by Colt, K. J.
‘Father, she already offered…’
‘Oh, aye, I bet she did. And how much coin did she ask for?’
‘Nothing. She’s my friend. She really cares.’
‘She don’t have a heart. She’s not like us.’
‘Wrong. She’s exactly like us.’
‘You’re not going to hurt her, and she’ll heal, and a boy your age always wants a girl,’ Derkal retorted.
‘Look how she trembles, Father. Does that look like a girl with a willing heart?’
Derkal ran his eyes over me, and then shook his head. ‘This ain’t about pleasure. This is about tomorrow, and the day after that, and the one after that, until you are a grown man.’ Derkal turned to me. ‘Come, then, blind girl. Get to it.’
I crept onto the bed. Underneath the blanket, Frooby’s hand found mine.
‘Now, get on top of her, son. Think of this like a school lesson.’
‘Father—’
‘Shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you.’
Frooby tried to manoeuvre himself on top of me under the blanket. Derkal walked over and pulled back the sheet.
‘Take off your pants, boy. Don’t you know how this works?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘You can’t make me.’
‘Fine. You, girl. Take them off for him.’
I shook my head.
‘By my sword, you will.’ He lunged at me, grabbed me by the arms, and dragged me by the wrists to the floor. I banged my knee and elbow. Pain shot through my body, and then he flipped me onto my back, undoing his pants.
I crossed my arms over my face and closed my eyes, and imagined the flowers about the hill shack and the mists floating above the streams.
‘Father, no!’ Frooby yelled.
I pushed away their voices and imagined happy things. I was tired. I wanted to sleep.
‘I’ll show you how it’s done, boy.’ Derkal pulled towards him just as Garrad had done. The entire length of my spine was now flat against the floor. His pants were around his ankles, and his nakedness terrified me. Hunger glinted in his eyes, something that had been absent in my uncle’s eyes. In his, there had been only immense regret and sadness.
Clumsily, Derkal fell to his hands and knees over me. I locked my legs together and closed my eyes.
Forest, wolves, snow lion. Butter, Jemely…
As his hands grabbed my thighs, trying to pull them apart, there came a squishing noise. Derkal’s body shuddered, and his full weight collapsed onto me. I braved a glance at his face, and his eyes were wide open. I squirmed to get out from underneath him and saw that he had reached for his back. Frooby hovered above me, clutching Klawdia’s dagger. Blood dripped from the tip.
Red spurted out of Derkal’s back, pooling in the hollow at the top of his buttocks and spilling over his waist. Frooby still hadn’t moved; he just stared at the dagger in his hand. I was trembling hard, but managed to control it a bit and stand up.
Frooby would be hanged for his crime if he didn’t leave now.
‘Come on, Frooby.’ I stood and pried each of his white fingers from the weapon. ‘Trust me. We have to leave.’
I helped him put on his boots. My own clothes were ruined, so Frooby passed me some of his. Every now and then, his eyes would lock on his father’s body and he’d freeze up.
‘Concentrate, Frooby. If you want us to live, we have to leave this place.’
His eyes swept to mine. They were empty, lost. After a moment, they filled with recognition, and he nodded. I unwrapped the blindfold from my wrist and tied it around my head.
‘I-I stabbed…’ He unclenched his hand. The dagger clanged against the floor.
‘I know. It’s all right. He’ll be all right,’ I said in a soothing voice, yet I didn’t believe my own words.
We raced downstairs and stepped into the sunlight. I felt exposed, as if everyone could see our dirty secret lying upstairs—we’d murdered someone. Only one person would soon learn the truth, and she sat in Frooby’s yard, watching us exit the house.
‘Adenine,’ Klawdia said, stealing a glance at Frooby.
‘Klawdia!’ I exclaimed. I couldn’t find the words to express how relieved I was to see her.
‘What happened? Your clothes…’
‘Derkal…’ I said.
As if saying his father’s name invoked a curse, Frooby collapsed beside me. His body sprawled awkwardly on the veranda steps. I leaned down to check him. Someone shouted inside the house. The maid must have returned early and found Derkal.
