A Curse of Ash and Embers

by Jo Spurrier

  Now, I balled up the wedding scarf in my fists, crushing it between my fingers, before I drew a deep breath and smoothed it out again and then folded it carefully to tuck away once more. Do you still remember him, Ma? Will you remember me? Or will you send the last reminders away with someone else some fine day?

  In all my life I’d never been further from home than Riverton, but we passed by the town without even stopping and turned towards the mountains, which seemed impossibly far away.

  When we stopped at noon to water the beasts, we met another traveller, a young fellow with a spavined horse and a rickety two-wheeled wagon. One of the wheels had gone awry and sat cockeyed on the axle. He seemed to have no idea how to fix it, and as the oxen drew near he looked up with a hopeful expression and Yosh gave a sigh. ‘I’d best see if the lad needs a hand; there but for the grace o’ the gods, and all that. Sal, Elodie, see to the beasts, would ye?’

  In the end the rickety wagon had to be unloaded before Yosh and the fellow could get the wheel seated properly, and then we helped load it up while the fellow thanked Yosh over and over again. He had an odd way of speaking that sounded very funny to me. I fancied it might be some city accent, but I held back from asking. It had been years since I’d been allowed to leave the farm and talk to anyone from the outside, and I wasn’t eager to make a fool of myself by asking stupid questions. ‘My good fellow,’ the young man said to Yosh. ‘I simply can’t thank you enough for your assistance. Would it be at all possible for me to, well, travel along with you a ways? It seems to me that keeping together would be a jolly good idea. Safety in numbers, as they say.’ He’d stripped down to shirtsleeves to put the little tip-cart to rights, but now he pulled on a rather shabby-looking jacket and a ridiculous velvet cap, which immediately tipped over to one side. He had a patchy beard that he’d tried to groom into a point, without much success.

  Yosh rubbed his bristling chin. ‘Well that depends, lad. Where are you headed? Up to Overton?’

  ‘That’s right. I’ve not left the city before, you see, and one hears all kinds of stories of what happens out on the roads.’

  ‘Well the Overton road’s safe as houses, ain’t no bandits along this stretch. But I don’t suppose you’d go any slower than us, even if you ain’t going any faster.’ He looked over to where Sal and I waited by the wagon. ‘What’s your trade, young master?’

  ‘I . . .’ the fellow glanced around. ‘I’m a wizard,’ he said.

  Yosh burst out laughing. ‘A wizard! Well I never! Shame you didn’t learn any spells for fixing wheels, isn’t it?’

  Next to me, Sal giggled, and I hid a smile behind my hand, while the young man flushed and looked down. ‘I guess so,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately they don’t teach anything like that at the University. My specialities are prognostication and medicinal charms, although I do dabble in alchemy as well.’

  ‘Alchemy? Like turning lead into gold?’

  ‘Well, yes, although to be honest that’s not so hard, it’s that, economically—’

  ‘Well fancy that,’ Yosh interrupted. ‘Sure, lad, you can come along with us a ways, if it suits you. Just let me tell you this, you meddle with my lasses here and I’ll knock you on your arse and set your wheel back the way I found it. Understood?’

  The wizard blanched. ‘Oh, yes, sir, absolutely. I’d never dream of trifling with your lovely daughters. And I’m just ever so grateful for your help.’

  ‘It’s naught, young man. Today you, tomorrow me, that’s the way it is for us country folk. What’s your name?’

  ‘It’s Brian, sir.’

  ‘Brian, is it? The Great Brian? The Astounding Brian?’

  The fellow had such a mournful look on his face that I almost felt sorry for him. ‘Just Brian, sir.’

  ‘I ain’t no sir, Brian. Just call me Yosh. Now let’s get movin’, daylight’s wastin’.’

  I hoped the new addition to our little party would provide some distraction from the boredom of travel, but I was sorely disappointed, at least until we pitched camp that evening. Then, while Yosh tended the beasts, Sal and I collected wood for a fire and water for our kettle. When Sal went to fetch flint and steel, I watched the young wizard sidle over to the fire and sprinkle a pinch of powder over the little pile of kindling. He followed it up with a sprinkle of water as I frowned, wondering what on earth he was doing — then, with a pop and a hiss and a gout of black smoke, the kindling burst into crackling flames.

