Page 59 of Ties of Legacy

She wiggled her toes, flexing her right leg in her boot. It pressed against something hard, and she bit back a smile. Secure in the efficacy of the sleeping potion, their abductors hadn’t even bothered to give them a thorough search for weapons. Or perhaps they had thought that anything hidden in someone’s boot was too small to be a danger.

She tried opening her eyes slightly wider and was momentarily distracted by the sight of the ocean. It was all she could do not to gasp. She had seen it before, of course, but its vastness always struck her afresh every time.

Apparently, her three abductors were equally taken with the water. It wasn’t yet dark, but they were sitting on the sand in a loose semi-circle around a small campfire, all three of them facing toward the sea. The sand continued for only a short way behind them before turning into grass. They had hobbled the horses on the edge of the green, the packs and the two unconscious captives dumped with them.

Avery smiled. She still had no idea why they’d been abducted in the first place, but finally something was working in her favor.

She wiggled around slowly and carefully, ready at any moment to freeze and feign sleep. Finally she managed to grasp the small pouch of tea in her teeth. The scent wafting from it made her eyes sting, but at least she was no longer in the slightest danger of falling back asleep.

She flung her head, tossing the pouch the short distance toward Mattie. Her aim was off, and Avery held her breath as she waited to see if it was close enough. Slowly, however, Mattie began to stir, catapulting Avery into action.

Up until that point, she’d been holding her basic position in case any of the abductors turned around. But with Mattie on her way to consciousness, it was better to seize the element of surprise in case Mattie woke more noisily than Avery had done.

Sitting upright, she retrieved the herbalist’s dagger in a single, smooth movement. Despite her speed, she tried to move quietly, not wanting to give herself away earlier than necessary.

None of the abductors noticed her small movements over the sound of the waves, and even a series of sighs from Mattie didn’t rouse them.

Avery shook her head. They had hurried too fast to the coast and must now have been nearly as sore as, and more tired than, she was.

Mattie’s eyes flickered open, and Avery stared at her, a dramatic finger pressed to her lips in a gesture of silence. Mattie’s eyes widened, and she nodded.

Avery rolled into a crouch, creeping toward the fire and the men around it. With the herbalist’s dagger, she only needed to get the smallest scratch on each of them, and their roles would be reversed. But as soon as the men realized what was happening and drew their swords, getting that scratch with her tiny dagger would prove difficult. She could throw it, but the moment she did that, she lost control of it, so that was only a last resort.

The loud crash of a particularly large wave made her flinch, but it also covered the final sounds of her approach. Rene was sitting in the center, and she approached behind him, plunging the tiny blade into the back of his right shoulder.

Rene gave a shout, surging to his feet, but he didn’t make it all the way. His cry died, and he sank back down to sit in the sand again. Two breaths later, he keeled over sideways and began to snore.

But Avery’s advantage was well and truly lost. Both Clyde and Ty had leaped up with outraged cries, drawing swords from their waists.

Avery swallowed, shifting her grip on her tiny dagger. Her eyes flicked between the two men, unsure which to tackle first or how to approach them.

The two stalked around the fire from opposite directions, closing in on her. She backed away, her mind racing but no solutions presenting themselves.

Loud, angry cawing made them all flinch and look up. Frank shot toward Clyde in a blur of yellow, green, blue, and red. Avery cried a warning as Clyde swung his sword at the parrot, but Frank was already pulling away.

As soon as Clyde turned back to Avery, however, the parrot dove again. Seeing her opportunity, Avery ran toward the distracted man. He was bellowing and cursing, waving his sword wildly through the air as he tried to fend off Frank’s beak and claws.

As Frank plummeted again, Avery also dove forward, the hand with the dagger extended. As Clyde slashed through the air, trying to cut Frank, she stabbed the tip of the dagger through his clothing into the side of his calf.

Clyde gave a bellow that slowly lost force. He swayed, trying to slash at both her and Frank with the sword and failing at both due to the unsteadiness of his hand. Avery spun, knowing her focus on Clyde had left her back open to Ty.

But when she turned, Ty wasn’t looming over her. Scrambling to her feet, she found him laid out, groaning, on the sand. Mattie strode over to join Avery, a look of satisfaction on her face.

Avery raised her eyebrows at her, and Mattie grinned. “If they didn’t want a braining, they shouldn’t have left their pots lying around so handy.”

Avery laughed as she caught sight of a black saucepan in the sand near Ty’s head. Apparently Mattie was an excellent throw.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Actually, I want to apologize,” Mattie said. “You’ve had to go through all this just because you visited me at the wrong time. Besides, I think you’re the one we have to thank.” Mattie looked from the two sleeping men to the dagger in Avery’s hand, one eyebrow rising.

“It was a gift,” she said. “From?—”

Mattie held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. The official roving merchant policy on Oakdenian treated blades doesn’t apply until I have definite information. And I’m fairly certain both of those men just thought this was a good moment for a nap.”

Avery’s lips twitched. “Indeed. An understandable mistake on their parts.” She paused, her smile escaping a little as she looked at Mattie. “Do you think Ty might also be feeling sleepy?” She raised the dagger’s blade and wiggled it a little.

“You know,” Mattie said contemplatively, “I think he might be. He has just ridden a long way almost without break, after all.”

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