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Sapphire and Cindy in -
A Dream of Meeting Friends
Story Two: I Will Pay Any Cost
Chapter Seven
Cindy turned to advance upon the elderly man known only as Poppa to say, “Why do you believe working with agents of death is the best option for you?â€
“Because I have found no other answer.â€
The young lady’s voice broke as if she wanted to cry as she asked, “Will I have to kill you?â€
The underlying thought processes behind actions are not easily discerned.
Sapphire and Cindy in -
A Dream of Meeting Friends
Story Two: I Will Pay Any Cost
Chapter Seven
Cindy turned to advance upon the elderly man known only as Poppa to say, “Why do you believe working with agents of death is the best option for you?â€
“Because I have found no other answer.â€
The young lady’s voice broke as if she wanted to cry as she asked, “Will I have to kill you?â€
The old man almost cried as well as he replied, “I want my son back.â€
“The Nixoops won’t give him to you.â€
“How can you?â€
The tone of Cindy’s voice softened as she asked, “Did they kill Edward?â€
“Yes, I believe that they did. Of course, he was a rather uncouth individual. Not like Bubba at all.â€
“Sky has mentioned a Bubba. From what I have heard, he sounds like her real owner.â€
The elder man looked behind him as if he feared the approach of others before speaking. “He cries for her, but he doesn’t respond to the world around him. I lost him over two years ago. Should have killed Sky then, but the cries of Bubba caused me to care for her. I have finally had enough however, and with the end of the curse causing no more magic horses to be born their price has soared quite high.â€
“I faced a number of curses last year. Let me see Bubba. I will do what I can to help him and Sky.â€
“There will be Nixoops coming.â€
The voice of Fimmish said, “No, there won’t. At least, the men following you won’t sound an alarm.â€
Sapphire did not remember seeing Fimmish or Ellemon rush off into the trees. They however had both had been rather responsive in their duty to protect Cindy. The purple horse however did not worry about the men, but about the young lady that owned him. He thus kept watching her to learn what she would decide.
Cindy asked the elder man, “How many Nixoops are there?â€
“There probably would be none, except that they want you dead. Those who have died did not put fear into the others, but only rose the bounty on your head.â€
“I asked how many.â€
The elder man showed a puzzled expression on his face as he answered, “Probably less than two dozen, now. The slaves and support personnel were sent away. Those that remain are those committed to seeing you dead.â€
“Do they know about Bubba?â€
“No.â€
Fimmish said, “Lady Cindy, you need to stay with your plan.â€
She returned, “If they learn about Bubba, they will kill him, which could kill Sky. We need to save Bubba.â€
The forest man now turned to the elder to ask, “Sir, are they holding your wagon?â€
Poppa replied, “No… yes. They want me to return the gold they gave me for Sky.â€
Cindy said, “I will repay any money lost.â€
“Without my boys, it is little satisfaction anyway. Where do you want me to go?â€
“Head to your wagon. Repay the money. I then want you to head to Hebalsh. We can meet there and work to restore Bubba.â€
“I cannot make it alone. If I encounter any threat, I will not be able to defend myself.â€
Sapphire heard no response. His knowledge of Cindy caused him to understand that she was considering the problems. Looking at the faces of Ellemon and Fimmish had the purple horse surmise that they also pondered their options. The large man often spoke of not being paid to think, so there was no surprise when the forest man broke the silence.
“Just move ahead. We will be tracking you. You are going to have to deal with the Nixoops, but we will join you when you finally move clear of them.â€
The elder named a figure that gave Sapphire some alarm in that it was not very high. Cindy did stay aware of news concerning Nixoops and the trade in the organs from magic horses. The purple horse thus knew his approximate value. The sum that the elder named however barely reached half of that.
Sapphire watched Cindy as she paid the man the requested sum. She made no comment about the figure being low. Whether she expected the elder to have the rest of the funds himself, or simply believed that he did not know how much he could have demanded from the Nixoops, Sapphire could not say. He could only watch wondering how things would play out.
The man moved off, but when he looked back Ellemon and Fimmish took off into the woods. Cindy moved to assure that she had a grip on the reins of both of the horses. She said nothing as she took some steps forward, but Sapphire felt that she understood something that she did not like.
