Vagabonds- Chapter 3

Sasha sipped her tea, sucking in a breath between her teeth as it burned her tongue.

“Now that’s no way to treat a friend,” she murmured to the mug, setting it down and returning to her book.

Her leg swung absentmindedly as a young man darted across her mind, rain dripping off his once-nice clothes.

“Rosette! Rosette!” The handsome young man called. His blue eyes- no, brown eyes, Sasha’s mind decided- sparkled.

A young woman appeared now, a quaint little house materializing with her. Beautiful golden hair, curled-naturally of course- around petite shoulders. The woman didn’t wait to burst through the door, running out into the rain and kissing the man with lust and passion the fire dancers of ___ tribe couldn’t match.

The man stopped to look at the woman and kneeling down he-

“Sasha!” A very real, and not so welcoming, voice barked into her imagination.

Sasha only drew her eyebrows together and continued reading.

The man, he was kneeling and-

“Sasha!”

Slamming the book shut Sasha sighed sharply and stood up quickly. Too quickly, she knocked the hot tea off its shelf and it splashed onto her bare legs.

She yelped, hastily swiping at the liquid.  “Sweet granola…” she muttered.

“Sash-“

“What?!” She yelled, storming into the next room. She surveyed the unfortunately very real young man limping towards her and rose an ebony eyebrow. His limp was more pronounced from the last time she had seen him. She tilted her head, gnawing the inside of her check.

When was the last time she had seen him?

She glanced outside at the sun, surprised to see it completely black.

“It’s here,” the man said breathlessly.

Sasha rolled her eyes. Ludo was one for dramatics.

“That’s nice.” She said with all the sweetness of a snake. She eyed the stain on his wrinkled shirt. Olive oil.

They had lunch together a few hours ago, she supposed it hadn’t been all that long since she saw him. He was just so disappointing compared to the men in her book.

Ludo wiped at the stain, scowling down at it.

“It is nice, Sash. It’s what we’ve been waiting for! For-“

“It’s what you’ve been waiting for, hon. Not me.”

Ludo looked hurt.

“Then why do you stay here?”

Sasha mulled it over for longer than she probably should. She came to a truthful answer,

“You have wonderful tea.”

Ludo smiled a little, fully believing it was a joke. The poor man would believe anything she told him. He was that desperate for company.

He took a seat on an old chair, it creaked under his pitiful weight, much like everything in this crumbling castle. From the old stone walls that did nothing to keep cold air out to the intricate ancient carvings sketched into wooden beams, the place was old and creepy and bound to fall down the next time either of them yelled too loud.

But it was the only place people like them could go. Not quite a home, nowhere near a home, but not a prison cell. And not a grave.

“We’ll need to get the horses ready. We should have enough food to last us a few day, just in case…” Ludo trailed off in thought.

Sasha laughed,

“You want to leave now?”

Ludo just blinked.

“Well…yeah. This is our- my- one shot at this. At freedom.”

Sasha laughed a little- internally this time- at the way he said freedom. Like it was a juicy piece of meat.

“I need sleep.”

Ludo gaped at her.

“You’re going to possible miss the one shot we have at this…for sleep?”

Sasha didn’t hesitate,

“Yes.”

She spun on her heels and walked away.

“I thought you lived with here in this dump because you cared Sash! This is the one thing, please-“ Sasha could hear him stumbling to get up, lurching across the floor, “I can’t do it without you.”

Sasha stopped and turned around, looking the man in his sad dark eyes. His pain was so raw there, so real.

“I know,” she said. “And I thought that spending time with you during lunch would mean I didn’t have to hear these stupid rants until at least tomorrow. After sleep.”

She walked away.

Silence followed.

Ludo had followed her enough times to know it doesn’t work.

She gathered up her book and empty mug and made her way to her bedroom on the next floor up.

Her stomach tightened, and she found it hard to focus on her book when she sat down again.

It wasn’t because she shut down Ludo, she’s done that hundreds of times before.

Not like this I haven’t.

Going into town at night was suicide anyways, she was doing the imbecile a favor.

And if it leaves by tomorrow?

Then she would figure it out. She always figured it out.

She tried reading for a few more minutes but the story was no longer alive. Frustrated she tossed the book to the end of her bed and went to the open window. She leaned out, letting her long black hair fall to one side and drift in the wind, just like the girls in books do right before the man comes and sweeps them off their feet.

Sasha wrinkled her nose in distaste. In the ink splattered portions of her mind that was something to dream about.

But she stained her beautiful black hair with a streak of red years ago, and made sure to keep the stripe of blood red that travelled down the length of her left side perfectly bright.

The wind caressed her face.

Leave. Right now. What’s stopping me?

It was the question always just a second or two away. Nothing against Ludo, or even the castle. Sasha had never been one to walk away- she was one to run. And then blow up the place she just was. Sometimes literally.

She sighed as she looked up at the stars. What was stopping her?

The wrinkled stained clothes.

Just because they both had awful table manners meant nothing.

It means something to me obviously. I’m staring out a window thinking about it.

It meant she had an awful tendency for sickly idiots who can’t even feed themselves.

And she was sick of it.

She winced a little as the thought crossed her mind.

“No, not like that, J.” She murmured to the stars. “I was never sick of you. Promise.”

Her sister responded with a gust of wind and Sasha smiled a little.

The wind was calling her and her sisters in the stars wanted to dance. So she grabbed a cloak, her book and a few handfuls of tea bags and strode down the stairs and out the castle gates.

Nothing stopped her.

She stepped out into the cold air- living on top of a mountain had its drawbacks- and took a deep breath. The stars shone down, it was a good night.

A good night, perfect for tea and books and perhaps some dancing.

She kept telling herself that as she walked the beaten stone path into the small circle of Pine Trees, an oasis of green amongst the hard, grey rock. But the knot in her stomach only tightened.

Stop thinking about it.

This was her life too, she was just as obliged to have dreams and enjoy herself as Ludo was.

She sat down and stoked a fire in the small pit she had created, putting a kettle over the flames. Her own little sanctuary, amongst the trees and stars.

This is good.

The tea kettle shrieked and she poured herself a cup, warming her cold hands. She opened the book and settled in. Where was she…

The man was kneeling and-

“Damn it!” Sasha slammed the book close and dumbed the kettle of tea on the fire. She stalked back to the castle and slammed the front doors shut.

“Ludo! Grab a coat, it’s freezing outside. And I swear on the stars above, if you forget your dagger again…”

She trailed off as Ludo limped into the foyer, stuffing his arms into a coat. “Thank you Sash, this will work, I know it…thank you.”

Sasha just rolled her eyes and stalked out again to get the horses ready, preparing herself for a fight. Whoever held the two swords with the jewels in them was about to get the fight of their life.