An Unexpected Journey, Part 3
The early light from the sun hit Liorna square in her face and woke her up. She was lying in a very uncomfortable bed that had a certain stench of old sweat. She wrinkled her nose and got out of the bed.
"Good morning, little one," she heard. She cursed under her breath — she had forgotten that Joshua shared her room. As she was standing there in naught but her short cotton underwear dress, she felt very exposed. Luckily, he wasn't watching her, so she quickly grabbed her dress from the chair beneath the window and put it on.
Joshua still hadn't raised his head. He was sewing. It seemed he had a hole in his shirt, which he was now mending. Liorna felt a little embarrassed to watch his naked upper body, so she turned to look out the window instead. There was a very small stable right outside their room. Then there was nothing more. The houses were very close to each other in this area. It would be easy to sneak up on people here.
"Did you sleep well?" Joshua asked.
"No, not really," she answered. The truth was she hadn't slept at all until an hour or so before sunrise.
"Maybe you don't want to go to the circus today, then?" She could feel his worried gaze on her back.
"No, it's fine. I want to go," she said. And she did want to. She had always liked circuses.
The area where the circus had put up their tents was quite big but still filled with people. There were few things that could make so many people leave their normal routines and gather in one place like this, she thought. The only other occasions Liorna could come up with now was some royal ceremony or a public hanging. But this was the circus, on a bright and sunny day, and she would enjoy herself!
"Where do you want to go first?" Joshua asked her.
"Do they have any strange animals?" she wondered.
"I believe they do. Come this way."
He gently led her by her arm through the crowd, and they ended up by a couple of open wagons with huge cages. In one cage she could see three huge cats. She had seen animals like them before and knew they were called lions. They could bite a man's head off in two seconds, someone had told her. And they did look scary and very dangerous. She wondered how three of them could be kept in the same cage without killing each other.
"What are those?" She pointed at the strange animals in the other cage and could not stop staring.
"I have no idea," Joshua answered. "I have never seen anything like them."
"But I have, and those are no better than the lions over there." A tall and huge man with shabby clothes and a big beard came up behind them, chewing on a piece of straw while watching the creatures with a slight glimpse of hatred in his dark eyes. "Shinjis, those two," he added. "End up within three miles from one of those, and you're dead."
He spat on the ground and left. Liorna worriedly looked at Joshua.
"Don't worry. They are locked up, we are not in danger here."
But Liorna could not help worrying when she watched the shinjis' big red eyes, two whisking tails, furless black bodies and huge paws with claws almost the size of her underarm.
"Hey," Joshua said. "Let's go and see what the merchants have brought." And he led her away from the cages.
It was common that travelling or local merchants gathered whenever something like this happened. A circus tempted many people to leave their homes, which led to a lot of merchants wanting to try their luck. Liorna almost forgot all about the exotic creatures for a while when they reached some tables where beautiful jewelry was sold.
"Oh, how beautiful that necklace is!" she exclaimed and pointed at a silver necklace with a very thin chain and the symbol of Alekta as a pendant. "Wait, what are you doing?" she asked when Joshua reached for his purse.
"I'm going to buy that necklace for you. Remember, I owe you one." Liorna could not remember the last time she felt as pretty as she did when he put the necklace around her neck. "That's perfect," he said with a tiny smile. Liorna beamed at him.
They stayed to watch the show in the evening. Liorna was amazed at how people could eat swords, breathe fire, walk across a thin line high above the ground, and make lions be tamed. She knew she would never be able to do any of that! Just as she turned to say that to Joshua, she noticed a strange man watching her from outside the crowd.
"Why is that man staring at me?" she whispered to Joshua instead.
"Maybe he thinks you're pretty?" Joshua said after he had looked at the shabby man. But he looked a little worried, and Liorna felt uneasy.
The inn was just as crowded when they got back as it had been the day before. They managed to find a small empty table in a faraway corner and sat down.
"I think it's best if we leave tomorrow," Joshua said. "This place isn't safe any longer."
"What do you mean?"
Joshua was just going to answer when the serving maid from the day before came to their table.
"What you want eat?" she asked.
"Some bread and soup would be appreciated," he answered and the maid quickly disappeared to get it for them.
"You were saying?" Liorna reminded him of their earlier conversation.
"I was saying that this place is not very safe for us. We'd better get you across the mountains to some friend of your father's. I say we leave tomorrow morning."
The maid returned with their food. "You are brave or foolish. I think foolish," she said while putting the bowls and cups on the table, keeping her eyes lowered.
"What do you mean?" Liorna asked.
"You have silver. And nice weapon. Not good show them much here."
"What is your name?" Joshua asked.
"Zaed," she answered, still not looking at them.
"Take this, Zaed," Joshua said and pressed a couple of small coins into her hand, quickly and secretly. "Thank you for the warning." Zaed straightened up and hurried back to the kitchen with a quick glance at the necklace around Liorna's neck.
Both Joshua and Liorna ate quickly and without much talking. Then they returned to their room, and Joshua packed his bag. He lay down on the floor beside the door and let Liorna have the bed again. But Liorna felt like she had just fallen asleep when some sort of tumult woke her up. Joshua was fighting with a tall man in the dark room. Not even the moonlight reached far into the room. It was over in a couple of minutes. Liorna sat shaking in the bed, Joshua sat on the floor, leaned against the wall and held a knife in his hand — not the one she had seen earlier but another one. The stranger was on the floor, dead.
"It's the man from the circus," she said when she felt that her voice wouldn't tremble too much. "The one who was staring at me."
"I know," Joshua said. "Get dressed. We're leaving."
"Now?"
"Yes, now. This place is getting dangerous. Come on."
They quickly got the horse out of the stable and made their way through the town. Liorna didn't start to relax until they had travelled some distance outside the town walls. But now the huge mountains were looming above them. Suddenly they heard noise behind them: squeaking wagon wheels, rough voices and shouting.
"We'll let them pass," Joshua said and led the horse away from the road. They stopped behind a small hill, and waited.