Refuge and answers

Previously: after a brief, brutal battle with the giant Hustyn, Mira and her companions flee into the forest and find an abandoned structure that provides some protection from the storm that is raging around them. As Seymuhr and Broo Fang Tane drift off to sleep--exhausted by their efforts in the fight--Esmiralda finally has a chance to take stock of her situation and get a few answers...

Gradually, the storm subsided. The shrieking winds gave to the gentle patter of steady rain as the sound of slow, heavy breathing filled our shelter. Gradually, too, my heart slowed, my ears stopped straining and my body stopped jumping at every cracked branch that fell, waterlogged, from the canopy outside. We were safe.

Seymuhr's rumbling snores would probably keep any small pests away--and give larger, more dangerous animals pause, as well. Broo Fang Tane was as silent in his slumber as he was in movement. Propped up against the far wall, ankles tucked up on his knees and head upright, he might even have been awake but resting with his eyes closed. Only Merrick stirred.

"So what tale will you tell of this night?" He asked as he crouched beside me.

I lifted my arm from my eyes. I was exhausted, but my head too full of such thoughts to find any true rest. I propped myself on an elbow and squinted at him in the gloom.

"I am not certain. Did you know such a thing was going on?" I shuddered again, thinking of the rolling cage and the horror those who were placed into it must have felt.

"I had a hunch. Rumors, if I be most truthful. I had heard a smattering of tales but had no direct knowledge."

"I don't know if it was brave to attempt such a task or foolhardy to look into the matter with only a pair of fighting companions..."

"I have a sword too, you can see," Merrick sounded indignant as he tapped his sheathed blade to prove it. He saw my hands, raised to forestall his protests, and leaned in close with a glance over his shoulder. "No offense taken. You will quickly see--if, indeed, you continue to journey with us--that those two can handle threats that are beyond most men. Rarely have I seen such fighting ability: strength and ferocity or quiet, deadly grace. I had no such fears.

"You asked me earlier why I chose to travel with such an odd group and that is but a part of it." Here Merrick paused and dug a finger into his beard. He sat down and crossed his legs, pulling his sword off his belt and placing it in his lap. He drummed his fingers on the covered blade for a few seconds, then grunted.

"Esmiralda. I sense some goodness in you, a trustworthiness that was absent from your colleague--indeed, that is absent from most women."

My indignation must have shown on my face. "I meant no offense by that--I meant it as a compliment," he added hastily, raising his hands to shield himself from the slap that would have rattled his teeth.

"You failed with that," I snapped. "You travel with kidnappers and brutes and you question my goodness and trust?"

"Forgive my awkward tongue. My words are not always this clumsy. I meant only that you seem like someone I can confide in, someone I can share my burden with. Someone," he took my fingertips in his hands. They were strong and warm, the skin dry but not cracked. "Someone who will understand."

"Understand what?" I did not pull my hands away.

"Our purpose. My purpose, if you want to be truthful. These two are not fully aware of who I am and what I seek to do." He leaned in close and I could smell the faint sweetness of wine on his breath. When had he had time for that? Men, it seemed, would always find time for such pursuits, even as their lives were being threatened. "I want you to know it. I think it was more than just circumstance that brought us together."

"Oh, it was, at that. It was a lout with a smelly shoulder."

His smile held little humor. "Our friend Seymuhr might have been the mechanism, but he was hardly the cause. He has a calling, too, of course. He is the hammer and the anvil in one, I guess you'd say. But I, too, have been chosen--not like the good Queen Phedrea, as you have, and not to record history like you and your friend Malak, but for a purpose just as important--perhaps even more so."

He paused to gather his breath and checked over his shoulder to ensure that Tane and Seymuhr were indeed asleep. I turned back to me, his eyes aglow with some mischief. As strange as this day and night had already been, I had a sudden feeling that the oddities were not yet behind me.