“Trouble,” a voice murmured in the back of my mind. I reached out, and found all the trees echoing that word up and down the mountainside. I ran to the barn doors, and saw a wagon and a group of men on horseback coming up the valley. Tinker appeared beside me.
“Blast it!” he said. “Run around the back. Head up the hillside while I stall them!”
“It’s too late Tinker.” I put a hand on his arm. I could see him calculating the distance, the time it would take for me to get up the hillside and out of range. I could see that no matter what he did, it would be impossible. They had horses and weapons. If I tried to run, I’d probably just get myself killed.
I could see it tearing him apart. He knew what they might do to me, and he was willing to sacrifice anything, even his own life, to save me. “It’s okay, Tinker. It’s my fault. I wanted to go to school. I insisted on it. I knew it was a mistake even before today, but I didn’t want to tell you.”
His eyes started watering up, and I could hardly look at him. “You don’t understand,” he said. “You don’t know what they will do. You have to get out of here! RUN! I’ll stop them!”
I shook my head. “They’d never stop chasing me, Tinker.”
“For pity’s sake, child! You don’t know what you’re saying.” I stepped past him, into the yard, and he followed me out. Cinder started yapping like crazy and running in circles around my feet.
A dozen armed horsemen and a black carriage rolled into the homestead. When the dust had settled, I saw several crossbows and one rusty musket pointed at me. “Breeze Tinkerman?” one of the men said. He stepped off the horse and walked up to me. He was tall and thick; a bit too thick to chase me down if I ran, but he was well muscled for his age. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. He wore a broad-brimmed hat that was filthy with sweat and dust, and he had a long brown beard that reached to the middle of his chest. A bronze badge on his dirty shirt proclaimed the word: Peacekeeper. A cutlass dangled from his belt.
“You’re under arrest for suspicion of treason and attempted murder.” He grabbed me by the arm and hauled me back to the coach. The door swung open and I saw a younger man, a deputy, waiting within. “Get in,” the peacekeeper said.
They put heavy steel cuffs on my wrists and ankles, and then locked the door from the outside. The deputy stayed inside with me. He had short black hair, bright blue eyes, and a clean-shaven face. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen, but he did his best to look mean. If it hadn’t been for the circumstances, he might even have been cute.
It got very dark after the door closed. There were no windows, only a few stray beams of light that found their way through the cracks in the paneling. The deputy reached up and uncovered a lantern.
“Don’t try anything,” he said. “I’ve heard about the witchcraft your kind uses, but you’re not faster than steel.” He drew a long, thin-bladed dagger and held it tightly in his fist. I turned away from him, unable to face that cruel, senseless hatred.
I half expected him to reach across the coach and stab me in the chest, but he didn’t. He just sat there staring at me with that cold, unblinking stare. I almost wished he would do it. It would be easier than going through the next few hours, waiting to learn my fate.
I heard Tinker arguing with the men outside. He started to shout, and then I heard a loud cracking sound. Tinker went silent, and I knew that he’d been knocked out. I reached out with my mind and commanded Cinder to stay with him, to make sure that he was safe. She obeyed, but she barked wildly as the carriage rolled away.
Chapter 22
We drove to the jail in town. An angry mob surrounded the carriage as I arrived, and the peacekeeper had to warn them back as he took me inside. “Judge Brooks will be here tomorrow afternoon. Until then you all need to go home and wait for justice to take its course!”
I heard people shouting for my head, shouting that they wanted to hang me, but the peacekeeper silenced them. “If anyone touches this jail, my men have been ordered to shoot to kill!” The crowd settled down after that.
The jail was a small building with a desk, two chairs, and a stove in the corner. There were two cells against the back wall, both empty except for the cots. The peacekeeper guided me into one. He paused to give me a hard stare as he turned the key in the lock. His eyes were cold and his face was hidden behind that scraggly beard. I couldn’t imagine what he might be thinking, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to feel guilty, regardless of how shameful he looked at me.
“I didn’t do it,” I said. “I didn’t hurt anyone.”
I saw a flash of something in his eyes, and he turned away. Was it surprise? Disbelief? I honestly couldn’t tell. I slumped down on the cot and felt a wave of hopelessness wash over me. All I could do now was await my inevitable fate.
I’d been there for about an hour when someone started pounding on the door. “Go away!” the peacekeeper shouted. “The judge will be here tomorrow!”
I heard a woman’s voice shouting but I couldn’t understand the words, and then the pounding resumed. The peacekeeper pulled a blunderbuss out of his desk and walked up to the door. When he opened it, Analyn Trader came storming in, followed by a man I didn’t recognize. He was tall and dark-haired, with broad shoulders and a strong jaw. He wore the fancy clothes of a merchant, and the purple cloak of royalty. A broadsword hung at his side.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing, Shem?” Analyn demanded.
“You know the charges,” he said. “She poisoned the well.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! I was there, I saw it all. If it hadn’t been for that girl, Robie would be dead.”
“Tell it to the judge.”
