Notes: Time for a bit of adventure! But just a bit...

Title:  Quaint Escapes for Traitorous Bastards Ch. 6 Pt. 2

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Chapter Six, Part Two

Playtime

Hiram couldn’t help but be impressed with the work ethic ofthe siblings. He knew that such diligent attention to their chores was almostcertainly the result of a belt and harsh words, because it was positivelyunnatural for children to go for hours at a time without swerving from the taskat hand, but under the circumstances he rather appreciated it. Once Letty hadlunch readying on the stove, she headed outside to take a closer look at thegarden. Hiram, once he was sure that Knight was well and truly asleep, joinedher for the inspection.

“You can see where Mistress Shore had it divided up before,”she said with an expert eye as she gazed out at the garden. “Herbs over therewhere there’s more shade from the apple tree, vegetables here—she had two plotsfor vegetables and just the one for the herbs.”

“We’ll want to reverse that,” Hiram remarked as he followedthe weed-strewn lines of what did, in fact, seem to be rectangular patches ofslightly richer dirt. “One for shade herbs, one for sun herbs. Hmm, I’d best doa raised bed for moonlight herbs as well, with a removable cover.” And aspecial plot for the truly exceptional herbs that would requiremore…attentiveness. Hmm, it might be best to do those in pots up in his room—hecould finagle a small balcony of some kind for the climbing ones and—

“Moonlight herbs are real?”

Hiram looked at her in surprise. “Of course. You’ve plentyof flowers around here that bloom at night. I can smell the jasmine from themarketplace.”

“But that’s just jasmine! It’s not a special magical herb.”

Ooh, better to cut that line of thought off while he could.“Herbology isn’t magic, Letty.”

She put her hands on her hips. “But it can be, can’t it?”

“Not the way I do it.” Liar liar, boots afire.

“But you seem so…” She gestured at his mismatched clothes,unlaced boots, and general state of unkemptness. “So…”

“Slovenly?” he suggested with a grin.

“No! Different, special! No one handles Da as well as youdid, not even Ma.”

Hiram shook his head. “That was the power of gold speaking.”

“No, it wasn’t. You knew how to talk to him to make himwait, to make him patient.”

“And that’s just the result of many years of dealing withdifficult people,” Hiram said, and watched Letty’s face fall. “You…are youlooking to learn magic?” he asked tentatively. “Because every temple has aprogram for the gifted, if you haven’t already been tested for—”

“I have,” Letty said briskly, not looking at him. “And I’mnot magical enough for it.”

Not magical enough… “But you have your moments, don’tyou?” She didn’t say anything. “Come now, my dear, I’m trying to help you. AllI want to know is—”

“You can’t help me.” Letty shook her head stubbornly. “Ithought maybe you could, but if you’re not magical, then…and you’re not awarrior, you don’t look like a warrior, there’s no way that you canteach me what I want to know. No. It’s fine.” She rolled up her sleeves. “I’mgoing to start weeding. Do you have a compost pile yet?”

Hiram regarded her in silence for a moment, then let it go. Therewould be plenty of time to get the truth out of her later. “No, not yet. Feelfree to pick a good spot for it—far away from the house, mind. I don’t fancydealing with mice if I don’t have to.”

“Obviously,” she huffed, then knelt down and began rippingout dandelions and thistles like they’d personally offended her.

“Would you care for a trowel?” Hiram asked. “Perhaps a pairof gloves? I have—”

“No, thank you.”

All right then. “I’ll leave them by the back doorjust in case,” he said, then headed for the lean-to where Mule was dozing. Thebeast perked up as Hiram joined him, whuffling a greeting as he reached for thecurry comb he’d stored in a basket on the ground and began to brush him out.

“Gods save me from teenagers,” Hiram told his old companion.“I thought I was done with that when Misha grew out of her moods.” The thoughtof his little princess put him in a melancholic mood, but for once he didn’tback away from the memories.

