The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (43 page)

Xerese moved into the brush beyond where Toman could see and raised the skirt high enough to avoid getting wet as she squatted to relieve her bladder. She had gone to sleep without her normal routine. Though they had tried to avoid drinking too much from the limited resource of their travel flasks, it had been a long time since she had taken a moment to let anything out as well.

Glancing back over her shoulder, the girl could feel a breeze on her exposed skin and watched the rustle of the leaves even below the canopy. It felt cooler than normal and Xerese had a feeling that rain was coming. The gentle rustling of the leaves above her nearly masked the noise headed towards her from the clearing.

Toman suddenly appeared like a new shadow rising between the bushes between them.

"You should have let me know that you were... leaving," the man accused without blinking or turning from the sight of the half naked girl squatting in front of him.

The patter on the grass from her water halted in her surprise only a moment. It was too late to hide now anyway. Her pride had suffered too many blows of late and Toman had seen nearly everything she had to offer now. It no longer mattered to her, the girl thought with a sigh.

"Gods, Toman, pardon me if I was hoping to go in peace! It's bad enough that you have seen me bare. I thought I could at least maintain some dignity."

Realizing her condition, Toman turned his back to her and said loud enough to be heard without having to shout. "I am sorry, my lady. I didn't mean to accost you in any way. I just woke up and you were gone. I was worried."

Standing straight and fixing her skirt once more, Xerese ignored the worst of the situation as she moved towards him. "I didn't mean to make you panic, Toman, but I was trying to let you sleep. If you are too tired, you won't be any good in a fight if those men find us again or another situation arises."

Moving past him, the girl found the clearing and the packs where they had left them. "Since we are both awake, does that mean you are ready to move on again?" Xerese asked without looking at him.

"We can take the time to eat first. If you wish to change again, I can scout a little further to give you privacy," the guardsman replied moving to his pack. Most of the food had been carried by Toman, but their supplies were getting very low. If they couldn't scavenge more from the land or find someone willing to give them some food, they would be out with only one or two small meals.

"My clothes are all dirty and I think trying to keep anything private from you has just become a thing of the past. Even strangers have seen me bereft of my clothes," the girl stated in frustration. Her mother had often taught her to maintain the mystery between her and men. Leaving them wanting more, she called it. That meant not just being covered, but keeping a bit of mystery to what was within her mind.

Toman appeared to want to console her, but didn't have the words.

"You have been my bodyguard for years, but it was never intended for you to see so much of the body you were guarding," she sighed. A small smile flit across her lips at her word play.

"True, my lady," Toman replied with a nod as he echoed her smile in relief. Since the girl didn't appear angry with his intrusion beyond the initial moment, he could see the humor in it now.

"How far do you think we will need to travel to find another town? I don't relish carrying these swords for long, but I agree with the idea that we might be able to sell them for enough money to pay a fare for a ship. They aren't fancy, but do you think that we can get enough from selling the lot?"

"We have to be careful how we approach someone to sell them. They are essentially stolen and a respectable vendor will likely demand a story."

"We took them from bandits," the girl stated with a shrug. "It isn't really a lie, is it? They were uncouth louts and one even implied that I was wrong in calling them Tseulty soldiers."

Toman frowned. Traveling mostly in silence, the previous day's encounter hadn't been talked about in any detail. "You called them Tseulty soldiers and they said that they weren't?"

"Not in so many words," Xerese answered curious as to where his mind was going with the information.

"Attacking a temple and burning down parts of a town's market doesn't seem like something that would make sense for a king's soldiers to do. Maybe they acted like brigands, because they were only pretending to be soldiers?"

"You think that these men were part of those who attacked Delem? Why would men dress up as Tseulty soldiers and burn down a temple?" she questioned equally confused.

"The only reasons I can think of would be that they either wanted people to be afraid of attacking them believing that King Tylus would have his armies to back them or they wanted the people to think the king wanted them to do it."

"Isn't that the same thing?" the lady shook her head trying to understand.

"If they wanted to cause mischief and get away with it, dressing as the king's soldiers would help. If they want the people to blame the king..."

"Then the uniforms point the finger at King Tylus. Who would benefit from causing a rift between the king and his people? By the same token, what do they hope to achieve by attacking the temple if they aren't trying to discredit the king?"

Shrugging at her summation of the situation, the guardsman said, "If someone is doing this to get a rise out of the people, we had better hope that it is localized on Delem. If more towns become angry with the king, he could send real troops to put down any form of insurrection starting to occur.

"We don't want to get caught in a civil war."

They ate quickly and moved out wondering if their fears were correct. While they had no real proof of such a trick, the more they thought about it, the strange words of the soldiers began to make sense.

All morning the two walked until they made it to the northwest part of the forest. They could see the road from the cover of the woods and walked for a time near the edge. A branch occurred near mid afternoon, so Toman decided to venture out in the hopes that they were near a new town or city.

Xerese wondered if they were headed to more troubles or if they could finally find a way home.

The first farm they spotted appeared idyllic. There were no fires and they could see people working in the fields. A new crop of wheat grew tall close to the road where it hadn't been cut yet, but large sections had felled stalks being gathered to take to the threshing floor.

Toman dared to investigate and discovered the troubles in Delem hadn't appeared to follow them. The farmer directed them to his house where his wife and servants took their hard work in the fields and translated it into bags of wheat for market.

