Green Eyes

“Oh great,” Jared growled as they approached the wooden walls of Beth Haven. “I was afraid of this. This is your fault, you know,” he pointed at Mara.

“My fault?” the woman gestured confusedly at herself. “How is the gate being closed my fault?”

“If you hadn’t insisted on training Selene that last hour, we would have slipped in before the gate closed,” Jared pointed out gruffly.

“She needed it,” Mara countered. “Especially if something goes wrong in there, the readier she is to deal with it, the better.”

“Really?” Jared raised an eyebrow at her. “One hour is going to make all the difference in the world?”

“It might,” Mara returned. “Besides, it was my day to train her anyway and I wasn’t going to skimp on it just because we were running late.”

“That’s real mature,” Jared scoffed.

“Oh please,” Mara rolled her eyes. “We wouldn’t have made it here in time anyway. The sun’s been down for at least three hours. Besides, it’s not like a closed gate has ever been a problem for us in the past.”

“So…what? Just climb over the wall with the horses on our backs?” Jared retorted sarcastically.

“Minor problem,” Mara shrugged. “Come on, you’re supposed to be a genius: act like it.”

“So are you,” Jared shot back.

Selene watched the exchange in fascination. Being an only child, sibling interactions had always intrigued her but watching Mara and Jared argue was even more interesting. Up until two weeks ago, she had never seen anyone talk back to Jared the way Mara did: not Arioch, not any of the other town’s people, not any of the soldiers they had encountered, not even her father. Even Brutus and David were intimidated by the mercenary’s presence. Everyone, including herself, was daunted by Jared’s commanding personality. Everyone that is, except Mara.

The former slave’s personality was just as strong as her brother’s and she used it. As often as not, when she and Jared disagreed, Mara would win the argument. Unlike anyone else, when she believed herself to be right, she wouldn’t back down no matter how much her brother disagreed. Of course the reverse was true as well which could lead to some very long, fruitless disputes.

At first Selene was glad to have someone around who could actually stand up to Jared. But in reality, it just made the situation twice as intimidating. Now there were two people with equally strong, equally dominating personalities bossing her about. Both were relentless, merciless teachers that left her exhausted and bruised at the end of each day.

Tired and sore as she was, Selene was glad for them pushing her like they did. Under their tutelage, she had gotten her fire power under control so that she could almost use it at will and her swordsmanship was at least competent. Still she wished she had the courage to stand up to them.

“I suppose we could make camp until morning,” Jared decided, interrupting her thoughts.

“Absolutely not,” Mara replied. “We’ve been camping through freezing rain the last three days. Our clothes and blankets are soaked; we’re soaked and chilled to the bone. Selene’s powers may keep her healthy, but that won’t help you and I. It’s a miracle we haven’t frozen to death yet as it is.”

“One more night isn’t going to kill us,” Jared answered dryly.

“It might,” retorted Mara.

“I think you’re just being a pansy who wants a nice, warm bed,” Jared sneered.

“So what?” Mara groused. “For the last two weeks, I’ve been riding bareback through the wilderness through snow, sleet, slush, and rain. I’m cold, wet, tired, and hungry. We are this close to a warm place to stay and I’m not going to be denied so sue me.”

“Fine,” Jared snapped. “If you’re so desperate to get in, you figure it out without alerting the entire garrison to our presence.”

“We could take them,” Mara said.

“Not all of them,” Jared pointed back the way they came.

“Fair point,” Mara admitted. Silently, she squinted through the rain towards the gate. A single torch floated back and forth across the front. “Hmm,” she pursed her lips in thought. “It looks like there’s only one guard. Assuming it’s a he, I think I can handle this,” she added, combing back her soaked brown hair and loosening the top several buttons of her tunic, revealing her cleavage.

Jared eyed her and then Selene analytically for a moment. “Selene’s got the better boobs for it,” he pointed out, making the young woman flush brilliantly and feel very, very self-conscious.

Mara appraised Selene and then shrugged. “True,” she agreed. “But I’m the better actress and that’s what counts.”

“And if the guard is a woman?” Jared questioned.

“Then you’ll have to use that manly charm of yours,” Mara smiled sweetly at her brother. Selene privately doubted that Jared had anything resembling charm.

