“Who are you?” Daniel heard a small voice from behind the door inquire. “Why are you here?”
“My name is Daniel. I’m here to take you to your sister. We’ve got to get going.”
The door flew open. A pale girl with long dark wavy hair, much like her sister’s, stood in the middle of the doorway.
“What about my sister?” she demanded. “Where is she? How do you know her?” Lilly may have been cautious at first about opening the door to the cabin, but she had immediately slammed the door back against its hinges and come outside when Daniel mentioned her sister. Although Daniel was a good foot taller than she was, Lilly lunged at him, grabbed the front of his shirt, and tried to shake him. “WHERE IS SHE?” she yelled.
“Calm down,” Daniel replied, pulling away from the small girl. “She’s fine. I’ll take you to her, just relax.” He’d stumbled a few feet backward in an attempt to create room between them. “She’s with my brother. We’re supposed to meet them tomorrow night.”
Lilly still looked suspicious. Closing the distance Daniel had tried to keep between them, she poked him in the chest. “How do I know you’re telling the truth? She was taken by Argyle’s men. Why would she be with your brother? Who are you? What have you done with her?”
Daniel looked at her, then at the house, and then back to Lilly. He stepped to the side, again trying to create space between them. “Look, I can explain everything. Can we go inside? I really need to sit down, and if it’s not too much to ask, I could also use some food. I hate to ask, but it smells incredible and I’m starving.” He edged slowly toward the open front door trying to draw her along with him.
“Fine,” she grumbled. “But if you’re lying to me, you’re in big trouble.”
I can imagine, Daniel thought to himself, smiling at the idea of being subjected to Lilly’s wrath. She was petite, but he sensed that she would be quite scrappy if you wronged her. Following her slow but deliberate gait back into the cabin, Daniel scanned the horizon before shutting the door behind him. He crossed the room to the kitchen and sat down at the table.
“Thank you.” Daniel began gently rubbing his swollen ankle. After a moment, a heaping plate of food arrived in front of him. Daniel eyed her quizzically as he picked up a fork and began shoveling food into his mouth. He noticed her eyes were a hazy gray, like the sky just after a heavy storm. He also realized she never seemed to look directly at him.
“Are you blind?” Daniel stammered, his fork frozen halfway to his mouth. “I mean, sorry, I…”
“Yes I am. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No,” Daniel blurted. “No problem at all.”
“Good, then finish eating. I know I gave you a lot so you don’t have to finish it. You won’t hurt my feelings.” Lilly sat down and her head dropped. “I keep forgetting she’s gone, so I cook for both of us. I’m not hungry anymore, so I gave you most of what I made. There’s a little more on the stove if you’re still hungry after that,” she offered, nodding toward the plate from which he was scooping large spoonfuls of eggs and thrusting them into his already full mouth. He took a sporadic bite of bacon and biscuit as he went. Lilly went to the kitchen and returned with a cup of water, which she gently set in front of him. Sitting down cautiously at the seat to his left, Lilly sat patiently while he ate. Although slightly self-conscious about his table manners, Daniel’s appetite won out. After thoroughly cleaning his plate, Lilly took it and refilled it with the rest of the food from the stove. Again, she set it down in front of him and sat down. This time Daniel was more civilized as his hunger pangs had subsided. Slowly and methodically he cleaned the plate again, finishing with a happy sigh as he leaned back in his chair.
“Okay, now tell me,” Lilly insisted, leaning toward Daniel in her chair. Daniel’s eyes popped open, stunned by her frankness. “I’ve been waiting patiently. I sat quiet while you ate and got some time to rest. Now I want to know what you know about my sister. I want you to tell me everything.” She scooted to the edge of her seat, teetering toward Daniel.
“How did you know I was done?” Daniel asked, ignoring her questions for the moment to voice his own. “And for that matter, how did you know when to refill my plate?”
“I heard your silverware stop scraping the plate. I guessed that meant it was empty,” Lilly replied impatiently. “It’s not important. What’s important is my sister. Go on, tell me,” she commanded.
