by Jane Glatt
“Sounds like him,” Vook said. “He don’t do things for nothing. Mika helped us get set up here, where we’re safe. Our part of the trade is to let him stay with us whenever he comes and to take in his friends.” Vook looked at her. “Which is why I brung you here.”
“And I’m grateful,” Kara said, and meant it. If she hadn’t met Vook, who knows what would have happened to her? “I’d like to stay.” She didn’t have anywhere else to go. “I’ll do chores, whatever I can.”
“Can you teach me to read?” Pilo asked. “If I could read, I might be able to get work. It wouldn’t matter so much how I looked.”
“Yes, I’ll teach all of you to read, if you want,” Kara said. She paused. “I might be able to help you with your scars.”
Pilo glared at her, her lips drawn tight. “You can’t, no one can, so don’t say that. I’m ugly, and I’m gonna stay ugly.”
“I can’t make them go away,” Kara agreed. “Only a powerful Mage could do that for scars this old. But I can make a salve that will soften them so they don’t feel so tight.”
“I suppose I’d let you do that,” Pilo said. “What else can you do?”
“I’m good at foraging for food,” Kara said. “I know a lot of plants that are good to eat—I know where to find them and how to cook them.”
Pilo glared at her fiercely. Ah, that was Pilo’s job. Kara needed a different task.
“I’m healer trained,” she said at last.
“Healer!” Vook said. “Then you’re a mager!” He stood up and backed away from her. “What do you want with us?”
“I grew up in the Mage Guild, yes,” Kara said. “I have all the training any Mage Guildsman would have prior to finding their talent—but I have no magic. Which means that I’m almost useless to the guild.”
“Almost?” Pilo asked quietly. “What use did they have for you?”
“They wanted me to have children—to breed me,” Kara said.
She met Pilo’s eyes and saw understanding there—a girl whose mother was forced to become a whore would know what that meant.
“So I ran away. Mage Guild thinks I’m dead.”
“Why come here?” Pilo asked.
Vook sat down, but kept a wary eye on her.
“I met Mika on the road,” Kara replied. “He said if I taught him how to read he’d take me to a place on Old Rillidi where I’d be safe.”
“Your trade,” Pilo said. “All right. Mika’s the best judge of people I’ve ever known.” Pilo looked around at the other three children. “I vote she stays.”
The others all nodded their heads.
“What about Harb?” Sidra asked. She sounded afraid.
“Harb and Lowel will just have to get used to her,” Pilo said. “It’s us four against them two.”
Kara relaxed—she’d been clutching her pack. Thank Gyda she had a place to stay. She glanced at Vook and smiled. He didn’t smile back.
She opened her pack. Ah, there it was. She pulled out an oiled cloth and unwrapped it.
“It’s not a lot,” she said as she held the contents out. “But it won’t keep so we should eat it now.”
“You have bread?” Vook asked. He scooted over to her, any qualms about her being a mager forgotten in the face of a treat.
“Baked fresh yesterday morning,” Kara said. “Mika had a whole loaf in his pack. I think he was bringing it for you.”
She broke off the crust and handed it to Vook, who snatched it up and scrambled to his place by the fire. In moments the bread was divided up, with two pieces left for the absent Lowel and Harb. Kara rewrapped those, wishing she’d brought more bread along with some cheese. But she hadn’t expected to be separated from Mika.
“Real bread,” Sidra said. “I’ve hardly ever had it in my whole life.” She was pulling off little pieces and popping them into her mouth one at a time.
“Mika always brings us some,” Pilo said. “He’s real good like that.” She put the last of her bread into her mouth and closed her eyes while she chewed.
Only Mole seemed unimpressed by the bread. He ate it, but quickly, with none of the reverence of the other children.
Pilo served more soup, and Kara took another half a mug. She was just finishing hers when the other children tensed.
“Are you still here?”
Kara looked up. It was the youth from earlier, the one who’d woken her. His dark eyes glared at her, and his hands twitched into fists. Slowly, she set her mug down beside her pack and stood.
