Shatter (The Children of Man)

by Elizabeth C. Mock

  Kade liked the man’s blunt approach and responded in kind. “I was told to ask for Marvin and to show him these.” He threw the coins Faela had given him on the counter, except for the iron piece that he slipped into the leg sheath of his dagger.

  The coins clattered on the wood worn smooth and shiny with age and use. One spun off the counter and the man caught it without looking down, raising it between his thumb and forefinger. The stamp of the crescent moon and the harp winked in a streak of sunlight.

  “You must be a mite more respectable than you look to have these,” the man remarked gesturing at Kade with the coin. “I be Marvin. What can I do you for?”

  Kade motioned to his chest and feet. “As you can see, I’m missing a few essentials. I need a solid pair of boots that can take some abuse and a shirt that won’t tear easily. I wouldn’t mind getting more than that, but I don’t have any extra coins beyond those.”

  “Ser, you know how much these coins be worth?” Marvin asked with a half smile.

  Kade shook his head. “I’d never seen the stamp before.”

  Marvin grunted his surprise at Kade’s ignorance. “You got enough there for three pair of boots with some left to kick around.”

  Kade raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t recognize the stamp, where’s it from?”

  “Where’d you get them?”

  Kade saw no reason to hide their origin. “A woman named Faela.”

  Marvin quickly turned his back to Kade. “What’s your foot measure?”

  “You know her?” Kade leaned onto his arms on the counter.

  “Can’t say I do.” Marvin rummaged through the shelves that lined the back of the shop. “You about ten, eleven inches?”

  “Eleven. Who is she?”

  “Ser, like I told you,” Marvin said as he came back with two pairs of boots and dropped them on the counter, “I don’t know no one named, what was it, Kayla?”

  “Faela.” Kade lifted the pair the color of freshly turned soil and flexed the ankles of the boots before putting them back down.

  “Right. Like I said, can’t say I know the girl. How many shirts you be needing? And you want a pack to put this all in? You’ll be needing a cloak or a jacket, and a blanket, definitely a woolen blanket with fall coming fast. We got some good wool from our alpacas last summer and the weaving here is some of the finest in Taronpia, if I do say so myself.”

  Marvin looked between the rows of goods giving Kade a measuring glance. “Since it don’t seem like you got nothing with you, you want an extra pair of trousers too?”

  “You seem quite generous, Marvin,” Kade felt compelled to point out. “I’ve never heard of a trader that’d part with so many goods without discussing prices first.”

  Marvin reemerged from the back with his arms full. “I told you, you got the coins for it.”

  Despite Marvin's refusal to discuss Faela, he seemed honest enough and Kade sensed he wouldn’t try to cheat him. “Fine. I’ll take that brown duster, the vest hanging back there, three shirts, a pair of canvas work trousers, five pairs of woolen socks, a oiled traveling pack, and you sold me on the alpaca blanket.”

  Marvin nodded curtly and began gathering the additions. When he returned, he also carried a cloth bundle and a water skin. “This,” he referred to the bundle, “has tack bread, deer jerky, yellow cheese, and summer pears.”

  “Darkness, how much did she give me?” Kade muttered under his breath.

  “You’ve the Light itself looking out for you, ser.” Marvin captured Kade’s gaze as he slid four of the bronze coins back across the counter. “Should you ever find that there girl again, I’d show her some right proper gratitude.”

  Kade recalled the parting image of Faela as she marched out of the clearing revealing her wavy, strawberry blonde hair trailing from under her hat. Her parting words echoed in his mind.

  “That doesn’t seem too likely,” Kade said as he pawed through the goods piled on the counter. “Do you have somewhere I could change?”

  “Back there,” Marvin said pointing to a pine, tri-fold screen to the left of the counter.

  Kade grabbed a couple items and disappeared behind it. He shrugged into a rough-spun cotton shirt and flipped his hair out from under the collar.

  “If you don’t mind me asking,” he began, his fingers moving deftly as he fastened its buttons, “how’s the harvest going to be this year?”

