Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful

by Paula Guran

  “Fool! That is but a cat—”

  The rust-yellow head with pricked ears had arisen yet farther from within its traveling basket, and green eyes surveyed them all with the same unconcern as that of the girl.

  But such a cat. One of those pricked ears was black, and as the cat arose higher in its riding basket, they could see that there was a black patch on its chest. There was such a certain cockiness about it, an air of vast self-confidence, that Almadis laughed; and that was a laugh that had no edge of harshness.

  Her laugh was quickly swallowed up by a chuckle from Osono, and a moment later there sounded no less than a full-lunged bellow from Vill Blacksmith.

  The girl was smiling openly at them all as if they were greeting her with the best of goodwill.

  “I am Meg, dealing in herbs and seeds, good folk. These traveling companions of mine are Kaska and Mors—”

  The hair-concealed head of the pony nodded as if it perfectly understood the formalities of introduction, but Kaska merely opened a well-fanged mouth in a bored yawn.

  Now the sergeant of the guard appeared to have recovered from the surprise that had gripped them all. He dropped his pike in a form of barrier and looked at the girl.

  “Mistress, you are from—?” he demanded gruffly.

  “From Westlea, guardsman. And I am one who trades—herbs—seeds.”

  Almadis blinked. The girl had moved her staff a fraction. That bouquet of tightly packed flowers which had looked so fresh from above now presented another aspect. The color was still there but faded—these were dried flowers surely, yet they preserved more of their once life than any she had ever seen.

  “There be toll,” the pike had lowered in the sergeant’s hold. “ ’Tis a matter of four coppers, and there be a second taking for a market stall.”

  Meg nodded briskly. Her hand groped beneath her cloak and came forth again to spill out four dulled rounds of metal into his hand.

  Those who had gathered there had begun to shift away. Since this stranger the wind had brought was going to set up in the marketplace, there would be plenty of time to inspect her—though she was indeed something new. None of her kind of merchant had entered l’Estal before in the memories of all.

  Only Thunur held his place until the sergeant, seemingly unaware that he was close behind him, swung back the pike and the priest had to skip quickly aside to escape a thud from that weapon. He was scowling at the girl, and his mouth opened as if to deliver some other accusation when Urgell took a hand in the matter.

  “Off with you, crow! You stand in the lady’s way!”

  Now the priest swung around with a snarl, and his narrowed eyes surveyed Almadis and the bard. There was a glint of red rage in that stare. But he turned indeed and pushed through the last of the thinning crowd, to vanish down one of the more narrow alleys.

  “Mistress,” the mercenary spoke directly to the young traveler. “If that fluttering carrion eater makes you trouble, speak up—his voice is not one we have a liking for.”

  Meg surveyed him as one who wished to set a face in memory. “Armsman,” she inclined her head, “I think that here I have little to fear, but for your courtesy I give you thanks.”

  To Almadis’s surprise, she saw Urgell flush and then he moved swiftly, leaving as abruptly as the priest had done.

  “You’ll be wantin’ shelter,” Forina said. “I keep the Hafted Stone—it be the trade inn.”

  Again Meg favored the speaker with one of those long looks, and then she smiled. “Goodwife, what you have to offer we shall gladly accept. It has been a long road and Mors is wearied. Our greatest burden has been his—sure foot and clever trail head that he has.”

  She reached out to lace fingers in the puff of long hair on the pony’s neck. He gave another vigorous nod and snorted.

  “If you have spices—or meadowsweet for linens—?” Almadis had an odd feeling that she did not want this girl to disappear. A new face in l’Estal was always to be hoped for, and this wayfarer was so different. She had kept stealing glances at the bouquet on the staff. It seemed so real, as if, at times, it had the power of taking on the freshness it had had when each of those blossoms had been plucked.

  “Your flowers, Herbgatherer, what art gives the dried the seeming of life?”

