Meggie shivered in her red dress that was getting so short it barely covered her shins any more. She really should have brought her cardigan that she'd taken from the other world, but she hadn't intended to be traveling so much.
"Mo, how much longer to Ombra?" her teeth chattered, and Farid wrapped his thin arms about her in an effort to warm her. Mo turned from his position at the head of the group of Motley Folk.
"It shouldn't be much farther Meggie! Let's just hope that Fenoglio has room enough for a wandering minstrel or two." Glancing around he added, "Or ten." Meggie smiled at his attempt to cheer her. She leaned against the neck of her horse, wishing that she was under her warm comforter at home. In the other world. Not that she didn't love Inkworld. But she wished…that maybe it was a combination of the two.
Then again, she also wished that Dustfinger was not dead, that the Adderhead was not immortal, that Roxanne did not hate her and Farid for supposedly getting Dustfinger killed, and that she was not riding bareback. But none of those wishes were coming true either, so she thought she was just going to give up on wishing here. Because usually her wishes here killed people, or saved people and then killed them, or even worse, killed the people and made their worst enemies immortal!! Meggie heaved an enormous sigh that made Farid squeeze her from behind even harder. He really, truly hated it when Meggie was unhappy. Which she often was nowadays. Her round face and bright blue eyes were meant to express happiness, not sorrow. The last time she had laughed was over a month ago, when a fire elf had landed on Mo's horse's rump and he had neglected to brush it off. It had burned Leila, the horse, and she had bucked and dumped Mo into a huge mud puddle. Meggie laughed when he sat up, covered from head to toe in mud with a dismayed expression. But that night her good mood was ruined once again when another child, this time Mina's newly born son Celestio, died of fever worse than the one that had killed Dustfinger's younger daughter. And even Nettle, the ancient mosswoman, couldn't heal her. As it was not her nature to feel helpless, Roxanne had been very quiet during the cremation. All the dead were cremated now, for they had no time to stop and give them a proper burial. Mina had nearly been driven suicidal, but the next week when a mother was killed in a sudden attack of soldiers marked with silver vipers, and her still nursing 1 year old son, Nigraso, was left orphaned, Mina snatched him up immediately as her own. No one objected, of course. Far too many children were dying because of the new prince in Ombra. Prince Ahbram had been elected from the town to be the new prince by Violante, Cosimo's young widow. He was the guard Cosimo had selected to follow her, and read her letters to her father, the Adderhead. After Cosimo's death, Ahbram had been a great comfort to her. And he was not a bad looking fellow. Not Cosimo's angelic face, but not unpleasant to look at. So, Violante took him as her husband, and he was crowned Prince Ahbram on March 13. Even the ex-prince's brat, Jacopo, was satisfied with his new father!
Contemplating this, Meggie fell asleep on her horse with Farid sitting firmly behind her.
She woke the next morning curled up in a branch of a tree. Sighing, she stretched. Farid never let her sleep on the ground for fear she would be trampled in a sudden attack or a stampede of horses frightened by a stray fairy. Or worse…kidnapped. A few pretty Motley girls had already been taken in the nights past, whether by man or beast it was not certain. So every night he tucked her up over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and hauled her up a tree. Farid was getting very strong from carrying small children all day on his back when they got tired of walking, so this was no problem for him. He slept in the trees anyway, to keep look out, a job at which he was very good at. She usually woke in an abandoned nest he'd found. Today it was some type of large bird, but once she'd found herself in a HUGE old fairy nest that he had enlarged the opening of.
As she was searching through her sack of clothes Minerva's oldest daughter had lent her, Farid appeared over the edge of the nest with two small eggs in his right hand and a strip of dried meat in the other. Seeing her awake, he smiled.
"Good morning, Meggie. Fried or scrambled?" he inquired, holding up the eggs.
"Scrambled please." She grinned at him. Farid was one of the only people left who could make her smile whenever he wanted to.
As he pulled a handful of dirt and twigs out of his old leather backpack to build a fire in the center of the nest, she looked him over. He was about 17 now. His inky hair was in its traditional short crop, slightly longer because he had not cut it lately. Whatever fat he'd had on his body (and Meggie doubted that he had ever had any) had completely evaporated, leaving him with an impressive array of muscles to show off. The long thin muscles he'd had last year were much larger as a result of all the labor he did daily. No longer was he an Arabian street rat to be kicked around by a gang of thieves. He was a formidable opponent when armed with a sword, and no one could handle a dagger quite like Farid could. He hardly ever wore a shirt ("It only gets caught on things. Especially when I'm in a hurry.") and usually wore the pair of raggedy jeans he'd arrived in the Inkworld in. One of the only things unchanged about him was his eyes. Still deep, dark brown with long thick lashes, like a girl's.
Meggie, on the other hand, had just turned 14. She also had changed. Elinor would be aghast at how much. Not only was she taller, but Meggie now fit Minerva's child's dress well. A bit too well, in Mo's opinion. Resa had had to take out the pleats Minerva had put in the chest to accommodate her growth. Even then the whole dress fit her tightly, like another skin.
"Now you truly do look like a Motley minstrel girl." Resa had recently said to her. They had taken to singing the Bluejay songs at towns they passed through for a few extra coins. Meggie was particularly popular with the young men. She often came back to camp with a bag full of silver from a young noble who had heard her. On these nights, Mo gave a small feast for the nearly starving group of strolling players. But it made him sad to watch his daughter grow up so fast. She had only been starting the 8th grade when she'd run away to the Inkworld. Now she had to be accompanied to villages (by Farid of course) to make sure some young gutter-mind didn't decide to borrow her for the night after one of her performances. She left her long blonde her hang down her back, just like all the Motley women did. She wore long colorful skirts and an anklet of bells Fenoglio had given her as a birthday present. Resa was teaching her to dance, along with the occasional advice from Roxanne. Soon, Farid would probably ask to marry her. Not only was it natural in his world to marry young, but it was a custom here too. And Mo would not object. Farid was a strong young man, and skilled enough to keep her safe. Mo himself would soon be busy with another child. A very small child.
Meggie thought a lot about the expressions she sometimes caught on her father's face. Eating the eggs Farid handed her, she thought about the look she had caught passing between Mo and Resa last night just before Resa had run into the fringe of trees grunting about feeling ill. Roxanne had followed her quickly. She and Resa had become tight friends during all the moving. They reemerged a moment later and Roxanne took her to her tent where the women spent the rest of the night. Mo had to sleep elsewhere because Roxanne would not let him in to see his wife. The only part of that that worried Meggie was how often her mother was ill lately. At first she had just thought Resa had eaten some spoiled meat or fish, which was quite common and easily cured. But it kept happening. It was obvious that Roxanne knew what was happening, and Resa probably did. And until very recently Mo had had no idea. But now he did too, and Meggie just had to guess. But she was pretty sure she had it nailed.
Resa was pregnant.