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the rest of chapter two and all of chapter three
Shard glowered at nigel across the table. in the other room their parents were making wedding plans. he looked down sheepishly. she had an idea.
"mother, may i go on a walk with nigel? it was a big misunderstanding before. and i'd really like some time to get to know him better." she batted her eyelashes at her mother and put on the 'good-girl' voice.
to be extra convincing, she took nigel's hand and smiled.
"if you come back in an hour. nigel, look after her, yes?"
"yes ma'am. i shall look after my wife." nigel replied dutifully in his monotone.
shard smiled at him then dragged him out the door.
"finally. some alone time." she giggled.
nigel blushed, and she led him to her father's blacksmith shop.
"this is where my dad works." she said, her voice still rather flirtsy.
"oh. he's a blacksmith, huh? my dad is a farmer. i help out. i like growing carrots. and then maybe we could have goats or something?"
"goats? well, sure, why not. how many children do you want anyway?"
nigel shrugged and looked about the shop, picking up tools and examining them. shard also picked up a tool. but only one. and she gripped it in her free hand. it was a shovel.
"i want....oh i dunno maybe 10 or 12."
shard's eyes widened. "tw-twelve?!"
"yeah. or maybe more."
shard had seen babies delivered. it was very painful for the mother. she'd even heard some women beg for death to stop the pain. and that was just one child. but twelve?? that was insane.
"are you kidding?"
"no. i like kids."
shard hefted her shovel and held it up, her grip white-knuckled. she let go of nigel's hand.
"that's nice." she said and gave him a healthy whack to the back of the head with the shovel. she checked to make sure he was breathing. good. she hadn't killed him, but he'd have an awful headache.
"sorry." she whispered to him.
she ran back to her home and got a basket. "nigel and i want to have a picnic." she said to her mother.
she gathered clothing into it, her knife, a big cloak which could double as a blanket, and her worn-out boots. she came out of the room she shared with juniper and kandra and her mother handed her a loaf of bread, cheese, some apples and a container full of cider.
"have fun." her mother said.
shard got outside and ran. she got to the gate. Tratto was headed this way, too. he wore a big traveling pack and wore a cloak.
"tratto!!" she called.
he walked over.
"having a picnic? sorry, i can't join you, i'm going to seek my fortune."
"can i come?"
"what?"
"can i go with you?"
he shrugged. "sure."
*****************************************************************************************end chapter two ***************************************************************************
Three: Life On The Road Isn't All Gypsy Songs and Campfires
They walked. and walked. and walked. and walked. then Tratto stopped to refill his water and they rested for five minutes. then they walked some more. Shard was panting.
"how are you not tired?" she asked the barely-winded Tratto.
"you think this is tiring? you think your feet hurt?" he smiled. "just wait till tomorrow."
'why did i want to come with him? oh yeah. nigel.'
"well. this sucks."
"no kidding."
they walked. and walked and walked some more.
"this is boring."
"you didn't have to come with me."
"no, actually, i did."
"why?"
she explained about nigel and how boring he was and how he'd tried to convince her to marry him with a kitchen.
"he doesn't sound so bad."
"would you want to marry him?"
"actually. yeah. he sounds cute."
shard stopped walking. could tratto be involved with the love that dare not speak its name? tratto turned.
"what's wrong?"
"are you...gay?"
"yeah. why?"
"oh."
"is that a problem?"
"no,no. not a problem."
"okay."
tratto smiled and continued to walk. shard trailed behind him, but didn't walk as close as she had been. then she decided she was being silly, and walked next to him and talked to him casually. he wasn't so bad. plus, shard decided, it was good. she wouldn't have to worry about liking him. she totally relaxed and told him all her dreams and hopes. they laughed and got to know each other.
when they stopped walking for the evening shard devoured her whole loaf of bread by herself.
"hungry?" tratto asked with a laugh.
she simply nodded and devoured an apple. tratto didn't eat very much. shard went to sleep immediately, on the cloak she'd brought along. tratto told her he'd wake her up later so she could watch for vagabonds, robbers, the usual road riff-raff. she nodded sleepily and drifted off. it seemed as though she'd just fallen asleep when tratto was waking her up.
"c'mon shard. your turn to take watch."
she sat up and leaned against the huge pack tratto had brought. she watched for a good ten minutes. she felt her eyelids getting heavy. her head nodded down, and then she fell asleep...
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Shard awoke to a face staring at her. It wasn't Tratto's face either. she tried to move but found she was bound. she glanced about and saw tratto glaring at her, a few feet away, his feet and hands tied together.
"i thought you were keeping watch!"
"i was...i just...fell asleep."
"that's just great."
the person standing over her prodded her in the side with a boot. he wasn't too much older than shard. his hair was dark and fell over his caramel-colored eyes in a glossy raven's wing. he bore a scar on his right cheek. it looked like a burn. he was richly clothed, and held a superior yet spastic air about him. his lips held a self-assured smile.
"hello." he said, his voice lovely and deep.
"um...hi?" shard answered back uncertainly.
he laughed, a musical sound.
"i'm Ashuri, the wild wolf of the valleys, and i'll be robbing you blind today."
"i don't care who ya'll are, but you ain't robbin from me." tratto's voice wavered, his accent coming out in full when he was scared, as he'd told shard yesterday.
ashuri laughed at this. he seemed very cheerful about the whole ordeal. it seemed he might laugh if someone stabbed him.
ashuri stepped to the possesions that the few other men shard just noticed had layed out. he picked up several of tratto's possesions and then looked over at shard's. he giggled, and held up one of the dresses shard had put in the picnic basket.
"i think it suits you better." he said, tossing it over to shard.
"i think it does." shard growled.
"ah! the golden-haired angel speaks!" ashuri beamed a smile that could charm a barbarian king into being a vegetarian at shard.
he looked back at the items on the ground. he picked up some more things, including all the money tratto had told shard he'd been saving his whole life.
"give it back!" tratto said desperately.
ashuri cocked his head to the side and regarded tratto. he put a little bit of the money down, then pocketed the rest. he smiled and drew a dagger. he cut an 'A' into tratto's cheek. tratto drew in a sharp breath.
"remember me." ashuri giggled.
ashuri walked over to a dark horse, and climbed on. his men, having taken their pick over shard and tratto's possesions, climbed onto their own horses and they rode off, ashuri laughing like a maniac. he began to sing some song, but shard didn't hear much before they dissapeared around a bend in the road.
tratto got to work cutting his bonds with a knife he'd managed to get out of it's sheath on his belt. he cut the ropes tying shard as well. he sighed heavily.
"it's your fault, you know." he said while shard was trying to dress the wound on his cheek. he flinched as she applied some salve she'd made out of plants that were growing around.
"sorry... this'll probably scar..."
"that's just great! absolutely fabulous! the next town we get to, i'm leaving you there."
tratto held true to his promise. they stopped for food in a tavern in the next town. shard got up to use the facilities and when she got back tratto was gone, but the meal had been paid for. he'd left a piece of parchment that read:
good luck and all that. Tratto.
she sighed. "well, this didn't go how i planned."
*****************************************************************************End Chapter Three*************************************************************************************
 Prince Ripoff · Sun Apr 01, 2007 @ 11:23pm · 1 Comments |
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