After the Plague

IX. An Ally

Days had passed since Kira had accepted Goodwin’s offer, and she was still unsure if she had made the right choice. She wasn’t quite sure where her next step would land, but for now she knew that having Goodwin as an ally, even a false one, was far better than having him as an enemy. So, she had accepted, and now found herself sitting out on the deck of the unmoving skiff, watching a beautiful sunset reach across the still river.

“Eh! Joanna!” Goodwin called up from the lower deck.

It took her a second, but she turned to him. Dammit, I need to get used to that name.

“What do yah want for food?” he asked.

“Anything,” she called down.

He nodded and went back into the storage bins. 

She turned back to the water and went over the past days’ events in her head.

In a move that was surprisingly out of character, Goodwin had simply left her alone after making his proposal. He had said nothing else about his job offer, but provided her with the necessary first aid supplies, and then gone down below the deck.

The wound on her leg wasn’t deep, but the spiked leather had done its fair share of damage. A chunk of skin had been taken off in a way she had never seen before. It was almost reminiscent of some type of animal’s claws. How fitting.

She cleaned and patched it up, and was able to stand on it with only the slightest of limps. It’ll be fine by tomorrow. She didn’t want to admit it, but she knew that that Goodwin had held back. The razor sharp edges of the flay would be enough to rip apart even the strongest opponent in just a few strikes. I’ll be sure to steer clear of that.

Goodwin’s posse avoided her for the remainder of the day. In fact, they didn’t even come out from the indoor floor of the skiff. Probably cleaning up their wounds. She didn’t blame them; she hadn’t killed anyone, but only as a result of the limited time she had, and even that hadn’t stopped her from coming close. She didn’t expect any contact from them any time soon.

For all of her wounds and aching body parts, sitting on the top of the skiff was first opportunity she had since passing through the Hot Gates to really soak in the new land that she was traveling across. It had all moved quickly enough to make her forget that she had never been out this far.

As the sun completely disappeared, Goodwin first made his appearance. He no longer walked with the same overly confident chauvinism that he had, but instead with a more restrained sense of humility. As if that were possible. Nonetheless, he took a seat next to her, and put a small blue box on his lap.

“Do you mind?” he asked quietly.

What game is he trying to play? “Please, it’s your skiff.”

“It’s a nice night. I don’t need to tell you that.”

“That it is.”

“I have some of your stuff too. I’m sure you realized that, though,” he lifted the the box and shook it’s contents lightly. 

Kira nodded. To be honest, she hadn’t noticed because she had been too distracted with her bleeding leg, but there wasn’t a chance she was going to let Goodwin in on that. 

“You’re probably hungry aren’t you? You’ve been up here all day.”

“I’m fine,” Kira responded. There was no way she was going to let up even an ounce. 

“And on top of that you’ve been out for at least a few days, so I’m assuming you need some bit of nutrition in your stomach, eh?” he smiled, but this time it was different. It wasn’t false and plastic like the ones Kira had seen, but genuine in a way that took her off guard.