Origins: A Deepwoods Book - a Collection of Deepwoods Short Stories (Deepwoods Series 0) (27 page)

A mischievous glint in her eyes, Sylvie dropped her voice a
notch. “Want to see something fun? Try yelling that.”

“Me?” Denney objected. “But he doesn’t know to come when
it’s me saying it.”

“I will bet you tomorrow’s breakfast that it doesn’t matter
who says it. He’ll still come.”

There was such conviction in Sylvie’s expression that Denney
found herself very curious. Would this actually work? Clearing her throat, she
tentatively started to speak, then realized that she really would have to yell
in order to be heard through the closed door. Taking in a deeper breath, she
tried again, “I NEED A HUSBAND!”

From the other side of the wall, there was a loud clatter, a
muffled curse, and then the thud of two feet sprinting for the door. In a
heartbeat, the door yanked open. Wolfinsky had the presence of mind to skip out
of the way, otherwise Tran would likely have bowled right over him.

Dressed in nothing but a towel and with a sword in his left
hand, Tran jerked his head in both directions demanding, “What? What’s the
problem?”

“See?” Sylvie purred, satisfied. “He always comes
immediately when he hears that.”

Tran was quick on the uptake. Pointing an outraged finger at
her, he demanded, “Did you just call me to prove a point?”

“No,” Sylvie denied calmly. “Miss Denney called you. It was
to prove a point, though.”

That half-deflated him. “You can get back in the bath,
Master Roroana, it’s just two women messing with a man’s mind.” Glaring,
perhaps blushing a little from his distinct lack of clothes, he spun back into
the men’s bathing chamber, muttering as he went. “Crazy women calling me when
there’s no trouble.”

“But you’ll come again next time, won’t you?” Siobhan called
after him.

“Of course I will, Shi-maee, but that’s not the point!” he
grumbled back loudly.

Denney marveled at this. Never before had she seen a man
that would literally hop out of a bath and come running. Even when a person he
barely knew called him, he still came running. What manner of man was Tran Amar
that he would always react that way?

Sylvie patted her on the shoulder before letting go. “See?
Now, you have an overprotective husband whenever you need one.”

Denney’s racing heart finally settled and a slow smile stole
across her face. “I guess I do at that.” She was definitely going to have to
explain this to her uncle tonight, though, so he wouldn’t be confused if she
ever had to use it. Well, maybe not, as Tran was probably half-complaining and
half-explaining to Conli even now.

“Well.” Siobhan clapped her hands together. “With all that
settled, let’s go to bed, shall we?”

 
ӜӜӜ

Denney had been coached by Sylvie on Fei’s probable
reaction, so she sat in the main room of the inn the next morning, lingering
over breakfast. Conli lingered as well, for different reasons than she did, but
the rest of the guild was already out and with the caravan, getting it ready to
move out.

Slowly, obviously nursing an aching head, Fei came down the
stairs. He didn’t look up from his feet until he reached the main floor and, on
spotting them, grimaced slightly. His memory of the night before was intact,
eh? Still, he didn’t hesitate, but went directly for them. “Miss Denney. My
profound apologies for last evening.”

After twelve hours, Denney now saw the humor in the whole
situation, so she grinned up at him. “Not at all. Thanks to you, I now have a
fun story to tell.”

He winced again, but this time with a spark of humor in his
dark eyes. “Glad to be of service?”

“Sit,” Conli urged, pulling out the chair next to him. “I
spoke with your guildmaster and Miss Sylvie at length last night and they told
me about the dishes that you know are safe to eat. I compiled a list of
ingredients that I think we should use as our baseline. We’ll try adding in
other ingredients every two days and see what effect they have on you until
we’ve figured this out. For this morning, however,” Conli lifted the canvas
cover from a plate, “this should be safe for you to eat. The recipe is not like
your hometown, but the ingredients are.”

Fei gave him a bow, voice husky. “You honor me with kindness.
Thank you.”

Conli shook his head, negating this. “I can’t consider
myself a man of medicine if I ignore a problem like yours. It might be humorous
most of the time but randomly taking control from you like that is dangerous.
Too dangerous. I will try to help figure this out by journey’s end or at least
give you the means to diagnose yourself.” From a vest pocket, he drew out a
small glass vial with a corked top. “Take this for the headache.”

