by Todd Herzman
Something gripped Ruben. His muscles cramped. Pain stabbed inside him, under his skin. Just as it had the night before. He couldn’t move. Last night, he’d been able to fight it. Now, he lacked the will to try. As fast as it happened, it stopped. Ruben whipped his head around, only to see the man in the other wagon staring at him, palm out. The demon-man, his face neutral, wiggled his palm, and a roaring laugher came from the raider with the great axe.
‘Stupid,’ said the raider, his rough speech making it sound like stew-pit.
Ruben’s rage retreated. He felt his exhaustion. His pain. The ropes. Taya hadn’t looked at him since the raider had swung his axe, and she didn’t look now. Ruben stared at the notch in the wood by his toes, felt the world rock back and forth, and listened to the squeak of the wheels as the wagon took them to the sea.
A slave. He would become a slave.
Chapter 5
Ella
The raiders had taken ten prisoners and twelve lives. Ella held Ruben’s bloody hammer in her hand and watched the bodies burn. There was little ritual in their send off. Those left standing in the town, most more than twice Ella’s age, had stacked the bodies in a rough pile. Geral’s body, found in the well, was the last taken to it. Ella was sick of the smell of smoke, but she didn’t want her friends and neighbours to burn alone. Joslin had said Ruben wasn’t among the dead, but Ella couldn’t help searching for his face in the pile.
His hammer weighed down her right arm, but holding it felt right. Not finding him among the dead brought her relief, but also worry. Joslin had called the man that had taken Ruben a blood mage, said he could move things without touching them and bend people to his will.
The flames stopped roaring. The pile of bodies began to smoulder. Those who’d stayed to watch began to leave, until only Ella and Joslin stood by the fire.
‘We need to go after them.’ Ella’s voice had no power in it, just a whisper, the words barely moving through her breath.
‘Speak up, child.’ Joslin put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Just remember, the dead can’t hear you.’
Ella’s eyes watered. She felt tears coming—the shudder of sobs threatening to surface. Three deep breaths.
‘We need to go after them!’ The tears came. Joslin let go of Ella as she stomped and shouted, holding Ruben’s hammer tight in her hand. ‘They came, killed our people, took them away from us—and we just stand here, doing what?’
‘There’s nothing we can do, child.’ Joslin’s voice was steady. Ella looked at her face. It was blank. Calm. Why wasn’t she screaming? Why wasn’t she crying? The raiders had taken her grandson.
‘We can send word to Devien! They’ll have soldiers—soldiers to fight the raiders. They’ll bring back Ruben, bring back your grandson.’
‘Ruben and Hulm are lost, Ella. They might as well be on this pile.’ Joslin turned from Ella and walked out of the village square, back to her farm.
‘Coward!’ Ella yelled. She wanted to throw the hammer at her.
The old woman stopped. Her body swayed, her weight going left to right, then she started walking again.
Ella stared at the smouldering bodies. The heat of them dried her tears. The smell was fierce, but she was almost used smoke by now. When the last ember went out, she picked up her bow and went home.
~
The house was empty. Quiet. She stepped through the door and looked around, spending a moment in silence. She put the bow and hammer down and got to work. She found one of her father’s old packs from when he was a journeyman blacksmith. She raided the pantry for food. She packed clothes, a bedroll, some flint—any supplies she thought she’d need. She’d never left the village before. Every time Ruben went to the markets outside of town Ella had stayed home to look after their younger brother.
Marius. He was still out there, at the hollow tree, alone and afraid. She would tell old Joslin before she left. Marius would understand—she was going after Ruben. She was going to make sure he was okay, and she would bring him back.
Ella took the hammer back to the smithy. She placed it on her brother’s workbench. If she’d had time, she’d clean the blood off—but she didn’t have time.
She searched the smithy and found an old leather belt, poked some new notches so it would fit around her waist, and slid the sword and knife inside. She wasn’t about to look like an easy target for bandits on the road. She left the workshop, sword slapping the doorway on her way out, and walked back into the kitchen where she’d left her pack. Ella slung the bag over her shoulder and stumbled from the weight of it. She caught the kitchen table before she could fall to the ground and skewer herself with the sword.