  “It is an art, my lady, an ancient one of my own people. In here”—Meg drew her hand down the side of one of those bulging panniers—“I have others. They be part of my trade stock. Also scents such as your meadowsweet—”

  “Then surely I shall be seeing you again, Herbgatherer,” Almadis said. “A good rest to you and your companions.”

  “My lady, such wishes are seeds for greater things—”

  “As are ill wishes!” Osono said. “Do some of your wares come perhaps from Farlea?”

  Meg turned now that measuring look to the bard.

  “Farlea is sung of, sir bard. If it ever existed, that was many times ago. No, I do not aspire to the arts of the Fair Ones, only to such knowledge as any herbwife can know, if she seeks always to learn more.”

  Now it was her turn to move away, following Forina. Kaska had settled down again in her basket until only those mismatched tips of ears showed. But there were those who had been in the crowd at the gate who trailed the girl at a distance as if they did not want to lose sight of her for some reason.

  “Farlea, Osono? I think with that question you may have displeased our herbwife,” Almadis said slowly. “You are a storer of legends; which do you touch on now?”

  He was frowning. “On the veriest wisp of an old one, my lady. There was a tale of a youth who followed my own calling, though he was of a roving bent. He vanished for a time, and then he returned hollow-eyed and wasted, saying that he sought something he had lost, or rather had thrown away through some foolishness, and that his fate was harsh because of that. He had been offered a way into a land of peace and rare beauty, and thereafter he sang always of Farlea. But he withered and died before the year was done, eaten up by his sorrow.”

  “But what makes you think of Farlea when you look upon this herbwife?” Almadis persisted.

  “Those flowers on her staff—fresh plucked.” His frown grew deeper.

  “So I, too, thought when first I saw them. But no, they are rather very cleverly dried so that they are preserved with all their color, and I think their scent. Surely I smelled roses when she held them out a little. That is an art worth the knowing. We have no gardens here—the rose walk gives but a handful of blooms, and those are quickly gone. To have a bouquet of such ever to hand”—her voice trailed off wistfully and then she added—“yes, such could even fight the grim aging of these walls. I must go to the market when she sets up her stall.”

  Meg did set up her stall on the following day. From the market mistress she rented the three stools and a board to balance on two of them, to form the humblest of displays. Mathe, who oversaw the trading place, watched the girl’s sure moves in adjusting the plank to show her wares. He lingered even a fraction longer, though it was a busy day, to see her unpack bundles of dried herbs, their fragrance even able to be scented over the mixed odors, few of them pleasant, which were a part of market day.

  There were packets also of yellowish, fine-woven cloth which gave forth even more intensified perfumes, and small, corner-wrapped bits of thin parchment such as were for the keeping of seeds. While in the very middle of that board was given honored place to that same bunch of flowers as had crowned Meg’s trail staff.

  Kaska’s basket was set on the pavement behind the rude table. And Mors stood behind. The cat made no attempt to get out of her basket, but she was sitting well up in it surveying all about her with manifest interest.

  Two small figures moved cautiously toward the stall. Beneath the grimed skin and the much-patched clothing, one face was the exact match of the other. Between them strutted a goat, each of his proud curl of horns clasped by a little, rough-skinned hand.

  They proceeded slowly, darting glances to either side
as if they were scouts in enemy territory. Only the goat was at ease, apparently confident in his ability to handle any situation which might arise.

  “You—Tay—Tod—take that four-legged abomination out of here!” A man arose from the stoop behind one of the neighboring stalls and waved his arms.

  The goat gave voice in a way which suggested that he was making a profane answer to that, and refused to answer to the force dragging at him from either side. The boys cowered, but it was apparent they had no idea of deserting their four-legged companion to run for cover.

  Meg was on her feet also, smiling as if the two small herds and their beast were the most promising of customers. When her neighbor came from behind his own stall table, a thick stick in his hand, she waved him back.

