The Warded Man

otherwise,” the old woman said.
    Leesha sobbed into Bruna’s rough shawl. “I’m scared, Bruna,” she said.
    “You’d be a fool not to be,” Bruna said, “but I’ve seen a good piece of the world myself, and I’ve never seen a thing you couldn’t handle.”
    Marick led his horse up the path not long after. The Messenger had a fresh spear in his hand, and his warded shield slungover the horn of his saddle. If the pummeling he had taken the day before pained him in any way, he gave no sign.
    “Ay, Leesha!” he called when he saw her. “Ready to begin your adventure?”
    Adventure . The word cut past sadness and fear, sending a thrill through her.
    Marick took Leesha’s bags, slinging them atop his lean Angierian courser as Leesha turned to Bruna one last time. “I’m too old for good-byes that last half the day,” Bruna said. “Take care of yourself, girl.”
    The old woman pressed a pouch into her hands, and Leesha heard the clink of Milnese coin, worth a fortune in Angiers. Bruna turned and went inside before Leesha could protest.
    She pocketed the pouch quickly. The sight of metal coin this far from Miln could tempt any man, even a Messenger. They walked on opposite sides of the horse down the path to town, where the main road led on to Angiers. Leesha called to her father as they passed his house, but there was no reply. Elona saw them pass and went inside, slamming the door behind her.
    Leesha hung her head. She had been counting on seeing her father one last time. She thought of all the villagers she saw every day, and how she hadn’t had time to part with them all properly. The letters she had left with Bruna seemed woefully inadequate.
    As they reached the center of town, though, Leesha gasped. Her father was waiting there, and behind him, lining the road, was the entire town. They went to her one by one as she passed, some kissing her and others pressing gifts into her hands. “Remember us well and return,” Erny said, and Leesha hugged him tightly, squeezing her eyes shut to ward off tears.
    “The Hollowers love you,” Marick remarked as they rode through the woods. Cutter’s Hollow was hours behind them, and the day’s shadows were growing long. Leesha sat before him on his courser’s wide saddle, and the beast seemed to bear it and their baggage well.
    “There are times,” Leesha said, “when I even believe it myself.”
    “Why shouldn’t you believe it?” Marick asked. “A beauty like the dawn who can cure all ills? I doubt any could help but love you.”
    Leesha laughed. “A beauty like the dawn?” she asked. “Find the poor Jongleur you stole that line from and tell him never to use it again.”
    Marick laughed, his arms tightening around her. “You know,” he said in her ear, “we never discussed my fee for escorting you.”
    “I have money,” Leesha said, wondering how far her coin would go in Angiers.
    “So do I,” Marick laughed. “I’m not interested in money.”
    “Then what kind of price did you have in mind, Master Marick?” Leesha asked. “Is this another play for a kiss?”
    Marick chuckled, his wolf eyes glinting. “A kiss was the price to bring you a letter. Bringing you safely to Angiers will be much more … expensive.” He shifted his hips behind her, and his meaning was clear.
    “Always ahead of yourself,” Leesha said. “You’ll be lucky to get the kiss at this rate.”
    “We’ll see,” Marick said.
    They made camp soon after. Leesha prepared supper while Marick set the wards. When the stew was ready, she crumbled a few extra herbs into Marick’s bowl before handing it to him.
    “Eat quick,” Marick said, taking the bowl and shoveling a large spoonful into his mouth. “You’ll want to get in the tent before the corelings rise. Seeing them up close can be scary.”
    Leesha looked over at the tent Marick had pitched, barely big enough for one.
    “It’s small,” he winked, “but we’ll be able to warm each other in the chill of night.”
    “It’s summer,” she reminded him.
    “Yet I still feel a cold breeze whenever you speak,” Marick chuckled. “Perhaps we can find a way to melt that. Besides”—he gestured past the circle, where misty forms of corelings had already begun to rise—“it’s not as if you can go far.”
    He was stronger than her, and her struggles against him did as little good as her refusals. With the cries of corelings as their backdrop, she suffered his kisses and pawing at her, hands