Twenty-Two - Mina
Twenty-Two
Mina
???
The weight-throw was like nothing I had seen back in Haiwella. I imagined several of the other villages I had visited over the years included similar competitions in their Midsummer Festivals, but such a thing wouldn’t be safe in the streets of the city.
Each contestant took turns picking up a heavy iron ball by the attached handle, spinning around, and then releasing it. To my amazement, everyone sent the weight flying down the length of the green that had been cleared for the event, and not sideways into the crowd. Cole and Phillip had already taken their turns—in fact, Phillip had the longest throw so far. When Alan stepped up for his turn, I understood the temporary insanity that had overcome Gemma and Hannah earlier. The crowd cheered—even the ripples of surprise when people realized who was up next didn’t dim the sound—but I cheered louder. Alan picked up the weight, and his eyes met mine across the distance.
I put my fingers in my mouth and whistled just like a wagon-driver had taught me when I was fourteen. The shrill sound cut through the din clearly, and Alan grinned. Then he began to spin.
Oh my.
I had been aware of his strength from the beginning. I had seen him with a hammer in hand. I knew the feeling of his arms around me. But none of that prepared me for this. He handled the weight as if it were nothing more than a pebble, his movements smooth and practiced.
He released the weight, but I didn’t watch it soar over the field. I couldn’t take my eyes off Alan.
The noise surged as the crowd reacted to Alan’s throw, reminding me that I stood in the open, a village’s worth of people around. This was neither the time nor the place for the thoughts I was entertaining. But I could at least cross over to where he stood and throw my arms around him. Plenty of contestants had received similar congratulations.
Alan laughed against my hair while I hugged him, completely at ease for the first time all day. “Looks like a lack of practice wasn’t an issue.”
“Did you win?”
“There are still a few more competitors to go. We should clear out so the next can take his turn.”
I took that to mean that Alan was in the lead currently. After watching him, I wasn’t surprised. I moved to his side, keeping one arm around his waist.
He curled his arm over my shoulders, and we walked toward the crowd. Halfway there, Alan’s pace faltered. “Damn it.”
He was looking out into the crush of people, but I couldn’t tell what had caught his attention. “What’s wrong?”
“Powell.”
I looked again and spotted Alan’s stepfather near the back of the spectators. He watched us with a disturbing intensity, then pivoted and marched away from the green.
I urged Alan to keep moving. “We knew he’d probably figure out the charm was broken if he saw you today.”
“Yes, but I don’t like the way he was watching you.”
“I’m merely the evidence that his magic has failed.”
“I still don’t like it. ”
Our moment of privacy ended before I could respond. Cole came up and slapped Alan on the shoulder. “I knew I shouldn’t have bothered competing.”
Gemma, her hand resting in the crook of Cole’s other arm, smiled. “But I enjoy watching you, whether you win or not.”
“Then I guess I already won.”
Next to me, Alan snorted softly. “I suppose you would have to settle for whatever you can get.”
Cole glared at him. “You’re just jealous because your lady didn’t say anything as nice.”
Though being brought into the conversation like that left me flustered, I was glad to hear Cole teasing Alan. After an awkward morning, something in Cole’s attitude had shifted around the time we ate. Gemma was still treating Alan with a sort of polite distance that didn’t fit her usual personality, but his old friend had shaken off the lingering effects of the charm.
Alan snorted again. “I don’t need Mina to say anything like that. I saw the way she was looking at me.”
My cheeks flamed. “Alan!”
He smirked and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “You were the one who insisted I show off my muscles.”
I couldn’t stop myself from imagining him “showing off” his muscles in a private setting. Heat pooled in my core, and my cheeks grew impossibly redder. I didn’t know how to handle myself in this situation. I had never dealt with anything like it.
Courtiers flirted with flowery language and insincere compliments that annoyed me more than anything. The men who had flirted with me during my visits around Nemya had always brought an awareness of our relative ranks into the encounter, treating me more like a fragile ornament than a flesh and blood woman. My rare affairs had occurred entirely in private. No hand-holding. No sitting close and feeling like we were the only people in existence, despite a field full of others.
No whispers that made me blush and long for more than words .
Cole chuckled when he noticed how flustered I was. Gemma, Affenala bless her, came to my rescue. “It looks like the final competitor finished their throw. I think you won, Alan.”
He glanced back toward the field. “Am I going to have to go accept some sort of prize?”
“Not until all the events finish,” Cole said. “They stopped giving the prizes directly after each contest last year. They only do that for the children’s games now.”
“Good. I have time to hide, then.”
“You don’t want your prize?” I asked. I knew Alan was uncomfortable having the eyes of the entire village on him, but it would be one more moment that could override the impression the charm had left. A recent memory that might sway the village council, making them doubt themselves if they tried to argue he was incompetent.
“The last time I won, the prize was a bronze medallion I had made myself.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Gemma frowning. I gave her an extra nudge to question her beliefs. “Did you make the prizes this year?”
