The Beast and The Brain.

After breakfast was finished and we each had a few cups of strong coffee, we made our way to the barn. Most of the family followed, they had to see to the livestock anyway. We brushed out the horses and put the saddles on. I’m not sure how she did it, but J managed to saddle her horse faster than me. She turned and spoke with the family while I finished.

“How often do you see these men?” J was asking about the thieves again.

The older son shrugged, “They show up when they show up, sometimes they stop, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they steal, sometimes they don’t.” I paused, my hand rested on the knot of the saddle bag. This family lived their lives in fear, they never knew when the thieves might attack and take livestock, or touch their women. It was how I felt with the headaches; I never knew when the next one would hit. The unknown drove me insane. I would rather face the problem straight on.

I tightened the knot and gathered the reigns into my hand. Striker pushed his nose into my chest, I rubbed his ears and whispered a few reassuring words. J looked over at me and I nodded my head, letting her know that I was ready. She nodded back and we said our goodbyes.

We walked for the first part of our journey. The reigns were loose in our hands as we trudged through the snow. The wind was warm, and the snow was soft. Our boots were wet before we even walked a mile. “Shall I cut us a path again?” I finally panted after an hour of walking. I had been staring at the back end of Shadow and was sick of trying to force our way through the snow.

J had been silent, intent on the path; she looked over her shoulder breathing hard, “No.”

I frowned, wiped sweat from my forehead, and looked to the sky. It was clear and strikingly blue, and the sun was just above the trees. “I hate this undecided weather.” I said pulling off my cloak.

J took her own cloak off as well, “This is how it is this far south, it can have the worst winters, but being near the ocean the wind currents have a way of messing with the temperature.” She shrugged then began walking again, “But I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts warming up for good.”

I didn’t follow immediately, I stuffed my cloak into my pack and buckled it down. The warm wind tousled my wet hair and lifted it from my forehead; cooling the sweat from my skull. I stroked Strikers neck and watched as J worked her way through the snow. I took a sip of water from my water skin and leaned on the saddle. J finally noticed I wasn’t following after she had gone a little ways.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you to change your mind.”

J dropped the reigns in her hands wiped sweat from her forehead, “Excuse me?”

“I’m waiting for you to realize that you’re wrong. I can get us through this snow faster than we can push through it. It worked last time, so why not again?”

J frowned, “You think I’m wrong?” I nodded my head, “You don’t think I have a good reason for you not to turn into a Beast and make a path for us?”

I hesitated, “Because you’re upset that you didn’t think of it first?”

J snorted, “Asher, sometimes I worry about your mental health. I am not jealous at the fact that you were brilliant and made us a path, I will admit, it didn’t cross my mind. However, you will not be doing that today.”

“Why not?”

“You really need an explanation for my decisions?” I nodded my head again, “Fine.”
We stood in complete silence, and I waited for J to speak up, but she never did. A minute turned into five. “Uh J—”

She held up her hand and cut me off. Then finally, after a few more minutes, J held up her hands. She held up ten fingers, then she started to knock them down, and I realized she was counting. Counting for what? I looked around but J kept her gaze on me, then she got down to one finger and as soon as she dropped it something came into view at the corner of the road.

I squinted my eyes to see better, it was a caravan. Two teams of oxen were pulling sleighs, then there were horses and wagons behind them, they were making slow progress, but they had more people and horses to cut a path than just J and I. I looked back at J; she had an eyebrow raised and a proud smile on her face. If I had changed into a Beast then those people probably would have seen me, attention that J and I both didn’t need.

I rolled my eyes, “Fine, I see how it is.”

J turned and pulled her cloak off her horse and threw it around her shoulders and pulled the hood over her head. I did the same. We made our way towards the caravan. When we got close to it I realized that they were gypsies. Their carriages were colorful and their clothes matched. I grinned happily; anyone who traveled learned to love gypsies. They knew the lands, they knew people, they were good traders, and most of all they heard things.

J and I pulled off to the side so the caravan could pass. Children and woman from inside the wagons peered and waved at us. Finally an older man riding bareback on a horse stopped and greeted us. “Good morning travelers.”

J bowed her head, “Good morning.” I nodded my head respectfully buy didn’t say a word, J was better with strangers anyway. “How has the traveling been further up?” J asked the man.

He scratched his bearded face, “It’s slow going of course, and the blizzard didn’t help us move along any quicker, but the river is passable, any news from your way?”

J shrugged, “About the same.”

The man nodded, “Safety to you strangers.”

“Safety to you,” J replied. The man kicked his horse and merged with the rest of the caravan J and I remained out of their way. J looked down the road, “We’ll make good time now if it doesn’t snow. They’ve nearly trampled the snow down to the road.” J looked over at me and smirked, “And it seems we won’t need you to make a path, funny how things work out like that isn’t it?”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever you say J.”

She chuckled, “Whatever I say…”

We waited until the caravan passed then J and I pulled the horses onto the road. I tightened the girth then pulled myself into the saddle. We made good time. The road was packed down and the horses trotted with ease. Their tails spread out behind them and they snorted with delight. J sat easily in her saddle and I found myself admiring the view.

It didn’t take us long to reach the river. The main road crossed over a beautiful bridge, but J wasn’t looking at the bridge. She was looking up the river and I followed her gaze. It didn’t see anything at first, but then I spotted the small dark wisp of smoke rising above the tops of the trees. “Do you think that’s our port?” I asked J and look over at her.

She nodded, “There’s bound to be a trail if we look for it.” But J didn’t move or start looking, she simply kept staring at the smoke.

“So what are we waiting for?”

