by Jay Barnson
Jessabelle looked at Josie, who shook her head. “Don’t look at me. I’m just a granny-witch who knows some Cherokee medicine. I ain’t got nothing to do with the Coven, and they don’t know I exist. I like it that way.”
Leon continued, pulling Jessabelle’s attention away from Josie. “Several years ago, I was in the Army. One night, I was off-base, and got pretty drunk. I got stupid, had poor judgment, and changed into the cat. Even scared a couple of kids. I might have done something a lot more stupid, but George Rose found me, talked me down, stuck out his neck, and covered for me. He never knew it, but he probably saved my life. We became friends, and I wanted to pay him back somehow. Then he got transferred to the Middle East a month later, and I never got my chance.”
“George Rose,” Jessabelle said. “My daddy.” She found a cheap metal folding chair and sat down. She’d met someone else who remembered her daddy.
“It turns out that while he hid the truth from the military, the Coven investigated on their own and figured out what happened and who I was. When I left the Army a couple of years later, the Coven recruited me right away. They knew what I was, and didn’t care. They had uses for me. They paid well. Everything was going great. And yeah, I even helped them test prisoners just like you a couple of times.”
“You captured them?”
He nodded. “The one who took the bait, yeah. He might still be in that facility.”
“Why did you leave?”
“I already had some misgivings about some of my assignments. But I was moving up in the organization and directly assigned to work with an inner circle witch, so I ignored the warnings. Then I met the boss.”
“Thadeus.”
Leon nodded. “He scared me, and I don’t scare easily. He had us hunting down a witch who had left the Coven a long time ago. The woman had a family and a different life, a different name, and everything. She’d been running and hiding from the Coven for sixteen years.”
Jessabelle gasped. Her skin felt too tight. “You helped Evelyn hunt down Aunt Amy!”
Leon looked at the floor. “Yes. When I heard her original name, I did some digging of my own and found out she was George Rose’s sister. When Thadeus came to town to oversee things and Evelyn went out to meet him, I was supposed to keep Amelia under surveillance. Instead, I warned her Thadeus was on his way. Then I ran. I thought I’d taken care of my debt to George. I was wrong. The whole family was killed later that night. Now, I’m the one who is being hunted.”
Josie shook her head with wide eyes. She broke the silence by saying, “I think that’s more information than I wanted to know. I’ll get y’all some food and clothes. Jessabelle, will jeans and t-shirts do for you?”
Jessabelle looked at the floor. “Yeah. Sometimes I just wear loose sweats.”
“Is that easier for you to, you know, change in?”
Jessabelle shook her head. “Not really. They are easier to sneak in and out of the house in.”
Josie shrugged. “I’ll be back later, then.” As she left, the heat wafted through the door. The little A/C unit had cooled things down during the conversation better than Jessabelle had expected. At least that’s why she assumed she felt cold.
Leon said, “Since I discovered that George had family, I found out more. Even though I was hiding from the Coven, I still had sources. I found out about you, and learned that they wanted to use you for a ‘Plan B.’ I tried to stop them from taking you, but the Coven came to your town in force, and I was too slow. So I tried again when they tested you. I was almost too late again. I didn’t think they’d test you so soon. They must be moving quickly on their timetable.”
Jessabelle’s metal chair rocked on imbalanced legs. She considered what he’d said. She glanced up at the door. Josie had already left to get her new clothes and groceries, but Leon had promised she could leave after she heard his story. She looked back at him. “What is Plan B, anyway?”
“I don’t know for sure. It’s happening up near Morgantown. The compound you were in was near there. I know that your blood, like mine, is useful to make some kind of drug for their agents. Mercenary types, like me, only without the special abilities. I heard it makes them heal faster, among other things.”
“You know what Plan A was?”
He shook his head. “Only that they both had something to do with rescuing his daughter. When I originally heard about it, before I met him, it sounded like a really nice thing, something I could get behind. Help an old man get his daughter back. Then I found he only wanted her back to heal him and help him regain his power. I know he’s a more powerful witch than any three inner-circle witches combined. I hate to think of what he’d be like at full power.”
