Arman groaned, slumping down on the seat at the front of the wagon. Rubbing her eyes, trying to clear away the bleary, fuzzy, vision. Silently she mouthed something, probably a rude word, but no sound came out. It really wasn’t fair that she had to lose her voice NOW, when they were finally at a village after traveling on the roads for so long. Sighing she flipped open her latest book of legends, that she had bargained for a few villages back. The price had been steep, and she was wary, it was probably just another book full of common fairytales. But her life was these stories and so, even knowing she was probably being conned, she had traded out three rabbits, a pigeon, and a handful of coins. The rabbits she had caught herself, and Ryan had ‘lent’ her the pigeon so he would be expecting something back. He was her ‘father figure’, the man who had picked her up all those years ago, and she had taken his name, as was costmary in some regions, Ryanson, or Ryan’s son, even though she was neither his son nor a boy. Ryan himself was driving the wagon, whistling cheerfully, to a tune in his head. Frowning Arman droned the sound out, burying her worries about her voice, and started reading from her book.
Have You Heard?
Have You Heard?
The Seer is here!
The Seer is here!
The Seer brings Miracles!
The Seer brings Death!
Arman sighed, this poem again. There wasn’t anything wrong with the poem, actually she loved it, more than most of her stories, but as with most things, too much of something leads you to never want to encounter it again. This had been the first proper thing she had read, back when she was learning to read, piecing together the hastily scrawled words on their scrumpled piece of paper. When she had finally managed to read it, to read it all, she would then spend some time every day re-reading it, proving to herself that she could, that it wasn’t a dream. Speaking of dreams; Arman jolted awake, wincing at the sore spot where Ryan had dug in his elbow. She mouthed a curse at him, but still found she couldn’t talk. Glancing ahead she found they were at the edge of the town. Ryan stopped the horse, and Arman could hear the creak as the two other wagons behind them pulled to a halt as well. “Meet you back here, this evening, yeah?” Ryan bellowed at the other four as he hopped down from the wagon, grinning back up at Arman. “Shall we go conduct business, and see if there’s someone who can help with your voice?”