Chapter 4
 Aquila and Wren laughed.  Years had torn them apart but now they were 
together.  Nothing could separate them now, walking hand in hand in the open field.
 The wind tugged at Aquila's hair until it was flowing gently in the breeze behind 
her.
 Aquila did not want to wake up, but something was tickling her cheek.  Not
tickling...a brushing sort of feeling.
 Aquila's eyes flew open and for a moment she was frozen in surprise.  Trouble had
managed to sit up and move around to her face.  His hand was caught in her hair that
 had obviously been brushed back because she distinctly remembered falling asleep
with half of it over her shoulder.
 Did I just call him Trouble?  Aquila wanted to hit herself over the head.  She had
 given him a name.
 Aquila looked up at him and blinked.  He was looking at her...but was that pity?
 Aquila inwardly frowned.  She was reading him wrong.  What would he pity her for?
 She lifted her head and he pulled his hand out of her hair.  “Who are you?”
 Aquila was completely awake now.  He had just said something.  His voice—it was
unnervingly deep.  “Aquila—and that is all you need to know.  Who are you?”
 “Trouble.  And that is all you need to know,” he replied dryly.
 Aquila almost laughed.  “Are you serious?”
 “Yes.  My mother did not think much of me, so she named me what I was: Trouble.”
 Aquila stood and opened the door slightly.  It was mid-afternoon.  She rolled her
eyes when her stomach let her know what time it thought it was.  Suddenly Aquila
remembered the task that she had set out to do before she fell asleep.  “We have got
 to get your wound cleaned out. Lay on your stomach.”
 Trouble moved to the old rug and settled down.  “Seems like a nice rug.  Hate to
mess it up.”
 “Ick!  I was tossing it out the door when you showed up,” Aquila wrinkled her
nose.
 Aquila retrieved strips of cloth, rags, and a salve that she had remembered Sam
using on many an animals' cut.  There was not anything toxic in it except for the
smell and the gray pasty mixture seemed to work on everything.  She always kept some
 around for any little scrape she might acquire.
 Aquila cut away the old bandage and immediately had to look away.  She would not
be eating anything anytime soon.  After carefully cleaning the surrounding area,
she took a deep breath and started working on the wound itself.  “So...what
happened?”
 “I was ambushed by two thugs.  I resisted and they thrust a spear through my back,”
 Trouble growled.
 When the wound was thoroughly cleaned, she liberally applied the salve.  Bandaging
 it took only seconds and when she was through she sat back and surveyed her work.
 Sam had been a great caregiver to many a hurt animal and even his own brothers and
 sisters on the occasion that one of them cut or injured themselves.  She had
watched every time and now silently thanked Sam for being so patient with her many
questions.
 It was not long, though, before Aquila discovered the cause of all his weight. 
The wound was in his lower back leaving his thick, wide, muscular shoulders unmarred.
 Why did it seem as if he was thinner with his shirt on then when it was off?
 Suddenly she realized Trouble was looking at her curiously from over his shoulder.
 She pulled her hair over her shoulder and turned away to hide her red face.
 Focus, you numb skull!  Your objective is to get him on his feet and out the door
as soon as possible, she scolded herself.
 Aquila busied herself gathering up all the dirty rags into a bundle until she was
sure she had recovered.  Then deciding to allow him to use the cook's quarters, she
opened the door leading to it.
 Aquila grabbed the rug, and after several minutes of hard labor, managed to drag
him next to the bed.  She looked from him to the bed for a few seconds as if looking
 at them would magically make it happen.
 Finally she tried pulling him from above but she could not clear an inch.  Then
she got onto the floor and pushed her arm underneath him.  After some time, she
managed to lift his chest onto her shoulders and stood to her feet, but she could
not get him balanced and fell back.
 Sandwiched in between the floor and Trouble, the wind was knocked out of her and
she could not breath for several agonizing seconds.  When she could breath again,
she sighed.  “Trouble, you are impossible!”
 Trouble pushed himself up a little and chuckled.  “Would you like some help?”
 Aquila's mouth dropped.  “You mean you can actually do something and you just let
 me go to all that work for nothing?”
 “I guess you could say that.”
 “You ungrateful cow!”  Despite her anger, Aquila helped Trouble into the bed. 
Seeing his strength gave her hope for a quick recovery.
 It was not to be.
   **************
 Aquila looked longingly up at the cold dark stairs that led to her room.  When was
the last time she had slept on her crabby straw mattress?  The last time she could
remember was the night her almost perfect solitary life had been harshly interrupted
by trouble.  No, not trouble.  Trouble.  With a capital “T”.
