Jarryd: Chapter 10

“So?” Kath asked him when he came back inside. “How did it go?” She made a point of looking him over. “No teeth marks that I can see.”

“It went well. I mean, first she terrified me, but then it got better.”

“She told you she never really liked you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. She said I was evasive.”

“Which you were. You were harder to pin down than a greased eel. I was beginning to think you were hopeless.”

“I was. I admit it.”

She smiled and hugged him. “I’m glad you had a chance to talk. Father and I told her how much you’d changed, but she needed to see it for herself.”

Looking around to make sure there was no one to hear, Jarryd said, “She knows about the attack that night, how serious it was.”

“I know. Nothing gets by her in her inn. It’s like she has secret passages.”

“She wants you out of this life.”

“She’s been saying that ever since she was injured.”

“She worries about you.”

She gave him a warm look. “Less now that you are here.”

The door opened, and a man walked in. It was Nathen, the miller. He gave Jarryd a cold look and took a seat. “Ale!” he called out, taking his hat off and setting it on the table.

“I’ll be right with you,” Kath replied. Under her breath, she added, “Would it kill you to say please. Or how about hello?”

“You want me to take care of him?”

“If by that you mean throw him in the creek to teach him some manners, then yes.”

“Maybe I could accidentally bump into him while he’s near the edge?”

Kath moved to the bar and started pouring the ale. While waiting for the foam to settle, Jarryd remembered something he’d been meaning to ask her.

“I’m planning to go to Hilltop soon. There’s someone there with a horse for sale. I can’t keep borrowing from my neighbors, especially since I planted hay down by the river. Would you like to come with me?”

Her eyes lit up. “That sounds wonderful. I haven’t been there in ages. I know Hilltop isn’t much, but it’s nice to see someplace different once in a while. I’ll pack a picnic. We can take the buggy. Father just had the wheel fixed.”

Kath’s parents owned a little, two-passenger buggy. They liked to take buggy rides through the countryside sometimes.

“That sounds great. Just let me know what day works best for you.”

“Let’s do it tomorrow. Now that Mother is doing better, Father has more time to work in the inn. And I need a break. This place is wearing me out.”

 

Several days later, Jarryd and Kath set out in the buggy for Hilltop. It was a cloudy day with gusting winds, but warm now that summer had nearly arrived. It wasn’t the picture-perfect day Jarryd had been hoping for, but he determined not to let it change his plans. He’d had enough trouble working up his nerve for today. He didn’t feel like going through it all again. He’d barely slept the night before.

In his pocket was the velvet bag. He patted the pocket for the hundredth time, making sure it was still there. Quit checking, he told himself. Otherwise, she’d be sure to notice.

At least she seemed oblivious to his plans so far. She was cheerfully relating something that had happened the night before. She paused and looked at him, clearly expecting a response.

Belatedly, he realized he’d been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn’t really listened to her story. What was he supposed to say? He tried a little laugh, followed by “Well, that’s how it goes sometimes, right?”

She frowned. “What?”

“You know.”

“I don’t. And I don’t think you do either. You weren’t listening.”

“Psh.” He tried to wave it off, but she wasn’t having it.

“You’ve been distracted all morning. And why are you so sweaty? What’s going on?” Her sharp gaze fixed on him.

“Oh, I just slept bad last night is all. Bad dreams.” As he said this, he realized that he did have a bad dream last night. He’d forgotten all about it until just now.

Her expression grew concerned. “Did you dream of the Queen?”

“No.” He concentrated, trying to put the shreds of it back together. “There was this creature. It had bat wings, but it wasn’t a bat. It was the size of a person. It flew down out of this tree. There was this little girl playing outside her house. I tried to yell, but she couldn’t hear me.” He shuddered. “That’s all I remember.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“It was just a dream.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “Says the man with the Sight.”

“I’ve had lots of bad dreams since I got back.” It was true. He had them a couple times a week.

“But from what you’ve told me, those are all memories, things that happened while you were away. This wasn’t a memory, was it?”

“No,” he said reluctantly. “It wasn’t.”

“So it could have been a vision.”

Jarryd rubbed his eyes. “Gods, I hope not. I just want to be done with all that.” As he said this, he thought of that night he went into the Borderlands. Could something have come through the shadow door he used? It had happened before.

But he’d been careful to make sure the door was closed. And that was months ago. If something had come through, he’d have heard about it.

“You didn’t hear me, did you?”

