EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (65 page)

‘Frooby stabbed him to protect me like Father stabbed Uncle Garrad to protect me.’

Her eyes darted to mine. ‘We need to go straight back to the hill shack now.’

I tried to get down from the cart, but Klawdia held me in place.

‘Frooby will be all right. The maid will look after him,’ she said.

‘I want to see Mama.’

Klawdia looked away.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘I can’t let you see her, either. Healer Euka is at your house. They are desperate to find you. If you get caught, you won’t get away again.’

‘I have to see Mama. You don’t know her like I do. She’ll be heartbroken if I don’t say goodbye.’

A small smile touched Klawdia’s lips, but it did not spread to her eyes. Her smiles never did. ‘I know her well enough.’

‘You understand then. You know I have to see her.’

‘No, Adenine.’

I pushed her away, walked to the front of the cart, climbed up, and grabbed the reins. I flicked them once, but the horses didn’t move.

Klawdia made a growling noise, sprang up, and snatched the leather straps from my hands. ‘Get in the back. We’ll try to sneak in through the back door of Mystoria. If there is even the sniff of soldiers there, we are leaving
immediately
.’

I swung my legs over the seat, and landed in the back of the cart. I pulled the rough blanket over my body. It smelt musty and scratched my face. The cart moved again, and I trembled for the hours that had passed and for the hours to come.

Chapter XXIX

T
HE
SOUNDS
OF
B
ORRELIA
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. I froze.

The wagon jolted as Klawdia jumped to the ground, her boots crunching on the ground. She walked around the side and whispered, ‘Keep still. I’ll carry you inside.’

I allowed her to wrap the blanket over my head and feet. She hoisted me over her shoulder as if I were a sack of potatoes. Her steps were awkward but purposeful. While my torso remained lifeless, I kept my arms tucked in at my sides.

‘Shh,’ 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. We were inside my house. I could tell by the familiar scent of incense and wood varnish.

‘Adenine!’ Mother said as we reached upstairs. She wheeled her chair furiously until she was able to pull me down onto her lap and give me a hug. The blanket fell away, and I peered over her shoulder at Jemely, who clutched at her body and stared at me with lifeless eyes.

‘I knew it!’ a muffled voice said from inside the store room. ‘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 in and walked over to the door. She put her hand on the latch. ‘Is this—’

‘Yes,’ Mother said. ‘Healer Euka.’

I gasped.

‘This is insanity,’ 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.’

‘Whose idea was it?’ Klawdia asked.

‘Mine. Jemely wasn’t here,’ Mother whispered. ‘Early this afternoon, Healer Euka offered me money for Adenine. She even said I could come live in Meligna too. The only condition was that she wouldn’t be registered!’

Klawdia pointed at the locked door. ‘So you trapped her in the storeroom?’

‘I wasn’t thinking,’ Mother said, running a hand through her hair.

‘Couldn’t you…’ Jemely started and gave Klawdia a meaningful look.

Klawdia’s body stiffened, and her head tilted. ‘No. I can’t kill a healer. Nor would I.’

‘But you’ve done it before, haven’t you? Killed someone, that is,’ Jemely said.

‘Stop it,’ I said. ‘Klawdia isn’t killing anyone. What if we got Varago to use Black-Out on her and put her to sleep. We can carry her out to a forest somewhere.’

‘And when she remembers?’ Mother said. ‘What then?’

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, 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 became 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.’ Jemely said. ‘The mayor will get in here somehow. Better to just let them in.’

‘Stay out of sight,’ Mother said to me and pointed toward her bedroom.

I went in and pulled the bedroom door wide open, allowing it to pin me to the wall. A crack appeared at the hinges, and I peered through to the living room.

‘I’m not answering that,’ Jemely said when the downstairs knocking turned to pounding.

There was a large thump. Then another. Then another.

‘Ugh. If I don’t go, they’ll break the cursed thing down,’ Jemely said, muttering as she stomped down the stairs.

I closed my eyes and focused my hearing. 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, Emala, and two soldiers formed a half circle around Mother and Jemely.

‘Good day, Capacia,’ Mayor Vawdon said.

‘Good to see you again,’ Mother replied.

The mayor stared at her for a moment. ‘Has the girl come back yet?’

‘No. I’m afraid not.’

‘Oh, but I see Healer Euka is not here. She was supposed to stay with you.’

‘I don’t know where she is,’ Mother replied, her face frozen with her merchant smile. Mother was a skilled liar.

The mayor seemed troubled about something. He lowered his voice slightly. ‘Please, Capacia, sign the register. The whole town knows now that the girl has golden eyes. It’s in the girl’s best interest to be under the king’s protection. ‘

‘I don’t trust any king that thinks it’s all right to take girls from their families and send them off to become whores.’

The mayor sighed.

‘What kind of business you got going here anyway?’ Jemely asked. ‘Trying to keep your relations good with the healer whores?’ She laughed at her own joke, and Mother’s eyes grew wide as they flicked to Jemely and back to the mayor.

‘I have no personal interest in this.’ He turned to his soldiers. ‘Wait outside.’

‘Sir.’ They snapped their feet together, turned around, and marched away.

‘Really.’ Mother sighed. ‘Bringing soldiers to my house. I’m not a criminal.’

‘It’s just a formality,’ Mayor Vawdon replied. ‘I don’t wish to make this a bigger deal than necessary. Frooby’s father has said that your niece tried to seduce his son. Soon I’ll have the whole town asking questions. This won’t be easy for me. Your niece’s behaviour is why the healers are sent to Meligna in the first place. Their gifts bring them… no,
make them
trouble. That’s why most don’t come back. No civilised society would accept such a woman of that… profession.’