Without question, Fei took it from him and tossed the contents
down. “This must be wonderful medicine,” he observed dryly.

“Why?” Conli responded, eyes crinkling up. “Because it
tastes awful?”

“Precisely so.”

Conli gave him a sage nod, as if imparting some great
wisdom. “We make medicine taste terrible on purpose, you know. It scares the
illness and ailments away, as the body doesn’t want to take it again.”

“That makes a great deal of sense,” Fei intoned, digging
into his breakfast. “I always suspected as much but it is nice to have it
confirmed.”

So the man had a sense of humor after all? Denney was
relieved to hear it.

In between bites, Fei instructed, “Denney-gui, you are not
to leave the inn without me. I have strict instructions on this from Tran-ren
and Wolf-ren. They explained somewhat why, as apparently there are cultural
prejudices involved, but have you encountered an obvious threat yet?”

He was aware of her situation? And still spoke so politely
to her? Denney warmed up to the man a little more as she responded, “I haven’t.
But then, I haven’t seen anyone from Wynngaard yet and all of the people at
this inn seem intent on going about their own business instead of creating
trouble.”

“That is good. I will eat quickly, then, before trouble can
find us. You are packed?”

“I think I am.” She looked at Conli, who nodded. “But maybe
we should make one more sweep of the room to make sure that everything made it
back to its bags?”

“Probably wise. After all, we bought several things
yesterday and everything still fit. That’s not a good sign.” Conli stood and
headed upstairs.

As he reached the middle of the staircase, she abruptly
remembered that in the middle of the night, she’d grown too hot and toed her
socks off. They were still under the covers. Denney hated losing good socks,
they were a hard thing to replace with her narrow feet. So she popped up and
ran to the bottom of the staircase to call up, “I have a pair of socks under
the covers!”

Conli paused at the top and waved a hand to her, silently
stating he’d heard her and would grab them.

Phew, that had been close. Turning around, she had every
intention of rejoining Fei at the table but was abruptly checked when two men
stepped into her path. They were both Wynngaardian, although not nearly as huge
as Wolfinsky, square jaws and crooked noses, and a hard look in their eyes that
Denney dreaded seeing. She knew what it meant all too well.

One of them, the older of the two, looked her over in an
exaggerated way. “How much?”

She held onto her temper as much as possible while making
her voice firm. “I’m not a prostitute.”

“We saw you with a daddy like that, and you’re still saying
nonsense?” He snorted, the expression on his face vulgar.

Shouldn’t these idiots be busy getting ready to leave? They
were
the caravan guards the innkeeper had warned her about last night, weren’t they?
So why did they think they could pick her up this early in the morning and do
anything? Were they that desperate, this far away from home?

From behind the men, she saw a quick shape flit in between
them, and then both men folded as if their knees had been cut out from
underneath them, hitting the ground with their heads jerked back. Fei held both
men effortlessly, hands gripping their hair, and a cold expression on his face.

The younger tried to squirm out of the grip, trying to wrestle
free of the hand gripping his hair. “Let go, you—”

“This woman is under my protection.” His voice was soft and
dripping with menace. “You will leave. Now.” As abruptly as he’d grabbed them,
he let go again, and the men scrambled up to their feet. With sullen looks at
her, they turned and left, not willing apparently to put up a fight to get her.

Denney let out a breath, heart racing. “Really, what do they
think they’re doing, this early in the morning?”

“One of the wagon’s axel broke last night,” Fei explained,
keeping a weather eye on the two. “I overheard them during dinner, saying they
would be stuck here most of today until it was fixed.”

So they thought she was a good way to kill some time?
Lovely. Thank heavens he had been close by. “Thank you, Man Fei Lei.”

He inclined his head to her, his cold expression fading away
into a slight smile. “You are welcome.”

Conli came back down, a few items in the crook of his elbow,
and took them in with raised eyebrows. “Problem?”

“Not at all,” Fei denied pleasantly. “Shall we go?”

