Chapter 5 – Killing Intent
“What is it?” she asked.
Grandfather shook his head and pursed his lips. “We shouldn’t talk about it here. Little birds are listening all around us. I’ll tell you later,” he whispered.
Aurora fought the urge to glance down, to try and see what he had in his pocket. Grandfather led her down the way to a small store. Inside, he bought a bag and a few supplies of non-perishable food. It was the same size as his previous backpack. Aurora realized he hadn’t packed many personal items. Where was he planning on taking her?
The door opened, and two men walked into the store. She sensed grandfather stiffen at their presence. He moved farther to the back and around a shelf.
“If anything happens to me, take this to Goulbern Mountain. There is a cave at the eastern base near the red and gold Firebird tree. Go inside and call for Lort. She will know what to have you do with it.” Grandfather said as he pressed a small bag into her hands.
“Wait! Why?” she whispered.
But grandfather was already moving on down the aisle. He peeked around the far end of the shelves and then grabbed another item for his basket.
Aurora placed the bag he had handed her into a pocket as one of the men turned down their aisle. She glanced at grandfather and followed his lead of looking at the shelves as if the items held great interest. The man walked past grandfather and pulled a bag of salt from the shelf. Then walked on past Aurora.
She relaxed, as did grandfather. They hurried to the clerk and paid for the items in their basket. Aurora breathed a sigh of relief as they walked outside. Grandfather smiled at her.
“Let’s go find some horses sturdy enough to take us to the Goulbern Mountain,” he said, handing her the pack of supplies. “I’ll let you carry this for now.”
Aurora noticed sweat dripping off his brow. It was warm outside, and they had been walking a lot. But she didn’t think it had been enough to warrant Grandpa to be sweating this profusely.
“Are you feeling alright?” she asked as she hefted the pack onto her back.
“Of course, kiddo! It feels great to be out and about again. I hated being in that place. Remind me never to drink anything poisoned again.” he grunted.
The girl looked at him curiously as they strode down the street toward the horse stable and asked. “What do you mean by that? Were you really poisoned? The doctors said you had some kind of flu.”
Grandfather nodded seriously. The smile wiped from his face. “That they did. The last thing I remember is eating at Todd’s Tavern. When I woke up in the hospital, I was in a lot of pain. My stomach felt like it was full of hot coals. Someone came and started interrogating me. I passed out again though.”
“That was yesterday,” Aurora said. “The nurse told me you had come to. I waited around to see if you would come to again. I waited till visiting hours were over and the nurse kicked me out.”
“Hm! You did, did you?” Grandfather said with a grateful pat on her shoulder. “Then I regained consciousness again this morning. My stomach felt better, but I was still weak. That man came back again to ask me questions. So, I pretended I had passed out. He stayed in the room and I overheard him and someone else talking. They wanted that thing I gave you. They were waiting for me to regain consciousness. But regardless of whether I gave it to them or not, they were intent on killing me.”
Aurora shuddered. They came to the stable and grandfather lowered his voice.
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