But then the woman glances off to her left, and her eyes seem to lock on something.Someone.
When her gaze shifts back to me, in that moment, Iknow. Whatever this is . . . ?it’s not a genuine offer. Maybe she’s a lookout for the night patrol, hoping to trick someone into illegal dealings, or maybe she’s with a group of common thieves who wanted her to slow the wagon so they could steal what we have.
Either way, I look down at her and say, “No. Again, this alfalfa is due for the Royal Sector.” Then I snap at Thorin, “Go.”
He must hear the order in my tone, because he clucks to the horses, and the wagon lurches forward roughly enough that people in the road scatter and stare.
Francis grabs hold of my arm from behind. “It only would have taken a minute!” he growls, his tone low. “We don’t really need this hay!”
“If Moonflower were worth the price of animal feed, Kandala wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“But she had enough for amonth!”
“She was working with someone. It was a trap.”
He glares at me in the rain. “You don’t know that.”
He’s right. I don’t know for sure. But I glare back at him. “If you want to try your luck with that woman, I’ll toss you off the back with some hay bales, and you can give our regards to the night patrol when she turns you in for smuggling. There’s a reason she targeted a wagon full of strangers. If she has a month’s worth of Moonflower, she could be selling it in small doses, not trading it for alfalfa.”
He blanches a little at that, then draws back.
I turn my head and look at Saeth. “She was with someone else. Stay sharp.”
He nods, butI’mthe one who needs to stay sharp. We press on, leaving the village behind. The sky grows darker, the rain pouring down to drench us fully. Francis has moved back in the wagon to sulk along the railing, but he hasn’t said anything else about the woman or the Moonflower. I hope he’s not going to be a problem.
“Do you still see the others?” I murmur to Saeth. “Are they following?”
“I’ve spotted some of them,” he says.
“Do you think that woman was on to us?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t see how she could have been.”
And she’s far behind us now. The others who’ve followed should have spotted her, and they would have sent up an alarm.
“We’re close to Reed’s house?” I say.
Thorin nods. “Another ten minutes.”
It feels like an hour.
But eventually, the sky is pitch-black, and Saeth shoves a dagger through the wall of the wagon, making wood crack and splinter without causing any actual damage—though Thorin swears loudly and jerks the horses to a stop. Many of the houses out here are more widely spaced, with barns and small livestock pens, or large planted gardens. Some, however, are smaller and close together, with shared yards.
Saeth makes a show of jumping out of the wagon and examining the “broken” wagon wheel.
“Can it be fixed?” I say loudly.
“I’ll need some tools,” he says. “I don’t have any with me.” Saethlooks at Francis, then nods at one specific house. “Go see if anyone can help.”
The rebel scowls and climbs down from the wagon.
This was our plan, but I’m suddenly wary. What if Reed is also suspicious? Francis is clearly still resentful after what happened in the town square. What if he says something to put us all at risk?
I cast a glance behind us to see if there’s any chance we’ve been followed, but I can’t see anything in the rain and darkness. Shadows shift among the trees, and I don’t know if they’reourmen or others. Even Saeth has moved away at some point, and is now invisible somewhere between the wagon and the houses.
Maybe we should have waited.
I think of Francis confronting me with an ax—or scowling in the back of the wagon.Hewouldn’t have waited. If I didn’t give these men a mission, they would have come up with one on their own.
