Free The Misadventures of Annika Brisby by Emigh Cannaday Page B

actually kind of cute, even though Annika didn’t want to admit it. There was something about him that made her want to keep her guard up, but there was something else that made her want to set it aside. She got the vague impression that either way, she’d be sorry.

Chapter 6
    a smooth operator
    Annika felt a soft whoosh of warm air on her face. She opened her eyes to see Ghassan’s huge black nose in front of hers, nuzzling her awake. He gave her a gentle nudge and whickered deep in his chest, like a parent sweetly telling their child that it was time to wake up. Annika stroked his nose and heard shouts and laughter. About twenty yards away, Runa was squealing with delight and Hilda was shouting, “It’s my turn!” Next to Hilda stood a slender man in black, towering over her. A quick glance around their little campsite showed that she had missed breakfast, and Sariel was no where in sight.
    “That wasn’t nearly as good as Hilda’s last shot!” he called to Runa. He then turned to Hilda. “You had better give her another go before she starts crying,” he teased. Seeing that Annika was awake, he waved for her to come over to him. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, taking her sweet time. She refused to run obediently to him the way Runa and Hilda had the night before. After inspecting her foot and turning her ankle around a few times, she stood up. It was a little stiff, but the pain was completely gone.
    She walked over to where the trio was trying out their new arrows. They were all aiming for a tree far off in the distance which was marked with one of their green sashes. Talvi was concentrating hard with his elbow pulled back, then let go quickly. The arrow moved without a sound through the trees, and hit an inch above the center of the target. He turned towards her and rested his bow on the toe of his boot, wearing an overly proud expression on his face. Runa and Hilda clapped at his achievement, but Annika just gave him a little nod of acknowledgement.
    In the bright morning sunshine she could see him almost as if for the first time. His unruly hair was indeed as black as pitch, but his long sideburns turned reddish-brown the closer they crept to his jaw. His skin was fair, but bronzed by the sun during the warmer months. The black suede clothing he wore was covered by intricate designs sewn out of silver thread. It was striking how handsome he was; in fact, he was almost pretty. His lips slowly curled into a mischievous grin as he noticed she hadn’t joined in the clapping.
    “Weren’t you going to show me how skilled you are with my bow?” he asked and held the weapon out to her. There was no way she could get out of this situation. She walked closer to him, forcing one foot in front of the other. What if she embarrassed herself in front of all of them, especially after acting so sure of herself when he’d offered to help? He handed over the longbow, and Annika was intrigued to see it was an amazing work of art created from a single solid piece of wood. Intricate carvings decorated the sides and an exotic form of script ran up the length to both ends. After a brief moment of admiration, she took an arrow from him and put it against the string.
    “Just like riding a bike, then?” he asked quietly and raised an eyebrow.
    “Yep,” she said with her jaw clenched ever so slightly. She went to draw back the string, but he leaned down to whisper in her ear. Runa and Hilda stood off to the left, unable to see him graze her cheek with his nose as he spoke.
    “Do correct me if I’m mistaken,” he mused, “but weren’t you telling me last night that you wanted to stay out of trouble?”
    She relaxed her pull on the string and looked at him quizzically. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
    He returned to his former standing position and began to loosen the strings of his leather arm guard. “I think you’re just asking for trouble, Miss Brisby,” he said with a twinkle in his blue-green