Free Avalyne Series 02: The Easterling by Linda Thackeray Page A

tell him?
    ‘ Why is it?’ Melia asked no one in particular, exasperation oozing from every word, ‘that of all the elves in Avalyne that I could possibly find as a travelling companion, I have to be with the one who is the most infuriating?’
    ‘ Luck?’ Aeron quipped, with a grin on his face she could not see because he had faced front again continued rowing.
    ‘ Oh alright!’ She exclaimed, conceding defeat. ‘I will tell you only to have you stop asking me.’
    ‘ Finally,’ he exclaimed with more than a hint of triumph in his voice. ‘You have my undivided attention. How did you manage to free yourself from a room full of the Berserkers? I have faced them in battle, that you escaped unscathed while in their power, unarmed, astonishes me.’
    ‘ Well it is not that difficult to escape when one is a woman,’ she said cleaning her throat, ‘All I had to do was pretend to seduce him and he was so eager to be alone with me that he acceded to my request to send his men away. Once alone, I caught him in a vulnerable position and freed myself.’
    She noticed he had stopped rowing and had turned around so that he could meet her gaze. ‘Pray tell what do you call a vulnerable position?’
    At first it did not register upon her what he was asking her until she saw the dark frown upon his face.
    ‘ Not that vulnerable!’ she slapped him on the arm, her jaw dropping open in outrage. ‘Do you think me capable of bedding a Berserker? Even to escape! Are you completely without wits? What do you take me for?'
    ‘ I was mistaken!’ Aeron started to recant. ‘You said vulnerable position! What was I supposed to think?’
    ‘ I meant vulnerable as in alone with me, distracted by the thought of pleasure with a human female, not the actual 'pleasure'! You know, this is why I did not wish to answer this question or wish it known how I escaped! Small minds like yours instantly think the worst!’ She ranted on furiously.
    ‘ I am sorry!’ He apologized quickly though unable to keep the smirk from crossing his face. Despite himself, he could not help feeling some measure of pity for the poor deluded Berserker who had actually believed a woman like Melia would couple with him for any reason. ‘I must confess it is a very different way of securing your release. Certainly Dare and I never considered using that tactic.’
    ‘ Well you are very pretty,’ Melia returned with a wicked smile. ‘It might have worked.’
    Aeron bristled at the suggestion, ‘that is not funny.’
    ‘ I think it is,’ Melia chuckled seeing the distaste on his face. ‘In any case, I was never so terrified in my entire life. If I had failed in freeing myself, the consequences…’ she shuddered visibly at what she could not say and he was able to guess well enough to spare her the indignity.
    ‘ Well you were fortunate indeed that it went as well as it did,’ Aeron agreed with her on the consequences before adding, ‘However, in the event that we do encounter a similar sort of peril I would request you do not resort to that same plan to secure our freedom.’
    Melia almost cast him into the rive r.

Chapter Five:
Night Attack
    They travelled for the entire day, until the sun began to set in the western horizon, turning the blue sky into a vibrant shade of amber. It would not be long before a blanket of stars was drawn over them and with night descending upon then. Deciding that it was best to pull into shore for the night, they steered the canoe to the banks of the river.
    Their limbs ached from their cramped confinement in the narrow boat and Melia, in particular, needed to feel the land beneath her feet. Of course she would not admit such vulnerability to Aeron and wondered what it was about him that made her so determined not to show weakness?
    They made camp along the Eastern Shore which was supposedly free of Berserkers activity now that Balfure was no more. While there still many of the creatures in the Northern Province, they were