Falling Feathers Book I - Rogue Without Fear

Chapter VIII

>>> Soren Hawethorne <<<
I was walking around with a pitcher of beer, pouring it into the tin cups of wounded townsfolk. I can't believe she's going back! I though furiously. They'd threatened her life, and now she was going back? She had to be insane! This wasn't right, I had to stop her! I ran my thumb over her necklace. What if this time ... she really left? I didn't want to loose her, not again! I'd already come close, and I wouldn't stand to see it happen for good. Yet, at the same time, it wasn't quite my place to stop her or send her.  This was her choice.
I saw a raised tin cup, and began pouring some beer into it. I imagined, briefly, if she had met the monsters who burned Shepherd's Rest. That would be quite an encounter. Autumn had said that she didn't see any of their faces, nor did she recognize any voices.
A quiet splashing sound tore me from my thoughts.  The beer was pouring over the edge of the cup. I snapped out of my trance, and raised the pitcher. My face flushing red, I quickly looked around for someone to clean up the mess I had made.  I saw a child walking around, he must've been seven or eight. I snapped my fingers, and pointed to the beer on the ground.
"Can you clean this, please?" I asked softly, knowing he would understand.  The boy nodded, and ran off to grab a cloth. I walked around in a daze, still thinking about Autumn. Briefly, I looked up and away from the floor.  Out of the corner of my eye, I managed to catch a glimpse of Chase, seated in his usual spot in the dark.  Queer, when did he get there? I dismissed any concern. Chase was respectable, I was almost certain of it.  Perhaps I just didn't want to believe otherwise. It didn't matter, I had a different task at hand. I had to give beer to the injured, and try to think of how I would convince Autumn not to send herself to her own death.
I heard the stairs groan as someone came down them. There was Autumn, coming down to help Alys clean wounds. I saw Alys, not too far from me, stand up and walk my way. She smiled, and quietly whispered to me,
"I see Miss Scarlet's back. Where do you fancy she was all this time?" For a moment, I wondered who she was referring to. Then I remembered: Autumn's name is still a secret.
"Yes, it is good to know she is back.  I think it would be best if she helped you, tend to the wounded." I avoided Alys's question, and she nodded.
"It would be best." She repeated. Alys walked to Autumn, whispered a few things, then they walked together to one of the men lying on the ground. Alys passed Autumn a cloth, dripping in water. Autumn gently wiped blood off his arm, and face. I smiled to myself, watching her tend the man. She was so careful with him, and caring. She didn't know his name, or anything about him.  To her, he was a stranger.  Yet, I was sure if she was given the chance, she would defend herself from him in a heart beat. The thought crossed my mind, alerting me that I could be wrong about her. I didn't know her that well, after all. There were a great many secrets she'd kept from me. While I didn't like it, I didn't blame her. She was in a new town, with new people. She wasn't sure who she could trust and who was waiting to shoot her when she wasn't looking. She had every right to be suspicious of all of us.
At the same time, how did I know she wasn't waiting for the right time to do that to the rest of us? What if her being kidnapped was just a made-up story that she created, so we believed her? What if she was in on the raid?

>>> Autumn Rose <<<
I stood up, and looked around the room of injured men, children and women in the room. It was hard to believe such a small band of people could do so much damage. But the tattoo... and my necklace! It couldn't be random that they wanted my mother's necklace, it had to mean something.  Tonight, I reminded myself, Tonight I have to sneak out of here. I have to go under the bridge to meet one of them. My stomach turned over at the thought.  It'll be dangerous, and I'm not sure if I want to go, but I don't have a choice. They followed me from my village to this town, I'm sure they can follow me again. I noticed Chase, in the corner, watching me. It seemed every time I looked at him, since the day I arrived, he was always watching me. I didn't like it, it was almost frightening.  I won't be frightened by him, I encouraged myself. Him least of anyone. Somehow when I looked at him, I had a strange feeling as if I knew him. Like I'd seen him before or somewhere else.  I knew that was ridiculous, I'd only ever seen him from the corner of the inn, and I knew it. Don't be silly, giving yourself ideas and a fright. It's no good.
I spent the day helping Alys, the bartender's wife. As it grew darker, I remembered that it was coming time for me to go. I looked at Soren, for what I thought would be the last time. If I didn't come back, did I want to say goodbye? No, I decided. I wanted to slip away unnoticed, if I could. I went up the stairs and grabbed a cloak from my room. I took it in my hand, and went down the stairs. I looked around for Soren, and saw Chase, still in the corner, watching me. I ran out the inn, before Soren or anyone else noticed. Once safely out the inn, I put on the cloak, and ran out the gate into the dark. It's the full moon, I noticed as I looked up. That didn't matter, I was going to be perfectly safe. I found the bridge and slowly went down the sloped dirt. I was careful not to slip or fall. The bridge made of stone, old and worn.  It's foundation was strong and still held. I made my way down the slope, and paused for a moment when I saw the corner. Once I went around that corner, I expected to see one of them. One of the monsters who destroyed my home. I took a deep breath, completely ignorant of the figure creeping up behind me. I turned the corner, and felt a hand around my mouth. I screamed, but it was no use. I couldn't be heard. I knew I should've expected this. Lying, cheating filth! It was a good thing I didn't have my necklace with me. I half expected for my captor to look for it and kill me in that moment. Instead, he whispered to me.
"Hello doll," he snickered. "Hush, don't scream," he added in a gentle tone. I stopped. My screaming was no good, anyway. No one could hear me. "That's better."
With a sudden rush of air, the cape went over me head.  I stayed silent.