by Sandra Elsa
"Good Morning, Johann." The deep baritone voice rang through the small house.
"Good Morning, Garec." Johann yawned.
"They told me in town, you have a boarder staying with you."
Sounding deeply aggrieved and sighing heavily, Johann said, "Had a boarder staying with me. She came back from the market yesterday, upset because of something that happened there. Wouldn't tell me what. Said she couldn't stay here any longer and within the hour, packed her bag and left. Such a beautiful young woman, she brightened my days. I’ll miss having her around."
"I'm told she was very petite,” Garec said, “with dark brown eyes and wild copper hair. Is this so?"
"That was her. The copper of her hair was so brilliant it almost seemed to bleed into her skin. Even at the end of winter she was tanned. I thought perhaps she was from southern Swadan. They're the only ones I know of with that coloration."
"Sounds very much like a young slave I purchased just last week from Mistress Henna over in Temn. I saw her on my way to Swadan—at that time Henna wouldn't sell. After I left, the girl ran away.”
The glee in Garec’s voice made Pink cringe. “I bought her for half the cost of what Henna paid for her, since the trouble of running her to ground would be mine. I get home, and here you are, keeping her for me. Did she by chance mention where she was going, when she left?"
"No, she was frightened. She must have seen you in the market. I don't think she had a plan--just packed her belongings and bolted. Putting her up all this time you'd think I'd have noticed a brand." Johann sounded bored, though the inflection on the last sentence indicated anger even to Pink‘s ears, and she knew it was an act.
"Henna told me it’s on her left shoulder," Garec said.
Pink raised a hand to her shoulder and fingered the raised circle of scar tissue there.
"She always stayed pretty well covered up,” Johann said. “I just put it down to the weather. She could cook and clean. Helped me with the herb gardens, and was a good listener. I get lonely out here, so I don't ask many questions if somebody's willing to talk to me." Pink could hear the smile in his voice, “Or at least she didn’t yawn when I talked.”
"Which way did she go when she left?"
"Headed west,” Johann said hesitantly. “There's no telling which way she'll go once she pulls herself together and starts thinking. If she saw you, she won’t continue the way she left. Maybe she’ll go north, but that remains dangerous. Every now and then, Telgarn scouts still roam down out of the Rortags. On the other hand they do have wizards there who could remove her brand.”
Pink focused sharply on those words. She hadn’t known magic could do something like that. The only magicians she’d ever seen were traveling entertainers, sleight of hand tricksters. She knew the villagers called Johann a magicker, she had assumed he used to be an entertainer.
Johann strode in front of the door to Pink’s tiny room. She compacted herself tighter and warily watched him pace, heart thumping in an erratic rhythm. He scratched at an eyebrow, then looked back towards Garec, as though considering different possibilities.
“Maybe she'll circle around and head east to lose herself in Relante or one of the other larger cities in the center of our country. She was going in that direction when she arrived."
Garec walked across the room. Heavy footsteps that had traveled to her door each night at Hallowisp forced Pink to hold her breath, certain the pounding in her chest was audible. With perfect timing Johann's light steps moved back towards the dining table causing Garec to stop short of looking in the room.
"I've heard tell you’re a wizard, old man. You seem fond of her; perhaps you already removed her brand."
Johann laughed, a loud cheerless sound. "What small tricks I have couldn't even save my wife. Removing a slave's brand requires a Healer's skill. I've never been anything more than entertainment to the locals."
Garec grumbled, sounding doubtful, but whether Johann was a wizard or a magicker, it seemed Garec was reluctant to argue with the old man. He left, slamming the door as he walked out. Pink had no doubt he'd be taking off in pursuit as soon as he could gather his hired men. He would be headed west, as Johann had told him she had gone. The old man gave a convincing performance.
The road west traveled back to Hallowisp Manor. That direction was already closed to her. She decided to continue east; losing herself in the populace of a large city sounded like a brilliant idea. Although if there were truly wizards in the north, who could remove her brand— that direction appealed to her as well.
Pink packed the patched clothing she‘d arrived with. Unsteady hands set aside the dresses Johann had taken out of storage for her—the lace and ribbons made them impractical traveling clothing.
Johann threw together a pack with some food in it, then dug through the closet in the room Pink had slept in. He handed her a couple of pairs of trousers and tunics that were only a slight bit too large. “They belonged to my grandson when he was something around twelve. Lucky for you, I never throw anything out.”
“Thank you,” she squeaked out in an unsteady voice.
When Johann packed a couple of changes of clothes in a separate pack for himself, Pink asked, "What are you doing?" Hope warred with doubt in her voice.
