by Barb Hendee
Finally, he rounded a large dwelling, and we came upon a gathering of six wagons. I remembered some of these from last night. Houses had been built atop them, some with rounded roofs and others with square ones, but they all had windows and back doors. Most were painted in bright colors of yellow or blue or red. The lead wagon was by far the smallest, with a flat roof. It was faded white with blue shutters.
But I didn’t study the wagons for long, as my attention was drawn to the people working busily to load food or supplies or harness horses or catch chickens for cages. There were nearly twenty people—men, women, and children—bustling about at these tasks.
“Tannen,” a woman on the ground called up to the top of a roof. “That crate on the end won’t hold. You’ll need to tie it down more securely.”
She wore a purple wool dress with long sleeves.
Up on top of a wagon, Tannen was helping to arrange crates. “I heard you the first time,” he called back.
“Then listen to me!” she answered.
In her late twenties, she was tall for a woman, about the height of Raven. Her skin was flawless. As opposed to black, her hair was a rich shade of chocolate brown—and so were her eyes. Though her waist was small, her body showed more curves than mine.
She was lovely.
With her hands on her hips, she scolded Raven. “It’s about time. Where have you…?” The words died on her lips when she spotted me partially behind him. As opposed to staring in shock, she assessed me from toe to head.
“Is that Caine’s girl? The one he took? Everyone was talking about her last night. Logan nearly had an apoplexy.”
Holding in a sigh, I readied myself for another conversation as if I weren’t there.
“She’s coming with us,” Raven answered.
“With us?”
“Look at her. We’ll use her in the show.”
“What does Caine have to say?”
“Jade…” he said slowly as if to cut off further questions. “She’s coming with us.”
With a slight frown, she said. “I don’t know where she’ll sleep. We might be able to fit her in with Lizbeth and Ash, but that would make five in one wagon.”
Raven shifted weight between his feet. “She can stay with me.”
In an instant, Jade’s expression went dark. “With you?”
The tension was strong between them, but I didn’t understand it.
He shrugged. “I can sleep on top of the wagon.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she stepped closer. “Up top? If you say so. But if you get too cold up there one night and decide to go scratching on another door, it may not open.”
With that, she whirled and began walking down the line of wagons, calling orders to the people settling crates.
Beside me, Raven let out a sigh. “That went well.” Then he motioned me forward. “This way.”
I followed him to the smallest wagon, the one in the lead. Two horses had already been harnessed to the front, but he took me to the back door and opened it. The bottom of the door was the height of my waist.
“Normally, I have a set of portable stairs positioned here,” he said, “but we’re getting ready to leave.”
Peering inside, I saw how a table and bench had been built into a side wall. A set of cupboards had been built into the wall directly across, and a bed had been built into the front wall. My own chest was sitting up against the bed. I could hardly believe it.
Raven must have read my face because he said, “You’re one of us now, and those things belong to you. We don’t steal from each other.”
In truth, I had no idea what the housemaids had packed for me, but I was relieved to anticipate a change of clothing…and at the thought that I was not traveling into the world with nothing but the dress on my back.
“Does anyone besides you live here?” I asked, for it had sounded like numerous people lived in each wagon.
“No. I don’t take many privileges, but I need my own wagon.”
And yet, he was allowing me to stay here.
Looking down the line of wagons, he said, “I need to go and help. But we’ll be off soon. You can ride inside the wagon or up on the bench with me.”
“Inside,” I answered instantly. I’d not known this would be an option, but at least I would not be under the open sky after all.
With a nod, he laced his hands together and leaned down. “Up you go.”
Placing my foot in his hands and one of my hands on his shoulder, I let him toss me up into the back of the wagon.
“Secure the door so it doesn’t fly open,” he said. Then he was gone.
I looked around the narrow interior. His clothes, mugs, and other possessions were scattered all about. The table was dusty, and the bed was unmade.
Still, for now…I was home.
At least until I could get a message to Lady Giselle.
* * * *
Not long after we rolled out of the settlement, I began to wonder about my decision to remain inside. I should have given thought to the steep downward incline of the chute, and I found myself nearly hurled forward, taking refuge on the bed.
The window shutters were open, and outside, I could see the rock walls only a few hands’ length from the wagon. There was enough room for the wagons to pass downward, but barely. We rolled down and down, and I began to feel queasy.
Just when I thought we’d never level out, we did. Then I remembered all the fuss over Badger driving the Capello wagon through the forest, and I wondered what would happen next, as these wagons were much larger and less wieldy. But Raven turned us east onto a dirt path, and the wagon rolled easily. Not long after, we reached a road.
Though I’d hoped my feeling of queasiness would pass, it continued growing worse, and even though we’d eaten no breakfast, I soon feared that I might start to dry heave. The sensation was miserable.
Not an auspicious beginning to this journey.
Hours passed.
I sat on the bed, suffering in nausea until I began to wish I had run off in the middle of the night to try and find my way back alone. Then finally, I heard Raven call a halt from up above, and the wagon lurched to a stop.
