The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (8 page)

We’re safe. Safe.

My knees buckled and strange hands supported me, leading me to a bench. Kassie was next to me with Loi and Sian beside her, all gasping for breath. Audi was under the bench, waiting. Finally, we could draw normal breaths and sat up, looking around.

At least sixty people, mostly woman and children, stared anxiously at us. The few men in the room were armed and kept a close watch out the windows. I went to slip my sword back in its scabbard but my hands shook. Kassie guided the sword in.

'Thanks.'

I swallowed hard, willing away the tears that threatened.

It’s just shock Cat, breath, relax. You’re okay. You’re safe.
The words echoed in my head as I looked the others over. All red-faced like I must be, with the fear slowly fading from their eyes, accompanied by the realization that a room full of strangers stared at us.

Kassie gulped. No one seemed to look at them in a bad way, most just looked concerned. A strange sound caught her attention.

'Lucky,' she gasped.

Loi’s eyes went wide.

'Oh shit!'

Loi hastened to open the pack and Kassie wrenched the top of it wide. They peered in. The cat was huddled at the bottom, her eyes wide in fear. She whimpered at Kassie.

'Ooooh Lucky,' whispered Kassie her heart going out to her tiny, normally feisty cat.

Easing the cat onto her lap, she wrapped her arms around the shivering animal. Loi draped her cloak round Kassie’s shoulders shielding Lucky from everyone’s view. The cat relaxed a little and stretched; now she was on her mistress's lap. Kassie winced as claws dug into her thigh but didn’t scold Lucky; just cuddled her until she started purring.

Loi leaned over.

'Kass, is she okay?'

Kassie nodded as she hummed, soothing the cat.

'She’s starting to purr, so I think she’ll be fine.'

Cat and Sian leaned over, reaching under the cloak to stroke Lucky’s head, which made Audrey creep out from under the seat to see what everyone was looking at. The dog gave her friend a gentle poke, causing the cat to purr louder.

A voice piped up.

'What are you doing?'

Turning away from Kassie I saw a little boy, his eyes wide, trying to see what we were up to.

Smiling at him, I explained, 'Our cat was in one of the bags when we had to run and we’re checking she’s okay.'

He crept closer.

'Why did you bring your cat?'

He reached Lucky’s side and gently stroked her, she purred up at him through half shut eyes, adoring all the attention.

Kassie gave a light laugh.

'Well we didn’t intentionally bring Lucky; she just snuck along with us.'

A few people tittered when they heard Lucky’s name and the little boy smiled broadly at Kassie.

'She really is Lucky. 'Cause if you hadn’t seen her she could have been eaten by the elgrids.'

Ahh, so that was what those things are called.
I could see the same thought pass through Loi and Sian’s faces. Everyone in the room stared at us still.

They’ll want to know why we’re here, what do we say?
I gave Sian a soft nudge. Our eyes connected and I twitched my eyebrow at her.

Sian stared at Cat.

I don’t know what to tell them
, wailed the silly voice in her head.

Man up,
snapped her rational voice,
no, it wasn’t your intention for the spell to work like this but you are partially responsible
.

Cat gave her that hard look again and Sian gave a tiny nod.

Fine, let’s get this over with, she thought and sat up, glancing around the room until she met the eyes of a woman who stood observing them.

Right, here we go—best stick as close to the truth as possible
. Sian smiled at the woman.

The woman stepped forward and the room went silent as everyone gave her their attention.

'Greetings. Welcome to Lothost. My name is Henja and my husband and I own the Inn here,' Henja smiled at them.

Sian inclined her head.

'Greetings, Henja. Thank you for your welcome and for your town’s protection, it’s most appreciated.'

The girls nodded in agreement.

'What brings you here?' queried Henja.

Sian hesitantly began.

'We’re—searching—for someone who can help us. In a magical matter.'

She watched, amused as her friends’ faces went blank then changed to apparent knowledge. Good girls, she thought, follow my lead.

Henja looked fascinated.

'Oh? Perhaps our town caster can help. What’s the issue?'

'The shield which protects our realm has dissipated. We’re at a loss as to why. This means now creatures such as elgrids can get into our realm, where as before they couldn’t. While we’d heard of elgrids before, we’d never actually seen one.'

There was a stunned silence as everyone in the room gaped at them. One of the men stepped away from his position at the window.

'Never seen one? That must be an awfully strong shield.'

'Yes, it was. We’ve been told there’s someone with great power in this realm. We hoped to locate them and ask for their help.' Sian mentally crossed her fingers.

