Ravenwood (22 page)

Thomas grinned and William shrugged. “Now we wait.”

“How long? We can’t keep these kids bottled up forever and you and Thomas will need to get on with your work, too.”

William sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know.” He looked at Thomas who shrugged in return. “They’ve given us a warning. They’ll give us another and then they’ll be back.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I think, as long as we’re vigilant, they can’t really cause us much harm. They’re not going to try a straight on attack, it wouldn’t be useful to damage us so we can’t pay.”

“We’re not going to pay anyway.” Thomas spoke quietly but his voice carried to where Tanyth stood beside Amber’s back door.

William sighed. “Yeah, and I’m not so sure what will happen when they realize that.”

“They must know you’re your father’s son, Will. You think they’ve forgotten?”

William grimaced and shook his head. “No. I don’t.”

Thomas glanced at the women standing nearby and didn’t say any more.

“Tell ya what? Let’s give the kids a good run here for an hour or so and then I’ll take them up to the barn with me and we’ll get a jump on cuttin’ and stackin’ firewood.”

Amber nodded and Sadie opened the door to let the children out of the house. They ran and screamed and hooped like wild things across the back of the village. Megan joined the group and her three went haring after the rest while the adults alternately grinned and glanced nervously at the woods. Tanyth smiled at the sight of the youthful enthusiasm and even Thomas seemed amused.

William looked around. “Is everyone accounted for? Where’s Bethany, Rebecca and Charlotte?”

Thomas jerked his head toward Jakey’s house. “They’re holed up with Charlotte.”

William ticked off some list silently in his head as he counted on his fingers and then nodded. “Ok, that’s all of us.” His voice sounded tired.

Amber and Sadie took Megan into the house and they all appeared shortly with mugs of tea. The adults sipped the hot brew and thought their own thoughts while the joyful shouts and laughter of children echoed down the vale. Tanyth felt their awkwardness. The easy camaraderie the women had shared before was not gone, but had become stilted. They looked at her in quick glances and flickering looks. She wasn’t sure what it meant but it made her uneasy and she looked from one face to the next trying to get a hint.

She was startled to see that William watched her and not the children. “What is it?” The words were out of her mouth before she’d even thought them.

William looked to Amber who looked back at him with that look that wives give husbands when they need to stop shilly shallying and get on with it.

“Mum? Can we ask how you knew?”

The question caught Tanyth a bit sideways. As soon as he said it, she realized she should have expected it.

Impatient with the way he was handling it, Amber elbowed her husband out of the way and continued. “Mum? You jumped from your bedroll yellin’ about fire and raced out into the night. You scared the stuffin’ out of me.” She smiled but there was a look of concern–even fear–in her eyes.

Tanyth sighed and closed her eyes, uncertain as to how much to say. She opened them with a sigh and turned to them. “I had a dream.” She said it softly, but the morning breezes hadn’t yet stirred the world and her voice carried to them even over the sounds of the children.

Sadie looked at Megan and shrugged but Amber pressed on. “A dream, mum? You dreamed that there was a fire? And you ran out into the night yellin’?” Her voice was gentle but her eyes were pleading.

Tanyth looked at the concern in all their eyes. “Yes. Sounds odd, but it wasn’t the first time.” She paused and sipped her tea to gain time to think. “I’ve had them before. At first I didn’t believe them. Now, I do.” Her voice dropped even more and she realized that she had spoken the truth. She did believe them. The raven visions had proven too reliable, too real, to be taken as anything but visions, gifts from the All-Mother.

A raven cawed in the forest. Tanyth’s head snapped to look in the direction but the others seemed not to have heard it.

William followed her gaze. “What is it, mum? Another vision?”

“No.” She shook her head. “They only seem to come when I’m sleeping.”

“Then how do you know they’re real, mum?” Amber looked more concerned than curious.

Tanyth felt a flash of irritation but damped it down. She sounded like a confused old woman, even to herself. She took a deep breath and let it out. She looked at them all looking back at her. They looked so concerned, so caring. She said a silent prayer to the All-Mother and felt the comforting warmth rise in her. She decided to tell them.