As he brushed out Mule, Hiram deliberately thought of Misha—ofthe raven-black hair she’d had as a baby, full of curls that had graduallyfallen out over time as her hair lightened to her father’s brown. Her mouth,wide and full, smiling so much more often than it scowled but fearsomewith a scowl. She had all of her father’s intelligence, his skills at planning,but her temperament had come almost solely from her mother. Misha’s mother hadbeen happy woman, for all that she and Andy hadn’t cared much for each otheroutside of fulfilling a treaty; a woman with a face more lively than beautiful,eager to set aside the constraints of her station in exchange for laughter andsong.

Her death had been a tragedy, one that only Andy hadn’tseemed to regret. At the time, Hiram had attributed that to Andy’s love forhim, and the fact that despite the sadness of the occasion, now they coulddedicate themselves to each other as they once had.

That…hadn’t happened.

Mule swayed, nudging Hiram out of the sadness spiral he’dfallen into. “Oh darling, do I smell?” he asked her. Creatures like Mule wereparticularly sensitive to the emotional states of the people around them,especially the rare ones they’d chosen as part of their herd. “I’m sorry. Weshould get out and about, hmm? Stretch our legs a bit, do some grazing?” Mulewhickered, and so Hiram put the brush away and, with a little grunt that hewould never admit to if anyone else heard it, got up onto Mule’s back. Shedidn’t wait for him to cluck or tap his heels to her sides before she headedfor the road in front of the house and began to amble away from town.

Jem poked his head up from the edge of the rabbit hutch whenhe heard the hoofbeats and stared at Hiram. “Where’s your bridle?” he calledout in confusion. “Your saddle?”

“Oh, I don’t need them,” Hiram assured him with a smile.

“But how will you make her go where you want her to go?”

“Mule is perfectly capable of taking us for a little walk.”

Jem looked at him like he thought Hiram was crazy, butshrugged after a moment and ducked down behind the hutch again. From the soundof things, he was reinforcing the earthen walls with stone—spare slate from thejunk pile, perhaps, or maybe it had already been in there, just covered withtoo much dirt to see. Good. Whatever kept the lad busy.

Hiram let his mind wander to more enjoyable things as theywalked. The air was warm but not stifling, the sunlight felt delicious on hisskin, and all around him was the hum of life, insects and birds, scuffling miceand rabbits and green, growing things. When Mule decided to stop and graze, hegot down and sat next to a patch of wild echinacea and black-eyed susans, eyesclosed as he leaned his weight back on his hands and tilted his chin toward thesun.

“Summer is a coming in,” he sang, “And loudly calls the crow.Seeds are growing, flowers blooming, the trees out-leafing now. The ewe isbleating, cow is lowing, lamb and calf they prance…stag cavorting, squirrelcontorting, forest joins the dance…the—”

Mule screamed. Hiram’s eyes snapped open, and he was on hisfeet in a flash, looking all around to see what had disturbed her even as hewent to soothe her. “Phlox,” he whispered, and felt the fire spirit flickerinto awareness. “Try to find out what—Mule, no!” But she was already charginginto the forest, head lowered dangerously. Hiram swore and took off after her, butshe was too fast for him to keep up. All he could do was listen as the sound ofimpact reverberated through the forest, and then—

“Oh, darling,” he said once he found her. Mule had all fourhooves planted firmly as she tried to pull herself out of the pickle she’dgotten into. “How many times do we have to run through an innocent tree beforeyou realize they’re not your enemies?” Her horn, usually safely invisible, castrainbows wherever the sun struck it. It didn’t strike very much of it, giventhat most of it was buried in an ash tree’s trunk, but still. It was beautiful,and far too visible. “Come on, stop this and let me help you.”

It took the faintest whisper of power for him to ease thegrip the tree had on her horn and help her out. Mule immediately trotted aroundthe tree, head down like she was scenting something. After a moment, though,she shook her head and whickered angrily.

