From Across the Clouded Range (9 page)

“
There she is!” a boy at
the front yelled. “She’s come to us. This’ll be easier than we
thought.” The boys behind him grumbled their agreement and spread
out around her.

An hour ago, Teth would
have led them on a chase. She’d have separated them, laid traps,
ambushed straggler. A few fingers would be broken, ankles twisted,
welts given, and heads cracked, but no one, including her, would
have been seriously hurt. Then Counselor Torpy would blame her for
everything, and she’d spend her time locked in his small school
transcribing
The Book
of Valatarian
until it all started
again. She seemed to play this game with them every few months, but
none of them ever seemed to learn.

Only this time, she didn’t feel like
running. She wanted it all to end, to just be over. One way or
another she was done with them. She looked at their faces, saw the
hatred in their eyes. Her aunt was right. There was no place for
her. She would never be accepted as she was, could never be part of
their world. The thought filled her with anger. Why did it have to
be this way? Why couldn’t they just let her be?

She growled, dropped her
pack, and drew the long knife tied to her leg. She drop into a
fighting crouch, held the knife before her.
So this is how they want it
, she
thought.
Well, let them
come
.
I don’t
care anymore. I’m already dead, but at least I’ll take a few of
them with me.
She hissed at them and
lunged forward with the knife. She was not nearly close enough to
hit anyone, but it sent the boys scrambling back.

They began to grumble, seemed to lose
their courage. “She’s finally lost it,” one of them whispered.
“Look at ‘er, like a wild animal or somethin’.”

“
That’s what happens ya
fight the Order long enough,” another stated. “Yir mind ‘ventually
snaps. Just like the Exiles, all ya can think on is chaos. Let’s
get outta here. She’s not worth it.”

Teth was panting between growls. If
they wanted to think she was crazy, she’d be happy to accommodate
them. She swung again with the knife and laughed as the boys
tumbled away from her, all except one. The largest boy in the
village, Pete Magee, stepped forward. “Looks like an animal that
needs ta be tamed ta me,” he drawled. “Best thing for a bitch that
bites is a beatin’. That’s what my da’ always says.” He pushed up
his shirt sleeves revealing thick, hairy forearms. He was tall,
broad, and strong as an ox, had won most of the events Teth didn’t
enter. His fists were clenched into great hammers. One blow from
those would put Teth down to stay.

The other boys began to form a circle
around the combatants. Having found their champion, their
confidence returned and the jeers resumed. Teth snarled, but her
hands were wet with sweat. She could barely grip her knife. Her
legs trembled. It took her every ounce of will to keep the knife
blade from shaking, from giving away her fear.

“
Come on, bitch,” Pete
snarled, “time to learn not to bite yir betters.” He lunged at her,
fists as big as her head sweeping in from both sides. Teth froze.
What had she been thinking? Had she thought she could actually stab
someone? She scrambled back from the closing fists, spun just
enough to get her face out of their paths. One set of knuckles
passed over her, but the others caught her shoulder, sending her to
the ground. She landed hard. The knife spun from her hand as she
struggled to find her hands and knees.

A boot caught her in the
stomach. She spun, landed on her back, and felt the air rush from
her lungs. She gasped, rolled into a ball, felt tears form in her
eyes. A roar erupted from the circle of boys around her. She could
feel them closing in.
By the Order this is
really happening
, was all she could think.
The posturing, the intimidation had finally failed. They were
finally going to get their revenge. She closed her eyes, prepared
to feel the kicks and blows that would soon rain down, prayed to
the Order that they would stop at a beating.

“
Stop! All of you, right
now!” a voice demanded. “Every one of you will be in the village
square for judgment in five minutes or I will hunt you down
personally and deliver double. Now, leave her be!” The voice
belonged to Counselor Torpy. Teth had never before been glad to
hear it, and she wasn’t sure she was now. Was a beating really
worse than dealing with a counselor right now?

The boys grumbling as they
shuffled past her. “If I see one of you so much as touch a hair on
her head, you’ll spend the next month with me and
The Book of Valatarian
.”

Counselor Torpy appeared at her side,
helped her to her feet with surprisingly strong hands. She could
barely stand for the pain in her stomach and ribs, but the
counselor supported her. With the protection of the village’s
smallest man, she watched the mob disperse. Several boys looked
back with death in their eyes. She wasn’t sure if the counselor had
helped or hurt her. “I guess I’m supposed to thank you,” she
finally managed. She held an arm over her stomach and tried to work
feeling into the other. She could barely lift it. The bruise was
going to be vicious.

“
You should leave.”
Counselor Torpy examined her with what could only be disgust. “And
this time, while you are away, think about what you have done to
your aunt, to this village. Do you see what happens when you don’t
follow the Order? Your selfishness has delivered this entire
village to chaos. You have made your aunt an exile.” Teth fumed,
but the counselor just sniffed. “I have tried to be patient with
you. You may think I have been harsh, but I should have been far
harsher. I should have stopped this game of yours a long time ago,
but I thought it would play itself out. Now it has come to this. It
is time for you to grow up, Tethina. You’re not a little girl
anymore. This isn’t cute anymore.”

Teth looked at the
counselor in shock.
A game?
Did he think she liked being hated, that she was
doing this as some kind of joke, that she just wanted attention?
Was that how the people here saw her, as some kind of misguided
child who would eventually grow up and be the woman they all
expected her to be? She fought tears again as the counselor’s
disapproving eyes pounded her as surely as any fist.

“
Get out of here,” he
finally waved her away. “Go to your hiding place and mope. But if
you can’t take up your place in the Order when you return, you are
not welcome back. I will not allow this blatant disregard for the
Holy Order in my village any longer. If you can’t honor your aunt
enough to take her advice, then I don’t want to see you again. And
next time, I will not be here to save you when the Order tries to
reestablish its balance.”