“Do I even want to know what you guys are planning?” she finally spoke up.

“Getting us a warm night’s sleep for once,” Mara vaguely replied. Selene didn’t even bother pressing the issue. She had long since given up on getting a straight answer from either of them.

The trio made their way down the small hill to the gate. A dozen yards from the entrance, they dismounted and led their horses up to the structure with Mara in the lead.

“Stop!” ordered the guard, who was indeed a man. “No admittance after nightfall by the mayor’s orders.”

“But it’s so cold and we’re so tired,” Mara whined, surprising Selene that she could sound like anything other than confident. “Couldn’t you please let us pass?” she pouted, sticking out her bottom lip.

“I am truly sorry,” the guard shook his head. “I have my orders and I cannot let you in.”

“Maybe we could work something out,” Mara stepped forward, sticking out her chest a little bit. “It is so very cold out here tonight and I am certain that a brave guard like yourself must be freezing,” Mara stopped inches from the guard.

The young man’s composure was completely gone. He was trying to keep his eyes on her face, but they refused to leave her bosom. “Wha-what are you suggesting, exactly?” he stammered to the beautiful woman standing in front of him.

“How about you let my friends in,” she suggested, running her finger between her breasts, “and you and I keep each other ‘warm’.”

“Uhhh,” the man sputtered.

They never knew how serious he was about taking Mara up on her offer. With his eyes locked on Mara’s chest, he didn’t notice her other hand reach up behind her and grasp the hilt of her sword. In one liquid smooth motion, she brought the pommel crashing down on back of his skull, knocking the man unconscious.

“Idiot,” she snarled at him and raised her blade for the killing stroke.

“Mara, don’t,” Jared caught her wrist. “We do not need a murder investigation.”

“But he’s seen us,” Mara pointed out.

“He doesn’t know who we are,” Jared replied. “And what do you think will happen to him if he tells?”

“True point,” Mara acquiesced, sheathing her blade. Rummaging around the man’s things, Mara pulled out the key and unlocked the gate.

Although much larger than Beth Isaac or Lakeside, Beth Haven’s defenses were not spectacular, consisting only of a wooden wall with a small wooden gate that used a regular, albeit large, lock. Both Jared and Mara privately wondered if such a weak gate was worth the trouble at all, but they didn’t build the city so it wasn’t their problem.

Propping the unfortunate guard against the side of the gate, the trio slipped through the doors and locked the gate behind them. As quietly as they could, they made their way along the cobblestone streets, looking for an inn. Most everything was closed save for a few taverns that were open and rowdy. Those they wanted to avoid. A couple of soldiers passed by, but ignored the travelers.

“There’s an inn up here we can stay at,” Jared pulled them down a side-street. In a couple of minutes, they stopped in front of an inn marked The Rose Tattoo, which elicited a raised eyebrow from Mara.

“Just how do you know this place again?” she questioned suspiciously.

“I’ve helped out the proprietor a couple of times over the years,” he answered. “Not like that,” he added, addressing Mara’s suspicions.

“Uh-huh,” Mara replied dubiously. “It looks closed,” she pointed out.

“So much for your warm bed,” Jared smirked. “I guess we’ll have to crash in the stables.”

“At least it’s out of the rain,” Mara returned as they led their horses into the stables.

Jared and Selene followed her behind the inn and quietly stabled their grateful horses. The barn smelled and they were all soaked to the bone, but the stables were warm and the haystack was soft. They were all so tired from their exhausting trek from Beth Isaac that they collapsed immediately onto the hay pile and drifted off to sleep.

*******

It was early the next morning when Jared was poked awake. Slowly blinking his eyes open, he glanced down to see a pitchfork tapping him in the chest. Following the shaft with his eyes, he saw a rather frightened looking woman holding it shakily. With a groan, he started to get up, only to have the pitchfork dig a little into his ribcage.

“I mean you no harm,” he promised, lying back down on the hay.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my stables?” demanded the woman.

“You must be the owner then,” Jared ignored the question. “Good,” he started to get up again, only to gently guided back down, “my companions and I are looking for a—”

“Answer my questions!” snapped the woman more out of fear than anything else, giving Jared another jab with the pitchfork.