Within moments, the back door opened, and he peered inside.
“Are you faring all…?” Taking in the sight of me, he motioned with his hand. “Out. Now.”
Standing on wobbly legs, I managed to reach him, and he lifted me down.
“Lean over and put your hands on your knees,” he said.
Jade, Tannen, and Badger came around from the wagon behind us. A boy about nine years old walked beside Jade. His hair was chocolate brown.
“How’s the princess?” Jade asked, and when she saw me with my hands on my knees, she appeared both amused and pleased. “Doing well, I see. What a good idea it was to bring her along.”
Tannen cast her a sideways glance and held a canteen out to me. “Water?”
“Thank you. In a moment,” I answered.
Jade carried a light tray in one hand, and with the other, she handed Raven a slice of ham. The smell of it caused my stomach to lurch, and I had little interest in eating lunch. But outside of the rolling contraption, I was beginning to recover and stepped out to look down the line of wagons. There were other people on the ground, sharing food and water, and I wanted to begin taking some stock of my traveling companions. From where I stood, I saw an elderly couple, a middle-aged couple, and two small children—both girls.
At the sound of barking, I looked left to see three small dogs dashing about, chasing each other as if celebrating a few moments to run. All three were white with brown patches.
No one spoke to me, but numerous curious glances were cast in my direction.
After far too short a break, Raven called out, “Time to go! We need to make it halfway to Fayette before dark.”
Instantly, everyone began climbing up the sides of wagons or on to the benches to drive.
Though I dreaded the thought of getting back into Raven’s wagon, I grew more alarmed when he walked up and said, “You’re riding on the bench with me. It’s not good for you in the back.”
Drawing away from him, I begged, “No. Raven, please.”
He frowned. “You can’t still be afraid of me?”
How could I explain? But I didn’t want him to think that I feared him, not after his kindness. “No, it’s not you. It’s the sky.”
“The sky? What do you mean?”
“I’ve never seen it like this…so open.”
“But you were riding with the Capellos. You told us you were Royce’s property.”
“For a day. Before that, I’d hardly left the manor, and then only to sometimes walk in the garden just behind the house with my lady. From there, I could not see how big, how open everything is.”
He stepped close, speaking quietly. “Wait. Are you telling me the Capellos only bought you that same day we found you? And before that, you lived in a manor?”
I nodded. “With my lady.”
“What did you do there at the manor?”
“I was companion to my lady. When she grew lonely, I found ways amuse her or make her glad. She was so kind to me.” Speaking of these things broke my heart. “She fought to keep me, but Lord Jean wanted the land, and Royce wanted me.”
“And Royce took you away that same day we took you?”
Again, I nodded.
For a long moment, Raven said nothing. Then he grasped my hand and led me to the step up to the wagon’s bench. “You’ll get used to the sky, but you can’t ride in the back if it’s making you sick. Climb up onto the bench.”
I obeyed him.
* * * *
In truth, sitting on the bench beside Raven as he drove our team of horses proved a great relief. Out in the fresh air, I was not queasy. Thick trees lined the road we traveled. I kept my eyes on the tail of one horse, and this kept me from panicking at the open sky.
Raven had a water bottle, several apples, and salted crackers on the other side of him, and after a while, at his prompting, I was able to eat lunch.
At first we did not speak much, but it was a comfortable silence. Every now and then, he’d point out something like wild roses growing beside the road or a rabbit hopping across our path. So long as I did not look up, I was all right.
Then suddenly, he asked, “Where are your parents?”
“Dead. My lady took me in as her ward.”
He didn’t press me, but his question made me wonder about him. He had two brothers and a grandfather.
“Where are your parents?” I asked.
“They’re dead too. My mother died when I was thirteen.” He paused. “One summer, she lost her appetite, and my father couldn’t get her to eat. She grew so tired and weak she could barely stand. We couldn’t seem to heal or help her. She died before autumn.”
From his voice, I could tell this memory was painful. I’d never known my father, and I barely remembered my mother. But for a boy to lose his mother at the age of thirteen must have been tragic. My lady possessed some knowledge and skill in the healing arts, and I had seen the ailment that Raven described before—with one of the manor servants. My lady had called it consumption.
“I’m so sorry.”
“We lost my father four years ago in a raid gone wrong,” he went on. “I wasn’t there, but some of our men attacked a large caravan…too large, and they couldn’t contain all the guards. We lost three men that night.”
How awful. But this was different. Why did these people insist on conducting raids at all? They seemed to have most of what they needed. Still, I didn’t press the point. I was more interested in hearing of his family. His life to date had been so different from mine.
“Is your grandfather the leader of the settlement?” I asked, for although I was uncertain, it had seemed so during my short stay.
“Yes.” The word was clipped, as if the question was awkward. “Our word for leader is tórnya. My father was intended to succeed him, but now it’s down to Logan or Caine.”
“Not you?”
