Chapter 20 #2
“Well, first we need to get you home,” Ashe said, dragging him to his feet. “We wouldn’t want to keep Honey waiting, now, would we?”
“I can walk faster than this—let us pick up the pace, Ashe.”
“Liar. You wince with each and every step.”
He sighed and admitted defeat as Ashe glared at him. They should have reached the inn the previous evening, but it was well past noon on the next day. Still, much to Ainsworth’s relief, the map indicated that they had little ground left to travel and should reach the Misnich Inn before nightfall.
He was dreadfully impatient to get back; each step seemed to take an eternity.
They walked on, with Ainsworth occasionally shuffling and hopping when the pain became too unbearable.
Ashe had somewhat dispiritedly offered to wildeshift into a creature that could carry Ainsworth.
The gesture touched him—it truly did—for he knew how much pride she had to swallow to even consider such an option.
So it was for that he refused. And a little for his grandmother, who had also been of the opinion that the wildeshifters should not serve non-shifters in such a way.
He tried to stifle his disappointment that he had not gotten to the heart of the mystery of the flighty adventurers, but alas.
He could only encourage more people to the inn and hope for the best. It was a little frustrating; accounts of adventures on the mountain really would elevate his research to grand heights and secure him the kind of promotion Lyria had in mind when pushing him toward the project.
But he certainly still had something to offer, and in the meantime, his project and manuscript could be adapted.
A history of the inn itself, although niche, would be a welcome addition to the heritage resources available on dwellings close to the republic border.
Such musings were helpful in keeping his mind off the pain.
“Sorry, Ashe. I am holding us back something awful.”
“I am not in such a hurry for Honey to see that I let you get hurt,” Ashe said after a moment of silence.
Ainsworth laughed. “You did not let me get hurt. I—”
“I failed her.”
“Ashe,” he said, all trace of laughter gone from his voice. “You cannot possibly think that. I was incredibly lucky you were my companion, considering the healing properties you were able to offer me. Besides, it is just a small wound!”
She turned and scowled at him. “Ah, yes. Tell that to the fever you’ve been trying to hide. Honey protected me when I needed it most, and I vowed to protect her and all who are dear to her in return. And that includes you now.”
Ainsworth had never seen Ashe look so…discomposed.
It was as if all the knots she had tied herself into to keep her feelings tightly leashed had come undone, and they spiraled out in a lash of disappointment and anger at herself.
“Please, Ashe. I may only have known Honey a short time, but there is no way she’d think you failed her.
And— Why? Why did you make that vow? Did Honey…
did she make you swear it, or something? ”
“Matron, no.” Ashe snorted. “If anything, she looked rather uncomfortable when I swore it, but she said if it would make me happy, she’d be fine with it. So I’ve stood guard for the Misnich Inn almost every day since. This is the longest I’ve been away from that door in a while.”
They walked on a little farther, Ainsworth doing his best not to grimace every time his wounded ankle made contact with the grassy slope below.
It was how he knew they were much, much closer to the inn.
A different, luscious kind of life seemed to burst from the land, as though it accumulated rapidly before the threshold of the mountain range it could not cross.
“It’s a bit of a grim tale, really, so I’ll make it quick,” said Ashe, who picked up the pace as she did so. Ainsworth kept silent, sweat beading his brow as he struggled to keep up. Perhaps she had been right about his wound being more grievous than he let on.
“Wildeshifters like me, who have complete use of the gift, are fairly rare. I don’t know who my parents were; I was kidnapped, presumably, as a baby.
Don’t know where I’m from, don’t really have much to say about growing up.
The group that took me continued to target wildeshifter children, so I was never lonely.
We were kept together usually, traveling and always given comfortable lodgings, food…
I never really questioned it, that way of life.
Those who took us made us transform into small animals to spy on targets so we could determine the best time to rob them.
Or they’d make us become horses, racing away from adventuring parties we’d stolen from while they slept. You doing all right back there?”
“I— Yes, I’m fine,” Ainsworth said, trying not to pant as he kept up with her pace. “Ashe, I’m so sorry—”
“I do not want your pity, scholar. I know now they are loathsome people, but my captors, at least, were not cruel—not even when we failed in our efforts. I had a warm bed each night and a full belly. It’s more than I can say for many children of the Kingdom of Saltquart.
” She shrugged. “We as a people are desired for our gifts—our blood’s properties, our shifting abilities.
I do not see why. There is an abundance of magic to be explored, a world full of wonders and other interesting people—and yet so much fascination with us.
It’s why so many default to working for the kingdom.
We are offered protection, and it is a more grievous crime to harm wildeshifters working within the king’s service than those who remain outside it. ”
Ainsworth winced. “It’s not much of a choice, is it?”
“A life of service, usually delivering letters, or a life hunted if you don’t hide well enough.
Indeed, it is not. Anyway, I didn’t realize anything was wrong with how I lived until we came to the Misnich Inn.
My captors planned to take me alone to Mount Vengeance to see the dragon.
They thought I might be able to shift into a dragon with a visual reference, and it would be another weapon in their arsenal.
I was quite a bit better than my peers at shifting, so… ”
“Matron, Ashe. C-can you…?”
“Dunno; I’ve never tried. Anyway, Honey, as I understand, had quite recently become innkeeper.
I remember thinking she was a little skittish, but when she got whiff of what my captors intended, she— I’ve never seen her explode like that since.
Do you…do you know how strong Honey is?” She smirked at him.
“Matron have mercy if you are ever on the receiving end of one of her blows. I was an adult by then—well, I had reached my seventeenth year, anyway. I had never left my line of work because I knew of no other way to live. I woke up late the next day, and Honey said my group had left without me. Before I left to catch up, she snatched my arm to hold me back. Told me I was free, that I didn’t have to follow them.
I don’t know how she convinced them to leave me—perhaps she paid them off.
But she said that I could stay at the Misnich Inn until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life.
” Ashe grinned. “Turns out what I wanted to do was stay at the inn.”
“Goodness,” Ainsworth said when she had finished. “Does everyone at the inn have such a tragic backstory?”
She considered him for a moment, mouth twitching. “Nah. I think Spin was just looking for a place to retire. She used to be some kind of merchant or something.”
“Oh, good. I was worried I hadn’t met the requirements to stay.”
Ashe tipped back her head and laughed, and Ainsworth found himself grinning.
He had been so eager to secure her friendship when he had first arrived at the Misnich Inn, but then it had been a means to an end, a way to learn more about the elusive wildeshifters.
How foolish he had been! The friendship was—and always should have been—its own reward.
And an invaluable one, at that.
“Come, we do not have far to go now, scholar. I can tell you about all the beasts that roam here—the ones I have only seen while in a wildeshift form. I believe it will be most useful for your book.”