the glare of the sun. And when one of them touched the large dagger hanging from his belt, Caleb laid his hand gently on that of the inquisitor’s.
“Thank you. Thank you, friend,” the man cried.
“Yahweh provides, brother,” Caleb told him with a smile.
The man and the others with him, nodded and gave thanks to Caleb’s god.
Caleb strained his neck over the dark heads of his new friends and beckoned to Jarod once again. They exchanged a few words and the youngest Warrior among them made his way back to Jonas and said in a low voice, “He wants some of the wares from the castle, and two bows and twenty arrows.”
“Well? What are you waiting for?” Jonas barked in a tone menacing enough to cause many of the desert people to look up.
Jarod hurried away, looking stricken, and began to retrieve a few vases and small statues, and even some of Willow’s own jewelry from the saddle bags tied to the horses. When his arms were almost full, he headed for the weapons.
“Wait!” Willow cried out, watching in horror as her belongings were given over to the desert people. She snapped her mouth shut and gritted her teeth. She felt sad for these people, but that was her favorite tiara!
When it was over, she felt faint from the hot sun overhead and the anger in her heart. Caleb was happy, or at least he looked happy. Even his joy was subtle and difficult to read. The man who held the dagger to Caleb’s throat earlier, now sat before him and placed both of his hands on the Warrior’s head and bent him forward until Caleb looked like his head was about to be lopped off. The man sheathed his dagger, causing Jonas to expel a great, wearied sigh. He removed a beaded necklace from around his throat and placed it around Caleb’s neck.
Jonas finally smiled as Caleb lifted his fingers to the colorful beads. Willow studied the brutish, bald man beside her with narrowed eyes, hurt-filled eyes.
“Why do you do everything he says? He just gave my belongings away as if they were his own.”
Jonas glanced at her, his smile never leaving his face. “Because he is better than all of us. I told you, Princess, he is noble.”
“Well, I’d like to kill him right now.”
“That’ll pass.”
After the desert people left, Caleb started for his horse but was stopped by Jonas. The taller Warrior admonished him quietly for rushing to the aid of an unknown on the road. Caleb listened and touched Jonas’ shoulder. They spoke for a moment longer with Willow straining to hear them.
“Those things were not yours to give,” Willow called out to Caleb as he mounted his horse once again.
He turned to her, his sea foam eyes piercing hers. “You’re right. It was all theirs, and they paid for every precious item with their lives.”
That was it. He was done speaking to her and as he gave the reins a quick flap, Willow lowered her eyes. Why did she feel guilty? Why should she? He was the one who should feel terrible. Those were her things he gave away without so much as a thought. The necklace from the king of Hadvarti, her perfumes from Dothwaager, and trinkets from Beldar. Some of it was all she had left of her mother.
“So what do we do for water now?” she asked Jonas after they started out again.
“We trade for it in Theshwar.”
“You trade the things you stole from me.”
He nodded. “This is what usually happens in battle. Your father lost everything when he lost to Caleb.”
“My father is still king.”
Jonas shrugged. “For now.”
Willow pulled back. “So he does want to usurp my father! We have heard that some call him king.”
Jonas laughed loud enough to make Caleb turn around and look back at them. “He wants nothing to do with the crown, Princess. He cares only for the people.”
Willow clenched her fists and glared at Caleb riding on ahead. “How very noble…for a thief.”
The next morning, she had trouble with her tent and Jonas had to help her again, but this time she let him. She didn’t like how Caleb’s men looked at her while they waited, as if she was some poor, wretched child who couldn’t live on her own—that’s why their commander said he’d taken her along, wasn’t it? Because there was no one at Silvergard and she’d die there alone.
They were right. She would. She didn’t care what they thought. She wanted to go