  Up on the wagon, Sal’s head shot up with a bounce of her blonde braids. ‘Oh,’ she said, and hurried over to tend the flames. She didn’t so much as glance at the young wizard, and I saw him sag in dejection at the lack of response.

  When it was time for dinner Yosh offered to share our meal, and the wizard jumped to offer his own contribution; though it turned out to be nothing but bread and cheese, the cheese quite good though the bread was very stale. It made a good rarebit though, with a sauce made from the cheese and some of Yosh’s ale.

  ‘I do hope you’re not just living off bread and cheese,’ I said to Brian as we ate. Looking at his pallid skin and sunken cheeks, I suspected he was.

  ‘To be honest, miss,’ he began, ‘I’m not very good at cooking. I bought a big sack of dried beans because I’d heard they were good for travelling but I just can’t seem to get them to cook right. The woman in the shop said they just need to simmer for a few minutes.’

  Sal laughed in a long peal, and I scowled and kicked her foot with my toe, though Brian was already as red as a beet. ‘There’s no need to be so rude,’ I snapped at her, forgetting for a moment that she wasn’t my little sister. ‘That woman was having you on,’ I said to Brian. ‘It takes a lot longer than a few minutes, more like two hours. Or you can set them soaking the night before to make it faster.’ He nodded attentively, and thanked me most politely.

  ‘I take it a lot of folk like to give you lads a hard time,’ Yosh said, once the discussion was done.

  ‘It’s true, sir, and there are so many charlatans about that I can’t fault folk for being suspicious. And unfortunately, while true wizardry is seen to be a prestigious career, there’s just not a lot of work for new graduates.’

  ‘So what do you do for coin, young Brian?’ Yosh said.

  ‘Well, as I said, my speciality is prognostication . . .’ he trailed off, looking at us across the fire. ‘Fortunes,’ he said. ‘I tell fortunes.’

  ‘My ma says fortune-tellers are all swindlers and thieves,’ Sal said.

  Yosh broke into a laugh that he quickly turned into a cough, before composing his face. ‘Young lady,’ he scolded. ‘You’ve been told once to mind your manners! Off to bed with you if you can’t be civil.’

  With a roll of her eyes, Sal slammed down her bowl and stalked off.

  Brian hurriedly scraped up the last of his meal and stood as well. ‘I’ll, er, I’d best . . . I think I’ll just go and note down those instructions you gave me, miss. Many thanks, and good night.’ He slunk off into the darkness behind his wagon.

  I looked over the abandoned dishes with a sigh. ‘I’ll just clean all this up, shall I?’

  The next day, as we continued trudging towards the mountains, I kept looking back at our little wizard trailing behind the oxcart in his rickety wagon. I’d never met a wizard before — never even imagined one, really; and if I had, he was not what I would have expected. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. No one believed in his powers — Lord and Lady, I didn’t truly believe in them myself, even after the trick he’d pulled with the fire — and everyone mocked him. I felt cross over the way he’d been tricked with the beans; how many hungry nights had he had because of one person’s sport?

  I didn’t mean to be obvious about it, but Yosh soon noticed, and pulled me away from Sal for a quick word. ‘Found something to catch your eye, young Elodie?’

  I knew at once what he was getting at, and felt myself flush. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I may be old, lass, but I’m not an old fool. You’ve b
een eyeing that young lad up all day.’

  I could feel my cheeks getting hotter by the minute. ‘I have not!’

  He just gave a dry chuckle.

  ‘No, really,’ I protested. ‘I don’t know what you’ve heard from my stepfather, but I’m not a fool. For one thing, anyone can see he’s as poor as a church mouse, he’s got no means of keeping a wife. For another, I’ve blessed well only just met him! And for a third, well, he’s kind of pathetic.’

  Yosh laughed out loud at that. ‘Well, he is that, lass, I can’t fault your thinking there. But I can see you’re a kind-hearted girl, and I’ve seen many a sweet young lass like you try to rescue broken-winged birds and lame hounds, only to find themselves saddled with a bird that can’t fly or a dog that won’t hunt.’

