Spies and Knives

Nat raced off after Varrelle. She was very fast. Nat's mind went over all he knew about her. Not much. She had been in the forest at the vilage Lothan and he knew little more than that somehow she had helped him recover. The problem was that she clammed up or changed the subject whenever he tried to ask about her family and past but seemed to want to know everything about Dyl and himself. She also popped up in the oddest placest sometimes. He might be practicing his sword forms and she would go walking by or working on his hand fighting and notice her off in the distance working on some task as quartermaster. Usually at this point Dyl would trounce him which was always really annoying cause she always appeared and seemed to be watching everywhere especially if he needed to concentrate. Very unnerving. Now she was trying to meet an old lady who she apparently didn't know but who seemed to be quite familiar with her. They arrived in camp and Nat and Dyl immediately set about washing the dishes with Varrelle as they discussed the latest rumors. Finally Nat couldn't stand it anymore. He had to learn something. At least how she had saved him and how he could properly thank her.
"How did you save me, Varrelle?"
Varrelle tensed and Nat felt a sudden caution from her. "I used my herbs and mixed some catspaw with slugbane and applied it to your wounds," she replied slowly. "Together they stop bleeding and increase the speed of healing."
"I was better instantly! Herbs don't heal that fast. Even I know that much about them," Nat pointed out. By the look on Varrelle's face Nat guessed it meant he would get no more out of her. "Well I just wanted to thank you for whatever you did. I would be dead and pushing up daisies right now if not for you," Nat said resignedly. She was as close mouthed as a clam and refused to let anyone get to know who she really was. It was so frustrating and disturbing. "If you ever have need of assistance or require any form of aid, feel free to ask it of me. It is the least I can do since you have helped me so much." Nat wondered if he was in the right trusting this lady with his aid but his dear old Mother wouldn't appreciate it if he didn't thank the lady who saved his life. Finishing the dishes Nat and Dyl left Varrelle and began returning to their tents as they promptly began discussing the old lady.
"I am worried about Varrelle, Nat," Dyl stated as soon as they were out of ear shot. "She is always so guarded and seems to be nice and open until you ask anything about her. Then she clams up as if there is some terrible secret that even she doesn't want to acknowledge."
"Well apparently she doesn't want our help since she won't even talk to us about it," Nat muttered barely loud enough for Dyl to hear.
"I am not so sure. Why else would she be following us around? I mean it is not normal," Dyl said in a thoughtful voice. "Maybe she is a spy."
"A spy! That is ridiculous! How could she be a spy!" Nat exclaimed. He thought about it a bit more and began to agree though.
"Well she never tells us much of anything about herself and she is always following us almost. Not quite seeming to but don't you think all those encounters are just a bit too often to be accidents?"
"Well if she is a spy then she must be working for someone...maybe we should start watching her more closely and see if we can't get to the bottom of this. We should also tell the Lieutenant," Nat stated.
"Nah we can't tell the Lieutenant until we are sure about it though," Dyl pointed out.
"But if she is a spy why did she save my life?" Nat asked as he came back to that one central mystery.
A glance told Nat that Dyl was at a loss of what to say to that. Nat himself had been pondering this for weeks and nothing seemed to work out. He thought she may be a fugitive but when he checked the bulletin in the city for wanted posters and pictures her name wasn't there. Besides why would a fugitive go and join the army where they had the highest chance of being recognized and arrested? Remembering her original clothes he wondered if she was a run away slave, but again he had found no missing posters in the city or anywhere. All he knew was that she was friendly and chatted about everything except herself or anything that may have to do with herself. It was frustrating.

That evening Nat and Dyl entertained themselves by practicing their knife throwing skills with another soldier who had perfected it. They had each found a pair of good knives for a good price and were now learning to throw them with accuracy. The soldier, Heath, had about ten knives located about his person which he could flourish in the blink of an eye. He showed Nat how to sheathe the knives up his sleeve and flick them out instantly ready to use. Nat soon got the hang of it. The old soldier then began showing off by juggling his knives and then drawing his rapier and juggling them with that and finally using the rapier to flick knives, in mid juggle, into the target. Then, still juggling knives, retrieve them with the rapier. Nat couldn't see the rapier it was flashing back and forth so fast. It was at that point that Dyl spotted the old lady. She was headed towards Varrelle's tent and both Nat and Dyl bade Heath good night and fare well before hurrying off to see what Varrelle was up to with this mysterious old lady.