Dani
Those seemingly endless nights spent sleeping in the damp mine had worn Dani’s nerves to shreds. It was neither helpful nor productive for her to have spent every waking moment (and many of the hours she should have been asleep) fixating on the consequences of her own death. On five small, round faces growing emaciated and grey as they await the next coin purse that never arrives. It was very difficult to put hideous thoughts out of your head when you spent all day following a monotonous routine of digging, eating and sleeping. No distractions or entertainment. Only ten fearful eyes watching her, begging her not to forget about them.
The relief of escape had been quickly trampled under the many feet of the mercenary group that had attacked them. Of course, they bested them, as was always the case for Dani since joining Matilde's group. Whatever trouble that Eudora woman had gotten herself into was none of Dani’s business, and she was more than glad to be out of the range of the great blazing target which was clearly pinned to the woman’s back. That was a curse if she ever saw one, and curses could be infectious. Of course, Dani had her protection crystals, so she personally was safe, but she did not like the thought of Kali or Matilde catching a curse and clouding their group with bad luck. Kali was enough of a nuisance due to personality alone.
In their last night in the grove, Dani had been unfortunately privy to the uncomfortable confession and subsequent rejection between two of Eudora’s women. They had been stood in the small clearing of lumpy grass beside Dani’s tent, and although their voices were lowered, they were not close to whispers. Dani had intended to never speak of the embarrassing incident to anyone.
When Kali mentioned, casually but inquisitively, that she had noticed Blaire standing aimlessly and alone by Dani’s tent when she had returned from her evening prayers, Dani admitted that yes, she did know why that was. Kali offered her a silver for her words, and she gave them - out of Matilde’s earshot, of course. From her understanding, their leader was once rather close with both Blaire and Eudora. Dani felt some pity for the woman at having been dismissed, but coin was coin and that was what Dani had left home for. If Kali wanted to pay to stick her thin little nose into other people’s romances, then so be it. It was not as though they would be seeing Eudora’s group again any time soon. Why Kali was so fascinated with the fluffy-haired Blaire was a mystery, but not one Dani cared enough to think too hard about.
She was far more interested in the pressing mystery of how she had ended the day with more kills than both of her companions combined. Perhaps Kali was not the only one emotionally invested in one of the women they had left behind outside of Celandine.
If all three of them had skinned as many bears as she had (four) then they would have completed their contract by nightfall. Instead, each of her comrades had only managed to take down one furry beast each. Dani was not working these contracts for fun or adventure; she needed money and she needed it quickly. The coin they had made from selling their share of the mercenaries’ armour, weapons and trinkets had been a much needed boost in funds, but when tallied against the amount they had lost while stuck in that dirty little hole outside Celandine, they had not made enough profit in the last week for her to send a purse to her sisters.
As they sat about their campfire for the night, she decided she could not stay silent on the matter.
She did not look at them when she announced, “You are both missing Eudora’s party.”
“What makes you say that?” Matilde said irritably.
“This hunting contract should have been completed today.”
“And we will complete it tomorrow. It is only one extra day. We were not given a time constraint on the contract.”
“It is not the contract that is held to a time constraint.”
“I am more than happy to lend you any coin you need, Dani.”
“I do not borrow money.”
Moneylending was buried at the root of her exhausting, anxiety-ridden adulthood. Her father’s inability to turn down a bet, or what he believed was a handout, had led the entire family down a rabbit hole they could not scrabble out of no matter how hard they tried.
Kali scoffed. “You have never offered to lend me money!” she accused Matilde.
“You would spend it on obnoxious face paints.”
An interesting accusation, given that for quite some time it was Matilde’s bedding that was often smeared with Kali’s gold eye paint. Dani had never acknowledged their couplings, it did not appear to be any more than that, which meant it was none of her business.
“Money well spent!” Kali responded with a cackle.
“I can admit…” Matilde began tentatively. “I felt ill at ease leaving Eudora and her women after the mercenary attack. They could not fend off an attack of that kind without our assistance.”
Dani turned to them, finally dragging her eyes from the weak fire that cackled ahead of her.
“You wish to merge with them again?”
“Is that a euphemism for sex?” Kali asked with a head tilt, her arrow-straight locks leaning with her.
“I am not looking to stalk them, join them, or overindulge in unnecessary company.” Matilde huffed. “I simply feel that the situation warrants… a check… for reassurance of their safety.”
How strange for Matilde to speak with such a defensive tone with her own women. A nerve had been poked, a sensitive one. Although, what did one expect from wind-up merchant extraordinaire Kali? Irritating others and pushing boundaries were merely two of her many hobbies.
“That certainly sounds like stalking,” Kali commented unhelpfully.
Dani took a long but quiet breath before voicing her suggestion. “They are returning to Emerald Heart Keep to inform the steward of the result of their contract. We can request information from him without giving chase.”
“This is the West-North border and we are to bring these pelts North. Are you suggesting we travel up to finish our contract and then tread back on ourselves to return to the West where we originally rode from?”
Dani shrugged, a weariness overtaking her at having pushed her vocal energy to its limits for the day. She mumbled, “I suppose it depends on how worried you truly are.”
Matilde fell silent, and miraculously, so did Kali. Dani took advantage of the silence to compose a letter in her mind that she would write once she had dished out their evening meal. Her sisters would need to be informed as soon as possible that funds would be tight for another week.
Comments (0)
See all