Wayward Soldiers (4 page)

“I guess it’s safe to assume they heard about the raiders,” said Dekar.

“Yeah,” I huffed. That would likely affect my plans.

Sivan, the old tailor, worked his way through the crowd while leading a brown and white speckled mount. He got in the saddle, exchanged a few words with the mayor and took off toward us. He galloped past without stopping, but waved. He followed the trail from whence the wagon and fleeing family came, disappearing around the bend in the road.

Damaris ran out of the group of townspeople, blonde hair flowing behind her, as she shouted at her father to come back. By that point, Sivan was well out of earshot.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but the old man looked pretty comfortable in the saddle,” said Ira.

I had to agree.

“We’re not going to find out anything just standing around,” said Ava. She tapped me on the arm. “Go talk to Damaris.”

“Why me?”

“Yeah,” said Ira. “I could go ask.”

“We’re trying to get information, not scare the woman off,” said Ava. “Besides, she looks upset and could use a kind word or two. Do you even have any of those in your vocabulary?”

“Don’t start what you can’t finish,” began Ira, quickly working himself up again.

Dekar cut in before it got out of hand. “Ava’s right, Tyrus. It’s obvious that Damaris has eyes for you. Who better to go find out what’s going on?”

“What?”

“Don’t sound surprised, big brother. She’s always watching you out of the corner of her eye. Didn’t you find it odd that after we rescued her, she always managed to work on clearing the same pile of rubble as you?”

The realization chilled me despite the warm air. I hadn’t ever considered that, but it did make sense. The woman had been around me or one of the kids more often than not. I thought all her attempts at small talk were just a way to deal with the mess we had all gone through.

Molak-be-damned, what would Lasha have said if she even thought someone was showing an interest in me?

“Ty, you look as pale as death,” said Ira.

Ava touched my arm. “Calm down and take a breath. Talking to her isn’t turning your back on Lasha.”

My sister knew me well.

“No one said you have to marry the woman, or even like her,” added Ira. “Just go find out what’s going on. Then maybe later I’ll swoop in—”

Dekar cuffed Ira on the back of the head.

Damaris had stopped staring after her father, instead gazing in our direction as if she knew we were talking about her.

“Well, I can’t ignore her now, can I?” I muttered. I started walking and called over my shoulder. “Go find my kids. I don’t need them getting caught up in that crowd.”

“We’ll handle it,” Ava said.

I approached Damaris while trying to appear calm. Inside, my stomach did flips. Thankfully, I was already sweating from standing so close to the pyre. Otherwise, my nervousness would have been more apparent.

It was stupid to be so worked up over talking to a woman who just a few moments before wouldn’t have made me uncomfortable. But after what Dekar and Ava said, dozens of thoughts surrounding the last few days clouded my mind. Light touches on my arm that I had thought were insignificant before made me wonder if they held different meanings.

Guilt worked its way around the inside of my head. Lasha might have died over a year ago, but to me the loss was only days old. I was not yet ready to think about another woman.

I wasn’t sure I ever would be.

Damaris managed a smile as I approached.

I did my best to return it. “Is everything all right?”

“Father went scouting for the mayor.” She did a poor job of masking the distress in her voice.

“Scouting?”

“The family in the wagon said there were raiders harassing some of the surrounding towns.”

“He told us the same.”

“Everyone is in a panic. Mayor Rezub said we should all stay calm until we know what’s really going on. It could be an exaggerated story.”

“Sound thinking. About time Rezub did his job.”

“Except the only way we’d know if the stories were true is if the bandits attack us . . .”

“Or someone goes to find them,” I said, finishing her thought.

She nodded.

I raised an eyebrow. “And Rezub chose your father?”

“He volunteered. He was a scout during the Byzan Wars. And he still has remarkable hearing and sight for his age.”

“Knows his way around a horse too,” I added, thinking of Ira’s earlier comment.

“But he’s also in his fifties. He could get himself killed.”

“Then why did he go?”

“In some ways because of you.”

I blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“He said that a good man thinks unselfishly and does the work that needs doing, regardless of the risks to himself. He already had a soft spot for you because of your military background. But after all that you’ve done for the town, despite how they first treated you, well he talks about you like he once did about Zev.”

I didn’t know that name. “Who’s Zev?”

“He was my older brother. The one who died in the early years of the Geneshan War.”

Molak’s sweaty balls. The man was comparing me to his dead son. No pressure there.

“I don’t know what to say to that,” I finally managed.

“Say you promise my father won’t get himself killed despite acting like a young fool.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“All right, then say you know a way to stop those raiders from coming our way.”

I clicked my tongue, frustrated. “Can’t do that either.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Well, what good are you?”

That aggravated me. After all I’d been through and all the things I’d done not only for the town, but specifically for her and her father after the first eruption, why would she have said something like that? I was ready to lay into her when I saw the beginnings of a grin tugging at the corner of her thin, pink lips. She smiled wider as she caught me noticing it.

She had been teasing.

“Sorry, maybe I’ve been listening to Ira and your sister give you a hard time for too long. It just seemed like too good of an opportunity.”

I chuckled. “You took me off guard.”

“That was the idea.”

I laughed again, recalling a fond memory. “You know Lasha used to do the same thing to me. She’d . . .” My voice trailed off, remembering what Ava and Dekar had said about Damaris earlier.

“She’d what?”

Damaris asked the question in a way that suggested she was genuinely interested in the story. Maybe she was, but I couldn’t go on. I felt guilty for even mentioning my wife around her. Talking about Lasha bothered me even more than potentially upsetting Damaris.

“Are you all right?”

I blinked. “Sorry. Just drifted off.”

“I should probably head back into town and wait for my father. Maybe listening to everyone else arguing will make the time go faster.”

The hint of fear had returned to her voice.

“Maybe. I’ll head back with you.”

We didn’t say anything at first during the walk back. The only sound was the scraping of our feet on the hard earth and the increasing volume of conversations among the townspeople.

“We’re leaving town tomorrow,” I blurted. “Nason and his family are coming with us. You and your father are welcome to come as well.”

Where had that come from?

We both stopped walking. Damaris stepped in front of me.

“Are you serious?”

Was I? No good would come from traveling with a woman who apparently had feelings for me while I still mourned my wife and tried to bond with my children.

“I think so.”

I screamed inside my head. That’s not what I had wanted to say.

“You think so?” She cocked her head to the side, flipping blonde hair over half her face as she awaited an answer.

She was a beautiful woman. The admission surprised me at first until I realized how silly I was being at letting Dekar and Ava affect my thoughts and behavior. There was nothing wrong with admitting Damaris was attractive. In fact, she had a striking face that put many women to shame.

Besides, it’s not like I had never appreciated the looks of women other than Lasha before, regardless of what Ava might say. It was just every other woman paled in comparison to my wife.

Any man would be thrilled to have Damaris as a wife. Maybe I would have been too if I’d never met Lasha. My wife had been the kind of woman that the minstrels in Hol write songs about.

It always amazed me that Lasha picked me over every other man in the world.

Suddenly comfortable with the confusing feelings running around my head, I relaxed. Why wouldn’t I invite Damaris and Sivan? They had proven themselves strong workers in the aftermath of the second eruption. I recalled old Sivan on horseback. Someone with skill like that would come in handy as we traveled.

I puffed out a big breath. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I invite you and your father?”

Her face brightened which made me realize I needed to be careful about how I phrased things around her. Just because I was comfortable with where things stood between us didn’t mean we shared the same feelings.

“Thank you. That’d be great. We had no idea what we’d do next. We didn’t have the money to pay the bank for our shop before, let alone repair what’s left of it now.” Her brow furrowed. “What if my father isn’t back by the time you’re ready to leave?”

“Then we’ll wait a bit longer.”

“And if he’s still not back?”

In other words, how long would I wait for him? Would I have to force her into deciding that her father might be dead and leave without him?