 After lugging him up half the mountain and eventually getting him cleaned up, he
had taken a turn for the worse.  His fever had skyrocketed and she had spent many
sleepless nights trying to keep him alive.
 Eventually she began getting a little sleep, but not much.  It was then that she
realized just how much she missed that old straw mattress.
 Now it had been days...no weeks...or had it been months?  She had lost count. 
Thankfully he had come out of the dive and was gradually climbing back up.  His
fever was gone and his appetite was in full swing.  Unfortunately for him, he had a
good nurse who knew he needed to take small steps after so long a period without
having anything to eat.
 He had been on nothing but broth and cracker crumbs that had been soaking in the
broth for five minutes before being consumed.  It was what he had had the past three
 days.  Now Aquila worked to knead some bread in the kitchen while Trouble was
trying to gain enough strength to walk across the room.
 Aquila shook her head.  She had left the door open and could hear every movement
he made.  His breathing came in short gasps, and instead of picking up his feet in
 actual steps, he was sliding them across the floor.  Just trying to keep himself
balanced was enough to tire him out.
 Hopefully the vegetables and tiny chunks of meat will help him gain a little more
strength.  I am sure if I told him what was for supper he would pick right up,
Aquila mused.
 Suddenly Aquila's hands stilled.  It had been one thing sleeping across the room
from a complete invalid, but with a man who could get out of bed...that was a whole
other matter.  Why was she still in his room anyway?  And when had it become his
room?  It was called the cook's quarters and he was only using it temporarily.
 Aquila finished the task at hand and put it in the oven.  After checking on the
soup, she went to the doorway of the cook's quarters.  Trouble was now sitting on
the edge of the bed, victory written across his face.
 “You look very pleased with yourself,” she stated nonchalantly.
 “I am, thank you for noticing,” he replied cheerfully.
 She wanted to kill him.  Aquila never gave any voice fluctuations, never smiled,
and never said too much.
 Trouble always smiled, was never droll, and always had something to say.  He was
not disenchanted with her like she wanted him to be.
 Oh, Aquila was not normally so dull.  Aquila never thought he was enchanted with
her.  She just did not want to take any chances.
 At the moment, he did not have a clue where he was, and Aquila had all but refused
to tell them where they were.  But as soon as he could walk, he would step outside
the kitchen door and know exactly where they were.  When that time came, she wanted
him thinking she was the most disenchanting person alive and would not bother to
come back when he finally managed to escape this prison.
 “You will be having soup for supper tonight,” she informed him.
 “Yippee!  Jump for joy, if I could.  It is what, my fourth night for soup?” Trouble
 responded sarcastically.
 Aquila wondered if he was not trying to get a reaction.  She was not falling for
it.  “It has got meat in it.”
 He blinked.  He was speechless?  Aquila had to turn her back to hide the smile.
      *******
 Aquila was so relieved to be able to get into town.  She had left everything
Trouble would need for his meals where he would find it and informed him of her
departure.  She would not return until the following afternoon.
 Now she walked with hides that were now ready to be sold strapped to her back. 
She would check her traps just before going into town.  Hopefully she would have at
least five animals ready to be skinned for their pelts.  The last time she had had
only had two and she was pressed for money for the next months provisions.  Now she
had a guest to feed and that would add more pressure.
 When out of view of the palace, Aquila pulled her hair free of the braid.  It was
hot and she would normally put it up to help keep her cool, but she kept it like
that all day long as Trouble was always around.  She just wanted to be free of all
the pressure she felt to act and look bigger than she really was.
 Aquila skipped down the path until she reached the river that came from an
underground spring and she jumped in.  Barefoot as usual, she stood there for a
moment wiggling them in the sand beneath the cool water. 
 Then she walked the riverbed for a good twenty minutes and then cut to her right.  She had seen evidence of a pack of hellhounds roaming around this area and had set a few traps out hoping to catch one or two.  It was just her luck that all three of her traps had found its target. 
 She removed the dead animals from their traps and slung them over her shoulders
and picked up the traps.  She would have to clean them in town and reset them on her
 way home tomorrow.  They would be useless otherwise as other hellhounds would
smell the scent of the dead animals and would stay away.
 After checking her other traps, she was pleased to be taking in fifteen pelts. 
She would be able to buy that new trap she had had her eye on the past six months.
It was big enough that she could catch a bear and it would bring in more revenue.
 Once in town, she went directly for Michelle's.  She was the one person she knew
and trusted in town.  Her barn was the perfect headquarters for her business.
