Chapter 7
Cold swept through my system. I knew this feeling. I’d had it before. When? I couldn’t remember.
I’m coming. Axen sounded as frightened as I felt.
“Raisa? Are you all right?” Thone’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
I blinked and realized that the rumbling had stopped. I quickly straightened and brushed myself off, embarrassed at my reaction. “I apologize. I was… startled.” It sounded lame even to my own ears, but he accepted it graciously enough.
He turned back to the road. “Perhaps we should wait and make sure the ground has done all it intends to do. Tomorrow might be safer.”
Still ragged from the panic that had gripped me moments before, I lost my grip on social niceties. “It is better not to delay. If you wish to walk to Krenish, do so. I’ve no desire to take all day at this, so I will fly on Axen and meet you there.” My feet itched with a desire to get off the ground, away from the memory of the foreign-yet-familiar rumbling.
Axen landed with a thump behind me, sending another tremor up my legs, but this one was comforting. I had to exercise restraint to keep myself from running and throwing myself on her.
Thone hesitated, then shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Well, I suppose if you have made up your mind to fly there, then there’s nothing I can say about it.”
That’s right, there isn’t, I thought, but somehow managed to keep from saying it out loud. I strode to Axen’s side and reached toward her horns, tilted just within my reach.
“But I suppose that if you do intend to fly, then there’s no reason I should slow matters by walking.” Thone hurried to my side. “If you feel it’s appropriate.”
I felt myself relaxing. “I do.” Put your head down. We’re going to climb your neck scales.
She snorted as she lowered her head to the ground. Why can’t he climb on the normal way?
I’m not interested in giving him a lesson on swinging from horns. I want out of here.
I felt my own desire reflected inside of her, but also the same puzzlement. Neither of us could quite place why the rumbling was so familiar or so alarming.
As I climbed into place and directed Thone behind me, I resolved to put it out of my mind. There was nothing I could do about it. The best thing was to focus on the task at hand. Get to Krenish. Figure out a way to get two stubborn men to agree to peace. The sooner that was accomplished, the sooner I could leave.
Thone had barely settled into position, gingerly gripping a scale ridge, when Axen launched herself toward the sky. The man let out a yelp and clung to her neck tighter than a frightened tree-snit.
I barely noticed, instead feeling an immediate sense of safety and freedom as the wind tore free across me. It felt so good that I didn’t correct Axen when she chose to circle above Krenish a couple of times before landing in an empty field just to the side of the settlement. The circling probably set more of a threatening tone than we wanted, but I was too eager to stay in the air for as long as possible to care.
Axen rested her head on the ground and waited patiently for us to climb off. I turned to see if Thone needed a hand prying his frightened grip loose.
His eyes shone with exhilaration, a few patches of hair sticking straight up from the wind he’d caught behind me. “That was…” He cleared his throat, seeming to regain some of the culturally dictated dignity he was supposed to exude as a leader. “That was certainly different.”
I grinned, feeling more endeared to him than ever. “Pardon me for saying, tabe-ro, but you may wish to smooth your hair down before we meet with Jennik.”
He fixed his hair and climbed down. His legs wobbled slightly on the ground, but he regained his stability and walked closer to the city’s edge. I followed behind him.
The place looked empty, but then I saw eyes peering out through windows. Our approach had likely frightened the people into taking shelter. I briefly regretted allowing Axen that freedom.
Jennik cracked a door in a larger building nearby and first glared at us, then at Axen.
Thone came to a stop. “We’ve come to talk.”
Jennik glared a moment longer, then cautiously stepped out from his shelter. “Talk, huh? I doubt that. Come to get a little revenge for last night, more like. Go ahead and let the dragon do its worst. We’ll unleash double back on your pathetic little village.”
“We’re not here to attack you,” Thone said, keeping his voice steady.
A handful more men emerged from buildings, clustering behind their leader. More joined in, apparently emboldened when Axen didn’t toast them all on the spot.
Jennik snorted. “You come with that beast and no intentions of attack, is that what you want us to believe?”
