Broken Earth

by C M Blackwood

  Though Heidi was in a deep state of despair, plans for obligatory tasks of the near future were already filling her mind. She looked out the window, and saw the sun setting into a blood-red sky. The day was dwindling quickly down into nothing, and she knew that she must leave. But she could still feel the chill that seemed to emanate from Josephine’s body, floating across the room and into her own skin. It took all she had to push the cold back out, and to keep it at bay.

  It was all the harder, because she wanted to feel it. It was the reality that had come for Josephine – and she did not want her to have to face it alone. But she looked upon her for only a moment more, before snubbing out the solitary candle, and stepping out into the cold night air.

  Snow crunched underfoot as she rounded the house. She drew her cloak tighter about her shoulders, nowhere near as chilled by the wintry air, as she had been already by the death of her friend. Her heart felt encased in ice.

  Behind the house was a small stable. It was divided into four stalls, one for each of their horses. Jade’s and Dera’s were gone, but Heidi’s and Josephine’s remained.

  Just as she was reaching to open the door to Eriah’s stall, she caught sight of Jedediah. The horse was nervous, and frightened. He had, no doubt, seen the Dúnanen arrive; and could, no doubt, sense that all was not well. As Heidi led Eriah out of the stable, Jedediah began to whinny, and to neigh loudly. He did not want to be left alone.

  So Heidi took him out, as well. She tied a rope to his saddle, so that he could more easily follow Eriah in the dark.

  She walked the horses down to the road. Then, mounted upon Eriah, with the end of Jedediah’s rope tied to his own saddle, she set off into the night. She tested the rope that connected the two horses, checking the knots. She stroked Eriah’s neck; for he, too, was something less than at ease.

  Heidi kept to the main road, which was long and curved. There were still some miles to go, before she passed the border of Delvare, and crossed on into Fortala.

  Her mind wandered as she rode. It returned, again and again, to the waiting Josephine, who sat alone on this bitter winter night, without even a fire to warm her. Each time she thought of her, she shook her head madly, as if such a thing could be dispelled in the manner of a clinging gnat. She skipped from memory to memory, making use of the better ones as something of an anodyne for the new and terrible ones. She sighed heavily, and thought of the tatters of the present; which, naturally, brought to mind the motions of the past. She patted Eriah’s neck, and thought of her old horse – whose name was Breaker, and who had died several years ago. Jade had made a present of Eriah, the week after Breaker’s death. The death, of course, was nothing of a good memory; but she did look back with warm feelings upon Jade’s present, which had been the very greatest she had ever been given by anyone. At the end of this memory, and at the thought of Jade, she called to memory a significant day (one of the most significant, she should say, of her life) five years past.

  She had been living in Tolin at the time, with an odd old woman whose room she was renting. Jade was from beyond the Lormar border; from a remote area called Elsare, where she lived on a farm with her father and brother. Her mother had died in childbirth, and there had never been anyone, really, in her life, save those two aforementioned fellows.

  Josephine Gregory was a servant in the house of a rich man in Tolin. Her family consisted of only a mother, who lived in Eral with a husband who was not Josephine’s father. Josephine had been the servant of Josef Falimer since the age of twelve, when her mother sold her to him.

  Dera Black was from Nanik. It being a major market city, her profession thrived there. Without the current presence of mind to put it in a more delicate fashion, Heidi would note that Dera had made a living as a harlot since the age of thirteen. She had no family at all, and was not so “fortunate” as to have been sold into servitude.

  Heidi Bastian was working as the apprentice of an artisan. She kept the small room in Tolin for an even smaller sum – due mainly to the fact that more than such was not something she possessed.

  On the day that she first met her friends, Heidi travelled to Nanik with Breaker (her previous horse) to find a metal that her artisan, John Skyler, was in need of. Jade had come with her brother to browse through the weaponry (it was something of a bonding experience for them). Josephine had come on a mule (she had not yet been acquainted with Jedediah) seeking supplies for Falimer’s house; and of course Dera was already stationed at one of the streetcorners. At a table of miscellaneous items, filled with all sorts of odds and ends, they all met. An old battle axe had caught Jade’s eye; Dera wanted to buy a new waterskin (one of her “patrons,” as she called them, had stolen her old one); Josephine was looking at an old scuffed cooking pot; and Heidi’s attention was drawn to a golden knickknack that could have easily been melted down.

  The salesman behind the table was making a fire in an old chamber pot. He must not have been very skilled in the art of fire-making, because not two seconds after he sparked a flame in the pot, there came a surprisingly powerful explosion from the centre of the table. The four women and the salesman were thrown away from it, and into a stand that was selling roast pork.

  The salesman was on his feet in an instant. He ran for the table, adamant about salvaging whatever he could (though most things had been blown to smithereens). Heidi lifted her head off the ground, to see the others lying all around her; and it was discovered soon after, that Josephine was unconscious under the pork cart.

  Jade’s brother hurried over at the sight of the explosion. He asked frantically, over and over, if everyone was all right, until Jade shushed him by holding up her hand. She went straight to Josephine, whom she had spotted, and rolled her out from underneath the cart. She was unharmed but for a laceration on her forehead – and her obvious state of unconsciousness.

