EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (42 page)

‘Adenine. It’s all right…’

My panic strangled me with one hand and seized my sanity with the other. I thrashed against the demons that held me. Water sloshed, and I scrambled to get a good hold on the sides of the tub. My feet found a groove, and I pushed up with both legs.

‘Sheesh, she’s strong.’

‘No. No!’ I had to get out of the bath. Was Father still alive? I had to warn him or they’d take him away and hang him.

‘Hold her,’ a voice I recognised said, but I couldn’t put a name to it. Devil tricks.

My skin burned. The demons were punishing me for my crimes by boiling me alive. Two sets of arms forced me further into the water. And then I saw my uncle’s body. Dead. Knife imbedded in his chest. He rose and pointed a pale finger at me.

‘No,’ I shrieked.

‘Adenine! Calm yourself.’

‘Let me go.’ I thought I heard the water around me bubble. Was it boiling? The water seemed to both sear and freeze at the same time.

Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold. What was happening? My uncle’s body disappeared from in front of me, and when the familiar reddish maroon colour returned to my eyelids, a sweet voice whispered, ‘Adenine. I love you, my darling girl. Stay still, or you will lose your fingers and toes.’

‘Mama?’ I shook my head. The devil tricks were convincing. It couldn’t be her; it wasn’t her.

‘Yes. It is your mama. You are home. I know you’re in pain, but your hands and feet are blue. You need to warm up.’

I hesitated. Was it really her? ‘Mama, why? Let me go, Mama. What did I do?’

‘Nothing. You are being so brave.’

My mind sunk into the burning pain. After many more moments, feeling returned to my fingers. The water was no longer scalding. Was it true? Was I really home? I relaxed and drifted in and out of awareness. Time was fractured and formless.

‘Adenine, are you awake?’

‘Yes, Mama.’

‘Mama is with you. This water is cold, darling girl. Please believe me. We need to make it hotter.’

‘Oh, no, Mama, it burns, please.’ I sobbed.

‘Sh, it will be all right. You’re so much better than you were.’

Varago said, ‘I can’t explain her resistance to illness and injury. Or maybe I can… regardless, it’s flabbergastingly impressive. She still may lose one of her toes, though. Thank goodness you made her buy boots, Capacia. She might have lost a whole foot.’

Lose one of my toes? I remembered running away from Jemely in the forest. And then what? So much strangeness. The cold… the unbearable cold. I drew in a deep breath. The air was still uncomfortably thick, but I no longer felt as though I was suffocating. I tried to flex my fingers, but the joints were stiff. One of my knuckles cracked. ‘Ouch!’

‘Sh… stay still.’ Mother stroked my face.

I let my head fall against her hand and sighed.
Home.
She was my home.

‘I’m sorry, Adenine,’ Jemely whimpered.

It took me a few moments to realise why she’d apologised. She’d stood by while those men grabbed me. I had disliked her before, but I had become certain that she was hiding her real feelings. She despised me as Uncle Garrad had despised me, and when she got her chance, she would attack.

‘They wouldn’t have hurt her. They were kidding. Just a joke,’ Jemely said.

Lies!

‘It’s all right, Jemely,’ Mother said. ‘No one is blaming you.’

‘I am,’ Varago said angrily.

I am too,
I thought.

Varago added, ‘You should have kept searching for her. You might have found her. She’s a blind girl in a forest. How hard could it have been, Jemely?’

‘Sorry, Uncle.’

‘All week you’ve been complaining that you have to do menial tasks for these wonderful people. Well, for the next week, you’re no longer my assistant. Instead, you’ll earn your weekly earnings by serving Capacia and Adenine. Full time.’ He put particular emphasis on the last two words.

‘That’s not necessary, Varago,’ Mother said. ‘Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on Jemely?’

‘Yes, Uncle,’ Jemely added. ‘I mean, I’ll work harder, but please let me work with you.’

‘Are you arguing? Perhaps you’d prefer
two
weeks of no assisting work.’

‘No! I mean, I stuck up for Adenine. I couldn’t stop those louts,’ Jemely cried.

‘Those are my terms, Jemely.’

Part of me was happy that Jemely was being punished. She deserved it.

‘Yes, Uncle.’

‘We do appreciate it, Jemely,’ Mother added.

Then, I realised Mother was behind me. She was out of bed; her legs were working. ‘Mama! Your legs!’

She laughed. ‘Oh, my dear beautiful girl. Only you would think of me at a time like this. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but my legs are not fixed. When you and Jemely went to the river, Varago delivered a gift. It’s a chair with wheels.’

