Birthright

Chapter 2

"Andromeda! Get up! I still need your help to finish loading the pelts." Mother called from the kitchen.

"Almost there, Mother." I most definitely wasn't anywhere close to there, but I needed to get up. I rolled out of bed onto the wooden floor. The chill woke me up very effectively. I stood up, opened my clothing chest at the end of my bed, and put on some wool pants, a thin long sleeve cotton shirt, and a deerskin coat.

In the kitchen, I grabbed a chunk of cheese and three slices of bread from the counter where Mother had left the food for me, before stepping into my boots. They were nice brown leather, probably the nicest thing I owned. I'd had them for four years, and only bought them because I once shot a bear in the eye and got a full pelt off the beast. Once my boots were on, I left the small house to the chilly morning.

The cart was barely packed. Baskets of fruit preserves took up only a quarter of the space. Mother's plants hadn't done too well this year, almost not producing enough to feed the two of us. The extra meat and furs I'd gotten this growing season were stored in a small shed, but would not take up much more space in the cart. I ducked into the shed, and found Mother grabbing some of the pelts.

"She lives!" Mother's face had mock surprise written all over it. "Now start carrying the meat to the cart. I'm hoping to finish up quickly this year, in and out of Berkeley before noon."

"Of course, Mother." I grabbed two bundles of salted venison and brought them out to the cart. It took me only four trips to bring all the meat to the cart, and another two trips to bring the pelts. Mother had started strapping the cart to the mule by the time I finished. All together, more than a third of the cart still had space, but there was nothing more to bring to town.

"Everything is in the cart. Anything else I need to do, Mother?" I called towards the front of the cart as I repositioned the pelts so the weight was more evenly distributed.

"That's all, Andromeda. Let's get going then." I jogged up to join Mother as she started the mule moving towards Berkeley.

The walk to civilization was quiet. The sun was in front of us and to the left, making it difficult to look up. The first part of the trip was on a small trail just wide enough for our cart. The dusty path connected our isolated house to the road in and out of Berkeley. As far back as I can remember, Mother and I are the only ones to use the path. The second part of the trip is on a dirt road. Although not extremely busy, the road gets enough traffic to have a name. However, in the past two years or so, the road was renamed, and I cannot remember the new name. The king renamed it after his dead brother or something unimportant like that, but all the locals still call it "Hillford to Ber," as it connects the Ber sea to Hillford, the closest city.

An hour and a half into the trip to Berkeley, Mother spoke for the first time since leaving the house.

"Remember, Andromeda. You must stay close to me, don't go wandering off, don't speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary, and don't talk about your necklace ever." Mother paused her speaking, running through the rules, making sure she hadn't missed any. "You did wear the necklace, yes?"

"Of course I did Mother. I never take it off. You know that. It's the only thing I have from my father."

"Not the only thing, Andromeda, just the only thing he wanted for you to have." With that, Mother stopped talking again. I wanted to ask her about my father, about the necklace, about the scar on my left hand, about anything. I wanted to know if I was "older" yet, but I didn't think this was a good time.

We crested a hill, and could see Berkeley in a small valley below us. We walked on, getting closer to the town with every step. Eventually the ground flattened out so we were noticeably in the little valley where Berkeley resided. The road beneath us turned from dust to cobblestone as we passed between the first few houses, all lined up neatly in rows and columns like a grid. Other people were on the street here, laughing with each other and shouting above the din of human and animal sounds.

"Stop the cart!" A man's voice carried strong above the other noise. "Stop the cart!"

Mother brought the mule to a stop as three men moved towards us. I had never seen them before, and it was obvious from a quick glance at Mother that she'd never seen them before either.

"By order of our great ruler King Pyxis, we need to search your cart, ma'am. There's a fugitive on the run from the law, and we have reason to believe they are hiding in this area. One of my associates will search your cart while my other associate and I will ask the two of you some questions about any possible interactions with said fugitive. You," the soldier pointed to Mother, who looked as if she'd seen a ghost. "Follow my associate. You," the soldier pointed at me this time. "Come with me."