Klawdia jumped from the horse and cart. She lifted me up, and even though I didn’t want to leave Frooby, she was too strong for me. As she climbed up beside me, I jumped out and went back to Frooby’s side. Klawdia was on me again, dragging me away by my tunic.
‘Gather your wits! We must go!’ She placed me in the cart again, covered me with a blanket that stunk of must and the material scratched my face, then tied me up with rope.
The cart lurched forward and we trotted away from the house. My head hit the wooden sides of the cart every time a wagon wheel bumped over a rock. The pain felt good, distracting me from the agony of leaving Frooby behind. After a while, we stopped.
Klawdia untied the rope and sat me up against the side of the cart. ‘What happened?’
I sniffled. I tried to find my breath, but it came in short gasps. ‘We have to… go back. We… have to get Frooby!’
‘Master your feelings,’ she almost growled at me.
Klawdia always knew best, so I closed my eyes and tried to slow my heart, my breath, my mind. After a few minutes, I stopped gasping. ‘Frooby’s father tried to make me lay with him.’
A section of her hair hid her face. Individual strands glistened orange and red in the sunlight, and when she looked at me, she appeared sad. ‘And?’
‘Frooby killed him like Father killed Uncle Garrad to protect me.’
‘Lay back down.’
I did, and she covered me again.
‘What about Frooby?’ I asked.
‘The maid will take care of him.’
‘Take me to Mother.’ I was so afraid, and so guilty for everything that only her hugs would help.
The cart jolted into action again.
‘Healer Euka is at your house.’
‘I might not see her for months, or years.’
I pushed the blanket aside and she stopped the cart, twisted in the seat, and stared at me. I climbed over the wooden boards and sat next to her on the seat, then took the reins and made the horses walk on.
Klawdia snatched the leather straps from my hands and shouted, ‘Very well. Get in the back, stay hidden, and we’ll try to sneak in through the back door of Mystoria, but if there’s even a sniff of soldiers there, we are leaving immediately. Agreed?’
‘Agreed.’
I swung my legs over the seat and landed in the back. The cart jolted into action, and I trembled for the hours that had passed and for the hours to come.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE SOUNDS OF BORRELIA WERE no longer a fond reminder of my hometown. Each noise, each thump, each clang of metal had me imagining a soldier hauling me from the cart and proudly shouting he had captured me. The cart stopped and I froze on the inhale.
The wagon jolted as Klawdia jumped off, her boots crunching on the ground. She walked around the side and whispered, ‘Keep still. I’ll carry you inside.’
She tucked the edges of the blanket around me tightly, then secured it with the rope. She hoisted me over her shoulder as if I were a sack of potatoes. Her steps were sure, as if I weighed nothing at all.
‘Keep silent,’ she said, and placed me on the ground. There was the bang of a door, and cold air seeped between the blanket folds. Boots stepped towards me, and Klawdia hoisted me back over her shoulder again. Aromas of wood varnish and incense meant we were inside Mystoria.
‘Is that…?’ Mother asked from above.
Klawdia was carrying me up the stairs. At the top, she placed me down and
untied the rope, and as I pushed the blanket aside, Mother bumped her wheelchair into me. I stood, and she pulled me onto her lap and hugged me tightly. ‘You’re getting too big for this.’
Over her shoulder, I saw Jemely clutching at her body, and she looked tortured.
‘I knew it!’ a muffled voice said from inside the storeroom. ‘She’s still in town, isn’t she?’ Someone fiddled with the latch from the other side of the door.
‘Be quiet in there,’ Mother said.
‘Who’s in—?’ I began.
‘What have you done?’ Klawdia cut me off and stomped to the storeroom door. She touched the latch and glared at Mother. ‘Is this—?’
‘Yes,’ Mother said. ‘Healer Euka.’
I gasped.
‘This is madness,’ Klawdia said. She walked over to me and yanked at my arm. ‘Adenine, say goodbye to your mother. We’re leaving.’
‘Don’t go,’ Jemely blurted. ‘If you go, we’ll be in trouble, won’t we? We’ll be put in the stocks, or worse, something much worse.’
‘Who locked her in there?’ Klawdia asked.
‘Me. Jemely wasn’t here,’ Mother whispered. ‘Early this afternoon, Healer Euka offered me money and a home in Meligna in exchange for Adenine, as long as I didn’t register her with the king.’
