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This time, it was Tom who broke the gaze to look at the ground. “No, ma’am. I’m not married. I travel around a lot. I don’t imagine a woman would much take to that kind of life. Besides, it doesn’t afford me much of a chance to come to know anyone well enough to be thinking about marriage. Someday, though, I dearly hope to find a woman who would want to share life with me, a woman who makes me smile, a woman I can live up to.”
Jennsen was surprised to see that the very question made his face go red. It seemed to her as if his boldness in talking to her and offering her this ride might be more forward than was his customary conduct. As affable as he was, he appeared painfully shy. Something about a man that big and strong being intimidated by her, a lone woman in the middle of nowhere, by her question about matters of the heart, put her at ease.
“If I’m not harming you, your business at earning a living—”
“No,” he put in. “No, you’re not—not at all.” He gestured back toward the plateau. “We made a good profit today and we can afford a short rest. My brothers don’t mind at all. We travel all over and buy whatever goods we can find at a reasonable price, everything from wine, to carpets, to spring chickens, and then we haul it back here to sell. It would really be doing my brothers a favor, giving them a break.”
Jennsen nodded. “I could use the ride, Tom.”
He turned serious. “I know. A man’s life is at stake.”
Tom scrambled up onto the wagon and held down a hand. “Careful, ma’am.”
She took his big hand and put a boot in the iron rung. “I’m Jennsen.”
“So you said, ma’am.” He gently drew her up to the seat.
As soon as she was seated, he pulled a blanket from behind and placed it in a pile in her lap, apparently not wanting to be so presumptuous as to spread it out over her. As she arranged it on her lap, she smiled her appreciation for the warm wool cover. Reaching behind again, he rooted around under a pile of well-worn packing blankets and came up with a small bundle. Tom grinned his lopsided smile as he presented her with the pie wrapped in a white cloth. He was as good as his word; it was still warm. He recovered a waterskin, too, and set it on the seat between them.
“If you’d prefer, you can ride in back. I brought plenty of blankets to keep you warm, and they might be more comfortable to sit on than a wooden seat.”
“I’m fine up here for now,” she said. She lifted the pie in gesture. “When I get my supplies back, and my money, I want to pay you back for everything. You keep a tally, and I’ll pay you back for it all.”
He released the brake and flicked the reins. “If that’s your wish, but I don’t expect it.”
“I do,” she said as the wagon lurched ahead.
As soon as they were under way, he turned from her westerly course to a more northwest line.
She instantly reverted to her suspicion. “What are you doing? Where do you think you’re going?”
He looked a little startled at her renewed mistrust. “You said you wanted to go to Althea’s, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but I was told to go west until I reached the tallest snowcapped mountain, and then on the other side to turn north and follow cliffs—”
“Oh,” he said, realizing then what she was thinking and why. “That’s if you want it to take an extra day.”
“Why would that woman tell me to go a way that would take more time?”
“Probably because that’s the way everyone goes to Althea’s and she didn’t know you were in a hurry.”
“Why send people that way, if it takes more time?”
“People go that way because they fear the swamp. That way puts you in closest to Althea’s at the end, meaning you have to go through the least amount of the swamp. It was probably the only way she knew about.”
Jennsen had to grab the rail for support as the wagon bounced over a crease in the rocky ground. He was right, the wooden seat was hard sitting and with a wagon made for hauling heavy loads, it bounced more when empty.
“But, shouldn’t I fear the swamp, too?” she finally asked.
“I suppose.”
“Well then, why should I go this other way?”
He looked over, again, taking the briefest glance at her hair. It was a behavior she was used to. Most people couldn’t help but to look.
“You said a man’s life was at stake,” he said, his timidity gone. “It takes a lot less time this way, cutting the corner off the route by going this side of that peak she told you about and not having to go up that twisting canyon beneath the cliffs. The problem is, you have to go in the swamp from the back, so you’ll have more of the swamp to go through to get in to Althea’s.”
“And that doesn’t take more time, going through more swamp?”
“Yes, but even with having to go through more swamp, I’m betting you’ll still save a day each way. That’s two days saved.”
Jennsen didn’t like swamps. More to the point, she didn’t like the kinds of things tha
t lived in swamps.
“Is it much more dangerous?”
“You wouldn’t strike out alone with no supplies if it wasn’t pretty important—a matter of life and death. If you were willing to risk your life to do that, then I figured you’d be looking to save any time you can. If you’d rather, though, I can take you the long way, with less distance through the swamp. Up to you, but if time is important, it’s two days more by going that way.”
“No, you’re right.” The meat pie on her lap was warm. It felt good to have her fingers around it. He was a thoughtful man for bringing it. “Thank you, Tom, for thinking to save time.”
“Who is it that’s at the other end of life and death?”
“A friend,” she said.
“Must be a good friend.”
“I’d be dead, now, if not for him.”
He was silent as they rolled toward the dark band of mountains in the distance. She brooded about what might lie in the swamp. Worse, she worried about what would happen to Sebastian if she didn’t get Althea’s help soon enough.
“How long?” Jennsen asked. “How long till we get to the swamp?”
“Depends on how much snow is in the pass, and on a few other things. I don’t go this way often, so I can’t say for sure. If we ride all night, though, I’m reasonably sure we can be to the back reaches of the swamp by morning.”
“How long to get to Althea’s, then. Through the swamp, I mean.”
He glanced over uneasily. “Sorry, Jennsen, but I don’t know for sure. I’ve never been in Althea’s swamp before.”
“Any guess?”
“Just knowing the lay of the land, I don’t think it should take more than a day to go in and come back, but I’m guessing. And that doesn’t count how much time you’ll be spending in there with Althea.” His uneasiness returned. “I’ll get you in to Althea’s as quickly as I can.”
Jennsen had to talk to Althea about the Lord Rahl—both her father, and the present Lord Rahl, Richard, her half brother. It would not be good if Tom were to discover who she was, or her purpose. His helpfulness would evaporate, at the least. She also thought that a reason for him to stay behind might be in order, lest he get suspicious.