“I don’t want it. That’s why Caine thinks he owes me. I asked Grandfather to take me out of the running and give more consideration to Caine. But the truth is that I don’t choose to be trapped at the settlement year-round.” His hands gripped the reins tighter. “Caine would make a better tórnya than Logan. He knows how to listen. But Grandfather wants someone who’s married, with a family of his own. So far, Caine’s shown no interest in marriage.”
“And Logan is married?”
“Yes, to Brida. I think you saw her? She wears her hair in a thick braid?”
I did remember her. She was the first one to see me last night.
“Logan and Brida have two sons,” Raven said. “So unless Caine marries and starts a family, I think Logan will be Grandfather’s choice.”
“And you don’t like the idea of Logan in charge of the settlement?”
“No, I do not.”
“Why?”
He never answered me. Glancing at his face, I could see he wished to end this line of discussion, so, I pointed ahead. “Look, another rabbit.”
Beside me, his body relaxed. “A big one too. I wish I had my bow handy. He’d make a fine stew for supper.”
We fell back into comfortable silence, and the wagon rolled on.
* * * *
We stopped for the night well before dusk had set in. Raven had clearly made this journey before, because he appeared to know where he was going and pulled off the road into a clearing large enough for all six wagons.
“There’s a stream down below for fresh water,” he said.
I followed him off the bench as everyone around us scrambled off wagons and set to work. The men began unharnessing horses and fetching water in buckets. Several of the women built a fire, and Jade carried over a metal tripod with a hook in the center. As she arranged this over a fire, an older woman hung a pot on the hook, and a young woman poured in half a bucket of water.
I stood to one side at a loss. Then I took off my cloak, hoping to help. “Is there anything I can do?”
Jade stood and put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know. Is there anything you can do?”
As I felt my face turning pink, the young woman laughed. She wasn’t much older than me.
“Oh, leave off, Jade.” But she took in the sight of me with some trepidation. “You don’t look strong enough to haul a bucket, and you’ll ruin that gown if it drags in the mud.”
“My gown?”
Embarrassed, I noticed they all wore dark wool dresses in shades of brown, purple, or burgundy. I was still in my ice blue muslin. The color was so light it showed every mark or stain.
“I’m Jemma,” the young woman said. “And this is Lizbeth.” She motioned to the older woman.
Jemma was not so lovely as Jade, with a wiry build and pointed chin, but she was pretty and blessed with silky black hair. Lizbeth looked to be perhaps sixty with ample breasts and hips. She moved quickly for someone of her age.
“I’m Kara,” I answered.
“Well, you must know how to do something, Kara,” Jemma said, laughing again. “Or Raven wouldn’t have you living in his wagon. That’s a first for him.”
Lizbeth laughed too, but Jade didn’t. I had no idea what Jemma meant and was beginning to grow uncomfortable.
Then Jade’s eyes softened as she looked beyond me, and I saw the boy coming toward us, carrying a load of twigs and branches. “Sorry it took me so long, Mama,” he said. “I had trouble finding anything dry.”
“It’s all right, Sean,” Jade answered. “We’ve got a fire going with wood I brought.”
This news surprised me.
He was her son? Who was her husband? Even with my lack of knowledge of the world, I’d sensed there was something between her and Raven.
“Here, Kara,” Jemma said. “Come and help me chop these vegetables.”
Looking down, I saw she was on the ground with a knife, a cutting board, and a pile of potatoes, carrots, and onions. Grateful for something to do, I hurried to join her.
“Is there an extra knife?” I asked.
“Yes, right beside that sack.”
The middle-aged woman I’d seen earlier came to join us, introducing herself as Teresa. The two small girls appeared to be hers. Then two other young women, about Jemma’s age, arrived. They offered their names, Emlee and Deidra, but I was beginning to feel overwhelmed and barely heard them, trying to focus on my work.
The large pot was boiling by now. We added potatoes, onions, and carrots. Jade dropped in bits of some type of dried meat.
“All right,” Lizbeth said. “We should go see if the men need help with the horses. Jade, you watch the stew.”
Before I knew what was happening, everyone walked away from the campfire—except for Jade and myself.
She stirred the pot and studied me. “You’re something to see. I’ll give Raven credit for that. He knows an attraction for the show when he sees one.”
I had no response, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Just be careful around him,” she went on. “He doesn’t mean any harm, but his head is more swelled than most men, and he’s got a wandering eye. Any girl back in the settlement would have him in a heartbeat. For all Logan’s strength and Caine’s handsome face, it’s always been Raven the girls chase after.”
Her voice had an edge to it. She did not appear to have a husband here, and again I wondered if there was something between her and Raven. I wished that I could assure her I was no threat and that I would only be with them until I could get a message to my lady.
But of course I couldn’t tell her this. I didn’t want any of them knowing my plan.
“He can make you feel the sun rises and sets around your head,” Jade said. “But then he spots another pretty face, and the sun rises around her head.”
“He sounds inconstant,” I said.