‘And your answer was to trap her in the storeroom?’
‘I wasn’t thinking,’ Mother said, running a hand through her hair.
‘And how did you do you manage that exactly?’
Mother suddenly seemed very pleased with herself. ‘I might not be fast, but I’m clever.’
‘Or the ambassador is dumb,’ Jemely said. ‘Speaking of which, couldn’t you just...? Jemely ran a finger across her neck.
The Ruxdorian raised her chin defiantly. ‘Unfortunately, no.’
‘But you’ve done it before, haven’t you? Killed someone, that is,’ Jemely said.
‘Stop it,’ I intervened. ‘Varago could use the concoction he used on me to put her to sleep, and then we carry her out into the forest somewhere.’
‘She won’t be under for long,’ Mother said. ‘Any better ideas?’
A knock downstairs pulled us from our thoughts. Healer Euka must have heard the sound, as she started shouting, ‘Help! Help! Someone help!’
Klawdia groaned and then strode across the room, unlocked the storeroom latch, and walked through, closing the door behind her. There was a momentary scraping of feet and muffled yells. The silence that followed made the back of my neck tingle.
‘Mama, lock the door,’ I said, pointing at the key hung on the wall. It had been there ever since Mother had become crippled. The door that had kept the world protected from me had become protection for us instead.
The banging downstairs increased, and someone yelled, ‘Open up in the name of Mayor Vawdon, overseer of Borrelia and protector of goodness and justice!’
Mother snorted.
‘There’s no point resisting,’ Jemely said. ‘Better to just let them in.’
‘Stay out of sight,’ Mother ordered me and pointed at her bedroom.
I went in the room, slipped behind the door, and pulled it open so it pinned me against the wall. A crack appeared at the hinges, allowing me to clearly see the living room.
When the knocking turned to pounding, Jemely said, ‘I’m not answering that. They’ll come through waving their swords.’
There was a large thump. Then another. Then another.
‘Ugh. ‘They’re breaking the cursed thing down,’ Jemely muttered, and went stomping down the stairs to greet the intruders.
I was holding my breath, and listening hard. There was a buzz of voices, a ‘Hey!’ yelled out by Jemely, and metal boots clanged against stone and wood as a party of people came up the stairs. Mayor Vawdon and two soldiers formed a half circle around Mother and Jemely. Emala came up the stairs last.
‘Good day, Capacia,’ Mayor Vawdon said.
‘Twice in one day. What a pleasure,’ Mother replied coldly.
One of the men went upstairs to check the attic bedroom.
The mayor stared at Mother for a moment. ‘She hasn’t come back, then?’
‘Adenine? No. I don’t know where she is.’
‘I was expecting Healer Euka to be here… she was supposed to stay with you.’
‘I don’t know where she is either,’ Mother replied, her face frozen with her practised merchant smile.
The mayor seemed troubled about something. He lowered his voice slightly. ‘Please, Capacia, sign the register. Put her under the king’s protection while you can.’ It seemed Emala hadn’t told her father much at all. So why bring her to my home, then?
‘The king has no right to her. Neither do you.’
The mayor sighed.
‘What kind of mayor participates in shady dealings with healers, anyway?’ Jemely asked.
‘I have no personal stake in this.’ He turned to his soldiers. ‘Wait outside.’
‘Sir.’ They snapped their legs together, turned around, and marched away.
‘Really.’ Mother sighed. ‘Are the soldiers necessary? I’m not a criminal.’
‘It’s just a formality,’ Mayor Vawdon replied. ‘There’s been an accusation, and it’s sticking. Frooby’s father, Derkal, says your niece attacked him after trying to seduce his son. He’s been stabbed. The housemaid found Frooby bloody and unconscious in the dirt outside their home. The gossip has spread and Capacia you already have a reputation in this town…’
Derkal being alive meant Frooby wouldn’t be hanged, but now he was blaming me for stabbing him.
Mother laughed. ‘You think a thirteen year olf girl would stab a grown man?’
‘I admit the story seems ridiculous, but your niece’s behaviour is exactly what people expect, and fear,’ he continued. ‘Their gifts bring them—no, make them immoral. No civilised society will accept a woman of that… profession.’