Counselor Torpy released her arm with
a shove. Teth could feel where his fingers had been digging into
her, just another set of bruises to remind her of this tremendous,
terrible day. She picked her pack up and stumbled toward the old
stone bridge at the edge of the village. Her legs barely seemed to
obey her, but she hardly noticed for the sobs that racked
her.

Chapter 4

The pools of shadow slowly
consolidated into pits of black around the trees as the sun
retreated behind the distant peaks of the Clouded Range. This part
of the Great Western Forest was mainly ancient pines with a few
hearty broad leafs scattered among them: aspens, maples, oaks, and
elms. The forest was dense enough to keep most of the bushes and
grass at bay so that the most treacherous obstacles were the tangle
of shallow roots covered by a shifting bed of dead pine needles and
rotting leaves. Teth stepped over and around the hidden roots
without thought or effort. Her mind was far away from the forest
she traversed, but each step remained silent, her path the cautious
circuit of a hunter sliding from tree to tree like a ghost. To her
right was the babble of the woodland creek that ran behind her
aunt’s house. She was following it without thought, letting her
ears be her guide as her mind wandered.

It had been six days since Teth had
stumbled into the forest that terrible night. After traversing the
full range of her emotions from elation to heartbreak to
devastation in the course of a single crushing hour, she had cried
herself to sleep under the shelter of a low, broad pine without
food, water, or fire. The next morning had been no better. She had
stumbled to her hunting shelter and spent another day curled in a
ball, hoping to disappear. Finally, on the third day, she found
enough will to go on living, to feed her rumbling stomach, warm her
shivering body, and quench her terrible thirst. From there, she had
slowly made a deal with herself, made the promises that would keep
the real Teth alive even if she had to remain hidden within. She
would follow their rules, wear their dresses, live in their city,
attend their university, but she would not cower, would not be a
slave for some boy. She would remain strong, fierce, independent,
equal. That decision made, she packed everything in her shelter,
left her bow, all her supplies and equipment behind and said a
final goodbye to that part of her life, to what would always be her
real home.

Now the part she feared most. She had
to go back, had to face her aunt, Counselor Torpy, the rest of the
village and admit that she had given in to their expectations. Then
Dasen . . . . A wave of desperation washed over her. She felt the
water rising again to claim her, but she pushed it down, steadied
herself on the smooth bark of a great fir, reminded herself to take
one challenge at a time lest they overwhelm her.

Drawn from her thoughts, Teth watched
her aunt’s small, gabble-topped cottage emerge from between the
trees. She cleared the last pines and crossed the herb and
vegetable garden, examined the plants already stretching up, the
fruits, pods, and delicate leaves nearing maturity. But this was
not her aunt’s typical garden. Weeds filled every crevice between
the rows. Plants had been left untended, their stems sprawling
across the ground when they should have been staked in place.
Lettuces and herbs were shooting to seed. Teth bent and began
pulling handfuls of creeping weeds from between the rows of beans.
After a few moments, she realized the futility of her effort,
realized she was just making excuses. She promised the weeds that
she would return with a hoe, stood, and stared at the back door.
She brushed her muddy hands down her deer hide pants and walked up
the three rickety steps.

At the door, Teth heard voices. She
listened, heard her aunt describing the medicinal properties of
what could only be mulberry bark. Her voice sounded weak, unsteady
and was often interrupted by a restrained cough. The sound of it
made Teth’s heart stop. She almost turned around. Was she ready to
face her dying aunt? Could she see Milne weak and sick without
falling back into the depression that had almost claimed her in the
forest? Ever since the spring thaw, she had known. She had never
admitted it to herself, but she had known, and her reaction had
been to hide, to see her aunt as little as possible, to deny what
was right before her. And it had cost her those last few months.
Now, when Ipid and Dasen arrived, she’d be dragged away, never to
see Milne again. She had wasted too many days already. It was time
to stop running. She took a deep breath, braced herself, and pulled
the plank door open.

“
Hello, Tethina,” her aunt
called. “I’m glad you are back.”

Teth made her way cautiously into the
main room, stood in the doorway that separated it from the storage
room at the back of the house. Her aunt was sitting near the fire
despite the warmth of the summer evening. She looked so small and
fragile that Teth wanted to cry. This was not how she wanted to
remember the strong, sharp-eyed woman who had raised her, not as a
withered thing wasting away in a chair. She looked down at the
floor, gathered her emotions, then looked at the other
chair.

“
Hello, counselor,” she
said past the lump in her throat.

“
Hello, Tethina,” he
responded. “Welcome back. Your aunt has asked me to write some
notes for the herbalist that will be taking her place.” The mention
of a new herbalist was like a slap. Teth was supposed to be the new
herbalist, had been her aunt’s only apprentice. She recoiled
despite herself, felt her stomach lurch.

“
That will be enough for
today, Counselor,” Milne said. “Thank you again for your help.
Perhaps we can pick-up again tomorrow if you have time.” She gave
the counselor a genuine smile. He patted her hand as he gathered
his papers and stood to go.

“
Of course, Milne,” he
assured. “You should get some rest in any case. I will be back
tomorrow afternoon.”

“
You . . .,” Teth began
then felt like an intruder. She stopped and chewed her
lip.

Counselor Torpy turned to her. “What
is it, Tethina?” His voice was calm and kind, like he was talking
to a skittish fawn he had found walking through his
garden.

“
Milne, I can write the
notes for you, if you’d like,” Teth offered. “It will be easier. I
already know the properties of the local plants. You can just guide
me on which ones to include and how to present them.”

Milne and the counselor looked at each
other and smiled. “That would be most welcome, Teth,” Milne
replied. “Counselor can you leave the book here so Tethina can
complete it?”