“Look, this will go a lot easier without you pointing that thing at me,” Jared’s patience was starting to wane. “I and my companions are simple travelers on our way to Ammon. All we ask is for lodging for the next few days while we rest and restock to cross the Harosheth Hagoyim.”

“If you’re simple travelers then I’m a pig,” retorted the woman. “Who are you really?”

“All you need to know is what I told you,” Jared replied, voice dropping a couple of degrees.

“Really?” the woman sounded less than convinced. “If you were really simple travelers, why are you so heavily armed?”

“The world is a dangerous place,” Jared pointed out.

“Uh-huh,” the woman snorted. “And why did you sneak into my stables instead of coming to the front door?”

“We came in after you closed,” Jared answered.

“We close an hour after the gate closes,” she declared. “That means the only way you could have come after we were closed is if you sneaked into the city, which is illegal. So to sum up, you three people are traveling in the dead of winter, apparently avoiding people as much as possible, traveling to another country, armed to the teeth, sneaking into cities in the middle of the night, and won’t give a straight answer? I don’t know who you are, but whoever you are, you are clearly trouble. I’m calling the soldiers to deal with you.”

The woman turned around only to find herself face to face with a hooded Mara, swords drawn.

“That would be a very foolish idea,” Mara warned brandishing her weapons.

Acting on fight or flight instincts, the woman automatically jabbed at Mara. It was a pathetic attempt; the War Master merely caught the pitchfork with her blade interlaced with the tines. A powerful flick of the wrist sent the makeshift weapon flying out of the woman’s hand and embedding itself into a stall door some fifteen feet away.

Wide-eyed, she turned to flee only to suddenly be staring down the length of Jared’s blade that was hovering a few inches from her face. The woman just froze.

“Who are you?” she whispered her voice quavering.

“Just what we said,” Jared answered. “Simple travelers who need a place to stay for a few days before moving on and no questions asked.”

“But you’re clearly not just simple travelers,” she responded quietly not moving an inch. “Whoever you are, you have very powerful enemies in Kalashon. And if they found me harboring you, it could cost me my—”

“Mommy, what is going on?” a young voice interrupted.

They all looked to see a young girl, roughly six years old, standing a few feet away. She was still in her night clothes, clutching a straw doll in her hands. Like her mother, she had dark hair and olive skin.

“Deborah, mommy is talking with these people,” the woman said, still not moving. “I want you to go find one of those nice people wearing the shiny clothes and bring them here. Quickly.”

“Okay mommy,” the girl nodded and started to trot off.

“Sending your daughter to call for soldiers?” Jared glared from underneath his hood. “That was very, very stupid.”

The woman went ashen as she realized that her attempt at code had failed miserably. “RUN DEBORAH!” she yelled at the girl.

The girl was old enough to know that something was very wrong and didn’t question her mother. She started off as fast as her little legs could carry her. Unfortunately she was not nearly as fast as Mara.

The former slave caught up to Deborah in just a few quick strides, scooping the child up into her arms and carrying the terrified and squirming girl back to where Jared continued to hold her mother at sword-point.

“Please don’t hurt her,” tears came to the mother’s eyes as she fell to her knees. “I don’t know what you want, but please don’t hurt my girl. I’ll do whatever you want but please let her go. I’m begging you.”

“Of course we’re not going to hurt her,” Selene’s voice cut in for the first time. “And for goodness sake Mara, put the girl down; you’ve frightened the poor thing half to death. Jared, stand down.”

Selene couldn’t believe she was ordering them around like this. Judging from the astonished looks she could feel them giving her under their hoods, Selene guessed they couldn’t believe it either. But she was not about to let a poor defenseless woman get bullied by her friends. She hated bullies.

“As you wish,” Mara finally relented, letting the girl down. She immediately scrambled into her mother’s arms. For his part, Jared lowered his sword, but kept it out. Selene decided that was as good of a compromise as she was going to get.

“I am truly sorry for my companions,” Selene apologized, kneeling down next to the trembling woman. “They can be a bit…intense, especially when startled. And I’m afraid calling for the soldiers didn’t help things. I can guarantee you they don’t mean you or your lovely daughter any harm.”