  “You got to have seen on your way into town. The crops be half dead already and ain’t no one minding them proper. Can’t blame them none though. Not after those bandits killed young Rufus and his woman, not to mention their livestock they run off with.”

  “Bandits?” Kade kicked his pants against the wall and slid into the thick but pliable canvas trousers and tucked in the shirt before fastening them shut. Looping his belt on, he tightened it and sank to the floor, socks in hand.

  “Worst scum I seen, since the gangs during the war, bunch of cowards.” Marvin shook his head. “People say they be holed up in the caves, but there be so many caves in these mountains, ain’t no one found them. The magistrate sent an appeal to the Daniyelan temple right quick, but nothing been done yet.”

  Kade slipped on a boot and extended his leg as he pulled the laces taut. “Not even a messenger from the temple?”

  “I been hearing, as a trader do sometimes, that the Daniyelans be stretched real thin. Ain’t enough born with the gift to replace those what were lost in the war, they say.”

  Kade grunted his agreement. “How long has it been since these bandits last struck?”

  “None too long, couldn’t be more than a week or so. Most people still scared they be back. Gustav, an alpaca herder, said he seen a pack of riders heading north a day or so ago. I’m inclined to think it be them.”

  “How many of these bandits were there?”

  “Couldn’t say, but Gustav said he seen five riders.”

  Kade made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat as he rocked forward onto his toes and rose to his feet in a single fluid movement. He shrugged into the vest but left it open. Retrieving his discarded pants, he turned and approached the counter. His other purchases were already in the bag. Kade folded the pants and stuffed them on top before drawing it closed and latching its buckles. Swinging the satchel around, its weight settled across his back.

  Marvin surveyed the now dressed Kade and nodded curtly. “You look mighty fine, if I do say so myself, ser. Don’t think no one would mistake you for a ruffian now.”

  Kade offered his hand to the trader who clasped his forearm. “My thanks, Marvin.”

  “None needed,” he replied. “I’m but a simple businessman.”

  Kade grinned at the likelihood of that last statement as he turned and stepped into the soft purple twilight. Despite his grin, his mind was troubled by Marvin’s report. If some bandits had decided to take advantage of Ravenscliffe’s remote location, they could cripple the town and be gone before the Daniyelans managed to dispatch any help. Even if Kade could find the bandits, he would be outnumbered at least five to one and that would be a conservative estimate.

  As he crossed the square again, seeing all of the vacant and unused market stalls and remembering the abandoned fields, he kicked at a stone in frustration. It created puffs of dust as it skipped across the square until it hit the well in the center. Ravenscliffe would just have to cope until other help could arrive.

  “There’s no fresh beef?” Jair tried to peer around the plump woman at the counter. “None at all?”

  The woman with gray hair placed her hands on her ample hips and said, “Look, son, I already been telling you. All we got is venison jerky. Might not be fresh, but it sure be better than nothing. With the animals so skinny and sickly, we’re lucky we got any. So, stop your bellyaching and take what we got or leave.”

  With a lopsided grin, Jair rubbed the back of his neck. “How can I say no, after such kind words from a proprietress as lovely as yourself?”

  The elderly woman snor
ted and walked back behind a curtain, muttering. “Sweet talking, ain’t going to get you nothing. I known too many boys like you, with sweet faces and sweeter words.” She returned with a cloth bundle and dumped it on the table. “Ain’t none of them sweet — ever.”

  “Well, m’lady, I’ll just have to prove your experience wrong.” Jair winked. He swung his bag around to the front and rummaged through its contents. He removed a pouch and pulled out an orange token made of stiff leather. He handed the token to the woman, who snorted as she accepted it.

  “Guess the Daniyelans’ll take anyone since the war.” She bent over and pulled out a ledger from under the counter. She wrote in two of the columns and then spun the book to face Jair and handed him the stylus. Jair signed and picked up his package.

  He grabbed the woman’s hand and kissed it. “I thank you for all your compassion and advice.”

  Pulling her hand out of Jair’s grasp, she waved him away, but her wrinkles deepened as she smiled. “Be off with you, you scoundrel. Save your words for someone it’ll work on and watch yourself. The roads ain't safe these days, not even for a lawman.”