They left the inn and took their bags directly to the
Deepwoods cart. Denney expected most of the caravan to be formed up by this
point and was surprised to find that wasn’t the case. There was some kind of
chaos as several crates were being quickly unloaded, then stacked into another
cart that did not belong to the caravan at all. Sitting on the cart’s side, she
watched this play out, scratching at her head in confusion. What was going on?

Siobhan passed by her and then stopped, leaning her back
against the cart so that she could comfortably watch things progress. “Had a
close call this morning.”

“Oh?” Conli uttered encouragingly.

“Our boss did some trading last night before we all went to
bed, and swapped out some glass panes for some of this area’s wine. Good
vintage, or was supposed to be. Sylvie double checked his trading and found
that he in fact was rooked and had bought a bad crop. It’s all vinegar, or
close enough to that to be undrinkable.”

Denney’s mouth filled with what she imagined the sour wine
must have tasted like and gagged.

Siobhan grinned up at her. “Yes, Sylvie’s been making that
sound most of the morning and washing her mouth out every so often. It must
have been foul. Just the smell alone was enough to fell a man. But we’re
delayed a mite while this is taken back and the glass is returned.”

“The merchant hadn’t hightailed off with the goods already?”
Conli asked in surprise.

“He tried, as I understand it. But we weren’t the only ones
that bought bad goods, and the other caravan boss figured it out at dawn this
morning, so he didn’t have the time to escape. Man was caught leaving the south
gates and hauled back.” Siobhan sounded quite evilly cheerful about the whole
matter. “Between Sylvie and Wolf, there’s not much of the man’s hide left
intact.”

“Sylvie,” Denney repeated dubiously.

“Our Sylvie is not much of a fighter, but don’t
underestimate her,” Siobhan warned. “She’s like a cat. She has other, sneakier
ways of getting even.”

Somehow, Denney didn’t have much trouble believing this.

“I expect the pair of them back any moment with—ah, and
there they are.” Siobhan lifted a hand to cup her mouth and called, “What took
you?”

The crowd shifted and everyone got their first clear view of
Wolfinsky. In his hands were two puppies, both darkly colored fuzzballs with
floppy ears and wagging tails. One of them was enthusiastically trying to chew
on the man’s iron right hand, the other had stretched up on his hind legs and
was licking energetically on Wolf’s ear. There was a pained, patient expression
on the giant’s face as two creatures the size of his spread hands treated him
like their chew toy.

Sylvie, not at all trying to be helpful, was nearly skipping
along at his side and enjoying the show. Cheerfully, she greeted her gathering
guildmates with, “We were on a rescue. Turns out that thrice-cursed merchant
had a litter of Colliers in his wagon. There were four altogether, and the
other caravan boss said he’d take them as repayment of sorts for the trouble,
but that left these two.”

“I couldn’t leave them behind,” Wolfinsky said defensively,
as if already gearing up for an argument on why they couldn’t take the dogs
along on the road. “They’re barely two months old!”

“Well, of course you couldn’t—” Siobhan agreed, eyebrows
clear into her hairline, a hand covering her mouth as if trying to hide a
smile.

Denney’s hands twitched instinctively. She adored dogs,
truly couldn’t resist them, puppies especially. Wolfinsky still alarmed her,
truth be told, but seeing this huge man patiently putting up with being licked
and chewed on was quickly putting some of her fears to rest. If he could be so
gentle with puppies, he couldn’t be a bad person at heart, could he? Without
really making any conscious decision, she hopped off the side of the cart and
gravitated toward him like a moth to flame. “Um, may I…?”

Relieved, he immediately handed them over. “They won’t stop
chewing on me. I mean, you’d think he’d give up after a while at least on my
hand.”

“Teething just comes with the territory with puppies,” she
crooned, nestling both of them into her arms. The puppies were just as happy to
be with someone else and instantly started licking at her cheeks, making her
laugh and squirm. “Oh, you’re both darlings. So sweet. But I’m not yummy,
really I’m not, so you have to stop that.”

“You don’t sound at all convincing,” Conli drawled, reaching
over to take one of them out of her hands. “Well, Guildmaster, what shall we
do?”

