Fairytales Slashed: Volume 8

by Samantha M. Derr

  "There will not be nearly as many potentials as the magistrate would like," the fox said. "But with his pride, I'm sure he would have wanted the entire world's population of beautiful women to come at his beckoning. Listen to me. When he questions you, answer him honestly, but do not elaborate on anything. He will give you a room. I will find you in it. From there, I will take care of the rest."

  Qiu Yue ran her hand down the smooth fur of the fox's back. She had told the merchant that it would be for her own comfort, and to her surprise, she found that the declaration was true. "What will you do?"

  "I am a fox," said the fox, and she closed her eyes. Her tone was light, wavering on the verge of laughter. "I am very clever, just like you. Together we will manage this."

  "You could be a little bit less mysterious," Qiu Yue said, but she found herself smiling regardless. She continued to run her hand down the fox's back in slow heavy passes, and she watched the woods as they slowly passed by. It did not take terribly long before she no longer recognized the path they were taking, or the slant of the trees and their branches. In her heart, she had always thought she might be nervous to leave—after all, she had lived her entire life in that small village, and going back to her great-great grandparents, her family had all lived and died there.

  Instead, she found herself sitting up at attention, watching with curiosity as the scenery changed. The fox slept by her side, and sometimes the merchant continued to watch her when he should have been paying attention to the road, but Qiu Yue found herself fascinated by things that were so different even with using familiar elements.

  That night, the merchant said to her, with a thin smile and hungry eyes, "I only have one bedroll. If you wish to sleep comfortably, we will have to share."

  Qiu Yue stared at him. Before she could say anything to that, though, or perhaps simply burst into laughter, the fox brushed up against her legs. She glanced down and met the fox's eyes, and she said, "That is fine. I am stronger than you think. I will be fine sleeping on my own."

  The merchant's face fell at that, his mouth twisting into a sudden deep frown. "You need to take the best care of yourself that you can," he said. "I cannot deliver you bruised to the magistrate."

  "I'll be fine," Qiu Yue said. "I'll find proper bedding out of what the forest provides me. Don't worry." And she turned to follow the fox, who smiled in her particular vulpine way as she led Qiu Yue to find fallen piles of leaves. Even with the beginnings of winter in the air, there was a surprising amount that had not yet been scattered by wind and animals.

  When she returned with her own bedding, the merchant stared at her with his hard, beady eyes, then simply went to his own bed.

  "Do you think he'll try anything?" Qiu Yue said to the fox, as she set up her own place to sleep.

  "No," said the fox. She flicked one ear and licked her chops. "He will want to. He'll dream of it. He might come too close to you while you're awake. But he wants the money that the magistrate will give to the person who brings him his perfect bride even more. Two days is not enough for his lust to break through his greed."

  "That's not entirely comforting, even so," Qiu Yue said. She laid down, and the fox laid out beside her.

  "Humans are not very comforting creatures," the fox said.

  "And are foxes more comforting than humans?"

  "Of course we're not," the fox said. She chuckled and touched her nose to Qiu Yue's arm. "But don't worry. I'm here. Even if he decides to test his luck, he will have none."

  "That is almost comforting," Qiu Yue said dryly, but she closed her eyes, and she slept the entire night comfortably. When she woke, the fox was also awake, sitting by her head, and the merchant begrudgingly offered her dried fruit for breakfast.

  They exchanged no other words until they arrived in the city itself.

  Though, really, to call it a city was a bit of an ambitious exaggeration. It was only about twice the size of Qiu Yue's village. As they emerged from the forest, the merchant paused to let Qiu Yue look, and when she did, she could easily see from one end of the city to the other. From the stories she had heard all her life, she had expected something grander—something that would literally stretch so far that she could no longer see the end of it, like the sky.

  "I thought they were supposed to be bigger," she said. She'd meant it for the fox, seated on her knees, but the merchant turned to her with a sneer on his face. She only blamed him a little; it was not as if he knew that the fox could talk.

