Page 5

Chapter 5

Avery

F orgetting Elliot turned out to be easier said than done. More often than she wanted to admit, Avery found her mind wandering back to the young man as she wondered what had happened to him. His disappearance from the trees lent weight to the idea that his weakness had been feigned. And yet, he had been incredibly convincing, and she couldn’t quite shake the guilt of abandoning him among the trees. She would have feared he had been taken by predators except they weren’t exactly prevalent in Sovar. They had unnervingly large mice and enormous pumpkins, but they didn’t have wild animals that preyed on humans.

So Elliot had to be all right. Didn’t he?

It didn’t help that she couldn’t shake the unnerving sensation that someone was near. Ever since the attempted robbery, she kept catching movement out of the corner of her eye that turned out to be nothing, or thinking she heard something only to conclude she was imagining things. She had been the target of attempted thieves before, both with her parents and with her aunt and uncle—and even while traveling alone—but she had never been so badly affected. She could only conclude it was the lingering guilt that stopped her from shaking off the encounter.

Or at least that’s what she told herself until just before she arrived at the next hamlet on the road to Marleston. When she twitched at the flick of movement on the edges of her vision, she turned quickly enough to catch someone’s arm disappearing into the trees.

She stiffened. She hadn’t been imagining it! Someone was following her.

And if someone was following her now, that meant she probably hadn’t imagined the previous occasions either. Someone had been on her tail since her first night out of Henton, and that led to only one conclusion. Elliot.

She ground her teeth together. And to think she’d been feeling more and more guilty about abandoning him! The trickster had been faking it all along.

Her instinct was to chase straight after him, but she stopped herself. As angry as she felt, what would she accuse him of? He had returned the stolen goods and made no further attempt to approach her or raid her cart. It was possible he was just heading in the same direction and was scared enough of her threats to want to keep out of sight.

She snorted. Not likely. But he could easily claim as much. She sighed and forced herself to face forward again. If she wanted to deal with him properly, she needed to set a trap.

Avery had been looking forward to a night in a proper bed in the hamlet. It wasn’t big enough to have an inn, but she knew at least two families who would offer her hospitality. But she would have to refuse their offers.

Sure enough, after they had enthusiastically browsed her wares, they both offered her a bed for the night.

“I won’t take a bed this time,” she said to the couple with the larger barn. “But I’ll sleep with Nutmeg in your barn, if that’s all right?”

The couple both laughed.

“You get more attached to that horse every time we see you,” the wife said, making Avery smile. Nutmeg might not have been her motivation on this occasion, but it was true that the mare had become her closest companion.

She led the horse and cart into the cavernous barn and positioned the cart carefully before unhitching Nutmeg and rubbing her down. She secured her inside the closest stall and climbed up to the hay loft above.

Avery lay down on her stomach, where she could watch the door without being easily seen. She didn’t know how long it would take Elliot to appear, but she had no doubts he would come.

She nearly fell asleep twice before the slight creak of the barn door finally sounded. Elliot stood frozen half in the door and half out, moonlight illuminating his frame. As Avery had suspected, there was no sign of the illness that had incapacitated him on their last encounter.

After an extended moment of stillness, he seemed to conclude that if she was inside the barn, she was asleep, and his arrival had escaped notice. Slipping all the way inside, he hurried straight for Avery’s cart.

He was no longer looking around, his attention on the closest knot, so Avery pulled herself into a crouch. She stayed there, poised in position as she waited for the perfect moment.

As soon as he had undone the first knot and peeled back the canvas, she pounced. Dropping from above, she landed on his hunched back, cushioning her own fall as she sent him sprawling against the straw on the barn floor.

She pushed herself off him easily, trying not to notice that he was more muscled than she had suspected at their previous meetings. She had no business noticing the muscles of a thief.

Elliot groaned and rolled over, his eyes widening as he finally realized what had landed on him.

“Were you waiting for me?” he gasped. “You’re supposed to be asleep!”

“Of course I was waiting for you,” Avery said, indignant. “You’ve been following me, and now you’re attempting to steal from me—for the second time!”

“I’m not stealing!” he protested, although he looked sheepish as he said it.

