Two Rings
Chapter one
Of things Stormy and Strange
It was stormy out, bad traveling conditions in any one's book. The skinny man was almost to the city though, he hoped to be there before nightfall. If not, he feared that this cold rain would turn to sleet and snow, and he would probably be near frozen by the time he reached home.
He was on the last stretch of road, just about to enter a clearing, free of trees for near a hundred yards when his horse shied to one side.
"Whoa girl." he said softly and patted her neck with a long fingered hand, "I don't much like this storm either, but we're almost home."
He attempted to get her walking again, but the mare shied again, "What's wrong?" he asked his horse, as if he expected her to answer. She didn't, of course, and he tried getting her to move once more. This time she didn't even budge.
The wet and travel worn man dismounted with a sigh to see what was making his mount act as she was. He knew his saddle was going to be less then pleasant to sit in when he got back...
Those thoughts, and ones that were similar, left his mind as he saw what his horse had been so adamant about going around, but couldn't.
It was a young woman, covered in mud, and splayed across the path. Her eyes were closed, and clearly visible were the remnants of a blow to the head. There was blood mixing in with the puddles on the ground from a rather large looking gash just above her temple. She was wearing traveling clothes, all of which were well worn, and currently muddy. Her cloak still hung clasped around her neck, but was doing no good to protect the rest of her from the rain or other elements.
She groaned softly, and he jumped, realizing that she was still alive. He had been staring at her for the past few minutes. She was beautiful. Her pale skin seemed to glow with what little light the sky had left in it. Her long dark hair, now wet with rain and dirty with the road's muck, framed her face. Her lips, the full kind that had a natural smile to them, were slightly parted as if she were about to speak.
He knelt down next to her, checking her pulse and temperature, "What are you doing out here in the rain?" he asked the unconscious girl, much like he had spoken to the horse, almost like he expected an answer.
Her heart was still beating, her lungs still pulling life-giving air into her body, but her head was already starting to burn with a fever.
"In any case." the man continued, "We should get you out of this horrid weather, shouldn't we?" he picked her up, and attempted to settle her on his horse, but was only partially successful. He had to stand by the horses' side, and steady the girl so she would not fall from her precarious perch on the saddle, head resting on the side of the horses neck, arms and feet dangling on either side of the beast.
They slowly made their way to the city walls, the man, the unconscious girl and the horse. When they arrived the gate keeper and his guards gave the usual call of 'Who Goes there?' as they have habit of doing after nightfall, which it was now that he had to walk the last stretch of rode rather than ride it.
"You know very well who I am, and I have a hurt girl on my horse, now let me in."
"Hurt girl, you say? What happened to her?" one of the guards asked as the smaller gate, called the Eye of the Needle opened to let the cold and wary travelers in.
"Don't know, but I'll be taking her to the innkeeper's wife, if I remember correctly she's something of a healer."
"Aye, that she is! And a good 'un too."
The man nodded, "Good night gentlemen, keep dry."
The guards laughed dryly at his comment.
The man continued down the road, still getting soaked by the falling rain. Well, sleet now. As he had predicted, it had gotten cold enough with the coming of night for the rainfall to turn into something in between snow and rain.
He finally arrived at the inn, the second largest building in the town, next to the town center. He knocked on the door with hands stiff with cold, waited a few seconds, and when he didn't hear stirrings within he called out, "Gary you old layabout! Get down here and open this door!"
He pounded on the door again, and finally Master Gary opened the door, grumbling in his night clothes, "Whatcha doin' here at this time o' the night, Markus?" he growled.
"I was coming into town when I ran into someone that needs your good lady's attention."
"Oh?"
The man, Markus, went over to his horse, and lifted the young woman off of it and carried her to the innkeeper's door.
"Dear lord..." Gary breathed noticing the injury almost immediately, "Bring her in bring her in." he said, ushering Markus in.
The girl's head lolled from side to side as Markus carried her, her skin was even paler now than it had been in the dim light of sunset.
"MOlly!" the innkeeper called, rousing his wife. He called another time or two before a large woman entered the room, looking cross.
"Ye'd better 'ave a good reason fer gettin' me up in the middle o' the night!"
"'Tis hardly the middle o' the night, love, and there do be a good reason, right over by the fire."
The large woman pushed back her unruly reddish-brown hair and walked over to the fire.
Markus was warming himself by the fire, and looking at the girl that he had set down gently as close to the hearth as he dared, so she wouldn't get burned. He noticed something that he hadn't before now. Something shining around her neck. Curiosity pricked at him, and he bent closer for a better look. It seemed to be nothing but a simple chain. Simple, but well made.
He was leaning back to his previous position, when something on the chain caught his eye. Once again, curiosity tickled at him, and he tugged the chain gently so whatever it was would be more visible. It was two rings, one larger than the other, both in a simple, but still beautiful pattern.
