Ravenwood (7 page)

“Well, then I accept. Lead on, young sir. Lead on.”

He turned and walked toward the Mapleton hut, glancing over his shoulder now and again to see if she were keeping up. Inside the hut was an island of warmth and light in the gathering chill of evening. Amber and William looked up as Riley led her into the cottage and both smiled to see her.

“See, ma? I found her!” Riley’s voice carried proud triumph as if there’d been some doubt.

“I see that, Riley. Now go wash your hands. Dinner’s ready and I’m hungry.” She smiled at her little one as he scurried out the back door to wash up.

William chuckled as he rose to greet Tanyth. “In one door and out the other, that one.” He gave a little nod in her direction. “Thank you for comin’, mum.”

Tanyth nodded back. “Thank you for askin’. I was just wondering about my supplies. Perhaps you two can advise me.”

He waved her into a seat as Riley belted back in from the back and took his seat beside a sleepy looking sister. Tanyth smiled at the little girl who grinned back with eyes down cast.

Amber brought earthenware bowls of a rich smelling stew of venison and root crops, liberally sprinkled with fresh cut chives. She sat bowls in front of each of them, and then unwrapped a loaf of fresh yeast bread. As she settled in her place she gave a little nod to William who spoke loudly and sincerely. “Thank you, All-Mother and All-Father for the bounty you’ve provided and the protections you’ve extended. We thank the Guardian of the North for protecting the land. We thank the Guardian of the East for the blessing of the air. We thank the Guardian of the South for the fire in our hearth and the Guardian of the West for clean water and the blessed rains that nourish our crops. Blessed be.”

In the heart beat that followed, Amber and the children repeated, “Blessed be.” Tanyth added her own belated, “Blessed be.” It had been a long time since she’d heard a formal prayer and the rhythm of it soothed her.

The children quivered over their spoons but waited for Tanyth, as honored guest, to take the first morsel. She smiled and tasted her stew, releasing them from their bonds of etiquette to pounce on their suppers like the small, hungry animals they were. It was a rich broth, flavorful with meat and vegetables, and Tanyth found herself three spoons in before she knew it.

“Amber, this is wonderful stew!” Tanyth smiled to her hostess and accepted a thick slab of warm, crusty bread to go with it.

Amber beamed with pride. “Thank you, mum.”

William grinned at his wife in some secret communion, and they shared a short laugh. Tanyth didn’t ask and they didn’t offer, but she suspected that a goldsmith’s daughter didn’t learn to cook at her mother’s apron strings. Her mind filled in a lot of possibilities involving fires, iron pots, and meals gone awry.

They ate in a comfortable silence for a time, giving proper attention to the hot stew and warm bread, washing it down with fresh water. Tanyth had been on the road long enough that the settled meal tasted very good.

William broke the silence. “Supplies? How can we help, mum?” He turned his intense brown eyes on her.

She sat back on her stool, suddenly aware that she’d been shoveling the stew almost as fast as young Riley. “When I travel, I can only take what I can carry.” She looked back and forth between them. “I normally restock my tea and some dried grains as I pass through the various villages along the way and the All-Mother provides nicely, especially this time of year, so I don’t need to carry much.” She nodded at the bowl in front of her. “Meat like this isn’t something I see a lot of while traveling, nor yeast bread.” She smiled at Amber. “It’s wonderful and I thank you for supper.”

“You’re most welcome, mum. Thank you for taking time from your journey to help us.”

Tanyth turned back to William. “I expected there to be a village somewhere along here–an established one–where I could buy a bit of tea and some oatmeal, perhaps some raisins or dried apple.”

William’s look turned inward as he thought. “Fox Run is about five days on toward Kleesport. You must have come through Mablesboro last week sometime.”

“Such as it was, yes.” Tanyth agreed. “Lovely little village and the innkeeper brews a fine ale.” She smiled as she remembered the innkeeper’s reticence about selling ale to a woman, but didn’t mention it, or the episode with her staff on his instep when he got a mite too friendly. In the end a few coppers worth of ale had tasted fine with her meal of roasted pork and potatoes, and the innkeeper’s lovely wife nodded approvingly as Tanyth donned her hat and pack and struck out once more. “There are lots of things to eat along the way, and streams full of fresh water and fat trout, if you know where to look.”