“The dragon is only here to make certain no harm comes to me as we talk,” Thone said. Smooth. “But I have no intention of hurting any of you. I only wish to find a way to resolve our problems.”
“I’m sure.” Jennik spat at Thone’s feet. “Then get back on your dragon and get out of here. We have no interest in talking.”
Thone glanced back at me. He didn’t say anything, but his face said it all for him: see? I told you they wouldn’t listen.
I was no diplomat, no question there. But that didn’t matter. Diplomacy and tact weren’t going to be much good here right now. Jennik and his men were defensive, and we wouldn’t get anywhere unless they moved past that. I dipped my head in a slight bow of deference to Thone. “I beg your indulgent pardon, tabe-ro. I’m afraid I must step outside my place.”
He gave me a questioning look, but I’d already turned to Jennik. Any trace of deference and manners were gone now. They wouldn’t help. I had to speak his language. “You don’t seem to understand. If I wished, your entire village would be gone in less than a full minute.”
Jennik gaped, then his ears turned red as he shot me a furious glare. “Are you threatening me, female?”
“Hardly. I’m informing you of your fairly precarious position.” I gestured toward Axen. “She would swoop down over your village and strike the buildings as she passed, collapsing the structures and trapping your people inside. Then she would make a second pass, unleashing her flames and torching every building to cinders. And don’t worry about anyone who wasn’t trapped inside the rubble. She has keen senses unlike any we possess. She can track every enemy down by their scent, no matter how far they run, no matter where they hide. She will find you.” I took a moment to look over the whole group, making eye contact with as many as I could. “Every. Last. One.”
Axen let out a snort of steam toward the air.
The men jumped back, looking decidedly more pale than they had a moment before. Even Jennik looked like he had just swallowed a berry only to learn it was poisonous. He cleared his throat, still feeling a need for bravado. “If you so much as try it…”
“You’ll do what?” I let my laugh ring out loudly before leaning closer to him, meeting his eyes without blinking. “You tried to kill me, and my guardian is fully aware of this. What chances do you think you have of making it out alive if I unleash her on your city?”
His mouth moved a couple of times, but no sound came out. A war raged across his face between the outrage of being spoken to in such a manner and the knowledge that every word I’d said was true. For the first time in ages, he was facing a superior force and was helpless to defend himself against it.
Good. Now it was time to move forward. “It’s true that I could have you all destroyed before you could do any further harm to Emsha. It certainly would be an easier way to address the problem here. But I have no interest in doing so. Nor does Thone. He came here because he has no desire to see you or your people come to harm, even though you have made it clear you do not hold the same respect for him and his people. He would rather come to some peaceful agreement with you than simply destroy you all.”
Jennik’s lips twisted darkly. He glared at Thone. “I see how it is. Now we have to lie down and give you everything, or else you kill
us all. You think you can just push us around now that you’ve got a pet dragon at your beck and call.”
“She is not a pet,” I snapped, then caught myself. That wasn’t the most important misconception to correct right now. “And she is not at anyone’s beck and call. In fact, neither she nor I will have any part in this discussion. This problem is between you and Thone, so it is the two of you who will need to find resolution. As Thone said, the dragon and I are merely here to make sure you don’t take advantage of the situation and try to kill him when he has come to you in peace.”
“Right,” Jennik sneered.
“It’s true,” Thone said. His voice sounded stronger now, bolder. “For decades, you and your people have exploited and even killed our people without reason. But even after all that, I’m not interested in bringing harm to you or your people.”
His eyes rested on the road back toward Emsha for a moment. When he turned back, a new glint of resolution shone in his eyes. “My people will not accept this treatment any longer, dragon or no dragon. The dragon could leave today, you could rush to our village and start your slaughter, but we will not lie down and accept your domination any further. We will fight until there’s no one left for you to claim your tributes from any longer. But I would prefer that we come to some agreement for peace here today. A treaty that you cannot change the terms of on a whim. A treaty that will benefit both your people and ours.”
Jennik’s eyes narrowed. He seemed to be trying to gauge if Thone was bluffing.