 Michelle was not home so she went straight to the barn and went to work.  It was
not her favorite kind of work but somebody had to do it and there was no one else
there to volunteer.  When the animal was completely skinned, she packed the meat in
salt in a thick deerskin bag.
 Then she took a knife and carefully ran it over the backside of the pelts to help
get as much of the leftover meat off.  After pouring salt into the backside of the
furs, she rolled them and bound them tightly.  She then opened a large wooden crate
and pulled out the pelts she had left to set the last time and shoved her new pelts
in. 
 Unbinding the pelts she had just removed, she dumped them into a lime solution
held in an old trough.  She would let it soak overnight.  It was getting dark and
Michelle still had not come home.  Aquila frowned.  Michelle never liked being gone
past dark.  Aquila could not worry about her right now, and besides the fact, she
would not know where to look first.  Aquila curled up in the hay and fell asleep. 

 Aquila opened her eyes and stretched.  Back to work, she thought with a
half-hearted sigh. 
 Rolling out of her comfortable spot in the hay, she picked up a shovel and
grabbed the barrel.  Her next mission was to collect manure from the livery. 
 Ketura Tomlin was just coming out the front door with a gray and white Appaloosa.  “Pa is inside,” she threw her head in the direction of the barn door.
 “Thank you, Ketura,” Aquila smiled to the grime covered girl and went inside. 
“Lord Tomlin!”
 “Ah, Aquila!  Are you in need of manure?” a man with gray hair encircling a bald
top appeared in surprise.
 “Yes, Lord Tomlin.  Do you have some ready for me?”
 “I sure do.  Where it normally is,” the man motioned towards the back door.
 “Thank you.”  Aquila steered her wheelbarrow through the back door and over to a
smelly trough.  Sure enough, it was about to overflow in fresh manure.  Aquila
wrinkled her nose wondering for the millionth time if there was not an easier way
to delime the pelts.
 Sighing, she threw the shovel deep into the offending mixture and pushed the
handle down.  Aquila loaded the wheelbarrow in record timing and headed back to the
barn behind Michelle's.  There a large concrete basin was loaded with the manure and
 then Aquila used a long wooden pole to push the limed pelts into the manure. 
 Aquila's stomach tried to revolt but she took a deep breath and turned her face
every time until it passed.  When each one was thoroughly coated in manure, she left
 them to soak so she could empty the trough full of lime.  Using a little bit of
manure from the wheelbarrow, she rubbed it all over the trough and then carried
water by the bucket from a well just outside to rid the trough of all other
materials. 
 When she was happy with the relative cleanliness of the trough, she walked around
back and broke off twenty red-streaked stem plants known as Conium off their roots
and threw them onto the anvil.  Along with the Conium, she collected mounds of bark
from oak, chestnut, mangrove, tanoak, and red quebracho trees, Callicoma
serratifolia and myrobalan leaves, and buckets of berries from Rhus coriaria. 
 Then she took a large rock and ground the leaves, barks, and berries into powder
which she mixed in water to make a strong vegetable solution in which she bathed
the pelts just before she went to sleep that night.  As Aquila laid her head down
for the evening, a sigh escaped her lips.  One day she would find someone to help
her do this with. 
      ********
 Aquila rubbed at the small in her back and groaned.  She had been working for the
past few days running a dull knife over the pelts and then going over it
meticulously pulling the last few hairs out of the eight pelts she had just finished
tanning.  In the process she had moved in every position possible to mankind, in
order to be comfortable in her task, but nothing was working. 
 When the job was finally completed, she stood and stretched.  Now would be a good
time to go for a walk.  After walking down the street a ways, she turned around and
walked back.  It was then that she spotted her friend, Michelle, putting up a sign
in her yard.  It read, “For Sale”.  Aquila tapped her on the shoulder.  “You finally
going to sell this place?”
 Michelle whirled around.  “Oh, Aquila!  You scared me.  Um, yes.”
 “What has changed since the last time we talked?”
 “Well, I married Beowulf last week and I do not need the place.  We both decided
that his place was much larger and would would accommodate a family much better than
my place,” Michelle answered.
 Aquila bit her lip.  With this place being sold she would not have a place to skin
her animals. 
 Michelle noticed her worried look.  “I know you use the barn for your pelts and
you must be worried about keeping that place available.  Do not worry.  The barn is
far enough away from the house that I think I can have it arranged so that the barn
is not on the deed.  Therefore I will still own the barn and you can use it as long
as you need it.”
 Aquila smiled.  “That is a relief.”
 “Did you just get into town?”
