“Bagni here has business in your village.” Grandmother gestured to the man, who leered, revealing two gold teeth in the front and a missing tooth on the bottom. “I’ll see you next week.”
Grandmother then shut the door, leaving Tasia with a man who was taking his time raking his eyes over her body. She wanted to bathe with boiling water.
“Tasia,” Bagni rasped. “Pretty name for a pretty lady.”
She still had real doubts about her ability to navigate the woods on her own—and her opinion of Grandmother was suffering misgivings—but Tasia gave it serious consideration until she realized the creep would likely follow her if she tried to ditch him. Reminded of the slimy Lord Reuter, who misread common courtesy as chemistry, Tasia was very careful not to smile or encourage Bagni in any way.
“Lead on,” she said, holding a hand out to the woods.
“Don’t you want to go first?” he asked with a smirk.
So I can feel your eyes on me the whole way?she thought.Not happening!
“I don’t want to get us lost,” she said instead.
“I can think of worse things than getting lost with you, little lady.”
Fortunately, he started walking, saving Tasia from coming up with a response. As they walked, she stealthily transferred one coin at a time from her right pocket to her left, until they felt pretty even. The process took longer than she would have liked because Bagni kept turning around to make unwelcome suggestions and observations. She also discovered within the bag a strange, oblong piece of metal that turned out to be a folding knife. Her feelings about the knife flip-flopped between gratitude that Grandmother saw fit to provide one and apprehension that the older woman felt it was necessary.
The woods looked foreign as they traveled the path in reverse. The shadows shifting with the dropping sun added to the senseof unfamiliarity. As she suspected, the trees Dino had faithfully pointed out were indistinguishable from the rest of the oaks, pines, and chestnuts (or whatever). Bagni didn’t help with that, either.
Whenever he wasn’t making her wish she was a thousand leagues away, he would pick out a common pebble or shrub and say, “Do you remember seeing this one? What about that one?”
Tasia had thought she was starved for conversation. Bagni’s ceaseless prattle changed her mind; she was starving for conversation with a real human, not this gross facsimile.
She finally recognized a portion of the path that was within forty minutes of the village, she thought. Bagni didn’t move as quickly as Dino, and she hadn’t needed to request a break yet. If she paused to think about it, her feet ached and her breath was harder to catch, but neither of those was enough to make her willingly spend time with the sleazebag who had moved to walk beside her now that the path allowed it.
Encouraged by the sight of the troll boulder, Tasia sped up, heedless of her blisters and sore muscles.
“Whoa there, girly.” Bagni wheezed a laugh. “What’s the rush? Ol’ Bagni’s going to think you don’t want to spend time with him.”
Tasia glanced over her shoulder at him. He was still smiling, but his hand now lingered over the handle of the knife tucked into his belt. She made a show of looking at the sky.
“It’s going to be dark soon. I don’t want to be out in the woods after dark.”
A knowing grin stretched across his gristly visage, revealing more rotting teeth. “I understand, little lady.”
Tasia doubted this. His next words confirmed it.
“Good thing you have a big, strong man here to keep you safe from all the beasties.”
Right now, the only beastie she feared was walking beside her. An involuntary shiver shook her shoulders. She scanned the trees so she didn’t have to look at her guide.
Bagni loved that. He began describing the many terrible things that could be lurking behind every bush. Tasia knew he was trying to rile her up by exaggerating the perils. But thanks to the growing shadows and the “what if” scenarios that had been playing in her mind for a full week, she wasn’t able to disregard his words as she wished.
“Now, bears aren’t much of an issue ’round these parts,” Bagni said with the air of disclosing great wisdom, “probably. But if they were, playing dead can sometimes work.”
Tasia frowned.
“That requires real— Uh. Realcourage,” he corrected himself. “To lay there not breathin’ or movin’ is a real feat when an animal larger than a horse is sniffing around your face. Not sure if the huge teeth or razor-sharp claws are worse.”
He scratched his belly and belched. When Tasia grimaced, he nodded sagely.
“Yes indeedy. Bears are bad. Harpies are worse, though. Nasty, dirty bird women.”
That was rich coming from a man who likely hadn’t washed his hair since birth and had visible fleas jumping off his person.
“Won’t even give a fellow the time of day, either.”