I was glad I wasn’t expected to speak, because I was too stunned to do so.
Axen’s shocked thoughts flew through my mind. What did he just say?
She couldn’t precisely understand everything around me, but she understood the meaning and intent well enough. She was just as startled as I was at Thone’s willingness to stand up to the bullies. Rik’s speech last night must have inspired him. And perhaps a bit of my own counter-cultural boldness had helped, as well.
Jennik’s jaw muscles worked a moment longer, then he jerked his head to the side. “Let’s talk.”
The two leaders walked several paces away to speak out of earshot of both myself and Jennik’s men. The men glared at me briefly, but kept a careful distance, mindful of Axen’s watching eye.
Their hostility didn’t bother me. I watched with a renewed sense of hope as the two leaders begin stiff negotiations. It had been a long shot, the longest I’d ever pursued. But it looked like it just might work. With any hope, I’d be on the road and back to my travels, to the proper order of my life, by evening.
The ground rumbled.
I froze, the same incapacitating terror flooding back into my system as the packed dirt trembled beneath me. Axen’s own fear lanced through my mind, pinning me further in place.
The men crouched slightly to ride out the shakes, grumbling about another earthquake so soon.
I wanted to scream it. This isn’t an earthquake! This is something much worse. Something terrible. Something deadly.
Even if I could have forced my locked vocal chords to produce sound, I couldn’t say such things. I knew it wasn’t an earthquake, but I didn’t know what it was. I had no explanation or answers. Only fear.
The shaking turned into a violent rolling, rattling motion. My leg gave out, and I landed hard on the ground.
The men shouted in alarm and drew away from the violently swaying buildings. People spilled out of the structures and fled toward the road, the one open area safe from the rattling buildings and trees all around. Jennik raced after his people, swearing loudly.
Thone staggered across the swaying ground. “We have to get back to Emsha!”
My body wouldn’t move, wouldn’t respond. The ground moved beneath me as if it wanted to swallow me whole. I couldn’t breathe.
“Raisa!” Thone’s voice barely made it through the terror clogging my brain. He caught my arm and pulled me to my feet. “We have to go. Hurry!”
Axen dipped her head toward me, her eyes wide and darting.
I grabbed her horn and almost forgot about Thone, barely grabbing his arm in time to pull him up behind me as Axen flicked her head upward, depositing both of us on the back of her neck.
Thone yelled in surprise and clutched at her scale ridges. The shout was torn away from him as we took to the air.
I clung to Axen’s neck, unable to take my eyes off the violently shaking trees below. This was wrong. Too wrong.
Then Emsha was below us. People rushed around, shouting and helping pull each other along the rolling ground, seeking the safety of the open field behind the village or the road in front.
Axen landed and lowered her neck to the ground.
Thone jumped down and started shouting directions, but I didn’t hear them. Axen leaped into the air, and we left the shaking village far behind us.
When the fear finally subsided and my thoughts cleared, I found myself in darkness, lying on Axen’s head, my fingers absently stroking the soft edge of her ear. A soothing purr thrummed deep in her throat.
Memories trickled through my mind. We’d rested like this many times when I was only a child, her thrum calming me and my fingers calming her. I breathed slowly in and out, trying to make some sense of what had happened. Guilt flicked through my mind for the way I’d run away instead of helping, but I knew I wouldn’t have been any help had I stayed put. I’d frozen. Why?
Looking back on it now, the earthquakes didn’t seem so scary. I’d been in worse before. What had been so different about this one?
I lightly squeezed the edge of Axen’s ear. Did you recognize the shaking?
A shudder passed through her body, interrupting the thrum. Yes.
What was it?
I don’t know.
I exhaled slowly. I know it from somewhere else, but I can’t remember where or what it was.
I felt her agreement in my mind. She also recognized it, but couldn’t remember what it was. I searched my memory, scrolling back the years. Coldness gripped me as I descended into my childhood, colder and colder until I gave up and clung to Axen’s scales.
She shivered beneath me.
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, twisting the ring around my finger a few times until I’d recaptured my calm. We’ll have to keep trying to think of what it was. But for now, we should go back and see if we can help Emsha.
