“We can’t afford these!” Maria yelped, appearing outraged that he would force this financial burden on her.
“These four legs are no cost to you, milady, and they’re two fortnights fresh!” Tyel winked at her.
“Then where did you get them, and why are you giving them to us?” Maria said, brow lowered.
“Maybe it’s our turn with the gods, Mother,” Eva said, casting her eyes over to Edward.
“Hush, child.”
“I’m not a child. I have fifteen years now.”
“And I have forty-two, so you’d best keep quiet.”
Tyel scratched the side of his smoothly shaven cheek. “It came from the Strikers. Seems that they managed to gather some spoils from a few Raider scouts.”
“Disgusting!” Eva blurted out. “These legs are two fortnights old, and they have not been cured?”
“No, no, they’re cured,” Tyel said. “But with the coins that the Strikers gathered, I figured I would buy milady a gift, especially with the king tightening the vice on the resources.”
Maria held one hand over her mouth, not knowing what to say. Eva grinned, barely able to contain her excitement. Pork legs for supper was just what she needed. The confusion of the seizure faded, and she stared at the opened, blood-stained sack.
“Get out.” Maria’s voice vibrated, and she pointed to the door.
Tyel's expression fell. “Maria, I brought this—”
“Get it out! I will not have Striker spoils in my house!”
“Maria…”
“Out!”
Tyel lost his grin in the yelling. He picked up the sack and carried it back outside into the night. “I’m sorry, Maria. I just wanted to do something nice for you.”
Her mouth swelled and so did her eyes. “Out,” she whispered.
The door closed behind him, and Maria covered her forehead with the back of her hand.
“Mother, why did you send him away?” Eva asked.
“I do not want any part of the Strikers to even come near my home.”
“The Strikers—” Edward started.
Maria interrupted. “Either you leave them or get of my house. I will not let you endanger our family any longer.”
“You can’t do this to me just because of what happened to our father.”
“No. I will do this to you for the very reason you mentioned. You either choose them or us.”
Edward stared at her with rage in his eyes. His hand tightened on the hilt of his spadroon, clearly aggravated with her.
“Edward, just let them go. I need you here with me,” Eva pleaded.
He glanced at this sister, the pain staining her face. He loosened his grip on his sword, then cut his eyes back to his mother. “I’ll be gone by morning.”
Eva felt like she had swallowed a thick piece of un-chewed meat. Her hands ran cold, and the stiffness in her joints returned. Before she could speak, he had escaped to his bedroom. She threw a panicked glance back to her mother. “You can’t let him leave. He’ll be killed.”
“If I let him stay, we’ll both be dead. Is that what you want?”
Eva hurried to Edward’s bedroom to find him stuffing his satchel with some of his essentials. She had seen him leave before, but she always knew he would return. This time was different. She felt lost and powerless.
Standing in the doorway, fidgeting with the edges of her cream-colored dress, she presented herself to her brother. “What am I to do if the Raiders come?”
He stopped stuffing his bag and looked up to her with those sugary hazel eyes. “If they come, I’ll be here to slit their throats.” His jesting had returned, bringing with it her ferocity.
Hot tears streamed down her lightly freckled cheeks. “You used to tell me that you would always look after me. Has that changed? Even when you left to train, you said that you’d be back, but now you’re leaving me with the Raiders nearby. They’ll kill me, Ed.”
She never called him Ed. That name, from her, pierced his heart like an unexpected dagger. She hoped it made him feel separate from her, like she wanted to say his name quickly and move on.
“Eve, I love you, but I can’t stay here, not while the Strikers have a chance to push back the Raiders. Besides, you heard Mother. She doesn’t want me here. But what Mother won’t admit is that if the Raiders are nearby, they'll probably be set to raid here by next season's end.”
“Father used to say that your hard head would get you in trouble, but I never knew that it would get me killed.”
He paid no attention to her, but he continued gathering his things. Eva left him, and Maria had also retired for the night, leaving Eva to tend to the food. She sat at the table with her head in her hands, watching the flame lap at the bottom of the pot. The water rumbled as it boiled, and the shelves were still a bit out of place from her seizure.
