The Painted Man d-1

by Peter V. Brett

  Often, he brought gifts his Messengers had secured from far-off places; books and herbs and hand-sewn lace. But gifts were not why Leesha looked forward to his visits. She slept better behind her father's strong wards, and seeing him happy these last seven years, was greater than any gift. Elona still caused him grief, of course, but not on the scale she once had.

  But today, as Leesha watched the sun cross the sky, she found herself dreading her father's visit. This was going to hurt him deeply.

  And her, as well. Erny was a well of support and love that she drew upon whenever things grew too hard for her. What would she do in Angiers without him? Without Bruna? Would any there see past her pocketed apron?

  But whatever her fears about loneliness in Angiers, they paled against her greatest fear: that once she tasted the wider world, she would never want to return to Cutter's Hollow.

  It wasn't until she saw her father coming up the path that Leesha realized she'd been crying. She dried her eyes and put on her best smile for him, smoothing her skirts nervously.

  'Leesha!' her father called, holding out his arms. She fell into them gratefully, knowing that this might be the last time they played out this little ritual.

  'Is everything all right?' Erny asked. 'I heard there was some trouble at the market.'

  There were few secrets in a place as small as Cutter's Hollow. 'It's fine,' she said. 'I took care of it.'

  'You take care of everyone in Cutter's Hollow, Leesha,' Erny said, squeezing her tightly. 'I don't know what we'd do without you.'

  Leesha began to weep. 'Now, now, none of that,' Erny said, catching a tear off her cheek on his index finger and flicking it away. 'Dry your eyes and head on inside. I'll check the wards, and we can talk about what's bothering you over a bowl of your delicious stew.'

  Leesha smiled. 'Mum still burning the food?' she asked.

  'When it's not still moving,' Erny agreed. Leesha laughed, letting her father check the wards, while she laid the table.

  'I'm going to Angiers,' Leesha said when the bowls were cleared, 'to study under one of Bruna's old apprentices.'

  Erny was quiet a long time. 'I see,' he said at last. 'When?'

  'As soon as Marick leaves,' Leesha said. 'Tomorrow.'

  Erny shook his head. 'No daughter of mine is spending a week on the open road alone with a Messenger,' he said. 'I'll hire a caravan. It will be safer.'

  'I'll be careful of the demons, da,' Leesha said.

  'It's not just corelings I'm worried about,' Erny said pointedly.

  'I can handle Messenger Marick,' Leesha assured him.

  'Keeping a man off you in the dark of night isn't the same as stopping a brawl in the market,' Erny said. 'You can't leave a Messenger blind if you ever hope to make it off the road alive. Just a few weeks, I beg.'

  Leesha shook her head. 'There's a child I'm needed to treat immediately.'

  'Then I'll go with you,' Erny said.

  'You'll do no such thing, Ernal,' Bruna cut in. 'Leesha needs to do this on her own.'

  Erny looked at the old woman, and they locked stares and wills. But there was no will in Cutter's Hollow stronger than Bruna's, and Erny soon looked away.

  Leesha walked her father out soon after. He did not want to go, nor did she want him to leave, but the sky was filled with colour, and already he would have to trot to make it home safely.

  'How long will you be gone?' Erny asked, gripping the porch rail tightly and looking off in the direction of Angiers.

  Leesha shrugged. 'That will depend on how much Mistress Jizell has to teach, and how much the apprentice she's sending here, Vika, has to learn. A couple of years, at least.'

  'I suppose if Bruna can do without you that long, I can, too,' Erny said.

  'Promise me you'll check her wards while I'm gone,' Leesha said, touching his arm.

  'Of course,' Erny said, turning to embrace her.

  'I love you, Da,' she said.

  'And I, you, poppet,' Erny said, crushing her in his arms. 'I'll see you in the morning,' he promised before heading down the darkening road.

  'Your father makes a fair point,' Bruna said, when Leesha came back inside.

  'Oh?' Leesha asked.

  'Messengers are men like any other,' Bruna warned.

  'Of that, I have no doubt,' Leesha said, remembering the fight in the marketplace.

  'Young master Marick may be all charm and smiles now,' Bruna said, 'but once you're on the road, he'll have his way, no matter what your wishes, and when you reach the forest fortress, Herb Gatherer or no, few will take the word of a young girl over that of a Messenger.'

