by Cathi Shaw
Once she had collected all her gear, she forced herself to turn and meet his eyes.
"If you doubt my skills, I'd be happy to spar with you next time I train," she said coldly.
"Oh, please." He laughed mockingly, causing her to flush more. "As if you would last even two minutes with me." He crossed the yard with a speed that momentarily distracted Kiara. A man as large as he shouldn't be able to move that fast her instincts shouted. It wasn't normal.
Before the thought was fully formed, he was leaning down towards her and for the first time in her life Kiara felt both small and weak.
He bent close and whispered sardonically, "I don't fight girls."
Then before Kiara could respond he strode off across the yard, walking at a normal pace for a man of his size and making her wonder if she'd imagined his earlier burst of unnatural speed.
Kiara watched Caedmon until he disappeared around the side of the Inn and only when he'd gone from view did she turn and finish gathering up her training gear.
She wasn't sure what had just happened but she felt like a gauntlet of sorts had been thrown down between them.
Kiara shook her head. Avoiding strangers was proving to be not as easy as her mother had hoped.
****
Mina was in the Great Room, polishing the already gleaming wooden bar when Kiara stormed in.
"Oh good, you're finished training. Kiara, do you have time to help with the mid-day meal?" Mina asked. "Sukey Greensleaves did not show up for work again."
Sukey was a Village girl that Brijit had hired to help with serving and other jobs around the Inn. Mina knew that Brijit had only offered the girl the work to help out her family. Her mother was a widow with seven other children to feed at home but Mina had been cursing the day Brijit had been so generous.
Sukey was completely unreliable and when she did report for work, she often fraternized with male guests. A well endowed girl who had taken to altering her gowns so her ample cleavage was very visible, Sukey was always a favorite with the traveling men who stopped at the Inn. And more than once Mina had caught the girl sneaking from a guest's room in the wee hours. She was going to have to speak to Brijit about letting her go.
Sukey was not a favorite with either of her sisters. Kiara stopped in her tracks and glared. "What? Again?" She lowered her dark brows over her eyes and scowled in a way that twisted her pretty features into something truly frightening. "Well, that just tops off my morning." She dropped her training gear behind the bar and reached for an apron that was stowed beneath the counter.
"Oh, Kiara, don't look so black! Did Jake finally better you at sparring?" Mina teased.
Kiara turned swiftly a look of outrage on her face. "Why would you say that, Mina?" she asked vehemently.
Mina was taken aback at her sister's response. Although Kiara tended towards bouts of temper, she was usually good-natured about jokes. Mina wondered what had happened to put her sister into such a foul humor.
"I was teasing you, Kee," she said gently. "What's got under your skin?"
Kiara reached for her tray on the end of the bar.
"Not a what but a who," she muttered under her breath.
Mina raised her eyebrows. Well, someone certainly had put Kiara in a cranky mood. She moved behind the bar and began polished the ale mugs that she would need when the travelers came down for their luncheon. Kiara took over setting out cutlery on the tables, the work seeming to ease her anger.
Mina watched her sister for a few minutes. Kiara was widely considered a beauty. The young men in the Village certainly had thought so at one time. But most of them had been on the losing end of a fight with Kiara and that tended to dampen the attraction. From an early age Kiara had been a fighter and she'd made a point of getting into battles with the Village boys and beating them. By the time she was in her early teens almost all of the boys were too scared of her to see her as a beauty. Or too resentful of her prowess as a fighter to appreciate it!
It was a shame Kiara was so prickly when it came to the opposite sex. She insisted on seeing them as opponents rather than potential suitors. Mina watched as her sister ran her fingers through her short dark hair impatiently.
Kiara was completely oblivious to her own beauty but strangers usually were not. In fact, at times she wondered if Kiara tried to make herself look less attractive by shearing her hair so short and wearing an almost constant costume of thigh length tunics and leggings. Of course, Kiara said she did such things because they were practical whereas the gowns and long locks Mina favored were not. Mina shook her head. Her sister didn't realize that it was all for nothing, as nothing her sister did dampened her stunning beauty.
