"Uh, I'm not decent."
"I knew that the moment I set my eyes on you," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "What I didn't know was just how interesting you'd be."
Namitus's breath rushed through his nose at her choice of words. Was she mocking him? He nodded and let the dress fall on the ground to his side. He looked straight ahead, ignoring her and his own exposure.
Amra measured his waist at his hips and then knelt down to measure the length of his leg and his feet. "Definitely not a girl," she whispered to herself without realizing Namitus's part elven ears could hear her.
"What?" he asked, startled at her observation.
"Boots too?" she asked as she looked up from where she knelt in front of him. Her eyes met his and did not stray, but that did little to lessen his embarrassment.
Namitus looked away almost immediately, his cheeks burning at how inappropriate the situation was. "Uh, yes," he managed to grunt. "Please."
She measured his feet and then stood. She winked at him and said, "There, you can put your dress back on, if you like."
He glared at her as she slipped through the curtain and was gone, presumably to fetch some clothing for him. He shook his head and looked at the stool in the room. He moved over and sat on it, and then thought better of it and grabbed up the fallen dress. He wrapped it around his waist and sat down again to wait.
She returned just as his legs started to grow numb from sitting too long. She had a few items tucked under her arms and a ball of string with needles stuck into it in one hand. A pair of shears was clutched between her lips.
She set the garments and string on a bench, and then placed the scissors next to them. "One more thing," she said. She paused and looked at him sitting on the stool with the dress wrapped around him like a blanket. "That shade of green is not your color."
Namitus glanced down at the dress and then back up at her but all he saw was the sheet swaying from her movement through it. He scowled and looked over at the clothing she'd brought and noted a few different colors, from darker greens to a blue to even some yellows and browns. Did she think he was buying an entire wardrobe?
She returned with two pairs of boots and set them down next to the bench. She straightened and smile. "Well, off with your, uh, dress."
Namitus frowned as he stood up. "I can dress myself."
"I bet you can, as long as it's not something a woman would wear," she teased him. "But I need to see to the fit and do any alterations."
"You can do that?" he asked. "Isn't that something a tailor should do?"
"Or a seamstress," she said with her brow furrowed. "I've been working with my father for as long as I can remember."
Namitus shrugged and tossed the dress to the side again. "All right, just don't poke me."
She selected a pair of pants and brought them over to him. She knelt down again and without glancing up, she whispered, "Isn't that what I should be telling you?"
Namitus stared down at her and opened his mouth to retort when he realized she'd barely breathed the words out. He wasn't supposed to hear what she'd said. He clamped his teeth together and put one foot in the pants and then the other while she raised them up his legs. She moved her hands around the waist of the breeches and sought out the strings to them until he caught her warm hands in his. "I think I can do that much, at least."
Amra clamped her lips together and nodded. She backed away, a little color coming to her own cheeks.
Namitus tied the dark brown breeches on and raised one leg and then the other. He nodded and looked at her. "Good fit, but a little long."
"You're, um, a little shorter than our average customer who would wear pants with a waist that size," she said.
"Oh?" he asked. "Can you fix them?"
She nodded and grabbed her tools from the bench. She knelt in front of him again and used her needles to mark the bottom of the trousers and then carefully cut through the rugged fabric with her scissors. She shifted, drawing her legs up so she sat cross-legged on the floor, and used a needle with thread to sew a new hem into the bottom of each leg.
Namitus watched her and found her smooth sewing was efficient and the stitches looked impressive. "You're very good at that," he praised.
She glanced up at him and nodded. "Thank you. Good enough, perhaps, to earn your name?"
He chuckled. "Soon, I think."
"Are you wanted by the guards?"
Namitus winked at her and earned a snort and a glare in return. She went back to sewing but she kept glancing over at the bundle of rags resting half under his discarded dress. After she'd finished both his legs, she rose to her knees and then lunged to his pack and tugged at it. She grunted with the effort and spun around, expecting Namitus to be on her when she didn't pick it up successfully.
He stood there, watching her. "Did you stumble?"
She closed her lips and blushed. "Don't mock me," she mumbled.
"You did a fine job," Namitus said as he tested his pants again. He stepped over to the boots and, after looking both over for a moment, worked a foot into the smaller one. He nodded and stepped into the second boot of the pair and then knelt down to tie them. "Good choice on the boots, too."
Amra glanced down at the bundle lying at her feet. She saw metal glinting from where some of the dirty rags had come apart and slowly knelt down. Her fingers dug into the rags and pulled them apart, revealing more of the hilt of Namitus's scimitar. She reached in to grab it when he spoke.
"It's not good business to touch a man's sword without invitation," he said.
She jerked her hand back and looked up at him. "Who are you?" she hissed. "You said Kristophanes earlier—do you know him? Are you an agent of the king’s?"
Namitus sighed. "Your job's not done yet," he reminded her as he glanced down at his scarred torso.
"Those are freshly healed. Somebody hurt you badly."
Namitus nodded. "Very badly," he agreed.
"But you won't tell me who?"
"You're a talented girl. Smart, too, but what I have to say is for the ears of only a few people." He stopped and offered her an apologetic smile. "I will tell you my name, if you promise not to breathe it to anyone else?"