She shivered again.
Hopefully it will be over by now, I added. If the ground was still shaking when we got back, I wasn’t sure I would be able to convince either of us that landing and helping would be a good idea.
It better be. She reluctantly stood and shuffled out of the cave.
We were halfway up one of the mountains not too far from Emsha. I could see the valley stretching below with no signs of the thrashing quake. It looked like it was over.
Axen launched into the air, and before long, we landed on the road beside Emsha.
Don’t go too far.
I won’t.
I could feel the resolution in her promise, and it comforted me as I slid down to the ground. I patted her hand before she took off.
The village was bustling with activity as people worked to assess the damage to the buildings. It didn’t look like the structures had been harmed too badly by the shaking, though the center structure was back to leaning again. It might have to be rebuilt entirely. Good thing there was still plenty of lumber on hand from last night’s work.
There was some comfort in letting the terrifying experience melt into memory and focusing instead on the task at hand. I walked into the village, looking for Thone and eying the buildings as I went. A couple homes with unrepaired fire damage sagged more than before, but that seemed to be the worst of it. Mostly I just heard a lot of excited chatter about the ‘earthquake,’ how it was the worst one some had ever seen, how the older village members remembered a worse one some time back but couldn’t quite agree on how many years it had been since.
&nbs
p; “There you are.” Rik fell into step beside me. “Are you all right? You left so abruptly, I was concerned.”
I felt my cheeks warm. “I’m fine. Have you seen Thone?”
“Sure, this way.” Rik angled toward the back of the village. “I suppose that if I had a way to get away from that quake as quickly as flying, I’d want to take it.”
The blush grew, joined by a flush of indignation. I wasn’t some coward to run away in the face of danger.
And yet, that’s exactly what I’d done.
He glanced at me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I’m glad you were somewhere safe. I was just musing, perhaps if something like that happens again, we could put the other women and children on Axen to get to safety, too.”
Of course. He didn’t mean to imply I was a coward. He was just being the quintessential Traditional Elf man. Get the treasures to safety and then deal with the problem.
“But I’m glad you were safe. I was worried. I mean, I wanted to be sure you were, well, safe.” He trailed off lamely.
“Thank you.” I spotted Thone ahead, helping secure angled beam to add extra support for a wilting house. “I see him. Thank you for your help.” I quickened my pace toward the village leader, leaving Rik behind.
Thone glanced my way as I approached. “You left in a hurry. Is something wrong?”
My cheeks burned anew. I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. How could I explain the soul-numbing terror I felt over a little rattle in the ground?
“No,” I lied. “I apologize for leaving you so abruptly, tabe-ro. I hope no one was hurt?”
“Thankfully, no injuries.” He surveyed the buildings around him. “But those earthquakes didn’t help our repair efforts.”
“I understand. I’m glad no one was hurt.” I moved on, knowing I was rushing matters but not caring. “Now that the…” I couldn’t bring myself to call it an earthquake. “Now that things are calmer, perhaps we can return to Krenish?” More than ever now, I wanted to finish this and be on my way.
He shook his head. “Later. After we know there won’t be any further earthquakes. It won’t do us any good to get there and have our negotiations disrupted by another quake. Besides, I’m needed here, helping repair these buildings. Some of them might not last through another shaking unless we reinforce them now.”
That was that. My feet promptly demanded that I turn and march to the road, get scooped up by Axen, and disappear beyond the horizon, never to return. Most of my mind and body agreed with that plan.
But I’d always been stubborn. I couldn’t just let this go and leave Emsha helpless. Something inside of me trembled at the thought of staying put. I silenced it and marched over to the table set up outside of Jec’s smithy, grabbed a hammer, and joined in with the workers.
Hours passed on razor’s edge, with me jumping at any tiny rattle around me, before my nerves began to settle. The shaking hadn’t returned. Maybe it, whatever it was, truly was over. As I grew calmer, I mulled things over in my mind. I’d faced down charging beasts, highwaymen, terrible storms of all types, all with only the smallest twinges of fear that were easily ignored and set aside for the sake of what needed to be done. For that matter, it wasn’t that long ago I’d faced down Jennik and his men, alone and unarmed, with no fear except that they would hurt Fasha before I could get her to safety.
