The tall, muscular man with short tusks jutting from his lower jaw crossed his arms over his chest and watched from a respectful distance as Anaya picked a few pieces of fruit from the cart. She tucked them into her sack and then turned to look him over.
“Tell me again who you are?”
He grunted, giving her a soft smile that looked strange upon his gruff face.
“Just a traveller,” he answered.
“And what are you doing with these carts?”
This time he chuckled a little, a sound that rattled from the depths of his chest. “I was just getting ready to send them along to the Captain. It seems he’s been tasked with a rather impossible task over there.”
Anaya’s eyes flicked over to the soaring cloud of smoke and then back to Brugo.
“If you’re heading that way, I’d like to have a look around, myself,” she said, watching for the big man’s reaction.
He shook his head. “I didn’t say I was heading that way. I said I was getting ready to send the carts that way. I have no intention of going anywhere near that mess of soldiers.”
Anaya’s brow crinkled and she tilted her head at him quizzically. “Oh? So these aren’t your carts then. Interesting…” He narrowed his eyes at her, but she shrugged and smiled up at him, twirling a strand of hair around her finger as she thought about her options.
She wanted to go to the tower, inadvisable as that may be, and the idea of having a big, strong man along for the journey was a welcoming one. For one thing, she didn’t know who else might be on the road at a time like this, and if there truly were soldiers surrounding the tower, she knew this man would have a much easier time talking to them than she would. Any soldier would be outright suspicious of a young woman traveling alone, especially one poking around such a dangerous place.
“You say there are soldiers over there. Do you know how many?”
He thought for a moment before nodding. “I’d say about twenty passed me on the road. More than I’d want to tangle with.”
Anaya sighed. Twenty soldiers was a lot. She’d be lucky to get close enough to see the tower at all, much less poking around the remains in search of anything that might be useful to her. She supposed she could wait around until nightfall to try and get a closer look, but that would only delay her leaving that much longer.
No, if she was going to the tower, she would have to go now, and if there was nothing to see, she would simply have to accept that. Her grandmother wouldn’t want her getting into trouble with the city’s soldiers, and she certainly didn’t want to get herself locked up, unable to go in search of her people. But there was another way for her to get close.
“Well, if you’ll not be leading these mules, I suppose I’ll just take them myself,” she announced, reaching for the rope tied to the front mule and giving it a little tug.
The mule snorted, pawing the ground before starting forward at a slow plod.
The big man shook his head in disbelief. “Suit yourself.”
Anaya scowled at him before turning away and heading down the path, two mules and carts in tow.
As it turned out, the mules were quite content to walk the path of their own accord, and actually seemed a bit annoyed at Anaya’s presence along the way. The front mule nipped at her when she reached for its muzzle, thinking to pet it, and she quickly stepped back, letting the animal follow its own path.
“That’s no way to treat a lady,” she remarked, shooting a disapproving look at the beast.
It snorted back at her, swishing its tail as it went.
Together, they walked up a small rise and started back down toward the tower’s remains. From the top of the little hill, Anaya could see the soldier’s armor glinting in the sun, and she quickly assessed the situation. The traveller had been correct in his estimation. She counted twenty two men including the ones on horseback, and she saw no simple way to get to the tower’s base. There was no way she could sweet talk her way past twenty guards.
As she stood watching the activity below, one of the men on horseback started shouting. This was followed by a flurry of activity from the soldiers as they fell into line behind their leader. To Anaya’s amazement, they marched away from the tower formation, leaving only two men to stand guard at the tower’s base.
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This was something she could work with.
However, she now had a different problem. The soldiers were coming straight toward her, and being that she was standing at the top of the hill, the officer on horseback had almost certainly spotted her there. She looked to her left and right, wondering if she could get clear of the path and find a suitable hiding place, but the land out here was flat and empty. She could not escape.
“You there!” The man shouted, reining up on his horse as he approached.
Anaya tilted her head up to him. “Good afternoon, sir.”
“What are you doing outside the city walls? We ordered everyone inside where it was safe.”
Anaya put on her biggest smile and gestured at the carts. “I was just bringing you lot some fresh food and water. The townspeople were worried you’d be out here a while, and they wanted to thank you for your service. Here.” She leaned over the cart and plucked a shiny red apple, turning to offer it to the soldier.
“Aye, well the search is already over. The mage is dead and the people are safe. I think my men would rather get back to town and enjoy a nice meal at the tavern. You really shouldn’t be out here alone. Come, you can walk with us.”