She nodded and licked her lips.
"Namitus," he said, watching her carefully for a reaction.
She leaned back and nodded. "The boy from the north?"
"I'm not a boy!" Namitus snapped before he could stop himself.
She smirked. "And I'm not a girl. Well, I don't act like a girl."
"Fair enough," Namitus said, recovering himself. He moved to his bundle and dug around in it until he retrieved his belt and pouches. He opened a pouch and took out three golden coins and handed them to her. "Two for your skill and one for your silence."
Her eyes widened. She closed her fingers over the coins and then, a moment later, opened them to prove she hadn't imagined it. She stared at him and then looked at the full pouches on his belt and the sword and other knives he had stashed inside the bundle of scraps. "That sword alone looks like it's worth half the kingdom! Are you all so rich in the northlands?"
Namitus chuckled. "Most of this came from the southern lands. I'm just returning it. You know I can pay now—how about a shirt? Just one, the dark blue one, I think."
She swallowed and nodded, and then turned and pulled out the shirt he'd indicated. She handed it to him, allowing him to slip it over his head. She fussed over it, adjusting it for the best fit. Once they were both satisfied, she went to work with her needles and thread and had it adjusted to fit his lean and wiry frame. She finished and backed away to give him a thorough inspection. She frowned and dashed out of the room, returning a few moments later with a shallow bowl filled with water.
Namitus chuckled and endured her washing the dirt, paint, and ash from his face. When she finished, she looked him over and nodded, smiling. "You look much better. I can't believe I mistook you for a girl at first."
Namitus smirked and gathered his bundle together a
gain. He picked it up and set it on the bench, drawing a gasp from Amra.
"That's heavy! You're my size but you lifted it like it was a sack of feathers!"
Namitus offered her a smile and looped his belt about his waist and then tied his sword to it and slipped a knife in each boot and his longer dagger to his other hip. He turned to face her. "So, about Kristophanes?"
She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. "Why do you want to see him?"
"He represents some of the merchants who have an interest in changing how things run around here," Namitus said. "Namely taxes, but also some of the laws imposed on goods and labor."
She nodded for him to go on.
"I'd like to see about offering him some help."
"Help?"
"Yes," Namitus said. "Help. I spent time in this city when I was younger, and I see it hasn't gotten any better. The nobles keep the peasants from making anything of themselves so they can live off the hard work of others."
"How would you help the merchants?" she challenged him.
"By loosening the taxes and laws so that a man can be paid a decent wage for his work. If you take some of the wealth from those who haven't earned it and give it to those who do, people get happier and it creates more jobs and more work. The merchants prosper without breaking their backs and so does everyone else."
"Except for the nobles."
Namitus shrugged. "They still have enough. What is one or two less celebrations a month?"
Amra smirked. "There's a lot to you," she admitted. "But I don't know if I can trust you. I want to, but you don't act like you look."
Namitus cocked his head to the side. "How do I look? Rugged? Handsome? Dashing? Give me some pipes and I'll show you a thing or two."
"Pipes?" She looked as confused as she sounded.
"Yes, the kind music comes from. I've no tolerance for the smoking sort. It dulls the mind and stinks to the heavens."
She laughed and shook her head. "I've never known a warrior who could play the part of a bard, nor one who wanted to."
Namitus shrugged. "I'm an unusual man."
"Yes, you are. An interesting man, I think."
He grinned at her choice of words. "So, Kristophanes?"
She nodded. "Come with me," she said.
Namitus left the empty bundle of rags on the floor and followed her through the sheet and back out into the shop. . He tried to glimpse at the other shoppers in the store but Amra moved quickly and the height of many of the bundles of fabric and racks of samples were too high or thick to let him see around.
She opened a door and took him into the back of the shop and down a set of stairs to a room lit by a single lantern. A round table with a handful of chairs surrounding it was in the middle of the shadowed room. "Wait here. I'll fetch him."
Namitus nodded and studied the shadows. She looked at him a moment longer and, after he gave her a reassuring smile, she turned and sped back up the stairs. Namitus watched her go and then his keen, part elven ears heard a lock fall in place. He looked at the table and sighed. He might as well try to get comfortable.
Chapter 9
Aleena rode her magnificent steed, Moonshine, alongside the single file line of ogres that marched along the mountain trail. She saw Graak up ahead and guided the unicorn towards the leather and mail clad general.
"Why are we stopping?" Aleena asked him. "We're almost there. If that ridge is the last of the mountains, surely we can make it before the sun sets?"
Graak pointed to the west. The ridge she mentioned was the last of the mountains of the Great Divide, but they had to cross it before they'd be in the hills were the miners had been slaughtered. "We fight them in the daylight."
"We're only going to fight if they attack us," Aleena reminded the overzealous warrior. "Diplomacy and civility will ensure a far better future for your people than butchery."
Graak snarled. "Tell that to the elves."
Aleena bit back her response while Moonshine stomped her front hoof. The unicorn agreed with her rider. Reining her temper in, Aleena said, "I understand, Graak. Just as your people have grown and changed, the elves must also learn to adapt. We can help them and help ourselves by showing them we aren't bloodthirsty savages intent on raiding and killing."