  Jair swept into a low bow with a grin then left the tavern. The air outside held a wet chill that made him pull his coat in tighter around him. The breeze coming off the river was colder than the forest had been. Looking around, he could see little in the deepening darkness of the evening. Lights had just begun to spill into the damp streets from the buildings that lined the river.

  Someone whistled from the alley next to the tavern. In a few strides, Jair’s long legs brought him into the alley. The smell of decomposing produce seemed to linger in the air along with the rhythmic sound of dripping water that echoed between the walls. Faela leaned against its brick facade in the shadows. With her foot propped against the surface behind her, she looked down absently at a medallion resting between her fingers as her thumb traced its raised design. Woven within its stylistic harp and crescent emblem was the word “Ella.”

  She put the silver chain back under her shirt. “Find enough to satiate that beast within?”

  Jair shook his bundle at her. “Of course, fairest Faela. I will never be thwarted when it comes to food. What’s that?” He indicated the necklace.

  “It’s nice to know where your priorities lie.” Pushing her shoulders off the wall, Faela walked past Jair, leaving the alley. “It was a present from my brother.”

  Jair nodded and turned to respond, but Faela was already three shops down the street. He kicked up mud as he trotted to close the distance. “Why can’t we stay here in Aberley tonight? Camping near the pass doesn’t seem like the best plan to me.”

  “Shall I explain again?” They walked parallel with the rushing river as they headed toward the forest line. “Saving your skin cost me time, my darling lad, therefore, we need to keep moving.”

  “But it’s already dark.”

  “And the more distance we put behind us, the better.” Faela picked up her pace as they passed a grizzled dog that looked more wolf than pet. The dog dug in his back heels and sank low to the ground, his hackles raised. He snarled in the back of his throat. Faela locked eyes with him and he lowered his head and sat back on his hunches.

  “Why is it so important to keep moving?” Jair looked from the dog and back to Faela. “Better alive and late, if you ask me.”

  “Well, I didn’t,” she said without any anger. “You’re the one who decided not to shove off here at Aberley. You still can, you know.” Faela watched his reaction out of the corner of her eyes.

  “We’ve already been over this,” he said ignoring her hint. “So, keeping moving? Why?”

  Faela hid her smile by wiping her cold nose. “I need to find someone and he has a considerable head start.”

  “A friend?”

  “In a manner,” Faela said, as she begun humming unconsciously. “He’s a friend of someone–” Faela’s voice shook for a moment, then she cleared her throat. “He has some information that’s important to me.”

  “Where does this mysterious man of,” Jair broke off grasping in vain for a description, “mystery, live?”

  “He’s a retired Tereskan who still travels to heal,” Faela answered as the glow of the town faded from sight behind them, “so that depends.”

  “Wait.” Jair stopped. “Didn't you tell that Kade guy that you were going to visit your sick brother?”

  “Hmm, yes, there is that.” Faela swerved to avoid a branch, which she pushed out of her way. “I lied.”

  “You did?” Jair sounded shocked. As he stopped, the branch Faela had avoided thwapped him in the stomach. “Son of a mother!” he croaked barely audible. All the breath had been knocked from his lungs with the strike.

  Faela turned at the noise and her hand went to her mouth with a laugh. “That takes some talent, Jair. Try to watch where you’re going next time. And since when did you claw your way up to the moral high ground? I just saved you from getting beaten bloody for thieving.”

  Doubled over, Jair said, “No, no really, I’m fine. Your concern is overwhelming.” Once he regained his breath, he stood with a worried look in his eyes. “You just sounded so convincing.”

  “That was the idea,” she said in a distracted tone. “Well, my lad, if you think you’re going to pull through, let’s see if we can’t push a bit further before we make camp. You just keep an eye out for those attack trees.”

  Though the tall ceiling of the forest blocked her view of the sky, Faela could smell the rain. It might not fall while they slept, but she didn’t plan on taking that chance. Retrieving her pack, she removed the oiled canvas cloth strapped underneath. Once it was free, she unhooked the straps that held it in place and slung them over her shoulder. With the tarp under her arm, she rose, her knees popping as she stood.

