The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 32

        On one of the days when they stopped for Brasus to trade with a family for grains, Alex took the warhorses to the side of the road near the trees – as was her habit – and Hades lifted from his usual perch on Max's withers to settle on a nearby branch. After a few moments, an owl of about the same size as the crow swooped in and settled beside Hades. Alex talked to both birds, amused that the owl's head tipped side to side whenever she did. She called Hades back to his perch when she heard Brasus wrapping up business, and to her surprise the owl swooped over and stalled out near enough that Alex could see a leg band. The leather was weathered, tattered and knotted, far from being well maintained as for a hunting bird, but still there.

        She made sure her cloak was doubled and covered down over her hand, and then held up her arm in invitation. The owl landed tentatively so Alex offered some of the bits of raw meat she kept in a pouch for Hades. The little crow snapped angrily at her hand, so she fed him some of the bits as well.

        "You've been by yourself for a while, haven't you?" she quietly asked the owl in English as it swallowed the third bit, then looked to see if there would be more coming. Tail feathers ruffled and wings flapped in response to Max shifting to see who Alex was talking to, but the little owl stayed on her arm because there was another bit of meat coming.

        "Too bad that owls imprint for life, and only as owlets, or I'd try to make you to come with me." She smiled as the bird of prey let her gently pet its chest with a finger, and then offered a couple more bits as reward. "But you're better off here, where you know the terrain."

        Alex closed the pouch. The little owl almost seemed confused by the handling habits, and Alex guessed that in another season or two complete reversion would occur and the bird wouldn't remember living with people at all.

        The owl lifted smoothly when she threw her arm high, the wing-beats strong enough to push a wind against her face before gliding silently back into the forest. Alex watched the shadow disappear between the branches, smiling at the fleeting idea that maybe she could've masked the little owl. Hades was already jealous enough at sharing his bits, though, and she figured the lame crow would actually grow green feathers if she tried to keep the owl, too.

        Alex glanced up onto the road and saw that another family had stopped where Brasus and Ixillius were trading, likely to see what deals were happening and if they could benefit. Every person in the group was staring at her. The children that she could see were peeking out and openly gaping, their parents barely any better. Even Brasus and Ixillius were staring, and Alex figured they should at least be used to the strange things that kept happening around her. For her the weirdness was nearly normal – just look at how she was raised – but people's reactions were always genuinely amusing to say the least.

        "Which Legion did you say you were escorting the Lady to?" the father of the family they'd been trading with asked.

        "Minerva's 1st, good father," Brasus replied mechanically.

        "Blessings on you, Guardsmen," the father said, suddenly formal.

        The bag of grains swapped hands and Alex slid off Max's back and led only the mare up onto the road. Max followed anyway, so she rebalanced the load and switched all of their kits and some of the meat onto Max so the mare wasn't overburdened.

        A little girl from the second family approached timidly with a small purse as Alex finished up, and Alex grinned as she palmed an old, low-value coin she'd won in a bet with Brasus the day before, expecting that she was going to be offered some kind of trade. The girl held out the purse, looking terrified and awed to be this close to the warhorses.

        "The purse is for me?" Alex asked kindly, taking a knee so she was crouched to the same level as the little girl.

        The girl nodded, swallowing hard as her gaze shot between Alex, Max and the mare. Alex looked at the small purse. The pouch was the same fabric and string as many others she'd seen women wearing, and that people in general left at roadside alters and temples. Mostly she guessed the sweet-smelling little purses were for luck (and more than a little bit for perfume) and she was honestly touched that the family would offer her one.

        "What do you ask for in trade?" Alex asked before taking the little purse. The little girl suddenly looked terrified and stared back at her parents. They urged her to say something too quickly for Alex to catch the words and try to help.

        "A blessing?" the little girl whispered timidly.

        Alex made a show of thinking, and then knocked her empty hand against the opposite wrist and popped the old coin into the air. With a simple trick that her gigno had taught her as a child, she caught the coin and then flipped the disk end over end across the back of her fingers so the dull surface caught a bit of the sun. Reaching her pinky finger, she dropped the coin down the back of her hand into her sleeve as she waved her hand open, looking like the coin had disappeared. Alex winked at the little girl and held up her other hand under the purse, which the girl promptly dropped onto her fingers. Under the pretense of lifting the purse to tie the pouch strings onto her wrist, Alex secreted the coin out of her sleeve and into the little girl's cloak pocket.

        The little girl looked at Alex's hands as Alex tied the sweet-smelling purse on her wrist, trying to spot the coin.

        "Thank you for the trade," Alex smiled at the little girl. The child's eyes went wide, but she nodded, smiling nervously in return.

        "Thank you!" the little girl chimed and bob-bowed, her voice as cute as her face, after urgings from her family.

        She spun around and darted back to her parent's cart, her father lifting her up to sit at the front. When she tucked her hands into the pocket to keep them warm, she squeaked in surprise, her expression shocked as she pulled out the coin Alex had dropped there.

        The whole family gathered to stare at the coin that had 'magically' appeared in the girl's pocket. Alex hid her chuckle and starting jogging toward Ixillius and Brasus, her hands up at awkward angles that signaled Max to pace beside her. She swung onto Max's back when he got close enough, using the speed to get the needed lift to jump onto him, and taking the warhorses over to where Brasus and Ixillius were saying politely formal good-byes to the family they'd traded with for the bag of grains.

        "She is a very sweet little girl." Alex held up her arm, showing off the small purse once they were away from both families. Both Ixillius and Brasus regarded her oddly for a moment longer, and then Ixillius nodded.

        "She is," he agreed. "What did you give her in return?"

        "She asked for a blessing. I gave her the coin I won from Brasus yesterday." Alex shrugged. "The old coin, with little value, but that you say is lucky," she continued. "I put the coin in my sleeve and then into her pocket as a surprise." She grinned at them. The Legionnaires glanced back at the family that was still staring at the trinket coin. They looked at her oddly again when they turned back.

        "Was that bad to give her the coin?" Alex asked, suddenly worried she'd offended the family.

        "Nope," Brasus replied. He started whistling a jaunty tune and urged his horse faster in the direction of the Legion, pushing the little mare into a comfortable lope.

        "Lady," Ixillius said with a formal bow, sweeping his arm for her to go next, a grin at her expense playing at his lips.

        Alex didn't know what she'd done wrong just now, but at least these two thought she was amusing and not that she'd caused some kind of major insult. She urged Max into a pace to match what Brasus had set, the mare shadowing the big stallion as she did every day, both warhorses content to travel without bridles or halters. Ixillius rode behind her until they were out of sight of the families they'd traded with, and then they all bunched up so they could talk as evening drew closer. Alex completely forgot to ask about their reactions about her giving the lucky coin to the little girl until she was almost asleep, but by then she was cuddled into Ixillius's arms and didn't really care anymore.