Nutmeg whinnied loudly, reaching over the half door of her stall and undoing the latch with her teeth. When she trotted out to stand beside Avery, Elliot’s eyes widened.

“That is not a normal horse,” he muttered.

Avery put a hand on Nutmeg’s neck. “Don’t insult her. She’s worth far more than thieves like you.”

Elliot finally made it to his feet, stepping warily away from the horse. “For the final time, I’m not a thief!”

Avery raised her eyebrows. “What are you, then?”

Elliot ran a hand through his hair and groaned. “It’s a complicated story.”

“I’m sure it is, but I’m not interested in your excuses. I told you not to let me catch you near my cart again.”

Nutmeg huffed and, at a slight prodding from Avery, stepped forward. Elliot immediately backed even further away.

“Just let me have a look at the items you got from the smith,” he pleaded. “I’m looking for something made of?—”

“You must be joking,” Avery cut him off indignantly. “You think I’m going to let you anywhere near my wares? You need to leave this hamlet now. And if I see you again, I’ll let Nutmeg kick you.”

Elliot’s eyes widened, so apparently he knew how much damage a horse’s hoof could do.

“And don’t think she’s my only defense, either,” Avery added. “I may be traveling alone, but I’m not an easy target. You have no idea what weapons I’ve picked up in my travels.”

She kept her face stern and her eyes hard. Elliot must want something in her cart badly to have followed her so far, and she needed to make it clear she wasn’t easy pickings.

“I just—” Elliot began, but Nutmeg huffed and stepped forward another step, baring her teeth threateningly.

Something skittered behind Elliot, but he was too focused on the horse to notice. He stepped hastily back and tripped over the small creature behind his feet.

He fell backward, barely catching himself with his hands, and the cat-sized mouse ran across the barn floor away from him. Elliot and Avery gave simultaneous shudders.

“Why did I ever think it was a good idea to settle in Sovar?” Elliot muttered.

Avery’s eyes flicked back to him. What did he mean by that? Was he not Sovaran?

She had encountered thieves in every kingdom, but never one who moved between them. The people who traveled like the roving merchants were few indeed and not taken to thievery.

She wanted to ask him what he meant and where he came from, but she bit down on her tongue to keep the questions from escaping. She had convinced herself it was her guilt fueling her thoughts of Elliot, but now that he was in front of her again, she couldn’t deny the fascination she had first experienced on glimpsing him in Henton. She would not give in to it, however. She was Avery of the roving merchants, and he was a petty thief who didn’t deserve her curiosity.

“Go!” she said sternly, pointing at the door.

Elliot looked at her hopelessly, his expression tugging at her heart. She frowned in response. She wasn’t going to make a fool of herself over a pair of piercing eyes.

His shoulders slumped, and he slipped back out of the barn, giving a final look of distaste at the place where the giant mouse had disappeared. As soon as he was gone, Avery shuddered again herself.

She liked Sovar for the most part, but she felt the same aversion to enormous mice that Elliot displayed. There were some things the Legacies would do better not to keep recreating.

Although apparently it could be worse. Her grandmother used to tell stories about seeing mice as big as horses in areas where the power of the Sovar Legacy was particularly concentrated. Avery could only consider herself lucky to have avoided such places.

She sighed. “Do you think he’s really gone this time, girl?” she asked Nutmeg.

The horse whinnied in response, but Avery didn’t know whether to take it as agreement or disagreement. Elliot had shown unusual determination and focus, but he had also seemed genuinely wary of her mare, if not Avery herself. Hopefully she and Nutmeg had shaken him off for good this time.

She returned the horse to her stall and made herself a bed of straw beside the cart. She needed to get some sleep, but she wasn’t going to leave her cart. She didn’t trust the strength of her threats that much.

The next day she departed the hamlet, the local children trailing behind her and calling out shouts of farewell or requests for the wares they would like on future visits. She waved in response, her spirits lifted by their enthusiasm and by the bright sun in the blue sky.

