The Wandering Tale of Grigori Verlaf

Chapter Twenty-Four: Scheming

Chapter Twenty-Four: Scheming

                “So tell me, Grigori,” Marya said casually, selecting a few fruits from a vendor’s cart before paying him and moving along through the marketplace, “what made you change your mind?”

                I watched her, not missing the way she managed to smoothly evade collisions with other market-goers even as she held onto her natural grace of movement.

                “You did,” I said finally.

                She raised an eyebrow, her dark eyes bright with curiosity. “And how did I do that?” she asked.

                I smiled. “You can be very persuasive when you want to be.”

                She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that I can be, but we both know that’s not what you mean. You’re not letting me come because I kiss well.”

                I laughed. “You had a valid point,” I admitted. “And seeing as how you were so determined to come along, I’d rather be able to keep an eye on you than have you trailing along behind and getting yourself into trouble.”

                “I would do no such thing,” she protested, but I only shook my head.

                “You would,” I said dryly. “And we both know it.”

                She shrugged, a sheepish expression coming over her face. “Is it so wrong that I want an adventure?” she asked softly.

                The wistful expression on her face reminded me of the rush I only felt when I was my own man, on the run from Drolla instead of safely in captivity, the singing in my blood when outwitting attackers or spies sent to bring me back, the joy of knowing complete and utter freedom, if only for a moment.

                “No,” I said finally. “It’s not.”

                She smiled faintly, stopping at another vendor to buy some thread. With the package neatly stowed away in her bag, we continued on.

                “Where will we run?” she asked after several more stops.

                “Wherever we have to,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll probably hit the lowlights. Make a pass through Dunya, the city where you have to nail your table to your floor before you sleep at night to keep it from being stolen. Stop for a bit in City of Kings, where it’s easy enough to go unnoticed if you stick to the seedy side of town where the authorities don’t like to go and the criminals are loyal enough to not report a man for any price. There’s Lumina, which isn’t usually a very good stopping point simply because new faces are easily recognized. Celestia’s even worse, I hear, because it’s on a damned island…”

                She listened intently as I rattled off the best and worst cities to try to hide in, her smile growing wider with every name.

                “And don’t even think about Ayun,” I finished with a shudder. “If you’re not a shape-shifter they give you funny looks and you get searched every six paces to be sure that you’re not carrying weapons.”

                She laughed aloud at that one, shaking her head in amusement. “You sound like you know that from experience.”

                I grimaced. “I do. Worst week of my life.”