He blinked. “What?”

“I asked you if you recognized the little girl.”

“No.”

“Which means it might not have been in Creekside. It could be something hundreds of leagues away. It might not affect us at all.”

It sounded to Jarryd like she was trying to convince herself. He knew she worried sometimes that he would have to leave again. When he told her there was no chance of that, she always reminded him that he was a Dragonwatch Knight, and being a Dragonwatch Knight meant he had responsibilities. When he replied that he’d quit, that he was no longer a Knight, she patted his arm and said that wasn’t the sort of thing a person could quit. It was who he was.

“I have to tell you something.” He didn’t want to. She’d worry, and he didn’t want her to. But he’d made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t keep secrets anymore. He didn’t get to make other people’s decisions for them.

“A few months ago, I went into the Borderlands.”

Her eyes widened. “You what?”

“You were worried about your mother, and I thought that if I could go get Hamisi, she’d be able to help. But in order to do that, I’d have to go through that place.”

“You shouldn’t be going in there alone.”

“I only went in a little ways. And I thought maybe it would be empty. Nothing bothered me on my way here after the Nagyar party.”

“But it wasn’t empty.”

“Nope. They came in fast. I killed one of them and hit the others hard enough that I could get away.”

“At least you weren’t injured. I wish you wouldn’t do things like that without telling me.”

“I won’t. I don’t see much point in it. I can’t hope to fight off all those things alone.”

“It’s too bad you can’t turn back into a dragon. That would even things up a bit.”

“I had the same thought. But I can’t imagine where I’d get a big enough boost of kriyana to make it happen. Maybe if I had a hundred Knights feeding me kriyana. I wonder if that’s even possible. I’ve never heard any stories of Knights sharing power, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But the reason I brought all this up now is because I’m worried that if that thing I saw in my dreams is real, maybe I’m the one who accidentally let it into our world.”

“You told me it happened before.”

“But I made a point of making sure I closed the door. And I haven’t been back since.”

“There you have it. Just a dream, then.”

“But you were the one who was saying it probably wasn’t just a dream.”

“That was then. This is now. I prefer this option. I strike my previous words. Now put your arm around me, and let’s enjoy this beautiful day together.”

As she said this, the wind gusted and snatched her hat away. Jarryd grabbed it before it got away. A rumble of thunder came a moment later.

“You were saying something about a beautiful day?” Jarryd asked with a grin, handing the hat back to her. Kath secured the hat firmly with hairpins.

She leaned into him. “As long as I’m with you, it’s a beautiful day.”

“I feel the same.” A few raindrops spattered around them. “How about I dig out that oil cloth you brought?” The buggy had a top, but the wind was in their faces, so they needed something to put across their laps.

Rain started to fall, steadily, but not hard. They huddled under the oil cloth, talking and laughing. Jarryd realized that Kath was right. The weather didn’t matter. Not as long as he was with her. He wasn’t sure if he was still going to be able to go through with his plan though.

The rain quit by late morning, and the sun peeked through. They shed the oil cloth and enjoyed the rainbow that appeared.

“Every time I come here I think the same thing,” Kath said as they neared the village of Hilltop. “Whoever named this place had no idea what a hill is.”

Hilltop wasn’t on top of a hill. More like a gentle rise in the ground. There wasn’t even a hill nearby.

“Don’t say anything about it,” Jarryd said with mock sternness. “You know how they get about their hill. Remember, I have to buy a horse here.”

They both laughed.

The town was a little smaller than Creekside, with the same log homes along with a few stone ones sprinkled in here and there. They rolled through the center of the village, heading for a farm on the other side, greeting the people they encountered. They didn’t see anyone they knew. The villagers were friendly but mostly ignored them. Two small boys followed the buggy until they reached the far side of town.

They picked up another follower as they left town. A small, brown and white, short-haired dog. Kath noticed it when she glanced back.

“Someone’s dog is following us.”

Jarryd looked. “He’ll probably give up after a bit. Once he realizes we don’t have any food for him.”

But once they’d bought the horse and got back on the road, there was the dog again, sitting there waiting.

“He just wants to escort us back through town,” Jarryd said.

Early in the afternoon, they stopped to have their picnic. Jarryd untied the horse he’d just bought—a gentle, friendly mare by the name of Juney—and led her over to a small beaver pond to drink. The dog came trotting up. They hadn’t seen it as they passed through town and thought it had given up.