"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to," Mina called over to her. Then a thought suddenly popped into her mind. Caedmon, the large older brother, had barely been able to keep his eyes off Kiara. And he was so different than the Village lads or even other travelers who frequented the Inn. Kiara had never met a warrior before. Mina wondered if her sister might actually have found a man who interested her. "I wonder if it had to do with the large handsome stranger who was paying an extraordinary amount of attention to you when he arrived?"
Kiara straightened and glared at her. "He is not handsome!" she growled.
Bingo! Mina nodded with satisfaction. So it was the stranger's attention that had put Kiara in such a bad mood. This was something new. Typically Kiara would reject a potential suitor and that would be the end of it. She rarely got worked up over such things.
"You should be happy when a man pays attention to you, Kiara! You're a beautiful girl - despite the fact that you would wish to hide behind trousers and men's clothing. It shouldn't be surprising that you are noticed."
"He did not find me attractive," she glowered.
Mina raised her eyebrows as she began to line the polished pint mugs up on the bar. But decided to let the subject go for now. Kiara wasn't the only one who seemed to be stirred up by the arrival of these three visitors, she thought to herself. Thia's reaction to the other brother – the one called Teague – had been apparent even if her little sister had tried to hide it. Mina intended to get to the bottom of that mystery later today.
She didn't understand why her sisters were so negative about the new arrivals. She thought it was rather exciting to have strangers visiting the Inn at this time of year. And besides they seemed like good fellows to her. She was hoping they'd have a story or two to tell about life in the Outlands.
Mina had a longing to travel but the farthest she'd been from the Inn was to Silvervale, which was only two days journey from home. A place as far away as the Outlands sounded exotic and thrilling to her.
Her thoughts went back to Thia's reaction to the boy named Teague. It wasn't like her small sister to be so affected by strangers. As a healer, she dealt with more strangers than even Mina did as a barkeep. And Thia was usually professional and calm – certainly not shaken or flustered as she had been yesterday.
No something was definitely odd about the way her sisters were reacting to these travelers. Mina was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.
No sooner had the thought formed in her mind than Teague entered the Great Room. He paused just inside the doorframe and looked around the room, his strange silver eyes glinting in the dim light. He seemed to note Kiara and then he saw Mina behind the bar and came towards her.
"Minathrial, right?" he asked cheerfully.
He had the type of face that was quick to smile and encouraged one to do likewise. Mina nodded, a smile coming easily to her lips. "My friends call me Mina," she told him.
"Mina, it is then!" He grinned and then looked around the Great Room. "Am I too early for luncheon?" he asked glumly as he gestured toward the empty room.
"Oh, not that much too early. I'm sure Thia will have the meal ready in less than a quarter hour," she assured him.
He looked relieved. "I'm starving," he confided with a wink. "I might be smaller than Caedmon but I swear some days I
eat more than him!"
Mina laughed, liking this Teague boy more and more by the minute.
And he was a boy she realized. He couldn't be more than 18 years old. It was easy to see now that he was up close and conversing. When he'd first arrived, particularly when he'd seen Thia, he seemed older than his years but now he appeared to be a happy-go-lucky young man.
"Have you always competed for food with your older brother?" Mina asked with a grin.
Teague raised his eyebrows. "My lady!" he teased, "I'm the elder brother. I thought that would be obvious," he said with mock hurt. "I'm shocked that you would make such an error."
Mina laughed again. She couldn't help it; his expression was so earnest her giggles just kept bubbling over her lips. She made an attempt to sober herself and then looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Truly?"
He nodded solemnly. "I'm a full 18 months older than that brat," he grinned suddenly. "Of course he's always been larger than me."
"How old are you then?" she asked as she set a mug of ale down in front of him.
"I'm almost 19. Caedmon is only 17 years old - although I agree he looks and acts close to thirty." He nodded at her. “Are you the eldest of your sisters?"