  “We certainly can’t leave her here like this,” said Jade. “Does anyone know who she is?”

  “I’ve seen her before,” said Dera, “but I don’t know her name.”

  “I know who she is,” said Heidi. “I’m not sure of her name, either – but I know where she lives. In Tolin, with Josef Falimer.”

  Jade appeared unmoved, but Dera made a sound of disgust. The others looked to her – but she only shrugged her shoulders.

  “He’s very unprofessional,” she said simply.

  Jade was looking down at Josephine. “Well,” she said, “I suppose that one of us should bring her home.”

  “I’ll do it,” said Heidi. “I live the nearest.”

  “I don’t suggest you go alone,” said Dera. “I should wager that Josef is not likely to be very happy, when you return his servant to him in this state.”

  “Then we shall accompany you,” said Jade.

  “I doubt that that is necessary,” said Heidi. “I am sure it will be fine.”

  “You should never be so sure of Josef Falimer,” said Dera.

  “Just look at those bruises on her cheeks!” Jade exclaimed. “What a perfect monster of a man!”

  “You have no idea,” said Dera.

  Heidi cleared her throat. “If you think you know him better,” she said, speaking to Dera, “then maybe you should bring her back.”

  “Me? I’m not going there alone. Not after the last time.”

  Everyone stared at her; but she only shrugged again.

  “I already told you we would come,” said Jade. “Trust me – my brother and I are all the backing you’ll ever need.”

  “Jade,” said David warningly, poking her in the arm. “You promised you would stop getting into that kind of trouble.”

  “Oh, hush, David. I shan’t do anything out of sorts.” She looked down at Josephine, and cocked her head to one side. “At least, I do suspect that I won’t.”

  David sighed.

  Jade looked up. “Seeing as we all seem to have been thrown into the same pork cart, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Jade Misaria. This is my brother David.”
r />   “Dera Black.”

  Heidi did not say her name. When the others looked to her, waiting for her to speak, she only said, “It seems that everything is squared away quite nicely. If no one objects, I think I will be going.”

  “Wait,” said David.

  Heidi looked back reluctantly.

  “Are you not travelling in our direction? Why not come along for the ride?”

  Heidi shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’ve things to do.”

  This time it was Jade who smiled, and spoke. “We all had things to do today – but this is where we found ourselves. Why not come along with us?”

  “I’m sorry, but –”

  “Oh, just let her alone,” said Dera. “If she need leave, then let her leave.”

  She turned away from Heidi, and David followed suit. He was already off to fetch his horse, when Jade said, “Come now, you mysterious girl. Won’t you come? I shall feel like I did not accomplish all I should – if I don’t at least find out your name.”

  “My name is Heidi. But I really do have to go.”

  “Jade!” David called. “Come and get your horse! I’m not bringing him to you.”

  Jade did not turn to answer him. She kept her eyes on Heidi, and said, “I don’t have much more time to persuade you. So why not just say you’ll come – and spare my brother the hoarse throat?”

  To look back upon it, Heidi could only think that she had fallen under some sort of enchantment. She frowned, and sighed; and said, “All right, then.”

  Josephine was hefted onto Jade’s mount. Dera had a large horse, but Jade’s was greater still, well-suited for carrying more than one person. It appeared as little more than an eight-foot boulder, there in the middle of the street. David’s was similar in stature. Both horses hardly fit side by side in the narrow way. Heidi felt quite small upon Breaker, by comparison; and was somewhat afraid that the Misarias’ horses would crush him underfoot.

  The ride back to Tolin took up over two hours. By the time they reached the long drive to Josef Falimer’s grand house, night had fallen. They went up the drive together, and halted the horses before a set of wide stone steps, which led up to a pair of polished wooden doors.

  Jade looked to Dera. “Would you like to knock?”

  “Why not?” said Dera; though her voice did betray her to seem, as if she felt that she had been chosen for some sort of disagreeable assignment. Dismounting the horse she called Dillyn, she went quickly up the steps, and made use of a metal knocker to announce her presence.

  The door opened, and a servant appeared. Dera pointed back to Josephine, and said rather quickly, that there was no need to alert Falimer. There was a fierce argument between the two women (it seemed that they were acquainted), and despite the supplications of Dera, Falimer was called to the door.

  From the distance at which the others sat, it was hard to hear the words that were exchanged; but words were not really necessary, once Falimer lifted a hand, and struck Dera across the face.

  David was off his horse in a moment. He hurried up the steps, and made to speak to the man; but said man had already slipped out the door, and was running towards Jade’s hulking horse, atop whom his servant was laid.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded. “My servant is unconscious –little do I know if she’s dead – and I am told that she collided with a roast pork cart, after being affected by an exploding chamber pot? What is this nonsense?”

  “Look here, little fellow,” said Jade. “We are simply returning your servant to you. It seems to me that you are being quite ungrateful.”

  Falimer looked angry for a moment; but then he grinned. “How gracious of you to perform such a noble deed,” he said. “However will I repay you?”

  “No payment is necessary – at least in my case.”