“If that is true, they what are you doing hiding in my stables?” the woman had relaxed a little bit, but was still defensively clutching her little girl. “Why did you sneak into the city last night? Who are you running from?”

“I’m afraid that I can’t answer those questions,” Selene answered, “but I can tell you that none of it directly concerns you. As far as you need to know, like Jared said, we are simple travelers who would like food and lodging for a couple days.”

“I don’t know,” the woman relaxed a little more, obviously warming up to Selene’s friendliness. “I can’t endanger my girl and, no offense, you are obviously shady characters. I don’t think that I can take the risk of taking up with some outlaws.”

“We can pay you well for any troubles you might have,” Jared spoke up, much more diplomatically this time.

“How well?” the woman still sounded less than enthused, but at least she was listening.

Jared didn’t verbally reply but reached into his money pouch and produced a red coin, flipping it to her. The woman gaped in amazement as she held the precious coin in her hand. This could set her up very nicely for the rest of the year.

“We will give you another at the end of the week,” Jared added. “Does that compensate you well enough?”

The woman looked at the coin in her hand, then at her daughter, then at the three cloaked figures standing around her. It was a lot of money, almost as much as she had made in the previous six months. But that much money meant that whoever these three were, they were in serious trouble and seriously desperate.

“I’m almost tempted to ask who you killed,” she commented dryly.

“Don’t,” Mara replied. “It’s a very long list.”

“We also promise you that we will do everything in our power to protect you from those who are hunting us,” Selene added trying to be reassuring.

“The three of you?” scoffed the woman. “What could you possibly do?”

“There is a reason the king is hunting us,” Mara pointed out.

“The king?” the woman cocked her head. “What’s to keep me from turning you in to the local authorities and collecting whatever reward there is for you.”

“Two reasons,” Jared answered. “One, whatever reward there is for us, I doubt it is as much as we will pay you. Two, do you really think we would let you turn us in?”

The woman glanced at the pitchfork still stuck in the stall door. “I guess not,” she admitted. “It seems I have little choice in the matter,” she caved. “You may stay, if you pay up and if you stay out of trouble. If you do anything to endanger Deborah, I will make you wish you were never born.”

“Never underestimate a mother’s love,” Mara chuckled as she and Jared sheathed their weapons. “You have our word; we’ll keep out of trouble.”

“Good,” the woman said as she stood back up and dusted the stable-dirt off her frock, giving the trio their first good look at her.

She was on the short side with long, raven hair. Her olive-tinted skin suggested there was at least some Ammonite in her blood. She appeared to be in her mid-30s, though still in excellent shape. Her figure was svelte but curvy in all the right places making her a very, very beautiful woman.

But her most intriguing feature was a number “3” tattoo on her left wrist that was made out of twisted rose stems. Mara gave Jared an accusing look underneath her hood.

“Not like that, huh?” she accused.

“It really isn’t,” Jared firmly replied. Selene had no idea what they were bantering about.

“I suppose we should check you in,” the woman gestured them to follow. “My name is Jael and I am the owner here. If you have any questions or problems, direct them to me. In fact, avoid interacting with anyone but me. Given your less than savory character, I would prefer it if we avoid any potential situations.”

“We’ll keep our socializing to a minimum,” Jared promised, casting a sidelong look at Selene.

“Why do you guys both look at me?” she questioned.

“Because you’re the social butterfly of our group,” Mara explained.

“How would you know?” Selene retorted. “You only know me—”

“Settle it another time, Selene,” Jared cut off. “This isn’t the place.” Instantly Selene clammed up.

“May I at least ask your names?” Jael inquired.

“I’m Jared,” the mercenary answered. “This is my sister Mara and our, uh, companion Selene.”

“Companion or charge?” Jael eyed them.

“Both,” Mara replied. “Mostly charge though,” she added, much to Selene’s irritation. It was really annoying how much alike those two were, especially when they ganged up on her.

“I see,” Jael gave them one last look over. “I assume you’ll want one room then?”

“That would be best,” Jared agreed.

“Alrighty then,” Jael leaned over the front desk that divided the tavern from the inn and rummaged around a drawer. “Here you go,” she popped up, handing the mercenary a key. “This is your room. If you need anything, please hesitate to call.”

“As you wish,” Jared replied with an eye-roll.