by Jen Pretty
I could feel eyes on me as we strolled down the main street; the town was tiny, by any standards. A shop and an inn lined the dirt road, along with a dozen small homes. A young boy sat on a front porch, whittling with a sharp knife. He didn't look old enough to be wielding a blade, and I didn't want to look away in case he cut his hand off, but we moved down the street towards the inn.
Horses were tied up in front and a large water-filled basin peaked Copper’s interest, so I let him mosey that way, while I stepped past the tied horses and into the inn.
Beyond the doors revealed a room with chairs cluttered around small round tables. The patrons sat in dark corners, sipping from large mugs, their hats pulled low over their eyes. My heart hammered in my chest as I prayed none of them were Saxons or that I hadn't stumbled into a rebel town.
"You got money, girlie?" a gruff voice asked from behind the bar.
I hurried closer to speak to him.
"No sir, but I am good at cleaning. I can clean for room and board, if you'll allow it."
"Hmm," the man's dark eyes inspected me. "You bringing trouble with you?"
"No, sir. I'm just passing through. Headed south."
The man scratched his beard for a moment, eying me. "All right, then. You clean the rooms; I'll give you a bed. You got a horse?"
I nodded. "Yes, sir. He's out front."
"Good, you take your horse around back to the stable and then Mary will set you up with some work." He pointed to a busty woman sitting at a table with two dirty looking men. She was laughing with her head thrown back, looking completely at home. The man turned his broad back on me, pouring another drink and I strode out to give Copper the good news.
Outside there were a group of people standing around, blocking my view of the road, but a panicked whinny reached my ears and I pressed forward, between the people to see what was going on.
"Hey! Stop that!" I yelled. A man had roped Copper by the neck and was attempting to drag him down the street from the back of a black horse. I ran after him as Copper thrashed and dug his hooves into the hard-packed ground. "That's my horse!" I screamed.
Laughter rose from behind me, but I didn't stop. I caught up to Copper and yelled at the man on horseback who had him roped. "Let go of my horse, this instant!"
The man spun his horse around, creating enough slack in the rope that I could pull it over Copper's head.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I thought he was a wild horse, considering he doesn't have a saddle or bridle and was left to wander the streets. If you want to keep him, you better tie him up next time."
The crowd in front of the inn laughed again, but I ignored them all and stroked Copper’s neck where the rope had dug in painfully. "Come on, boy," I whispered.
Copper followed behind me and I intended to lead him to the small stable behind the inn, but the man on the horse rode in front of my and stopped, blocking our way.
"You hear what I said?" he asked.
I looked up, but the little moonlight hiding behind some clouds didn't illuminate his face below his broad-brimmed hat. He wore a long black coat and I could just make out the gruff stubble of a beard on his strong jaw. From his voice I felt as though he was young, maybe not as young as myself, but early twenties. The hilt of a sword rose from his hip.
"I heard you," I said.
"Where are you from?" he asked
"Nowhere," I replied before walking around him and his horse. Copper followed along. Someone in the crowd made a comment that caused everyone else to laugh again, but I didn't hear what they said. My ears burned with embarrassment and guilt.
The man on the horse was right; I shouldn't have left Copper loose in a strange town. I would need to buy a bridle before we left this town. Good horses were hard to come by with the Saxons and Britons using them up, and a horse as beautiful as Copper would draw eyes wherever we went.
Once he was tucked into the small stable with hay and fresh water, I returned to the inn. Inside was more crowded now that the sun had gone down. Lanterns flickered on the tables, drawing long shadows on the dingy walls.
The woman, Mary, was behind the bar now, so I wove through the tables, stopping at the edge of the bar. Mary was chatting and laughing with a large man who was perched on a stool. His heavy muscled arms lay across the bar nearly as thick as my waist.
"You the cleaning girl?" Mary asked when she noticed me standing there.
"Yes, ma'am," I replied.
"Come with me." She came out from behind the bar, grabbing a mop bucket and rag, then climbed the stairs at the far end of the room. She rose four stories before she came to a halt before a closed door. The long hall had several doors, all of them closed.
"You start with this room and make your way down. Make the bed, clean the floor. When the room is clean, you leave the door open." She shoved the mop bucket into my hands, water sloshed inside. Then she tossed the rag into the water and strode away.
I took a deep breath and slid open the door. I immediately regretted stopping in this town. The room was a mess. Bed sheets all tossed about, the curtains had been pulled down and the floor was nearly black with dirt.
I thought of Copper in the barn and my empty stomach, then got to work. I could do this for us. Copper needed his shoes replaced, and I needed food before we travelled any further. I didn't dare hope that I would get paid for my work. Food and a bed were enough.
By the time I had the first three rooms clean, men and women began to fill them. The sound of laughter and singing echoed up from the saloon below and I hurried to finish the last of the rooms.
The final room in the hall was a tiny little closet, with a small pallet bed and barely enough space to turn around. It was tidy, but dusty as though it hadn't been used in a long time. I set the bucket and lamp down on the floor.
"You can stay in this room," Mary said from behind me, startling me out of my thoughts.
I spun around and nodded to her. "Thank you."
