The Unwilling Adventurer (The Unwilling #1)

by Heidi Willard

  Fred looked up at the man and tears sprang to his eyes. "What did you do to me?"

  Slavino waved away his question. "Nothing much, just turned you into a girl." The man turned to the trunk and tossed out a few dresses of fine quality. "Now get up and try these on. The sale starts in a few minutes and I don't want to wait another day for it to come around."

  Fred crawled away from the dresses and shook his head. "Just change me back! I want to be a-"

  Slavino turned and smacked Fred across the cheek. His voice was low and dangerous. "You'll get into those clothes, girl, or I'll finish the job I started with this knife." He held up the weapon to emphasize his point, and Fred saw that there were red stains on the blade.

  Fred saw no mercy in the man's eyes, so he did as he was told. Slavino was pleased when a bright yellow dress fitted him, along with a pair of matching shoes. He had Fred stand still while he combed the girl's hair and tie it into an intricate, braided hairstyle. Slavino washed the boy's face and hands, all the while he gave instructions to his captive. "Your name is now Frederica, or Erica for short. You will follow me to the slave sale and say nothing. Even if you get a chance to talk to someone nobody's going to believe I changed you into a girl, so don't try anything stupid." Fred didn't reply, so he gave a hard yank on her hair; the girl gave a cry of fright and pain. "Do you understand?"

  "Y-yes," Fred replied. Never in his worst nightmares could he have ever imagined himself being sold as a slave girl.

  CHAPTER 5

  Slavino finished Fred's clothing and hair, and pulled a manacle out from the trunk. He snapped the metal band around Fred's neck and held the short chain in his hand. "Come on then, slave girl. Time to see how much you're worth."

  Slavino dragged Fred out of the house and down the street. They entered the main part of the market and Fred dared hope that his companions were close at hand. Unfortunately, they were there only moment before Slavino tugged on his neck and led him down a large street to the sale area. Here there were no stalls, only platforms on which sellers placed cattle, birds and, worst of all, people. Other people stood before the platforms and called out their bid while an auctioneer or the owner handled the bidding wars.

  At the far end and set aside from the other platforms stood a tall, long boardwalk. Humans were lined up like cattle with guards on either side, and the grand auctioneer handled the sales of these fine specimens. The largest crowd and the highest bidders stood before the platform, and offered gold for the flesh of another human. Slavino yanked Fred toward the stairs on one side of the platform and a man armed with a club stopped them. "What's the hurry?" he asked the slave trader.

  "I have this girl I wish to sell today," Slavino replied, and pulled Fred up beside him.

  The guard looked Fred over with an appreciative gaze. "Nice, but have you paid the fee?"

  "I have it right here." Slavino dug into his purse and pulled out a few gold coins. Money was exchanged and they were allowed onto the platform.

  Fred was set next to another slave, and his fear made him shiver. He just knew he would be sold to a cruel master who would force him to do disgusting acts. The leers from the men in the crowd confirmed his fears, and several pulled out their money pouches in preparation for his auction. The lives of the other slaves fell beneath the auctioneer's gavel, and one by one they were all sold until Fred was the only one left on the platform. Many had been dragged crying from the platform and given into the brutal arms of their new master. Fred cringed when Slavino shoved him to a low pedestal at the front of the large platform, but he had one hope; his friends could save him. That is, if they only knew it was him.

  Fred had his chance at freedom when he saw his two companions enter the auction area. Their eyes scanned the crowd; they were looking for him. Fred's heart beat fast and he rushed forward to the edge of the platform. He reached the end of his chain and was pulled back to the platform by Slavino.

  "A feisty young lady here, ladies and gentleman," the auctioneer called out. "Very good strength, and would be a nice addition to any bedroom frolicking." The men in the crowd, and even some women, cackled. "Now for such a fine specimen such as this I'll start the bidding at ten gold coins. Do I have any offers?"

  "Ned! Pat!" Fred cried out.