Never had she looked at her home with such disdain. Everything that she loved seemed to be falling apart. She prayed to the gods that her cabin would catch fire and burn to the ground, but they did not listen. It was not her turn.
CHAPTER 2
THE DEAD MAN
Eva woke up to the crowing of roosters. She jumped to her feet and ran to Edward’s room. Perhaps he had chosen not to leave, but she peeked into his room only to be disappointed. The bed was made with only a few strands of straw poking through the burlap. His drawers were closed and probably empty, but he had been courteous enough to sweep the floor before he left.
She slid into his room, hoping to find a letter with her name on it, but there was not one, not this time.
“He’s already gone,” Maria said from the kitchen.
“I didn’t see you there when I came through.”
“You weren’t looking,” Maria replied.
“Do you know when he left?”
“Sometime before the rooster. I heard him sweeping from my room, but I didn’t come out, and he didn’t come in.”
Eva slumped into the chair at the kitchen table, not sure what to say. “Why did you force him to leave?” Her tone was far from an accusation this early in the morning.
“You don’t remember this, but we used to live closer to the inner kingdoms, near Jagged Hills to the north. Your father was a zealot, even more than your brother, if you can believe that. He joined with the Strikers, your father did, and life was good, at first. He’d bring home pork and beef and duck, whatever we wanted!”
“Duck? What does that taste like?”
“Just think of a chicken, sweeten it, and then smoke it, and you have duck. Delicious! We enjoyed his success, but it was short-lived. The king increased the number of Raiders and the number of raids, all looking to find you. They assaulted Jagged Hills and burned it to the ground. It’s been rebuilt since, but that raid was worse than any that I’d heard of. We fled and started a new life here in Green Planes.”
“What happened to Father after that?”
“He left the Strikers and told me that he was going to focus on building our family. He said that the Raiders couldn’t be defeated so why keep trying. I was content with that. He wasn’t. I think he just told me that he would leave the Strikers because he knew it was what I wanted to hear. When the raids got closer to us, he left again. This time, he never came back, at least not on his own. One of his Striker comrades brought him to me on a black stallion, as if that were some kind of honor.”
“How did he die?”
“Decapitated. Beheaded by the Dark Queen. You had ten years when your father was murdered, and in that same year, Edward told me that he was joining the Strikers.”
“But he only had fourteen years. Why didn’t you stop him?”
“Believe me, I tried, but there is way too much of your father in him. Even Edward’s hazel eyes are not his own. They’re the same eyes that made me fall for your father.”
Eva touched her mother’s hand, and her mother was surprised, startled by the touch. “I’ll never leave you, Mother.”
Maria nodded uncomfortably, t
hinking something Eva could not comprehend.
“Mother?”
Maria turned to her, her innocent eyes still shaken from their talk.
“You never answered me when I ask you why the king is…” The words jammed in her throat.
For a moment, Maria did not respond. Her gaze fell to the table, and she shook head. The answer was the same every time. Maria didn’t know. No one knew. Or perhaps she knew but she just didn’t say. Either way, Eva was left empty. But with the raids approaching, she feared that they’d have to move again.
“Help! Somebody!” A shrill shriek sliced through the morning silence.
Eva raced outside, knocking over the bucket of water by the door, leaving her mother to follow. The village square was filled with confused onlookers. In the center of the town, where the roads crossed, lay a mangled corpse. Deep gashes dug into the flesh of his face, and jagged lacerations peeled the skin from his frail torso.
Maria ran to the square, holding her dress off the ground, keeping it from dragging. Her eyes sunk into the dead man, and she dropped to her knees, wailing.
“Tyel!” She screeched through the morning, and she wept over the mauled body, wanting to touch him, but his body looked as if it would fall apart.
Eva stood nearby, rubbing her mother’s shoulders, but she turned her head away so that her eyes would not gobble up any more of the desecrated man.
