Incognito

15

Nightmares played Zac along with frequent haunts of pain. He would be having a dream about the mia beating him up then suddenly be awoken by pain in his torso. Sometimes he would roll and his arms would immediately flood with excruciating pain. All these things he tried to keep covert, but at times the mia would be in the shack when he cried out.

Zac kicked his broken foot into something and rolled in agony. Unfortunately the cot di not come along. With a thud, Zac crashed to the hard-packed earth. Moaning he lay in a ball motionless. The night was cold as it always was. There are no blankets in the mia's hide-away and Zac no longer owned shoes either. His feet were wrapped in bandaging that did no good. His stomach ached for food and his throat for liquid. Rummaging around he was able to find a bottle and he pours its contents in his mouth. The alcohol burned his throat and he was in a coughing fit when he limped outside. Immediately the mia rushed to catch him and practically drags him to a fire that burns his eyes but at least warms his bones.

"Shouldn't have left my brandy out." She chuckles as she pried it out of his hands and reclines in the dark. As she raises it to her lips, Zac stares at her in wonderment.

"You are the most frighteningly mysterious woman I have ever met," he voices.

She watches the fire for seconds before responding, "I will take that as a compliment."

"You must be hungry." The mia drags a sack over and pulls out a wormy apple. "For the time being, food is scarce and precious. You are gonna get what ya get and not get upset, ya hear me?" When he nods, she pitches him the fruit.

"Amazing," he mutters. "You have been living in the wilderness, eating rotten fruit with a stolen baby for years!"

Sighing she tips back the tin. Swallowing she replies, "I have been out here two winters and a summer and the baby's mine. As for the food, it depends on what the traveler's carry what we eat."

Genuinely curious Zac strikes up the conversation. "Why live in the woods and steal from innocent people?"

The mia looks offended. "I only steal from those who have more than enough!"

"There is no way to tell between the poor and rich. Besides, reports come of you terrorizing both, also killing the innocent. I should be scared myself!" Zac was having fun teasing the girl. It had been so long since he had a companion his own age.

Indignant, the girl stood. "If you are afraid that I will slit your throat in your sleep, walk to Leeland! I have enough problems without caring for you. And I know the rich snobs because I used to be one. Richard's gang," she pauses to spit into the fire causing it to cackle, "Are the ones beating people and stealing from those who barely have a meal."

Zac holds up his hands in surrender. "Now, darling. You have something against the best thieves?"

If he wanted her temper to flare, he hit the button perfectly. The mia leaped at him, pinned him to the ground, and pulled out her knife. Leaning in until her face was near his ear, she whispered, "You should have something against them too. After all, look at the sorry state they left you in."

"Believe me, love, I know how good my Samaritan is. There is no need to be pushy."

"I am not your love or darling," she snapped and pushed him onto the dirt. She stalled away and he cursed himself once more for making that stupid vow because this was a girl could fall for.

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Darcy found the mia crying a few days later. She was alone at the river's edge where he had left her last. She didn't hear him approach and had no idea he was there until he dropped his parcel next to her. She looked up quickly as he settled down on the ground next to her. Wiping her thumb under her eyes she lay her head on his shoulder.

"Darcy, life is hard." She whispered.

He sighed and wrapped an arm around her. He didn't know what was wrong but he suspected it was nothing of consequence. Women seemed inclined to cry frequently. He also suspected she would never again trust him enough to tell him what was in her heart. Her years as his little sister were far spent and would not return. She was her own woman now.

"Darcy, what if I can't do this. I can't endanger Rita and Ryley any longer. Travelers won't follow the king's road with thieves taking everything. Eventually, the duke will find and kill me. Darcy, I am a horrible person." She began sobbing onto his shirt and he broke once again for his sister. He rested a cheek on her head and felt her soft hair, the same hair on his head yet somehow so much more precious on hers. He had no idea what to say.

"You are not as horrible as me."

And he let her go. She was strong enough. She sat on her own and wiped her tears away from her red face. Leaves rustled and Darcy kissed her cheek and slipped away into the foliage. She watched him go.

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He awoke with the overpowering fear of a forgotten dream. His skin was almost blue in the morning cold. Usually, by the time he awoke, the young mia had a fire ablaze and a meager ration of food warming. The silence was a funny noise. Zac missed waking to a burning log in the hearth and the smell of bacon and porridge being set at the table by servants. He missed the weigh of quilts upon his form and putting on freshly ironed, hot clothes. As he struggled into his dirty, worn, old clothes from the mia's sack of plundered goods he missed every aspect of his old life as his father's son and hated every aspect of this year's adventure.

When he set his barefoot on the frozen ground, he shivered. Peering outside he saw no fire, no lovely, grumpy girl. Glancing around he didn't see anything amiss. Nothing was misplaced but Mia. A growing rage boiled. Either she had deserted him or went to steal from his people. It wasn't that he could blame her if she left. He was planning on leaving her the second he was well enough to survive the trip.

He was about to stalk off after her when he heard a mewl from in the shack. At first, he assumed that he had misheard but another cry made him spin around. Briskly he walked over to the bejeweled trunk, groaning every time he moved his bandaged right foot. He moaned as he knelt, his torso hurting worse than a cramp. One hand he opened the lid, cursing the wooden splint on his arm. Carefully he lifts the child out and set her on his hip. 

Now he was angry. How could Mia simply leave the child alone in an airless chest? Yes, he was there but he spent most of his time asleep still recuperating. Her mother couldn't have gone far. He slipped out of the tent into the frost air and immediately found a barefoot print outside the setting pointed toward the river. Bouncing the baby higher on his hip, Zac set out.

It took him longer than it should have to reach the spot she sat, but less time than expected to find her. It was a long journey because while he picked safe places to land his feet, Prosper insisted h bounce her or else she would cry. But finding the mia was as easy as spotting as a squirrel. She was the only voice other than Prosper's crying.

Pity warmed Zac's soul. The mia was the most fearless girl he had ever met and yet just like his mother, the woman let tears drop from her eyes.

Zac stopped and listened. His soul wrenched like a wrong towel and he squeezed Prosper close. The baby didn't seem to mind. Zac breathed out and pulled away from an evergreen branch. The sun reflexes off the river and made her hair glisten along with the tears on her wet, red, puffy face. While she sat and cried Zac watched her lover stroke her back absentmindedly and cuddle her close.

Zac couldn't believe it. Did the mia risk her life for this baby yet left it unattended to drown her sorrows with this man? The one who now stood and practically dropped her in his rush to scamper away. How could she do that to Prosper? If she is going to pick up a man, she could at least have the decency to swoop up the convenient one sleeping on her cot! Zac was shocked. Zac was appalled. Zac was hurt. This was a girl he could not charm that he wanted badly. The only other girl he had ever not charmed was the girl at the party those years ago. Miss Roslin, a prize uncaught in his web of good looks. And only hurt so badly because Brooks had managed to snare the younger Roslin.

Stepping onto the shore Zac dropped all the rage and only remembered his melancholy thoughts. He plopped the babe on the unsuspecting mia's lap and stood stoically as she stared at him in surprise. He didn't confront her about all her wrongs because he was counting his own wrongdoings and the injuries he deserved.