LITMIR.BIZ

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The texture was like a baked apple, the flavor not quite peaches nor strawberries.

      ‘No.’ Willow spoke flatly, then softened it with a ‘Thank you’ to Vandien.

      ‘If you’re sure.’ He shrugged, withdrawing the offered fruit. ‘Goat gathered plenty of these things.’

      ‘They’re good,’ Goat added timidly.

      She shifted her gaze to him, and her face lost its charming smile. Her eyes hardened with an unreadable emotion. With disdain in her voice she said, ‘You know I wouldn’t eat anything you’d touched, Goat. You know that.’

      A long silence fell over the group. The boy, embarrassed, knelt by the fire. He looked at Vandien. Ki raked Willow with her eyes, shocked by the casual cruelty of the girl’s voice and words.

      ‘These grow on Gwigi trees?’ Vandien asked. His tone suggested that Willow’s words were unworthy of notice. He knelt by the boy, only interest in his face, but Ki sensed his annoyance with Willow.

      Goat’s hand shook slightly as he batted another burr-fruit from the fire’s embers. He nodded silently, his head down.

      ‘And if you’re smart, you won’t eat them either.’ Willow pushed, her voice cold. Her sudden anger grew. ‘Nor sleep too careless around him. Because while you’re dreaming, he’ll sneak and steal …’

      ‘That’s not true, Willow!’ Goat flared. But his voice was more scared than threatening.

      ‘Isn’t it?’ Her words cut savagely. ‘I know better. But they don’t, do they, little sneak-thief? I didn’t think Brin would admit what cargo he’d given them.’

      ‘Enough!’ Vandien’s low voice cut through the argument. ‘I don’t know what grudge you two share. But whatever it is, leave it behind, or keep it private.’

      Willow stared at him, her eyes as wide as if he’d slapped her. ‘Vandien’s right,’ Ki cut in before she could speak. ‘We four will be travelling together for a while. If you two have old differences, forget them. Or ignore them and be civil to one another. The wagon is too small a place for bickering.’

      ‘But you don’t understand,’ Willow began earnestly.

      ‘Nor do I want to,’ Ki interjected firmly. ‘I don’t want to hear charges of thief or liar thrown about. It matters little enough in the short time we shall be together. If something of yours is stolen on this trip, Willow, I shall make good its value for you. And that is all I wish to say about it.’

      Ki felt her heart hammering. Gods, how she hated a scene like this. This was why she and Vandien moved alone and apart from others. The bickering and quarrels, the useless anger, and always, always, people seeking someone to blame.

      Willow stared at her. Her cheeks were reddened with more than the fire’s heat, her eyes bright. The girl was either very angry, or on the verge of tears. Both, Ki suspected. She did not look as if she were accustomed to not getting her own way. When she spoke again, her voice was tight. ‘Very well, Ki the teamster. Had I any other way to Kellich, I would have taken it, as you well know. I had thought you would wish to know what all the village knows about Goat. But as you do not, I will say no more about it. But I shall not sleep at night. And you will regret, very soon, that you did not let me say what I know is true.’

      ‘Goat. Time for us to check the horses.’ Vandien rose hastily, threatened by the possibility of Willow’s tears.

      ‘I don’t want to …’ Goat began, obviously fascinated and unsettled by the scene between Ki and Willow.

      ‘Time to check the horses,’ Vandien repeated firmly, catching the boy by the collar and tugging him to his feet. They disappeared into the darkness. Ki smiled at his use of the Romni euphemism. Going to check the horses meant a man was going to relieve himself, or wanted a little privacy. Goat would soon learn it, she supposed. At any rate, Vandien had decided the boy was worth an effort. Leaving her with Willow.

      Ki cast a sideways glance at her. Her cheeks still glowed. ‘Well, we’d better tidy up for the night,’ Ki suggested in a neutral voice. Willow met Ki’s look with a sullen stare, but began gathering the dishes. She pointedly ignored Goat’s bowl. With a sigh, Ki picked it up herself.

      The awkward silence held as the dishes were cleaned and packed away. When Willow broke it, it was with another dilemma. ‘Where am I supposed to rest tonight?’ she asked coldly.

      ‘Wherever you wish,’ Ki replied politely. She would not rise to the girl’s avoidance of the word ‘sleep’.

      ‘Where’s Goat going to sleep?’ she demanded next.

      Ki sighed. ‘I hadn’t thought about it. By the fire, I suppose.’

      ‘Then I’ll sleep in the wagon.’

      ‘Vandien and I usually sleep in the wagon,’ Ki pointed out. She could feel her control slip and wondered with a sudden anger just where the hell Vandien was. Let him come back and manage his wonderfully charming young girl.

      ‘I don’t mind,’ Willow said smoothly.

      ‘Did you ever consider that I might?’ Ki asked, dropping all pretense of civility.

      ‘No. I didn’t. You couldn’t possibly expect me to sleep near Goat, even if he weren’t … what he is. Among my people that isn’t done,’ she added primly.

      Ki closed her eyes for an instant, got a grip on her rising anger. ‘I see.’ She gave a sigh, tried to breathe her irritation away. ‘Then why don’t you sleep in the wagon, and Vandien and I will sleep outside? That should keep everyone’s propriety intact.’

      ‘Near Goat? You’re going to sleep near Goat?’ The distaste in the girl’s voice was not feigned. For whatever reason she disliked Goat, it was not a pretense.

      ‘Vandien will protect my virtue,’ Ki assured her with heavy sarcasm, but the girl considered her words gravely. Her eyes were wide as she met Ki’s gaze.

      ‘I do not think even he could protect you from one such as Goat. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather sleep in the wagon also?’

      ‘Quite sure,’ Ki assured her. Willow’s eyes darted to a rustling in the thicket that presaged Vandien and Goat’s return.

      ‘I’m going to bed now. Good night. And take care!’

      The last she whispered as she turned and fled to the shelter of the wagon.

      When Goat and Vandien appeared, their arms were laden with dead branches for firewood. Ki nodded her approval. Already the night was cool, denying the heat of the day. ‘Where’s Willow?’ Goat demanded of her.

      ‘Gone to bed,’ Ki told him smoothly. ‘As we all should, if we are to get an early start tomorrow.’

      ‘Where?’ he repeated.

      ‘Where what?’ she asked, feigning puzzlement.

      ‘Where is Willow sleeping?’ Goat demanded. Vandien winced at the boy’s unconcealed interest.

      ‘In the wagon.’ Ki kept her voice unconcerned. ‘Where the night insects will not bother her.’

      ‘We’re all going to sleep in the wagon?’ Goat asked eagerly. Without waiting for an answer, he started toward the steps.

      ‘No, it would be far too crowded and stuffy. Ki and I will sleep under the wagon, and you can sleep by the fire.’

      ‘But …’ Goat began, and then caught Vandien’s look. Ki could not imagine what he had said to the boy, but Goat suddenly closed his lips. He kept his words in check, but not the sulky look that claimed his face. Snatching up a good portion of the scattered quilts and blankets, he began to make up a bed by the fire.

      Vandien refused to acknowledge his pique. ‘Good night, Goat,’ he told the boy affably. He gathered the remaining quilts and cushions and made up their bed beneath

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