Page 64 of House of the Raven
“I have no problem doing that. I’ll do anything that needs to be done.”
“Excellent.” She hooks her thumb toward the door. “I have to get back. You stay hidden, and I’ll get you some food. Also…” Her emerald eyes scan me up and down. “You need a disguise.”
“Oh, great idea!”
She winks, and something tells me this is like a game to her. But it isn’t a game at all.Gods!Maybe I should leave here on my own. Maybe I should steal a horse and ride as hard as I can back to Castellina. But that would mean leaving the protection of Gaspar’s spell, the only thing that has kept Bastien from finding me.
I feel torn inside.
“Don’t worry, niña. Everything will be all right,” Esmeralda assures me.
That is how the next day, I find myself dressed in a colorful flowing skirt and a ruffled bodice, sitting in the back of a carriage, watching Alsur fade in the distance. Cuervo follows us discreetly. He has always been wary of strangers, and after what Bastien did to him, even more so, it appears.
Esmeralda says they will be stopping in two different places before reaching Castellina, two towns they skipped on their way south. She says they visited four others on the way here, leaving only two for the last leg of the journey since they’re tired and ready to get back to Castellina for an extended stay.
“Business is better there,” she says as she swings her feet and chews on a long piece of hay. “There are more people, and they have more coin to spend. Some of them outright waste it… their gold, I mean. I don’t mind taking it when they’re so loose with it. We have mouths to feed.”
There are a total of fourteen people in her troop, four growing children among them, so I understand what she means. I feel embarrassed to see how little they own, how all their possessions fit in three measly wagons. They are forced to go from town to town performing and selling jewelry, fans, and other things they make.
“And if they don’t make enough, they steal,”Father’s voice once more.
I shake my head, trying to remember if he ever taught me anything positive about our people. If this is how he felt about everyone, was he really a good king to them? I rub my temple.
“You all right?” Esmeralda asks.
“Oh, I’m fine, just a little headache.”
“Don’t blame you. That must’ve been an ordeal. I hate to say it, but your family… they’re awful. Why would they try to marry you off to that bastardo?”
“Um, they think… it’s the only way to protect their interests.”
She huffs. “Well, that’s selfish. What aboutyourinterests? What do you want?”
I get a bit defensive about her comment, and feel I have to speak up for my family. “They all have made sacrifices. I guess they figure it’s my turn.”
Esmeralda makes a sound in the back of her throat but says nothing else. She just chews on her piece of hay as the sun rises, and the pathbehind us stretches and stretches, leaving Alsur, and the province of Aldalous behind. I don’t think I would feel too bad if I never returned.
18
VALERIA
“What is the true religion, Padre? Should I worship our saints? Or Los Moros’ one god?”
Marcio Hidalgo - Human Blacksmith - 50 BV
The troop travels much slower than we did with Bastien. It should wear on my nerves, not getting to Castellina faster than this, but oddly, it doesn’t.
In fact, I’m enjoying myself.
We make stops whenever the mood strikes and spend longer than necessary eating, singing alegrias while attempting to mimic the moves of flamenco dancers, watching the kids play hide and seek with no boring lessons to interrupt their fun, lying on the grass under the stars, while the fire crackles and whispers the night’s secrets, like we’re doing now.
This is real freedom, I think with a sigh. No one wants anything from me. No one tries to tell me what to do or not to do.
“Have you always been with this troop?” I ask Esmeralda, who lies next to me.
“Yep. I was born into it. My ma joined it when she was carrying me. She never told me where she came from, another troop, is what I think. But I imagine she was running from my pa, who was probably a bastardo.Ooh, look at that?” She points at the sky, and I catch a glimpse of a shooting star before it disappears.
At the sight, a smile comes to me on its own and goes on unapologetically, almost as if I’ve had a glimpse of true happiness.