Mina shook her head. "Oh, no. We are the same age within a few weeks."
Teague looked confused. "Are you saying you're triplets, then?"
She giggled again. "Did you honestly believe that?" she asked in surprise. Her sisters and her didn't bear the slighted resemblance to one another. Kiara with her short dark hair and flashing blue eyes was the precise opposite of her own long blond hair and green eyes.Then there was Thia, who was tiny compared to the two of them, her tumble of red curls and unique golden eyes marking her as something different again. No one from outside the Village ever assumed them to be related.
"We are adopted," Mina explained. "And we are all sixteen."
Understanding dawned on Teague's face as he sat on one of the high stools close to the bar, swinging his legs with an air of abandon. He examined the room more closely, his eyes suddenly halting on the harp at the far end of the room.
"Are you the musician?" he asked her with a smile.
Mina nodded in surprise. "How did you know?"
He shrugged. "Your laugh is quite musical and your voice is melodic. My ear just picked it out."
"Are you a musician as well?" she asked in delight. "I noticed the mandolin among your things."
He nodded eagerly. "Do you play for guests at all?"
"Yes, often in fact. But it's rare that I get the chance to play with other musicians. Do you think you'd like to play with me tonight?" she asked eagerly.
Teague nodded. "I would! Perhaps, if you have time after luncheon, we could go over a few melodies and see what we can come up with for some evening entertainment."
Mina clapped happily. "I would love that," she said with true pleasure. And maybe Teague would tell her about life in the Outlands as well. Or at the very least teach her a few songs from his homeland.
"Teague!" They both turned at the sound of Weylon's gruff voice. Teague’s father was standing in the doorway, displeasure evident on his face as he watched them.
Teague gathered up his mug of ale and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'd best go find a table with my father and brother. But we'll meet later, yes?"
Mina nodded. "I'm looking forward to it!"
She smiled happily. She was even more convinced that her sisters were being overly sensitive now that she'd spoken to Teague. These strangers seemed to be just what they needed to bring some life to the wintertime at the Inn.
CHAPTER FOUR
After spending an enjoyable music-filled afternoon in Teague's company, Mina found Thia in the kitchen chopping vegetables for the evening meal.
"Don't you ever rest, little sister?" Mina asked teasingly.
Thia pushed her copper curls out of her face and added the onions to the large wooden bowl on the counter beside her. "We have guests to feed and if I don't get started now, there won't be any dinner ready," she replied. "Besides I'm making a batch of turkey pies for dinner – so the sooner I get the chopping and rolling finished, the sooner I can put my feet up and have a cup of tea while they bake in the oven."
Mina reached for an apron. "Well, I can help with the chopping if nothing else." She hummed pleasantly under her breath. She was always filled with a sense of satisfaction and contentment when she'd spent time with her music. Today that feeling was amplified thanks to the few hours she'd shared songs with Teague. He was truly gifted as a musician. And the stories he had shared of the Outlands were so inspiring.
Thia smiled. "You seem especially happy today,” she noted as she placed a bunch of freshly washed carrots on the chopping board.
"Hmm." Mina nodded. "Luncheon finished relatively early and I've been practicing ever since."
Pleasure filled Thia's face, "Oh, are you playing tonight then?" she asked, happy anticipation clear in her voice.
Mina nodded but decided not to tell Thia about Teague's participation in the evening's entertainment. Something told her to tread carefully when it came to talking about Teague with her small sister. Instead she changed the subject.
"By the way, I think Kiara has finally found a man who is not attracted to her for once," Mina confided with a grin, before adding, "And it's driving her mad."
Thia looked up from her work, interest sparking in her golden eyes. "Whom?" she asked.
"Caedmon, the larger brother from the group that arrived yesterday," Mina said as she began to carefully dice the carrots. "I don't know what he said to Kiara but she was in a quite a state when she came in from training."
"Oh, dear." Thia shook her head looking worried. "I suppose Sukey's not showing up didn't help with her sour mood?"
