An Unexpected Journey, Part 1
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Liorna shouted after the boy who just almost knocked her over. Then she angrily pushed her wet hair out of her face and turned back towards where she came from. Why couldn't people just watch out? Now she would have to go all the way back to the well to fill her water buckets again! Oh, how she hated household chores. Her brother was lucky to be a boy; their father let him visit the store every day so that he would learn how to take care of a business. Liorna also wanted that! But no, she was a girl, she had to stay at home and take care of washing and cleaning and cooking. It wasn't fair!
Eventually, Liorna reached her home again with her two water buckets filled. With a satisfied sigh she put them down beside the fireplace and was just going to sneak out again when—
"Liorna! What took you so long?!"
"I had to go back to the well twice!" she shouted back to her mother, who was apparently mending clothes in the bedroom.
"Why are you always so clumsy?" her mother muttered.
"It wasn't my fault! First there was this boy who knocked me over. And then I had to jump out of my way because some crazy man on a horse would have run me over if I hadn't."
"Don't blame others all the time."
Liorna didn't feel like responding to that; she was tired of these conversations she always had with her mother on this topic.
"I'm going out again!"
She didn't wait for an answer.
At first Liorna wandered around aimlessly, just watching the town come alive as the people living in it woke up. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and her irritable mood soon melted away. Three blocks away from her home she found a small black and white dog who wanted to play for a while. Further down the road a group of children were playing skip rope, and she stayed to watch them until they got tired of it. She smiled as she remembered the time when she was young enough to play that kind of game. At the age of 13, she had to act in a more responsible way.
"Good morning, Liorna!" Ben called out from behind his table in the town market. Liorna waved and caught the apple he threw her way. She had known Ben since she was young enough to visit the town market with her mother. He always had a good story or joke to tell and knew how to make others laugh. Not to mention all the tasty fruits he sold — or gave away as he did now.
The sun rose higher and higher in the sky as Liorna strolled along the tables in the town market. She looked at hand-carved wooden spoons, exotic animals in cages, beautiful figures in a weird shiny material imported from some faraway country, necklaces in pure silver, and all the while she wished she had enough money of her own so that she could buy at least one beautiful item for herself.
Liorna's favourite inn was filled with people as usual, even though it was still early in the day. People came and went all the time, shouting for food and more drinks. The poor serving maids ran around like scared chickens, trying to serve everyone as quickly as possible. If she had been allowed to, Liorna would have helped them. But the innkeeper, a big red-haired man called Hugo, had made it clear to her that this was not the place for a salesman's daughter to work at. But he hadn't had an answer to where she could work instead....
She had almost finished her lunch when the door flung open again and a young man walked hurriedly through the room, straight towards her table. She looked around, but every table around her was full. The only place left in this part of the room was at her table. And yes, that was exactly where he sat down, facing the door. She tried to not pay him too much attention, as she didn't want him to think she was interested in him. But she still managed to get quite a good look at him as he paid more attention to the door than he did to the people around him.
He was actually quite good-looking, as far as she could tell from this sideways angle. His dark brown hair reached as far as the back of his neck, and he had rather childish features even though he seemed to be several years older than her. He probably belonged to the working-class, but it was hard to tell because he wore several items more fitting for merchants; a nice neckchain, a knife with a beautiful crafted handle and a silver earring was what she caught at this first glance.
The door opened again, but Liorna didn't get a chance to see who came inside.
"Please forgive me!" was all she heard before she found herself being intensely kissed by the young man beside her.
After the initial shock, which lasted more than a couple of seconds, her first instinct was to make him let go of her. But he held her so tightly that her attempts at freeing herself failed miserably. So she stopped fighting and hoped it would all be over soon.
And then she realized she actually enjoyed it. He was an amazing kisser!
This realization woke her up from the remaining shock, and she gathered enough strength to free herself. She couldn't be seen kissing just anyone like this!
"What in the name of Zefina are you doing?!" She slapped the young man in his face to emphasize his insulting action.
"I'm truly sorry," he said, glancing towards the door which closed again at that moment. "Really, I am."
He turned towards her, and she found herself looking into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Blue and remorseful. Her anger melted away like butter in the summer heat.
"I should have introduced myself first. I'm Joshua," the man said and held out his hand to shake hers. Dazed, she held out her hand, too; he shook it gently. "Now, what could a beautiful young woman as yourself be named?"
Beautiful young woman? Was there something wrong with his eyes? She wasn't a woman yet, and she was definitely not beautiful!
"Liorna. I'm Liorna," she said and wished her voice would be more steady.
Then she peered suspiciously at him.
"Hold on a minute..." she said — and gasped with indignation. "You're the one who almost ran me over with your horse earlier today!"
"Oh, that must have been someone else, you see—" he began, but Liorna cut him off.
"No, that was you, I clearly recognize you." Now she got her usual strength of voice back. "You should be more careful and not expect everyone to jump out of your way! It's not like you're royalty or something!"
"I— I'm sorry, really. If there's anything I can do—"
"Hmpf!" Liorna muttered. "And what will you do to apologize for that kiss?" She blushed and quickly turned away to hide it. He didn't need to know she enjoyed it!
"How about I take you on a ride outside the town walls? As you already know, I do have a horse.... We could take a short ride; I will bring you safely back here afterwards, and I will buy you something nice from the market place. What do you say?"
Liorna thought about that beautiful silver necklace with a red stone in it that she saw earlier. Biting her lip she thought about the offer. On one hand, she didn't know this Joshua; she didn't know if he could be trusted or if he would simply kidnap her. On the other hand, she really wanted that necklace, and she would never get her hands on it if she didn't accept his offer. Besides, she hadn't been outside the town walls for a long time since her parents didn't want her to. But if she had a horse, it would get her outside the walls and back inside again in a far shorter time than it would usually take her.
"Okay, that sounds like a good deal," she said. "You take me for a ride, and then when we get back, I want a silver necklace."
"Silver?" Joshua said, his forehead creasing slightly. Liorna opened her mouth as if to shout to the innkeeper. "Okay, okay, silver," he agreed. "Now, let's get out of here."
It felt great to be in the green valley again. Liorna had almost forgotten how beautiful it really was outside the town. Trees and bushes and beautiful flowers in the fields. A small stream flowed through the valley as well, and they rode along it for some time. Liorna sat in front of Joshua, and he held her tightly so she wouldn't fall off. It didn't take long before she relaxed, and they had a easy-going conversation.
"Now, you wanted a silver necklace," Joshua said as they got closer to the town again. "Any particular necklace?"
"Yes, I know exactly which one I want. I saw it earlier today," Liorna said and nodded.
"Okay, then you get to guide me when we get there."
Suddenly Joshua pulled hard at the horse's reins so that it stopped. He swore loudly and turned the horse around quickly.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Liorna shouted. "Where are you— Let me go!"
She tried to jump down from the horse, but Joshua just held on more tightly.
"Sit still or you'll get hurt for real!" he roared at her at the same time as the horse set off in a quick gallop. Angry and frightened, but scared enough of getting hurt, Liorna obeyed him. Her heart pounded as she looked around and noticed a group of horsemen following them in the distance. Not knowing what she had ended up being part of or what would happen next, she closed her eyes and leaned against Joshua as they sped off towards the horizon.