‘Wheels?’ I tried to imagine the contraption.

‘Like a cart and chair mixed together. And even with my weak arms, I can get into it. Aren’t we lucky, Adenine?’

I nodded. ‘Now you can run Mystoria.’

We would earn money, keep our home, and be happy. It was like the honey in tea, like the sweet preserves in pie. I would have easily given up all my fingers and all my toes to see Mother become the merchant she’d always been. She deserved happiness. She deserved to be able to move around again because she had eyes that could see and she tolerated a horrible daughter like me.

More hot water was poured into the bath, and my feet and hands tingled. The burning was less intense, though, and I managed to bear it.

‘We had half the village looking for you,’ Varago said. ‘There’ll be lots of attention for you, now that everyone knows you’re Garrad’s girl.’

‘But I’m not,’ I said through gritted teeth.

‘There’s no good reason to set them straight. You’re Garrad’s girl and need to say so to everyone you meet to avoid speculation and scandal,’ Varago replied.

‘Why?’ I asked.

Mother patted my arm. ‘It is illegal for a family to hide a child. We hid you from the council because of your… sickness. If it is discovered you are my daughter, they will investigate.’

‘But I don’t understand. I
am
your daughter. Why is that bad?’

Mother sighed. ‘It isn’t bad. Please keep it a secret, for me. I’ll tell you
all
when you’re older.’

‘But I want to know
now
.’

‘No,’ Varago said. ‘Now, take this.’

Something pressed against my hand, but my distraction with his commanding words had frozen me. How dare he give me orders? He wasn’t my father and had no right to act like him.

‘Take it,’ Varago said again, and reluctantly, I grasped the heavy, metal object. ‘Tell me what it is?’

I ran my fingertips along the long round stem and found a square end with deep grooves. ‘A key?’ It was the key to the large door.

‘Good, seems you have feeling back in your fingers.’ He grabbed my foot and stretched it upwards. The air outside was uncomfortably cold compared to the warm bath water. I tried to pull my leg back, but Varago was strong. ‘Oh dear. There’s a touch of damage to the tissue in your tiny toes, but it should heal over time. So lucky. Ten years ago, a boy got lost in the forest; when we found him, I had to cut off his foot. You reminded me of him because he, too, tried to dig into the dirt to escape the cold. When a person is too cold for too long, they become like a rabbit and burrow into the ground.’

I choked back tears. ‘It was cold.’

‘You must have been freezing, my sweet daughter.’ Mother rubbed a warm hand across my shoulder blade.

‘She’s soaked long enough,’ Varago said. ‘Let’s dry her and get her into thick warm clothes and by the fire, eh?’

Mother dabbed at my wet skin while Jemely soaked up the excess water from my hair. I realised then that I hadn’t been wearing a blindfold, and I covered my eyes with my hands.

‘Here,’ Jemely said, pressing my blindfold against my hands.

‘Oh, don’t give her that dirty tattered thing. Today, I made her this,’ Mother said.

Mother pushed another scrap into my hands, but the material felt so soft I thought it would melt under my touch. Remembering my exposed eyes, I fastened the silky fabric to my head and felt to make sure my eyes were completely covered.

‘It’s not for my knowing, but how did her eyes get like that?’ Jemely asked.

‘You’re right. It ain’t for your knowing, so stop asking questions,’ Varago ordered.

‘But it ain’t right. It’s obvious there’s—’

‘Jemely!’ Varago yelled, and his outburst frightened me.

I didn’t understand. Why was Jemely so interested in my life? Was she trying to upset me? Jemely tried to hold my arm as I shuffled to the fireplace, but I yanked it away. I didn’t need her help. I knew exactly how many steps to take and in what direction the hearth was.

I was dressed in a long, thick gown. It was Mother’s, and I liked the fact it smelled like her and that it fit loosely on my body. A blanket was thrown over my shoulders, and a comfortable wooden chair was pushed in behind me.

‘Now, food. First, apple pie with sugared cream,’ Varago said with a touch of delight in his voice. He handed me a plate and a spoon, and the aroma of the sweet hot apples filled my nostrils.

My mouth watered. I pushed my index finger into the steaming inside then wiped the crusted sugar against my lips. I licked it away, and my tongue tingled, causing my stomach to growl. It was agonisingly delicious. In three spoonfuls, my mouth was a little burnt, but the first serving was gone. ‘More?’ I asked.