Her spirits rose even further over the next two days as she found no trace of anyone following her. Or at least she told herself they were rising. In reality, she felt strangely flat. She had seen with her own eyes that Elliot was unharmed, so there was no need for her to feel guilty. And yet still he lingered in her thoughts.

She was just angry, she told herself. And confused. Their third encounter had explained nothing of his strange behavior. All she’d learned was that despite his earlier weak appearance, he had muscles hiding behind his shirt and vest.

She immediately flushed at the thought. His muscles had nothing to do with anything. Her entire extended family would be launching an intervention if they knew how much time she was spending thinking about a thief. It didn’t matter if his behavior was inexplicable. She would never see him again, and that was a good thing.

That curiosity could get you in trouble one day , her father’s voice repeated in her mind, and she resolved—for the twentieth time—not to think of Elliot again.

A very approached another hamlet, the road running parallel to a stream that had branched off the main river that ran south from Marleston to the sea. Before reaching the houses, she pulled Nutmeg off the road, stopping to fill her waterskins and give the mare a drink.

It was better to take care of the tasks before reaching the collection of homes and the enthusiastic children who lived in them. They had mobbed her when she passed through on her way to Henton, and they were likely to do the same on her way back.

She filled up the waterskins, stashing them in the cart before returning to the stream for a drink herself. She was just bending over the water when she heard several cries of delight. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw she had underestimated the enthusiasm of the children. They had already seen her coming, and a group of them were rushing down the road toward her.

Amused, she bent back down to quickly finish drinking and washing her face. From the noises behind her, the children had gathered around Nutmeg and the cart, several of them petting the horse, who was always particularly patient with children.

But two of the voices continued toward her, the bickering marking them as brother and sister.

“Even if she did bring back a lamp from across the mountains, we can’t afford to buy it,” the boy said in a superior voice.

“How do you know?” the girl cried indignantly. “Ma has been saving up her coin. We can’t afford a comm…commpissioned one, she said, but we might be able to buy a discard.”

The boy made a scoffing sound in response, and Avery glanced back in time to see his sister shove him in response. She shook her head. Maybe siblings wouldn’t have been as much of a blessing as she had always thought.

She straightened, but she had only made it halfway and was still unbalanced when the brother retaliated by shoving his sister in return. The young girl stumbled backward straight into Avery.

Avery’s body tipped back toward the stream, and she flailed her arms wildly in an attempt to right herself. The stream wasn’t wide, but it was deep and filled with rocks, and the current moved quickly.

But there was nothing to catch to stop her fall, and to her horror, one of her arms tangled with the girl’s arm. She only had enough time to register that the girl was falling with her before they both hit the water with an enormous splash.

Her hand reached for the girl, but she had already been wrenched away. Rushing water surrounded her on all sides, the temperature so cold it made Avery suck in an involuntary gasp of water.

Her arms pinwheeled through the stream as her feet sought the creek bed. She finally found it, thrusting the top of her body out of the water and coughing violently. But the force of the current ripped her feet from under her again, and she hadn’t fully expelled the water from her lungs before she was tipped sideways.

Her spinning vision caught the cluster of horrified-looking children on the shore but no sign of the girl who had gone into the stream with her. She pushed through the water again, still coughing as she once again found the bottom of the stream.

When she got another look at the shore—this time sucking in a needed breath of beautiful air—there was another figure with the children, this one towering above them.

She didn’t have time to register any more before the man kicked off his boots, shed his pack, and dove into the stream. Strong arms grabbed her waist just as the current caught her again, and she was pulled against a man’s chest. Apparently he was having more luck than she was in keeping his feet firmly planted because she was able to gasp in several breaths without being tipped back into the water.

She looked around frantically and finally caught sight of a tangle of brown curls which was all she could see of the girl.

“Put me down! Put me down!” she cried, squirming in the man’s arms. “I can swim. But a girl fell in with me.”

“What?” The man responded instantly, setting her on her feet and spinning away to peer upstream. “Where?”

“There!” She pointed at the girl’s hair, and the man sliced through the water, moving toward the girl with powerful strokes.

Avery tried to follow him but nearly lost her footing again. Biting her lip, she changed her goal to the stream bank. She wouldn’t help anyone by getting carried further downstream.

