Flecks of Gold by Alicia Buck

want to.” He looked at me intently, but then dropped his gaze. “I mean, I would really like this book and the lacing pattern if you will sell it to me.”
    “Sure. What’ll you give me for it?”
    “Would sixty shem be enough?”
    I didn’t want to flaunt my ignorance, but I didn’t think the guy would take advantage of me after going out of his way to help. “How much is that?”
    “Where are you from?” he countered.
    “America. Do you know it?” I asked longingly.
    He shook his head, and my rising hope crashed down with a dull thud.
    “It’s far away from here.” To my horror a tear slipped down my face. Boy, was I useless when exhausted. I quickly wiped it away. “Sixty shem will be fine. Here.” I showed him the pattern to change the writing one golden strand at a time as he had done for me, though I thought it would be a lot less of a hassle if I could show him the whole thing at once. He looked at it carefully and nodded.
    “I will remember.” He reached into his relatively small pack, and took out a sack of coins, then counted out sixty. I had no idea if he was giving me the equivalent of sixty dollars or sixty cents.
    “How much is a room, do you know?”
    “Do not let him ask more than one shem for a bed and some breakfast in the morning,” he said. That gave me a better idea of how much Mr. Purple Eyes (and man, did he have nice eyes) had paid. I suspected that he’d overpaid me by a lot.
    “Thank you.” I glanced at his face. He appeared incredibly curious. He didn’t ask any more questions, however, so I rose and paid the innkeeper for a bed and breakfast.
    The bed was lumpy, but I didn’t care. I fell asleep almost instantly. When I woke up, the sun was shining through the shutters of the room’s one window. I wondered if I’d overslept. Thoughts of Mom goaded me into action, and I found that my muscles felt surprisingly less sore than yesterday. I tied my knotty hair back as tightly as possible and reluctantly slung my bags onto my shoulders.
    Downstairs, I dropped to a table and found that breakfast was a horrible slimy soup that tasted like earthworm. It was an unappealing beginning to the day, but I doubted these people had ever heard of cereal. As I ate, the purple-eyed guy approached me. I couldn’t decide if should be glad to see him still at the inn or wary.
    “May I sit?” he asked.
    “Sure.”
    “I was thinking. As we talked last night you mentioned getting to the king’s city. Am I correct?”
    “Maybe. Who wants to know?” My lips curved to soften my words, but I felt a nervous flutter lurch through my middle.
    “I am going there and thought we might travel together. Two traveling abroad is always safer than one.”
    My stomach turned. I put my spoon carefully on the table, and took a deep breath. “I got lost once. It won’t happen again. I’m not usually stupid enough to get in that sort of situation, and I know you’re just trying to be nice, but I really don’t need,” or want , I added silently, “a big strong man to protect me.” I realized the speech sounded childish, but my pride smarted from my misadventure, and the fact that he seemed to think I was helpless did nothing to balm the wound. Nor did it restore my faith in men.
    “I didn’t say you were.”
    My brow arched. I still felt out of sorts and guilty at the same time, and I didn’t dare open my mouth.
    “We are going the same way; we might as well help each other.”
    It would be nice to have someone to talk to, but did I want to put myself in that position? I looked up into his purple eyes. They reflected nothing but earnest goodwill. I felt no wash of giddiness as I had with Kelson. Finally, I sighed, relaxing my rigid stance. “All right, but I have to warn you—I won’t put up with any funny business.”
    He looked confused again. “You don’t like jokes?”
    “No, I mean . . . Oh, forget it. Are you ready to go?”
    He nodded, and we walked out of the inn into the