  “No harm, goodman,” she said. “This beast but seeks what is a delicacy for his kind. Which he shall be freely given.” She selected a stalk wrapped loosely around with its own withered leaves and held it out to the goat. For a moment he regarded her and then, with the neat dexterity of one who had done this many times before, he tongued the proffered bit of dried stuff and drew it into his mouth, nodding his head up and down, as if to signify his approval, with a vigor to near shake free the grip of his two companions.

  The other tradesman stared, his upraised club falling slowly to his side. But there was a wariness in his look when he shifted his glance toward Meg, then he withdrew behind his own table, as if he wished some barrier against a threat he did not truly understand.

  However, Meg paid no attention to him. Rather now, she reached behind her and brought out a coarse napkin from which she unrolled thick slices of bread with green-veined cheese between—the food she had brought for her nooning.

  Two pair of small eyes fastened upon that, as she broke the larger of the portion in half, holding it out to the boys. Though they did not entirely loose their hold on the goat’s horns, their other hands shot out to snatch what she held, cramming it into their mouths as if they feared that it might be demanded back.

  “Tay—Tod.” She spoke the names the man had spoken.

  The one to her right gave a gulp that left him choking, but his twin was the quicker to answer. “I be Tod, lady—this be Tay.”

  “And your friend—” Meg nodded gravely to the goat, as if indeed the beast were a person of two-legged consequence.

  “He be Nid!” There was pride in that answer such as a liege man might show in naming his lord.

  “Well met, Tod, Tay, and Nid,” Meg nodded gravely. “I am Meg, and here are my friends, Kaska and Mors.” The cat only stared, but the pony uttered a soft neigh.

  A valiant swallow had carried the food down, and Tay was able to speak:

  “Lacy-torn”—he gestured toward the bouquet of dried flowers—“But too cold now—” He shook his head.

  “Lacy-torn,” Meg repeated with a note of approval in her voice, “and hearts-ease, serenity, and love-light Kings-silver, Red-rose, Gold-for-luck, Sorrows end, Hope-in-the-sun—maiden’s love and knight’s honor, yes.” The old country names came singingly from her as if she voiced some bard’s verse.

  “Bright—” Tod said before he stuffed his mouth with another huge bit.

  “You see them bright?” Meg’s head was cocked little to one side. “That is well, very well. Now, younglings, would you give me some service? My good Mors needs some hay for his nooning, and we had too much to carry from the inn to bear that also. Can you bring me such? Here is the copper for Mistress Forina.”

  “Nid—” began Tod hesitantly.

  “Nid will bide here, and there will be no trouble.” There was complete assurance in her answer.

  Tod took the proffered coin and with his twin shot off across the marketplace. Meg turned to the man who had warned off the boys and the goat.

  “Of whose household are those two, if you please, goodman?”

  He snorted. “Household? None would own such as those two. Oh, they make themselves useful as herds. They be the only ones as can handle beast Nid,” he shot a baneful glance at the goat. “Three of a kind they be, stealing from stalls and making trouble.”

  “They are but children.”

  The man flushed, there was that he could read in her voice and eyes which he did not like.

  “There are a number such. We had the green-sick here three seasons agone, herbwife. Many died, and there were fireless hearths left. Mistress Forina, she gives them leftovers and lets them sleep in the hay at the stable. More fool she; they are a plaguey lot.” He turned away abruptly as a woman approached his stall, and to have done with Meg’s questions.

  The goat had shifted to one side and touched noses with Mors. Kaska gave a fastidious warn-off hiss just as a thin man in a shabby cloak paused before Meg’s narrow table.

  He was eyeing the flowers.

  “I thought them real.” He spoke as if to himself.

  “Real, they are, good sir. But this is what you wish—for your daughter.” Meg’s hand was already on a small packet. “Steep it in apple ale, and let her have it each morning before she breaks her fast.”

  “But—herbwife—you did not ask me—I did not tell—”

  “You saw,” Meg answered slowly and firmly, as one might speak to a child learning its letters, “and I am a healer. We all have gifts, good sir. Even as you have yours. Out of love of learning, you have striven hard and given much—”

  Never taking his eyes from hers, he fumbled in the pouch at his belt and brought out a coin.