Hearing the mayor’s words saddened me. If what he said was true, then I would never be accepted so long as my hair and eyes were golden.
‘Adenine is a child. She doesn’t know of seduction!’ Mother shouted. ‘Even if she offered to heal her sick friend, that is not seduction. We once respected the healers, and in return they gave their gift of healing willingly and freely. They were upheld as examples of morality, goodness, and purity. Don’t you remember when your parents donated to the temples? We all did. We valued them, and they valued us.’
The mayor held up his hand. ‘Let’s not get into the past. The blame of Adenine’s disappearance falls on you, Capacia. I’m not a fool; I know she’s at Garrad’s hill shack. Five of my men are there now to capture her, and Klawdia. Once arrested, I cannot help them anymore. It was unwise for Garrad to make you his daughter’s guardian.’
‘Why do you think I had her eyes sewn shut in the first place?’ Mother asked.
The mayor’s eyebrows arched and a smile touched his lips. ‘You had the girl’s eyes sewn shut?’
Mother looked at the floor. ‘It was my right. Adenine is my daughter. Ardonian was her father.’
The mayor turned to Emala. ‘Did you know this?’
‘Yes, Father.’
He turned back to Mother. ‘You hid her in the attic all this time?’
‘See that door there?’ Mother pointed at the barricade door that separated our home from Mystoria. ‘I used that to lock her in to protect her from people like you.’
The mayor seemed hurt by that statement. ‘Ardonian said that he’d killed Garrad for stealing what wasn’t his. I never realised he’d meant his daughter’s… innocence, I suppose. Garrad was quite ill. I see now. Yes, that makes a lot of sense. I almost feel bad for him—’
‘For him? How would you feel if someone did that to Emala?’
Emala took her father’s hand.
‘Don’t know what I’d do in the same situation,’ he admitted. ‘Emala, we already talked about this… speak.’
Guilt was written all over my schoo
l friend’s face. ‘Adenine showed me her golden eyes.’
Traitor, I thought.
The mayor snapped his fingers. ‘Now I understand how you and Varago came to be such close friends. Lovers, even.’
Mother’s eyes looked in my direction for a moment, but I was in shock. Varago was nothing like Father; he bumbled about and spoke too much. There’s no possible way she could love him… could she?
Mother sighed, rubbing the side of her face. ‘I already admitted she was a healer girl. What more do you want from me?’
A thump came from the storeroom.
The mayor snapped his head in that direction. ‘What’s in there?’
‘Snakes and slaves, what do you think? It’s where I store my merchandise,’ Mother said.
The mayor let go of Emala’s shoulder, strode to the door, and placed his ear against the timber. My palms were sweating, and my fingers slid against each other as I made a fist, wishing with all my heart he’d lose interest in the room.
‘Open it,’ he ordered, giving Jemely an expectant look.
I had to do something. Mayor Vawdon was going to find Klawdia, and the least I could do was defend her somehow. I stepped out from behind the bedroom door and slowly walked into the living room. Mayor Vawdon’s eyes widened. I closed my eyes, took off my blindfold, and let the material fall to the floor.
‘Adenine,’ Mother said hopelessly.
I opened my eyes to see her covering her face. Jemely stepped in my direction, then stopped. I met the mayor’s eyes and he beamed.
‘What a brave girl you are, and your eyes are very pretty.’
‘Mother will sign the register,’ I said.
‘It’s too late!’ Healer Euka shouted from the storeroom.
The mayor was startled for a moment, but he went to Mother and whispered, ‘Forgive me.’ He opened the storeroom door.
Healer Euka appeared at the door, straightening her clothes. Her eyes glowed with indignation, but I was surprised to see that she had brown hair. Gold thread shimmered on an exquisite red robe that brushed the stone floor as she took a step forward. Symbols of golden eyes decorated her cloak. ‘Remember what I told you?’ she said, glaring at Mayor Vawdon.
His lips thinned. Then there was a loud thump, and Healer Euka’s eyes rolled backwards, exposing their whites, and she slumped forward limply. The mayor attempted to catch her, but as he did, Klawdia pounced on him with her dagger and put him in a headlock. She put the blade at his collarbone.
