Page 26 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

B ARRA

W ell, that was it then. I’d left. Elikki will go her way. I’ll go mine. It was the right thing to do.

Wasn’t it?

Yes, absolutely , I told myself bitterly. She wouldn’t talk to you. Didn’t even look at you.

Whether she refused to communicate or just plain wanted you gone—that silence was pretty damn clear. I swung up into Pebble’s saddle.

This wasn’t doing me any good. She’d made her decision, and I’d made mine.

I’d done what I’d always told myself I would, for the past two years.

I needed to stand up for myself, make my feelings and thoughts known.

Letting someone walk all over me—no matter how magnificent they were—wasn’t healthy for either of us.

If she didn’t want me, I had to move on. I shook myself and tried to focus on what I was doing. Not think about Elikki alone, all by herself, sitting by the lake looking like she’d always known I would leave.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I wiped away the wetness that threatened to spill over my cheeks.

Pebble kept moving down the road back west. We moved closer and closer to my family—my normal life—with every minute.

And farther and farther away from her. I settled in my seat and tried to relax.

Distract my thoughts from where they naturally wanted to go.

Time trudged along in a gray fog. I attempted to focus on the trees and the birdsong, with little luck. My mind kept drifting back to her.

Her heart-shaped face, so sad as she avoided my gaze. Distance in her eyes. She looked out at the lake, world-weary, as if she was calmly waiting for the next inevitable disappointment.

“Is that him?”

A low, hissed voice pulled me out of my reverie. Two grimy-looking men were approaching me on the road. They rode bony plodding horses whose flanks were caked with even more dirt than the humans were.

One of them stared hard at me, utterly unselfconscious. A slow grin stole over his face.

I didn’t say a word.

They passed by. When they thought they were out of earshot, they bent their heads together. “Yeah, I reckon that must’ve been him. She’s probably close by.”

My back stiffened. No. No no no.

They were after Elikki.

What was I supposed to do? Turn back and play the valiant rescuer?

She would hate that. However much I knew she could handle herself though, I kept seeing Elikki as I’d left her.

By the lake, still tired even after her nap.

She might have tapped out her magic during the last encounter.

I didn’t know exactly how it worked. She barely seemed to understand how her magic worked.

I reasoned with myself. Even if that was true, and she couldn’t use her metal magic, she certainly wasn’t helpless. Elikki had daggers hidden all over her body. I’d seen them.

But—I couldn’t help thinking of buts—what if she’d fallen back asleep again? What if she’d decided to take a dip in the lake? What if those thugs took her by surprise, pouncing like Maerryl had in the woods?

There was nothing for it. I had to turn back.

I swung Pebble around by the reins, forcing myself not to go galloping after the men immediately.

It wouldn’t help to draw attention to myself.

And though I knew I had an advantage—my massive size, sword, and Pebble’s bulk usually dissuaded anyone from attacking—I didn’t love the odds of two against one on an empty road in the woods.

Better to track them at a distance and see if they made a move against Elikki.

Up the road, I could see the pair approaching the point where a path split off to the lake. They were snickering over something, one of them reaching out to punch the other in the arm with a guffaw. Spotting the side trail, they looked at each other and shrugged.

I held my breath.

They turned their horses to the right and headed down to the lake.

My stomach dropped. If she had resumed her nap, Elikki was in real danger. They’d find her, catch her by surprise, and tie up her hands so she couldn’t magic her way out. And then what? She’d be dragged back to Felsith for his revenge?

I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t.

Drawing my sword—I remembered, this time—I urged Pebble faster.

We reached the side trail and turned. There—they were just about to exit the last wooded area of the path before it opened out into a grassy field that led down to the little lake.

I couldn’t see Elikki from my viewpoint.

Maybe she’d already left and was farther down the main road.

Or maybe she was lying down among the tall grass, asleep and unaware.

Taking a big huff of air into my chest, I channeled Ma Reese and attempted an intimidating tone. “You two! What is your business here?”

The bounty hunters swung around. They eyed me up and down, taking in my height and bulk.

Pebble, though she was gentle at heart, made quite an alarming first impression.

Paired with a fierce half-giant wielding a massive sword, we could cut quite a figure together.

