Twenty-Seven.
Merry Band of Thieves
I gritted my teeth against the horse’s wide gallop for the first half hour, and then my body adjusted. I relaxed against Jamie’s chest, and at one point even closed my eyes as the rhythm of the hooves lulled me to rest. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving this thing.
Jamie held the reins with his arms on either side of me. He said nothing of my anger, and after a while his gentle demeanor quieted my rocking emotions so I only felt sad. Sad for all the loss, sure, but it was more than that. As the sun began to dip below the rolling green horizon, I let the horse and the steady heartbeat of the man pound out my sorrow and frustration with the hand I’d been dealt.
Jamie rested his cheek to my temple. “Sleep, Queen Lucy. Jens means you no harm. A finer man I’ve never known.”
I said nothing to this, but instead closed my eyes. I had never fallen asleep on a real live man before. Sure, Linus and I had to bunk up most places we went. Our family generally migrated to one-bedroom apartments. There was no cuddling your brother, though. We had a strict get-out-of-my-space policy, and as a result had grown to be uncommonly motionless sleepers, except during the occasional nightmare. Leaning on Jamie was a comfort I would never admit to needing in that moment, but I was grateful for him all the same.
However many hours later, I felt my body being jostled in a different direction than forward. I opened my eyes to find Jamie lowering me off the horse into the arms of Jens. Part of me wanted to protest, but I was too tired for another round with him. Instead I leaned my head against his shoulder and whispered, “I don’t want to fight anymore.”
“Okay, Loos. Let’s get you up to the room and we can talk about it.”
“I don’t need to talk. I get it.”
He carried me into the Drucken Tavern, and I was too worn out to care how I looked or the crazy things the wind always did with long, wavy hair. Judging by the stink and the clientele, I guessed we were in Tor’s land. The candlelight fell on a dozen or so dwarves in various stages of drunkenness, all with shorter statures and red or black dreadlocks down to their elbows.
The grisly innkeeper checked an old piece of paper before handing us a key. “What’s that one ya’ve got there?” he asked Jens, showcasing three missing teeth up top. “That’s not another halfy, is it?”
Suddenly, I was wide awake. I shimmied out of Jens’s arms and stalked to the rude dwarf. “Excuse me?” I said, taking in the 4’9” stout man behind the rickety wooden counter. I could smell his stench from where I was next to Jens.
Jamie postured. “This is Queen Lucy, human female from the Other Side. She’s the first of her kind to venture to the Warf. You will show her respect, Orton.”
Orton took off his hat and bowed his head, looking like he might piss himself. His red frizzy dreadlocks were matted at the top of his head, looking like insect nests might be holing up in the crannies. I lifted my chin with pride as he stumbled over his apology. “I meant no disrespect, yer majesty. Queen Lucy of the Other Side, please take my best room. We’ve got oak-matured Gar you’ll like, and I’ll have the maid bring ya up some supper straightaway.”
“What did you do with the halfy?” I asked, my tone ominous.
“We don’t let that kind in here, yer grace. Ya don’t have ta worry ’bout him soiling the place. We run an upscale establishment here, we do. Not like those quacks in Elvage.”
My jaw didn’t move as I pushed out the words. “Where is he?”
Orton motioned back out the door to the night. “He’s in the barn with the horses.”
Maybe it was the late hour. Maybe it was the smell or the long ride here. I don’t know. But something in me snapped at Mace being segregated from the others and shoved in with the animals. “You put my brother in the stables?” I asked through my clenched-together teeth.
Orton’s ruddy face drained of all color, making his smattering of freckles stand out all the more. “Yer brother? No one told me ya were related ta the halfy. I wouldn’ta…”
“Wouldn’t have treated my brother like a dog? You’re lucky I don’t unleash my human powers of…” I tried to think of something scary enough. Angry girl face? Vicious rhetoric? No, it had to be something with an actual threat behind it. “You’re lucky I don’t unleash the powers of Vin Diesel on you!” Jens snorted behind me, but I didn’t care. I kept my nose in the air as I spoke. “Please send word to Alrik’s room that I will be sleeping in the barn with my brother.”
“What? No, no. Yer grace, please. I meant no harm!”
“No. If my brother isn’t good enough for you, then neither am I. By morning, word will spread that you made Queen Lucy sleep in the barn with the animals. Hopefully this is the last time you’ll act so hatefully toward someone who’s different than you.”
Orton stammered incoherent apologies, offering me everything short of the sun and moon to stay in a proper room and not in the barn.
