“What are they about?”
“It will sound w-weird,” Edwin said, wondering how this boy was
talking him into revealing so much about himself.
“Try me,” Walt said.
Edwin considered being evasive, but he liked Walt. He’d
never had a real friend before, just the spirit. “I’ve been having this sa-same
dream for years.”
And I’ve told that spirit a hundred times to stop
tormenting me with it.
“What’s it about? I promise I won’t make fun.”
Edwin looked around and made sure no one was within earshot.
“It’s a little weird. It’s about Chardwick and a woman and a hunt. Well, really
more about a woman being hunted.”
Edwin didn’t want to say more, and Walt didn’t press. “W-w-what
is White Foot Way?” Edwin asked after an awkward silence.
Walt shrugged. “It’s just a road on the other side of the village.
The main entrance to the mine is on White Foot Way. I’m thinking Nemain must be
at Master Carrion’s alchemy shop. Sam is Carrion’s apprentice and will also be
there.”
“Sam d-doesn’t work in the mines?”
“No, most of us work in the mines, but there are a few
apprenticeships in the village. Sam has always been the clever one and got
spared manual labor. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to work in the village too,
with Nemain taking such an interest in you and all.”
“An interest just because I’m new here?”
Walt frowned. Talking quietly, he said, “It has to be more
than that, wouldn’t you think? And Master Carrion never leaves his shop.
Something’s going on.”
Walt’s sudden change in tone made Edwin nervous, and he
wondered if they could know about his hand and the spirit. Seeing a flash from the
nightmare his spirit showed him night after night, the one of his mother
running through the village, he tripped, and was only barely able to catch
himself.
* * *
They rounded a corner and Edwin saw a huge arch that he instantly
knew was the entrance to the village square. The arch stood at more than two
stories tall, and above it sat two more stories of living quarters. Edwin had
never seen an arch before, and he followed the blocks of rock up and over his
head to the ‘v’ shaped keystone.
“I’ll be right back. I need to tell Sam we’re all going to Carrion’s,”
Walt said. Edwin must have looked worried that the other children would want to
talk to him without Walt around, because Walt added, “Don’t worry. It’ll just
take a second.”
On the other side of the arch, Edwin found himself inside a
large open space. The old decaying buildings had a sense of grandeur about
them. Near another arch opposite him, he saw a man dressed in white who was
flanked by four sycophants covered from head-to-toe in red. They were leaving
the village square, but Edwin knew he had just seen Lucent Weston and his
acolytes for the first time.
Turning his attention back to the village square, Edwin
suddenly caught sight of a man slumped over his stomach. At first Edwin didn’t
believe what he was seeing; it looked like the snow around the man was covered
in blood. Shocked, Edwin looked around for Walt, or anyone, really, but he was
alone. And then something surprising happened; he found himself walking over
despite himself.
As he got closer, he noticed that the man’s body was blue,
exposed, and covered only in a white nightshirt that was stained red. He
continued walking forward and saw that the man’s wrists were slashed, as was his
throat. The blood that covered the man from head to toe had long ago frozen.
Edwin got still closer. He knew where he was in Chardwick. There
had once been a tree here so big its canopy had covered the whole village square.
The dead man’s eyes were open and glassy. He thought of the nightmare the spirit
showed him night after night.
Walt grabbed his arm, and Edwin suddenly realized that he
had been yelling at him. “Do you know what you’ve just done?” Edwin was glad
Walt had grabbed his good arm.
“Why’s this body here?” he asked, shaking Walt off. No one
else was in the square. All the others had gone through another arch.
“Forget the body,” Walt said, looking around to make sure no
one was watching. “Didn’t you see it? The
tree
. You walked right on it.”
Edwin looked around but saw nothing. “Huh?”
“The tree! Look, right there, covered in snow. See? Right
under your footprint!”
“Erm…” Edwin said.
“I only left you alone a minute. It’s the hallow tree. They
take forever to grow. No one walks near the hallow tree.
Everyone
knows
that.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“Obviously,” Walt hissed. “Edwin, you could really be in
trouble. Come on, keep moving. Stop looking back. Just try to act natural.”