  Leesha shook her head. 'He'll have what I give him,' she said, 'and nothing more.'

  Bruna's eyes narrowed, but she grunted, satisfied that Leesha was wise to the danger.

  There was a sharp rap at the door just after first light. Leesha answered, finding her mother standing there, though Elona had not come to the hut since being expelled at the end of Bruna's broom. Her face was a thunderhead as she pushed right past Leesha.

  On the sunny side of forty, Elona might still have been the most beautiful woman in the village, if not for her daughter. But being autumn to Leesha's summer had not humbled her. She might bow to Erny with gritted her teeth, but she carried herself like a duchess to all others.

  'Not enough you steal my daughter, you have to send her away?' she demanded.

  'Good morn to you as well, mother,' Leesha said, closing the door.

  'You stay out of this!' Elona snapped. 'The witch has twisted your mind!'

  Bruna cackled into her porridge. Leesha interposed herself between the two, just as Bruna was pushing her half-finished bowl away and wiping her sleeve across her mouth to retort.

  'Finish your breakfast,' Leesha ordered, pushing the bowl back in front of her.

  'I'm going because I want to, mother,' Leesha said. 'And when I return, I'll bring healing the likes of which Cutter's Hollow has not seen since Bruna was young.'

  'And how long will it take this time?' Elona demanded. 'You've already wasted your best breeding years with your nose buried in dusty old books.'

  'My best…!' Leesha stuttered. 'Mother, I'm barely twenty!'

  'Exactly!' Elona shouted. 'You should have three children by now, like your friend the scarecrow. Instead, I watch as you pull babes from every womb in the village but your own.'

  'At least she was wise enough not to shrivel hers with pomm tea,' Bruna muttered.

  Leesha whirled on her. 'I told you to finish your porridge!' she said, and Bruna's eyes widened. She looked ready to retort, then grunted and turned her attention back to her bowl.

  'I'm not a brood mare, mother,' Leesha said. 'There's more in life for me than that.'

  'What more?' Elona pressed. 'What could be more important?'

  'I don't know,' Leesha said honestly. 'But I'll know when I find it'

  'And in the meantime, you leave the care of Cutter's Hollow to a girl you've never met and ham-hand Darsy, who nearly killed Ande, and half a dozen since.'

  'It's only for a few years, mother,' Leesha said. 'My whole life, you called me useless, but now I'm supposed to believe the Hollow can't get on a few years without me?'

  'What if something happens to you?' Elona demanded. 'What if you're cored on the road? What would I do?'

  'What would you do?' Leesha asked. 'For seven years, you've barely said a word to me, apart from pressing me to forgive Gared. You don't know anything about me anymore, mother. You haven't bothered. So don't pretend now that my death would be some great loss to you. If you want Gared's child on your knee so badly, you'll have to bear it yourself.'

  Elona's eyes widened, and like when Leesha was wilful as a child, her response was swift. 'I forbid it!' she shouted, her open hand flying at Leesha's face.

  But Leesha was not a child anymore. She was of a size with her mother, faster and stronger. She caught Elona's wrist and held it fast. 'The days when your word carried weight with me are long past, mother,' Leesha
said.

  Elona tried to pull away, but Leesha held on a bit, if only to show she could. When she was finally released, Elona rubbed her wrist and looked scornfully at her daughter. 'You'll be back one day, Leesha,' she swore. 'Mark my words! And it will be much worse for you then!'

  'I think it's time you left, mother,' Leesha said, opening the door just as Marick was raising his hand to knock. Elona snarled and pushed past him, stomping down the path.

  'Apologies if I'm intruding,' Marick said. 'I came for Mistress Bruna's response. I'm bound for Angiers by midmorning.'

  Leesha looked at Marick. His jaw was bruised, but his thick tan hid it well, and the herbs she had applied to his split lip and eye had kept the swelling down.

  'You seem well recovered,' she said.

  'Quick healers go far in my line of work,' Marick said.

  'Well then fetch your horse,' Leesha said, 'and return in an hour. I will deliver Bruna's response personally.'

  Marick smiled widely.