  The roar of the bidding drowned out his calls, but Slavino heard him. The man pulled the girl to himself and clapped a hand over Fred's mouth. Slavino noticed where Fred's gaze lay and frowned at his friends. They were trouble for him, but he had the upper hand; Fred's voice and appearance were so changed as to be almost unrecognizable, even to close family. Indeed his friends continued their search through the crowd until Ned glanced up at the platform. He tugged on his beard, and Pat followed where his eyes lay. She frowned and spoke a few words that couldn't be overheard, but Ned waved her off by gesturing for her to wait a few minutes. That wait made Slavino nervous and Fred hopeful.

  Meanwhile the auction continued and the price went higher and higher. Slavino's attention was turned away from the girl's friends to the price when somebody yelled out an extraordinary sum. "One hundred gold coins for the girl!" The crowd went wild; never before had they heard of such a sum for a slave meant only for the bedroom. Slavino's eyes were as wide as the gold coins he would receive from this trick.

  "Have we any more bids?" the auctioneer excitedly asked the crowd. He would receive a percentage of the sale.

  "I will trade one boy!" came a voice from the crowd.

  The onlookers fell silent, and even the grand auctioneer was dumbfounded. "Who said that? Who trades a girl for a boy?" he called out to the people.

  Fred almost collapsed from relief when Ned pushed his way through the crowd. "I wish to make the trade," he told the auctioneer.

  "This is most extraordinary." The auctioneer glanced over to Slavino, who glared and shook his head. "But I'm sorry, my good sir, we only take gold in this transaction."

  Ned stepped up onto the platform, and there was a mischievous grin on his face. "I'm afraid it's the only exchange you can take. You see, this girl really isn't a girl."

  A hush swept over the crowd, and Slavino's face drained of its color. His words sputtered out like a choking engine. "T-that's impossible! I'm sure I'd know if this was a girl!" he protested. "I'll prove to you it's a girl!" He grabbed hold of Fred's dress and pulled down the already low neckline to reveal her breasts. The men in the crowd came to life and crowded against the platform.

  Ned raised his staff and knocked Slavino's hands away from the dress. "Yes, very impressive, but I have an even more impressive trick."

  Ned's staff came squarely down on Fred's head, and the girl yelped and shut her eyes when a tickling jolt scurried down her body. When he opened his eyes he found the crowd with their mouths agape starring at him. He glanced down at himself and a bright smile lit up his face when he saw his boyish body had returned. Slavino dropped the neck chain and raced off the platform. The crowd came alive and many raced after him down the nearest side street.

  The auctioneer stepped up to the front of the platform and held up his hands to what remained of the crowd. "U-under these circumstances, ladies and gentlemen, the auction is closed for the day."

  Fred didn't think he would be so glad to hear those words. Ned patted him on the back while Pat climbed the stairs to them. She came over and looked the boy up and down, and shook her head. "I can't believe you actually look that clean," she quipped.

  Fred scowled. "Nice to see you, too," he retorted.

  "You looked nicer as a girl," Pat countered.

  "I think I can live without looking that nice."

  "And you were told to look out for castors," Pat scolded him.

  Fred wasn't in the mood for this girl's pushy attitude. "If I knew what they were I could look for them," he shot back.

  The girl rolled her eyes and scowled at him. "You don't even know what a castor is?"

  Fred folded his arms across his chest and stared right back at her. "Well, you didn't even know what t
he Boo was!" he countered.

  "That knowledge wouldn't have helped him," Ned spoke up. "That man wasn't a castor. He only used potions to change people, and any herbalist can do that."

  "He still should have been more careful!" Pat protested.

  "Come come, children, no fighting until we've gotten off the stage," Ned scolded the pair.

  He escorted them down to the ground just in time for another commotion to catch their attention. This one proved to be about them, too, as Damskov's knights pushed their way through the remains of the slave crowd and stood before the three companions. The lead knight, the one from the gate, looked over them; his eyes fell on the boy. "Are you Fred, formerly of the estate of Damskov?" he asked the boy.

  Fred cringed back, but Ned stepped forward and shielded the boy. "He is, and what business is that of yours?"

  The knight glared at Ned. "You must be the old man Damskov demands to see. He charges you with false payment, and demands good money or the boy back."