Jessabelle nodded. “You mean I can go now, if I want?”
Leon nodded. “Just like I promised. I’ll give you a lift to a bus station if you want. Ticket to anywhere. Just don’t go back to your home town. They’re still there, in force. Get far away.”
“What if I stay?”
“It’s not a permanent solution, but I’ll teach you how they operate, and how to stay hidden. They’ll be too occupied by me to come after you.”
“Why? What will you do?”
“I’ll hunt them. Anything I can do to disrupt them, expose them, and if I can, destroy them.”
Jessabelle couldn’t help but grin. “I want to help!” The words escaped her lips before she realized they were coming. That wasn’t what she did. She didn’t take stupid risks. She didn’t fight.
Except she did, didn’t she? She’d even fought an ogre and Evelyn, the witch. That was different, though. She’d been fighting for her family. That felt right and necessary. Was family only limited to kin?
“I know you do. You’ll learn. Right now, the best way to hurt them is for you to stay out of their hands.”
Jessabelle crossed her arms. He was right, and that was the smart move. It just didn’t feel very satisfying.
“Leon?”
“Yeah?”
“Thadeus didn’t kill all of Aunt Amy’s family. She had a daughter named Jenny. My cousin. She’s okay.”
Leon’s face lightened. “She got away? Where is she?”
“She also fought the Coven and won. Now she’s in the one place Thadeus can’t ever go.”
Soggy, but remarkably rested, Jack awoke to the sounds of forest chatter. While the morning remained dim and overcast, the rain had stopped. Rumela had a breakfast of horsemeat that had begun to ripen, but she seemed not to mind in the least. Jack stayed upwind of her and had his own breakfast of dried meat and fruit, which had stayed dry in the night’s drizzle.
An advantage of the overgrowth on the irregularly traveled road was that it hadn’t turned to mud overnight. The morning remained overcast, and the air grew hot and muggy as it approached noon. Seeking a distraction from the oppressive heat, Jack asked, “So your clan, the other giants... they left?”
Rumela made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a sigh. “They up and high-tailed it out, yep. Witch Evelyn done talked our strongest and stupidest brothers into hunting y’all. She ain’t wanted Sean killed, so she done described y’all. After all, y’all kinda look alike. She said Jack was the one with the green hat. That’s how I knowed it was you. Y’all beat my clan.”
“Why didn’t she want Sean killed?”
She shrugged. “We never ask. I figger my clan brothers had other ideas, though. I think they wanted to et all y’all. Some of my brothers got a taste for human flesh.”
“But you don’t?”
She shook her head vehemently. “Ain’t never et human. Don’t want to, neither.”
Jack nodded. “I am glad to hear that.”
“Witch Annabelle wouldn’t let us, anyway, when we settled in here. I was a little thing then, maybe your size.”
“Wait, how old are you?”
“Me? I reckon about eighteen years. You?”
“Eighteen? Really? So you are just a teenager, like me!”
“Mostly
. That’s why they ain’t married me off to Arrogat before he disappeared. Our folk can’t usually have youngins until at least thirty, more ‘n likely fifty years.”
“Fifty? How long do giants live?”
“I dunno. We all likely die afore we get too old. But I reckon more’n a couple hundred years.”
Jack whistled. As he thought about it, he asked, “Why did they leave you behind, if you are just a kid?”
“Oh, that. I’m old enough. When the tribe scatters because of poor hunting or enemies, anyone older than twelve years or so is on their own. Without my pa, and Arrogat gone, I ain’t nobody’s responsibility but my own.”
“So you are eighteen and on your own. What are you going to do now, Rumela?”
She shrugged. “I dunno. I figgered I’d find y’all, since y’all are tougher than my clan. That been about as far as I thinked stuff up.”