  If Josef had been at all considering, letting Jade leave without a struggle – any chance of that had disappeared, the moment she addressed him as “little fellow.” In a flash, he reached for her; but she was too quick for him. Her hand went under her cloak, and then darted out again, armed with a shining blade.

  “I have larger weapons, if need be.”

  Josef laughed. “You think that I fear you? A woman with a knife and a horse? Take away the accompaniments, darling, and you’re still nothing but a woman.”

  By this time, David was standing beside his sister, hand near his hip. It was clear that he had his own share of weaponry. Dera had climbed back onto Dillyn, unequipped for the scuffle that seemed about to take place.

  Without a word, Falimer reached for the knife at his belt. Jade allowed his hand to brush the hilt, and then to raise the knife almost to her thigh, where he was intending to stick it. She abandoned her knife for a short sword, hidden well under her cloak, and sent it swishing through the air. She did this with such cool and detached precision, that Heidi and Dera could do nothing but stare.

  A moment later, Josef Falimer’s hand lay palm-up in the drive. He began to scream, waving the stump of his fist all about, and spurting blood every which way. He ran immediately back inside the house.

  David looked down at the hand. “My God, Jade,” he said. “Did you have to cut it off?”

  “Yes.”

  “You did not!”

  “Yes I did!”

  They sounded almost like small children, arguing over whether one had stolen the other’s toy.

  Jade pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, and began cleaning off her sword. She replaced it in its scabbard at her hip; and then looked up at Heidi.

  “Is there anywhere nearby to get a decent ale?” she asked. “I’m parched.”

  “That’s what happens when you chop off people’s hands,” said David sulkily.

  Jade looked at him exasperatedly. “Would you have had him stab me, David?”

  “Well, no, but you didn’t have to –”

  “Oh, be quiet, David.”

  “One of these days – oh, one of these days, you’re going to wish you’d listened to me!”

  Jade rolled her eyes.

  “How about that ale?” Dera asked.

  “Well – well, yes,” said Heidi. “There’s a small tavern, about a mile and a half down the road there.”

  “Say,” said David, with a genial smile, “would you both like to join us for a round?”

  “I’m dying of thirst,” said Dera. “The sooner the better.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Heidi. “I’d best be getting home.”

  “Oh, come now!” said David. “Have a drink with us!”

  “No – no, I don’t think so.”

  “Well, I do wish you would come – but to badger you any longer would ruin my reputation as a gentleman. I bid you goodnight, Miss – what is your name?”

  “Heidi.”

  “Goodnight, Miss Heidi.”

  “Goodnight.”

  David and Dera took to the road; but Jade kept her horse fixed beside Breaker, and looked up at the star-filled sky.

  “It’s a lovely night,” she said.

  “A good night for riding,” said Heidi. “Though all I have done is ride where I did not intend to.”

  Jade turned her face towards Heidi, and then motioned to her brother and Dera. “Why not ride this way, instead of that?”

  “Because – because I already failed in my assignment, and I must rest now, to prepare for the trouble of tomorrow.” She sighed. “Skyler will be something less than pleased.”

  “Who is Skyler?”

  “My artisan.”

  Jade seemed to smirk. “You’re an apprentice?”

  “Yes,” said Heidi, rather defensively. “Why do you think that funny?”

  “I don’t think it funny. Why would I think it funny?”

  “You were smiling.”

  Here, Jade laughed, and said, “My smile had nothing to do with what you were saying.”

  “You shall have to forgive
me, for assuming that it was.”

  “You know,” said Jade, “there is something that I like about you. Can you not just accept the compliment, and come and have a little fun with me?”

  “With you?”

  “With us, then.”

  “It goes against my better judgment – but you’re awfully persistent.”

  “I am that. So shall we go?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Come on, Buck,” said Jade to her horse. She took up the road, and Heidi fell in beside her.

  “May I ask you a question?” said Jade.

  “I suppose so.”

  “Is this the closest you ever come to being agreeable?”

  Heidi answered nothing; for she was fairly certain that it was.

  And that was how it began – on a hot afternoon, at a dirty table occupied by four women and a salesman.

  And a fire, of course. One could not forget the fire.

  VI: Hello and Goodbye

  Heidi reached Fortala some hours after the moon began its nightly watch over what took place below. She knew the name of the man whom Dera was with; but she had absolutely no idea where he lived. Though she did not want to have to do so, she stopped at the first tavern she saw (for Dera had mentioned that the man drank like a fish), and went quickly inside.

  She walked straight up to the barkeep. “Excuse me, sir,” she said.

  He turned to look at her, with quite the idiotic grin on his face. “Well, gee,” he said. “Doesn’t nobody call me ‘sir,’ essept for lawmen and foreigners.”

  “Since I do not think that even you would mistake me for a lawman,” said Heidi, “I assume it can be safely said that I am not familiar with this area – and have obviously never seen you before.”

  The barkeep chuckled. “My, my, missus! Aren’t you a wordy one?”

  “If you say so,” said Heidi. And who would not be, to a fellow like you? “But I am not here to talk about me.”

  The barkeep leaned his elbows down upon the bar, looking at Heidi in what he apparently thought was a charming manner. “I sure wish you were,” he said.