Marysvale (37 page)

The older soldier in the cart stirred,
and I now wished I would have tied up their feet. Having one of
them escape was a scary thought; one that ended with my plan being
discovered, and me taking their place on the stand.

Searching the crowd, I spotted the
minister of slaves in a discussion with a noble; which suited me
just fine, as I was about to throw Sarah’s caution of not reading
souls to the wind. I decided to try someone a tad lower down—an
assistant. I found a man that resembled what I imagined an aide to
the minister would look like. I was wrong. After poking briefly
into his soul, I discovered he was more intent on buying than
selling. Although I pitied all the slaves, I felt particularly
sorry for the poor individual who would end up with him.

Moving along, on my third attempt, I
finally found an assistant. After a moment of digging, I discovered
that going to him would be a mistake. He was naturally distrustful
and inquisitive; the type of person who would ask too many
questions—questions that I doubted I had the answers to.

I scanned a few more men and finally
found the minister’s second aide. He was more to my liking: a bit
slothful and not too particular about anything, though I’m sure
anyone could have guessed that from his appearance. He was in his
mid-thirties, with long, unkempt hair—at least where there was
hair. He had a bit of a belly, though it was not terribly large.
His clothing was ill fitting, and he looked a bit disheveled. At
first glance, one may wonder why anyone would choose him as an
assistant. However, I could see that he was greedy and would do
anything to make as much money as he possibly could. That greed
could be useful, not only in making the minister a healthy profit,
but I surmised it could be used in my favor to overlook a few minor
details for the right price.

The older soldier in the cart awoke and
looked dazed, if not a bit confused. His companion also began to
stir. Taking a deep breath, I lifted the cart handles and wheeled
up to the second assistant.

He eyed me suspiciously, “What you got
there?”

“
Two for auction, courtesy
of General Wright,” I growled gruffly, trying to convey an
intimidating presence that would discourage anything but
cooperation.

Comprehension dawned on the soldier who
was now fully awake. He let out a muffled cry through his gag, and
attempted to scramble out of the cart.

“
Quiet you!” I barked and
persuaded him back down with a powerful fist to his gut. “You know
why you’re here.”

He collapsed back gasping for breath,
which I suppose would have been easier to do without the
gag.

The assistant’s eyes narrowed. The
younger soldier’s eyes blinked open, confused. I fought the panic
welling inside me.

He’s not buying it,
I thought.
My heart raced—the instinct to run was overwhelming. I shifted my
stance slightly, preparing for a quick dash. I sprang into his soul
and dove for his thoughts. It was a bit too forcefully, and he
winced and instinctively rubbed his temples. I was partially right.
He wasn’t about to scream for help, but he did find it strange that
I didn’t go to the minister himself.

“
I would have gone to the
minister himself,” I quickly explained. “But as you can see, he is
busy, and so am I.”

The assistant grunted, “What’d they
do?”

I smiled wryly. “Nothing! Or at least
that is what they’ll try to tell you.”

He smiled and nodded understandingly,
while touching the tip if his nose knowingly. “Ah, of course not!
Innocent is what they all say. Eh?” He poked the soldier who,
through his gag, frantically tried explaining that he really was
guiltless. Thankfully, it all came out garbled and muffled. The
assistant withdrew a short whip from under his coat and struck the
soldier hard across his naked chest a few times. The soldier bit on
the gag, and screamed a muted scream.

The color drained from the younger
soldier, who was now fully awake; and his face turned a pale white
from fear and realization at what was happening. His bound hands
trembled.

Pangs of guilt ripped through my soul.
I hadn’t forgotten what they had done, and at the time it seemed
like a good idea; but here I was doing exactly what I’d condemned
others for doing not moments ago. Although I realized the
circumstances were indeed different, it was a very small
comfort.

“
Got a bit of fight left in
them, eh?” He shuffled close to my side and tapped his fingers
together. Then, as if in some sort of scheme, suggested, “For a
small fee, we could take the fight out of them, get them in proper
shape for selling. Got just the place—a nice cell where they can
soften up some and learn proper respect for their new masters. If
that doesn’t do it, we have other ways…”

I certainly needed time to figure out
my escape before the soldiers could convince anyone of their
innocence. I nodded weakly and felt worse. I looked away and my
eyes fell on Jane far off in the crowd, who had ignored my request
to stay away, watching our exchange.

The assistant followed my eyes and
caught sight of Jane. “Ah, got a bit of business to attend to while
on duty, have we?” With a wink, he nudged me conspiratorially. “Not
to worry, this won’t take long.”

“
No, it won’t,” I snapped.
“I believe you can take care of this transaction for me. Give the
money to General Wright.”

I turned to leave. “Wait!” he called.
“I didn’t get your name for the records.”

“
I didn’t give it,” I
growled menacingly. “Nor did I give you a price. I trust that point
won’t be lost on you.”

It wasn’t. His nose twitched, and you
could almost see the greed consume him as he thought about the
amount of money these two could make him. And since there was no
price given, he could easily report them as selling for much less
than they really would. Falsifying any paperwork would be easy for
him. He appeared suddenly anxious for me to leave, before I changed
my mind. I wondered if he would cut the minister in on the scam or
just keep it all to himself. I suppose there was a good chance they
wouldn’t get to keep anything. A commanding officer may go looking
for his lost men, or they might succeed in convincing someone of
their innocence…then again, perhaps not.