They reached Dane’s Point in the early afternoon. They first approached a sawmill at the outskirts of town. Three laborers paused as they finished passing a tree trunk through the blade, watching Jack and Rumela approach. One ran off down the road ahead of them. The other two stared as they walked past. Jack waved at them. One half-waved back.
Few people were on the main road as they passed deeper into town. Those who they saw stared at them warily, keeping their distance as they crossed paths. The difference in their reception back at Hobbfield was marked. Jack grew more self-conscious, noting the glances at his hat, and at his traveling companion. He wasn’t about to get rid of the hat. Until he got back home, it was irreplaceable.
The single-story buildings gave way to two-story buildings as they approached the center of town. Jack tried to figure out what the buildings were used for. Few had any writing on them, instead showing placards with crude painted images. The ones with English writing read, “Feed Store” and “Wagons.” Few buildings had glass windows.
A building farther ahead had the look of something official and government-related, based on the fresh whitewashing, wood pillars in front, glass windows, and an overall style that differed from the more box-shaped buildings he’d seen so far. Before they could go any closer, three men approached them along the center of the road. They all wore wide-brimmed hats. Two carried loaded crossbows, and the one in the center casually held a double-barrel shotgun. “That’s close enough,” he said to Jack when they were within speaking distance.
Jack stopped and motioned for Rumela to do the same. “Y’all got to be kidding me,” he said. “Look, we’re here to see the sheriff or someone like that.”
“I am Sheriff Hodson, so that would be me,” the man with the shotgun answered. While Jack hadn’t quite gotten the hang of the accent of the village, Hodson’s accent was different from those. It was certainly unfamiliar. It sounded a little like someone from West Virginia trying to speak with a British accent from television.
Unsure of what to say, Jack spelled things out truthfully. “We just came down from Hobbfield about a day and a half up the northeast road. Y’all know the place?”
Hodson nodded slowly. Jack continued. “They were attacked by bandits, led by a real butt-head named Zainus.”
“A group of scofflaws has indeed been tormenting settlements around here. Did they kill anyone?”
“Huh? No. They tried. We beat them back and captured three of them. We need y’all to take them into custody or whatever.”
One man whistled, and Hodson cast him a dirty look. Hodson nodded toward Rumela. “Is this giant one of the prisoners?”
“Huh? Oh, no. She’s just traveling with me. She saved my life when Zainus caught me on the way here yesterday.”
One of the men exclaimed, “What?” while the other one said a word Jack had never heard. Hodson tilted his head sideways and said, “You mean to tell me this giant saved your life from a bandit? What, did she eat the bandit?”
Rumela made a face. “Ew, no. I ain’t never et people.”
The first man said, “It talks!”
The other said, “Of course they talk!”
Hodson silenced both of them with a glance. Then, looking directly at Rumela, he said, “If that’s true, I apologize. But your kind has a reputation.”
Rumela shrugged. “I ain’t blaming you. The witch threatened to do bad things to our clan if we try, so they ain’t et nobody in years.”
“That the witch who protects Hobbfield?”
“I reckon so.”
Hodson motioned farther down the road. “In Sanguine, I know there are tame giants.”
“Tame?” Jack asked.
“Not hostile,” the sheriff corrected himself. “They’re probably more accepting down there. I’m afraid you won’t find many here willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Twenty years ago a giant named Korak terrorized this town, and a lot of good folk died to stop him. Their kin still remember.”
Rumela grunted at the name, but said nothing. Jack asked, “How far away is Sanguine?”
“About two and a half more days, by foot.”
“We’ll need food.”
Hodson pointed to a building with a sign outside that simply read, “Hallicks.” Hodson said, “Hallick sells a little of everything, if you have the coin. We’ve got to saddle up the horses and get going if we want to reach Hobbfield before nightfall. Faran, you stay here and make sure these two don’t make any trouble.”
“We ain’t going to make no trouble, sir.”
“Look, young man. Just by showing up with a giant in tow is causing trouble. Faran will make sure you are both out of here before the trouble grows and pays you a visit.”