Alan shook his head. “The festival committee hasn’t requested the medallions for years.”
“Because Powell wanted to be paid, I heard,” Cole told us. “He didn’t like the idea of donating the prizes for the festival. Gemma’s family and the Hervors supply them now.”
“Does that mean there is a chance that Alan won one of Mistress Hervor’s baked goods?” I grinned at Gemma. “Sorry, I’m certain the prizes your family donates are lovely too, but I have never come across a baker as talented in Haiwella.”
“Hey,” Alan mock scolded. “Who says I’d share with you if I win a baked treat? It’s my prize.”
“And you only entered because of me. Therefore, I deserve some of the spoils.”
Cole’s shoulders shook. “Looks like you’ll have to stick around for the prize ceremony or Mina will never forgive you. ”
“If I end up with a bar of soap, I’m going to be annoyed.” Alan glanced over at Gemma. “No offense.”
She waved his words away. “Don’t worry. I’m fairly certain the festival committee knows that the winner of the weight-throw would be disappointed to get anything other than a pie.”
Cole lifted their linked hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “If I had won, I’d be honored to get a bar of your lavender soap.”
“Honestly, both sound better than the medallions. Maybe Powell actually managed to do something good for the village.”
I looked up at Alan. “One accidental benefit doesn’t make up for everything else he’s done.”
???
The pie was gone. Alan had shared his winnings with not only me but also Cole, Gemma, Hannah, Phillip, and Sam. After our bellies were full, everyone wandered away, leaving Alan and me alone in the golden glow of sunset. We had retreated to a secluded corner of the green after the prize ceremony, and I didn’t feel the need to urge Alan back to the area where people were still celebrating with boisterous singing and dancing.
Alan laid back on the blanket, his hands under his head. “Cole and Sam seem to be completely free of the charm’s effects.”
I tucked myself against his side, my hand resting over his heart. “Gemma is getting there, too. I’m actually surprised that Cole broke free sooner. The charm must have reinforced his opinions more often, which should have left more lasting effects. I thought Gemma would be more like Kayla—though I guess you might have been closer to her, since Cole was.”
“No. We got along fine, but we were never close. I suspect the reason Cole worked past the magic so quickly was because he also knew me so well for years before Powell came. We ended up having a fairly direct conversation this afternoon when we went to grab food. He started out accusatory, but it didn’t take much to make him question his assumptions.”
“What do you think Powell will do now?”
Beneath me, his shoulders moved in a shrug. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since the weight-throw.”
“Nor have I.” For the most part, I had only been aware of Powell’s absence distantly. I hadn’t thought beyond my satisfaction that no confrontation had occurred. Now I wondered if my distraction had been a mistake.
Powell couldn’t replace the broken charms without a trip to Haiwella, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t act. My desire to help Alan reestablish himself among the citizens of Skorsa had skewed my priorities. I wanted to see Powell brought to justice for what he had done, but my primary concern had been on righting the wrong he had caused. Had I erred when I encouraged Alan to attend the festival before talking to Conrad and the village council?
“Mina?” Alan shifted, going up on one elbow next to me. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m worried that we made a mistake, giving Powell warning.”
“The charms are broken. What can he do?”
I sat up. “I don’t know, but I want to find out.”
“Now? How?”
“Let’s see if he returned to the forge. He would have wanted to check on the charms, right?”
Alan groaned but got to his feet, offering me a hand when he did. I let him pull me up. We walked around the green and through the village. Alan took us directly to the front door of the shop, frowning when the knob turned in his hands. “It should be locked. Powell has definitely been in.”
He cracked open the door slightly, blocking me from the entrance with his body. After a quick peek, he threw the door open completely, letting me see the empty room. On the far wall, the doors of the display cabinet were open, the shelves empty .
I grabbed Alan’s arm. “He discovered the missing charms and took everything of value. He’s fleeing.”
Alan slipped free and walked deeper into the room. “Let’s see if he took anything else.”
I waited near the door until Alan moved to the side entrance to the forge. Then I closed the door behind me and followed him. I stopped in the dimness and waited until Alan threw the doors at the back of the room wide open, letting twilight bathe the space in shadows rather than pure blackness. He moved from one area to the next, touching random tools and counting under his breath.
Finally, he turned back to face me. “Nothing else is missing.”
Behind him, the open doors framed his house. I nodded toward it. “We should check inside.”
The search through the house showed that Powell had come by. It looked like he had packed a bag with a few changes of clothing and some food. He was probably hours from Skorsa by now.
“We need to find Conrad,” I told Alan once we finished our search. “If Powell is fleeing, then the authorities need to be alerted to watch for him as soon as possible.”
“He might not be fleeing,” Alan said after a moment. “He left too many things behind for me to trust that he doesn’t plan to return. What if he is on his way to Haiwella and plans to buy even more powerful charms with the gold he took?”
He was right. There was more at stake than merely Powell escaping justice. “All the more reason to warn Conrad now.”