  Ned looked from one knight to the next; they flinched beneath his firm, unwavering gaze. "I'm afraid I can't oblige either way, and would rather you good knights tell your master to return to his estate without so much as a piece of silver or a strand of hair from this boy."

  "I refuse," came a voice from behind them. The knights turned to see their leader, Damskov, stalk toward them. He sneered at the old man and his companions. "You've inconvenienced me long enough, old man. Give me the money or the boy."

  Ned nodded at the lead knight. "As I was telling your men here, I can't oblige either way."

  Damskov smirked and slowly drew out his sword from its sheath beneath his cloak. He clasped the sword in both his hands, and the sharp blade glistened beneath the hot sun. "Then I'm afraid there's only one punishment for thieves when I'm involved. I'll take the boy back, and take your life."

  Damskov charged Ned, and he swung the sword to cut the old man down. Ned calmly raised his wooden staff and the blade collided with the stick. The onlookers expected the staff to be sliced in two and for the sword to cut Ned's skull in half. Instead the sword hit the staff and bounced back with a great enough force to fly out of Damskov's shocked hands. The weapon hit the ground a few yards away, and both groups were silent.

  Damskov's wide eyes traveled over to his sword, and back to the old man and the staff. "H-how?" he stuttered.

  Ned set his staff back on the ground and shrugged. "I must have a goddess on my side." Then his eyes narrowed and his voice dropped to a low, threatening whisper. "You should leave before she becomes vengeful against you for harming one of her servants."

  Ned performed the same wind trick now that he had for Pat and Fred as the swirling whirlwind jumped up from the ground and wrapped itself around him. Damskov and his men stumbled back with cries of fear and shouts of terror. Ned smirked, raised his staff with the end pointed at them and stepped toward the knights. The men scrambled away from the pointed end as though a mere touch would kill them. They tripped over each other and scattered in all directions. When none remained, Ned set his staff down and turned to his two young companions. Their eyes were wide and they blinked in shock; they could hardly believe they'd gotten out of that mess without some damage. Pat's hand was frozen on the hilt of her sword, ready for action.

  Ned glanced between the pair and chuckled. "You two look like a cute couple, but I can't figure out who the wife is."

  The youngsters paled and jumped away from each other. Pat looked at Fred's dress and wrinkled her nose. "Get out of that stupid getup immediately," she ordered him.

  Fred scowled back. "I can't, that guy tore up my other clothes."

  Ned put a hand on Fred's shoulder and turned him toward the market. "Then I suppose I had better properly attire my young serf. After all, I wouldn't want my lie-detector to be stolen away because of his feminine beauty."

  CHAPTER 6

  New clothes were procured for Fred, more comfortable than his old ones and with fewer patches. When he showed himself to his companions, Fred noticed Pat looked him over with more attention than she'd ever shown before. He whipped his head around to find any faults, but saw nothing. "What? Is there a hole somewhere?" he asked her.

  "You actually look like a human instead of a pig," she answered before she turned away.

  Ned smiled, and glanced up at the sun overhead. "We have enough daylight to gather supplies and find lodgings," he told his companions.

  "Or gather supplies and head out," Pat corrected him. "With you two causing so much trouble I don't feel we're welcome in this place."

  The tales of Ned's confrontation with the knights and Fred's transformation from girl to boy ran rampant throughout the town. Rumors sprang up of both evil and good magic infecting the citizens, and the people were uneasy. The market was less crowded than usual, and people hurried about their errands and constantly glanced over their shoulders. Ned stroked his beard and nodded. "Yes, I can see what you mean." He sighed. "What a pity. I was hoping for a nice, soft bed rather than the hard ground."

  Pat rolled her eyes. "We'll be sure to find a nice haystack for you," she quipped.

  They gathered their provisions and wound their way to the opposite end of the crowded town. Another gate lay at the back, and they had no trouble leaving the city as they had entering it. The dirt road curved and continued to follow the river, and they'd traveled far enough to see around the stone walls when Fred paused. He glanced back at the front road far off, the one that led to Damskov's estate. He wondered if he'd ever see his old home again.