“Judge Brooks?” Analyn hissed. “You know exactly what he’ll say. That man is dumb as a rock and he has nothing but hate for Tal’mar. He only got to be a judge because he bribed his way into the position, and everyone knows he’s crooked as snakewood!”
The stranger stepped forward. “If I may?”
Shem settled onto the edge of his desk, and laid the gun down. “I know what you’re going to say, Devan. There’s nothing I can do. It’s not like I want to see the girl hanged, but the law is the law.”
“I’m not asking you to do anything,” said Devan. “Just hear me out. My boy almost died today, and other children would have, too. That girl saved their lives. She may be a half-breed but she’s no more murderer than you or I.”
“Maybe she is, maybe she’s not…”
“Stop it!” Devan interrupted him. “I’m not asking you to do anything. Just listen. Think about this: I have an audience with my cousin, King Ryshan next week. I understand your daughter is coming of age this year…”
“Are you bribing me?”
“It’s not a bribe. If you happened to be asleep at midnight tonight, well there wouldn’t be much anyone could say about that. And if the girl escaped, really what’s the harm? You need to proceed with the investigation anyway. You need to find out who’s really behind this. And if the king should happen to find room in his court next spring for your daughter, who could possibly suspect anything there? I hear she is highly talented, and beautiful as well.”
The peacekeeper took a deep breath. “That’s a tempting offer, but I take pride in my honesty. If word of something like this ever got out…”
“There will be none of that,” said Devan. “I will personally see to it. And a man of your honor is certainly due some recognition. How would you like to be a baron?”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Robie’s father was going to do all that, just to get me out? I was shocked just to learn that he was on my side. I glanced at Analyn and she shot me a wink.
The offer was too much to refuse, even for the sheriff. He settled into his chair and shook his head. He looked at me. “You better be worth all this trouble, girl.”
A short while later Shem called his deputy into the building and told him to fetch us some food. When he returned, the peacekeeper se
nt everyone home. “I’ll take the night watch, Wil,” he said.
“Are you sure? I can handle her.” The deputy was anxious to prove himself.
“Not this time. I need you up bright and early for crowd control.”
“Yes, sir.”
I had a lot of time to think things over that afternoon, and I had a lot to think about. After listening to Analyn’s conversation with Peacekeeper Shem, I began to realize just how dire my situation was. I’d known that I might be killed, of course. I had just refused to believe it. I kept telling myself that deep down inside, everyone is a good person. After hearing Analyn’s description of Judge Brooks, I had to wonder. Could a person really be that soulless and mean? Would he sentence me to die just because I was Tal’mar?
Who was I kidding? Half the people in town were ready to do that. They had asked Shem to hang me. They had yelled at me and threatened me. They didn’t even know me. Tinker had been right about the way they would treat me; the way they would hate me. They didn’t have any justifiable reason for any of it. Something bad had happened, and it was easier to blame me than it was to find out what was really going on.
I remembered the way Analyn had acted the first time she saw my ears. This was not that different. Except that she had thought about it, and then apologized. If the townsfolk got their way, I wouldn’t be alive to accept any apologies later.
After deputy Wil went home, darkness fell across the town and I started to feel anxious. About an hour later, I heard a knock on the door. I remember thinking that it was too early for Analyn to be back. Shem opened the door and Deputy Wil burst in.
“We’re under attack,” he said.
“What the devil are you talking about?”
“It’s the Kanters. They came up the river in flatboats and they’re burning and killing everything in their path!”
“Kanters? Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir. There’s a steady stream of evacuees coming into town right now. They’re all raving about tattooed giants.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would the Kanters be attacking us? They don’t even have the brains to build a fence, much less a boat…”
“Maybe they’re smarter than we thought.”
“How long till they get here?”
“Two hours. Maybe less.”
“Sound the alarm. We need every able-bodied man we can find.” Shem shot me a glance and then disappeared out the door.
Chapter 23
I had read about Kanters, and I should have recognized the one I had seen staring through my window for what he was. I could have kicked myself as I realized it now. There may have been a small party of them that came in advance of the attack. They probably grouped up and camped near the Coopers’ farm. That was why they slaughtered the cow.
I shuddered as I thought of that night. What if Tinker had gone out there? What if he’d gone after the man, only to find a giant waiting for him? Surely we would have both died that night.
It seemed that the humans had underestimated the Kanters. According to everything I’d read about them, they weren’t smart enough to make the simplest of weapons. Apparently they were smarter than they’d been given credit. Perhaps they’d just been waiting for the right time. The Kanters must have been planning this for a long time, I realized. I wondered how many more wells had been poisoned ahead of their advance.
As I sat there in my cell, it slowly dawned on me how much danger I might be in. Locked in there and alone, I was a sitting duck. If the Kanters broke through the town’s defenses, it would only be a matter of time until they found me. Unless I got lucky and the building caught fire. Then I’d just be burned alive. From what I’d read, that was better than being captured by the Kanters.
