Remember Me

Chapter 5

Ava

I am dreaming. I know that from the feeling in the pit of my stomach and the numbness in my limbs. But oddly enough, this feels like a memory.

I am on the edge of a town of log cabins and stone buildings. It is nearly dark, but the town is still bustling with life on the edge of the moor where it rests. There are women in floor length rough wool dresses with pale cloth covering their hair, although a few are dressed in fur coats. The men are dressed all differently, some with breeches and high leather boots, some with rough leather jackets and wide rimmed straw hats, and some with wool tunics and cotton stockings. It feels like something out of a story book from the Middle Ages.

I jump a little in alarm as a dark figure enters my peripheral vision.

"Well, Red, are you coming?" I hear the familiar voice of Lupa ask. I look to the figure and see the strange girl, clothed in a dark brown cloak with a white tunic and breeches on underneath, take off her hood. Beneath the hood, her face is younger than I remember with a mischievous look in her topaz blue eyes and her hair a darker shade of brown.

"We have to trade those berries by morning or Lord Cooper will have us!"

"Yes, I'm coming," I reply, although my voice sounds far away to my own ears. Baffled, I look down at the basket I didn't realize I was holding, and see that I am dressed not so differently than Lupa. The only differences are that my cloak is red and I have leather gloves on.

She smiles at me and takes my arm with her hand, pulling me down the rickety cobbled street. I follow her, unable to protest, through the throng of people. We walk hurriedly down narrow alleyways and open streets where people are lighting torches that line the buildings until she stops in a market. It seems to be the heart of the village, with an open fireplace in the middle and a group of older men and women sitting around it and having a good time. Pubs and businesses-the cobbler and blacksmiths and merchants that is-surround the open place where people are selling and buying trinkets and food and furniture pieces. Confusion beings to cloud me. Why am I here? What is this place? Who is Lupa?

"Come on, over here," Lupa murmurs as she leads me through the market. We come to a halt at a cart with an old, weather beaten woman blowing on a wooden flute. She stops when she sees us.

"Ah, there you are lassies," she says with a thick Scottish accent, "I've been a waitin' for ye. D'ya got the berries I asked ye for?"

"They're right here," Lupa shows the basket to the lady who smiles gleefully, showing off her gums and very few teeth.

"Aye, that's a good las. Si'em right over there will ya? Stiff joints y'know."

I go to set down the basket, but Lupa grabs my arm. "Wait," she says, her voice low and serious, "A deal's a deal. We fed you, now where's our prize?"

The lady cackles a very ugly laugh and reaches into the folds of her robe, handing us two leather pouches. Lupa picks one up hastily and begins to check inside. Not knowing what to do, I follow her lead. A pile of ancient gold coins gleams from within the pouch. I look over at Lupa, wondering what the hell is going on, and see her judge the weight of the bag. Satisfied, she nods to the lady and takes my hand, leading me away from the market.

Once in the outskirts, she let's out a sigh of relief. I tilt my head and try to piece together everything. I open my mouth to demand that she tells me what is going on, but instead what comes out is a stranger's voice.

"This is a lot of money," my voice-that-is-not-my-voice says. "She paid us well, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Lupa tilts back her head and laughs. "We won't starve this week! And we can still pay Cooper by morning so we-"