  "The city technically encompasses the whole of the forest, as well," he said, in the ringing tones of someone who had recently been taught the same thing. "The entire mountain is the city; the city is the mountain. And all of it is under the jurisdiction of the magistrate."

  The fox, curled on Qiu Yue's knees, snorted. Her sides shook in silent laughter. The merchant, unknowing, went on, sweeping his arm out wide. "Look upon it! This is only the nexus that exists now for the comfort of our great magistrate. This will be yours to command as well, if you should become his wife." He paused and gave her a long thoughtful look, and for once he didn't leer as he did.

  "You might even manage it," he said. "You have the sort of look that he wanted."

  "If it's looks alone, it would be an easy contest," Qiu Yue said. "But I plan to bring more than that."

  He stared at her a few moments longer, then shook his head and clucked his tongue to his horse to get it to move again. Qiu Yue ran her hand down the fox's side and took comfort in that as they made their way down the hill and into the city.

  The streets were surprisingly crowded as they made their way through them; there were a few clusters of young women, dressed in brighter colors than Qiu Yue had ever seen. Not even the flowers that bloomed in the springtime were quite so gaudy. Or lovely.

  And they seemed terribly proud of themselves for it, preening and fussing at each other like small delicate birds. One of them glanced the way of the cart and caught Qiu Yue's eye, and then whispered to her friends, who all also looked. They began to giggle among themselves, and Qiu Yue considered her own dusty clothes, threadbare and patched. She plucked at her sleeve, pressing a fingertip to the newest hole there, still small enough that she had given it a pass from her needle.

  "Don't mind them," the merchant said. "I am not going to give you the disadvantage by forcing you to present yourself in that." He did not even look back at her as he said it, and Qiu Yue rolled her eyes.

  "I'm grateful for your help," she said, and the fox's sides shook again. "Will I be expected to dress like that all the time?"

  "It's fashionable," the merchant said. "Therefore it will be preferable. The magistrate will want a woman who can match him in all things, including setting an example for the rest of the people."

  The magistrate this, the magistrate that. How much money is he going to pay you, if he picks me? she wondered. As she thought this, the fox pressed her muzzle against her wrist, just enough that she could feel the brief threat of teeth. Qiu Yue looked down and met her eyes. Once she did, the fox rose to her feet with a lazy stretch, then simply hopped down from the cart to the street. No one around them seemed to even notice her as she trotted off, and somehow, despite the bright red of her coat, she quickly vanished from sight.

  And as much as Qiu Yue did not want to admit it, her lap felt cold, and she felt uncertain for the first time with it gone.

  "We'll stop at an inn, first, to have you change," the merchant was saying, when Qiu Yue finally returned her attention to him. She'd been hearing his voice droning during her daze. Whatever he'd been lecturing on might have been important, but she found she did not particularly care. "Well, first you'll bathe. Then you'll get dressed, and we will take you to the magistrate's house. He told us that he wanted to meet his potential wife as soon as possible, so he could form his bond with her quickly."

  Among other things, I'm certain. Qiu Yue bowed her head. "Of course."

  The merchant gave her another sharp look, but he held his tongue until they reache
d the inn, and even then, all he did was pay for a room for an hour. If he noticed that the fox was gone, he gave no indication. The thin-faced woman who greeted them looked Qiu Yue over with a critical eye, and from the way her lips twitched, she did not entirely approve. But she took the merchant's money without protest and watched with impassive dark eyes as he went back to his cart and fetched down a medium-sized trunk to be carried back into the room with them.

  The merchant was strictly professional here; he had Qiu Yue strip to her undergarments, plain as they were, and there was no trace of leer in his eyes or lingering in his touch as he measured her shoulders, her breasts, her waist and hips. He muttered to himself, though he made no notes, and Qiu Yue stood there with her arms first held out straight, and then resting by her sides, watching as he drew out first a jacket with wide fluttering sleeves. It had been dyed a deep orange-red with more delicate yellow thread embroidering leaves along the hems. He laid out little slippers that looked as if they would hardly last a day back in Qiu Yue's home village. These were black, but they had the same yellow leaf embroidery. Next he drew out a skirt of the same rich color, and he looked between these and Qiu Yue and nodded.

