“Are you… sure you don’t want to help them?” An older man asked, pointing out into a snowy field where Ellio and Jule currently fought off a small demon.

  “Not really. Why?” She placed a card down on top of the box.

  The man to her right glanced at it before studying his own cards. Across from her, the woman’s eyes lit up at it before she frantically looked back to her hand. She didn’t really know what game they played, or the rules. But she won the last two rounds, so maybe she would get lucky again. The man beside her drew a card and placed it in the center, grimacing.

  “Well, I mean,” the old man shook his head, “you don’t have to, I guess. But I thought we hired you three to, you know, protect us.”

  Azhar looked out past the wagon, watching the demon leap into the air. Ellio parried it, but the thing pinned him into the snow. Jule took a quick stab at it with her dagger, and it leapt off Ellio and slid back.

  “But I’m playing a game?” How could he expect her to do two things at once? “Besides, you paid for a mission, not three people. If they can do the job, why do I have to help?”

  The old man watched her for a moment, and she turned from him to see what card the person on her left gave up from his hand. “Look, we already bet the pot, Zon, we ain’t quittin’ this game for nothin’!” He turned to her, “well? Play your turn!”

  Azhar watched him tap his foot a moment. Then, she pulled his sacrificed card towards her, and laid out her hand. “I have to make them match, right? How’d I do?”

  Grimaces and groans. The man to her left cursed, flung his head back dramatically, and laid back limp against the side of the wagon. So she won, right? She collected the winning from the center, which consisted of a sandwich, one hundred thirty six daud, some shiny yellow fabric, and a pocket watch.

  She bit into the sandwich, tearing some sort of pickled cabbage with her teeth. The man on her left watched her, her eyebrows furrowing. “Nuh-uh, we ain’t done here. Time for the high stakes!”

  “Give it a break,” the woman laughed, “you don’t even have anything left to bet! What, your dinner, too?”

  He cursed under his breath. She took another bite before loud thuds behind her startled her chew. She turned to see Jule eyeing her with, what Azhar assumed was, anger. The woman pulled herself up the side of the wagon, her glare shifting from Azhar, to the cards, and then to her winnings.

  “Are you kidding me??” She snapped. “We coulda used some help, don’t you think?”

  Azhar looked past Jule towards her brother, Ellio, who picked up a demon’s heart out of the snow. “Looks like you didn’t, though?”

  Jule’s face reddened. “Do you see this?” She held out her hand and shoved it to Azhar’s face. On it, the thinnest line of red appeared. “Your fault!”

  “But if another demon showed up,” Azhar swallowed her bite before continuing. “No one would’ve been able to protect the merchants. I stayed back to make sure they stayed safe.”

  It sounded reasonable enough, and Azhar nodded for her own affirmation.

  Jule stared at her, her face lightening. She sighed, hopping off the wheel she stood on. “Fine. Whatever.”

  “You handled that well.” Ellio came up to her.

  Jule shrugged. “I’m learning that sense doesn’t exist when dealing with her.”

  The old man nodded. “Your friend does seem to go at her own pace, hmm?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Jule looked at him, her eyes dropping into some sort of pitiful appearance. “At least you understand me, Zon!”

  He nodded. “I do. But please take her away before she swindles away all of my son’s possessions.”

  Crying.

  Azhar glanced to the right, wondering if the woman’s son hurt himself. Zon and Jule’s voices phased out of hearing as she focused on the crying. She couldn’t find the boy. Had he gotten scared and hid when the demon appeared?

  She stood, peaking around boxes and chests to no avail. Maybe he’d fled the cart, so she hopped off, her boots sinking into six centimeters of snow, and looked around. Aside from the snow, though, nothing dotted the landscape. And there were no disturbances imprinted upon the snow’s surface.

  The cart’s wheel creaked as the wagon shifted. She bent down, glancing under it and spotting the source of crying. A fox, coat as white as the land it lived upon. The small thing made a human’s cry. She reached below the wheel well and grabbed it gently beneath its belly. The fox couldn’t have been more than three or four months old, based on the size.

  The small animal looked at her, its tears and whimpers stopping within a moment of her touch. Azhar cradled it into her arms. “Hush, little fox. You can’t let them find you.”

  It nodded and buried itself beneath her cloak, turning around, and only poking its head out. It smiled at her, yipping, and she laughed in return. “Shall we go on an adventure?”

  “Who are you talking to?” An arm grabbed her, whipping her around. Light blond hair with blue, confused eyes. The crying child.

  “You, of course. Shall we go on an adventure?”

  He blinked at her, tension seizing his shoulders. “Azhar…?”

  “Little fox, I found you.” She reached her hands around his neck, a difficult task with his height, and he stooped down enough to let her. Her arms wrapped around him. “You have to hide.”

  Ellio yanked her off him, shaking her shoulders as much as his hands trembled. “What are you doing??”

  Her feet sunk back into the snow, and the cold embraced her. She cocked her head to the side, wondering why he yelled. “What’s wrong?”

  “What’s…?” He trailed off.

  The wagon was quite a distance away, her and Ellio’s footprints trailed from the wagon to the middle of the snowy field, where she stood. When did they get here? Did she forget something again?

  “You wandered off alone. Did you see something?” Ellio paused between sentences, as if trying to pull reason into the conversation.

  She didn’t see the need for him to do so. What reason did he need? “I didn’t. Why? Is there something out here?”

  He said nothing, only looking her over, which she didn’t mind. Did he have some sort of curiosity for her? She didn’t mind that, either, if so.

  Because he had to be happy.

  The little fox needed to be happy.

  “We… should get going. It’ll get dark soon.” Ellio tugged the sleeve of her arm, gently pulling her along as he turned back to the wagon.

  He didn’t need to be so reserved.

  She slipped her sleeve from him and replaced it with her fingers, squeezing his hand. He reddened, eyes widening at her. But after a moment, he resigned to his fate and closed his fingers around hers. “At least you won’t wander off like this.”

  “I didn’t wander. I was helping you hide.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her, but said nothing.

  When they returned to the wagon, Jule tapped her foot in the already indented snow. “You took your time.”

  “Sorry,” Ellio replied. Why did he apologize? He did it too often. She’d note it for the future, if she could remember. “Taiga made it look easier than it was.”

  Jule nodded, though Azhar didn’t understand why. Then, she turned to Azhar. “Don’t wander off again. Otherwise, we’ll leave you behind.”

  Hmmmmm, she didn’t mind if they did. She’d just find them again. Azhar shrugged, “alright.”

  Ellio’s hand squeezed hers a bit more, and she glanced up at him. His eyebrows scrunched together over his eyes, and he bit his lip, as if fighting from saying something. She wondered what, but as the thought came to her, he released her hand and loaded into the wagon.

  Once she found her box to sit upon again and the wagon began moving, she watched Ellio give the demon heart to Jule, who’s attention absorbed entirely into the thing. The merchants dealt out cards, though specifically not to her this time.

  The sun peaked out from behind the clouds for only a few minutes. Time went on, and she lulled between the hooves of the horses and pittering of cards. She melted the voices of the merchants from her ears, and listened to the snow crunch beneath the wheels as the wagon rolled.

  “Ellio.” Azhar opened her eyes to see him watching her from across her own seat. “Be happy.” Then she let herself drift to sleep.