Aurelia’s heels dug painfully into Mulberry’s side. The baby whimpered, trying to draw herself away from the crowd, apparently by burrowing into the woman’s body. The air was cool with the smell of dying leaves, but Mulberry could feel the warmth of the crowd around her, even through the thick, rough cloak Marcus had lent her to cover her cotton dress. She could smell them too, old sweat above bitter breath. Despite the cold, one of those constant blue butterflies floated lazily around Mulberry's head. She ignored it. An impatient shopper shoved her to one side as Petro dropped back from companioning Marcus to quietly speak in her ear.
His voice was low, and his breath tickled her ear as he spoke.
“The dark haired woman behind you has been matching us, turn for turn, all day,” he whispered.
Mulberry’s head began to whip around, but she stopped mid-movement, quickly enough to feel disequilibriated, when Petro hissed, “Don’t look, you fool!”
Forcing her eyes forward so that they fell on Marcus’ mailed back, Mulberry focused on keeping the crowd from jostling Aurelia as Petro continued to whisper, “Try to keep up with Marcus, don’t look back, and don’t worry.”
He nodded in the direction of two dark birds circling high above the crowd, “Tsuga and Salix are watching over us,” he said. Then, with a smile and half a step he had caught up with Marcus, and Mulberry was drowning in the crowd all on her own.
Marcus and Petro seemed to be able to walk faster through the crowd than Mulberry could. Their obviously imperial armour stood them in good stead - the crowd seemed to part upon seeing them, men and women melting to the left and right like butter before a knife. A slave woman carrying a baby did not have the same effect. Mulberry pushed her legs to move faster. A mass of brown and grey cloaks, with the occasional splash of red or blue, closed in, nearly swallowing Marcus and Petro’s retreating backs.
It was at that exact moment that Mulberry felt her whole body being jerked backwards as Aurelia let out a hearty shriek. Mulberry turned in surprise to find a tall, dark-haired woman with distinctly Estavacan features holding firmly onto Aurelia.
“Give me my child,” the woman demanded, her brown eyes flashing angrily.
YOU ARE READING
The Baby and the Battlefield
FantasyA baby? On a battlefield? Marcus is a clerk in the Imperial army. When he finds an abandoned baby on a battlefield, he has no idea what to do with her. His best friend is no help; he thinks Marcus is a sucker for taking the kid in. The slave who end...