With Walt dragging him by his arm, Edwin was too confused to
say anything else, and they hurried to catch up with the others. As they
approached White Foot Way, the road became crowded with people on their way to-and-from
the mines, and Edwin had a hard time keeping up. Signs hung out in front of
most shops, most doors were open, and soot was everywhere.
“Just go inside there,” Walt said, pointing. “Lady Nemain is
probably waiting for you. And don’t tell anyone about the tree. Trust me,
Edwin.”
“But—” Edwin began, but Walt turned into the crowd and
disappeared. Edwin looked back at the sign hanging over Master Carrion’s shop,
which read
Carrion’s Shop of Alchemy:
Potions, Elixirs, and Transmutation
. He climbed one step, but couldn’t
make himself go farther. Fear bubbled up inside him. He wondered what had been
so important about that tree, why Walt had looked so scared, and why Lady Nemain
and Master Carrion were so interested in him, but he was terrified of them
discovering his hand or the spirit. He had just gotten down here, and
everything was already a disaster.
A man bumped into him and told him to watch where he was
going, and Edwin made the sudden impetuous decision to turn away from Carrion’s
shop and melt back into the crowd. He told himself he would be all right if he
could just find a way to heal his hand. Not looking at where he was going, he
tripped over a frozen pile of manure.
“Gross,” he cried, jumping away. Only… He wondered where the
animal was that left it. Once the spirit started threatening him, it was a
danger to everyone in Chardwick. His cat, poor Eigil, had been bad enough, and
he worried what else the spirit might think up if it got desperate.
With no idea where he was going, he soon got lost and
happened across the area where the villagers had fought that creature. Many of
the buildings were in ruins, and Edwin saw several of the villagers frowning
nervously in their direction. He kept walking, but then, as he rounded a
corner, he unexpectedly saw Master Carrion standing on the other side of the
road. Master Carrion’s back was to him, but his red beard, which was much wider
than his face, and his cane were unmistakable. Edwin backed down the path he
had just taken, took a quick left onto a narrow alley, and saw the sign for a
small pub. The sign above it read
The
Bitter Hart
.
Quickly, he darted inside, but stayed at the door a minute.
No one followed him inside.
“What can I git fer ya?” said a fat old man behind the bar.
Edwin turned and, unable to find his words, backed towards the door.
“Don’t want to go to the mines, eh?” the man chuckled. “Don’t
worry, I won’t tell no one. Come on, make yourself comfortable. We don’t get
many kids down here. Ya can sit in the corner.”
Relieved, Edwin thanked the man and sat down. A few minutes
later the old man waddled out from behind the bar with some stale bread and a
bowl of leek soup.
“Oh no, I can’t pay you for this,” Edwin said.
“It’s on the house,” the man said. Then, laughing a loud,
boisterous laugh, he added, “You’re a small thing. I can barely see ya over the
table. Ya blend in with the wall with that mop of black hair and gray uniform. Go
on, eat up.”
Edwin thanked the man again, who grunted like it was nothing
and went back to the bar. But food was never nothing in Chardwick, and Edwin
was sincerely grateful. He was picking at his bread when two middle-aged women
walked in.
“Mortley, two drinks! The usual,” one called.
The old man’s jowl shook as he laughed. “Before work?”
“Yeah, and hurry. We’re already late,” replied the other
woman as they sat down at a nearby table.
While the fat barkeep poured their drinks, the first woman
said, “And I heard Nemain was at Hawthorne last night.” It was clearly the
continuation of an earlier conversation, and Edwin, sitting behind them, hung
onto every word.
“That sty? No place for Lucent Weston’s pretty little ward.
Why would she be interested in the little Medgard boy?”
“I donno.”
“I heard there’s something not right about him. Burnt down
their barn, he did. And tried to kill that poor gentle couple’s new baby boy.”
“I heard that he tried to drop their little boy off the pass.”
“Right, couldn’t stand not being an only child.” She turned
to the bar and shouted, “Mortley, where’re those drinks?”
“Comin’, comin’,” the fat barkeep said, and he left the bar
with two mugs in his hands. When Mortley went back to the bar, the two women
leaned in close.
One woman took a gulp from her mug and wiped foam from her
mouth. The other woman covered her mouth as she gave a small burp. “Now, what I
wanted to tell you. I heard Nemain and the Medgard boy, they’re related.”