 “No, I got in yesterday afternoon.  I will be heading home today.”
 “Would you have time for a cup of tea?  The house has not been sold yet and I
planned on selling everything in the house to the buyer instead of moving it with me.
 He already has everything.”  Michelle opened the door and Aquila preceded her in.
 Michelle put a kettle of water over the fire Aquila coaxed to blaze.  They sat
down at the small table in the dining room and Aquila studied her friend.  She was
a rare beauty in her own way.  Everything Aquila was not, Michelle was.  Where
Aquila was short, Michelle was tall.  Where Aquila's skin was dark, Michelle's was
light.  Michelle also had a big bone frame and therefore when they hugged Aquila
felt like she was being swallowed into her friend's body. 
 Michelle's light green eyes sparkled as she pushed her sandy blond hair out of her
face.  “You really should get married, Aquila.  It would do you good.”
 Aquila chuckled and looked away.  “I do not think so, Michelle.”
 A moment of silence ensued before Michelle sighed.  “Oh, Aquila.  Why must you be
so secretive?  I think I am the only one in town who knows you, and yet even I do
not know all that much about you.  Like what is your last name, where you came from,
who your family was, why you hide up in the mountains...you have got to open up to
somebody.  What is wrong with me?”
 “It is too dangerous, Michelle.  I have a dark past that even I do not know all
about.  I cannot afford to open up to anybody and neither can anyone afford to hear
 such things.”  Aquila shook her head.
 Michelle stood and pulled the kettle off the fire.  Pouring the water into the
two cups she had pulled out of the cabinet, she dropped two tea leaves in each cup.
 “I have not told you of my house guest yet.”
 Michelle's eyebrows shot up and she almost spilled boiling water on her.  “House
guest?”
 “He stumbled onto my path a while ago now.  He was injured and unconscious. 
I nursed him back to health.”
 “Him?”
 “Mm-hm,” Aquila replied.
 “What does he look like?” Michelle was curious.
 “Tall, dark, and muscular.”
 “Oh?  When did he leave?”
 “He has not left yet.”
 Michelle had been taking a sip when she said this and all of it now came back. 
“He has not left?”
 “No.  He is just now strong enough to stand and make it to the kitchen.  He is not
ready to leave yet.”
 “Are you ready for him to leave?” Michelle pushed.
 Aquila glared at her.  “Absolutely.  I never wanted him to begin with, but I could
not very well leave him to bleed to death.”
 “So what happened?”
 “Two thugs attacked him.  Sent a spear through his back.  They hit an artery or
something as there was a lot of blood lost and he was still losing when I found
him.”
 “How long do you think you will have him?”
 Aquila sighed and took a sip of her tea.  It was getting cold.  “Probably for
another couple of months.”
 “You cannot wait to get rid of him.  That is not a good sign.  Have you been
talking with him a lot?”
 “Only when I have to.”
 “How much does he know about you?”
 “Not much.  Why?” Aquila's brow knit in confusion.
 “You saved the man's life.  Surely if you would open up to him and let him into
your world, he would learn to love you.  Then all my problems are solved.”
 “Your problems?  Why is it your problem?”
 Michelle reached over and placed a hand on her arm.  “You know how I worry about
you up there.”
 “Me?  What about you?  You lived alone in town for so long.  I should have worried
about you more.  All those men out there who would just love to get their hands on
you and you lived for years here alone.  I am up in the mountains where no one goes.
I am well hidden and can take care of myself just as well as you could here in
town.”  Aquila was getting frustrated.  She did not like it when people tried to
worry about her and tell her what she needed.  She was doing just fine without their
help.  Aquila gulped down the rest of her tea.  “I need to get back to work.”
 “All right.  I live over on Tonica Lane now.  Be sure and come and see me your
next trip into town, you hear?”
 “I will,” Aquila assured her. 
 Aquila made her way back to the barn, a cloud of dread circling above her head. 
Normally she enjoyed working alone, but for some reason, her desire for company was
growing stronger the longer she labored in solitary confinement. 
 She picked up the first one that had originally been a hellhound.  It would make
an excellent pair of boots.  Determined to finish her work as quickly as possible,
Aquila settled into a comfortable spot in the hay with her tools and soon she was
completely absorbed in her work.
 A few days later, she packed her objects into a bag.  They included two pairs of
boots, a nice harness, and two quivers.  It would be tight from now until the next
time she came down to sell pelts.
 After talking to the owner at the trapper's store, he agreed to give her the big
trap on credit.  Once all of her traps were cleaned, her long trek home began.