Breathe, she thought. Just breathe. She took a mental inventory of all she’d packed, grabbed the bow, then stepped toward the door.
‘Ella?’
She stopped. ‘Marius? You came back to the village.’
Marius stood in the doorway. Something shifted in his grip, and it took Ella a moment to realise he was holding a rabbit. He stared at the pack on her back. The sword at her belt, the bow in her hand. He wasn’t supposed to see this—wasn’t supposed to see her leaving. She wanted their reunion to be all together—as a family—when she brought back their brother.
‘Where are you going?’ Marius fidgeted.
‘I’m… I’m heading after Ruben.’
‘Ruben? He—he’s gone?’
Ella didn’t know how to break the news. Their family had lost so much already. Marius had been barely old enough to know their mother, by the time he becomes an adult, he’ll have nary a memory of her. She sighed. Their family didn’t lie to each other. It was one of Ruben’s rules. She wasn’t about to break it now.
Ella put her bow on the bench and stepped closer to Marius. ‘The raiders took Ruben.’ She wrapped her arms around him. He still held the bunny, squirming in his grip. ‘He’s alive,’ she said, and thought to herself, he has to be alive. ‘He’s alive. And I’m going to bring him back, okay?’
Marius’s gaze fell to the ground when she let go. He nodded in silence. Then, a moment later, perked up. ‘Take me with you! I can help!’
Ella put a hand on his shoulder. ‘You can help by staying here. That way I know you’ll be safe when I’m out finding Ruben.’
‘But I can help. I can navigate, and I can hunt!’ He held up the bunny as proof. ‘You can’t go alone. You can’t—you can’t leave me, Ella.’ His eyes watered. He blinked hard several times, as if that would stay the tears.
‘This isn’t a negotiation,’ she said, and hated the words as they came out. It was something their father used to say to stop an argument. ‘You’re going to stay here, because you’re safe here.’
‘Safe?’ Marius sniffed. He held the rabbit in one hand and wiped his eyes with another, then looked at Ella. ‘Safe? Mother died here. Father died here. Raiders attacked our village and took our brother! They all left. And now you want to leave too.’
‘I’ll come back! I’ll bring Ruben back.’ She picked up the bow. Arguing would only give Marius the chance to change her mind. ‘We’re going to old Joslin’s. She’s going to look after you while I’m gone.’ Marius looked as if he would protest. Ella spoke before he could. ‘Marius, I need you to trust me. Trust your big sister, okay?’
His gaze fell to the ground again, but he nodded. He stopped arguing, letting her lead him out the door and down the path to old Joslin’s farmhouse. Ella made sure to skirt around the more affected parts of the village. He would see the pile of bodies soon enough, but she didn’t want him seeing it now. Besides, she might not have the courage to go after the raiders if she saw the devastation they’d caused one more time. The rage she’d felt at the fire, watching the bodies of her neighbours burn, had subsided. It was still there, smouldering, but exhaustion was catching up to her. They passed other villagers on their way, ashen faces picking through the wrecks of their homes.
Old Joslin’s farmhouse, one of the bigger houses in Bi
llings, had been spared the damage. Those in the village not ready to start putting their houses back together—the ones frozen by shock and mourning—had congregated here. Old Joslin stood out front, arms crossed as she watched Ella approach.
The old woman looked down at Marius. ‘You okay?’
Marius shook his head. ‘I got lost in the forest.’ He paused, then held the rabbit up. ‘But I caught a rabbit.’
‘I’m going after them,’ Ella said.
Old Joslin, eyes squinting in the sun, deep lines crinkling her face, shook her head. ‘I thought that’s why you were here.’
‘They were taken as prisoners. They’ll still be alive.’
‘Aye. They’ll be alive. But going after them, you’ll just get yerself in their position.’
‘How can you just stand there? How can you do nothing when our people are out there? My brother, your grandson!’
‘Nothing? You think I’m doing nothing? I’m helping our people rebuild. You? You’re gonna get yerself killed.’
