Chapter 9
“I need meat,” Aya said. She threw her half-eaten trout into the dirt. “Why haven’t you killed anything yet?”
“These woods have been hunted hard,” Rinaldo explained. “They’re too close to the towns.”
“I can’t eat any more of this. I need something b****y. Go out this afternoon and get something. I don’t care what it is, as long as it doesn’t have scales.”
Rinaldo sighed. He had to agree that something other than fish would taste good. “I’ll try.”
They finished their breakfast of cold trout and corn mash. Rinaldo harnessed the grazing horses and Aya climbed into the cart. Rinaldo guided the team through the woods back onto the road. Their brief conversation over, he looked forward to another long day of uncomfortable silence.
At midday they passed another town. Vendors sat o