At least that’s what I thought she was getting at. If so, I wasn’t ready to give that answer.

“Let’s not borrow trouble. We’ll talk about that if it’s necessary. All right?”

She bit her lip, seemingly reluctant to agree. “All right.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

We skirted behind most of the crowd. I made sure to keep my head down, so as not to draw attention. Dekar, Ira, and Ava had found Myra and Zadok, thankfully pulling them to the outside of the rowdy throng. They watched the situation in the long shadows cast by the Hemlock Inn’s crooked porch. The storm and elements following the second eruption had done a number on it.

All except Zadok wore an intense look of agitation as they listened to the townspeople. My son was ready to burst with worry.

“That bad?” I asked in a low whisper as I strode up.

Ira grunted. “All that goodwill over the last few days is drifting away awful fast now that people can’t agree on what needs to happen next. Everyone’s true colors are coming around again.”

Zadok shook his head. “They’re just scared and confused. Someone needs to talk some sense into them. I tried to get Aunt Ava to do it, but she said no. Neither would Ira or Dekar.”

“That’s what they pay Rezub for,” said Ava.

“But he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Zadok said with a bit of a whine that revealed his age. “Nason had to get involved just so people would let Rezub speak.”

I followed my son’s gesture and looked over the mob. Rezub stood red faced, arms gesticulating wildly as he tried to make himself heard over the many others already talking. Nason was right next to him, trying to quiet people.

Why would Nason get involved knowing we’d be gone tomorrow?

I sighed. Another one with a heart too big.

I shifted back to Zadok. “The mayor’s not doing that bad.”

“But what if Sivan doesn’t come back?” someone shouted in the crowd.

Out the corner of my eye, Damaris tensed.

“Yeah,” said another. “Do we wait until the bandits are right on top of us before we make a decision about what to do? By the time that comes, the only decision we’ll be making is what to hand over to them first, the last of our possessions or our wives and daughters.”

The crowd went eerily silent. People looked longingly at their loved ones, likely thinking about what a group of raiders would do to them. I doubted anyone expected a nice peck on the cheek and a dance in the streets.

Dozens of voices erupted once more, and this time the townspeople surged forward in an effort to force Rezub into a more concrete solution. The sheriff’s surviving deputies surrounded the mayor and tried to reason with the people, but it was obvious that reasoning would not work with a group of men thinking about their wives and children being raped and abused.

“Pa, do something!” said Zadok, tugging my arm.

“I don’t know what you want him to do,” Myra said, finally speaking up.

He ignored his sister. “Talk to them. They’ll listen to you.”

I shook my head. “We don’t need to get involved. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. We shouldn’t have a say in the lives of the people who remain. They need to figure that out themselves.”

“Nason’s involved.”

“That’s because Nason’s an idiot,” said Ava. Her tone held more bite than I would have expected. But then again, her temper could flare at odd times.

“You should talk to them,” said Damaris. “You don’t have to tell them what to do. Just help them see their options. They might decide to leave town like we are tomorrow.”

Our conversation stopped at that.

“We?” asked Myra in surprise.

“Tyrus invited me and my father to leave with you tomorrow,” said Damaris.

“By the gods, Ty. I didn’t think we left you out there that long,” Ira cut in.

Dekar cuffed him hard, and the younger brother staggered. He was smart enough not to say anything more with the daggers Dekar and I glared at him.

Myra’s eyes flicked between me, Damaris, and Ira with the speed of a humming bird’s wings. “What’s going on?”

The tone suggested that she knew what Ira had meant. It didn’t matter if none of it was true. I couldn’t exactly explain myself with Damaris beside me unless I wanted to put everything out in the open. Which I didn’t.

I opened and closed my hands in anger. I’d have to remember to kill Ira later.

Call me a coward for ducking the issue, but I’ve been called worse and for things of far less importance than upsetting two females that I just so happened to be standing between. Especially since one of those was my daughter. I was a coward all the way if it meant avoiding that discussion until a more opportune time.