So why did a little rumble in the ground turn me into a useless, helpless mess of terror?
No matter how much I turned the matter over in my mind, I couldn’t find the answer. When I pounded in a nail hard enough to leave a deep indentation in the wood, I realized that the lack of answers was getting the better of me.
It must have been something from my childhood. Some deep-seated phobia that I’d forgotten. In which case, it wasn’t worth dwelling on. I’d just have to be strong enough to ride out the fear next time.
If there was a next time. I wiped my brow and looked at the sun. It was near evening, and there hadn’t been the slightest trace of shaking since I’d returned. Whatever it had been must be gone now.
Something rumbled through me, a more familiar and less frightening sensation. Hunger. I felt it echoed from Axen.
Go hunt. I’m safe.
Are you sure?
In spite of her words, I could tell she felt much the same as I did. Nothing had happened for hours. Nothing was going to happen. It was okay.
I’m sure. Go eat. Find something crunchy.
A flash of delight and anticipation shot to me from her mind as she took to the air.
Rik tapped my shoulder. “May I have the honor of escorting you, raisa?”
I turned. The center structure had been restabilized in the time I’d been working on homes, and the tables beneath were covered with all manner of sumptuous foods. Most of the benches were already filled with villagers happily chatting. Nothing like the fulfilling sense of a day’s hard work followed with a feast to bring up spirits.
I’d been so distracted by my own puzzle, I hadn’t even noticed the feast being prepared or the people gathering. I set my hammer aside and accepted Rik’s waiting arm, letting old habits of tradition guide my steps. “I am honored that you would ask, tabe.”
He beamed and walked me to one of the empty spaces, helping me to my seat on the bench before dropping down beside me.
I followed the others’ lead in loading up my plate, but no one took a bite of the food yet, waiting for the rest of the workers to join the meal.
Once everyone was there, Thone stood up at the head of the gathering space. “We have accomplished much together. Jennik and his bullies may try to bring us down. Even the ground itself may turn against us. But we remain together. We rebuild. We refuse to allow such things to defeat us. And that makes us mighty.”
A rousing cheer rose from the crowd.
He raised his cup, gave thanks to the Maker for the village and the meal, and everyone dug in.
Rik chatted at me through the meal. Erret gave me the occasional stink eye from one of the other tables. People around me occasionally told me how glad they were that I’d come and that Axen was here. I gave polite responses without really hearing much of it. I still couldn’t shake the sense of unease over the morning’s bizarre events. I simply couldn’t find a way to set it aside and join in the joviality around me.
It plagued me throughout the entire meal and followed me like a storm cloud as I helped clean up along with everyone else. After carrying a third load of dishes to the newly repaired inn for the children to wash, I escaped out the front door and breathed in the twilight air, focusing on emerging stars above. I couldn’t stay here. I couldn’t keep this up. Either Thone went with me to Krenish first thing tomorrow morning, or I left.
A tug of guilt pressed against my soul. Leave them to whatever vengeance Jennik would unleash. I was almost tempted to just call for Axen to wipe out Krenish and solve the problem in the fastest way possible.
I shook the thought aside, feeling sick for even entertaining such ideas. My thumb lightly rubbed against the edge of my ring. I couldn’t use Axen as a weapon. I knew the implications of such things. I couldn’t allow it.
Rik leaned against the wall beside me. I hadn’t noticed him approach. “What’s wrong?”
I exhaled. “Nothing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry. I mean…” I tried to think of a way to put it. “I’m not used to staying in one place. It leaves me out of sorts.” It sounded pathetic to me, but hopefully not to him.
“It must be lonely.”
His comment caught me off-guard. “I’m never lonely. I have Axen.”
“I can’t imagine only having one close friend. Never being surrounded by people I love. Never knowing anyone else, not in any real sense.”
I shrugged. “It’s what I’m used to.”