  ‘I know that,’ I muttered. ‘I’m just trying to imagine where he’s come from, what his life must be like, roaming around in that wagon that’s going to fall apart if it hits a stiff breeze.’

  ‘And what do you think of it?’

  ‘It’s got to be a cold and lonely way to live, for the sake of knowing a few bits of magic that everyone thinks is trickery anyway. Is it worth it?’ I gave him a sidelong glance. ‘Do you believe in it?’

  ‘Believe in it? I don’t know about that, lass. But I’ve seen some things. I really have. Whether that young fellow has any real power is not for me to say, but some of the others . . . let’s just say I’ve seen things I hope never to see again. You’ve got a job a-waiting for you with a roof over your head, a warm fire and food in your belly. That’s worth a cursed lot more than the freedom to starve and shiver under the open blessed sky.’

  I looked down at my feet. ‘Don’t worry yourself about me, Yosh, I’ve done my share of starving and shivering. But . . .’ I bit my lip, glancing up at him. Why couldn’t Ma have married someone like him, instead of that fat-head she calls a husband? ‘But what’s wrong with having a bit of curiosity?’

  ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’

  ‘But satisfaction brought him back,’ I retorted. ‘When am I ever going to meet a wizard again? I’ve been at the farm most of my life, and soon enough I’ll be slaving away in another blessed kitchen. Why shouldn’t I enjoy a bit of freedom while I can?’

  ‘Why indeed?’ Yosh said with a shrug. ‘You’re a sensible lass, Elodie.’

  We left it there, but the whole exchange left something of a sour taste in my mouth. Sensible. That’s what Ma always called me, when Lem wasn’t around to object to the hint of praise. I’d always been the sensible one, while my little brothers and sisters got to run around playing the fool.

  At midday we stopped again to water the beasts and have some lunch. As I was buttering bread, I heard Yosh make a concerned noise and I looked up to see a dust-cloud heading towards us along the road.

  ‘Someone’s in a big damn hurry,’ Yosh muttered. ‘Must be a messenger or some such.’

  ‘Isn’t that cloud a bit too big to be from one horse?’ I said.

  ‘Aye, it is. But not big enough for a stage-coach or the like. Could be a man and a couple of guards. Well, they’re movin’ quick, should be past us by the time we hit the road again.’

  The cloud drew closer and closer, and Brian came over to confer with Yosh, although he didn’t know anything more, even with his big-city background.

  Then, before they’d even finished talking, the cloud was upon us. The dust was kicked up by three riders, each one on a beautiful black horse, so alike they could have been cut from the same cloth. The riders matched too — each of them wrapped in a black cloak, with hoods drawn forward to hide their faces.

  The riders slowed, and then halted in the swirling dust. They stopped in a neat formation, each of them a precise distance apart. Utterly still and facing dead ahead along the road.

  Something about the sight of them made my chest grow tight, and after a moment I figured out what it was — that stillness. The horses didn’t toss their heads or stamp their feet. They didn’t so much as twitch an ear or swish a tail.

  Then one of the men turned his horse towards us and kicked it forward.

  I took a step back towards the wagon. The men hadn’t spoken. They’d stopped a few horse-lengths apart, with no milling together, no conversation, no agreement for one man to approach. There was something deeply unnatural about it. About all of it.

  Next to Yosh, Brian made a small noise, like the whimper of a puppy.

  ‘I think I’d best go see what they want,’ Yosh said.

  ‘No,’ Brian said quickly. ‘No, Yosh. Stay with your girls. I’ll go.’ Before Yosh had time to reply, the young wizard went striding out to meet the black rider.

  Yosh didn’t argue, and made no move to follow. Sal came over to us, and I caught her by the shoulder to draw her back behind the wagon and out of sight. But at the same time I couldn’t bear to look away as the first rider bent down in the saddle to talk to Brian. Behind him, the two on the road stood as still as statues. The horses, too.

  ‘What are they?’ Sal asked in a worried voice.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Let’s just stay back here out of sight.’

  After a few minutes, the rider wheeled his horse and, with a touch of his heels, the beast set off at a gallop once more. The other riders spurred their horses forward too, without any signal that I could see, moving in perfect unison.

  As the dust-cloud moved away from us I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Lord and Lady, they’re going.’