  “Herbwife, I know not what you are—but there is good in what you do, of that I am sure. Just as”—his eyes had dropped as if against his will to the flowers and he gave a start—“just as those are real! Yet it is out of season, and some I have not seen for long. For such grew once in a garden eastward where I can no longer go. I thank you.”

  Meg was busy with the bouquet, freeing from its tight swathering a spike of violet-red flower. As she held it up, it did in truth seem to be fresh plucked.

  “This for your hearth-home, scholar. May it bring you some ease of heart for not all memories are ill ones.”

  He seemed unable for a moment or two to realize that she meant it. And when he took it between two fingers, he was smiling.

  “Lady, how can one thank—”

  Meg shook her head. “Thanks are worth the more when passed along. You had one who has given much, scholar—therefore to you shall be given in turn. Remember this well”—and there was force in those three words.

  It was almost as if he were so bemused by the flowers that he did not hear her. For he did not say one word in farewell as he turned away from her stall.

  Those shadows awakened in the afternoon from the walls about the market square were growing longer when Almadis came. As usual Osono was at her side, and behind her Urgell. Though she had been free of l’Estal since childhood, taking no maids with her, it was insisted that she ever have some guard. And usually the armsmaster took that duty upon himself.

  There were feuds brought into l’Estal, for men of power arose and fell in the lowlands, and sometimes a triumphant enemy suffered the same fate as his former victim. Lord Jules had been a mighty ruler of a quarter of Klem before his enemies had brought him down. His lordship became this single mountain hold, instead of leading armies he rode with patrols to keep the boundaries against the outlaws of the western heights; his palace was this maze of ancient cold and crooked walls, and warrens of rooms. But he was still remembered and feared, and there were those who would reach him even if they must do so through his only child.

  So Urgell went armed, and Almadis carried in her sleeve a knife with which she was well trained. There was a sword also sheathed by Osono’s side, though as a bard he supposedly had safe conduct wherever he might go. Might go—that was no longer true—there was only l’Estal. No man or woman asked of another what had brought one to exile here, so Almadis did not know the past tale of either of the men pacing with her now, but that they were of honor and trust she was sure, and she welc
omed their company accordingly.

  Meg’s stall had been a popular one this day. Most of those coming to buy had been dealt with briskly, but there were some with whom she spoke with authority, and twice more she had drawn flowers from that amazing bouquet and given them to the amazement of those with whom she dealt. So it had been with Vill Blacksmith, who had come seeking a herb known to be helpful against a burn such as his young apprentice had suffered. He went off with not only his purchase, but a sprig of knight’s honor gold-bright in the hand of his bonnet. And there was Brydan the embroideress, who wished a wash for aching eyes, and received also a full-blown heart’s-ease, purple and gold as a fine lady’s gem when she fastened it to the breast of her worn gray gown.

  Oddly enough it seemed that, though Meg plundered her bouquet so from time to time, it did not appear to shrink in size. Her neighbor began to watch her more closely, and his frown became a sharp crease between his eyes. Now and again his own hand arose to caress a certain dark-holed stone which hung from a dingy string about his throat, and once he muttered under his breath while he fingered it.

  He was the first to sight Almadis and her companions, and his frown became a sickly kind of smile, though there was no reason to believe the Castellan’s daughter would be interested in his withered roots of vegetables, the last remaining from the winter stores.

  Indeed she crossed the market as one with a definite mission in mind, heading straight to Meg’s stand.

  “Goodwill to you, herbwife,” she said. “I trust that trade has been brisk for you. We have but very few here who follow such a calling.”

  Meg did not curtsey, but smiled as one who greets an old friend.

  “Indeed, lady, this is a fair market, and I have been well suited in bargaining. We spoke of meadowsweet for the freshening before times—”

  “Lad’s Love—dove’s wings”—Osono paid no attention to the women, his was all for the bouquet—“Star fast—”