Wariness crept into their faces, and they stiffened.

Good. Now I just needed to keep up the act.

Gripping my sword firmly, I pointed it straight toward the one on the right, who was string-bean thin and hungry-looking. He froze.

“I said—” I shifted my sword arm toward the other man. He was trying to play it cool, but I saw his eyes widen. “What is your business here?”

“We’re on a stroll for some fresh air, en’t we? Is that a crime?” he said.

I rested my blade on my shoulder. Thinking about the look Ma Reese would give someone when she caught them making trouble, I fixed him with a stern stare. His eyes wavered, shifting away from mine.

“Get out of here before I run you both through,” I said in my lowest, deepest rumble.

“Why?” Shifty Eyes shot back. “Got something you don’t want us to see? Some one ?”

“Look,” String Bean cut in with a placating gesture. “Why don’t we just share the bounty? It’ll be one silver coin for each of us. That’s fair, en’t it?”

“Felsith is only offering three silver?” I shook my head in disgust. “What a cheapskate. How is it even worth it for you, to do all this?”

“Easy for you to say, Mr. Fancy Man,” String Bean sneered. Mr. Fancy Man? “For some of us, that’s enough to live off for weeks.”

A squirm of embarrassment wriggled into my stomach. Was I really feeling sorry for these greasy men trying to attack and kidnap someone I cared about?

Then Shifty Eyes pulled a knife out.

“If your sister hadn’t paid Felsith and his brother off, we’d be coming for you too, giant.

So just stay out of our way before you make things worse for yourself.

And your family.” He flipped the knife in the air and gripped it tight, dirty fingers wrapping around the hilt.

It was a jagged, ugly thing, and I watched it uneasily, trying not to let my confident mask slip.

“What are you talking about? Why would my sister—” I broke off.

Oh. That’s why the bounty hunters have only been after Elikki and not me.

My family must have gotten wind of what happened somehow and paid to keep me safe.

I felt a wave of gratitude toward them. I don’t know how they found out so fast, but I was relieved to have them watching my back.

At the same time, guilt and worry warred together.

I really was responsible for hurting Felsith, even if he was a slimeball.

My family shouldn’t have to clean up my messes for me.

I almost thought I should go back now and make things right.

This could affect my family’s reputation, maybe even our business. Our livelihood.

But Elikki—she had no one watching her back. She didn’t have anyone to keep her safe and pay off the bad guys. But how would this play out in the long run? She’d evade capture long enough to get far from this area? A three-silver bounty wasn’t enough to keep folks’ interest for long.

All of this raced through my mind in moments as Shifty Eyes and I glared at each other across the sharp tips of our blades. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw String Bean rooting around for his weapon, looking a bit flummoxed. I refocused on his partner.

One of us had to make a move. I still couldn’t see El from where I was, but if I could get between them and the lake, I could try to maneuver the men away from here and back up to the main road.

I braced myself. “Last chance. Turn back now,” I said, forcing menace into my voice. “I don’t want to hurt you. Are your lives really worth a few coins?”

String Bean gulped, but Shifty Eyes seemed to harden. “You know nothing about our lives, dickhead.” With that, he raised his other hand—when had a dagger slipped into that one?—and flung it toward me.

I dipped down in the saddle, digging my heels in Pebble’s sides hard.

She leaped forward. The dagger whistled past my ear, and we charged in between their horses, pushing them apart.

I swung my sword at Shifty Eyes, intentionally pulling short so that I didn’t hit him.

While I didn’t love that he’d just tried to stab me, I wasn’t going to hurt anyone today.

If I didn’t have to, at least.

Cursing, he threw himself to the other side of his horse to avoid my long blade, losing his balance and falling most of the way out of his saddle.

I felt a ripping flash of pain in my left arm and cried out, but didn’t stop. We were through—I pulled Pebble around to block off the path and we began to corral the bounty hunters’ weak, submissive horses forward toward the main road.

Shifty Eyes was still trying to right himself in the saddle, made harder by his horse’s movements. His partner seemed shocked at his own actions. Looking from his bloody knife back to my arm that he’d slashed haphazardly, String Bean gaped, skin going pale under the dirt that lined his face.