"I’ve lived here far too long. I raised a son, and a grandson here, but my life wasn’t always so quiet.” His gaze fastened on one of the dresses she had set aside. Fondly he touched the lace. “Once my wife and I traveled great distances. We performed tricks to provide entertainment for small towns as a means of keeping ourselves fed. We were young and in love, traveling to see the world.” He closed his eyes. Pink knew from the slight grin that flickered across his face that his wife, Mari, danced in front of the blue veined lids. “We had some adventures, but when she became pregnant we settled down here and never left.” His eyes opened to glance around; pausing on items Pink knew once belonged to his wife.
“If I continue to live here by myself, with no one to talk to but the herbs, I'm afraid I’ll follow her into the grave sooner than later.” Grief, etched the lines of his face deeper, but he continued to pack. “These last three months reminded me how much I enjoy companionship. I think it will be better for both of us if we travel together."
Pink knew she should argue. He hadn't been ill the entire time she’d been staying here; still he looked old and frail. His appearance did not suggest he ought to be journeying across the country without a goal in mind.
The thought of having companionship overwhelmed these considerations, with a smile, she finished packing.
Johann went out to make sure Garec was not lurking. He returned, declaring nobody would see them leave with such certainty Pink did not doubt him, yet she could not prevent her gaze from darting around, searching for watchers. A tiny green gemstone caught her flitting attention, but when she stopped to pick it up, Johann hurried her past it.
Conceding her lack of knowledge, she followed his lead. He turned southeast, traveling through dense woods on paths that were little more than animal trails. After a half hour they came across a dirt road much like the one she had traveled before.
Johann mumbled under his breath and pointed at two trees, one on either side of the path. A tingle raising the hair on her arms made her think magic. He began walking north with confidence in his stride, the pallor of his skin the only evidence he'd exerted himself.
He wheezed horribly as they traveled the foothills of the Swa Caran Mountains. Pink was in excellent physical condition and brimming over with questions about where they were going, but she chose not to speak and force him to waste breath answering her.
After four hours of slow, steady walking, Johann moved off the trail and walked unerringly to a large flat rock surrounded by several smaller ones. He flung his pack on the largest rock and began digging through it for trail rations. Pink did the same. She cast her mind back to her last wild flight and compared it to the orderly calm of this journey. She was glad of Joh
ann’s steadying influence.
As they sat on the "chairs", Pink asked, "How did you know this was here?"
"It's been a long time, but I used to come this way often. I have friends two days walk from here." Johann leaned over and massaged the calves of his legs, sitting back up he stretched them out and muttered, "Used to be two days, may be three or four now. I’m not as young as I used to be."
"Won't Garec be right behind us?" Pink glanced toward the road, expecting at any time the merchant would figure out Johann had lied to him, and come riding after them.
A corner of Johann‘s mouth turned up. "He should be at least a day checking out the other directions. When he returns from the west and finds that I’ve disappeared too, he’ll try to track us.” Johann paused and grinned. “The trails we took will show our footprints, traveling southeast. I didn't suggest that as a possible direction of travel for you, so he’ll assume we continued that way. I began erasing our tracks when we turned north. He won't know for certain which way we went, once we left the woods.”
Johann laughed as Pink spun around on her rock and searched the ground for footprints. “I’ve cast webs across the trail since we started, I’ll know when he’s coming.”
The explanation did not satisfy Pink. In fact it did little but arouse her curiosity. Inquisitiveness won out over manners. "How did you erase our footprints and what sort of web did you cast?"
"Just trifling magics," he told her humbly. "As I told Garec, I'm known as a magicker, there are some small tricks I can do. Erasing footprints is nothing. It's a spell that can also be used for housecleaning. I create a small invisible broom to whisk away what's not wanted.”
His eyes twinkled with humor, as her brows crept up her forehead. She added up his words with her knowledge of his home and figured out why his house had never needed cleaning. “The webs are a bigger magic,” he said, “they’re a weaving of earth energy I’ve stretched between trees on the path at major turnings. I’ve attuned them to Garec’s image. I must maintain contact with them and if we get beyond two days journey I won’t know if they’ve been broken.”
Once all traces of their presence were cleansed from the large rock, they took to the road again.
The sun disappeared behind the mountains, and Johann searched the sides of the road, staring at several different large trees before marching on. With the light fading from the peaks, he veered into the forest, turning in front of a towering oak tree. After climbing uphill, away from the road for nearly half a mile, Pink was sure he'd lost his mind when he turned towards a small pond and walked straight into it.
Chapter 6