“Yes, still here. I’m Kara,” she said. “You must be Harb.” He looked younger and a lot meaner than she remembered. A second youth, older and bigger, stood behind him. “And you’re Lowel?”
She smiled, and the second youth, Lowel, smiled back. Harb continued to glare at her.
“What do you want?” Harb asked.
“Kara’s going to stay with us,” Pilo said.
Harb’s angry gaze slid from Kara to Pilo.
“Who says?”
“I say,” Pilo replied. “We voted, and all four of us want her to stay.”
“Who put you in charge, you scarred whore?”
Kara couldn’t see Pilo’s face, but she heard her sharp intake of breath.
“What’s it to you?” Kara asked. “I can pull my own weight, find my own food. I have other skills that might be useful.”
“What other skills?” Harb’s gaze raked over her body, pausing on her breasts. “Might be I can be talked into keeping you if you make it worth my while.” He leaned closer to her. “But you’ll have to be real nice.”
Kara suppressed a shudder. This man-child was dangerous.
“Kara knows healing,” Vook said. “She’s going to help Pilo.”
“Pilo.” Harb spat on the ground beside her. “What do I care if you help Pilo? She’s never going to be pretty enough to bed.”
“I wouldn’t have you anyway,” Pilo said. “Not after you’ve been with the clammers. I heard a man’s thing falls off after bedding them.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
Harb was still angry, but Kara heard a hint of worry in his voice.
“The whorehouse, that’s where,” Pilo said. “Not even whores would lie with clammers. So you’re worse than a whore, Harb. You and Lowel.”
“It’s not true,” Harb said.
Kara looked past him to Lowel, who had a look of fear on his face.
“I might be able to help,” Kara said to Lowel. “With a salve.”
“I want her to stay too,” Lowel said quickly. “In case something happens to me on account of the clammer women.”
“Shut up, Lowel.” Harb turned to the bigger youth. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. Pilo’s lying.”
“Am not,” Pilo said. “Just you wait.”
“Let her stay, Harb,” Lowel pleaded. “I’ll help her with her chores so she won’t be any trouble.”
“I can do my own chores,” Kara said.
“See, Harb,” Lowel said. “She’ll work hard, just like the rest of us. Let her stay.”
“All right,” Harb said. He turned to stare Kara in the eyes. “But you stay out of my way.”
Kara nodded, and he stomped past her.
“She better not have eaten all the food,” Harb said. “Lowel and me are hungry.” He looked in the pot and grunted. Vook held out the bread—Kara’s bread—and Harb grunted again.
KARA SETTLED INTO the routine of the docks. They usually woke up late in the day, well past noon, and foraged for food. Vook fished off the crumbling dock, his line threaded with worms from the small garden that Pilo kept.
One night Vook left the safety of the fenced enclosure and came back with news—Mika had been sent to Rillidi Port and had last been seen leading Zayeera towards the mountains.
Kara was relieved. She’d been worried that her friend had been imprisoned—or worse—but Mika and Zayeera should make it home to Allon before the rains.
Most days Pilo and Sidra tended the garden. Lettuc
e, carrots, beans, and tomatoes grew in neat rows. Kara spent the afternoons in the woods inside the gate, searching for ingredients for the poultice she made for Pilo, as well as the odd handful of berries.
Harb, with Lowel trailing him, fetched water daily. It was the most dangerous task since they had to go outside the fence all the way to the edge of the mad mage’s estate. They came back with tales of trees that had moved and giant flowers, evidence of the mad mage’s spells. If it had been only Harb, Kara would have thought he was making things up just to scare them, but poor Lowel didn’t have enough imagination to lie about this.
Harb and Lowel also visited the clammers. When they were gone, the mood of the rest of the children was noticeably lighter. But Harb usually returned drunk and surly and then the children tried to stay away from him. From what Kara could tell, Harb used to take his temper out on Pilo, but he’d transferred that anger to her, which suited her. Pilo had enough of a burden.
