A Crowded Smoky Tavern in a Backwater Town On the Edge of Nomadland


   Ani resettled the harp on her thigh and began again the third verse of
the ballad.  Her throat was raw from the smoke and she had to raise her
voice a just to be heard over the din of customers. It was well after
midnight and she was exhausted. The stench of tobacco smoke and ale
sickened her, but if no one needed her healing skills she had to come into
the taverns to earn money as a storyteller.  More often than not she found
herself in a tavern, because almost no one would trust a Nomad to tend to
their animals much less their families. 

    Ani hadn't eaten since this morning and unless she could earn a coin
or two tonight it might be tomorrow before she ate again. 

   "Hey, Nomad!  If it's money you need I've got better things for you to
do. After all, man's got better uses for a woman than listening to those
damned nursery stories." 

   Ani took her usual tack, by ignoring him and kept on singing. But when
she saw him drain his ale, slamming it down on the wooden table and start
toward her she knew it wouldn't be so simple tonight. 

   She looked around but there was no escape.  The fireplace was at her
back and on each side of were tables filled with drunk and rowdy men.  She
doubted the possibility of aid from them.  Quite the contrary, they would
probably cheer him on. 

   One of the tavern wenches sauntered past her with a tray of food.
 
   "Don't worry honey, he's a lusty one, he is." she said and winked
knowingly. 

   Ani felt her stomach roil at the thought.  Suddenly her harp torn from
her hands and flung down on the hearth.  With a gasp she found herself
face to face with the drunk.  He held her against him chest to thigh.  Her
stomach flipped again at the stench of his ale soaked breath. 

  "I asked you a question, Nomad."

   Behind him she could hear the men clapping and stamping their feet.

  "Let me go." she said, pushing against his chest with her hands and 
turning her face away.

  "What this? So you think you're too good for the likes of me?  Too good
for Big Dannel, eh?"  He caught her hair with his free hand and brutally
pressed his mouth to hers. 

  There was a roaring sound in her ears and when he pushed his tongue into
her mouth her temper snapped.  And when she felt him push her backward
onto a table it proved his undoing. 

   Anger flooded her mind.  Her frightened scattered thoughts clarified
with her growing anger.  Her vow of pacifism forgotten, for the moment, in
her will to survive and fight back.  The warrior blood of her people
boiled in her veins. Nimble fngers searched the table behind her.  A meat
blade found it's way into her hand. 

   His dirty hand bunched up her long skirt and touched her thigh. 

   Without a sound Ani slipped the blade between his ribs. The tip
penetrating his heart.  The moment of surprise on his face was quickly
replaced by the blank stare of death. 

   "Nomad, bitc--."

   Ani felt his hands fall away as he crumpled at her feet.  The hilt of
the knife clearly visible in his chest.  The firelight flickered against
the metal pins on the handle. 

   The tavern patrons jumped to their feet yelling and rushing toward the
fireplace. 

   "The little Nomad bitch killed our Dannel! cried one of them.  Are we
gonna let her get away with this?" 
 
   Ani, realizing her danger and used the confusion to her advantage by
grabbing her harp and heading for the kitchen. With the aid of the serving
wench and the cook she slipped quickly and quietly out the back door of
the tavern. The cook brought her horse around as the tavern wench pressed
a sack of food into Ani's hands. 

   "Take care, but never come back to this place," she warned.

   "Thank you!" Ani kicked the horse into a gallop and with her dog
trailing behind her she was out of town in minutes.  Luckily no one
followed her out into the moonless night.

Respectfully Submitted by
Ani dain Hehran Bahtna Qedharon - Nomad
Holly Huckeba