  "Come on, boy!" Pat yelled at him.

  He whipped his head around and scowled. "My name's not boy, it's Fred!"

  "Hurry up or I'll call you a girl," she replied.

  Pat grew quiet when Ned passed by her and stepped up to Fred. He looked over the young man with that odd smile Fred had seen the first time they met. "It comes down to this every time, doesn't it?" he asked Fred

  "What comes down to this?" Fred asked him.

  Ned nodded toward the road that led back to the estate. "Every road before you means there's one behind, and we're always looking back wondering if we should have stepped forward at all. Maybe we would have been better standing there." Wagons passed by them, and other people walked in and out of the gate. "It's fear and regret that keep us rooted to one spot, and we miss much of life standing there watching the world pass by." Ned leaned forward and glanced into the boy's eyes. "I think you're one of those who doesn't want to just watch. You want to know those people and see those places."

  Fred leaned back and frowned. "How do you know I won't just run away?" he challenged the old man.

  Ned had a twinkle in his eye as he tilted his head to one side. "Because I know you." A chill ran down Fred's spine; those words sounded so familiar.

  Pat's shrill voice ruined the moment. "Are we going to stand here all day? The sun will set in a few hours."

  The boy rolled his eyes, but Ned laughed. "Yes, I suppose we had better get moving. Are you coming, young lad?"

  Fred shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

  Fred had no better place to go than with them, so he followed his new companions. To distract himself from the homesickness he focused his attention on the old man known as Ned. This strange person had terrifying abilities, ones he'd never before heard of, and sometimes Fred swore the old man was familiar. The sense of deja vu and those strange abilities scared and yet interested his unlearned and curious mind. Fred wondered how someone so ordinary in appearance could acquire these skills, and perhaps teach them to a certain young boy.

  These abilities, however, didn't leave Pat in awe for very long; she was more angry with the old man than curious. She walked by Ned's side and glanced over to him. "You know, you're going to have to be more careful about throwing that staff around," she scolded him.

  "Oh? Was my show too much?" Ned asked her.

  "I'll say," she retorted. "What if a real castor had been around and saw you doing that? They might have been on the other si
de, you know, and told someone about what and who they saw."

  "What's a castor?" Fred spoke up. He hadn't received an answer at his last question.

  Pat looked over her shoulder at the boy with one eye on Ned. "A castor is an old man who doesn't know how to show restraint. We might have been able to have them let us go for a few gold coins."

  Ned grinned and chuckled. "I had no idea the term castor was so exclusive. I'm afraid a great many people will be disappointed in knowing they aren't one."

  "So you're a castor?" Fred asked the old man.

  Ned stopped, spun on his heels, and gave a flourish of his arms as he bowed. "A castor is me, and I am indeed a castor."

  Pat slapped her forehead. "Must you broadcast it to every waif you pick up?"

  "I'm not a waif, I'm a serf! There's a difference!" Fred protested.

  "You're right, you're not a waif. You're just useless," she snapped back.

  Ned stepped between them and held up his hands. "A moment, children. Let's have less arguing and more talking about me."

  His words were meant to be a joke, but Pat turned to him with such a look of fury that the humor in his face died. "Yes, let's talk about you and how well of a job you've done protecting me" She marched up and poked him in the chest. "So far you've managed to pick up a boy we know nothing about, anger a local lord and his knights, and stir fear in an entire town." Each point was punctuated with a finger poke. "How the hell is that getting us to-" She paused and glanced over to Fred. "Getting us to where we need to be," she rephrased.

  "Patience, my dear Patricia. We won't get to our destination overnight, and the boy here may prove more useful than you believe," Ned replied.

  Pat sneered at the boy and turned away from them. She marched down the road, and Ned slid over beside Fred. "There's nothing so terrifying as a woman," Ned whispered.

  "You mean a woman scorned?" Fred asked him.

  "No, I meant a woman. That one's absolutely terrifying when she's angry, and to see her scorned would frighten us all to death." Ned glanced at Fred, and the humor in his face dropped off. "But you truly don't know what a castor is? Not even a gut feeling about them?"