I hadn't meant to kill anyone, but I hadn't had a choice. I was only trying to protect myself and Legacy, and yet that burst of magic had taken out a lot of people. I had killed before, but never so many at once.
"Why are you taking them inside the fortress?” Legacy asked. “You and yours could sleep inside. Under a roof for once. It's not as if there's anyone to stop you."
Almost immediately, her cheeks flushed, and I cringed at the phrasing.
Dora's smile didn't fade. In fact, it suddenly seemed a bit more genuine. "I meant it when I said that we don't choose sides. We sell our wares and wander, but we don't choose sides. Sleeping inside a conquered fortress might be considered choosing a side, might it not?"
She glanced down at the remaining bodies lying outside the fortress. "Besides, there may be spirits at play here, and night is the worst time to deal with those who might mean us harm.Better for us to take what we can inside and sleep out here, safe in our circle."
Again without any signal that I could see, those driving the wagons—long wooden boxes that looked more like a small building than a farming wagon—had begun to move them. Where before it had only been a loose circle, now it was more of a half circle, the shape closed by the wall of the fortress.
They were much quieter than I would have expected, and the wall provided a bit of protection from the danger of whatever spirits might still lie with the bodies.
At just the thought, I took a single step back, again forcing myself not to vomit, but Legacy touched her hand to my arm. She tightened her grip on my elbow, not forcefully. More like support.
"I assume you have somewhere for us to sleep?” she asked Dora. “It seems like you might have something in mind since you still haven't told us how you expect us to keep up with you without horses."
Dora nodded. "We have a spare wagon we use for storage. You can sleep there and use it to travel while you're with us. But we expect your help in return."
"Help with what?" I asked.
I wasn't sure how much use I would be, considering how I felt right now. My magic seemed to sense my feelings on what had happened earlier and curled beneath my skin. Once I calmed down, I could use it comfortably again, but for now, I still resisted the urge to cry or scream every time I looked at the bodies on the ground.
Dora seemed to understand that. "We'll take care of the bodies. While we travel, we expect protection with magic, as clearly you have some measure of it. For now, we want your help gathering anything we can use or sell from inside the fortress."
I cocked an eyebrow, my curiosity finally tearing me from my funk. "So sleeping inside the fortress is choosing a side, but stealing from it isn't?"
Dora's grin widened. "We aren't ones to turn up our noses at a space left empty for us. Thanks to you, I should think. Now let's get to work."
True to her word, Dora's people took care of the bodies. I wasn't entirely sure where they were placed inside the fortress, and I didn't ask. Since I didn’t have to see them all laid out in front of me, it was much easier to convince myself that I had only done what I had to in order to protect Legacy and myself.
It wasn't a lie, but it still felt like it wasn't the whole truth.
Legacy and I had an unspoken agreement to stick together, so we did. We searched every room of the fortress individually, from the kitchens to the armory, and placed anything we thought might be useful to the merchants, whether it be weapons or food, outside the door. Once we were finished with each room, we picked up the piles and placed them in the middle of the wagon half circle. From there, Dora gave orders to everyone about where each thing should go.
It took hours for us to finish, and by the time we did, I was more than happy to flop down in the wagon we had been given to use. A small bed sat in the center of the floor. The area was tiny and cramped, with almost no light other than from a lantern hanging on the wall over our heads.
I sank onto the bed and rolled over, almost too tired to think about the fact that Legacy and I were going to be sharing a bed once again.
Almost.
"Get some rest," Legacy said softly.
She blew out the lantern, and the bed shifted as she curled up next to me. Her body heat melted more of my doubts about her.
We had a plan for what to do now, and this was the safest we had been in the entirety of our short acquaintance. Still, with Legacy next to me, I wasn't sure how much sleep I would get. I had to at least try since this safety likely wouldn't last long.
I could only hope, but hope wouldn’t protect us. We had to protect one another, and I couldn't shake the feeling we might succeed in that.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
We didn't spend long with the merchant caravan. Less than a day, in fact.
Now, it wasn't because of anything they, or we, did. The company of the group was nice, and we spent most of the day with them before we stopped at a new town. I’d had the best time I'd had in a long time. No fighting, no shouting of orders from superiors or the snappish infighting of soldiers trying to prove they were the best around.
Instead, the conversation was cheerful and teasing, far less mean spirited than I was used to. Even with the massive wagons, every one of the drivers seemed to hear one another over the jingle of tack and the creak of the wooden wheels. Some of those not driving walked alongside the wagons, singing or talking. A few others had split off to go hunting or gathering and came back with baskets full of herbs and mushrooms.
