“No reason to be embarrassed boy. You’re not the only one that got caught staring at her.”
Traven glanced around and found that the old man was not lying. Many of the men sitting along the walls were staring at her and several men were getting yelled at by very upset wives and lady friends. Traven took a deep breath. It was good to know that he was not the only one who had fallen under her spell.
“Sorry about that. It’s just I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as her.”
“Not many people have boy. I may be old, but I’m not blind yet. She ought not to mess with men’s minds like she does.”
“You can say that again,” Traven managed with a chuckle. “I wish this Meritza of yours would show up soon so I can get my business taken care of and have some fun.”
The old man looked at Traven with a confused look on his face and then started laughing.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I guess I forgot to mention it. That woman you’ve been gaping at is the merchant Meritza.”
Traven’s jaw hit the table. He quickly snapped his mouth shut before the old man could make another comment. The old man just started laughing again and turned back to clapping in time with the music.
Traven couldn’t believe it. He would be traveling all the way to Calyn with her! He didn’t even know if he would be able to handle that. He would be a nervous wreck the whole trip. Then again, he didn’t know how he was going to work up the courage to even ask if he could accompany her caravan. He had forgotten all about that little part. He guessed he would approach it the same way he had been originally planning to. Traven just hoped he would be able to get the words out when speaking to her. He took a few breaths and started to work up the courage to approach her. He decided that as soon as the musicians stopped to take a rest, he would approach her and try not to act like too much of a fool. In the meantime, he sat quietly at the table and rehearsed over and over again in his mind what he was going to say.
The musicians played several more songs, and Meritza continued to twirl around the dance floor taking one victim after another. She suddenly stopped dancing and headed for a table where two rugged, mean looking men were sitting and joined them. They must have been some of her bodyguards by the way she talked with them. Traven realized that the music had already stopped, and it was time for him to ask. It was now or never. He slowly rose from the table, and the old man wished him luck. Traven went through what he was supposed to do one more time in his head as he timidly made his way to Meritza’s table. She had her back to him and was in deep conversation with the two guards. They finally nodded and got up and left without a backwards glance just as he reached the table. He took a deep breath, laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, and started.
“Excuse me Ma’m,” Traven managed. She turned towards him with a smile. He tried to go on, but when confronted with her face all of his thoughts fled. He struggled in his mind to find them again, but they were nowhere to be found. “I um, um I wondering was, I mean if it would all be right I, ah.”
She was just staring at him with an amused look on her face. Luckily, all of his rehearsing came back to him in a rush and rescued him from doom. He made a slight bow with his head and out came everything he had rehearsed.
“Hello, my name is Traven. I will be journeying to Calyn on my way to attend the celebrated merchant school there. I discovered that you were leaving in the morning for Calyn and was wondering if I might have the honor of accompanying your caravan. I wouldn’t be a burden, and I can offer my sword in protection of the caravan.” He gulped in some air as he finished and was surprised that he had actually been able to get it all out. He had wanted to make the whole presentation grand rather than a rush of words, but at least he had gotten it all out.
“Oh, is that what this is all about,” she said with her tinkling laugh. “I thought you were so nervous because you were going to ask me to dance.” Traven felt his face blazing and wanted to run and hide. “I usually don’t let people accompany my caravan, but with all of these bandits around I guess I could use another guard.” Her face then turned very serious. “You won’t be getting any special privileges you understand. You will eat and sleep with the guards and share their duties.” When Traven nodded his head quickly in agreement, her seriousness turned into a mischievous grin. “Now for the price of your passage,” she paused, and Traven braced for however much she wanted, “you’re a good looking young lad, so you have to give me a dance.”
Traven was stunned. She wanted to dance with him? Before he knew what he was doing, he had taken off his sword so it would not get in the way and was being dragged onto the dance floor. He immediately was lost in the dance. He had always been somewhat clumsy, but dancing with her made his feet flow around the dance floor from step to step with ease. His feet flowed as if they were following an ever changing mold formed by the rhythm of the music. He felt so alive. He completely lost track of time and the world around him. He was barely aware of the increased warmth of the stone against his chest. The only thing that he was really aware of was the lively music and Meritza. All that he felt was her twirling in and out of his arms. All that he breathed was her wild rose perfume. All that he saw was her beautiful, joyful face framed by her fiery hair. He flowed through the dances adjusting with her to the new music as the songs changed. He knew nothing but the joyous pleasure and exhilaration of dancing with pure beauty. He was lost in the magic of the melody.
Suddenly, he was back in the common room of the inn. The music had stopped and so had he and Meritza. He tried to slow his breathing but without much success. She led him off the floor and back to the table, handing him his sword. He took it dumbly and fastened it back on him. He felt as though he was his old clumsy self once again. He had no idea what to say, but luckily Meritza spoke.
“I had no idea you were such a good dancer. I had the impression earlier that you were a clumsy fellow, but apparently I was wrong.” She paused to catch her breath all the way and continued on. “I’m sorry that I lost track of time. We need to get some sleep if we’re leaving at first light. Thanks for the dance Traven. I’ll see you in the morning.” She reached up, pecked him on the cheek, flashed her dazzling smile, and glided across the room and up the stairs.