Life certainly had some strange twists and turns. There had been quite a few times when my family had to bolt in the middle of the night and crash in a skeezy motel for a week while Mom and Dad found us a new apartment. There had been quite a few that had no rooms for rent, or some that charged us an arm and a leg for the most disgusting, filthy room imaginable. We took rooms filled with who knows what kind of gag-inducing fluids in the sheets because that was all we could get.
This was payback. If my family were here, they would cheer me on.
Jens sighed, and I realized my victory was short-lived. We stepped outside into the night air that had the beginnings of a chill to it, and I began to regret my decision. The temperature swings were pretty drastic. Summerishly warm during the day, and chilly fall temps at night.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I turned to my ever-present shadow. “Look, you don’t have to go with me, Jens. There’s no danger.”
Jens rubbed his hands over his face. “You know I go with you. It’s fine. I get it. Probably would’ve done the same thing if it was Britt.”
“Mace can keep watch. I’ll be safe.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, that makes me feel so much better. The only male Huldra who somehow has a mind-controlling whistle. Sure. I’ll leave you alone with him. No problem.”
“Okay, Sarcasmo. That was me trying to let you off the hook. Take it or leave it.”
“Leave it,” he ruled, adjusting the red pack on his back. “Goodnight, Jamie. Tell the others we’ll see them in the morning.”
Jamie stood straighter. “I’m going with you. I couldn’t possibly go against Queen Lucy’s decision. It’ll get around that I favored the racist, and I cannot have that. People are starting to see your land and mine as a united front, what with me escorting you through Undraland. Best it stays that way.”
I turned and hugged Jamie around his middle since I only came up to his shoulder. “Don’t be a fool. Britta’s up there, and she’s been worried sick about you. This is your one shot to actually spend some time with her away from your dad’s prying eyes.” I shook my head into his chest, taking note that he was growing decidedly less rigid around me the more time we spent together. “Plus, if you stay in the barn with me, people will think we’re doing it. That won’t help you much back home.”
His finger went under my chin and lifted it so I was looking up at him, his brown eyes taking in the details of my face in the moon’s red light. “I’ve never met a lady who spoke as plainly as you do. I’m not sure I like it.”
I smiled up at him and winked. “I’m not sure I care if you do.” I shrugged. “Whatever. I talk normal for where I come from. In my experience, it’s the not talking about it that gets people into trouble.”
“Fair enough.” Jamie looked around to make sure no one was around to see, and then kissed my forehead. Warmth spread through me at the affection that was both platonic and familial all at once.
“Go get your girl, tiger.” I chucked his arm, and we shared a smile of mutual appreciation before he t
rotted off into the tavern.
Jens wrapped his arm around my back and walked with me to the stables, his demeanor suddenly tenderer than his usual abrasiveness. “You sure you want to sleep in the barn?”
“I’m sure I would never leave my family out in the cold. It’s all of us or none of us. That’s the deal.”
“You sure attached to that Mace kid pretty fast.”
“Kid? Isn’t he your age? How old are you, anyway?” A flash of dread washed over me. “Alrik’s three-hundred-something years old. Please tell me you’re younger than that.”
He chuckled. “I’m twenty-eight. I’ve got three years on Mace, so I have the right to call him a kid.”
“Be nice to my new brother, okay? I need this to work.”
“I get it. I will.” When I gave him a look of disbelief, he grew defensive. “When am I not nice?” Jens opened the stable doors and called out to Charles. “Mace, you here? It’s just us.”
I heard hay moving, and then saw silver and black eyes glinting off the dim lantern light. “Lucy?” Charles stood and ran toward us. “I’m so glad you made it! I was worried they’d taken you hostage or something.”
He hugged me tight, and I could feel his worry. “Nope. Just the longest tea party of my life. I can’t believe they made you sleep here! And where’s Uncle Rick? Isn’t he pissed?”
“I don’t understand what that word means. I thought I did, but now I don’t know. Alrik checked us in and then split off with Tor. He’s trying to feel out a few contacts he and Tor have here to see if we can get some help.”
If I’d ever called my dad Rolf, there would’ve been a swift reckoning. I didn’t completely understand Charles and Uncle Rick’s dynamic.
“But why? Isn’t it best if no one knows what we’re doing?”
Charles pulled back and looked at me with wonder, like he was afraid I might not be real. “Word’s spread to the dwarves that the portal in Elvage was in jeopardy, so they’re placing a security detail around theirs. We’ll need someone on the inside to help get Tor close enough.”
Jens stiffened. “In jeopardy? Didn’t Alrik destroy it?”
