be able to track us once we leave town.”
Jair nodded skeptically, licking the sticky liquid on his fingers. “Yeah, I guess so.”
He was holding something back, but Faela didn’t pry. If he had secrets he would rather keep, she of all people had no business forcing him to divulge them.
“We should make it to Aberley around dusk,” she said as she enjoyed the heavy smell of resin in the air. She had always liked forests. “Once we get there, you don’t need to stay with me, you know.”
“Why part ways in Aberley?” he asked around the piece of fruit he chewed.
“You can catch a ride with a river runner back down to Davenford or up to Montdell, if you want. From either place you can go just about anywhere.”
“No, I get why Aberley,” he said with a wave of his hand. “But I was under the impression that the price of my freedom was sticking with you?”
Faela looked down at her feet with a smile. “I just didn’t want to see that pretty face get mashed up. I like being on my own.”
“Yeah, but this close to the border isn’t the safest place for anyone to be traveling alone. I heard back in Ravenscliffe that some bandits have taken up in one of the caves along the pass. People are afraid to even go down to the ferry dock.”
“You were alone,” she said as she hopped through a network of exposed roots.
“I didn’t have a choice.” Finished with the fruit, he tossed his apple core toward the sound of chattering squirrels in the bushes.
“And neither did I.”
“Maybe before,” he countered shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, “but you have a choice now.”
“Look, don’t take it personally, but I never intended for you to go with me any further than Aberley.” She twirled her apple core by its stem. “My good deed for the month is done.”
“He might not have realized how much coin you gave him, but I do.” Jair grabbed her arm to make her stop. “That wasn’t a small sum to throw around.”
Faela pulled herself out of his grasp and fought back the urge to hit him. This change in his demeanor surprised her as much as his flippancy had before. While he had been in danger, he acted as if it were game, but now his levity had gone entirely.
“It’s my business how I choose to spend my money,” she said examining this boy trying to make this sudden change fit with his earlier affability.
“And I repay my debts,” he said with earnest sincerity. “And your price was a traveling companion, not mine.”
No matter how hard she tried, Faela couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up. She covered her mouth with a hand. “This from the thief?”
His earlier smile crept into his face as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I know how that sounds. But I mean it. I mean to stay with you until it’s paid.”
Faela popped off the stem of her apple and flicked it at him. It hit him in the chest. “I’m heading for the border and I wouldn’t ask anyone to follow me there. I don’t care how much they think they owe me.”
“You’re heading for Nabos?” he asked somewhat surprised. He took a closer look at the woman standing across from him again. Her gear was well used, but of good quality and in good repair. It showed signs of recent wear that told of someone who had been traveling for months, not someone on their way to visit kin.
She nodded as she started eating the core, seeds and all. “That’s right.”
“Then I definitely ain’t leaving you in Aberley,” he said betraying a hint of an accent he had managed to mask before. “You’re stuck with me, fairest Faela.”
Long, creeping shadows stretched out from the trees that stood as a wall behind Kade as he left the forest. The sun had already begun its nightly descent when a small town nestled beneath a series of cliffs at the foot of the mountains came into view. It had been early in the day when he stopped following Faela and Jair to turn east to Ravenscliffe. This side journey had given him time to think about the meeting in the clearing. Everything had happened so fast after he spotted Jair stealing his clothes and Faela’s meddling failed to slow anything down. They had only interacted for ten minutes at most, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew her. Kade remembered individuals, their faces, their names, and that skill had saved him more than once, but despite searching his memory for hours, he kept running into dead ends. As far as he could tell, he had never seen her before this morning.
Throwing the coins she had given him in the air, he looked around at the approaching town. Its southern edge opened to a checkerboard of brown and olive-colored fields. In the slight breeze, the crops looked wilted. All the vibrancy seemed leeched out of them. His brow furrowed. Kade knew from first-hand experience that the rainy season had started just a few weeks ago in these mountains, but these crops looked like victims of a drought.
Though the sun still blazed in the sky, the fields lay empty. Most farmers that Kade knew worked well past sunset this close to the harvest, but no one tended these crops. The meadows to the west of the cliffs offered rolling grazing pastures, yet no sheep, no goats, no alpaca fed there. Only a tepid breeze that stirred enough to taunt, but not to cool, rolled over the meadow. Everything was too still. Kade shrugged off a shudder as the road gave way to the main thoroughfare of the town.
Passing the smaller stone and tile-roofed buildings on the outskirts, he could feel eyes watching him from behind curtains and shutters. Their silence seemed to condemn his intrusion. Kade became uncomfortably aware of his near nakedness as the buildings appeared more frequently and closer together. Rubbing his chin and mouth, he smirked. His shoulders squared, he walked toward the village’s center with a sauntering confidence that belied his state of undress.
A few stragglers moved on the streets that fed into the town square dominated by empty, wooden market stalls. None stopped; none spoke a greeting to their neighbors. It seemed to him that necessity alone drove them from the illusory safety of their homes. Some acknowledged him by gawking at his scandalous appearance before hurrying on their way, but none risked speaking to him. Kade sighed and leaned against a stall waiting for an opportunity. He didn’t have to wait for long as a young boy shuffled by him on an errand he seemed bent on prolonging or avoiding as long as possible.
>
“Evening,” Kade said conversationally, “feels like this might be one of the last warm nights before fall hits hard.”
The boy jumped at the voice. Spotting the man wearing only pants, his eyes widened as he saw the lacing of scars on his chest and arms. An impertinent sneer settled on his lips. “What d’you want?”
Well, that tells me quite a bit about where things stand here, Kade thought. Addressing the boy, he said, “I’m looking for someone named Marvin. Do you know him?”
“Might be I do. Might be I don’t.” Indicating Kade’s questionable apparel with his hand, he asked, “Who you be to ask?”
Kade tossed an iron coin to him. He caught it easily. “Does that improve your memory at all?”
The boy pocketed the currency and wiped his nose. “This way.”
Kade followed the opportunist further under the shelter of the cliffs to a building facing the square with a painted sign that had a picture of an open palm. Underneath the symbol was the single word, Ravenscliffe.
Direct and to the point, Kade thought as he turned to the boy. “My thanks,” he said in dismissal.
The boy shrugged feigning indifference as he walked away. Once Kade had turned his back, however, the boy glanced over his shoulder to watch him enter the building before he returned to his errand, his face filled with curiosity.
The fading light made it difficult to see within the shop. An elderly man, with skin like the leather boots he sat polishing, pushed his foot against the high wooden counter. Brown polish streaked his brow and jaw line.
At Kade’s entrance, he frowned and put down the boot with a thud. “Ain’t none too many travelers come through here, ser. State your business.”
“That’s quite a greeting from a trader,” Kade observed to no one in particular. “Aren’t you required to be polite?”
“Being friendly hasn't paid much in years this close to the border. Not since before the war,” the trader replied. “And, if you please, your appearance don’t exactly scream respectability.”
Shatter (The Children of Man) Page 3