“Is that why you hold all of us at arm’s length?”
I looked at him now, unsure how to respond. I thought
I’d been perfectly polite, at least for the most part. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I just meant…” He fumbled for words. “Perhaps if you gave yourself a chance to truly get to know us, then staying put wouldn’t seem so bad.”
I looked down, unsure how to respond to that and feeling distinctively uncomfortable.
Voices down the road saved me from having to say anything. A group of travelers drew nearer, looking worn out and ready for rest.
I leapt onto the chance for a distraction—both from Rik’s strange comments and from my own internal puzzle—and stepped forward to greet them. “Good evening, friends,” I called loudly.
They quieted slightly, then one called back. “To you as well. You look like you’re enjoying this fine evening.”
“I am indeed. And you look ready for a hot meal and a pleasant night’s sleep.”
Rik almost choked behind me. “Raisa…”
Thone stepped out of the inn, apparently curious about my loud voice. He gave Rik a questioning look.
The leader of the group chuckled. The group was close enough now to make out more clearly. They were all Kadrians, with the high pyramid-shaped ears, wide cat-like eyes, and flat noses typical to their kind, and he was one of the tallest I’d seen—which was saying something, considering how tall Kadrians naturally tend to be. He smiled my way. “Yes, though I’m afraid we still have some travel ahead to the nearest inn.”
I laughed. “Don’t be silly. You’re about to walk past the finest lodgings I’ve ever stayed in.”
Thone frowned at me. It wasn’t proper to make a gaudy display like this for any Elf, but especially not for a woman.
I didn’t care. I patted the building behind me. “Finest food this side of the mountains, I guarantee it. And the beds alone are worth minstrel’s songs. I wager you’ve had your fill of burlap stuffed with straw masquerading as a mattress?”
The looks on their faces told me they had.
“Then your bodies will sing the songs of heavenly choirs for a night at this inn. They boast the softest, most divine beds I’ve ever found at any inn along the main road. You’ll think the Maker came and took you without your notice.”
Thone stepped toward me. “Raisa,” he said quietly, “perhaps you should go inside.”
Boasting, brash, bold. All the things Traditional Elf culture hated. If I went inside, he would apologize for disrupting their travels and wish them well on their way. He would only pursue their business if they asked further questions.
I ignored him. “And it’s all for a mere six regals a night per head. That comes with your evening and morning meal, mind you. Have you had a chance to enjoy Traditional Elf cooking?”
The travelers stared at me, round-eyed.
Thone cleared his throat loudly. “I apologize for my friend’s behavior. She’s quite mistaken about the cost.”
“I thought so,” the leader laughed in relief. “I’ve never seen a place along the main road which charges less than ten regals a night, and that rarely includes any food.”
Now it was Thone’s turn to gape.
I smiled and stepped past him. “In truth, they should be charging ten regals, but as I’m occupying one of the rooms, two of you will have to share one room, and thus the discount. And it certainly is the case that they charge a bit less than they ought, but they have been greatly blessed here, and they merely wish to extend that generosity to others.”
One of the women whispered to the leader, looking at the inn’s windows with the longing of a traveler past ready to put her feet up and enjoy a fresh meal.
He eyed the inn. “We’ve traveled this way before many times. I never knew there was an inn here.”
“A quirk of Traditional Elf culture.” I gestured to the symbol on the door. “They use more subtle indications of services, rather than the large hanging signs more commonly used. This symbol is the sign for lodging and food.”
Another traveler tugged at the leader’s sleeve and whispered.
He nodded. “Well, I dare say we’re ready for some food and rest. Thank you, miss.”
“My pleasure.”
Thone recovered enough to give the group a proper greeting and usher them inside. I heard an immediate flurry of activity from inside the building as Tarvia rushed to direct the children through serving the guests.
I couldn’t help but smile. A pleasant distraction indeed, and I couldn’t help feeling I’d done a proper good deed here. With any hope, the Kadrians would be pleased enough with the service here that they’d spread the word. There was no reason Emsha shouldn’t be a growing, booming center of business along the road—no reason except for the fact that they didn’t advertise their services in a way that anyone else might recognize.