Traven was so dazed that he did not even care that his face was once again blazing. He stood there alone, looking like a fool for several moments before he realized that he did need to get some sleep before the morning. He then stumbled across the room and up the stairs as he slowly made his way towards his room. As soon as he was inside, he dropped his sword and fell onto his bed fully dressed and still in a daze. He drifted off almost immediately. The day had been far too exciting and tiring, but my how wonderful it had been.
8
Traven woke up early the next morning before the sun had even begun to rise. He thought about trying to get some more sleep, but he was too anxious for the day to get under way to actually be able to fall asleep again. He felt his way over to the washstand and lit the candle that was sitting on it. He splashed cold water from the basin onto his face and washed the sleep away from his eyes. Looking at himself in the mirror, he realized he had forgotten to take off his clothes the night before and carefully tried to smooth out all of the wrinkles. He then made his way to the wardrobe and retrieved his belongings. There was a slight chill in the air, so he also donned his traveling cloak. He laid his new saddlebag on the bed and belted his sword about his waist, slipping his hunting knife behind his belt on his right side. He then had nothing to do but sit down and wait. He waited for what seemed like an eternity until the sky outside slowly began to lighten.
As soon as the change in the sky outside became apparent, he leapt from his bed, threw the saddlebag over his shoulder, and headed out of his room and down the stairs. It was early but the innkeeper was already directing sleepy eyed serving women as they cleaned up from the celebration of the previous night and put everything back in order. Seeing the innkeeper, Traven realized with a start that he had not paid for his lodgings yet. He approached the innkeeper and asked how much he owed.
“Nothing. Meritza paid for your lodgings with the rest of her guards. They’re just about ready to leave. You’d better hurry up.”
Traven thanked the innkeeper and hurried towards the stables. Everything was going perfectly. Adventure was not so bad after all. He had had a great night, secured passage all the way to Calyn, and even had his room paid for. This trip was going to be wonderful! He was soon in the stables and realized that the innkeeper had been correct. There were several guards already mounted and a few more finishing up readying their horses. Traven quickly located Dapple, and as fast as he could, prepared him to ride. When he was done, he led Dapple around to the front and was appalled to find that all of the guards were gone. He looked around the square frantically but did not see any of the guards who minutes before had been waiting. He quickly pulled himself up onto Dapple and began to head out into the square looking up and down the street.
“Calm down boy.” Traven whipped around to find a slightly overweight, graying man riding his horse toward him. “I guess I’m to be your babysitter. I’m a guard with Meritza’s caravan. My name’s Rodham.”
He did not look to Traven like the type of a person that would be a merchant guard. The only weapon that he wore was a long, slightly curved dagger. However, his horse was outfitted adequately. Traven could see at least four crossbows loaded with barbed bolts hanging around the steed. He also noticed a large bag of the barbed bolts hanging right behind the saddle. The man had an air of confidence about him, and Traven decided he must know how to use his weapons well.
“Just follow me. We’re going to meet up with Meritza and the caravan just outside of the city.”
Traven turned Dapple and followed Rodham as he made his way across the square. The man was to be his babysitter was he. Traven didn’t need a babysitter. Meritza had said he would be treated the same as all of the other guards. If he was to be treated as a guard, he definitely deserved the amount of respect a merchant guard was due. He would show Rodham and the rest of them that he could hold his own. He would show them. Traven realized he was falling behind and hurried to catch back up. It wouldn’t help his image if he got behind before they even started out toward Calyn. They continued on in silence through the mostly vacant streets of the city. They finally rounded a corner, and the western gate of the city came into view. There were several sentries posted at the gate and more above it on the walls keeping watch on the countryside. They paid no attention to him and Rodham as they made their way out of the city under the massive arch of the gate. Their focus was on the small number of farmers already approaching the gate with their wares to sell in the city’s markets.
Rodham led Traven about a mile beyond the gate and up a small rise before he pulled up and turned around. He said that he was to keep an eye on the surrounding countryside until the caravan made it out of the city and to their position. He then turned to study the countryside. Traven tried asking a few questions but learned that Rodham was not the talkative kind. He decided that he might as well keep a watch out as well. He scanned the plains that were visible in the fresh morning light. There was nothing really to look at so he turned his gaze back to the walls of the city. The city did not look quite as dramatic as it had the night of his arrival, but it was still a breathtaking sight in the light of a new day. It still looked as big as it had when he first arrived. Traven glanced up and down the walls of the city but finally decided to just watch the gate as he waited for the caravan to emerge.
He didn’t have to wait very long. Soon one large wagon emerged followed by another and another. They kept emerging until he counted five in all. The last one was little more than a farmer’s wagon and was empty, but the first four were quite impressive. The wagons towered over the heads of the guards who were flanking the sides of the caravan on their steeds. The wagons were a deep rich brown topped off by bright white canvas laid across the top to protect the wares of the wagons from the elements. All of them had a bright red slash on their left sides. Each wagon had a team of four, large work horses pulling, except for the last wagon which only had two. Five guards rode along either side of the wagons, with five more armed with long bows perched next to the drivers of each of the five wagons. Two guards rode behind the caravan while two more rode at the head of it with Meritza in between them. As they got closer, Traven noticed that all of the guards, along with Meritza, had a bright red cloth the same color as the slashes of color on the wagons tied around their left biceps. Only the guard riding on the last wagon had the cloth tied around his right arm. Rodham had quietly made his way over next to Traven while he was studying the caravan. It was then that Traven realized that Rodham also wore the bright red armband on his left arm and asked him about it.