Flecks of Gold (35 page)

Keeping with the pattern I’d set over the past few days, neither Rafan nor Breeohan said anything to me as we twisted our way through the curving streets of Boparra. Even the buildings bowed outward in semi-circular shapes, sliced through by occasional straight alleys and broader throughways leading to the city’s next loop. I really wished I could view the city from a helicopter to see if each ballooning layer created a true orb or if it wavered in its spherical accuracy.

We had sailed through most of the city’s diameter before docking, so Rafan, Breeohan, and I didn’t have to struggle through too many rounded roads before reaching the edge of the city’s circuit. Despite the swiftness of our route, I was starting to feel uncomfortable walking next to Rafan and Breeohan in silence.

It was one thing to feign sickness or fatigue in my cabin in order to avoid the two men; it was quite another to be standing beside them and feel suddenly that all my attempts to seek solitude had convinced them to actually ignore me. I was especially surprised that Rafan made no overtures. The absence of his usual flirting made me twitchy. It felt as if he was waiting for the absolute worst moment to drop another love bomb. But paranoia aside, I hoped he had finally gotten the message that his come-ons were truly unwelcome.

As we reached an inn on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, my only assurance that I was remembered at all was when Breeohan handed me a key to my room, though his concentration seemed to be fixed on the food being served at the tables. I was impressed by this little bit of metal as the first evidence of a lock I’d witnessed in any inn. Up to now it had been thin wooden latches on the inside. There’d been no way to lock a door from the outside. The strangely twisted key’s teeth were curved instead of straight, like the rectangular teeth I’d seen before on antique skeleton keys.

“Am I in my own room then?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I’d be acknowledged. Rafan was already at a table and hadn’t heard my question, but Breeohan turned to me. I was unprepared for the raw emotion that flickered in his eyes before his eyebrows rose in polite regard. The expression had been potent, but it was gone before I could name it.

Had I hurt Breeohan by my silence of the past few days? Now that I thought of it, it wasn’t a good way to treat a friend. I suddenly felt like a royal heel. I might have been confused, but avoiding Rafan and Breeohan had not been very mature. I stuttered a repeat of my question.

“Rafan and I thought it best that way. We will take turns sitting outside your door tonight.”

I did favor being alone to having Rafan and Breeohan in the same room, but I didn’t want them staying up all night guarding me on the other side of the door while I blissfully slept either. “You don’t need to do that.”

“It’s easier than chasing through this maze if someone were to steal you,” he said with a shrug. He made me sound like some sort of bothersome possession.

“Oh, gee. Well, when you put it that way . . . no. It still doesn’t make sense.” I was starting to feel testy, but instead of getting angry in return, the corner of Breeohan’s mouth twitched upward. “Look, if you’re really worried about me getting kidnapped, why don’t you two just sleep in my room? That way we can all rest.”

“We have already discussed this and decided our solution would be most proper.” His jaw was starting to take on what I dubbed his won’t-be-swayed-for-anything look.

“Proper? Is it just me or is my memory deceiving me? I seem to recall all of us sleeping in the same room in Cardo. And what is this ‘we’ stuff? I don’t remember being consulted about this plan.” I was pretty sure my face showed the same stubborn-as-a-mule symptoms. Did they even have mules here?

“Cardo was different. We were all too tired to plan ahead. This situation being what it is . . .” He regarded me coolly.

What? He must have heard me at the rocks telling Rafan that I didn’t love him. Was that the problem? I realized I’d just answered my own question. If Rafan really did love me (which I still highly doubted) and was finally getting it through his head that I didn’t like him, he could be feeling pretty torn up. I could see how sharing a room would not be the most desirable thing in that situation.

While I was still grasping for some sort of reply, Breeohan turned away sharply and headed to Rafan’s table. I followed mutely behind.

We ate in silence broken only by our server asking if we wanted refills of our drinks, which tasted a little like cranberry juice. Rafan gave me soulful looks that I couldn’t decipher: painful or hopeful or just creepy. I tried not to meet his eyes, and instead let my gaze wander to a man and woman lounging close together at another table, ignoring their food as they gazed with silly sappy expressions into each other’s eyes. Their fingers wove together in and out in an intimate caress. I looked hurriedly away, embarrassed.