He was about to look closer when Mistress Molly came up behind him.
"I'll be takin' over from 'ere." she said in a no-nonsense tone, "Now ye be gettin' off to a warm change of clothes, then a bed near a fire, else I'll have two sick ones on me hands."
Markus jumped a little guiltily, then went to do as Mistress Molly ordered, getting a spare change of clothes from Master Gary, and some bedding to set down near a fire.
Sleep didn't come easily, his mind was occupied by the events of the past few hours. Who was the girl? What happened to her? Why did she have those rings around her neck?
He eventually fell into a troubled slumber...
When morning came, Markus had a runny nose. He sniffed, and dabbed at the crooked appendage with his sleeve.
"Glad ye finally decided to get your lazy 'ead out o' that bed!" Molly's loud voice greeted him.
"Who said I was getting up?" Markus complained.
"I did. Now up ye get, else ye'll not be havein' any breakfast!"
"Yes Molly..." he mumbled, and stumbled out of his makeshift covers. He was still clothed in the overlarge borrowed garb he had changed into the night before. He stretched, raising up onto his toes, long fingers nearly brushing the ceiling. He hastily stopped his stretching when he realized that the too-big pants were attempting to make their escape down his legs.
"Now... What will we be having for breakfast?" Markus asked eagerly, rubbing his large hands together, a sparkle in his eye.
"Nothin' for you until you get yerself washed up." Molly said, pointing a finger at the younger man.
"Aw, but Molly..."
"That's Mistress Molly to ye, and ye be knowin' the rules! Now, get!"
"Yes, mistress..." he sighed, and wandered off to clean himself up.
He did not remember why he had slept at the Inn until he saw the still unconscious girl being tended by the red-faced mistress of the Inn. He stopped, his eyes drinking in the girl's face. Now that it was clean and clearly visible in the daylight, it was even more beautiful than he realized.
Much to Markus's dismay, Molly noticed his staring, "I said off with ye! And don't ye be comin' back with dirt behind yer ears, or under yer nails! I'll be sendin' ye right back!"
With this rebuke, Markus did as he was told.
When Markus returned, Molly was off bustling around somewhere else, which left the girl alone.
He looked around, realized that every one else in the room was occupied with their own problems. He took the chance to sit next to the girl, and examine her more. Her hair, black as ebony and longer than the tips of her fingers, was now clean and free of mud, along with her milky bronze skin. There was also evidence of her being out in the sun left by a splay of freckles across her nose. Her head was neatly bandaged, along with a few other cuts and bruises he hadn't noticed earlier. She was also dressed up in some borrowed clothing, Markus assumed it was one of Molly's daughter's old things.
Markus' eyes moved down from her face to her neck and noticed that something else was missing, besides the mud.
Before he could look for the necklace with the two rings, the girl stirred, groaning softly like she had when he first ran into her. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, then closed, pained by the bright light of morning.
She eventually opened them long enough to look around. They widened slightly as she realized she was not where she expected to be.
"Good Morning!" Markus said, trying to be cheerful and friendly, though he still tried to look and see where the necklace had gone.
Her eyes seemed to bug out of her head when she saw Markus, and unconsciously she tried moving away from him, but found she couldn't. He put calming hands in front of him, "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you. But you're going to hurt yourself if you keep moving!" he whispered quickly a bit alarmed at her reaction.
She stopped moving, and grimaced as pain throbbed in her head from the after effects of the blow.
"Where..." she started, but her voice cracked from lack of water.
"You're in Gary's Inn, Don't worry, Mistress Molly will take good care of you."
"Who...?" she tried speaking again.
"Mistress Molly, she's the wife of Gary. Great lady, just don't get on her bad side. Oh, and I'm Markus, the Scholar." he said with a smile, and stuck his hand out to shake hers, "I'm the one that found you."
She eyed his hand, but didn't take it, "When?" she asked, looking back at him when she heard what he said last.
"Last night. It was just before nightfall when I found you, we got here an hour or two after it..."
He was about to continue rambling on, when Molly's voice rang out directly behind him, "Markus, ye leave that girl be, she doesn't need t' be bothered by yer constant chit-chattering, Now ye go get yerself some breakfast!"
Markus jumped and turned, "By George, Molly, are you trying to give me a heart attack!?"
"If I'da wanted to give ye a heart attack I'da done it! Now get!"
Markus muttered as he moved past Molly to get some food. He came back moments later with a heaping plate, and sat at a table nearby.
Molly and the girl were talking, and even though he was as close as he could get without sitting right by their sides, he couldn't make out what they were saying. Deciding to take a chance, Markus stood and pulled over a chair so he could balance his food on his knees while sitting next to the two.