  ‘But what were they?’ Sal said. ‘Da?’

  ‘Don’t pay them any mind, sweet,’ Yosh said. ‘No mind at all. They’re just some lord’s messengers, I’d say, going about their business.’

  Sal frowned. ‘But what about him then?’ she said, pointing. ‘What’s he doing?’

  Brian was still standing in the spot where he’d spoken to the rider, shoulders hunched, head bowed, cap in his hand like a servant speaking to his master. He stood there, frozen and still.

  Yosh sucked in a breath. ‘Get back on the wagon, Sal. You too, Elodie.’

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ I said.

  ‘Elodie, I said—’

  I shook my head. ‘Something’s not right. He’s sick, or hurt . . . or something.’

  Yosh’s lips twitched, but he didn’t argue. He started towards our companion. ‘Brian? You all right there, lad? What did they want?’

  I followed Yosh over. Brian made no response. He just stood there, completely still.

  Yosh laid a hand on his shoulder, but there was no response. ‘Brian?’

  Heart beating hard, I touched the wizard’s forehead. It felt normal, no fever, though his skin was beaded with sweat. He blinked, and as I circled around him I could see his skinny chest rising and falling with his breath. ‘Brian?’ I said, softly.

  Nothing. Not even a twitch of his eyes.

  Yosh and I exchanged a glance.

  I took hold of Brian’s hand, and met no resistance. He moved at the slightest pressure, and when the pressure ceased, stayed where I’d pushed him.

  ‘What on earth . . .’ Yosh began.

  ‘They did something to him,’ I said. ‘Those riders.’

  ‘All they did was talk to him,’ Yosh muttered.

  I chewed on my lip, thinking. Brian knew something about them, I thought to myself. Since we’d met him the day before, he’d deferred to Yosh in everything, except this. He knew something about them, and had gone to speak to them himself. Why? To spare Yosh this fate?

  I took Brian’s hand again, and tugged him forward. He followed me obediently.

  ‘Maybe we should get moving,’ I said to Yosh. ‘I can drive his wagon if you help me get him up into the seat.’

  Under a haze of dust, Yosh looked over our little rest-stop and then surveyed the road before us and behind. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘All right. That seems sensible. The pace those . . . gentlemen . . . are setting, there’s no danger of us catching up to them.’ With a clenched fist, he drew a circle over his heart, using th
e sign of the gods to ward off evil. Then he took Brian’s other arm. ‘Come on now, lad. Let’s get you up into your seat.’

  CHAPTER 2

  The way Brian sat beside me on the wagon seat reminded me of my sisters’ porcelain dolls, posed still as statues until the girls came to play with them again. I talked to him as we plodded through the settling dust, the same way I’d talk to an anxious beast or a fussing baby. For hours there was no response at all but eventually he was able to turn his head and look at me, and reply with sighs and wordless sounds.

  We stopped and pitched camp as the sun was sinking. Since Brian was still lost in whatever it was that had ensorcelled him, I saw to his horse, and once I’d finished watering and grooming the poor beast, just as the sun dipped below the horizon, I returned to the fire to find the young wizard shivering like he was palsied, and looking around with wild eyes.

  I hurried back to his side. ‘Brian? Are you all right?’

  He was shivering too hard to speak, so I fetched a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders while he stammered his thanks. Hearing him speak, Yosh hurried over as well. ‘So you’re back with us, lad? Glad to see it, I was starting to think you were off with the fairies for good.’

  ‘What happened to you?’ I said.

  He shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I-I-I-I c-can’t.’

  ‘Hush then,’ I said. I still had it in my head that he was a nervous animal to be soothed. ‘Don’t speak of it if it upsets you. I’ll make you a nice cup of tea, all right? My ma always says it’s the best thing for an attack of nerves.’

  ‘Does she?’ Yosh said. ‘Mine always swore by a nip of whisky. You fetch him your remedy, Dee, and I’ll fetch him mine.’

  After a couple of swigs from Yosh’s bottle, a cup of tea sweetened with honey, and then some food in his belly, Brian had stopped trembling so badly. He went to check on his horse and all his gear, and I followed him over. ‘I hope you don’t mind, I had a look in your wagon to see if there was any feed for your horse.’