Page 12 of Ties of Legacy

The next day she departed the hamlet, the local children trailing behind her and calling out shouts of farewell or requests for the wares they would like on future visits. She waved in response, her spirits lifted by their enthusiasm and by the bright sun in the blue sky.

Her spirits rose even further over the next two days as she found no trace of anyone following her. Or at least she told herself they were rising. In reality, she felt strangely flat. She had seen with her own eyes that Elliot was unharmed, so there was no need for her to feel guilty. And yet still he lingered in her thoughts.

She was just angry, she told herself. And confused. Their third encounter had explained nothing of his strange behavior. All she’d learned was that despite his earlier weak appearance, he had muscles hiding behind his shirt and vest.

She immediately flushed at the thought. His muscles had nothing to do with anything. Her entire extended family would be launching an intervention if they knew how much time she was spending thinking about a thief. It didn’t matter if his behavior was inexplicable. She would never see him again, and that was a good thing.

That curiosity could get you in trouble one day, her father’s voice repeated in her mind, and she resolved—for the twentieth time—not to think of Elliot again.

Avery approached another hamlet, the road running parallel to a stream that had branched off the main river that ran south from Marleston to the sea. Before reaching the houses, she pulled Nutmeg off the road, stopping to fill her waterskins and give the mare a drink.

It was better to take care of the tasks before reaching the collection of homes and the enthusiastic children who lived in them. They had mobbed her when she passed through on her way to Henton, and they were likely to do the same on her way back.

She filled up the waterskins, stashing them in the cart before returning to the stream for a drink herself. She was just bending over the water when she heard several cries of delight. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw she had underestimated the enthusiasm of the children. They had already seen her coming, and a group of them were rushing down the road toward her.

Amused, she bent back down to quickly finish drinking and washing her face. From the noises behind her, the children had gathered around Nutmeg and the cart, several of them petting the horse, who was always particularly patient with children.

But two of the voices continued toward her, the bickering marking them as brother and sister.

“Even if she did bring back a lamp from across the mountains, we can’t afford to buy it,” the boy said in a superior voice.

“How do you know?” the girl cried indignantly. “Ma has been saving up her coin. We can’t afford a comm…commpissioned one, she said, but we might be able to buy a discard.”

The boy made a scoffing sound in response, and Avery glanced back in time to see his sister shove him in response. She shook her head. Maybe siblings wouldn’t have been as much of a blessing as she had always thought.

She straightened, but she had only made it halfway and was still unbalanced when the brother retaliated by shoving his sister in return. The young girl stumbled backward straight into Avery.

Avery’s body tipped back toward the stream, and she flailed her arms wildly in an attempt to right herself. The stream wasn’t wide, but it was deep and filled with rocks, and the current moved quickly.

But there was nothing to catch to stop her fall, and to her horror, one of her arms tangled with the girl’s arm. She only had enough time to register that the girl was falling with her before they both hit the water with an enormous splash.

Her hand reached for the girl, but she had already been wrenched away. Rushing water surrounded her on all sides, the temperature so cold it made Avery suck in an involuntary gasp of water.

Her arms pinwheeled through the stream as her feet sought the creek bed. She finally found it, thrusting the top of her bodyout of the water and coughing violently. But the force of the current ripped her feet from under her again, and she hadn’t fully expelled the water from her lungs before she was tipped sideways.

Her spinning vision caught the cluster of horrified-looking children on the shore but no sign of the girl who had gone into the stream with her. She pushed through the water again, still coughing as she once again found the bottom of the stream.

When she got another look at the shore—this time sucking in a needed breath of beautiful air—there was another figure with the children, this one towering above them.

She didn’t have time to register any more before the man kicked off his boots, shed his pack, and dove into the stream. Strong arms grabbed her waist just as the current caught her again, and she was pulled against a man’s chest. Apparently he was having more luck than she was in keeping his feet firmly planted because she was able to gasp in several breaths without being tipped back into the water.

She looked around frantically and finally caught sight of a tangle of brown curls which was all she could see of the girl.

“Put me down! Put me down!” she cried, squirming in the man’s arms. “I can swim. But a girl fell in with me.”

“What?” The man responded instantly, setting her on her feet and spinning away to peer upstream. “Where?”

“There!” She pointed at the girl’s hair, and the man sliced through the water, moving toward the girl with powerful strokes.

Avery tried to follow him but nearly lost her footing again. Biting her lip, she changed her goal to the stream bank. She wouldn’t help anyone by getting carried further downstream.

She didn’t dare take her feet off the bottom and attempt to swim, but she managed to make it step by step to the shore without being swept away. It helped that she was no longer confused, in shock, and coughing up water.

As soon as she had scrambled onto the bank, water streaming off her, she ran toward the children, her legs wobbly beneath her. She arrived just as the man strode out of the water, the girl hanging limp in his arms.

The children parted before him except for the girl’s brother, who was sobbing.

“I didn’t mean to push her in,” he cried. “I didn’t mean to!”

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