Warrior's Heart (Book 1 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 48

The town was waking. Men and women uncovered signs, moved chairs and set out their wares. The sent of freshly baked bread wafted down the street where a young boy hurried with a basket of eggs.

She craved Ve-Ka. Leyla pictured holding a cup of the hot black liquid that had kept her going through long security shifts at the Jade Palace, then buried the memory. Rather than making her feel better, thinking of the dreamlike time in Asch left her with an odd sense of loss. It was a place she would never see again. A place that was only real to her and Michael.

"Young lady, fancy a bun?" A toothless old woman called to her in Greenlandic. Leyla smiled, glad that she had been mistaken for a local. It was a good thing she had worn the red dress after all. At first she had wanted to throw the blasted thing away, but the Healers outfit was just too uncomfortable to wear for a second day in a row. Now, soft red silk billowed behind her as she moved with ease towards the old woman's stall.

"These look delicious," she replied in Greenlandic. Then taking a coin from the small silver and white pouch Michael had given her back in the Giant Forest, she held out her hand to the woman.

"With that, you can buy all of my buns and my husband too!" the old woman cackled, her stringy hair shaking wildly.

"Then I'll take three buns," Leyla smiled, "And your good wishes."

Suddenly somber, the old woman gathered three buns in a small bag and patted Leyla's hand. "I heard you were seeking audience with our King my dear." She looked left and right then lowered her voice. "Don't give your trust easily."

So much for looking like a local. "You know I am a visitor?"

"Old Sosostris knows everything," she winked, covering her smile with her gnarled hands like a shy girl.

Leyla shook her head with amusement, then held the coin out to her once more, but Old Sosostris refused.

"I wouldn't dare. It's bad luck to accept payment from the first customer of the day." She cackled until her face turned pink, then began searching the street behind Leyla. "Where is that man of yours? The tall one that could melt ice with a look if he had a mind to?"

"He is not my man! And I'm not sure where he is." The King's Town gossip mills were really something to be reckoned with, Leyla thought.

"Not your man?" The old woman slapped her knees as if she had never heard a funnier joke. "You don't understand men at all, do you my dear?"

Leyla frowned, remembering numerous instances where Michael had said the same thing. Maybe it was true, maybe she didn't understand men. She certainly did not understand Alec. One minute he was cold, one minute he looked at her like she was special... Ah, it didn't matter because there was one certainty amongst all the confusion: Alec was going to marry Princess Mira.

"Go on now, if you're playing hard to get, you have to keep moving." Old Sosostris winked and pushed at her to get her going.

Hard to get, what did that mean? Leyla took a few steps away from the stall, then stopped. The old woman seemed to have her ear to the ground, and was sharp too, could she know anything about a relationship between a Greenlander and a female Warrior from seventeen years ago? It was a long shot, but just maybe? Having decided to give it a try, Leyla turned back to the stall, but Old Sosostris was nowhere to be seen.

"Was a silly notion anyway," Leyla mumbled to herself as she continued her walk. She wondered aimlessly for a while, glancing this way and that as stall keepers put out their wares. Nothing in particular drew her fancy, but she continued moving telling herself she was getting some air. Ah, heck, who was she kidding? She had left Happy Time before anyone else left their rooms for the same reason she did not want to return; she was avoiding Alec.