‘May I please have some more?’ Mother corrected, and I repeated the question.

‘Certainly. We’ve all had our fill, and there’s lots left over.’

After two more platefuls of the sweet apple pie, I felt as if my stomach would burst.

‘Someone’s gone quiet.’ Mother chuckled.

‘We should go, Jemely. Gather your things and apologise again,’ Varago said.

‘I’m very sorry,’ Jemely mumbled, but the regret in her voice seemed genuine.

I didn’t forgive her. I would never forgive her. ‘Those boys aren’t your friends. I wouldn’t play with them again if I were you.’

Varago laughed. ‘An astute observation. Off we go.’

When they were gone, Mother helped me to bed. I took off my new blindfold and put it on the floor. I snuggled down into the soft warm sheets, a welcome change from the dirt and sticks of the forest floor. Mother brought the sheets to meet my chin. But then I felt something snaking along the bed beside me. I picked up the fibrous object in my hand and identified it as rope.

‘Here.’ Mother put another loop of rope over my head and fastened it under my arms. ‘Now, pull this down towards you.’

I did, and my body drifted upwards towards the ceiling. I smiled. ‘This is fun, Mama. Now you can get in and out of your chair and lift yourself when I change the sheets.’

‘Precisely.’ Her chair squeaked as she leaned forward to kiss my forehead. ‘Go to sleep, Adenine. Tomorrow will be a good day.’

Chapter XII

W
HEN
I
AWOKE
THE
NEXT
day, Mama wasn’t in the bed. Once I’d tested all ten fingers and toes to make sure they hadn’t fallen off, I called out into the silent house. ‘Mama?’

No reply. That reminded me of the loneliness I’d felt in the forest the night before. The whisper of demon voices and the cold fires… those had been the townspeople searching for me. It all seemed so silly that I had thought of ghouls and witches. I was lucky to be alive. The thought unsettled me, and I threw back the bed covers and stepped to the floor, yet recoiled when my toes found the freezing stone.

When I searched for my boots with my toes, I found my new blindfold and used my fingertips to stroke the buttery silk. The material bewitched me, and I rubbed the smoothness against my cheek.

I tied the ends behind my head, put my feet in my boots, and called out again. But there was no reply. Worry flooded my mind, and I found the opposing wall and followed it to the sitting room.

‘Mama?’ I wondered if she was in the attic or downstairs. I made my way over to the other side of the living area, but before I yelled down the stairs into Mystoria, I heard a knock at the front door. I stood, listening for voices. There seemed to be several people in the house already, and I picked up pieces of conversation.

‘Is she all right?’

‘Yes, she’s recovering well.’

‘… bread… some other bits and…’

‘You’re very kind.’

When that conversation finished, the front door closed, and Mother went back to her other guests. Slowly, I stepped down the stairs and called out, ‘Capacia?’

‘Adenine, I’m down here.’ Mother’s tone was cheerful as a sparrow’s chirp.

When I reached the bottom stair, the conversations became clearer, and I moved towards the group of strangers.

‘Yes, exactly,’ one of them said. ‘The board sits like this, and then it slides up and down… oh, who do we have here?’

‘This is Adenine, my niece,’ Mother said. ‘Say hello.’

‘Hello,’ I said and played with a piece of loose cotton hanging from the sleeve of my dress.

‘Well met, Adenine. I’m Krejald,’ the man said. ‘I hear you caused quite a stir in the town last night.’

Embarrassed, I lowered my head.

‘Oh, Krejald, you’ve such a way with the ladies,’ a woman said. ‘Ignore him, Adenine. He’s an oaf. I’m Fara.’

‘Fara is a metal smithy,’ Mother said.

‘And a striking one at that,’ Varago added to my surprise, as I hadn’t known he was there. He must have been sitting down because his knees cracked, and then I felt him close by. ‘Put your hands out,’ he instructed.

I did, and he wiggled each of my fingers. Some of my fingers still hurt, and I grimaced.

‘Pain is better than numb,’ Varago said. ‘You know, Adenine, you’re by far the luckiest girl around. It’s a miracle you still have any of your fingers and toes. I don’t understand it.’

Mother wheeled her chair over and put her arm around my waist. ‘She’s special. That’s all there is too it.’

‘She is lovely,’ Krejald said. He walked over and tried to shake my hand.

I yanked my sore fingers away.

‘Adenine!’ Mother scolded. ‘Sorry, she’s a little shy of strangers.’