“No. Alrik got two whole bones knocked down, but then it was too well guarded to destroy more of it without being seen. Almost didn’t get away fast enough, but we cleared the area with the others just before the army descended. We’re lucky we got out of there when we did. The portal’s still working, though. Every single bone has to be torn down for the pathway to be finished.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” I admitted, hugging him in the lantern’s light.
Mace’s head rested on mine, and I could tell he was happy. He gave a contented sigh when he kissed my hair. “I am, and you are. You should go on up to bed, dear sister. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Oh, no. I’m not staying in there if you’re out here. I’m sleeping in here tonight. So is Jens.”
Mace looked horrified. “But, no! You can’t sleep out here. It wouldn’t be right. You’re Queen Lucy! Go back inside. I’ll be fine. Trust me, it’s nothing I’m not used to.”
I glared up at him. “If they won’t have you, they don’t get me. Let’s see him try to book a room after word spreads that he made Queen Lucy and her family sleep in his barn. Superior butthole.”
“But I… you shouldn’t… No, Lucy. You’ll catch your death out here on a night like tonight. It’s already getting cold. It’s not worth it. Alrik’s been trying for ages to get them to accept me. It’s no use.”
I tossed him a simpering smile. “Oh, Charles. I’m way more stubborn than Uncle Rick. Don’t you know that by now?”
“No. I won’t let you.” He tried to appear firm, but I could sense an easy takedown a mile away.
“It’s done. You better not’ve taken all the good hay.”
Jens poked his head out from one of the stalls. “Get in here, Queen of the Barn.”
Jens was always doing that. Disappearing and then reappearing when I wasn’t expecting it. There was a joke on the tip of my tongue about enjoying a roll in the hay, but I didn’t think it was appropriate in front of Mace, who I was still feeling out.
I turned around when I heard Nik and Foss arguing out in the night. The barn door slammed open, letting in a gust of chilly, yet fresh air. The horses really smelled like, well, animals. “Hey, guys. If it isn’t my favorite band of thieves. And Foss.”
Foss and Nik entered, followed by Jamie and Britta. Jamie grinned at me. “It seems we’ve all decided not to abandon Charles Mace to the barn.”
“What?” Mace looked around at the tired smiles in confusion. “No. It’s not worth it. You all need to be sharp tomorrow. You need your sleep.”
Jamie placed his hand on my back. “It’s like Queen Lucy said. It’s all of us or none of us. Band of thieves.”
Charles Mace dropped his mouth open as Britta and Jens laid out a large area of bailed hay, and then Foss and Nik spread out three thick bearskins on top of it. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but we were together, the whole lot of misfits. I ended up jammed between Jens and Foss, smiling when I saw Jamie lie down next to Britta, even though they kept a respectable distance.
Foss took his sheathed long knife off his belt and pressed it to his chest. “In case you or Jamie need to be kept in line,” he explained of the knife.
“Huh?” I rolled on my side to face him.
“I know of Jamie’s curse, and yours.” He spoke as if he was jabbing me with uncovering a truth I was trying to hide.
“My curse? What the smack are you talking about? Right now my only curse is you.”
His upper lip curled at having to speak to me like a person instead of a slave. “Your mind wanders while you sleep,” Foss clarified. “Jamie, too.”
Jamie answered through gritted teeth. “My mind doesn’t wander if I’m near Jens or Britta, and I’m lying in between both of them. You’ve no need to stab anyone in their sleep, Foss, least of all Lucy.”
I huffed. “Dreaming’s normal in my world. And just because my mind wanders while I’m unconscious doesn’t mean you have to cuddle weaponry like a teddy bear. Unclench, Foss.”
Foss snarled, looking like he wanted to prove his information was legit. “I have it on good authority the curse is dangerous. Jens, your rat’s not making any sense.”
I kissed my finger and pressed it to his sheath. “Well, maybe you’re stupid.”
Jens wrapped his arm around my middle, drawing my back to his chest in a hug that had a warning of protection to it. “I’ll make sure no one attacks anyone tonight, alright? Jamie’s fine. Lucy’s fine. Foss, go to sleep.”
Foss cuddled his blade possessively, eyeing me with a note of hatred, readying himself even in sleep to attack if I breathed in an offensive way. I studied the horizontal tattoo marks up his forearms, wondering what significance they held.
Jens whispered in my ear, “Goodnight, baby. Don’t worry about Foss. He always sleeps with a knife.”
“That makes me feel so much better.” I shifted my body so I was thoroughly entrenched in Jens’s embrace. Several minutes of quiet later, I could still feel Foss watching me while I drifted off to sleep.
Undraland Page 27