Anaya glanced down the hill, frowning, but the soldiers were already marching again. She couldn’t decline their offer. That would only make them suspicious. For now, she would have to play along and see if she could sneak away from the back of their line. The last man in the formation stopped, watching as she attempted to turn the mules around on the rutted path, fumbling with their guide ropes.
The mules snorted and stamped their hooves, but they refused to turn. The soldier watched impassively even as the rest of his battalion cleared the hill and disappeared over the other side.
“Come on, you stupid thing,” Anaya growled, growing anxious under the man’s watchful gaze.
“I’ve seen you before,” the man remarked, watching her struggle against the mule.
“Aye, I’m sure you have. All Makara look the same to you lot, don’t they?” she barked irritably.
Just at that moment, the mule sidestepped, shifting its weight so Anaya lost her balance. She tripped forward, throwing her arms out to catch herself and dropping her sack in the process. A hiss escaped her teeth as she lunged for her things, trying to conceal them from the guard’s view.
The guard cleared his throat, his boot appearing just inches from Anaya’s face as she cowered on the ground, breathing heavily.
She twisted, looking up into his dark eyes, dreading what was coming next.
“As I thought,” he mused, reaching down and lifting her roughly by the arm. “I knew these here carts weren’t yours. All that stuff about the townspeople was a lie, too, wasn’t it? They’ve never cared one bit about the likes of us. We’re just out here protecting them, and they’re going about their lives, ignoring us. No, I know the truth. You’re a common thief, just like all your kin, and these here carts belong to some poor soul back in town, don’t they?”
Anaya shook her head, willing herself to stay calm. She should’ve listened to that big man outside the gates. What had she been thinking?
“I-I don’t know, sir. I just found them on the road, and they were coming this way, so I followed along to see where they were headed. I didn’t mean to lie.”
The guard scoffed, digging his fingers into her arm harder, and she winced. The first tears spilled from her eyes and her lower lip wobbled.
“You just wait til I tell the Captain about all this. He’ll be sure to deal with you swiftly. He doesn’t have much liking for your kind, not since Tarian broke his heart. Now, empty that sack so I can see what else you’ve been pilfering from the good folk of Torg Uyen.”
She clutched her bag to her chest, desperate to keep the rest of her belongings hidden. Her mind, of course, was on the divining rods. She feared that exposing them would summon the harpies, or worse, whatever worse might be.
The guard growled at her defiance, reaching for the bag and snatching it away in his enormous fist. Anaya gasped in horror as he shook it over the road, letting its contents spill in every direction.
The divining rods landed amid the dirt, looking strangely dull amid all of her other belongings. She watched them, silently praying that the harpies would remain in the ethereal world, the place where they existed when they were not galling her day in and day out.
The soldier kicked at her things, amusing himself. “What’s this? A few of those Makara tricks and things? You people are so funny, thinking you can talk to the trees and whatnot. Do a trick for me, girl. Show me how they work.”
He released her arm, bending to reach for the divining rods. Anaya stepped back, glad to be free of the man’s grasp. But the instant his hand touched the unassuming copper rod, he jumped back with a yelp, startling the closest mule. The mule, in response, snorted and bit at the man’s arm, making him cry out again in anger.
He turned on Anaya, his face red and his eyes squinty. “You think that’s funny? You and your tricks are going to get you killed one of these days, Makara. Now get out of here, and don’t let me see you in our city again.”
Anaya, frightened, dropped to her knees and scooped her things up into her arms before scrambling back out of range of the soldier’s booted foot. He muttered a curse under his breath and grabbed the mule’s rope, yanking it hard until the beast whinnied a protest, but began moving in a slow circle.
Anaya turned and ran down the path a little way, leaving the roadway and seeking shelter behind a stand of bushes that barely concealed her.
Tears spilled down her cheeks and she shook, wrapping her arms tightly around her knees.
She was lucky to be alive. She was lucky to be free.
The first harpy shimmered into existence, fluttering about her head for a moment before settling atop a little rock and watching her curiously.
“Not you, too,” Anaya groaned.
It stretched its white and gold wings out wide, flapping them twice before tucking them back in and staring at her.
“Really, what do you want? You can’t mean to just stare at me like that all the time. You have magic! You could bother anyone.”
The harpy made a low whistling sound, hopping around on its clawed feet, but still it watched. Anaya sighed, wishing more than anything that she had listened to the traveller.