Ella pursed her lips, waiting for more scolding. When it didn’t come, she asked what she came to ask. ‘I need you to look after Marius while I’m gone. He’ll be safe with you.’ Ella tapped Marius on the shoulder and pointed to a group of kids picking fruit from Joslin’s apple trees. ‘Go on, go help them pick some fruit.’
‘You won’t leave without saying goodbye, will you?’
Ella hugged him. ‘I won’t. I just need to talk to Joslin and the other grownups for a bit.’
‘There’s a cage out back, go put that rabbit of yours in there so it don’t get away.’
Marius hesitated, as if he thought Ella would disappear the second he turned away.
‘Go on.’
He ran off, glancing behind him before turning out of sight.
‘I won’t stop you,’ Joslin said. ‘Don’t think I could if I tried. But I knew your parents well before they passed. They wouldn’t approve of you running off and leaving their youngest alone.’
‘What do you expect me to do? Just abandon Ruben? I can’t sit here while he’s out there.’
‘What makes you think you can save him? What use will that bow be against blood magic?’
Ella glanced at the bow in her hand, the sword at her belt. Maybe this wasn’t enough, but she couldn’t be the only one willing to go after the raiders. ‘I’ll find help.’ She tried to walk past Joslin into the farmhouse where she knew more villagers would be, but the old woman stopped her.
‘They won’t come with you. They’re too frightened.’
Ella ignored her and pushed past.
~
Ella had gone all over town and spoken to every villager left strong enough to swing a sword. Not one of them was willing to join her—not even those with sons and daughters taken by the raiders. Joslin had been right, and Ella hated her for it. A part of her knew she’d have to do this alone, and every second she spent here was lost time.
She walked back to Joslin’s house. Running after the raiders wasn’t the scariest thing she was going to do today—that would be looking her brother in the eyes before leaving. When she reached the farmhouse, she wanted a moment to build courage, but she didn’t have one. She’d wasted too much time already.
Old Joslin stood out front again, only she wasn’t alone. Five others stood with her. Ella recognised them as relatives of those who’d been taken. She wondered if any had changed their minds.
‘What’s all this?’ she asked as she approached.
‘You’re going to fail.’ Joslin had her hands behind her back. ‘But—well, we thought we’d give you a fighting chance.’ She took Ella’s hand and put something heavy in it. A coin purse.
‘It’s not much,’ said Redic, Taya’s father. ‘Wasn’t much left after the raiders.’
‘Might be enough to pay a mercenary or two, if the emperor’s soldiers ain’t no help,’ Joslin said.
Ella hefted the purse and doubted that. She was thankful all the same.
Marius, whom Ella hadn’t noticed hiding behind Redic, came around shyly. He had a piece of paper in his hand and held it up.
‘What’s this?’ Ella asked, taking it from his fingers.
‘It’s a map. I talked to Billem. He didn’t have a map, but—but he described the way to the sea.’
Ella studied the map. It had the village, the forest, and the sea road. Nothing she didn’t know, but she took his making it as a good sign. He didn’t want her to go, but to have drawn this meant he might be accepting it. Ella hugged him tight.
‘Bring him back,’ he said.
‘I will.’ Ella wished her words would become the truth.
Chapter 6
Marius
Marius could not kill Sir Rabbit. There had been too much death in the village. When he got back to old Joslin’s, he would set the rabbit free.
They were clearing the wreck of Geral’s tavern. Marius, after watching others gain splinters and cuts from their work, had grabbed some of Ruben’s gloves from his smithy. They were too big for his hands, the tips of the fingers flopping about when he moved his arms, and they slipped off if he wasn’t careful. But they stopped the splinters. The second time the gloves slipped off he’d asked Redic to tie strings around his wrists to keep them tight.