"We wait until dawn," he asserted.
The paladin nodded. "I see the wisdom in that. Fewer mistakes will be made with Leander's light upon us."
The ogre's nostrils flared before he turned away from her. Moonshine chuffed but Aleena reached down and patted her on the neck. "Relax, Lady Moonshine. We will show them Leander's glory better through deed than through scolding."
The unicorn turned her head to glance at Aleena out of one eye. She whickered softly, showing her pleasure at being called Lady Moonshine. Aleena smiled and scratched her neck again before she swung off the noble mare and began to look for a place where she could bed down for the night.
Graak barked out orders in the goblin tongue, sending ogres and goblins to set up defenses and lookouts for the night. Aleena listened with half an ear and picked out a few words she'd come to understand. She found a spot up on a hillside that was exposed to the wind but wide enough that Moonshine could join her. She slipped her helm and her pack off and considered removing her armor until she realized that if Graak was right and the elves were going to attack, she didn't want to have to deal with trying to put it back on by herself.
"Going to be a long and cold night, Moonshine," Aleena said to the unicorn.
Moonshine whickered and turned around on the small rocky shelf. She turned back to face Aleena and closed her eyes a moment. A soft silver glow sprung from her horn before she opened her eyes and dipped her head so that her horn touched Aleena's forehead and made her gasp as a warm tingle spread through her body.
She smiled and reached up to scratch Moonshine along the side of her head. "You're too good to me, Moon," she whispered.
Moonshine chuffed and bumped her with her head, nudging her a half step in spite of her armor. Aleena smiled at the playful unicorn and watched the graceful creature turn around and lower herself to the ground. Once she was down, Moonshine looked back at Aleena and whickered.
Aleena smiled again and dug into her pack for a blanket. She took it out and lowered herself to the ground next to the unicorn, and then unrolled it and laid it across the two of them. It offered no comfort but in time it would at least trap the heat from their bodies and keep the wind from chilling her. Although with Moonshine's magic warming her, she wasn't sure she would need it.
Aleena's thoughts turned towards Celos, wondering how he fared on his trip to Portland to their church. She'd spent time with Rosalyn when the witch-queen's schedule had permitted, but she missed training and talking with Celos. Or arguing with him, as was often the case. She teased him at times and they both knew it, but neither said anything about it. She didn't believe it violated any of her oaths or teachings, but she was also afraid to risk exploring more with the strict paladin.
Celos wasn't the only man absent in her life. There was Alto, the warrior who had been her first love. She'd come to accept that he'd never loved her, at least not the way he cared for the kelgryn princess, Patrina. He'd cared for her, but much the same as he did for his sister and his friends. But most importantly, Alto had believed in her. Whether he knew it or not, she had become the woman she was today because of him. And for that, if nothing else, she would always be in his debt.
Aleena rolled over and caused Moonshine to snort. "Hush," she admonished the unicorn. "It's been a while since I've slept in my armor."
The unicorn let out a sigh but said no more. Aleena rolled her eyes and smiled as the sun dropped below the ridge to the west. As wonderful as Moonshine was, she wished she had someone else to share warmth with on the trail. The only problem was she wasn't sure which of the two men she wanted more.
* * * *
Moonshine whinnied the next day as they crossed into the tree line of the forest. Aleena patt
ed the unicorn on the neck and thought back to the site of the attack they'd left behind. Scavengers had picked the bodies of the ogres clean at the new mine site, leaving behind bones and their equipment. There was no sign of the attackers, although Graak had provided a broken arrow a messenger had given him.
"Was it really the elves?" she whispered. She left unsaid her concern that Graak had planned the entire thing, sacrificing his own people in a desire to provoke a fight with his neighbors to the west. "But what would he stand to gain?" she asked herself.
Moonshine shook her head, flipping her mane from the left to the right of her neck.
"I can't think of anything either," Aleena responded to her magical mount. Moonshine understood her, whether she spoke or not. She'd never questioned the unicorn's ability, just as she'd never questioned her own understanding of her steed's noises and body language. She'd been told Patrina and Winter behaved similarly, amazing people who saw them.
She wondered how Patrina was getting along in the south without Winter beside her. Aleena couldn't imagine spending so long without Moonshine. She'd only had her for a few months and already the unicorn was as dear to her as her own family.
Graak's gruff voice intruded on her thoughts, startling her. "Watch the trees," the ogre warned. "Damn elves like to hide in them. Only way they could have hit the miners with their cowardly bows."
Aleena twisted and tried to peer through the foliage at the mountains they'd left behind. The hills continued into the forest but the trees were too thick for her to see where they'd been. She glanced up and nodded as she thought of the way the mine site laid; only from the branches of a tree would it have been visible.
"It might have been a misunderstanding," Aleena reminded him.
Graak stopped walking and turned to glare at her. Moonshine kept walking until they were even with the ogre. Graak continued walking beside her. "They attacked us," he growled.
"Yes, but was it because they thought they were protecting themselves, or because they seek the death of any ogre on sight?"
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