Read Online ROAD TO CORDIA by Jess Allison - Free Book Online Page B

“Fisherfolk?”
         She nodded.
         “You’re a long way from home.” He had finished combing his hair. Now he fastened it behind his head with a gold colored tie that mingled with the dark red of his hair and added to his fantastical appearance.
         “You’re a Player, aren’t you?”
         “Of course.” And as if to prove his identity, he placed his hands on the earth, and from a sitting position did a handstand. His legs stayed crossed even when he lifted his left hand off the ground. His hat tumbled off. He slowly straightened his legs and did a back bend, landing on his feet, facing her. He reached for his fallen hat and bowed a perfect and very theatrical bow with his hand held over his heart.
         “That’s wonderful.”
         He grinned. “Of course. I am a master Player, skilled in all things theatrical. I sing.” He raised his voice, wiggled his eyebrows, and sang, “My Lady Ja'Nil, all things pretty and bright.” His voice was not that good, but he delivered the words in such a combination of conviction and humor that Ja'Nil both blushed and laughed.
         “I also dance,” he said, and proceeded to demonstrate. He waltzed over the rough thin grass with an imaginary woman, his acting, and his movements so graceful that Ja'Nil felt she was actually watching a man and woman in love with each other, dancing the night away.
         Ja'Nil was enraptured. “That’s beautiful.”
         “I was imaging dancing with you,” he said.
         She smiled sadly. “I’m too clumsy to dance like that.”
         “Who told you that?”
         “Well…” she shrugged. “Everybody.”
         “They must have been jealous of you. Just looking at you, I can tell you’re a graceful woman.”
         Heat flared in her face, she lowered her eyes and smiled. He had called her a “woman” …“a graceful woman.”
         Still, she didn’t know him and it was time to get going. She put her right hand down on the ground, preparatory to standing, and glanced down. “What’s that?”
         “Wolf print,” answered O’Keeven.
         “Wolf print? It’s bigger than my hand.”
         “It was a pretty big wolf.”
         “You saw it?” she asked.
         “I chased it away.”
         “From me?”
         “It was standing closer to you than I am,” said O’Keeven.
         Ja'Nil, who was half standing, sat down again. “It was going to kill me?”
         O’Keeven shrugged. “Looked pretty hungry to me. Very thin.”
         “Thank you,” she said, her voice was fervent with sincerity.
         He smiled his charming smile. “Rescuing beautiful women is one of my many talents.”
         Ja'Nil kept staring at the wolf print. There was no denying it was from a wolf. She had seen their prints before, outside the village…way outside. Wolves didn’t hang around human settlements.  She had never seen a print as big as this one.
         O’Keeven asked her something, but Ja'Nil was too mesmerized by the wolf print to hear him.
         “Ja'Nil,” O’Keeven said again.
         “Huh?” She looked up. “Sorry, what did you say?”
         “Why are you out here in the woods all alone?”
         Ja'Nil decided not to mention the innkeeper, the pirates, or Aunt M’eer. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust O’Keeven. After all, he had driven off a hungry wild animal, watched over her all night while she slept, and even shared his food with her. So naturally he could be trusted. Still, the world outside her village was turning out to be a very dangerous place filled with unpleasant people. Maybe, just maybe, she should be a little careful in what she told people about herself. “I’m on my way home,” she said.
         He raised an eyebrow, but when she did not elaborate, he nodded to himself as if she had confirmed something he suspected. “The quickest way to the coast is back