When we finished, Breeohan announced that we would all go to the city’s marketplace for supplies. I was surprised that he hadn’t demanded I stay in the inn all day with one of them as guard. But going to a market bazaar sounded much more interesting than staring at walls all day long, so I tried to deflect all attention from me as we headed back into the streets, lest Breeohan and Rafan remember their paranoia.

The market was near the outskirts of town, so we simply had to follow the last curved, orange cobble road until the sounds of vendors shouting and shoppers gabbing became more distinct and then overwhelming. When the carts became visible around the bend, I saw the path on the road narrowed so only four people could stroll abreast. This made it easy for vendors to snag shoppers caught in the congestion.

Though the weather was only in the high eighties, the salesmen had spread large swaths of bright and colorful fabrics above their stalls to create shade. The fabric snapped in the warm breeze like plumage from a hundred colorful birds in flight. As Breeohan, Rafan, and I walked into the melee of sound, odors, and colors, I saw bracelets and necklaces of twisted gold with inlaid gems in one stall, while the cart next to it sported wicked-looking blades of jagged steel and delicately carved leather sheaths.

A stall holding brass and glass knickknacks caught my attention momentarily. The little contraptions looked almost mechanical, but when the eager-looking vendor behind the counter asked if I wished to buy a magelight guaranteed to work twice before needing a mage to re-lace it, I realized that the connecting brass pieces had been melded together for added effect rather than for any mechanical reason.

I was so absorbed in the mage items, looking intently at each gadget to find the lacings, that I didn’t realize Breeohan and Rafan hadn’t stopped with me to gawk at all the objects that I found so foreign and intriguing. I glanced up just in time to see the blue of Rafan’s vest disappear through a group of people who were choking the pedestrian traffic. I hurriedly set the mage item down and jostled my way through the human roadblock as fast as I could.

Part of me thought sourly that for two guys who were so insistent upon guarding my room at night, they weren’t overly concerned about me being easily snatched away in a crowded and confusing marketplace. Still, I wasn’t too worried until I came to a section of the market that branched out in two directions. I couldn’t tell if I should go straight along the same outer round road or turn right onto one of the intersecting streets that led deeper into the city. The connecting road had stalls crowded just as tightly as the main thoroughfare and seemed to have a few stalls I thought we might need to visit.

As I stood uncertainly, jostled from all sides, I turned back in the direction I’d come and noticed a man staring at me. He looked away as soon as I noticed him, pretending to gaze at a flowered swath of fabric in the stall where he lurked. My heart jumped and sped up. Though I’d inwardly griped at Breeohan and Rafan’s inattentiveness, I hadn’t really thought anyone would be looking for me in Boparra.

I pushed past the people in the street, deciding that I would be less likely to get lost if I stuck with the main road, rather than turn into the city. Every few feet I looked behind me to see if the staring man was following me or if it had just been a figment of my overactive imagination. When I caught a glimpse of his tan peasant shirt and brown gee-like vest through the jumble of brightly colored shoppers, my heart hopped faster, and doubt faded. I elbowed through the grazing customers more forcefully, hoping I’d chosen the right direction.

I was craning my face to the rear when I ran into someone in front of me. This hadn’t been the first time I’d done this, so I apologized absentmindedly, still looking back and sliding to the side to move past. Strong fingers gripped my shoulders and stopped me. My head snapped forward to see that the hands belonged to Breeohan. Relief washed through me. Before my better sense could stop me, I clutched tightly to the back of his vest, and buried my head into the scratchy green fabric at his shoulder.

“Thank goodness. I’m so glad I found you,” I said into his shirt. Breeohan released me in surprise, but then encircled my shoulders as I gripped his back. The pressure of his arms sent a warm tingle through me. My grasp relaxed, and I felt a delicious desire to burrow my cheek even more deeply into his shoulder. The intensity of my craving to snuggle with Breeohan effectively knocked me to my senses. I tried to step back, feeling my face glow with heat. Breeohan’s hold tightened briefly, then released as he backed away. I firmly shoved off a terrifying wish to step back into the warmth of that hug.

“What,” Breeohan began, but had to clear his voice. “What happened?” he asked. His face seemed to have a tinge of color as well.

