Chapter 9

They found breakfast in the market, fruit hand pies and honeyed tea. As they wandered through the crowd, there were the looks and whispered comments Indeira had feared, and expected.

"Bandits killed her family. Poor thing."

"A changechild!"

"She's a pretty little thing, though."

"Is it dangerous?"

"How will she make it through the winter?"

"That mercenary with her, isn't he a bit old for her?"

"What happened to her leg?"

It went on around them. The speculation and pity seemed more pronounced than any real empathy. Some, though, appeared to have more sympathy.

Indeira sought out the miller her father had always dealt with. When she entered the booth, the miller got up and came and hugged her.

"You poor dear!" she said, "It must be terrible to be here, with all the gossip reminding you of your family at every turn." She drew Indeira in and sat her down on a bench off to one side, turning to invite Mirria to sit with her. Torvin gave them a nod and a slight hand wave from the entrance, and turned away to pursue other business.

"What do you need this year?" the woman asked. "The same as usual?"

"We will need more feed for horses." said Indeira. "We have five now."

The miller raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Five horses?"

"Yes. The bandit's horses are ours now. They have been a great help to us." Indeira did not say how they had helped. Somehow, she didn't think that would go over well. And the rumor mill already had plenty of grist.

"Well then!" said the miller, "All right, with ten more sacks of feed, plus ten more of mash mix, hmmm... That's going to be expensive. And how will you carry it all?"

"I am thinking of buying another wagon." Indeira said.

Again, the miller raised her eyebrows. "Please don't take me wrong, but how will you pay for all that?"

"We have some things from the bandits. Weapons and jewelry and such."

"Jewelry?" Her eyes lit up. "I might trade for that."

Indeira reached into her pockets and brought out a couple bags that held some of the jewelry. The miller set a small table in front of her, and Indeira emptied one bag onto it.

The miller spread the pieces out, and nodded. "Yes, I think this will cover most of it."

Indeira pulled out a large necklace from another bag, holding it out in her hand.

"Ooh!" sighed the miller, "That one is...

Suddenly a large man reached in and grabbed Indeira's wrist, pulling her to her feet.

"Where did you get that?!" he bellowed.

Indeira stumbled, falling against the man and dropping the necklace.

"Let her go!" cried the Miller.

"I asked you a question!" roared the man. "Where did you get that necklace?"

Indeira lurched, only kept from falling to the ground by the man holding her arm. She cried out in pain. And Mirria leapt, snarling.

The man dropped Indeira's arm and stumbled back from the sudden appearance of claws in front of his face. Indeira fell to the ground with a cry. Mirria landed on the man's chest, clawing at his face. The man backpedaled out of the booth, dislodging the snarling Mirria. He started to move a foot to kick at her when a sword appeared in front of his eyes.

"Stand down!" Torvin said from behind him.

The man froze.

Torvin slowly walked around the man, his sword never wavering from its position in front of the man's face. He stopped when his back was to the miller's booth.

"I do not know who you are," Torvin growled, "but you have no reason to assault a wounded woman."

The miller helped Indeira back up onto the bench, and turned to the scene in front of her booth.

"Haugen, what were you thinking?!" she exclaimed.

"That is my wife's necklace! She must have stolen it!" Haugen yelled.

"That is ridiculous!" the miller responded. "There is no possible way she could have done that!"

"Then that filthy beast of hers must have done it!" he screamed, his face growing red. "And it attacked me!" He started to step forward, fists clenched, but Torvin brought his blade up in front of Haugen's eye. Haugen froze again.

Mirria, still snarling, backed slowly to crouch in front of Indeira. Her eyes never left Haugen's face. Indeira laid one hand on Mirria's shoulder, also keeping her eyes on Haugen.

"And where is your wife, Haugen?" asked the miller. "We've not seen her all summer."

"She went to visit my sister last spring. She hasn't come back yet." he said.

Mirria tensed under Indeira's hand.

:Say nothing of the children.: Indeira sent.

Mirria sent back agreement.