Bernice, a younger woman, having four more years than Eva, was the one who called for help. Bernice staggered away from the body, unable to keep her morning meal anchored in her stomach.
“What happened? What happened?” Maria sobbed.
Eva did not answer, mostly because she did not know how to comfort her mother; there was no reply that would have eased the agony.
The pudgy miller, with ground corn meal steeped in his leather vest, grabbed Maria and tried to move her away from the body.
“No!” she shrieked, twisting and flailing. “Get off me!” She landed hard on her knees. Eva knew her mother was in pain, but she could not help.
The miller tried again, and she fought back, but he dragged her inside through the spilled water on the kitchen floor, dropping her off in the chair, as she sobbed into her knees. “I should have let him stay. It’s all my fault. I should have let him stay.”
“Mother, you can’t blame yourself.”
“It’s my fault! I killed him! Edward!” She cried out in delirium.
The miller didn’t know what to do, so he ducked back outside to help with the body. Eva sat with her mother, comforting her, but to no avail.
Maria didn't move for hours, and neither did Eva, but Eva found strength within herself for her mother, even though her own insides crumbled. What had happened to Tyel? Had the raids made it out to the Green Planes? She did not dare ask; it just was not the time. She only hoped that Edward was safe.
After a few long days, Maria had finally retreated from hysteria, and her retreat was timely as a gentle tapping came to the door, hours before noon. Eva waited for her mother’s approval, and Maria nodded for Eva to answer it. Pulling the door open, Eva cautiously motioned for Jahn to come inside.
Jahn was an elderly man, nearly twenty years farther along than Maria. Thick veins bulged out his nose that humped after the bridge, and he stared at her with his blood-orange eyes, irritated by years of pipe smoking. The lines in his forehead were as hard as cracked clay, and his wiry, gray beard was as stiff as pine needles. His face was sterner than the sons of Death, but tainted with the gentleness of civilized politeness.
He was wise, but Eva hated him because he was curt with his knowledge. She was wary of his presence, especially at such a sensitive time, but her mother didn’t seem to mind.
Jahn’s woolen coat was heavier than what the weather required, but Eva figured that it must have been because of his old bones. She sat near the fire while Jahn scrambled around the dining room, looking for something that he would probably never find, whatever it was.
“Oh, Genie, do you mind letting an old man rest near the fire? He would so appreciate your kindness.”
It took Edward’s strength within her to keep from rolling her eyes at this man’s audacity, and she despised being called Genie. “Of course.” From somewhere she managed to find the few pleasant words that she had left for him.
“I am forever in your debt.”
She wanted to tell him that he could repay his debt by leaving, but she let her smile hide those words.
“Maria, I know that you have suffered a loss of sorts with Tyel’s mauling.”
Eva shook her head, but Jahn didn't notice.
“I feel that it’s my fault,” Maria sniffled.
“Nonsense. What would make you think such a thing?” He pulled out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and lit it with a tiny ember that he plucked from the fireplace with the tongs.
“Tyel came by the night before his death, and I demanded that he leave, rather than share dinner with us.”
Jahn savored a few deep puffs and shrugged. “Well, perhaps it is not nonsense.”
“What’s your problem, old man!” Eva lashed out at him, banging her fists against the table.
Jahn jumped, startled, and he reset his pipe to reform his poise.
“Eva, where are your manners?” Maria scolded her.
Eva pouted, knowing better than to mouth back to her mother.
“I did not come here to determine your responsibility in Tyel’s timely demise.” Puffs of white smoke fumed towards the ceiling, filling the kitchen with a scent as tart as poison.
“What news do you have for us?” Maria asked.
“Not news. A warning.” As he spoke his last words, a thick cloud of smoke hovered across the table to Maria.
Eva was listening now. She had found her manners again. “What kind of warning, sir?” The respect tasted like sour milk on her tongue, but she could endure it to get the answers she needed.
“Oh, the young woman is intrigued with the business of the elders. You are growing up finely, Madam Genie. Finely indeed.”