“She came to our house a couple weeks ago,” Daniel began. “She was with Argyle’s men when they stopped at my house to take me.” Daniel hesitated, not sure how to explain the battle that had then taken place. His eyes darted to the window as he searched for the words, words she’d actually believe. “There was a fight, a very large fight,” Daniel tried, wishing he could come up with something better. “Argyle’s men lost, but your sister was safe. I found her in the woods outside my house and took her in. She stayed the night with me and my brother Aidan, and we set out the next morning to come for you.”
Lilly sat shaking her head as Daniel spoke. When he finally paused, she stood up from the table. She pointed to the door.
“Get out of my house,” she demanded in barely more than a whisper. “Get out now. You think I’m going to believe you and your family fought off Argyle’s men? They came by here first, remember? I know how many there were, how big they were, how many swords and axes. I may be blind, but I’m not stupid. I don’t care how many brothers and sisters you have. There’s no way you fought them off. I can’t guess why you came here or what you want, but I want you out of my house, and I want you out now.” Lilly had edged her way across the room while she spoke and now turned back with a fireplace poker in her right hand. “Now,” she repeated, waving the metal rod from side to side in front of her.
“Whoa, wait a second,” Daniel remarked, his hands coming up defensively in front of him. “I’m telling you the truth. I know it’s hard to believe, but it happened.” Daniel maneuvered himself so that the table was between them. “When did she get taken by Argyle’s men? She showed up at my house almost two weeks ago, so my guess is that they got here about a month ago? Am I right? They took her almost exactly a month ago.” Daniel saw a slight pause in Lilly’s pursuit of him around the table and so continued. “She’s got brown hair just past her shoulders, wavy, like yours, and brown eyes. She’s about four inches taller than you.” Daniel rattled off as many facts as he could as fast as he could remember them. “She was the first one taken.” Daniel was practically shouting now in an effort to convince her of his sincerity. He didn’t fear the girl. With his size and quickness, he could quickly disarm her, but he wanted to do this right. He wanted to do it without having to restrain her or accidentally hurting her. “You don’t have any siblings. She was worried about you because you’re all alone out here,” he continued as he made yet another turn around the table. She paused. “I know it’s hard to believe. Here, let me show you something. It might help convince you that what I’m saying is true, that Argyle’s men were beaten.” Lilly stopped.
“Show me?” Her brow furrowed and her lip curled up into a snarl.
“Would you set the poker on the table,” Daniel asked as he backed away and across the room. “I’m going to move all the way over here as far away as I can get from you in this room, okay?” He knocked on the wall next to him so she could hear where he was standing.
Lilly frowned, but did as he asked.
“Now, I’m going to take the poker,” Daniel told her. She flinched toward the weapon. “Wait.” The sincerity in his voice stilled her hand with just her fingertips on the handle. “I just want to show you what I can do. Maybe then you’ll trust me.” Before she could reply, the poker was gone from under her hand and Daniel again knocked on the wall so she knew where he was. Daniel now stood with the iron rod back where she thought he’d been standing the whole time. “Now check again for the poker.”
She leaned over the table, her hands moving swiftly to the four corners, searching for the poker. “How
…” she trailed off.
“I’m really fast,” Daniel replied, speaking softly and moving back toward her. He set the poker back down at the fireplace as he walked across the room. “My brother has special talents as well. I don’t have time to tell you everything about them right now though. Argyle’s sent another group of men. He knows something happened. They’ll come here first, and I don’t think they’ll knock politely at your door. We need to get going,” Daniel told her. “We need to get going now. I don’t think they’re very far off. We’re supposed to meet Olivia and Aidan at the base of one of the mountains. If we’re going to make it by tomorrow night, we need to hurry.”
Lilly shook her head, seemingly to clear her jumbled thoughts. “Tomorrow? We can’t make it by tomorrow,” she mumbled, slumping down into one of the chairs. “That’s at least a four-day walk.”
“HEY!” Daniel shouted, trying to snap Lilly back to the moment. “Argyle’s men are coming. Now. Let’s worry about how fast we can travel later. We need to be gone when they arrive.” Daniel walked over to the front door and opened it, searching the horizon for any sign of the mercenaries he knew were on their way. He returned to Lilly and lifted her gently from her seat. “You need to pack. You’re not going to be able to come back, so pack everything you’ll need. If there’s anything you think Olivia would want you to bring, grab that too.” He gave her a small push toward the back of the house. “Do you need help?”
“No.”
“Then hurry.”
Chapter 10
An Early Arrival