  "We'll go for the symbolic," he said. "Autumn colors for the 'autumn moon'. Put these on. I'll send someone to deal with your hair."

  He left the room, and Qiu Yue did not find her voice to tell him that she was not entirely certain how to put these on. They were of a different style than the tunic and jacket that she had worn before; these had delicate fastenings, and she could not quite see how to put them together to make the outfit come together. The material slipped like water through her fingers, smoother than anything she'd ever held in her life—but not softer, not when she had run her hand down the side of a curled up fox.

  She had managed to piece most of the outfit together when there was a knock at the door. Before she could answer, it opened, and a young woman slipped inside.

  Her clothes matched the style and colors of the thin-faced woman downstairs. She was pretty in a forgettable sort of way, with a smooth oval face and the lines of her features blurred by makeup. Her eyes were enormous and dark. Her hair was the most elaborate thing about her, coiled in a variety of braided loops that had all been pinned to her head. She bowed to Qiu Yue and said, "I'm here to help you, my lady. If you would sit."

  It's not that important, Qiu Yue wanted to say. I don't really need anything like that. My mother used to despair of ever doing anything proper with my hair. But she bit the inside of her cheek against those words and sat as directed. The young woman came up behind her and knelt. When she touched Qiu Yue, her hands were small and soft, and they smelled faintly of flower petals, though Qiu Yue could not identify what sort.

  Would she need to learn this sort of thing? The fox had sounded confident she would pass the magistrate's trials, but she did not want to be a wife. That had not changed. What would happen if she married? Would she be able to send the medicine to her brother in time? The one wedding that had occurred in her village during her lifetime had been a raucous affair, and it had taken months of preparation and then months for life to return completely to normal. She could only guess that a magistrate's wedding would be even more complicated. And she didn't want—

  Something snagged in her hair and she flinched. A small noise rose and caught in her throat.

  "I'm sorry!" the young woman behind her said. She tugged again, more carefully this time. "I'm sorry, miss, I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I apologize. I will accept responsibility. I'm not—"

  "No," Qiu Yue said, alarmed at the sudden flood of apologies. She turned to look at the girl, whom she could see was perhaps a year or two younger than herself. "No, you don't need to apologize. It was just a mistake, wasn't it?"

  "We're not supposed to make mistakes," the girl said, and Qiu Yue would have laughed if the girl had not looked so utterly serious saying it. Her dark eyes had gone so wide that they seemed to take up the whole of her face. She looked less like a stiff doll and more like a person now; her makeup was too thick to show any blush, but the way she faltered and flustered seemed telling enough. "I'll be in a great deal of trouble. Please, let me make it up to you."

  "I'm fine," Qiu Yue said, with a touch more exasperation than she really meant. "I'm not going to get you into trouble."

  "... Oh," the girl said. She frowned as if she didn't quite believe that. "That's very kind of you, miss."

  "My name is Qiu Yue," she said. "Tell me yours."

  "Mine?" The girl leaned back a little at that. Her eyes went even wider, which had seemed impossible until the moment it happened. "Oh, no, miss, that's not important, please, you don't need to worry."

  "I'm not worried," Qiu Yue said. "And I'm not going to report you. I just want to know."

  The girl continued to look at her for a few moments, like she still didn't quite believe what she was hearing. Qiu Yue remained steadfast, though, staring her in the eyes like she could convey the full depth of her sincerity that way. Finally, the girl ducked her head. Her ears had gone pink.

  "My name is Song, miss," she said.

  "Are you competing too, Song?"

  "Oh, no," Song said, and she looked up again with wide eyes. "I don't have anything to offer for such a competition. And the magistrate is—he is the magistrate. He'll hardly want anything to do with a servant girl."

  I came from a little village on the other side of the forest, which is only a little smaller than this place, Qiu Yue didn't say. She clucked her tongue and crossed her arms. "He's looking for anyone who might be a good potential match for him, right? A servant would know the ways of this town better than an outsider."