“I COULD PROBABLY find some wild potatoes,” Kara said to Pilo. It was just over a week since she’d arrived, and the two of them were sitting by the fire pit discussing how to stock up for the coming winter. “I’d have to go outside the fence though.”
“It would be worth it,” Pilo said. “We could plant some in the spring too.”
“Too bad there aren’t any lemon trees,” Kara said. “The fruit dries very well.”
“The clammers have some,” Vook said. He had his back against a tree, and his eyes were half closed. “Lowel said.”
“Could we trade with them?” Kara asked. “We know they always want fresh water. Couldn’t Lowel and Harb trade for some lemons instead of just trading for . . .” She didn’t bother to finish the sentence. They all knew what Lowel and Harb traded for.
“I guess,” Vook said. “Will you ask Harb?”
“Ask Harb what?”
Vook’s eyes widened. Kara swiveled her head. Harb stood a few steps away, Lowel hulking behind him. Harb stared at Vook for a moment before his gaze focused on her.
“Ask Harb what?” he repeated.
“Ask Harb if he can trade with the clammers for some lemons,” Kara said. Harb scowled in anger. “I’ll carry the water and bring back the lemons.”
“You,” Harb said. “You’re not big enough to carry water this far, let alone all the way to the clammers’ camp.”
“I’m almost as big as you.” As soon as she said it, she knew it was a mistake. Harb’s expression went from angry to furious.
“Think you can beat me?” he asked. His face reddened, and he loomed over her. “Do you? I’m stronger than you. I’d wager you never done a full day’s work in your life, not hard labour like me.”
“What hard labour?” Kara asked. She was tired of Harb bullying everyone, pushing them around and belittling them. “You’ve done hardly any work around the camp since I’ve been here. Pilo and Vook find the food, Pilo cooks, Sidra cleans up. Even Mole does more than you. All you and Lowel do is fetch water once a day. Twice if you want to lay with the clammer women.” She looked around.
Vook stared straight ahead, but Pilo grinned at her.
“At least,” Kara continued, “I’m assuming you lay with the clammer women.”
“You whore!” Harb roared. He raised his hand, and Kara scrambled to her feet.
Chest heaving, her own hands fisted, she glared at the enraged youth. She wouldn’t back down, not from this lazy bully.
“If you ever want to eat my cooking again then you won’t hit her,” Pilo said calmly.
Harb glowered at Pilo. “Ugly girl, what do you think you’re doing? I’m in charge here. Always have been, always will be.”
“No,” Pilo said. She rose and stood beside Kara. “You’re not in charge of me. Besides, you’re almost dead weight, you and Lowel. Don’t do much around here except think we owe you. Why? Because you’re saving us from the outside? I think I might be in more danger from those inside the fence. How soon before you bring the clammers here, Harb? What if they won’t lie with you unless you let them come here? Based on how much water you cart them, there must be a lot of them. There can’t be many clams left on that beach, what if they want our fish?”
“Harb already told them they can’t have our fish,” Lowel said.
“Shut up, Lowel.” Harb’s voice was low and angry.
“But you told ’em,” Lowel repeated.
“I said shut up!”
“How long ago did they ask about the fish?” Kara asked quietly. “What did you tell them?” And how soon before the clammers were completely out of food and decided their survival depended on moving here?
“A long time ago,” Harb said. “And I didn’t tell them anything. And neither did Lowel.”
“Lowel, is that true?” Pilo asked.
“Don’t say nothing, Lowel,” Harb said without looking at the other youth. “It’s none of her business.”
“Yes it is,” Vook said. He leaned against the willow tree. “It’s all of our business. The clammers leave us alone because three years ago Mika told them the mad mage wanders here. He told them that we were just kids and knew how to hide. If they don’t believe that anymore, there’s nothing to stop them from coming here.”
“They’re not coming here,” Harb insisted.
“You’re wrong,” Kara said. “They don’t have water, they’re running out of food, there are more of them than there are of us, and they know there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
She met Vook’s and then Pilo’s gazes. They both looked scared. And angry.