The history books had claimed the Kanters were cannibals. I’d taken that with a grain of salt, until now. I had seen the scout. I had seen his teeth.
Another thought occurred to me as all this flashed through my mind. The Kanters knew about our valley. If they were working north, they would almost certainly go there to steal supplies. If they found Tinker, the Kanters would kill him… and possibly eat him. I felt panic rising inside me.
I settled down on the cot and tried to calm myself. If I was going to get out of there, I’d need to use my head. I took a deep breath and surveyed my surroundings. At first glance, the jail seemed very well built. The outside walls were stone and the roof was timber. The two cells were iron cages that extended into the walls and floor, making it impossible to move or detach individual bars.
Fortunately, I had a unique ability that allowed me to find and exploit weaknesses no human would ever see. I steadied my breathing and then reached out with my mind, using my powers to study the cage around me. The iron bars extended into the stone in the back wall, but they were only secured by bolts on the outside of the building. There were no bars inside the stone.
I also learned that though the back wall was built of stone, it was constructed around a timber frame. I suspected that if I could cause the timbers to warp enough, they just might break the stones loose.
I closed my eyes and went into a meditative state. In my mind’s eye, I reached out to the wood. I touched it, felt it, and examined it. There was very little moisture inside the wall. That was going to make it harder. I decided that my best chance was to cause the timbers to pull away from each other, straining against the masonry. In that manner, the aging structure might give.
I pushed and pulled, warping the boards out in both directions. I heard the timbers creaking, and cracking sounds came from the wall. I opened my eyes and stepped back, and saw that the wall was actually moving. It seemed to be ready to topple, but it wasn’t clear which way it might fall. If it fell into the jail, I would be crushed!
I closed my eyes again, and forced myself to concentrate. There was one post at the center of the wall. I compressed the outside layer of fibers, causing it to bend outward. I was trying to use gravity to help pull at the weight of the wall, to make sure it would topple outward. It moved slightly in that direction, but not far enough.
I ran up to it and pushed, straining against the cold stone with everything I had. It didn’t budge. I was about to give up, when I heard a loud groan inside, and it started to move. The timbers and posts inside the wall snapped like old dry toothpicks as the entire wall collapsed into the street.
I caught a few perplexed looks as I crawled over the rubble, but everyone was too busy to take much note of me. The women were gathering up their children and running for the safety of their homes. Unorganized groups of men were racing towards the edge of town carrying rusted old swords and muskets. I joined them, hoping they would be too distracted to realize who I was. I guess the last thing they were looking for was a Tal’mar, because no one even gave me a second glance.
When I reached the edge of town I saw that they had formed a defensive line at the river. The stronger men were busy piling stones and logs along the river banks to build a defensible wall. The younger boys were frantically loading muskets and getting the weapons ready for battle. I saw Robie there, and paused for a moment to watch him.
He took one of Tinker’s small explosive balls and jammed it down the barrel of a musket. Then he grabbed a metal ball and jammed it down on top. He used a long wooden rod to hammer them tightly into place. Then he set the gun aside and started loading another. That was when he saw me.
“Breeze!” he shouted. He ran over and threw his arms around me.
“Robie,” I said awkwardly.
He squeezed me and stepped back, his face reddening. “I’m… I just wanted to say thanks. For saving me, I mean.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
He held out a musket. “Here, you wanna help me load?”
“I can’t,” I said. “I have to find Tinker.”
“Oh. Well be careful.”
“Thanks, I will.”
I wandered into the line of men and, before anyone could grab me, I ran across the bridge. “Girl
, get back here!” someone shouted.
“Stop her,” someone else yelled. “They’ll kill you!”
I stopped and turned around, just long enough to shout, “So will you!” Then I turned and ran for all I was worth.
Chapter 24
There are a few unique things about Tal’mar which separate them from humans. Obviously, there are the physical differences that I have already described. Then there is the use of what humans call magic. To Tal’mar, using magic is no more “magical” than using your legs to walk. It’s simply part of us. That’s why, even though I didn’t have any training, I still managed to learn to use my abilities. They came as naturally to me as breathing. Communicating with trees, healing Tinker’s leg, and bending the wood on our airplane were all part of this very natural and simple process.
That’s why, out there in the windswept fields and under the light of the waning crescent moon, I was able to see the enemy front advancing towards me. I had never observed this phenomenon before because I had never been outside in the woods at night. Most Tal’mar children would have known this almost from birth. Like most things, I had to discover this ability by accident.
In retrospect, I remember that I had been able to see my way around Tinker’s house when I awoke in the night and made my way to his loft, but in that half-wakened state I didn’t even notice the subtle changes in my vision. Now as I stood alone in that field, facing the front line of an advancing army, I fully realized what my eyes could do. Somehow my vision had adjusted to the shifting light, allowing me to see the body heat of the approaching enemies.
They had taken great pains to paint the steel on their swords and spears, to darken the colors of their clothing and skin, and yet I still saw them. I could see the heat emanating from their bodies. On that cool night, it was like a wall of fire moving towards me.
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