“Sounds like you’ve got this down to an art, mum.” William said.

“Well, I’ve been doing it for a long time. If I hadn’t learned how to travel well by now, I’d still be back in Fairport.” She smiled demurely and her tone was faintly self-mocking. “My first few years on the road were somewhat less successful than they might be now.” She grinned at him. “Tender feet, sore shoulders, and peelin’ skin were constant companions for quite a while.”

Amber spoke up. “So, what is it you do, exactly, mum? If you don’t mind me askin’...? I mean I know you travel and learn from herbalists, but how does that work exactly?”

Tanyth shrugged. “It’s nothing set in stone, my dear. I started on the road with Mother Agnes Dogwood in Fairport. I spent a season with her and learned the basics. She knew of a woman who specialized in blackberry who lived in Shreeve. So, after a couple of letters back and forth, I arranged to spend a few months with her. She knew a woman further down the road who knew more than everything about burdock and cattail, and I wintered over with her. She was getting on and needed help through the colder months. In the spring I moved on to the next, then the next. It’s been going on twenty winters now. Seems like I’ve always been on my way somewhere, all that time.” She smiled at the two of them. “Now, I’m a tough old boot and heading up to the northland to meet with somebody that I’ve heard tales about but never thought to meet. Gertie Pinecrest is her name. She’s a legend down south for what she knows about medicinal plants and their uses.”

William shook his head. “Never heard of her.”

“I suspect not. She’s not well known outside of the small circle.” Tanyth shrugged a shoulder. “No reason for you to know her. I thought she was a story myself for the longest time and then I met a woman who’d learned from her.” Tanyth stopped herself from saying much more about that. Barbara Myerston had been a bit frightening in her abilities, vigorously competent and seemingly tapped into an unseen world that gave her amazing insights that she’d never talk about, even to her students.

“So, she’s expecting you, mum? This Mother Pinecrest?” William asked.

Tanyth made a grimace. “No, actually. Mother Myerston sent me north with directions on how to find her. I need to ask in person if she’ll take me as a student. Maybe she will and maybe she won’t.” Tanyth shrugged.

Amber’s eyes got wide. “You mean you’ll go all that way and not know if it’s worthwhile? What if she won’t take you as a student?”

Tanyth shrugged again. “Well, the trip is always worthwhile. I get to meet so many charmin’ people like you all along the way.” She paused to beam at the small family, and saw that the girl had actually fallen asleep in her seat, head lolling back and mouth slightly open, while Riley stared wide-eyed, apparently enraptured by her story. “But I could get up there and have to turn around and come back, yes.”

“Does she turn people away?” William asked with a small frown.

“I don’t know. All I know is that she’s supposed to be one of the keepers of the old lore, back from the earliest days when the world was filled with magic.” She shrugged, embarrassed, and looked back and forth between the two adults. “That’s what they say, anyway. I’ve studied with many of the very best herbalists in the land and they all hold Mother Pinecrest in the highest regard. So, I’m going to go try to find her, learn what I can, and then, maybe settle down somewhere and write up all I’ve learned about herbs and medicinals before I start to forget it myself.”

“But if you get up there, and she turns you away with winter closing in, you’ll be stuck up there.” His voice carried a press of worry. “That’s a harsh land. I’ve visited it more than once and it’s no place to be when the snow starts piling up.”

Tanyth shrugged. “It’s not an ideal situation, I agree, but Mother Pinecrest is gettin’ on. I’m afraid to wait too long for fear that she’ll pass over before I’ve had a chance to meet her.” She shook her head. “I have to get there and soon.”

Amber’s frown looked concerned and her eyes pleaded with her husband across the table. He gave a small nod in reply. He took a deep breath. “Mum? Would you consider wintering here with us?”

Tanyth cocked her head to one side. “Winter here?”

William nodded slowly with a glance at his wife who returned the nod. “Mother Alderton’s cottage is available for you. None here would gainsay your staying, and you’d have a snug place to stay. We could surely use your knowledge here. Mother Alderton was called home before her time and before she could pass on much of what she knew.”

“Before she realized she needed to, most like.” Amber looked somber. “She was a dear lady and I miss her sorely.”