Eva bit the side of her lip, wanting to say something ill, but dreading the consequences, she decided against it. After a few long blinks and a defeated sigh, a few more pleasantries flowered from her lips. “I seek to be as wise you as you, sir. I could not possibly hope to achieve such a feat without the elders to guide me.”
The old man crossed his legs, releasing a haughty huff from his pipe, and smoke spilled from the corners of his lips. “Right you are you, milady.”
Leaning back in the chair, Jahn paused. Eva leaned forward, anticipating what he might say. His face drooped, no longer savoring the tobacco, and he groaned heavily, uncrossing his legs, revealing his tightly tied, leather sandals with the laces disappearing beneath his thick gray cloak. His eyes peeled up, settling on Maria then drifting back to Eva. “A star has fallen.”
Eva’s breath jammed in her throat, and she had to remind herself to exhale. She pushed her wavy hair away from her nose and coerced herself to remain settled. The last she had heard of a fallen star, the northern village of Repel Basin was evacuated by the Raiders, looking for the Girl with the Scar.
She swallowed hard and placed her hands in her lap, keeping her eyes down towards the empty wooden bowl in front of her. “Where did you see the star, sir?” Her politeness was now second nature, trumped by the trepidation.
The fire crackled behind them, dancing, as gusts of wind blew in through the chimney. Jahn examined the dented metal stem of his pipe, put it to his chapped lips, and then chose not puff. His vein-lined eyes swayed back and forth between the two women. “A day and a half from here, near the river.”
Maria eased forward, the pain of Tyel’s departure not far from her heart. “Short tailed or long?”
Jahn bowed his head between his shoulders, closing his eyes. “I do not have the tongue to say.”
“Then the tail was short?” Eva asked, a stale question, the answer to which she dreaded.
Jahn nodded, speechless and grim. He grabbed his gray beret and tucked it against his chest, balancing his pipe on his thumb and forefinger of his other hand. “If only I had better news.” His compassion bled through his words, but then he wiped it away with his soullessness. “Oh, how gracious am I that I do not live near the Green Planes, for fear that I might be slaughtered if the Raiders so chose to come here.”
Eva knew that Jahn knew nothing of her scar, but with the raids, no one was safe.
Maria gasped. Eva slapped the table with both hands and jumped to her feet, smacking her bowl at the broken up old man. The bowl knocked against the pipe, scattering ashes through the air and sending the pipe spinning with flecks of embers cavorting off the floor. “How dare you come here on a day like today and spew your filth!” She smacked the table again and aimed her finger.
Maria patted her on the wrist uncomfortably. “Eva, sit.” Her mother’s voice was weak and limp.
“No! This man has no right. I don’t care who he is.”
Maria clenched Eva’s wrist and stared straight at her, speaking through her teeth. “Sit. Down.”
Eva started to jerk away, but seeing the fury in her mother’s jade eyes, she took her seat, biting her lip and crossing her arms. “Why do you let this invalid say whatever he wants?”
Maria snapped, “You do not speak that way about a Kibitzer!”
The old man scratched his wrinkled forehead. “Do listen to you mother, Madam Genie, and while you’re at it, grab my pipe from the floor.”
Eva tightened her crossed arms and looked into the fire. Maria pinched her leg.
“Ow!”
“Do as he says.”
Eva grunted and ripped herself from her seat, swinging her arms wildly as she grabbed the pipe, pinching small pieces of tobacco between her fingers and dropping them into the tobacco chamber. Without looking at him, she handed him the pipe. Under her breath she muttered, “I hope you choke on it.”
An aged smile spread over his face as he set the extinguished pipe onto the table. “Sixty years have passed with this pipe on my lip, and I expect to live another.” He tilted his eyebrow at her, brushed the ashes off of his cloak and stood, sliding the beret back on his head. “I do believe that my welcome has been worn. I will see you sooner than later, Madam.” He winked at Eva and slid over to the door. Grabbing the handle and turning back, he said, “And Maria, I am awfully sorry about your loss.”
The Girl with the Scar (Dark Connection Saga Book 1) Page 2
