Page 28 of Highland Slayer
She nodded. “There are many people there.”
“That’s because it is a tavern,” he said. Then he pulled his horse to a stop. “They make a drink from apples and oats and honey. I’ve had it before. It’s quite strong.”
She looked at him curiously. “And you want some?”
He shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “But Mateo might. If the man has a sore throat or cough, it could help him.”
“But that is why we have the onions and things from the apothecary.”
Estevan shrugged. “It canna hurt.”
He headed over toward the tavern, but there was a livery across the street. In truth, it was simply an outbuilding with a corral for horses, but Estevan remembered it from the last time he was here, nearly three years ago. It didn’t look any different than it had then. As he approached it and dismounted, Anaxandra pulled in behind him.
“Whatare you doing?” she said. “We must return immediately.”
He looked up at her. “I’m going tae find Matty some of that drink,” he said. “Mayhap it’ll help the woman, too. Do ye want tae come with me or will ye wait here?”
She looked as if she didn’t understand the question. Her features took on a kind of blank expression, and then she looked over at the tavern, watching the people milling around the entry. There weren’t many, just a handful really, but there were enough. And they were men. The more she looked at the tavern, the more apprehension she began to feel.
“I… I do not know,” she finally said. “I have never seen a place like that. What’s it for?”
He looked over at the tavern too. “Drinking,” he said. “Eating. Sleeping if ye’ve no where else tae go for the night. M’lady, I’m coming tae think ye simply dunna know about life outside of St. Margaret’s. Ye told me that ye’ve never been tae Dumfries, but have ye been anywhere at all? Ever?”
Anaxandra shook her head. “Nay,” she reluctantly admitted. She seemed hesitant to continue, but her frustration got the better of her. “Mother Michael does not allow us to go anywhere.When she told me to escort you to this village, it is simply because I am skilled with my weapon. I could help you in a fight. It is not because I know the road or the land or the town. I do not know anything, and I feel like—”
She suddenly stopped, embarrassed at her outburst. For Estevan, she was simply confirming everything he had suspected, so he leaned on his saddle, gazing up at her.
“What do ye feel like, lass?” he said softly. “This is all very new. If I were ye, I’d feel overwhelmed and possibly even afraid. This is a good deal tae manage for someone who has hardly been out of St. Margaret’s.”
His patient tone nearly undid her. She wasn’t used to such things, and most especially not from a man. “I feel as if I’m in another world,” she said. “I will admit something to you. I do not want to be a nun. I have a wandering soul, as Mother Michael says. I think about things in the Outworld.”
“Outworld?”
“Here,” she said, gesturing to the street, to the buildings. “Mother Michael calls this the Outworld. She says it is wicked, with wicked people, and that we are only safe living within the walls of St. Margaret’s. She does not like that I think on the Outworld and wonder about it.”
Estevan had a gentle expression on his face, one of patience and understanding. Coming around his horse, he held up a hand to her.
“Come with me,” he said quietly.
Anaxandra didn’t know why he was holding a hand out to her. She didn’t need his help dismounting, so she slid off her horse and collected her crossbow.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
With a lazy smile on his face, Estevan winked at her before calling to the man who was in charge of the livery. He asked the man to tend the horses, but he also handed the fellow the basketwith the medicines in it for safekeeping. After giving the man a coin, Estevan turned to Anaxander and took her hand in his.
“Come,” he said.
Like a fool, she simply followed him. She followed him toward the tavern, but to the west of the tavern was a merchant stall, the first in a line of such stalls, and the fabrics billowing from the entry door caught her attention. When she hesitated a little, Estevan turned to see why. Then he saw what had her attention.
“Do ye want tae look in the stall?” he asked.
She shook her head quickly, as if fearful of such a thing. “Nay,” she said. “I… I’ve simply never seen anything like that.”
The smile never left Estevan’s lips as he pulled her over to the stall. It was like towing a barge. She didn’t want to go, but she wanted to go, but she didn’t want him toknowshe wanted to go. Estevan tugged on her, pulling her up to a table that was underneath an awning of sorts.
“Look at this,” he said, picking up a piece of fabric that was as fine as angel’s wings. “That is a beautiful piece. My mother would love it. So would my sisters. Zora would fight my mother for it.”
Anaxandra was looking at the fabric in awe. “Zora is your sister?”