“Truth be told, we’ve been talking about getting dogs,”
Siobhan admitted, eyeing the pair, “as they’d be good watchdogs while we’re
traveling. And Colliers are some of the best dogs in the world, so I have no
problem taking these two on. Not sure we have the means to take care of them on
this leg of the trip, though. This young, don’t they need milk?”

“You can wean them off of that and onto moist food,” Denney
informed her. “They’re old enough to get their teeth in about now. That’s why
they’re chewing everything, they’re cutting teeth.”

Siobhan pursed her lips judiciously. “Is that right. Know
much about dogs, do you? Good, good, I don’t have much experience raising or
training ’em. Tell you what, why don’t you and Sylvie go back to market and buy
what we need. I’ll re-sort the caravan while you’re doing that. Sylvie, you’ve
got a half-hour, so be quick.”

“Understood,” Sylvie said, business-like. “Who can I take?”

“Fei?” The way Siobhan said his name, it was more a question
if he wanted to go or not.

“Of course I can,” Fei agreed promptly.

Denney understood, intellectually, that it would be easier
to shop if she let someone else watch the puppies for a while. It was just that
her hands wouldn’t let go of him. Settling the puppy more firmly into the crook
of her arm, she set off for the market.

“You can leave them with us, you know,” Siobhan called to
her back.

“It will take a pry bar to make her let them go,” Conli
chuckled, trailing along with her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be her hands while they
shop.”

This made Denney flush a little, especially as Siobhan did
nothing but laugh. To their parting backs, the guildmaster called, “And don’t
be naming them while I’m out of earshot!”

“Actually, that is a good thought,” Sylvie admitted,
admiring the puppies. “We do need to name them. What do we have, boys? Girls?
One of each?”

“I’ll have to set them down to examine them,” Denney
responded. “So let’s get into market first and get what we need. We can figure
that part out later.”

ӜӜӜ

It was close, but they made Siobhan’s half-hour deadline.
With such capable help, they bought food, another jug of water, small bowls,
leather and buckles that could be made into collars, and two long lead lines
that Denney knew would be essential to keeping the dogs close until they
learned to stay within a certain perimeter of their people. When they got back
to the carts, Denney finally had the space and help she needed to examine the
dogs. They had one boy, one girl, both of them healthy if a little matted.
Denney had everyone feed them a little morsel of food, starting their
relationship with the dogs as ‘nice people that will feed you,’ an important
step in human-dog relationships.

While on the path, everyone took turns playing with and
petting the pups, which of course the dogs loved, so that by the time the path
ended only Grae hadn’t had real interaction with them. This was something that
the Pathmaker protested. Loudly.

Grae’s path from Vellshire took them to a small village,
where they stayed most of the night, and then from there they traveled directly
to the desert. Denney’s mother had described a desert to her before, one of the
few times she had spoken about home, and her journey to reach Quigg. She’d
journeyed through the desert for several days before reaching Island Pass.
Denney, now that she faced it, realized that a description didn’t do the place
justice. Saying that it was dry, and hot, and full of nothing but sand and
cactus—mostly sand—didn’t really give the full picture.

The heat rose from the sand in visible waves. The air was
dry, so much so that it seemed to suck all of the moisture out of her, and she
was still lingering somewhat on the edge of it. There was green visible behind
her.

“From here, we walk.” Siobhan put hands on hips, arms
akimbo, and viewed the desert ahead with a sort of resigned determination.
“Mercy, but I do hate this leg of the trip. I always get sunburned, no matter
how much of that oil I put on.”

Sylvie reached into the cart and handed her a wide-brimmed
white hat. “Try this.”

Siobhan’s eyes lit up as she accepted it and put it on. It
did not match what she was wearing, not at all, but it did shade her face and
neck very well. “Bless you, Sylvie, that’s already cooler. Master Conli, you’re
about as fair as I am, do you have a hat too?”

Conli pulled out a more masculine version and put it on.
“Miss Sylvie made sure of it.”

“Good, good.” Siobhan eyed Denney dubiously. “Tran doesn’t
burn with his skin, but I’m not sure about you. Do you burn easily?”