“No!”
“Yes!” the other lady clucked. “Mother was Rona Goodfellow,
I heard.”
“Nemain’s sister? I haven’t thought of her in years.”
“The very one.”
“But I remember, Rona Goodfellow disappeared and took her
baby with her. Lady Nemain was devastated. The Lucent too. Raised those girls
from infancy, he did. Loves ’em like his own. It’s no wonder Nemain trains like
she does with the Fury. Losing her father like she did, and then her sister and
nephew disappearing like that.”
“No, that’s wrong. Rona Goodfellow disappeared, but not her
baby. They took the boy to the inn, to be safe.”
“Who took him? Safe from what?”
The woman shrugged. “Old Carrion made Nemain let him go. Nemain
wanted the boy for herself, she did, but Carrion thought he knew better.”
“And now the boy’s back. Does he know? What’s Nemain waiting
for? Leaving her own nephew in that rat hole of an orphanage.”
If only
, Edwin thought. He’d love to find a real live
rat.
“No one knows, but if I had to place coin on it—”
“Ya still here, ladies?” Mortley taunted. “Better get on out
of here. Master Danagger is gonna notice.”
“We ain’t no ladies… and if the mine is opening back up,
we’d best drink while we can,” said one of the women. Slowly, in no particular
hurry, they both took one last gulp from their mugs, collected their bags and
scarves, and left. They never saw Edwin in the corner.
Edwin waited until they were good and gone before thanking
the kind old barkeep again and leaving. Outside, Master Carrion was waiting for
him with a scowl on his face.
“Spying is a nasty habit. A boy could get in a lot of
trouble—or worse,” said Master Carrion.
“H-how did you know?” Edwin asked. Suddenly he sensed his spirit
growing near, fast, as though alarmed. But Master Carrion changed the subject.
“You’re going to want to meet Lady Nemain now. She’s waiting
for us at my shop. Come along then,” he said. Even with a bad leg and cane,
Master Carrion was pretty fast, and Edwin had to run to keep up.
The spirit followed close behind.
* * *
Master Carrion stood behind Edwin, as though worried he’d
run. “It seems Edwin got lost on his way here,” Master Carrion told Lady Nemain.
“Isn’t it a good thing he ran into you, then, Carrion,” she
said evenly. Up close Edwin saw that she had the most defined arms he had ever
seen. But her face was soft, delicate even, and if she didn’t have a few
strands of gray hair Edwin would have guessed she was much younger than she
was. She wore a simple green dress and still had her hair tied in a thick black
braid. Her lips were her only embellishment, covered with bright red lipstick
that few women in Chardwick could afford. At the moment her tightly pursed lips
only drew attention to what she wasn’t letting herself say; a few choice words
appeared to be on the tip of her tongue. When Master Carrion didn’t leave, she
asked, “Is that all?”
“Yes,” he growled. “I’ll be up with Sam in my workshop.”
With Lady Nemain watching, he hobbled away slowly on his cane, and Edwin
wondered if he was taking pleasure in her annoyance. When he reached the
stairs, they groaned loudly with every step.
Edwin and Nemain were in a small room piled high with boxes
of ingredients for Master Carrion’s potions, but the room did have a cleared
table and two chairs. Nemain sat in one, and she motioned for Edwin to take the
other. With Master Carrion gone, her smile opened up, and Edwin saw the same
sweet looking woman he had met last night at Hawthorne. “I apologize for the
location. Carrion insisted. Now what are we going to do with you? I don’t
suppose you want to go to the mines,” she said, her voice kind.
Edwin shook his head, but he wasn’t sure what she wanted to
hear. He imagined most people must find Lady Nemain’s smile infectious, but she
was looking at him in a strange way that made him nervous and he thought of
what he had heard in the pub. Even if she was only interested in him because
she thought he was her nephew, he couldn’t afford for her to discover his spirit,
and her attention to him made her dangerous. He fought the nervous desire to
scratch his hand. “You’ll be with me twice a week, of course. After last
night’s attack, my trainings with you young people are to continue in earnest.
Between us, it’s the only time I ever really feel useful.”