Rik was staring at me. “That was…” He lost whatever words he might have had.
I could see his thoughts clearly enough on his face, though. Part of him was impressed and pleased that I’d brought business to his village. Part of him was scandalized that any Elf, especially a woman, would speak so boldly and crassly about such matters. It would probably break his mind to learn that my sales pitch had been mild in comparison to the usual hucksters steering travelers toward services in other cities along the main road.
“Good evening, tabe,” I said and turned to the inn, ready to collapse into bed and bask in the new feelings of accomplishment.
The door opened before I reached it, and Thone, Jec, Erret, and Jaska stepped out.
As Erret quietly shut the door, looking like he’d rather not be there, Thone squarely faced me. “We wish to have a word with you, raisa.”
I nodded, unsure what to think. Was I about to be told to be on my way, that they didn’t tolerate such behavior here? Part of me almost welcomed the thought.
Thone glanced at the others. “You… mentioned that our method of indicating our services is not typical.”
I nodded again.
His strong stance faltered, only slightly, before he continued. “We have never been interested in abandoning tradition for the sake of others’ demands.”
I still couldn’t quite gauge where this was going. “Of course.”
“But sometimes traditions change with time.” He shifted his weight. “And it seems that if travelers do not know the services we offer, then perhaps they would not stop and seek those services.”
I finally caught a glimmer of direction. “That is true.”
He glanced at the others again, looking awkward.
Jec cleared his throat. “Perhaps you can help us know what sort of signs the typical traveler would be looking for.”
“Of course.” I almost smiled, but caught myself and put on a properly respectful, serious face. “It would be my honor.”
“Good.” Thone bobbed his head. “Tomorrow, then. First thing. And…” He paused. “And perhaps someone who has traveled much would have a better idea of the value of our services. We have no interest in cheating anyone,” he added quickly, “but we wish to charge what is fair. For all parties involved.”
“I would be happy to assist however I can.” A nugget of a thought seized my mind. A risk, but one worth taking. “After you and I have spoken with Jennik and resolved matters between you.”
Thone’s expression turned sour.
Erret glared. “I don’t believe it’s your place—”
“No,” Thone interrupted. “Very well, raisa. First thing in the morning, we will visit Krenish and see if we can resolve matters. And upon our return, even if Jennik refuses reason, we will discuss this business.”
If I was in any other village, I’d have shaken his hand. Instead, I pressed my hands together at my side in proper deference and lightly bowed. “As you have said, tabe-ro.”
I woke the next morning feeling wonderful. We would resolve matters with Krenish. The travelers would spread word about the amazing and inexpensive inn at Emsha. The signs would draw in more travelers. And I could go on my way, knowing I’d left t
he place better than it had been when I arrived.
I ate with the Kadrians, chatting lightly about the surrounding areas and hazards of traveling the roads. As we finished our meal, the leader caught my attention. “You were right, miss. This is the finest inn I’ve ever stayed at.”
“Tell your friends,” I said. “This place isn’t going anywhere.” I noticed Thone frowning slightly at my manners and once again ignored him.
The Kadrian grinned. “We certainly will. And we’ll be back in a few weeks as we return to Innsbrooke.” He patted his stomach and directed his voice toward the kitchen. “And I know I’ll be looking forward to another round of this amazing cooking.”
Tarvia politely dipped her head along with her children.
The Kadrians wished us all a pleasant day and left.
Thone was still washing up and preparing for the day. I waited as long as I could manage, then finally wandered outside to the stand in the middle of the road and wait in the sunlight. I was impatient to get moving, but not nearly as impatient as I’d felt before. I knew the travelers would do as they said and return to stay here again, as well as telling their friends about this place. Everything was finally going right.
The ground rumbled beneath my feet.
Terror shot through my system, rooting me in place. I closed my eyes and forced myself to take deep breaths. It’s nothing but an earthquake. It’s just a childhood phobia returning to haunt you. It’s nothing to be afraid of.
I opened my eyes just as hands burst upward from the ground around my feet.