“Not really,” Denney said with a weighing stare at the
desert ahead. “But I’ve also never been in a place like this before.”

“Oil up, just in case,” Siobhan advised, already reaching in
her own pouch for a bottle. “Here, sit still and I’ll do the honors while the
caravan boss gets her people sorted and ready to move.”

Denney had no idea how to react to this friendly woman that
sat her down, rubbing oil over a person’s face that she had only known two
days. Siobhan Maley didn’t seem to meet a stranger, and she was as comfortable
with Denney as she was with her own guildmates. It was baffling and warming all
at the same time.

“Now, as you can feel, this place can just suck the life
right out of a person,” Siobhan said as she rubbed. “So you put this on every
time we stop to eat. And drink. Drink lots. Drink when you aren’t even
particularly thirsty. I’ve had people faint on me before and it’s not any fun
to deal with.”

Conli went alert. “Will I be treating heat exhaustion?”

“Hopefully not,” Fei observed, perched at the top of the
cart and with a hand shielding his eyes. “These are all veterans, after all.
But stupid things do happen so I would be prepared just in case.”

“Be most wary of sandstorms.” Tran had his eyes trained on
the horizon, and he didn’t turn his head towards them as he spoke. “They are a
real concern here.”

“Sand…storm?” Denney repeated the unfamiliar word, turning
at Siobhan’s direction so the woman could do the back of her neck and ears.

“Scary things, those.” Tran continued the explanation,
although he bounced on the edge of his toes, as if he wanted to already be
moving. “Because we’re somewhat close to the coast, the wind rises, and kicks
up the loose sand. It comes in fast and hard, lasts for several hours, and
disappears just as quickly.”

“When they do come, there’s no way to outrun or avoid them,”
Fei picked up the explanation. “We hunker down inside the cart, with a steady
tarp tied taut over us to keep the sand out. It’s harsh enough to take off your
skin if you’re not protected.”

This alarmed Denney and without meaning to she jerked away
from Siobhan’s hands. “What about the animals?”

“We have their heads in with us,” Siobhan assured her,
amused. “Don’t worry. Their hides protect them from the bulk of it. As long as
their eyes, ears, and mouth are covered, they weather the storms just fine.”

“She loves animals,” Conli explained to the group in
general.

“I can see that,” Siobhan responded, amused. “Turn back
around, Miss Denney, I’m not done yet. If I don’t put oil along the part in
your hair, you will be cursing me later.”

Oh. Right. Denney obediently turned back around. “And the
puppies?”

“We’ve always got extra material to screen with. We’ll just
wrap it around the pair of them and try to keep them still and calm until the worst
passes. But Miss Denney, I’m counting on you to keep an eye on the pups and
make sure they don’t get dehydrated out here. They’ll heat up fast with all of
that fur on them.”

“I will,” Denney promised, already watching them from the
corner of her eye.

As Siobhan worked, she ordered, “Tran, run ahead and see if
we’re ready to go. We should be by now.”

Tran tapped his heart twice in a quick manner and moved off
with a loping gait. It made Denney’s eyes sting to see that mannerism, as her
mother used to do the same thing all of the time. It had been years since she’d
seen someone do it.

In possibly the strangest pose ever seen, Fei stood up in
the cart and then put one foot flat on the side, using it to balance himself as
he leaned sideways. It looked so odd, as if he could fall over anytime, but he
stayed rock steady without any apparent strain or worry.

His guildmaster had apparently seen him do this before as
she casually asked, “See him?”

“He’s waving us to move.”

“Then we must be ready. Fei, which side do you want today?”

“East side, front.”

“Then go.”

With a sideways flip, he leapt free of the cart, long coat
flaring out. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he went ahead of them in a
ground-eating stride.

“Wolf?” Siobhan asked.

“Back and east,” he responded, staying firmly planted where
he was.

“Works for me. Tran will take the west side, it seems. I’ll
take back and west. We should be covered on all sides that way. Beirly, Grae,
both of you keep your eyes peeled for storms. This early in the season, we have
a fifty-fifty chance of getting one on this leg of the trip.”

The men gave her nonverbal grunts of agreement and sat on
the cart so that they faced opposite directions.