  'It is good that you go,' Bruna said, when they were alone at last. 'Cutter's Hollow holds no more challenges for you, and you're far too young to stagnate.'

  "It you think that wasn't a challenge,' Leesha said, 'then you weren't paying attention.'

  'A challenge, perhaps,' Bruna said, 'but the outcome was never in doubt. You've grown too strong for the likes of Elona.'

  Strong, she thought. Is that what I've become? It didn't feel that way most of the time, but it was true, none of the inhabitants of Cutter's Hollow frightened her anymore.

  Leesha gathered her bags, small and seemingly inadequate; a few dresses and books, some money, her herb pouch, a bedroll, and food. She left her pretties, the gifts her father had given her and other possessions near to her heart. Messengers travelled light, and Marick would not take well to having his horse overburdened. Bruna had said Jizell would provide for her during her training, but still, it seemed precious little to start a new life with.

  A new life. For all the stress of the idea, it brought excitement, as well. Leesha had read every book in Bruna's collection, but Jizell had a great many more, and the other Herb Gatherers in Angiers, if they could be persuaded to share, held more still.

  But as the hour drew to a close, Leesha felt as if the breath were being squeezed from her. Where was her father? Would he not see her off?

  'It's nearly time,' Bruna said. Leesha looked up and realized her eyes were wet.

  'We'd best say our goodbyes,' Bruna said. 'Odds are, we'll never have another chance.'

  'Bruna, what are you saying?' Leesha asked.

  'Don't play the fool with me, girl,' Bruna said. 'You know what I mean. I've lived my share twice over, but I'm not going to last forever.'

  'Bruna,' Leesha said, 'I don't have to go…'

  'Pfagh!' Bruna said with a wave of her hand. 'You've mastered all I can teach you, girl, so let these years be my last gift to you. Go,' she prodded, 'see and learn as much as you can.'

  She held out her arms, and Leesha fell into them. 'Just promise me, that you'll look after my children when I'm gone. They can be stupid and wilful, but there's good in them, when the night is dark.'

  'I will,' Leesha promised. 'And I'll make you proud.'

  'You could never do otherwise,' the old woman said.

  Leesha sobbed into Bruna's rough shawl. 'I'm scared, Bruna,' she said.

  'You'd be a fool not to be,' Bruna said, 'but I've seen a good piece of the world myself, and I've never seen a thing you couldn't handle.'

  Marick led his horse up the path not long after. The Messenger had a fresh spear in his hand, and his warded shield was slung over the horn of his saddle. If the pummelling he had taken the day before pained him in any way, he gave no sign.

  'Ay, Leesha!' he called when he saw her. 'Ready to begin your adventure?'

  Adventure. The word cut past sadness and fear, sending a thrill through her.

  Marick took Leesha's bags, slinging them on top of his lean Angierian courser as Leesha turned to Bruna one last time. 'I'm too old for goodbyes that last half the day,' Bruna said. 'Take care of yourself, girl.'

  The old woman pressed a pouch into her hands, and Leesha heard the clink of Milnese coin, worth a fortune in Angiers. Bruna turned and went inside before Leesha could protest.

  She pocketed the pouch quickly. The sight of metal coin this far from Miln could tempt any man, even a Messenger. They walked on opposite sides of the horse down the path to town, where the main road led on to Angiers. Leesha called to her father as they passed his house, but there was no reply. Elona saw them pass and went inside, slamming the door behind her.

  Leesha hung her head. She had been counting on seeing her father one last time. She thought of all the villagers she saw every day, and how she hadn't had time to part with them all properly. The letters she had left with Bruna seemed woefully inadequate.

  As they reached the centre of town, though, Leesha gasped. Her father was waiting there, and behind him, lining the road, was the entire town. They went to her one by one as she passed, some kissing her and others pressing gifts into her hands. 'Remember us well and return,' Erny said, and Leesha hugged him tightly, squeezing her eyes shut to ward off tears.

  'The Hollowers love you,' Marick remarked as they rode through the woods. Cutter's Hollow was hours behind them, and the day's shadows were growing long. Leesha sat before him on his courser's wide saddle, and the beast seemed to bear it and their baggage well.