Trying to make sense of the situation, Sapphire softly asked, “Cindy, you are expecting an ambush, aren’t you?â€
“Yes, Sapphire, I am. I don’t know why. I cannot believe that Poppa puts more faith in the Nixoops than us. Still, his actions declare betrayal.â€
The purple horse expected the young lady to go quiet, but she continued to softly speak. “I have the same problem with Therox. He does not talk. I mean, he does, we talk about a lot, but not about the serious stuff. The matters involving his missions for the king, or even developing a home for us, he does not tend to talk about. I did not know that Chordan was among the forest people. I would have wanted to leave Dachion if I knew.†She stopped to look at him as she said, “It would have been me wanting us to take this journey, not you. I wish that Therox would open up and tell me all of his thoughts. I am sure that they are good thoughts. Every time that I press him and force him to open up, he has good solid thoughts. I love him more when I listen to how his mind works. Sometimes however he is not right, and I straighten out a problem that he had not realized. I believe that it is the same with Poppa. If he would open up, we could work out his situation with Bubba.â€
Sky said, “I wish that they would speak to me more. I like the fact that you and Sapphire speak.â€
The purple horse replied, “I say what I can. Cindy has always been there for me, so I do feel free to talk to her. She just normally talks about girl things however.â€
Cindy said, “I don’t know why, but it does seem to be a rule that a girl horse is born to a lad while a male horse is born to a girl. I believe that a deeper attachment could have been formed if Sapphire had been a girl.†She then hugged him as she said, “But I love him just as he is.â€
Sky said, “Edward nor Poppa ever hugged me like that. You seem to have had a much better life than me.â€
Sapphire said in return, “I always felt that I had a good life, but last year was horrible. Cindy was however there through it all.â€
The young lady took over the conversation. “I grew up as a poor girl in a very small shack. It was hard, but I played with a princess and had two loving parents. They also did not talk much, and I learned a lot of my past last year as I learned about the curses. I have actually spoken more with my parents over the last year than I believe that I did in all the years before.â€
The mare replied, “I still believe that you had it better than me.â€
“You have had your trials as well. Let us see this through, and you might have other magic horses telling you how much worse they had it than you.†Sapphire noticed that the ladies went quiet for a time before Cindy asked, “Oh, Sky, does Poppa have a wife? Or Edward?â€
“No. When Poppa combs my mane and tail, he will speak to me as if talking to his wife. I believe that he thinks that I have the soul of his wife. He usually just speaks about the troubles that he is having with money or other things. I listen, but I stay quiet as I know that he is not speaking to me.â€
“Oh. I’m sorry.†Sapphire did not fully understand that response, so was glad when Cindy asked another question. “Was Edward dating anyone?â€
“No.â€
“That is strange. As poor as I was, everyone thought of me as having a wonderful amount of wealth because of Sapphire. I had offers from others to sell him, and the price was great enough to cause my parents to think about it. It also gave me some worth to Sir Hivarn, so that he was not completely against Therox spending time with me.â€
“Poppa does not live in a city. He lives on the holding of Lord Nenorry and works as a woodsman. That is why he has the wagon that he does. I have spent most of my life out in the woods as Poppa and Edward cut trees.â€
Cindy moved to run her hands through the long tresses of the mare’s mane as she said, “You are still a very lovely horse, Sky. I cannot believe that Edward did not show you off to the ladies.â€
“Bubba would go off on his own. He never took me.â€
“You know, when I spoke with people outside of Dachion about my own situation, they always considered it strange. A poor girl does not play with a princess. They noticed odd things about my life that I did not see because I had grown up thinking it normal. I am seeing strange things in your life, Sky. Maybe things will work out as they did in my case.†Before Sky could reply, Cindy touched her nose and said, “But right now we need to survive.â€
Sapphire looked with the ladies ahead of them as they heard the voice of Poppa say, “I am here to get my wagon and leave. I will pay my debt to you.â€
Another voice replied, “And how will you do that? I don’t see you with your magic horse.â€
“She is behind me with that young lady and her magic horse. Take them both, but let me go.â€
Cindy went to Sapphire’s saddle and drew forth her sword as she said, “I am sorry, Sky, but I might need to kill Poppa.â€
Sapphire thought the words were good, and looked to Sky wanting to see the expression on her face. He thought she was pretty as her hair bounced as her head dropped in what appeared to be acceptance of what Cindy said. Her head however shot up in fear as Sapphire also heard something he had not expected.
They had all thought the number of Nixoops was small, and that the actions of Ellemon and Fimmish had reduced them further. The sound of a multitude of men moving erupted ahead of them however. Looking up also showed the sky being filled with arrows. Where the extra forces had come from, Sapphire did not know. He however felt fear as he had to reassess the size of the threat against him.
And things do not get better in the next installment.
Posted by TerishD on Tuesday, September 07, 2010 (10:55:07) (417 reads)
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