They both suspected that Haugen's wife never made it to his sister's farmstead.

Indeira looked down at the necklace, then picked it up and held it out to the miller.

"Here, give it to him. I do not need it. The bandits must have found his wife before they attacked my farmstead."

The miller looked at the necklace, then took it from Indeira's hand. She stepped up to Haugen and slapped it against his chest, forcing him to grab it when she let go.

"Now get out!" she said.

Torvin's sword was still steady in front of Haugen's face.

Haugen looked at the three women, and snarled, "This is what comes of letting women run their own business without a man!"

He stepped back and turned, stomping off muttering.

"What a disgusting excuse for a man!" the miller exclaimed.

Torvin sheathed his sword, and turned to Indeira.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked.

"Not really." she said. "Mostly, my knee hurts from being dropped."

Mirria turned and put her hands on the knee in question. "I can take ssome pain." she said.

Her hands glowed green for a moment, and Indeira sighed in relief.

"You are a healer?" the miller said

"Mosstly animalss." Mirria replied. "Humanss arre harrderr."

"Hmmm..." the miller mused. "Well, about the grain. I will accept this jewelry as payment for the entire order."

Indeira's jaw dropped. "No, that is not enough!"

She reached into her pocket and brought out a bag of coins. She pulled out one gold coin and set it on the table.

"We will also need an extra two sacks of flour." she said.

"That is too much payment. I will add four sacks of oats." said the miller.

The negotiations went on for a while, until both Indeira and the miller were satisfied that neither of them was taking too much advantage of the other. By the time they had concluded the deal, Torvin was standing in front of the booth with Bonnie. Indeira gratefully mounted when Bonnie knelt for her.

As they were walking back through the market, Torvin said, "You are going to need another wagon."

"Yes, we are." said Indeira.

"I believe I may have found one that will suit your needs." said Torvin. "Would you like to see it?"

Indeira looked down at him in surprise. "Well, yes." she said. "Where is it?"

Torvin turned and led them toward the south edge of the market, and then out into the camp opposite where they had their own campsite. After winding through several lanes of other camps, he stopped in front of one comprised of closed wagons. A young man with long dark hair and loose, brightly colored clothing came out of one of the wagons.

"Ah!" he said, "You have brought them! Come this way."

He turned and led them through the camp. At the back of the camp was a closed wagon with an arched roof. It was painted dark green with reddish brown accents. He walked over to it and opened windows on the sides and a door in the back.

"Come take a look. Feel free to go inside and poke about. There is a bed in the front, behind the driving bench, that folds up for travel, and two more narrow ones on either side, cupboards below, steps up the back."

Indeira directed Bonnie to walk slowly around the whole thing. She stopped her at the back door and looked in.

There were three steps leading up into the back, with sturdy handholds. She could see all the bed and cupboard spaces the young man had mentioned.

Mirria stepped up into the wagon and turned around inside. There was plenty of space between the side bench/beds. She opened each cupboard and peered inside. They had shelves and dividers of various sizes. There was some open space on either side just inside the back door where larger items might be secured.

Indeira moved Bonnie to the front. There were two steps up one side onto the driving bench, and hand holds on the front surface to pull oneself up. She had Bonnie kneel so she could step over and pivot. She grabbed one of the handles and hauled herself up the two steps. Sitting on the bench, she twisted to look into the back. She could see the way the bed would fold up, but it looked quite comfortable. Looking up, she saw there was a cupboard that extended above the driving bench, providing some amount of shelter there.

She met Mirria's eyes.

:Yes?:

:Yes!:

She turned to the young man. "How much?"

In the end, the wagon (the young man, Durryn, called it a vardo) ended up costing them the remaining jewelry and most of their coins. The harness that came with it was a size that would fit Bonnie, so they hitched her up to it, and drove it back to their campsite. For all its size, Bonnie had no trouble pulling it. The vardo was well built, lightweight and nicely balanced. They put it up next to the old wagon, both of them facing out toward the road, backed up under the trees.