“At first, I didn’t. The first vision was after the riders came and we drove them off. I went to my hut and sat down at the table.” She smiled apologetically. “I was so tired. Standing up to them took a lot out of me.”

Thomas nodded and his eyes said he remembered very well.

Amber’s voice was soft and low. “Go on, mum. Then what?”

Tanyth sipped her tea and recalled the scene. “I fell asleep and had a dream. It was like I was lookin’ through the eyes of a raven flying above the road. I saw the four riders heading south. They stopped and had some kind of talk, but rode on. I woke up then and thought it was an odd dream. It was so real. I could feel the wind.” She shrugged almost apologetically. “That one was the first and I thought it was just a dream.” She looked around to gauge her audience before continuing. “The next day, I was fixing a cup of tea and laid down on my bed roll. Just to rest while the water heated. I fell asleep and had another dream, but this time I dreamed that one of the men was watching us from the woods. I was looking at him through the eyes of a raven in a tree behind him. He saw the bird and threw a twig so I–it–flew off and I woke up. I was afraid that he’d still be there so I went up to the barn and got Frank to come with me and we found the spot in the woods where the man had been.” She looked at Thomas. “You saw the place, too.”

Thomas nodded slowly. “I wondered how you could have seen anybody in that wood, mum. Wasn’t like you’d just be able to see through the tree.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t say more but it sounds crazy, even to me.”

“And then last night?” William prodded her to go on.

“Last night, I fell asleep after the feast. I dreamed I was back in the woods, watching them where they waited. All four of them. They had bottles but I didn’t know what they were doing besides watching. When they threw the bottles up onto the roof, they spread lamp oil around but didn’t break up there. Two men threw bottles and one threw a lighted torch. Then I woke up and just acted without thinking.” She shrugged. “The rest you know.”

“How did you know last night’s dream was real, mum?” Amber was more curious now.

“It was a raven vision again.” Tanyth shrugged helplessly. “The raven was sitting in a tree further in the woods and could see them outlined against the moonlight in the field.”

The small group looked around at each other and then back at her.

William cleared his throat. “You’ll tell us if you have another raven vision, mum?”

She gaped at him. “You believe me?”

They looked at each other again, looking confused this time, before William responded. “Well, of course, mum. Why wouldn’t we?”

Tanyth found herself at a loss. “Because it’s crazy? I’m dreaming that I’m a raven and acting like it’s real? That doesn’t sound a little bit odd to you?” Her voice rose in pitch as worry and fear came bubbling out.

Amber smiled. “Well, of course, it sounds odd, mum.” She looked around and shrugged. “But the truth is you did see the man in the woods, or at least where he’d been.” She looked at Thomas who answered with a wry smile and a nod of his head. She looked back at Tanyth. “And you certainly saved that house from the fire last night. That was certainly real and you had no other way to know it, did you?”

Tanyth shook her head, unable to speak.

Amber gave a little nod of her own. “So? There’s lots of stuff we don’t understand in this world, mum.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “After the blessing you gave last night at Harvest Moon, I’m thinkin’ you’re touched by the All-Mother, mum, pardon my sayin’ so.”

Tanyth held back a snort. Those touched by the All-Mother were generally regarded as crazy, so Amber wasn’t really making her feel any better, but she found it a great relief that her story wasn’t met with scorn and derision. The relief was nearly palpable as she realized that the weight of uncertainty was greatly lessened by her sharing of the stories. She closed her eyes and bowed her head saying another silent prayer of thanks to the All-Mother. She sighed in relief and sipped her tea, which was growing cold. In the forest, a raven called hoarsely. All eyes flicked to that direction and not just Tanyth’s. When they caught themselves, everyone gave a small, uneasy laugh which broke the knot of tension and allowed the group to break up.

William called to the children. He and Thomas escorted them up to the barn to play while the women returned to Amber’s house to begin the cycle of food preparation anew. Tanyth was given a place by the hearth, a fresh mug of hot tea, and some small tasks to keep her hands busy. She feared that she’d feel odd in their company after sharing her secret. She delighted in being wrong.

