James motioned for all of them to walk again, then said, “It is there at the palace I’ll leave you, for I’m bound further north. I’m heading for the Northlands.”
“Three traveling together is safer than two,” Anna said, keeping her destination to herself for now. Castle Warrington was in the Northlands near the sea. She may or may not wish to continue traveling with James past today, let alone once they reached the Summer Palace. Familiarity allowed for slips of the tongue offering clues that often tell a tale different than she wanted him to believe. Small mistakes that revealed large lies.
James settled in on the other side of Thief. He said, “Why don’t you tell me about how you got your name?”
Thief glanced at Anna. She gave him the smallest nod, and he said, remembering the story she’d told him, “I followed the mule tracks. The thief went to sleep. I stole it back and took it home.”
“Now that’s how to cut a story down to size, my new friend. Do you like apples?” A large red one appeared in his hand from somewhere inside his coat, and he held it out to Thief as they walked.
Thief thought about it for a short three-count, then snatched the apple from James’ hand and took a bite so large almost half the apple went into his mouth. He chewed with his mouth open. Anna reached up and held her hand over his lips. “Manners. Chew with your mouth closed. We’ve talked about this before.”
“We have?” Thief managed to ask as he chewed.
“You know we have,” she said. “Remember three days ago when I told you the same thing?”
Confused, he shook his head. Anna would have to be careful in stretching her stories around Thief in the future. It was a good lesson to learn. Thief wouldn’t be very helpful when she needed support for her lies, but on the other hand, most people wouldn’t understand that Thief didn’t remember because they had not yet met three days ago.
James peeked around Thief. “If I might ask, what is your business at the Summer Palace?”
“You may not ask,” she said in a snippy tone, then looked straight ahead up the dirt road to where an open farmer’s wagon approached, rattling and bouncing on the rough surface of the road. It was a response she would often use while playing her part, but never in real life. If her Grandma Emma ever heard her talk like that to an adult, especially a stranger, there would be a trip to the woodshed, literally. Her Grandmother was all for decorum and manners.
A farmer sat high on a seat in the wagon being pulled by an ugly horse with patches of fur missing or falling out. Its back was swayed and the pace agonizingly slow. The wagon and farmer looked in about the same shape. Still, he tipped his straw hat as he neared them and wished them a good morning.
After it had rumbled beyond, Anna said, “James, what is it you do?”
“You dare ask me my business while denying me the same answer?”
She shrugged, knowing she had built a house of her own and refused his entry, so why would he allow her in his? She fell back to her lie. “All right. I guess there is no harm in telling you that I’m going to help my mother’s mother. She fell.”
“A noble cause, young lady. I, on the other hand, am simply a wanderer of these lands who occasionally plays a game of Tiles or Flip at the local pubs.”
She eyed his wide smile and remembered his easy ways in talking. “How do you pay for your room and meals at those inns?”
“There are sometimes small wagers made on the games.”
The answer confirmed what she had suspected. “You must win a lot of the time.”
He flashed another smile, this one making the face with the big nose look surprisingly like that of a snake about to swallow a mouse. “If I lose too much I sleep outside and go hungry.”
“And if you win too much, you find yourself walking down a road to another village, or running as the villagers chase you.”
Casting her a sideways glance, he said, “You are far too smart for your age.”
The comment put her off. James was a gambler. That meant that he had to see things in other people and use those to win at his games, assuming he didn’t outright cheat all of the time. But to win regularly, he had to be a keen observer of people. He was not the companion for a secretive pair such as she and Thief.
However, she was not as innocent or young as he might think. To win enough money to live on over time, he had to consistently win far more than he lost, and even if he was an honest player, others would begin to doubt him. Traveling with a man and a reputation such as he wouldn’t help her blend into the background.
She asked as if it was another idle question, “Have you ever been to the King’s Summer Palace?”
“Many times,” he bragged.
Anna wondered how many of those times he’d been asked to leave. They came to a wide, shallow stream with a green meadow beside the road. A freshly used fire pit and trampled grass, gave evidence of others who had paused there, probably for the night. She said, “Let’s rest and eat.”
James said, “We can’t linger too long, or we won’t reach the palace before nightfall.”
“Thief and I are hungry,” she used her petulant voice while watched his eyes. His smile might divert others, but she looked past it and didn’t like what she saw. “Besides, we have walked too far for one day. This might be a good place to spend a night.”
When he spoke, any irritation was gone, or skillfully masked. “Okay, we’ll stop, but only for a while.”
Anna didn’t like the way James had assumed control. In fact, she was beginning to not like much about him. The large nose aside, his laughter came too quick, his questions were too penetrating, and he reeked of falsehoods each time he spoke. She found herself wondering if every sentence was a lie, and if she could not trust a single sentence, she needed to find an excuse to be free of him.
She spread her food on her blanket and offered it to James and Thief. She ate little, deciding the next step to move on without him.
James stood, brushing himself off. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
Her defiance bubbled over, but she kept her voice sweet, “I got very little sleep last night. You know, the animal sounds and all. Thief, I want you to watch over me while I take a nap. Don’t let me sleep all afternoon, because you know I can.”
She giggled as she looked at Thief, but watched James from the corner of her eye. James’ face flushed, and his smile wilted.
He said cheerfully, “Come now, you can walk the afternoon. I’ll treat the two of you to a room in a good inn tonight, one with a real bed. But we have to leave now.”
She fell back onto the blanket and sighed, “I’m so tired.”
“I cannot leave you here beside the road. It’s too dangerous,” James said, his voice now ordering her.
Anna opened her eyes, looking at Thief, who was turning to James, his hand again on the hilt of his new knife. Softly, she said, “Thief, let him be on his way.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Gambler whose livelihood depended on reading people’s intentions accurately read those of Thief, and backed off a few steps where he was out of reach. James hesitated, ready to speak again, but looked into the angry eyes of Thief and held his tongue.
Thief didn’t speak or threaten. He just stood as if carved from a log until James spun and walked down the road without as much as telling them to have a good day. As soon as he was around a bend in the road, Anna leaped up and gathered their belongings. She pointed to the forest instead of the road. “That way.”