Tower of Dove

Chapter 16: The Storybook Hero

Tower of Dove Chapter 16: The Storybook Hero

They woke long before the sun rose the next day and gathered their things together. After about ten minutes or so of Kissa packing his bag, Posy realized that he wasn’t going to tell his family of sorts that he was leaving. When she asked him about this, he’d only answered her by saying, “Why didn’t you tell your family?”

She asked him how he knew she hadn’t told them. He said he’d only guessed, and guessed correctly. She decided then that he was a know-it-all jerk.

She put on the restraining jeans that she so despised and a light blue sweater for the chilly air. Then she braided her hair down her back, clipped her bangs off her face and when Kissa was ready, they left the small home.

The dark sky was covered with clouds, and the air was chilled and breezy. Posy hugged herself against the cold as they strolled down the deserted street which led back to the town square. At four in the morning, the place was nearly deserted except for a few guards which walked around the area. They paid no mind to the two children. Most of them looked too sleepy-eyed to bother with them or to care.

Kissa led Posy across the square and into an area of mostly craftwork shops. They passed shoemakers, tailors, home décor, but they stopped outside of the blacksmith. It was surprisingly pleasant looking from the outside, Posy thought. The words Camber’s Crafts hung over the wooden door in simple print, and items such as pots and other metal goods were set in the window display.

“Why are we here?” Posy asked as they approached the door.

Kissa pulled a key out of his pocket, put it in the keyhole, and twisted. The lock gave a satisfied click and Kissa put the key away. In the dim moonlight that shone through the clouds, Posy thought that he looked as if he had been dipped in silver by the way his hair and eyes gleamed. He looked . . . pretty.

“Because if we’re going to travel to the Woodpecker and then make it to the Heron,” he said, “I want to be better able to protect you. Uncle Hector keeps swords in the back.”

“Wait, why are we going to the Woodpecker?” Posy asked, although she felt—somewhat irrationally—pleased that he wanted to protect her. “The purple mountains of the Heron are just past this valley.”

Kissa looked at her as if she were mentally challenged. “Did you honestly believe that we would be able to make it past those mountains before winter?”

Posy swallowed but didn’t answer. Yes, she had thought that that would be the practical thing to do, but the look Kissa was giving her made her think she was wrong.

His next words proved her thoughts to be correct. “We’d never make it past those mountains in only two months and be dead by November. Taking a boat from the Woodpecker, we’ll get there maybe a month from now if we travel fast.”

Posy didn’t have any idea how that made sense, but she wasn’t a geographer so she just nodded and Kissa opened the door to the shop.

The inside was simple. The walls were white, with things such as sword sheaths, satchels, and specialized gear hanging off the walls. The shelves separating the small shop into three rows held more common household items, like pot holders and silverware.

“That’s an odd combination,” Posy muttered “Where are all the swords?”

“I already told you,” Kissa said. “In the back. You stay here. It’s not right for a girl to deal with swords.”

Posy frowned, but Kissa was around the counter and through the back door so quickly that she didn’t have time to protest.

She waited for twenty minutes while he did whatever he needed to do back there. It was annoying how he wouldn’t let her come with him, though. She wasn’t an idiot! She just hadn’t ever needed protection before. She hadn’t thought twice about it. She frowned and began to pace the length of the counter. Would they really need protection? They weren’t—they weren’t going to be in that much danger . . . they were nobility, after all! The Heron may be the Quail’s enemy, but Kissa was an ally’s child, and they didn’t kill children. She’d never heard of that.