  'There are times,' Leesha said, 'when I even believe it myself

  'Why shouldn't you believe it?' Marick asked. 'A beauty like the dawn who can cure all ills? I doubt any could help but love you.'

  Leesha laughed. 'A beauty like the dawn?' she asked. 'Find the poor Jongleur you stole that line from and tell him never to use it again.'

  Marick laughed, his arms tightening around her. 'You know,' he said in her ear, 'we never discussed my fee for escorting you.'

  'I have money,' Leesha said, wondering how far her coin would go in Angiers.

  'So do I,' Marick laughed, 'I'm not interested in money.'

  'Then what kind of price did you have in mind, master Marick?' Leesha asked. 'Is this another play for a kiss?'

  Marick chuckled, his wolf eyes glinting. 'A kiss was the price to bring you a letter. Bringing you safely to Angiers will be much more…expensive.' He shifted his hips behind her, and his meaning was clear.

  'Always ahead of yourself,' Leesha said. 'You'll be lucky to get the kiss at this rate.'

  'We'll see,' Marick said.

  They made camp soon after. Leesha prepared supper while Marick set the wards. When the stew was ready, she crumbled a few extra herbs into Marick's bowl before handing it to him.

  'Eat quick,' Marick said, taking the bowl and shovelling a large spoonful into his mouth. 'You'll want to get in the tent before the corelings rise. Seeing them up close can be scary.'

  Leesha looked over at the tent Marick had pitched, barely big enough for one.

  'It's small,,' he winked, 'but we'll be able to warm each other in the chill of night.'

  'It's summer,' she reminded him.

  'Yet I still feel a cold breeze whenever you speak,' Marick chuckled. 'Perhaps we can find a way to melt that. Besides,' he gestured past the circle, where misty forms of corelings had already begun to rise, 'it's not as if you can go far.

  He was stronger than her, and her struggles against him did as little good as her refusals. With the cries of corelings as their backdrop, she suffered his kisses and pawing at her, hands fumbling and rough. And when his manhood failed him, she comforted him with soothing words, offering remedies of herb and root, which only worsened his condition.

  Sometimes he grew angry, and she was afraid he might strike her. Other times he wept, for what kind of man could not spread his seed? Leesha weathered it all, for the trial was not too high a price for passage to Angiers.

  I am saving him from himself, she thought each time she dosed his food, for what man wished
to be a rapist? But the truth was, she felt little remorse. She took no pleasure in using her skills to break his weapon, but deep down, there was a cold satisfaction, as if all her female ancestors throughout the untold ages since the first man who forced a woman to the ground were nodding in grim approval that she had unmanned him before he could unmaiden her.

  The days passed slowly, with Marick's mood shifting from sour to spoiled as each night's failure mounted upon him. The last night, he drank deep from his wineskin, and seemed ready to leap from the circle and let the demons have him. Her relief was palpable when Leesha saw the forest fortress spread out before them in the wood. She gasped at the sight of the high walls, their lacquered wards hard and strong, large enough to encompass Cutter's Hollow many times over.

  The streets of Angiers were covered with wood to prevent demons from rising inside; the entire city was a boardwalk. Marick took her deep into the city, and set her down outside Jizell's hospit. He gripped her arm as she turned to go, squeezing hard, hurting her.

  'What happened out beyond the walls,' he said, 'stays out there.'

  'I won't tell anyone,' Leesha said.

  'See that you don't,' Marick said. 'Because if you do, I'll kill you,' he promised.

  'I swear,' Leesha said. 'Gatherer's word.'

  Marick grunted and released her, pulling hard on his courser's bridle and cantering off.

  A smile touched the corners of Leesha's mouth as she gathered her things and headed towards the hospit.

  15

  Fiddle Me a Fortune

  325AR

  There was smoke, and fire, and a woman screamed above the coreling shrieks.

  I love you!

  Rojer started awake, his heart racing. Dawn had broken over the high walls of Fort Angiers, soft light filtering in through the cracks in the shutters. He held his talisman tightly in his good hand as the light grew, waiting for his heart to still. The tiny doll, a child's creation of wood and string topped with a lock of her red hair, was all he had left of his mother.

  He didn't remember her face, lost in the smoke, or much else about that night, but he remembered her last words to him. He heard them over and over in his dreams.