The food was spread out, and they were eating, when Kath said, “I can’t help it. I have to give him some food. The poor thing looks so hungry.” The dog was skinny, though not emaciated. He was sitting nearby, not too close to get driven off, not too far away to miss out. He was turned partially away so he could act like he wasn’t watching every morsel of food intensely.

“If you do, you’re going to have a dog. You know that, right? Because I don’t think he belongs to anybody.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Mother has always been dead set against dogs at the inn. I could talk to her. Maybe she’ll come around.”

Jarryd could see where this was headed. “Why don’t I take him? I have plenty of room, and it does get kind of lonely at the farm.”

“You’d do that for me?”

Jarryd responded by tossing a piece of ham toward the dog, who expertly snapped it out of the air, giving it no chance to hit the ground.

“I’m giving him this whole ham bone,” Kath said. She sliced away what meat she could, then tossed the bone to the dog.

And Jarryd knew this was the time.

“Speaking of how lonely it is at the farm.” He pulled the velvet bag out of his pocket and got down on one knee. Taking the necklace out, he asked, “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Kath let out a little shriek and clapped her hands to her mouth. “Oh my! You totally surprised me. Yes, of course! A hundred times yes!”

She nearly knocked him over with the energy behind her hug. Tears ran down her face as she kissed him again and again.

When it died down and she let him go, he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to think about it for a bit first?”

She punched him in the shoulder. “I’ve been thinking about it for years, you big dummy.”

He held up the necklace. “Because I can probably return this.”

“Over my dead body.” She pulled her hair back. “Put it on me.”

He had trouble with the tiny clasp, but Jarryd finally got it on. She gazed at it. “It’s gorgeous. It’s perfect. Where did you—” She stopped as she figured it out. “You bought it from Theo, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“I love it. You picked the perfect necklace.”

Jarryd shrugged. “I have to give Theo all the credit. I wasn’t actually even thinking about getting you something when I went to talk to him. I was so caught up in worrying over what he wanted to talk about."

“Then I'll have to remember to thank Theo when I see him next.”

“I didn’t even have to pay for—”

She put a finger on his lips to silence him. “You’re winning, Jarryd. Stop talking while you’re ahead.”

“When do you want to do it?”

“How about the night of the Harvest Dance?”

“That’s what I was thinking too.”

“I can’t wait to get home and tell my parents. They’ll be so happy. I’ll have to tell Nance too.” Nance was Kath’s best friend, a tall, somewhat somber, dark-haired woman. “I can’t let her hear it through gossip. She needs to hear it from me direct.”

A few raindrops fell. They looked up to see the clouds had moved back in.

“We probably better get going.” Jarryd started packing food in the basket. Soon they had everything back in the buggy, Juney tied to the back.

“Are you coming, Scruffy?” Jarryd called to the dog.

“Scruffy?”

“He is scruffy. You can’t deny that.”

“The name is fine by me. That’s as long as it’s okay with her.”

“Her?”

“Aren’t you a farmer? Aren’t you supposed to be able to tell the difference?”

“To be fair, Scruffy and I barely met. And I didn’t want to be too nosy. It’s rude.”

Kath laughed. She walked over to Scruffy and crouched. “Can I pet you?” She held out one hand.

Scruffy sniffed her hand cautiously, then licked it. She didn’t run away when Kath began petting her. She backed up a few steps when Jarryd approached, but then changed her mind, clearly not wanting the petting to end just yet.

Jarryd scratched her behind the ear. “We haven’t had a dog since I was a kid. After our last one died, Mother was heartbroken and said she couldn’t go through that again. “‘Dogs are too special to live such a short time,’ she always said.”

“Do you want to ride in the buggy with us?” Kath asked. When she tried to pick Scruffy up, the dog backed away. “Okay. It’s your choice.”

They hadn’t gone far when the rain started coming down hard. Scruffy ran up beside the buggy and whined. Jarryd hopped down and lifted her into the buggy. She sat on the seat between them.

Kath took out a cloth and began drying the dog. “You sure are a friendly doggy, aren’t you?” To Jarryd, she said, “Something must have happened to her owner.”

“Maybe she belongs to someone passing through and just got lost.”

“However it happened, she has a new home with us now.”

Jarryd noticed the way she said us and felt a warmth inside. He patted the dog on the head and thought of how lucky he was.

(Are you enjoying Jarryd's tale? Would you like to read his adventures before this, when he fought the Dragon Queen? Just click here to check it out!)

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