“There are a couple of empty cottages, actually, mum. If you don’t fancy staying in Mother Alderton’s?” William didn’t say it but the implication that she might not want to live in the house where the previous dear lady had died in her bed was clear in his face.

“It’s a lovely little house.” Tanyth assured him. “Marvelously built. Was that your doing, William?”

He colored, embarrassed by the praise, but nodded. “Yes’m. I used to work in my da’s ship yard when I was a boy. He wanted me to learn the business from the bottom up. I never got much beyond planking hulls before it became obvious that the business was going to go to my older brothers, Stephen and Richard. They were grooming me to be foreman, I think, but...” His voice trailed off. “It’s not what I really wanted. Much as I like makin’ the boats, runnin’ the shipyard and dealing with the shippin’ isn’t somethin’ I really wanted for myself.”

“And they didn’t like that we married in spite of them.” Amber added.

“Well, you’re worth any two shipyards, my heart.” He smiled at her across the table. “And besides, we’ve these to consider.” He nodded at the two kids. “They’ll do better to make their own way than to wait on scraps from the high table.” Returning to the subject in question, he looked up at the roof trees. “Anyway, I figured if it would keep the water out of the ships, then it would probably keep the water off our heads. I just planked the roofs as if they were hulls. It was a lot easier because I didn’t need to bend the planks to make them fit. Just careful fit, tight pegs, and oakum and pitch in the seams. Thomas and the others laughed at me at the time, but they appreciate not having to replace thatching every year.”

“You built all theses houses at once? That must have taken quite a crew.”

He nodded. “Yes, mum, well, it took almost all of one summer. We came out in the fall and felled the trees, clearing the land and pulling stumps. It’s amazing what ten men and an ox can do when they’ve a mind. We camped rough and worked from sun up to sun down from Harvest Moon to nearly mid winter.”

“How did you afford it?” Tanyth blurted the question before she realized it might not be the most polite one.

William just grinned. “One of the things about being a rich kid, mum. My father was happy to pay us off to get out of his hair, and we sell the clay to one of his companies. He makes a profit on it.”

“Do you have to pay him back?” Tanyth was totally unfamiliar with how rich people lived so the idea drew her into areas that she might not have ventured in other circumstances.

Amber grinned. “We already have.”

William nodded with a satisfied smile. “We’re not beholden to anybody at the moment, mum. What we have is ours, so long as we hold it. Got the paperwork filed with the King’s Commissioner in Kleesport and everythin’.”

They ate quietly for a few moments before Amber spoke again. “Our parents, and I’m sure a lot of the people who came out here with us, Sadie and Thomas’s folks, they thought we’d get out here and ‘play house’ for a while until we got sick or cold or tired of it and then head back to town with our tails between our legs beggin’ for shelter.” There was a tone of quiet bitterness to her voice. She didn’t look up while she spoke.

“But you didn’t.” Tanyth was matter-of-fact in her statement.

Amber didn’t look up. “Not yet anyway.” She didn’t sound very enthusiastic.

William looked at her across the table. “We’re not going to.” There was a bit of heat in his voice.

“Why would you, Amber?” Tanyth directed the question at the young woman and turned her head away from William.

She sighed and looked up. “It gets harder each year, mum. When Mother Alderton passed, I thought we were done for, but we muddled through. But when Sadie got sick and nobody knew what to do...”

Tanyth reached over to pat the younger woman’s arm. “She’d have survived. It was just the flux.” She said it softly and caught the younger woman’s eyes in hers. “She’s a strong girl and it wasn’t like I did anything at all but make her a little more comfortable. She got better on her own.”

Amber looked like she wanted to believe but she shook her head. “Your being here helped. Just being here.”

“Perhaps, my dear. Perhaps. But that’s a long way from giving up your dream here. What made you say that?” She paused and when the younger woman didn’t respond, pressed a bit more. “Not yet? Is somethin’ else goin’ on?”

Amber glanced at William before answering. “Frank hasn’t come back with the wagon and team yet.”

William clanked his spoon against his bowl a bit harder than he needed to.

Amber turned to him. “You can sit there and say ‘Any day now,’ William Mapleton, but what if something’s happened to him or if he’s run off with the money and the horses?”

Tanyth looked to him with a raised eyebrow.