The Witch's City

by M. Gregg Roe

  Saxloc wiped his face again as he contemplated the utter ruin of his dreams.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Draymund was happy to finally be allowed to sleep with his wife in his own bed, although the two of them were still at odds over a number of things. As he had feared, telling their son the same thing that Almera had already told him simply made things worse. Saxloc seemed to be in a deep depression, refusing to talk to people and neglecting his studies. Instead, he spent endless hours practicing below the mansion, frequently injuring himself.

  He rarely saw Audrey. She ate in her cottage most of the time and seldom visited. But when he did see her—usually while he was walking about the grounds—she always looked sad. Concerned, he had gone to see Grasapa earlier that day, but she had simply counseled patience.

  Rosalind was the exception. She was eager to learn how to cast spells and kept asking him questions about magic. Her parents had been by to visit her one day (and had been overwhelmed by the mansion). The previous evening, three of her cousins had come over to play Sparrow, and the four of them had played until nearly midnight. They were still planning to move Rosalind out once she gained some weight, but he now worried that she wouldn’t leave.

  Almera walked into the bedroom wearing a yellow cotton nightgown that matched the nightshirt he was wearing. She looked tired but was also showing a trace of a smile. “Help will arrive tomorrow,” she announced as she climbed into her side of the bed and pulled the quilt up to her waist. “I’ll meet her ship in the morning.”

  “Excellent.” The two of them had fought about whether they needed help and where it should come from. He had wanted to seek help from one of the local temples, but he had to admit that his wife’s plan to contact one of their oldest friends made more sense.

  “I bought something today for you,” she said, sporting a smug look he knew well.

  He glanced around their bedroom. “Well? Where is it?”

  “It’s not something that can be moved.”

  Draymund really didn’t feel like engaging in a guessing game. He allowed his irritation to show as he said, “Just tell me, Almera.”

  “Very well. It’s a piece of land that you can build something on.”

  “The lot where Sharp Edges used to be?” he asked hopefully.

  “Yes. I snapped it up before Celebern could. There are advantages to being Ermizad’s friend. Now you can build your own weapon shop.”

  Draymund laughed. “I think I will. There actually is a need for one now.” He leaned over and gave his wife a kiss. “Thank you. That was very thoughtful. And I didn’t get you anything.”

  “I’m sure that I will think of something. Perhaps another greenhouse?”

  He assumed she was kidding, but you never knew. “Whatever you like, dear.”

  13

  ‡ Friends ‡

  “What does the letter say?” asked Valwyn. “Can we go and visit?”

  Her mother gave her an annoyed look, and she grinned in reply, showing her teeth. Branwyn went back to reading the letter as Valwyn sat back and toyed with a lock of her long blond hair. She had gotten her blond hair from her mother, and she wished that she had gotten the blue eyes too instead of her father’s boring brown ones. But at least she hadn’t inherited her mother’s dull looks. Valwyn considered herself to be quite cute. What really worried her is that she might have inherited her mother’s rather flat chest. Teenage boys had definitely begun to interest her, and from what she could tell, they preferred girls with sizable breasts.

  Branwyn put the letter down on the table. “Almera says that Audrey has moved out of the mansion and is now living in their guest cottage.”

  “What guest cottage? They don’t have a guest cottage.” Valwyn frowned. “Do they?”

  Her mother had a sly look now, and Valwyn narrowed her eyes in response. “They do now. They built it while Saxloc and Audrey were off on an adventure. She says that Audrey was quite surprised.”

  “I’m sure she was. I wonder how big it is? It’s probably bigger than this place.” Draymund and Almera’s mansion was insanely huge in her opinion.

  “It doesn’t say, but I doubt it. Audrey has no interest in wealth, so it’s probably just big enough for her.”

  Valwyn rolled her eyes and spread her hands. “What’s wrong with her? Wealth is good! A big house is good! Can’t we move to a bigger house so I can have a whole set of rooms like Saxloc does? Or how about I go live with them?”

  “What kind of attitude is that for a girl who claims she wants to become a Priestess of Arwon?”

  Valwyn returned her mother’s frown and crossed her arms. “Maybe I’ve changed my mind. I’ll ask Tilda to train me to be a thief. I’ll steal all kinds of treasure and live in a huge castle! I’ll bathe in gold coins!”

  “One more word and you will clean the entire house when we get back here later. Inside and out. Go put on your cloak. We’re heading to my temple now.”

  Valwyn clamped her right hand over her mouth, stood up, and then walked over to the front door. She made a show of struggling to don her cloak without uncovering her mouth.

  Branwyn closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. “How would you like to clean the entire temple?” she threatened.