Molly noticed before he got halfway, "Yer not gonna sit away from the table whilst ye eat and get crumbs all over me floor! Now get back to where ye were before!"
Markus sighed and, defeated, shuffled back over to the table. He tried even harder to listen, and was rewarded with a word or two, but naught more than that.
Before long, Molly was called to other duties, and Markus had finished eating. He took this chance to go sit next to the girl. He sighed when he realized she was asleep again, and so couldn't answer his plethora of questions.
He settled for just examining the girl again. His eyes widened when they settled around her neck, the rings were back again. He probably just missed them the time before...
Around Noon, Molly came back, "Boy, ye'd better be gettin' yerself home and unpacked, that horse of yers is gettin' restless, bein' stuck in me stalls."
Markus sighed, "I guess you're right, Molly. Do you want me to clean these clothes before I bring them back?"
"Heavens no, I've seen the way ye do yer cleaning. Just bring 'em back in a bundle and I'll be doin' them with the rest."
"Yes Molly..." he said and stood, "Do I get some lunch before I leave?" he asked hopefully.
"Off with ye boy! I've already givn' ye a free nights stay and breakfast!"
Markus chuckled and walked off. He got his horse and other things, then went down the street a ways until he arrived at his own house.
As usual all was silent when he opened the door after letting his horse out to the pasture behind, and generally he liked it this way. He went about the task of unpacking, and was done in a record time.
As he had unpacked, he found his mind wandering, again and again, not to his studies, as it usually did, but to the girl at the Inn.
He never did get her name. He wondered if he could get it from Molly, and gave a wry smile. He doubted it. Molly could keep information secret until the sun went cold.
Markus shook his head and wandered off to the kitchen in search of a meal. There wasn't much available, so he changed his clothes, placed the ones he had borrowed from Molly and Gary in a bundle, grabbed a few books, then headed back over to the Inn.
"I thought ye were goin' home!" Molly pointed out when she noticed Markus back in her Inn.
"I did go home."
"Then why're ye here?"
"I'm hungry! And every one knows you always have the best food at your Inn!" he said, trying to butter her up a bit.
"That we do, but ye'll be payin' fer yer lunch!"
Markus gave a pretend pout, "Awww... Molly...."
"No, yer gonna pay fer yer lunch, or ye'll be gettin' nothin 'tall."
He gave a melodramatic sigh, "Very well... I shall empty my vaults and..."
"Oh, ye! Stop it, ye've got money to pay for a lunch!"
"How do you know?"
She smirked and gave him a look, "I know."
His eyebrows raised, "Have you been going through my things again Molly?" he asked, putting hands on hips.
"Would I Ever go and do a thin' like that?" she asked, hand going to her chest in an offended gesture.
Markus gave a wry smile, "What do you think?"
"Molly! Help!" came a call from the back, breaking off their teasing.
"I'm comin'!" Molly called back and bustled away.
Markus stretched and went over to the young woman he had brought to the inn the night before. She was awake this time, which made Markus smile.
She looked up at him when he stopped beside her. Her deep blue eyes seemed to pierce him.
"Feeling any better?" he asked
"Yes." she said simply.
"That's good... What happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?" she asked, trying to avoid answering his question. "When I found you, you had a gash on your head and were unconscious, what happened to you?"
She looked away, "I don't know."
His eyebrows raised, "Were you surprised by some one, or something?" he asked.
"Something like that." He noticed that her accent was similar to his own, and realized that she must be from an area near where he used to live. Now that he thought about it, her skin color, the natural tan, was typical of people in his home town.
"Are you from the Rychall area?" he asked.
She looked up a bit sharply, "Why do you ask?" her tone was different, and he could tell he struck something.
He shrugged, "I was from that area, and I just noticed your accent." he said.
She eyed him now, taking in his considerable height, messy dark hair, tan skin and dark sparkling eyes. His face, like his body was narrow and long. His nose was crooked, though she couldn't tell if that was natural or brought on by some one breaking it. He had an honest look to him, not only that, but one could tell he knew a lot.
"Yes I was from that area." she gave when she finished her examination.
"What is your name? I already told you mine."
"I..." she sighed and looked away, closing her mouth.
"You...?"
"I'd prefer not to tell you right now." she said.
His eyebrows raised again, "Why not?"
"Markus! I thought I told ye t' leave that girl be!" Molly interupted them again.
"No you didn't!" he countered, turning back.
"Well I'm tellin' ye now! Leave that girl be! It's hard enough gettin' her back to normal without ye buggin' her every minute o' the day! Now go get yerself sommat to eat, or go home! Yer books are feelin' neglected!"
Knowing that this was going to be another of those arguments that he wasn't going to win, Markus slumped off to get his food...
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