Derkal was alive? That meant Frooby wouldn’t be hung. Even so, if the question of who had stabbed Derkal arose, I’d own up to the crime. Frooby deserved that for saving my life. 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 no whore!’ Mother shouted. ‘And the healers used to be a worshipped people who did good, and
we all
prospered because of them. Or have you succumbed to the thinkings of common folk too?’

The mayor held up his hand. ‘Their own power corrupted them. Let’s not get into the past. The blame of Adenine’s disappearance falls on you, Capacia. But I know she is at Garrad’s hill shack. Word has come through, and I’ve sent five of my men there to capture Adenine and the Ruxdorian woman, Klawdia. Think about the harm that can come to her now. Maybe it was unwise for Garrad to make you her guardian.’

‘Why do you think I had her eyes sewn shut in the first place?’ Mother asked.

The mayor’s face twisted for a moment. Then his eyebrows moved upwards, and a smile spread across his face. ‘You had the girls eyes sewn shut?’

Mother looked at the floor. ‘Yes, Adenine is my daughter. Ardonian was her father.’

The mayor turned to Emala. ‘Did you know this?’

Emala glanced at the floor. ‘Yes, Father.’

‘But I’ve never met the girl. Was she raised elsewhere?’

Mother shook her head. ‘No, she’s been in Borrelia all along. See that door there?’ Mother pointed at the barricade door that separated our home from Mystoria. ‘That kept her away from people like you.’

The mayor looked thoughtful. ‘Ardonian said that he’d killed Garrad for trying to steal his prized possession. I never realised what he’d meant was his daughter’s… innocence. Garrad was quite ill. I see now. Yes, that makes a lot of sense. I almost feel bad for him. Don’t know what I’d do in the same situation. Well, I have more proof now of Adenine’s gifts.’ He turned to his daughter. ‘Emala?’

Emala kept her head down. ‘I’ve seen her eyes. I’ve seen the gold in them.’

‘Last time I was here, I said we should have her eyes unstitched to see if she is a healer. But looks like you’ve beat me to it, eh, Capacia? How convenient to have a doctor as your lover.’

Something clicked for me. The meaningful look that had passed between Mother and Varago the first day opening my eyes… they were in love. What about Father? Did she no longer love him?

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?’

‘Animals, slaves, what do you think? It’s where I store my merchandise,’ Capacia replied.

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. While Mayor Vawdon looked shocked, Jemely and Mother only frowned at me. Slowly, I removed the black material from around my eyes. Mother brought her hand to her mouth, and Jemely reached a hand towards me, but then stopped, letting it drop back to her side. I let the light material catch between my fingers.

Mayor Vawdon smiled. ‘Adenine. So you didn’t run away. And I see that you clearly are a healer. Gold hair. Gold eyes.’

I looked at Emala. She stared at the floor. I didn’t know what to feel or what to say. ‘I’ll sign the register,’ I said.

‘It’s too late for that,’ Healer Euka shouted from the storeroom.

The mayor looked at us with an expression of shock and disappointment that soon changed to sadness and fear.

What would he be sad about? What would a mayor have to fear from a healer?

He took two steps towards the door, then turned to Capacia and whispered, ‘It’s too late now.’ He flung open the door.

Healer Euka straightened her clothes. Her eyes glowed brightly, and her hair was brown. I wondered if she dyed her hair. Her eyes glowed, but her most prominent feature was a red robe that shimmered with gold thread. Symbols in the shapes of eyes repeated over the garment. ‘Remember what I told you?’ she said, glaring at Mayor Vawdon.

His lips thinned. Then, there was a thump, and Healer Euka’s eyes slid up into her head as she slumped forward. The mayor took a step to catch her, but Klawdia came from behind Healer Euka’s falling body and pounced on Mayor Vawdon. She brought a dagger to his throat.

I stepped forward, thinking I could stop her, but stilled when I saw her icy stare. She was wild, a trapped animal with nowhere to go.

‘We know you’ve been plotting to take her for some time. The healer witch told me,’ Klawdia hissed.

‘Healer Euka said you were behind this, and I didn’t doubt her,’ the mayor said. ‘I’ve been trying to protect Adenine from Healer Euka the best way I can. Capacia and Adenine must sign the register. Now, while she’s unconscious.’

‘Protect her by taking the healer witch’s money? You think you’re doing her a favour by signing her over to the king? The real crime is that she would go to Meligna at all, and I’ll not let her sign anything that enslaves her to those devils.’ Klawdia pulled his head back by his hair, pressing the dagger into his skin.

‘Let him go!’ Emala cried.

Klawdia threw the mayor to the side and seized Emala around the waist. She dragged the girl across the living room, keeping her back to the wall and the dagger to Emala’s stomach.

I raised my hands. ‘Stop.’

‘Put her down,’ Mother ordered.

Klawdia’s eyes moved between me, the mayor, Mother, and Jemely. The commotion must have attracted the attention of the two soldiers downstairs because they appeared in the doorway. Sizing up the situation, they drew their swords.

‘Drop them,’ Klawdia said, bringing the knife to Emala’s throat.

The movement was a warning. I was sure Klawdia wouldn’t really harm Emala, despite her menacing look.

The men looked to the mayor for confirmation, and the mayor nodded. Their swords clanged to the stone floor.

‘Kick them down the stairs,’ Klawdia said to the soldiers.