Without saying another word, I turned
and walked away to the sound of the assistant savagely whipping the
soldiers, while ordering them to keep quiet.

I met up with Jane and Simon. They
could read the expression on my face and neither one bothered with
questions. Simon quickly led us to a nearby vacant house where I
changed back out of the uniform. I handed it to Simon, along with
the knife. “Can you take care of these?”

He nodded. “Indeed I can.”

With nothing left to say, or nothing
left I cared to say, we exchanged brief goodbyes and Simon set off
in one direction while we set off in another.

“
Come,” said Jane. “We need
to get you back.”

“
We do?”

“
Yes, we do. You look tired,
worn down, and you haven’t had good sleep in days. You will need to
be alert tonight…” Her voice trailed off, and she turned pale. Some
dark thought had just entered her mind and, for the first time
ever, I didn’t want to read her.

“
I don’t think I can go to
sleep,” I said.

“
I can help.”

“
Really? How?” I asked, now
intrigued and wondering what she had in mind. A part of me was
afraid to find out.

A
S
it turned out, nothing sinister was involved—no
bitter concoctions to drink, or blunt objects to the head. When we
returned, Mr. Wolfe had gone. Hannah could be heard somewhere in
the house, but was making herself scarce.

Jane spread out a blanket on the floor
and immediately gave orders for me to lie down, so I
did.

I eyed her dubiously.

She ignored my look and sat on the
floor beside me.

“
Close your eyes,” she
said.

I obeyed.

She then began to softly stroke my face
and hair.

It felt relaxing, but also made it
difficult to fall asleep. Her touch felt too wonderful, and I
didn’t want to miss a moment of it slumbering.
This is not
going to work,
I thought, and I opened my eyes, ready to
explain that point to her. Without missing a stroke, she passed her
hand over my face, gently closing my eyelids, and proceeded to hum
a quiet melody.

Her clear voice was beautiful. I didn’t
recognize the tune, but it sounded Irish. It was probably a good
thing she wasn’t singing the words, because it also sounded a
little sad. For a while, I listened to the entrancing
song.

“
I’m afraid it is nearly
time, John,” she whispered, while gently shaking me.

“
Already?” I asked, finding
myself a little disoriented and surprised to discover that sleep
had indeed overcome me. I yawned and stretched. A few more hours of
sleep would have been nice, but the short rest worked wonders. Even
in that half-awake state, my mind was sharpened, and strength ebbed
back into my overworked muscles.

“
Yes,” she replied
sadly.

The tone in her voice pulled me fully
awake. “What’s wrong?” I asked instinctively, while sitting
up.

She still sat in the same spot by my
side, and I wondered if she had remained there the whole
time.

“
Nothing…you’d better get
ready. They will be here any time, and it’s best if you don’t make
them wait.”

“
Yes, that probably is a
good idea,” I agreed. “But something else is bothering you. What is
it?”

She sighed, “I don’t like you’re going
up there. I’m worried and can’t help feeling that something bad is
going to happen.”

I gave her what I hoped was a
reassuring smile. Even though I wholeheartedly agreed with her, I
didn’t want her to feel my apprehension.

“
Try not to worry. The
thought of sending me off without a proper kiss can be quite
disturbing, I realize. I’ve been told I have that effect on women.
It’s a burden I must bear. But somehow I’ll manage if you
can.”

Her mouth dropped in mock disgust, and
she shoved me over.

“
How can you joke? You may
never come back.”

“
What else can I do?” I
replied. “It does no good worrying about things I can’t
change.”

“
No, I suppose not.” And
then, looking down, she started to fiddle with her gown. Suddenly,
she looked up. Her expression had changed and, as if by magic, her
green eyes beckoned me closer. I obeyed by leaning in just a
little. Subconsciously, she bit her lower lip and almost
indiscernibly drew closer. My heart raced as our eyes locked,
and…

“
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t
know anyone was in here,” said Hannah, gushing into the room, once
again with impeccable timing.

I sighed, and we fell apart. Some
feeling told me that Hannah did know we were in here and most
likely had listened to part of our conversation; perhaps even grew
a little worried when our voices died down. Her face dropped in a
sudden, pretend realization.

Shaking a finger at us, she said, “Oh
no. You two weren’t about to kiss again, were you?” And she
sensuously half closed her eyes and puckered her lips. With her
hand, she grasped the back of an imaginary head and commenced
kissing the air in a somewhat dramatic manner.

More from reflex than a conscious
effort, my leg shot out and swept across the backs of her feet. The
imaginary kiss disintegrated, as her arms flew wide and she fell on
her rump with an “oomph”.

“
Ouch!” she
exclaimed.

Jane broke into laughter. Hannah tried
desperately to look angry and wounded, which only inflamed matters,
until it bubbled over and all three of us laughed at the silliness
of it all.

Mr. Wolfe, who had apparently returned
during my nap, made his way down the stairs. The floorboards
creaked as he moved through the house. A moment later, he appeared
in the doorway and leaned against it. Even though he had no idea
what was funny, the sight of us all sitting on the ground laughing
infected him, and a grin spread across his face.