  Tapping a four-beat rhythm with her foot, she scouted for some low-lying branches that looked sturdy. While the straps and rings on the canvas made erecting the shelter by herself an easy enough task, it would go faster with a second pair of hands and she was beginning to feel the demanding pace she had maintained all day. Though they had made good time, she could already feel she would pay for it tonight.

  With a short, sharp whistle, Faela got Jair’s attention as he built up a fire. He looked around the close huddle of evergreens and hemlocks that penned them in against the cliff face and grinned at her.

  Wiping the dirt from his hands, he asked, “Yeah?”

  “Give me a hand, will you?” She unfurled the tarp. “Grab an edge.”

  Jayr complied and they used the natural tenting of the evergreens to secure the rain shelter. The boughs of the trees would shield them from most of the rainfall and the tarp would deflect the rest as long as the wind stayed calm. But if it turned into a storm, the shelter would do little to keep them dry. They worked in silence and by the time they had finished, the fire burned nicely and they had created a small, but protected nook.

  “Hope you’re not shy,” Faela warned him trying to gauge how much of the space his length would occupy.

  “You’d be surprised at the small spaces I can squeeze into,” he told her with his ever-present grin. “But with as many siblings as I have, you get used to sharing. Truly, I have no sense of personal space.”

  “I noticed,” she said with a wry smile remembering their meeting earlier that day. She had a hard time believing that introduction had occurred this morning. It had been a long day. Though she couldn’t remember a day in recent months that had felt any different.

  “Really?” he asked seeming genuinely surprised.

  “Mmm, yes,” she said sinking into a cross-legged position in front of the fire. “I noticed this morning, when you were practically hanging on me like a cloak.”

  “Ahh, yes, that,” he said as though he had already blocked the memory. “I would be good at being a cloak.” The smile on his face faded.

  “What?” Faela asked sensing the change in his mood.

  He held a finger to his lips as he
gave the tented fire a quick shove and kicked nearby earth over top of it with his feet. Muffling a curse at the sparks that flew up his pant leg, he disappeared as their hollow fell into darkness. Blind, Faela crawled as silently as she could across the ground. She could feel the rocks and twigs and needles tearing her palms, but she ignored the stinging until she reached the rock face. Groping along its edge, she pressed her back against the cliff. Though the granite jabbed into her spine and ribs, its solid bulk reassured her. Her breath felt wet and hot condensing in the cold as she tried to quiet it, straining to hear what had alerted Jair.

  That’s when she heard it, the crunch of hooves, the snorting, the low murmuring voices and they were getting closer. Faela slid her hand down to her ankle and loosened her dagger from its sheath. At the sound of the slight click, she felt Jair’s large hand close over hers without any fumbling. Turning her eyes to where she imagined him to be, she could barely make out shapes. Her eyes were unaccustomed to the sudden shift from light to darkness. She was amazed that he could see enough to know where she was; yet his grip hadn’t hesitated when he reached for her.

  Whoever was out there rode close to where they flattened themselves against the cliff. Biting down on her lip, she thanked the Light that the trees stood close enough together to keep the horses from wandering into the hollow unintentionally. The voices that had merged together in the forest a few moments ago, had separated into distinct voices, but their volume remained hushed.

  Closing her useless eyes, Faela focused on only the voices. They were male and there were several of them, at least four that she could distinguish. She still couldn’t make out what they discussed but she felt its underlying agitation and malice like a stab in her stomach.

  A horse snorted. It was so close and she had been so focused on sorting out the voices that she flinched at the noise. Jair squeezed her hand to steady her. They stayed immobile for what seemed like hours. The tip of her nose felt cold and numb and her knees felt like someone was trying to pry her joints apart by the time the clopping crunch of the horses faded completely. Her vision had finally adjusted to the minuscule amount of ambient light coming from the cloud-covered sky and she looked over at Jair who had slumped against the cliff in relief.