Read Online The Shape-Changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn - Free Book Online

here. You stay here. I’ll be back in a moment or two. You don’t have to talk to anyone, or do anything. Just wait. All right?”
    â€œYou hurry,” Orion said in his guttural voice.
    â€œI will. I’m just going down there. I’ll be right back.”
    And Aubrey hurried off, slipping through the crowd much more quickly than he could have with Orion at his heels. Unfortunately, there were three women ahead of him at the fruit-seller’s stall, so it was twenty minutes or more before he was able to pick out the goods he wanted. “Apples—and oranges—and raisins—and pomegranates,” he rattled off, choosing the items his eye fell on first. “Lemons. Wild grapes.”
    â€œWill that be all, sir?”
    â€œYes—plenty, thank you very much.”
    He had just laid his coins in the farmer’s outstretched hand when a furious commotion from behind caused him to spin around. He knew before his eyes even located the disturbance that something had happened to Orion; and he could tell, by the unruly mob forming around the oak tree, that he was right. But the press of people was too thick. He could not see what had happened.
    â€œDemons devour us,” he muttered (one of the oaths he had stopped using when Cyril frowned upon profanity) and snatched up his bundles. He was less gentle on this trip through the packed marketplace, using his elbows and hips to bump people out of the way. The shouts from the oak tree grew louder and more ragged, and Aubrey was not the only one moving in that direction. But when a high, childish, terrified shriek stabbed through the air, Aubrey dropped his packages, made his hands into weapons, and tore through the crowd.
    What he found under the oak tree for a moment petrified him. Orion stood on the bench, his arms raised and his great palms spread open, ready to slap downward. Three men stood before him, one brandishing a pitchfork, one holding a large curved hunting knife, and the third one swinging a length of barbed chain. On the ground about four yards from the bench, a young boy lay motionless and bloody. Two women bent over him; one was sobbing. The rest of the crowd hung back, away from the wild man’s overt menace, but there were plenty of calls for violence and justice.
    â€œKill him, Joe! Drive it home.”
    â€œDid you see ? He threw that boy down, like to broke his neck.”
    â€œNo better than an animal! An animal!”
    Aubrey shoved himself between the man with the knife and his partner with the chain and leapt up to the bench beside Orion. Instantly, he felt the big man’s terror subside a little.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” Aubrey demanded—as if he couldn’t tell, as if he couldn’t guess. He made his voice as stern and displeased as possible. “What’s going on?”
    â€œThat crazy man knocked Kendal in the head—may have killed him!” the man with the pitchfork called back. “You get outta here. None of your mix.”
    â€œThis man is under my protection,” Aubrey said, not yielding his place. “Nobody here touches him.”
    Twenty or more voices cried out a negative response to that. Aubrey made his own words louder. “I want to know what happened,” he said. “Why did he try to hurt the boy? What did the boy do to him?”
    â€œDidn’t do nothing! Kendal was just standing there—”
    â€œThat crazy man slammed him against the ground—”
    â€œKendal was just standing there—”
    Aubrey turned his head slightly so he could speak to Orion. “What happened? Why did you hit that boy?”
    â€œHit me,” Orion said emphatically. “With rocks. Hit me. Lots of rocks.”
    Aubrey quickly glanced down. There were a handful of common gray rocks lying around the perimeter of the bench, but then, the whole street was littered with them; hard to prove these had been thrown at