“Gyda,” Pilo swore. “Harb, what have you done?”
“I didn’t do nothing,” Harb screamed. “They won’t come here. I told them they can’t. They haven’t even asked me anything for weeks.”
“They asked me,” Lowel said.
Harb’s head turned towards the bigger youth.
“It were Lelee. She said you told her I’d answer all her questions.”
“What questions, Lowel,” Kara asked. “We need to know.”
“She was asking how many,” Lowel replied. “I told her. Didn’t tell her about you though, Kara. Harb kept saying as you weren’t one of us, so I didn’t count you.”
“What else?”
“Well, she wanted to know about the fishing. I told her I didn’t know seeing as Vook here does all that. Oh and the mad mage. I told her we hadn’t seen him since last summer.”
Kara’s heart sank. Her safe haven had just disappeared. “How many clammers are there, Harb?”
Harb glared at her. “I don’t know,” he said. “More than all my fingers.” He held his hands up to her, fingers spread wide. “How many is that?”
“Ten,” Kara replied. “Are there more than all of yours and Lowel’s fingers?” Poor Harb didn’t even know basic counting skills. No wonder he took what pleasure he could whenever he could.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think so.”
“More than twenty then,” Kara said. “Against the six of us.”
“The fence will keep them out though,” Lowel said. “Won’t it?”
“For a while,” Kara replied. “But eventually they’ll find a way in. We need to figure out what to do before that happens.”
“I think we should run,” Pilo said.
“They won’t come,” Harb said again. “They won’t go against me.”
“They will,” Vook said. “I’ve been hungry, Harb, so hungry I couldn’t think of anything else. If they’re like that, they will get in.”
“We should run,” Pilo repeated.
“Run where?” Vook asked. “Where can we go?”
“Harb still has folk over to the crossroads,” Lowel said. “We went there once to watch them.”
“They won’t help,” Harb said.
“How do you know?” Kara asked.
“They barely fed me, and I’m their blood, they won’t help strangers.”
“Then we’ll need to find somewhere else,” Kara said. “Or we can stay here and welcome the cl
ammers.”
“No,” Pilo said. “I won’t live with clammers. They’re animals, almost.”
“They’re not that bad,” Harb said.
“They don’t wash, and they live off raw clams and bugs and rats and anything else they can catch,” Pilo said. “And when they die they eat each other. That’s why they got so many diseases. My ma told me.”
“I never saw such a thing,” Harb said. “And I’ve been going there for half a year.”
“Yeah?” Pilo said. “You ever seen one of them women big with child one week and not the next, but there’s no baby around? The whores said the clammers eat their own newborns. That’s why they’re so willing to lie with you. You give them a big belly, and they get to eat.”
“That’s not true,” Harb said. “They only want water.”
Kara shuddered. They wouldn’t know if the clammers meant them harm until they were overrun by them. Then it would be too late.
“We need to look for a new place to live,” Kara said. “Tonight. The clammers are still afraid of the mad mage—so we’ll have to move closer to him.” It was late in the season to move. They’d have to leave most of the food in their garden, and who knew if they’d find a better place to fish, but they didn’t have a choice.
Chapter eleven
ARABELLA SIPPED HER tea, waiting as Valerio’s Server cleared her plate. The Secundus had invited her for supper—a rare enough event that she was worried that he’d heard about her meetings with Rorik. He’d been pleasant enough all through their meal, but with a man like Valerio that didn’t signify anything. She much preferred the company of Primus Rorik, or even Castio. Both were clever men, and ambitious, but not as hard for her to read. Or as dangerous if she’d misread them.
“I have good news,” she said. She wanted her news out first—hoping it would strengthen her position. “I am with child.” She smiled. “Our child.”
“Congratulations,” Valerio said. “A child with potential. I know how important that is to you.”
Arabella bowed her head. Important to her, but not to him. Valerio already had numerous children—and although none were old enough to have found their talent, he had already fulfilled his duty to Mage Guild. And now, with this child, so would she.