Chapter 20
Waiting

Within two days, the village was back to near normal. Tanyth moved in with Megan and her children while Harry was on the road with Frank. After some initial awkwardness, the two women soon found they liked each other’s company and fell into an easy comfort when together, even as Amber and Sadie treated Tanyth with a respectful reserve. In the meantime the quarrymen finished closing the quarry for the season and set up one of the spare houses as a kind of barracks where they could rotate the guard duties more equitably and still have a place to sleep without inconveniencing one of the households. If Jakey was a bit prickly about the lack of work that had been done, he took up a shift as guard readily enough and Tanyth thought he’d grown somewhat less concerned for the quarry as he was drawn into plans for building the inn.

As time went on, there was no repeat of the attack, nor had Andrew Birchwood and his bully boys returned to demand their tribute. Some of the villagers talked openly about their hope that it was over. Thomas was not one of them, nor was Tanyth. William was firmly convinced that the worst had not yet come.

Tanyth and Megan heard the men walk by their house and knock on Wiliam’s door just before sundown on the second day after Harvest Moon. Megan and Tanyth followed in their wake to see what new thing had happened. They found three of the younger quarrymen outside Amber and William’s back door talking earnestly to William who stood on the floor just inside. Karl Bolten, a squared off youngster with heavy arms, seemed to be the leader of the group. Tanyth looked around but didn’t see Jakey anywhere and wondered what that meant.

“It’s only been two days, Karl.” William was shaking his head. “They’ll be back and when they do, it won’t be to sprinkle a little lamp oil around.”

Karl looked at his friends who shook their heads. “Ok, William, but how long are we going to have to stay up guardin’? If I’d wanted to be a soldier, I’d have joined the King’s Own.”

“How long to you want to keep wakin’ up on the green side of the sod, Karl?” William’s voice was quiet and reasonable.

Karl looked startled at that.

William continued in his quietly reasonable voice. “As soon as we let down our guard, people will start getting’ hurt. Some might be killed. Birchwood and his boys have killed before.” He shrugged. “Out here? There’s precious little to keep them from killin’ again, except they’re cowards and won’t face a fair fight.”

Karl recovered a bit of his composure. “Well, how long then, William? A week? A month? All winter? What?”

William shrugged. “Dunno, Karl. Until they get bored and wander on to the next town, I’d guess.”

“Well, why don’t we hunt ’em down and deal with them first?” Matthew Olivet spoke from behind Karl.

William shifted his gaze to Matthew. “You mean hunt them down and kill them?” His voice was flat.

Matthew clenched his hands into fists a couple of times as he considered the words. “Well, why not, if they’re going to start killin’ us?”

“They haven’t yet, though, have they?” William asked.

“They mighta. You jes’ said so.” The burly quarryman was losing his assurance.

William stared at him for a long moment. “Are we killers then, Matthew?” His eyes turned harder than Tanyth had ever seen them before. “Are we the kind of people who’ll hunt men because we’re afraid of them? Too weak to hold what’s ours by right?”

Matthew was shaken but not ready to back down. “But you just got done sayin’ they’re gonna come back and start getting’ serious about hurtin’ people, William. You just said!” He looked for support from his cronies. “Didn’t he just say that?”

They nodded and muttered assent but Tanyth thought it wasn’t particularly enthusiastic agreement.

William crossed his arms. “And they very well might. I fully expect that they will.”

Matthew grinned feeling vindication, but William wasn’t done.

“And they might not. I could be wrong. They might have a change of heart and a sudden infusion of the All-Mother’s love and decide to become wanderin’ monks.”

Karl sniggered and Matthew looked confused. “What are you sayin’, man? Those boyos are no more gonna find religion than I am.” He realized that Tanyth was standing behind his left shoulder and turned with a gruff and slightly embarrassed smile. “No offense, mum.”

Tanyth smiled and nodded an acknowledgment, but didn’t speak.

“I don’t think so either, Matt.” William softened his stance a bit. “And if they show up here to do us hurt, they’ll find that Mama Mapleton raised no cowards.” He looked from face to face. “But if you boys can’t see the difference between self-defense and murder, we need to have a bit of a think about that.”

The word “murder” set them back.

William pressed his advantage. “They haven’t even made any demands yet. Just vague threats. If we keep our heads up and our backs covered, they may decide we’re too tough a nut to dig the meat out of and go their way.”