Healer's Touch (Deadly Touch #1) [Complete]

Chapter 5: To Kill The Unkillable

"You look as though you haven't slept in days," Anya said when they took their places to resume the journey. "Why don't you go in the back and have a lie down?"

Llew wasn't sure if she was ready to relax in the presence of these strangers, but urged by Aris and Emylia as well, she clambered over the back of the seat and lay against some rolled bedding in the back.

The carriage was filled with the belongings of a teenage girl of far greater means than Llew had ever known. There were dozens of bags bulging, no doubt with fine clothing, a guitar, and even paintings leaning up against one side and carefully roped to the cart struts. The entire carriage interior smelled of perfume. While Llew didn't love the tangy aromas most of the girls she knew wore, this was a pleasant enough fragrance, with none of the cheap undertones she was used to. The perfume wafted from a stack of papers and envelopes tied with ribbon, with a pen, bottle of ink, and a letter opener attached. Llew had been taught to read, but she felt a pang of jealousy toward this girl who could write as well. Llew remembered her mother writing letters to family they couldn't visit. But her father hadn't been one for such things, so he had not taught her the skill. Not that Llew had anyone to write to in any case.

The bedding was of the softest material she had ever touched, and it wasn't long before the soothing sounds and the motion of the rocking carriage lulled her into semi-consciousness.

A shout startled her awake, and the carriage pulled up.

"How can we help you, officer?" Aris's gravelly voice floated back through the canvas to Llew.

Her pulse quickened and muscles tensed, but she swallowed her nerves and the urge to leap out the back and disappear into the trees. For all she knew, they were surrounded. Keep calm, Llew. Keep calm.

The silence that followed did little to settle her.

"Excuse me, sir," Emylia's tense voice broke it. "But may I ask what exactly it is that you are looking for?"

"A witch, ma'am."

"A witch? Well, this is Miss Anyunca Orell, daughter of Lord and Lady Orell of Cheer. And I would ask that you cease looking at her in that way."

"Sorry, ma'am. The witch is a girl, about your charge's age. You wouldn't happen to have seen one, would you? She's probably naked, and likely dirty."

So, they'd found the skirt and blouse. Llew guessed they probably expected her to dance around magic stones under a full moon, too. A witch!

"No, sir. We haven't seen anyone like that," Aris answered.

Llew closed her eyes in a silent prayer. Only a layer of canvas and the silence of her traveling companions separated her from a return trip to Cheer and the noose – or worse.

Then, without another word, the Farries were on their way at a ground-eating lope to spread the word of the witch escaping farther north. Llew let herself relax into the bedding again. But a gap in the canvas at the back of the carriage caught her eyes and, through it, she could see Jonas riding just behind the pack horses tied to the rear of the carriage. She didn't know if he could see through the hole into the dark interior of the carriage, but it sure looked like he was watching her. She swallowed, gazed up at the canvas roof, and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. No, he didn't know anything. He was just annoyed that she'd stolen his knife. That was all. She would prove her worth to the group and he would forgive her. Everything would be fine.

She hoped.

***

The road meandered in gentle curves, negotiating hilly terrain and all the while approximately parallel with the coastline, tracing the edge of the land. The travelers fell silent as fatigue from the day's ride set in. Hooves and wagon wheels were the only sounds when the road veered from the sea and into a corridor of beech forest, the trees striping the riders with bars of light and shadow. Fallen seeds littered the road and small rodents that had been taking advantage of this year's feast scurried into the undergrowth as carriage and riders passed.