She didn’t dare take her feet off the bottom and attempt to swim, but she managed to make it step by step to the shore without being swept away. It helped that she was no longer confused, in shock, and coughing up water.

As soon as she had scrambled onto the bank, water streaming off her, she ran toward the children, her legs wobbly beneath her. She arrived just as the man strode out of the water, the girl hanging limp in his arms.

The children parted before him except for the girl’s brother, who was sobbing.

“I didn’t mean to push her in,” he cried. “I didn’t mean to!”

The man laid the girl down on the ground and bent over her, his back to Avery. She hurried forward, but the boy grabbed at her legs, halting her progress.

She nearly shook him off, but one look at his terrified face made her stop. She forced herself to take a breath and respond calmly. The girl looked only about five, but her brother wasn’t much older.

“I know it was an accident,” she said calmly. “But you must let me check her. She might still be all right.” Avery desperately hoped it was true.

“We swim in the stream all the time,” the boy sobbed. “Why didn’t she come back up?”

Avery finally untangled herself from him and made it the rest of the way to the girl. The man was kneeling beside her, pumping on her chest, and just as Avery arrived, the girl spasmed, coughing as she expelled a rush of water from her mouth. The man slumped back.

“Oh, thank goodness,” the man breathed, and Avery froze. She recognized that voice.

He glanced over his shoulder, blue eyes meeting hers and confirming his identity.

“It’s you!” she cried, at the same time as he said, “She’s breathing again.”

Avery immediately flushed. She should have been focused on the injured girl, not the identity of the girl’s rescuer.

Hurrying forward, she knelt beside him, confirming the girl’s breathing for herself. A gash near the girl’s hairline was sluggishly bleeding, so she must have hit her head on a rock going into the water. It explained why she had remained so limp when her brother claimed she could swim.

“I think she was briefly stunned,” Elliot said, “but it doesn’t look like the wound is too severe. Now that she’s coughed out the water, she should recover. But it would be best to get her to a healer as quickly as possible in case there are further injuries we can’t see.”

Avery nodded silent agreement, and he rose onto one knee, scooping the girl up before rising fully to his feet. Avery slowly stood beside him, still in shock herself. Both of them were sopping wet, but he wasn’t paying it any mind, so she was determined not to either.

He strode over to her cart, stepping up onto the seat without hesitation despite the girl still cradled in both his arms. When she didn’t immediately follow, he cocked a raised eyebrow at her. She closed her gaping mouth and hurried after him. Of course they needed to use her cart to get the girl to her parents as quickly as possible. And since Avery would need her hands for driving, it made sense Elliot needed to come along as well.

She jumped up beside him, shaking her head. Of all the scenarios she had pictured for the day, none of them had included her driving her cart into the hamlet with Elliot seated beside her.

“Here!” one of the older children said before Avery could signal to Nutmeg to start moving. The girl shoved Elliot’s boots and pack underneath the cart’s seat.

“My thanks,” he told her with a charming smile that made the girl blush.

“We’ll bring him,” the girl said, indicating the brother, who was still crying.

Avery nodded and flicked the reins, signaling to Nutmeg to start walking. The mare responded immediately, clearly aware something unusual was going on.

Elliot leaned over the girl, murmuring reassuringly to her. She seemed dazed and confused, but at least she was conscious and hadn’t dropped into sleep. Avery cast a sideways glance at Elliot.

“You were still following me,” she stated. There was no other explanation for his sudden appearance.

He grinned at her, the expression half-repentant, half-mischievous. “Sorry about that.”

Avery closed her mouth and looked forward again. She could hardly threaten him while he was cradling an injured child he had just rescued.

Saving a small child from drowning was admirable—but most people would do as much, surely. Avery stole another sideways look at him. It was true Elliot had saved the girl, but he hadn’t known about her existence when he first dived into the stream. It was Avery who he had seen flailing and coughing, and yet he hadn’t hesitated to rush to her rescue. Had it even occurred to him that if she drowned, he could take anything he wanted from her cart?

From the first moment she’d seen him, she’d thought there was more to him than a petty thief. Apparently she’d been right.