The women were friendly and once more they were given a meal for lunch. A little more was given for their travels. After the incident at the lake and the disturbing events in Delem, it was nice to feel safer once more.

It was too soon in their work to earn a ride north, but Toman didn't wish to delay any further. They moved on and found other farms with varying crops working without the worry of war.

A night spent in another barn was an upgrade from their time in the forest or lying on the ground in some field or prairie. Xerese was treated to a bath in the house. While her true nature wasn't revealed, the farmer's wife saw the young beauty and felt bad for the dirt on her clothes.

Toman helped gather the water that they heated before putting it in a large wooden tub. There was no separate bathroom, but the wife and her elder daughter kicked the men out of the house while they helped her bathe.

The guardsman was told to use her bath water after the girl was clean. Xerese borrowed a dress while they cleaned her clothes. Unfortunately Toman was much too big for any of the farmer's clothes, but the women forced him to wrap up in blankets while they did their best to clean his road worn gear.

For once Xerese was able to tease the man. He appeared less embarrassed than she would have thought, but in the end Xerese was just glad that he was finally clean. It had been too long since he had been able to wash properly and here they even found soap and shampoo for their hair.

A scissors was brought out to trim his hair and beard as well making her guard look less like a hairy monster and more like a man again.

It always amazed her at the generosity to be found, especially away from the cities. Not every farmer had been willing to give as much, but few turned away a stranger. It was an unwritten code among the people to help each other. There would be times when they would need help as well, so giving it to others so it would in turn come back to them made sense.

They wrapped up the extra swords in a bundle making it hard to distinguish. When Xerese offered to give one to the family that she still wore in exchange for all the good will, the wife laughed and shook her head.

"That is alright, my dear. What would we do with something like that? We're farmers and would be more likely to cut our own arms off than use it to protect ourselves, besides there is little worry of that here."

"But in Delem..." she began. They had passed on the warning of what had happened in the town earlier, but the woman waved off her worry.

"Oh, Xerie, that is far enough away and we aren't even that close to Adeer to think that their troubles would come here."

Adeer was the city to the north. It had a harbor sheltered on the east side of a small peninsula extending into the Glacian Ocean. The family had told them little more than they had heard from the other farms about the city, but Xerese remembered that much.

Not wanting to argue or place fear on her new friends needlessly, the young lady only hoped that the woman was right.

The farmer's wife looked out the window at Toman. He had wrapped a blanket around his waist while he waited for his clothes to dry. Some of the farm hands had returned from the fields by now as it neared evening.

"Your man is quite large. He seems very protective of you. Are you two in love? I don't truly sense more than fondness, but I am curious."

Xerese looked at the man and looked at his strong arms. His shoulders and chest were somewhat tan. He had taken off his shirt on warmer days as they walked, so it wasn't the first time that the girl had looked at him.

"He is a family friend," she said without truly lying. "We were victims of a storm that wrecked our ship, but he helped save me in the sea. Luckily we made it to land. Since then we have been working our way towards Malaiy.

"We are friends, but nothing more."

"You sound a little disappointed," the woman laughed at the younger girl.

"Hmm, well, I heard a few too many stories as a child of a knight rescuing a princess and similar tales. They always had romance, but real life isn't the same, I am afraid.

"It's not that I hoped to fall for him, but maybe my pride hoped that he would at least fall in love with me," Xerese finished with a laugh. The women listening all laughed as well at the idea.

The wife shook her head and said, "We don't hear too many of those stories here. Books aren't very common either. Do you come from a city with those books?"

Xerese nodded. "We have a library that anyone can use. The scholars are a little particular, but stories of romance aren't as tightly guarded by them."

Again she laughed at the thought. The girl hadn't lied about Teyas having a library. Her mother had done a lot to promote literacy in her city and region. Her brothers followed their mother's beliefs making the southwest part of Malaiy one of the better educated parts of the realm. Even Yalan wasn't better than her part of Malaiy in that regard.

"Well, he is a bit older than you are. Perhaps he still sees you as a child. Being a friend of the family, often people miss the changes in those close to them.

"I still can't believe that my eldest children are grown and my son already has a few children of his own," the woman said shaking her head at the thought.

Xerese just smiled and gave a shrug as she decided, "Well, it doesn't really matter. It isn't like I feel that way for him either. When I return home, I am certain that my mother will find someone she feels is worthy."

The daughters appeared dissatisfied with Xerese's answer and their mother just laughed. "Well, that doesn't sound like one of your stories either. I hope that you will find the romance you desire even so."

A conversation for women when they were idle, Xerese took their comments for what they were worth. Toman rejoined them for supper after their clothes had dried. Another night spent in a barn led to their leaving early in the morning. She hoped that Adeer would be safe and have a ship capable of bringing them closer to home.

Xerese stood outside of the weapons shop in the shadow of the overhanging room. Looking at the people passing by in the business district of the city, she started comparing it to home. It was larger than Delem had been, but her mother's city Teyas was that much larger again than Adeer. A fair size city, the market place was quite busy as the sun shone brightly making hats with wide brims quite common among those wandering from one vendor to another. She thought their choice of hats looked quite different from those seen on the west coast in Malaiy.

Her distraction with people watching waned and the girl decided to see what was taking Toman so long. He had planned to sell five of the blades if possible, though they both worried over whether the merchant would find the sale of five similar swords at the same time questionable.