  "Oh." Song turned her head slightly. Her brows drew together and there was a small puzzled smile on her lips, like she couldn't quite decide how to respond to that comment. "That's only a little bit true, miss. And even if I did want to, I'd have to petition to the madam for permission. We're too busy to really afford losing anyone at the moment."

  "Is that all?" Something about Song's posture bothered Qiu Yue. She had heard some stories from Li Hua's father about what life was like, here on this side of the forest, but the man liked to exaggerate, especially when he was particularly deep in his cups. "If you became the magistrate's wife, you'd be able to have anything you wanted, isn't that how it works?"

  "Oh," Song said again, and she shook her head quickly. "No, miss. I belong to the madam and the inn, until I can pay off my debt."

  "Debt?" Qiu Yue raised an eyebrow. She couldn't quite keep the note of disbelief out of her voice. "Aren't you young for that?"

  Song shook her head. "I was sold to the madam to pay off my father's debt," she said. "His became mine."

  Qiu Yue frowned deeper at that, but she bit back the angry words she might have used, as Song looked more uncomfortable than ever, her shoulders drawn up tight and her head turned further away. Her hands were folded in her lap over the comb she had been using for Qiu Yue's hair, trembling faintly. Finally, out of some pity, Qiu Yue turned to present her back again.

  "Well," she said, as Song took the silent cue and began to comb her hair again, small clever fingers working through the coarsest of the knots, "if I become the magistrate's wife, I promise, I'll find you a place in my household."

  There was just a moment of pause, and then she heard Song breathe a little oh again, soft and almost silent. She continued to work with Qiu Yue's hair, smoothing it out, starting on the braids, but finally she said: "That's very kind of you, miss. Thank you for thinking of me."

  "Of course," Qiu Yue said, and she was proud of herself for keeping the doubt out of her voice. What a world, where daughters were trapped with the debts of their fathers! Was he still around in this little city? Had he clawed himself back to something more respectable as his daughter worked here? Had he died, and thus saddled her with even more burdens? She wanted to ask, and she had to chew the inside of her cheek until it stung to keep her voice back.

  Finally, Song
touched her shoulder and said, "I'm done, miss. I think you'll present very well, if I do say so myself." She passed a small bronze mirror into Qiu Yue's hand, standing by as Qiu Yue lifted it to look at herself. She could see that her hair had been pulled up into a slightly less complicated version of the swirls and loops that Song's hair was in; she looked elegant and delicate, and the sight was a surprise even to herself.

  "You're very good," she said, as she handed the mirror back. "Thank you."

  Song looked surprised at the gratitude, and then she bit her lip and glanced away again. This time it looked more like she was trying to suppress a smile than any sort of distress. It made her look delicate and coy. Qiu Yue thought about touching her cheek, or perhaps the curl of her lip, and folded her own hands in her lap to prevent herself. There was a long enough pause that she wondered if Song would say anything, and then the door behind them opened.

  "Oh, good," the merchant said. His voice sounded even sharper and more nasal now, compared to Song's gentle voice. "You're done. Come on, then. The next greeting is in ten minutes. We should hurry."

  "Already?" Qiu Yue said, but she got to her feet regardless; at the corner of her vision, she saw Song doing the same. "No time to rehearse or anything?"

  "What would you even be rehearsing?" He gave her an exasperated sort of look. There was no small amount of irritation in it as well, and she wondered if she'd caught him in something he hadn't thought of, in his nervousness. This was a presentation for him as well as her, wasn't it? "He hasn't given us any sort of questions that you should be considering. It wouldn't be as natural, either. Just—be yourself, and do your best."

  And succeed, he didn't say, though that addition was obvious, and it hung heavily in the air. Qiu Yue rolled her eyes and followed him out of the room. She glanced back to catch Song's eye, and saw Song smile at her, and mouth Good luck. She ducked her head a moment later, but her ears were bright red.