She shoved a bowl and a piece of bread into my hands and then turned on her heel and stomped away again.
The food smelled so good that my stomach almost jumped up my throat to get it. I edged into the tiny room and sat down on the bed. Using the bread as a spoon, I scooped the meat and vegetables up and shoveled them into my mouth. My stomach roiled for a moment, making me worry I might be sick eating after so long without, but it settled again and I polished off the food without even tasting it.
"Don't eat the bowl," a man's voice said. I looked up shocked to find the man who had been trying to steal Copper leaning against the doorway. I should have shut the door.
"What do you want?" I asked.
He had his hat clasped in his hand and by the light of the flickering lamp, I could see all his features now. His eyes were a soft blue and twinkled with mischief like a boy I once knew at the orphanage, but his hair was light blond, a shade I had never seen before. He was taller than most men too.
The corner of his mouth quirked up in a crooked grin and he winked at me. "I've just never seen a woman eat food that fast is all."
I set the bowl down as I had basically licked it clean, anyway. "Well, I was hungry." I said, embarrassed again. Why did this man get to me?
"You need more?" he asked.
I looked up at him, unsure why he asked. "I'm fine."
"All right, well, I'll see you in the morning. You need anything, I'm the next door down." He reached in the room and pulled the door to my small room shut. The lamp flickered a few times before it burned out.
I rose and flicked the lock on the door by the light of the moon streaming through the small window, then collapsed on the bed, asleep before my head hit the pillow.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I woke to loud voices in the hall outside my door. The sun was up and blazing through the small window, heating the tiny room to stifling. I stumbled off the bed, my leg was numb from sleeping so hard and threw open the door at the exact moment a big burly man hauled off and punched a bushy bearded man right in the
nose.
I screamed as the bearded man fell backward, landing hard on the wood plank floor. The big man who had thrown the punch turned and glared at me, his cold eyes burning a hole through me. Backing up, I tried to close the flimsy door to my room, but the man's hand slammed out, blocking the door.
"Come here, you little wench!" the man growled, his slurred speech a clear sign he had already been drinking this morning. A lot. I stumbled back onto the bed, collapsing in a heap and then scrambled back to get as far from the man as possible.
Suddenly a long knife appeared across the neck of the drunk man and he stopped dead.
"You are gonna have to leave this establishment, I reckon." A younger man's voice said. I recognized it as the horse thief.
The burly drunk man stood frozen with the sharp edge of the knife pressed to his skin. "Yeah, all right," he muttered.
The horse thief pulled him backward out of my room and shoved him toward the stairs.
Heavy boots echoed down the stairs and finally died. The horse thief's chest rose and fell in steady movements and I watched his profile for a moment longer before he turned to look at me.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
I nodded and rose to my feet, straightening my shirt and skirt. "I'm fine."
"Join me for breakfast," he said, sheathing his knife.
When his eyes rose to meet mine again, I shook my head. "I don't have any money."
"I have enough to buy you breakfast. Come on." He held out a hand towards me, but when I didn't take it, he dropped it and smiled. "I won't bite."
"Fine, but just breakfast. I have work to do and need to find a blacksmith."
His steely eyes regarded me for a moment. "All right," he said, turning and leading the way down the stairs.
The dining room was mostly empty, just a few men and woman eating breakfast and one man sitting at the bar drinking.
I followed the horse thief to a small table and sat across from him.
"What's your name?" he asked after he had stared at me long enough to make me self-conscious of my messy hair.
I tried to smooth it out, my hands shaking and doing a terrible job. "Morgan," I replied.
"Nice to meet you, Morgan, my name is Paxton."
I studied his face for a moment. He didn't look like a Paxton. He looked more like an Edmund. I wondered for a moment if he was lying about his name, but that seemed funny.
"Good to meet you."
Mary strode over and leaned on the table, her large chest nearly tumbling out of her shirt. "What can I get ya?" she asked Paxton, ignoring me completely.
"Two breakfasts, please," he said with a grin.
Mary glanced at me and did a double take. "Shouldn't you be cleaning? Those rooms won't clean themselves."
My mouth opened to apologize, but Paxton beat me to it.
"I'm sorry, Mary. I just thought it might be nice to have her company for a meal, you don't mind, do you?" Paxton batted his eyelashes at Mary and the woman fell for it.
"Of course, darling. She is quite pretty, isn't she? Young, though. You need a woman with more experience. If you know what I mean." She winked at him.
"Ah, maybe," Paxton said. "But her company is all I'm looking for."
Mary turned and strutted off, her hips swaying side to side.
I wanted to get up and run away, but Paxton was ready for that and grabbed my wrist before I was able to rise from my chair. "Please, wait. I just want to speak to you."
I stared at him for a moment. He looked honest, but I had no idea why a man would want to talk to me. He let go of my wrist and I settled back into my chair. My stomach was still angry about the lack of food so I could hardly turn down a meal.
"Thank you," he said.
I nodded. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"I'm just intrigued by the woman who rode her horse without tack from some distant place, dressed as a nun and then chased down a man on horseback when he was stealing her horse."
A small smile crossed my face and Paxton's eyes danced with humour.