Please let this work.

'Oh you’ll be talking about Elena the Sorceress,' chimed up a little old lady. Henja agreed.

'Gran Nina is right; the Sorceress would be the ideal person to see.'

Sian felt a rush of relief, it had worked!

'Where does Elena usually reside?'

Henja frowned.

'Well normally at the Castle, but there have been some serious disturbances in the South and I believe she’s keeping an eye on that. Although that doesn’t mean she isn’t at the castle.'

I listened to the exchange while observing the people in the room. Their accent was so unusual, like an odd combination of Scottish, American and Asian. I continued to listen as Sian asked Henja where the castle was.

Their costume wasn’t what I’d expected either. Considering our weapons and outfits, I’d assumed the women would be in dresses and corsets. Instead there seemed to be some variety and absolutely no corsets. A couple of women wore heavy wrap-around skirts tied with a wide belt, paired with knee high boots and a fitted boat neck jersey. I was surprised; I guess our outfits aren’t that unusual then.

Gran Nina wore baggy trousers held up by a wide belt and a fitting tunic with side splits that fell to her hips. My own pants had a wide band and laced up over one hip and were well made if you took into account the sprint we’d just done. What sort of fabric is it, I wondered.

It isn't leather, maybe cotton, or something like it.
I rubbed my fingers over my knee, trying to identify it.

'We’d like to stay the night at your Inn if you have room, wouldn’t we, Catherine?'

I blinked in surprise at Sian’s none too gentle shove.

'Oh. Yes. Certainly, that would be great,' I assured Henja who beamed at us.

Right, focus on the conversation Cat.
It appeared Sian had arranged dinner and breakfast as well as a bath; I inwardly did cartwheels of delight at the idea of being clean.

Loi interrupted Sian.

'Henja, would you be able to arrange us some supplies, for the next few days?'

Henja lit up, eagerness at the prospect of business apparent on her broad face.

'Of course, it will cost extra though?'

'That’ll be no problem,' Sian assured her. 'As long as it’s enough to reach the next village.'

'Yes, yes. Though I should warn you, it’ll take around a month of walking to reach the castle. You must make sure to stock up well at each village.'

Loi gave me a look of concern at that. I pressed my lips flat and shrugged.

One month of walking.

Damn that's really going to suck.
I hope there are plenty of villages in between here and the castle.

Kassie listened hard while she pretended to focus on Lucky.

One month to the castle, she thought in despair, with elgrids about and likely other creatures too. She pursed her lips, trying to think of another solution. Nothing presented itself. She lifted her head and stared at the man who had spoken to them before.

'Yes?'

'I was just wondering what other creatures we should watch out for, ah…' Kassie gestured at him.

The man looked at her sharply, then after a moment gave a slight nod.

'I’m Wrenwick.'

'So, what other creatures can we expect on our journey, Wrenwick?'

Wrenwick frowned as he thought it over.

'When you reach the woods you may have to watch out for gragnolls, though I haven’t seen many lately, what with all this craziness going on in the South. It appears to be attracting them in hordes. We haven’t had many issues with uglies lately. Those elgrids that followed you are the first we’ve seen in weeks.'

Henja interrupted, 'You’ll need to watch out for the leeni too.'

She nudged Wrenwick in admonishment. 'And of course dragons.'

Sian’s head snapped up at that.

'Dragons?'

'Ooooh yes,' Gran Nina looked amused at Sian's shocked expression. 'We do get a few around here, though they tend to go for the cattle not wee scrawny girls.'

Curious, I asked, 'How big do the dragons get? And do they breathe fire?'

Wrenwick spoke up, glaring at Henja and Gran Nina for butting in.

'The biggest dragons can be the size of a large barn with a wing span four to five times the width, but they don’t breathe fire. At that size there isn’t really any need. It’s the little dragons, around your dog’s size, that breathe fire. They are usually rather civil and most castles employ one or two for keeping their fires going.'

I could see Sian was fascinated, at home her favorite mythical creature was the dragon. Mine, I guess, would be the Pegasus or unicorn; an off shoot from my, My Little Pony days.

The sudden thought of a My Little Pony doll prancing around in real life was somewhat unhinging.

We wandered in the direction Henja had sent us and studied the village. There must be around one to two hundred people living here, many more than I first thought. Locals watched us curiously from their doorways and I made an effort to smile at them. Apparently we didn’t fit in that well.

Loi noticed it too.

'Center of attention much,' she muttered.