Hiram wasn’t sure what she’d been chasing, but it had to bedark. Unicorns were unswervable warriors when it came to dark-touchedcreatures; once they had one firmly in their sites, they would pursue it evenunto death. And Mule had nearly died often enough that Hiram wanted to avoiddark creatures if at all possible in their retirement. He checked the ground,but if there had been tracks here, her hooves had completely obliterated them.

“All right,” Hiram said. “Enough of that. Let’s get backhome and take it easy for a bit, hmm?”

“Actually,” Phlox put in, “you might want to visitEsmerelda first.”

Hiram frowned. “I just saw her two days ago. Why?”

“I fear she might be playing with her food.”

Playing with her—oh gods. Had another Imperialmessenger found them already? Hiram vaulted onto Mule’s back and urged her intoa canter as they sped toward the edge of the forest. He wasn’t sure what he’ddo if it was a messenger. Maybe it was a sign that Lollop wasn’t the place forhim, that he’d never be safe here, that he should move on and—

They rounded the final turn to Esmerelda’s perch, and allthe anxiety in Hiram’s chest gusted out as he saw the scene before him. Therewas Rickie, hiding behind the plinth and giggling to himself, and there wasEsmerelda, crouched down low, wings flared and tail lashing as she approachedthe child with a growl. She leapt, claws out, grabbed the little boy in a tighthug…and rolled over onto her back to take the impact as he burst into laughter.

“You found me!”

“Yes,” Esmerelda said in a smug tone of voice. “Now you mustgrant me my boon and answer a riddle. What has legs but cannot walk?”

Rickie, still clasped in all of Esmerelda’s four deadlypaws, squirmed against her fuzzy belly as he thought about it. “Um…chair?”

“I was looking for table, but chair is also acceptable.”

“I win!” Rickie pulled away from the sphinx and she let himgo, leaping easily back up onto the plinth. “Find me again!”

“Perhaps not now,” Hiram called out, and Rickie startled ashe noticed them for the first time. “I’m sure your brother and sister arewondering where you’ve gone.”

The little boy shook his head. “I stay.”

“Not right now, my dear.”

He pouted and looked at Esmerelda, who glanced at Hirambefore saying, “Our games are over for now, pet. You will simply have to comeback and play with me again later. But remember.” She lowered her head untilshe was eye to eye with Rickie. “Speak to no one of me.”

Rickie laughed and kissed her chin. “Esme.”

“Precisely, my pet. No one.”

“Okay, Esme.”

“Good.” She raised herself up and looked with typicalregality at Hiram. “You may take the child for now. I’m ready for a nap.”

Hiram rolled his eyes. “Very generous of you to give himback to his own people.”

“They let him go, not I.”

Well, that was true. “Thank you for taking care of him,” hesaid as he got down from Mule and held out his hand to Rickie, who looked at itfor a moment before shrugging and grabbing on.

“You know I like the little ones.”

“I do know that.”

“Don’t let them neglect to feed him. He’s too skinny.”

“I’ll make sure he gets lunch,” Hiram promised, and Rickiebrightened up.

“Good. Begone, then.”

Hiram laughed. “As you say, your highness.” He set Rickie onMule’s back and turned around, ignoring Phlox’s disgruntled muttering andputting the incident in the forest to the back of his mind. He was safe fornow. That was what was important.

***

A mile away, in the darkest part of the forest, on the farside of a creek where the thicket was so dense even a unicorn would have aproblem with it, a man exhaled with unsteady breaths, his heart still racing inthe aftermath of the closest he’d come to death in half a decade.

A unicorn. He has a freaking unicorn. More than that,a glamoured unicorn. His curiosity, which had been piqued before, wasall-encompassing now. There was more to Master Emblic than met the eye…andthere was already a lot that met the eye. It was possible, justpossible, that Master Emblic might be the key to helping him where no one elsecould.

But Avery wasn’t sure it was safe to dig deeper. Not afterhe’d narrowly escaped being skewered.

What do I do? What…what can I do now?

Well, for starters, he needed to get back to school beforeafternoon classes began. The rest of his mess would have to wait.