“Someone’s following me.” I glanced behind me again but couldn’t see the tan and brown clothes of my pursuer. “I don’t see him now.” I turned back. “Why didn’t you wait for me?” I was annoyed to hear that my voice sounded whiny. I hoped the rose of my cheeks had faded.

“Rafan said you were right behind him. By the time I figured out we’d lost you, we were well into the marketplace. I’m sorry.”

Was Rafan paying me back for rejecting him? “Where is Rafan?” I tried not to sound angry.

Breeohan looked around him in surprise. “He was right behind me. We must have gotten separated coming back for you. Why don’t we wait at this booth until he catches up to us? We can keep an eye out for the man you saw at the same time.” Breeohan swiftly began scanning the crowds, carefully avoiding a glance in my direction.

The owner of the cart containing the karate gee-like vests, so common in Iberloah, did not appreciate Breeohan and me blocking his wares when we so obviously weren’t even browsing. When he complained for the fifth time, Breeohan spun around, grabbed a puke-colored orange-brown vest and reached into his pouch under his shirt for money.

I grabbed the arm holding the nauseating vest. “Not that one. If you’re going to buy something, at least get one that doesn’t resemble the spewed contents of someone’s stomach.” I snatched a bright yellow vest with black swirling embroidery.

“This one will look great with your eyes.” I held the fabric up to his face to see how the yellow fabric made his purple eyes pop until I realized that those amethyst eyes were fixed on me. I shoved the vest at him, flustered. “Anyway, it’s better than the other one.” I quickly turned back to watch the people passing through the narrow pathway.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Breeohan pass money to the vendor. By the man’s sound of pleasure, I guessed that Breeohan had paid more than the item was worth, probably to keep him from grumbling further. As he turned around, I caught sight of tan and brown to my right. My breath caught, but the hint of fabric disappeared before I could be sure it was the same man who had been trailing me.

Breeohan noticed my whoosh of air. I explained what I’d seen, giving him the pursuer’s description. He nodded, and we continued to scan the passing crowd. A familiar blue vest and startling white billowing sleeves peeked into view, but coming from the opposite direction than it should have.

When Rafan’s face came into view, I saw that his eyes sliced from one stall to the next as if looking for someone. The look in those eyes was not worry, it was calculation. My body took a half step further into the stall before I checked myself and called out. “Rafan.”

Breeohan’s eyes flicked first left, then right, eyebrows high when he saw I was not looking in the direction that Breeohan had come from.

Rafan strolled up to us, and his look of calculation morphed into one of relief. “I was so worried about you, Mary. I’m glad to see that you’re safe,” he said with a trace of his old sappiness.

“How did you pass me without my seeing it?” Breeohan asked, cross.

“I must have gotten ahead of you without noticing in one of the particularly crowded areas. Maybe we should hold onto each other’s shirttails from now on as we buy what we need,” he suggested with a carefree smile. Something struck me as strange about his explanation, but I put it down as nerves when I couldn’t think of what it was.

“We are not buying anything. We are getting out of here right now and getting passage on the next boat back to meet the king,” Breeohan said firmly.

“What?” I was too flabbergasted to come up with anything more intelligent.

A scowl appeared on Rafan’s face, surprising me. “People lose each other in throngs like this all the time. You’re overreacting and treating Mary like a child.” His rough voice made the words seem singularly menacing. My own anger was momentarily checked by shock at Rafan’s defense.

“She was being followed,” Breeohan snapped back. “I don’t know why I got myself talked into coming closer to Kelteon in the first place. I should have taken you back to the king,” he said to me, self-recrimination etched into his features. I was again thrown into confusion by Breeohan’s blatant emotional display.

“How could you tell she was being followed? Are you sure you didn’t imagine it?” Rafan gibed.

“Mary saw him watching her and caught him trailing her,” Breeohan shot back.

Rafan raised his eyebrows in doubt. “You’ll forgive me,” he said with a nod in my direction and a little smile that I think was supposed to look apologetic but didn’t quite qualify, “but Mary is probably about as familiar with marketplaces as she is with riding horses. Don’t you think it is possible that her mind invented a pursuer as a natural reaction to being left behind?”