Faran’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t look like he was too excited about the prospect himself. The bearded young man removed the bolt from his crossbow, replaced it in his quiver, and worked a catch near the trigger. Hodson offered a little wave to his assistant. “You’re in charge while I’m gone. I expect to be back the day after tomorrow. Talk to Judge Arvet and see if we’ll need to send for a high judge from Sanguine.”
“Yes, sir,” Faran said as Hodson and the other man walked away. He motioned to Jack, keeping his head down so he didn’t look up at Rumela. “Very well, both of you. You want food, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This way.”
The general store was only a short distance down the street. Rumela had to stoop to enter the store, squeezing between shelves of poorly marked goods. As they entered, the shopkeeper stared at Rumela with wide, terrified eyes. “Take whatever you want!” he cried. “Just don’t hurt us!”
Jack held up his hands. “We ain’t here to take anything. I just wanted to buy some food. My friend eats a lot.”
The shopkeeper turned to Faran. Faran shrugged and nodded. This seemed to embolden the man. “I don’t sell to giants. If you are here to rob me, then rob me. Otherwise leave!”
Jack said, “Look, you are selling to me, and I have money.”
“But you are friends with that monster!”
Jack sighed. “Look at it this way. As soon as we get our food, we’re leaving. You are getting rid of us as fast as possible this way.”
The man closed his mouth and waggled his head. “I don’t know.”
“I’ll take the giant outside, if that will help.”
Jack looked up at Rumela. She stooped and struggled to turn around without knocking anything off the shelves. Faran followed her outside.
The shopkeeper sighed. “She will eat you when she gets hungry.”
Jack frowned. “I don’t reckon so. But, I’d rather neither of us get hungry.”
The man’s hands shook as he helped Jack. Jack focused on dried meats and a basket of vegetables. He also found a huge sack with a strap like a duffel bag. He hoped Rumela would carry it because it was all more than he could handle.
“How much is it?” he asked.
“F...five dollars,” the man answered.
That sounded impossibly low. Jack couldn’t buy a single meal at McDonald’s in Branton for that
little. “For all this?”
“Four dollars?”
“That sounds low.”
The man opened his mouth and turned his head to the side, hesitating a moment before saying, “I’m sorry, what?”
“Five dollars. That don’t sound like much. How much is five dollars anyway? Is that a coin or something?”
“Where are you from?”
“A long way from here.”
“Five silver dollars.”
“Oh!” Jack opened up Annabelle’s bag and fished out a glinty coin. “Like this?”
“Yes, sir.” The man added, “Four of those.”
“You mean five.” Jack pulled out four more coins that resembled the first and handed them to the fellow. “Is that good?”
“Y... yes, sir.”
Jack set the bag of coins down on the counter and loaded what he could into his own bag, and everything else into the large strapped sack. The shopkeeper watched him, wringing his hands together. Jack focused on loading everything quickly, anxious to fulfill his promise and get out of the store and out of the town. He didn’t notice the noise outside until he backed out the door, pulling the oversized and nearly full sack out through the threshold with him...
... And out to where an angry mob of townspeople surrounded Faran and Rumela.
Several people in the crowd held clubs and rocks. Some shouted, spittle flying as they encouraged others to make the first move. Most held back, watching, but none seemed eager to rush to the giant’s defense.
Faran had the bolt set in his crossbow again, eying the crowd and Rumela as if trying to pick sides. Rumela’s eyes were wide, her back to the wall of the general store, searching for an escape. Without thinking, Jack dropped the bags and stepped in front of her.
“She ain’t here to hurt nobody!” Jack yelled. “We’re just passing through. We’ll be out of all y’all’s hair in a bit!”
The murmuring died down as people quit talking among themselves to hear what he had to say. But the ringleaders wouldn’t hear any of it. One man with a club waved a meaty finger at Jack. “Is that what you’d have us believe? I’ll bet you are scouting for one of those bandits!”