J blinked a few times and looked over at me, “What?”

“Are we going to look for the trail or just stand here?”

“Of course we’ll look for it.” She rolled her eyes and slid off her saddle. It took us a few minutes to make our way through the trees and find the small trail. With the snow it was hardly visible, but there were a few signs of recent life.

“We’ll leave the horses, and try not to make any sound.” I nodded my head and J moved off the trail and I followed behind her. I placed my feet where she placed hers and focused on not talking and moving quietly. Finally J dropped to her stomach and waved for me to come along side her. Once on the ground J moved some brush aside and we both found ourselves looking upon a ragged cluster of small homes, men, and cook fires. J looked to the river and we both spotted a river boat tied to the dock.

J’s eyes scanned the camp, and it seemed she was looking for someone in particular. “J.” I whispered softly, she glanced at me sharply and I knew better than to open my mouth again. So instead I pressed her into my thoughts. “J.”

“What is so important Asher that you have to speak to me immediately?

I smiled slightly, her eyes were still scanning the camp, “If you mean to ask them for passage, then why the secrecy?”

J closed her eyes and took a deep breath, I could almost hear her thoughts sending images of idiot, idiot, idiot. “Because that old man back on the farm was right about one thing. These are dangerous men that would sooner string us up and rob us before giving us passage. I want to be prepared for anything, and walking into a situation knowing more than what your enemy things you know is always a wise decision.”

I nodded my head, ”I was just curious.” J nodded her head back, but continued to look at me, “What?” I asked.

She frowned, “I don’t like the fact that we can still communicate so easily Asher, to be honest its unsettling.”

I grinned, “What? Are you afraid I’ll start reading your mind? Are there some private thoughts you’d rather keep secret?” I was teasing, but by the quick look that passed over J’s features made me think that I had hit close to home. Suddenly the situation become far more serious, “Listen J I’m not suddenly going to develop mind reading abilities just because we can speak easily to one another this way. Maybe I’m just a special case, maybe you can access my mind easier because my brain is wired differently.”

J shrugged and went back to scanning the camp. I let out a deep breath and watched as well. I didn’t think my words eased J’s worries, but I didn’t know what else to say so I decided to stay quiet. We laid in the snow for what seemed an eternity. Soon I was cold but I didn’t want to waste any energy keeping myself warm, and I knew J had to be cold as well. But still she laid like a stone and didn’t make a sound. Finally after an hour J cursed so loud that I flinched. I looked around but none of the camp seemed to have heard and I realized she had yelled out mentally.

J crawled backwards, I followed silently and we made our way back to the horses. J stopped abruptly when the horses came into view and then she cursed out of nowhere. “J?” She shook her head and I looked around and realized why she had cursed.

Men, like the ones from the camp, were waiting for us by our horses. I was surprised that J hadn’t felt their mental presence sooner, or that I hadn’t smelled them. Of course I hadn’t been focused on my surroundings, but J was always alert. She never got caught off guard, and it made me wonder if her powers were really recovered or not.

“Well, well look what we have here!” One of the men stepped onto the bath from the woods. He was quite large and he carried a double sided axe. He wore skins and leather and his hair was long. My eyes darted back and forth, I counted the men and was prepared to attack the moment J gave me a signal. But she simply stood in the snow and still as a block of ice. The man frowned, “Are you both deaf and mute, aren’t you going to say something? Beg for your lives? Anything?”

I wanted to say something and was about to but J’s voice cut through my mind like a knife and I cringed at the sloppy way she entered my mind, ”Don’t say a word, act like a dumb mute body guard until I say it’s safe. I don’t have time to explain.”

J’s voice sounded strained and just a little bit nervous and I wondered what had her so worried. “I didn’t know our lives were in danger.” She replied smoothly.

The man laughed, “Lady you must me dumb. You don’t think six large men looking like us wouldn’t actually harm you?” The others laughed along with him.

J shrugged, “I don’t judge people by their looks.” I looked at J and raised an eyebrow but none of the men noticed.

“Don’t try to flatter us, it won’t work.”

J laughed, “I think you might be confused, I said I don’t judge people by their appearances, I never said you looked good.”

The man scowled, “You’ve got a pretty smart mouth, how about I chop it off and take care of that?” He lifted his axe and took a step forward. I jumped in front of J and unsheathed my sword defensively.

The man stopped, surprised at my quick reactions. “Seems we have someone who knows how to fight, she your lover?” I kept my facial reactions calm, but I felt some heat rise up my neck and into my cheeks.

“That was unnecessary, but thank you.” I looked over my shoulder at J then retreated and sheathed my sword. J addressed the man with the axe again, “I’m actually here on business, I wish to speak to your superior.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about lady and I’m not going to take you anywhere.”

J took a step forward; she pulled her cloak to the side and loosened the strings to her tunic. My heart started pounding, what the heck was she doing? She pulled the cloth away from her skin and I saw a glimpse of a tattoo but she fastened the strings back up before I could gain a better look. “Now as I was saying, I wish to speak to your superior.” The man put his axe away and bowed his head.

“Forgive me my lady, I didn’t know. I’ll take you immediately, right this way.” He shuffled past J and I, the other men followed, they whispered apologizes as they passed. J motioned at the horses and they came forward, we gathered up the reigns and followed the group towards the camp.

”J what is going on? Why did he call you my lady?”

J looked over at me and shook her head, ”I’ll explain when I can, please, just keep playing along.”

I nodded my head and remained silent, but the curiosity inside of me kept growing. What was J so nervous about? Who were these people? And what was the tattoo below her collar bone?