Marius couldn’t help but feel a bit smug when he saw others sucking out splinters and nursing scratches. He picked up a blackened piece of brittle wood, taking one side while another boy took the other. They dropped it in the pile with the other stack of burned timber. When Ella had left, Marius hadn’t expected to be doing so much work. He thought everyone would be quiet and sad, stuck inside their homes not wanting to do anything. That’s what people did when they lost loved ones, and almost everyone had lost a loved one during the raid. But people weren’t hiding away mourning, because most of their homes were no longer standing. That’s why he was picking up wood, putting it in piles. Not all the wood was blackened and broken, some of it looked salvageable.
Redic, who worked with wood like Ruben worked with metal, judged which pile each piece would go in. Marius kept watching the man. Redic’s daughter had been taken, his wife had burned with the other bodies on the pile. Marius kept expecting him to cry. But Redic, grim-faced, kept at his work.
Marius had cried. His eyes were red and sore. He couldn’t remember feeling them any other way. He lugged a big log from the wreckage, the end of the wood dragging in the dirt, making a line to the pile. He dropped the log with a grunt, then sat on it. Redic saw him panting and came over.
‘Drink.’ The woodsmith passed him a canteen.
Marius took it gratefully. He snatched big gulps, getting water on his face. Then he stopped and put the lid back on, feeling guilty for using so much. They hadn’t been taking water from the well in the square since the raid. Geral had been dead down there, and Joslin said they’d need another week for the water to settle.
‘I’ll get back to work.’ Marius handed over the canteen and wiped his face with his forearm.
‘You’re all done for the day.’ Redic put a hand on his shoulder. He’d always been nice to Marius, probably because Ruben and Taya were engaged to marry.
That might never happen now, Marius thought.
The sun would be down soon. People dusted themselves off and headed back to Joslin’s farmhouse where much of the town had gathered the last few days, eating dinners together. Not like feasts, with laughing and dancing; these were dinners where everyone couldn’t stop staring at their food.
‘Do you think she’ll find them?’ Marius asked.
Redic looked at the wreckage. His grim eyes turned sad. ‘I worry for what will happen if she does.’
~
Redic’s words replayed in Marius’s mind over and over as he walked to the smithy to put the gloves away.
No one had joined Ella. They weren’t brave like her. She’d gone after Ruben and the others with all the weapons she could find. Marius took the lon
g way home, thinking about Ruben, thinking about Ella. He stopped by the pile of dead.
The raiders had destroyed so many lives. None of the townsfolk had managed to stop them. How would Ella survive out there, alone? How would she be able to save Ruben when sometimes she still missed hitting a tree with the hunting bow?
Marius turned from the burned pile. He kicked a rock as he walked. Why hadn’t Ruben fled into the forest with them? He was no soldier. No fighter. Yet he’d jumped into the fray and been taken for his efforts. And Ella? She was less of a fighter than Ruben! What good would chasing them do?
He’d heard the other villagers whisper about the raiders and the blood mage who was their leader. Marius knew little of magic. It existed. He was sure of that. There wouldn’t be so many stories of magic if it didn’t. The villagers wouldn’t whisper their fears if magic wasn’t real.
The door to the smithy stood open. So did the door to his house. Marius stopped. Something seized him and caused him to shake, like he had in the hollow tree before he’d seen the rabbit. He took a tentative step forward, then another, and another. He walked to the smithy first and poked his head inside. Empty. Had he left the door ajar? Had the wind burst it open? As he put the gloves back on the workbench, he stared at his brother’s hammer. The head still wore his brother’s blood.
Last night, after Ella had left, he’d come to sit in the smithy. When things had been normal, he would often sit here during the day when there was no work on Joslin’s farm. He’d help his brother fix a wagon wheel or go outside to shoe a horse. His sister would work in the corner, she had her own little workshop to one side where she’d craft jewellery using old scraps of metal Ruben had discarded. Their mother used to work in that corner.
Marius’s gaze shifted from the hammer. Things had moved—were missing. Someone had been in here. He heard a clatter from inside the house. His breath came fast. He would be brave this time. Like his brother. Like his sister. He wrapped his fingers around the hammer’s handle, hand shaking with it tight in his grip, and rushed out of the smithy to the house. He burst through into the main room. A large man stood at the kitchen bench holding a knife. Marius stopped short, his gaze locked on the knife.