"Well, I'm not that interesting."
"I seriously doubt that can be true. Where did you come from?"
I bit my lip and thankfully the food arrived at that moment.
"Don't you forget about those rooms," Mary said with a scowl as she set a plate of eggs and bread down in front of me.
My mouth watered at the scent that wafted from the plate, but I remembered my manners. "Of course, Ma'am."
Mary stomped off, but I ignored her and picked up some bread, tearing it into a small chunk and using the corner of it to break the yolk. The gooey yellow liquid slid across the plate and I soaked it up with the bread before popping it in my mouth.
A satisfied hum rose from some deep place inside of me against my will and Paxton chuckled.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, covering my mouth with my hand.
"No, by all means, enjoy."
So, I did. I tried to eat slowly, but my stomach demanded food. I finished long before Paxton and then spent a few minutes sipping water and watching him eat.
"All right, tell me something about you," he said between bites of food. "How about your parents?"
The pang of sorrow struck at his casual mention of my parents and I remembered Bethel's words about my mother. Had she conspired to kill my father?
"Tell me about your horse then," he said, obviously noticing how uncomfortable I was.
"His name is Copper. I was there the night he was born. I was only eight, but I spent some time watching the men train horses and learned how to do it, so I could train Copper when the time came." That was mostly true. I had watched the men train horses. But it was more like three years perched on the fence of the riding school from dinner till dusk. The cavalry had a harsh way of training their horses and I vowed Copper would never know a harsh word or hand.
"That's incredible," Paxton said, his eyes twinkling.
I felt self-conscious with his intense stare and looked down at my clean plate.
"Where is your horse now?" he asked.
"In the stable. He lost a shoe on the way here." That reminded me I had better get to work. "Thank you for breakfast. I should get going."
Paxton's smile fell, but he nodded. "All right, I hope to see you at dinner."
I rose and turned to find Mary; she was sitting at a table with three dark-haired men. When I approached, the men eyed me.
"I'm ready to start for the day," I said.
Mary rose and pressed me towards the bar where she turned me and leaned in close. "Wouldn't you rather entertain some gentleman? You can make money that way instead of working for a room. I will just take a small cut." Mary reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out a handful of coins. I had never seen so many before. The coins in her hand could get Copper new shoes and get me on the road to find Avalon. But I knew exactly what she meant by 'entertain' and wanted no part of that.
"No, thank you," I said reluctantly.
Mary's face crinkled, but she didn't say a word. Instead, she handed me the mop bucket and went back to the table. I could hear her laughter all the way to the third floor.
The rest of the morning I scrubbed floors and made beds. I discovered there were some clean blankets in a cupboard so switched out some dirtier ones, then carried the dirty ones downstairs.
Mary wasn't around, but the man who had been behind the bar when I came in the first day was there again, pouring drinks for men and women lined up before him at the bar.
"Excuse me," I said when he stopped talking to a patron and was pouring a drink.
"What?" he asked, glaring at me. "Shouldn't you be cleaning?"
"Yes, sir. I cleaned the rooms on the third floor, but I wondered if there is a river I could wash these blankets in?"
He eyed me suspiciously. "Ya, there is one on the far side of town, but you leave your horse in the stable, I don't want you stealing my blankets."
It hadn't even occurred to me, so I nodded and carri
ed the blankets out through the back door.
The sun was blazing in a crystal-clear sky. Not even a fluffy white cloud broke up the endless blue. It reminded me of Paxton's eyes and I wondered what he was doing during the day in this small town. I passed by the stable and poked my head in to say hi to Copper. He was happily munching hay in a stall and his pail was full of water.
I patted his forehead and then lugged the blankets across the town, past a few dozen small shacks made of wood with straw rooves to where I could see a good-sized river cut through the forest and spilled out into a meadow. It ran swiftly, but was shallow at shore, so I pulled off my boots and stockings. I worried that I would get the book wet. It was still secured under the waistband of my skirt, so I tucked it under my boots and stockings, in a clump of long grass so it wouldn't be visible.
Then I carried the first blanket to the stream and stepped into the cool fresh water. My feet were sore and tired, but the round pebbles in the river bed felt good beneath my toes and pressing into the soles. When the water was half way up my calves, soaking the bottom hem of my skirt, I pressed the wool blanket into the water and began wringing and rinsing it.
My hands worked with practiced efficiency, twisting and shaking the material until it was two shades lighter and the water wrung out clear, then I carried it back to a large rock and laid it out to dry in the sun.
I repeated the process twice more with the other blankets. As I turned to carry the last blanket back to shore, a figure startled me, making me drop the wet blanket with a splash.
"What's this?" Paxton asked, holding up my book of magic.
CHAPTER NINE
"Nothing!" I said, dropping the wool blanket and dashing out of the water. I snatched the book from his hands as soon as I was close enough to reach it, but the damage was already done.
"What are you doing with a book of dark arts?" he grinned as though it were the funniest thing.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said, tucking the book back into the waist of my skirt. I returned to the waterlogged blanket I had left in the shallow water at the shore and began wringing it out, careful not to get the book wet.