  Valwyn quickly finished putting on her cloak while her mother donned her own. She grinned at her mother and gestured at the door. The two of them left the house and began to head west, following a wide downhill path. Valwyn pretended to talk but didn’t make a sound.

  Branwyn chuckled. “All right, Valwyn. You may speak now.”

  “Good. When are we going to go visit Draymund and Almera?”

  Her mother hesitated briefly. “I promised to take Petra to visit Gabriel if she kept behaving. That will probably be in early Summer, and you can go with us. But there was something else in the letter. I may head there as soon as tomorrow. I’ll speak to your father later.”

  “Can I go?” asked Valwyn hopefully.

  “No. This is something serious, and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”

  Valwyn was tempted to keep begging, but she didn’t want to risk angering her mother. One time she really had made her scrub all of the temple’s stone floors. She had been sore for days after that.

  At the bottom of the hill, they turned south. Valwyn scowled at the sky; it was overcast and looked like rain. Then she scowled at the even taller hill ahead of them. Stupid tall hill. A large, three-sided building on top of it housed temples to the three major deities: Dukane, Arwon, and Karth. Valwyn spotted a handsome teenage boy, but he was walking along with a pretty teenage girl—a busty teenage girl. Valwyn glanced downward and sighed.

  “There is still hope, Valwyn. Your father’s mother had large breasts.”

  Valwyn blushed as she looked in surprise at her now-smiling mother. “What about your mother?”

  Branwyn looked sad as the two of them started to climb the path that spiraled around the temple’s hill. “I don’t remember. I was separated from her when I was five. I can’t even remember her face.”

  I really should have known better than to ask about that. They were approaching the top now. They hadn’t passed anyone on the way up, but that was hardly unusual. The path ended in front of the Dukane portion of the temple. Valwyn waved at Druna, the dark-haired and somewhat plump young woman who was the acolyte standing at the entrance of that part of the temple. The two of them turned right and walked around to the Arwon portion. Her mother’s acolyte Olitha smiled at them as they approached the entrance.

  “Good morning, Priestess Branwyn,” said Olitha as they approached her. The plain-looking woman and her husband Beron were Branwyn’s only acolytes.

  “Good morning, Olitha,” said Branwyn. “You may go inside now. Valwyn will take care of greeting any visitors.” Olitha gave Valwyn a nod and then went inside.

  “I know,” said Valwyn before her mother could say anything. “Be polite. Accept their donation. If they need something, find out what it is before sending th
em to either you or Olitha. I can handle it.”

  “I know you can, but not if you will. Last time we found you asleep out here.” She pointed a finger. “No sleeping. If you do a good job today, we will stop and buy something sweet on the way home to have for dessert tonight.”

  That perked Valwyn up; she adored sweets. She stood up straight and tried to look serious. “I will do my best,” she proclaimed. “The temple is in good hands.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Valwyn. You’re just the greeter.”

  As soon as her mother was out of sight, Valwyn sat down with her legs crossed in front of her. She would do her best to stay awake, but she was not going to stand all morning. At least the view was nice. She could see the Diar River and the dense forest that lay beyond it. To the right were the docks, with a Novox ship currently being loaded, and beyond that, the ferry landing at the confluence.

  Valwyn was just starting to nod off when she felt someone poke her right shoulder. She looked over to see Hanna standing next to her, looking uncertain. Despite being two years younger than Valwyn, Hanna was already taller. She had her mother’s lustrous brown hair, swarthy skin, and slim build. From her father came striking green eyes, and sadly, a rather homely face. Like her mother Tilda, Hanna rarely wore clothing that wasn’t dark brown.

  “Do you need something, Hanna?” asked Valwyn gently.

  Hanna nodded and held up her arms. Her wrists were badly abraded, causing Valwyn to wince at the sight. “Your ankles too?” asked Valwyn, and Hanna nodded again. “You were practicing escaping after being tied up?” Another nod. I have got to stop asking her questions she can answer that way.

  Sometimes Valwyn despaired of her friend. Hanna had started out like any other little girl, laughing and playing and generally carefree. The criticism and ostracism that had resulted from the revelation of her mother’s lies had deeply affected her, and Valwyn still felt guilty for her part in that. Hanna had once been quite talkative, but now words had to be pried out of her.

  “Are your skills improving? And don’t nod!”

  “Yes.” It was barely audible, but at least she had spoken.

  “Okay. Go inside and ask Olitha to heal you. You know where to find her, right?”

  Hanna nodded again and began to dig through her belt pouch. She held out three tarnished copper pieces on her palm and looked at Valwyn questioningly.

  Valwyn stood up. “Put it away, Hanna. Donations aren’t required, and you know that you can ask my mother to heal you anytime.”

  Hanna pursed her lips, looking uncertain, but she put the coins back away.

  “Good. