21. Ava #2
Who says we have to be separated? I think this new arrangement is working out really well…
Ava shook her head, exasperated. Once again, Jerrid glanced at her with that furrow between his brows, thoughts churning behind his eyes as he stared at her. Quite intently.
“I agree that the cave might be the best option,” Brynja was saying in a hushed whisper to Finnr.
As Jerrid continued to stare at her, Ava’s stomach fluttered dramatically, and Dragon sniggered. She wished they were alone so that she could tell him off, but she wasn’t about to adopt Jerrid’s peculiar habit of “talking to himself.”
It was bad enough the girls thought he was a little crazy. The last thing she needed was for them to decide she was still a threat and trussing her up beside Talos in this cave.
I’d eat her before I let that happen.
Ava jerked at the thought, turning her face away so Jerrid couldn’t see her expression. The very thought of Dragon eating someone made her stomach turn. No wonder Jerrid always got his knickers in a twist when Dragon started talking about eating people and things.
It made all the difference when you were the one who would have to be party to the horrific event.
After she smoothed her expression, Ava turned back to the others.
Jerrid’s mouth turned down—clearly, he didn’t believe her cool nonchalance—but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that Dragon was misbehaving. He looked too tired to do much about it, though. In fact, he looked downright horrible.
Dark circles hugged eyes that looked deeper than she remembered. And were those hollows in his cheeks? Why had she never noticed them before? He’d looked robust and healthy before, albeit a little tired.
But clearly, he’d been hiding how much strain he was under.
He shifted and turned away, as if it were his turn to be uncomfortable with the intense perusal.
Ava let her attention drift back to the two humans discussing Talos’s new living arrangement, to find them both studying her and Jerrid. Finnr looked amused while Brynja crossed her arms and scowled.
“If you two are done making eyes at one another, we’ve decided to put your friend in a cave north of the camp. We’ve used it in the past as temporary housing, but it floods in the spring.”
“Too bad it isn’t spring now,” Finnr said, prodding Talos on the leg with his foot. “This one could take a nice, long soak.”
That set Roar off into a wild roar of laughter. Siri shot an annoyed look at her husband, who offered an innocent smile in return.
“What? I would like a nice long soak after a battle. Especially a losing battle.”
He prodded Talos with his foot again, as if to make a point and rub the salt in a little deeper. Talos screamed something into his gag that, thankfully, they couldn’t interpret. Siri’s expression remained murderous, but she said nothing else on the subject of Talos drowning in this cave of theirs.
I wouldn’t mind him taking a long “soak” either, you know, Dragon whispered. We’d be better off without him. He’s going to be trouble, Meat Pasty. We can’t keep him for long, or someone is going to get hurt.
Ava glanced at Jerrid and wished she could rope him into the conversation without sounding weird. “I, um, don’t think it will be a good idea to keep Talos near the camp for a long period of time. He’s dangerous.”
It’s okay. You can take credit for my brilliance.
Ava pursed her lips, ignoring him. “We should consider long-term alternatives when we have a chance.”
Brynja sniffed and raked her with a look that did not speak to her confidence in Ava’s opinions. “You let us worry about that. This is our camp. And our prisoner.”
“And Ava knows him better than anyone,” Jerrid interjected sharply. “If she says he’s dangerous, he’s dangerous.”
Silence blanketed the group, like a heavy snow in the early morn. The frostiness raised goose bumps on Ava’s arms, but Brynja merely sniffed, her expression grim.
“That may be,” she said, each word dripping with ice, “but this is our camp, and we’ll be making the decisions around here. We don’t have a choice but to keep him prisoner. For now. Later, we can discuss what to do with him.”
“We should string him up and feed him to the rootwyrms,” Roar suggested cheerfully. “That would be a very useful thing to do with him.”
“Hush,” his mother hissed, boxing him on the ear. “This is a matter for the adults.”
“I’m almost grown,” the boy whined, puffing out his chest and making Ava smother a smile. “Da always says I am almost as big as him now.”
Finnr coughed under his breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “Aye, that you are, laddie, but it’ll be a few years before you really are as big as me. You know I am prone to, ah, exaggeration sometimes.”
Siri shot him a knowing but bemused look.
Ava rose to her feet, shaking out her skirts.
Her hands had returned to their normal state, her thin arms sore from wrist to shoulder.
She rolled her shoulders one at a time as she tried to loosen the tension.
Apparently, when Jerrid looked whipped after an encounter with Dragon, he wasn’t faking it.
I make you stronger and can hide the pain, but I can’t control what happens after.
Was that remorse she heard echoing in his thoughts?
Yes… I’m sorry, Meat Pasty.
She smiled to herself and wished she could pat him on the head. One of the downsides to having him in her head was that she couldn’t see or interact with him. When he was in her thoughts, he was more like an imaginary friend.
Oh, I’m very real, I promise.
But she couldn’t interact with him as he was.