Mina shrugged. "Ah, well, you know Kiara, it doesn't take much to set her off."
They worked in silence for a while, Thia rolling the pastry and lining the pie plates, while Mina finely chopped the ingredients her sister gave her. After the meat and vegetables had all been prepared and added to the bowl, Mina sat on the stool in the corner where she watched her small sister work.
There was no question that Thia took great pleasure from being in the kitchen. But this afternoon there were fine lines on her forehead as she concentrated on preparing the evening meal. Mina was willing to wage her sister’s preoccupation had to do with Teague but she couldn't understand how he could have upset her sister. He really seemed to be a very sweet boy. She just couldn't imagine why Thia had reacted so strongly to him. Her sister was typically welcoming of all strangers.
"What about you, Thia? You seemed to be rather distracted by Teague. I thought I saw a flicker of recognition in your eyes," Mina paused, as she saw her sister’s mouth tighten slightly.
A moment of silence passed.
"Was it a vision?" she nudged gently.
Thia shook her head quickly. Mina knew she had a hard time talking about her visions. Thia only saw the bad in those episodes because they were always accompanied by violent seizures, but over the years she'd been able to do much good with her visions.
Mina remembered when they were nine and Thia had foreseen an attack on Kiara. A large forest cat had come upon her unawares and Kiara very likely would have died from the gaping wound in her side had Thia not had one of her visions. She'd been able to tell them precisely where Kiara was in the vast woods and the time saved had no doubt spared her life.
Mina waited patiently as her sister crimped the crust on the last pie. Finally Thia looked up from her work. "Should I make us some tea?" she asked.
Mina nodded and watched as Thia took her time putting the kettle on the stove. She was clearly stalling and Mina wondered if she should let the whole topic of Teague drop. But her curiosity was piqued.
When the tea was brewing, Thia came and sat at the big oak table Mina had moved to.
"Have you seen Teague before?" she asked when it became apparent that Thia was not going to start the conv
ersation.
Thia answered slowly, choosing her words carefully as she poured the tea. "Yes, I've seen Teague. But I don't know him ..." she trailed off. “It’s hard to explain.”
Mina considered her sister’s odd choice of words. It didn’t make sense. How could someone she recognize Teague but not know him? She added milk to her tea while she was waited for her sister to explain what she meant but Thia's golden eyes were focused on her cup.
Mina pushed her hair behind her ears. "But if he wasn't in a vision and you've never met him ... I don't understand. You're sure he wasn't one of your visions? You are sometimes confused a bit afterward."
Thia was focused on her hands, which were interlaced on the table. Mina understood that her sister didn't like speaking of her seizures. Whenever one came over her, they resulted in visions of a sort. Thia had told her once that even when they resulted in something good, like the time Kiara was hurt, she still found them extremely upsetting. She never knew what to do with the images and when she regained consciousness, often on the ground, bloodied and lying in her own urine, she felt shame and horror, unable to meet the eyes of those around her.
Mina knew that Thia had helped Brijit to treat patients with the same kinds of fits that Thia, herself, suffered from. Once she'd admitted to Mina that she was secretly horrified to think that she also looked like that when the visions hit; her eyes rolling up in her head, her body stiff and jerking. Mina had tried to reassure Thia that it wasn't as bad as she imagined but Mina suspected her sister didn't believe her.
Thia closed her eyes for a moment. As she watched her, Mina felt a flicker of worry. She was starting to fear that there was something more serious going on here but Mina couldn't imagine what it might be.
Thia opened her eyes and met Mina's gaze, her golden eyes were filled with torment and Mina suddenly felt guilty for pushing her sister.
"I'm not ready to speak about it," Thia said softly. Mina nodded in understanding and decided to let it be. She knew that her little sister would eventually tell her what was going on but right now she needed some time and space to sort out what she was going through. She had learned a long time ago that Thia was a deep thinker and sometimes needed to process her thoughts before sharing.
