Page 165 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
One of them sat curled in an adorable ball as she tongued a berry I’d yet to encounter. She had crimson hair, braided in intricate rows down to the gauzy wings protruding from her shoulder blades. The second had orange hair so short it barely covered her arched ears. She was a smidge broader about the shoulders, her wings taller and plainer, and if it weren’t for her full bosom, I might have judged her an adolescent ryn. Even her voice was husky when she replied to Pete, “She’s no bother to us. We adore mongrels.” She fed Sionna another hunk of bread.
“Looks like your transport is fairly well banjaxed.” Pete gestured toward their front right wagon wheel, which had busted apart into several different pieces, the boulder their overgrown hog had stranded them on the obvious catalyst. Of course, if that boulder hadn’t gotten them, the twenty others surrounding us surely would have.
“Good eye, fella,” the first beyn tittered before popping another berry into her sensuous mouth. “And we can’t fix it, neither.” She lifted a blue leg so lithe I couldn’t help picturing her as a ballerina Smurf. Her elegant toes nudged her companion’s hip. “Tibbs here forgot to pack the smithing dust.”
Pete couldn’t very well explain what smithing dust was if we wanted to maintain our backstory, but I guessed it could repair broken objects. Clearing my throat, I turned to Pete. “Would we have any to give them?”
Pete coughed, his hardening eyes insisting he handle the talking. “Afraid not, darlin’—as it’s a rare and costly commodity for simple men like me. Please excuse my love, gentlefolk.” He bowed his tousled head to the Blue Caps and patted my back, unnecessarily brusque. “She’s sorely ignorant of life outside her father’s grand house.”
If he had to be condescending, at least he’d slipped in some educational details. So, I didn’t stomp on his foot like I wanted to.
He sighed. “Would that I had a vial of that heavenly Dwarfish mineral, I’d offer it in a pinch.”
“Wouldn’t be right to ask it of you, anyhow. We’ll make do.” Tibbs grimaced. “Somehow.”
The hardness I’d stirred in Pete’s eyes vanished. “If you don’t mind me asking, why were you fine fae avoiding the road? Are you on the run from someone?”
“Oh, in a way,” Tibbs said. “We’re onto our next hill, and with all our bits and pieces along, we thought a less traveled road wiser, what with the threat of possible bandits.”
“Aye,” the first Blue Cap agreed, her huge gray eyes widening further. “We’ve heard tales from our brethren—where every last scrap of wealth was taken from them—whole families left naked on the road—the faelets too.”
Jeez.
Tibbs rolled bright eyes. “Rhoswen likes to exaggerate, but weareaware our kind are targeted hereabouts, hence our rutty course.” She took another bite of bread, ruminating for a moment. “Would you happen to know of a wheelwright in the vicinity?”
“Can’t say as I do,” Pete replied.
“Didn’t figure.” Tibbs exhaled. “Never hurts to ask, o’ course.”
Chewing on the unspoken solution skulking amidst the small talk, I turned a pleading look on Pete. Yeah, I knew charity was against the law, and yeah, I knew these were strangers we’d have to maintain appearances around, but the thought of leaving them in such a bind unsettled me. Pete wanted me to stay silent, but I had to at least offer help. Whether he agreed with me or not.
His gruff hand squeezed my shoulder just as I opened my mouth to speak, warning me to hush. Offended, I almost wrenched out of his hold. Who the hell did he think he was, telling me when to speak? My ethics may have been out of place in this world, but offering aid to those in need wouldalwaysbe—
“Would you gentlefolk care to ride with us?” Pete shocked the hell out of me. And the Blue Caps, it seemed. “We’re headed toward the Summer Court—Lithalaly.”
Rhoswen nudged her speechless companion again. “What say you, Tibbs? We’re heading that way as well.” She glanced back at Pete. “Shanerie’s our destination—not too far out of your way.”
“We couldn’t,” Tibbs argued, though the temptation to accept Pete’s offer shone in her eyes. “We can’t accept such mal-alms.”
“You’ve misunderstood me,” Pete lied. “It’s not charity I’m offering.”
Tibbs eyed him. “No?”
“Of course not.” Pete thumped his heart in a show of sincerity. “I’d never insult you so. But a bargain, aye? That’s more what I’m proposing. We’ll give you and your belongings a ride to Shanerie, and in return, you’ll cook us a delicious supper tonight. I have it on good authority that your kind are wizards with a cauldron, and Shorty, while skilled in so many useful things, turns every meal she makes to ash.”
I didn’t even care that he’d just insulted me, an image of three hungry Middling faelets springing to mind. If Pete had been in Briar’s place at Avenshire, I suspected little Gail and her brothers would’ve “gotten away” with the food I’d bought them.
How did a man who killed people for a living have a better moral compass than Briar?
“A bargain then?” Tibbs clarified. “And a meal’s all you ask of us?”
“Aye.” Pete’s smile was so innocuous it turned him boyish. Or the closest he could come to it with the beard. “Do you accept?”
The Blue Caps conferred, then Tibbs finally said, “Aye. Shall we shake on it?”
After Pete led an ornery Bob between trees and down off the road, we helped the Blue Caps load their goods and chattels into our wagon. I took a seat in the bed with Rhoswen and Sionna as Pete led the way, yanking our blaring donkey back to the road. Tibbs assumed the rear, swatting the jaunty buttocks of their giant, snorting, spotted hog. His name was Oats, and he was about as talkative as Bob, though much less abrasive—which Bob proved by throwing a conniption when we veered off course toward Shanerie. Pete had to threaten to geld him before Bob shut up and trucked on, but Oats just trotted, snuffling, to wherever Tibbs wanted.
We covered as much distance as we could before dusk, which wasn’t far given our heavier load and slower pace, yet Pete seemed satisfied with our progress. “We should reach Shanerie by supper tomorrow,” he informed our wagon guests once we’d stopped to camp for the night in a woodsy glen by a rocky, rushing stream.
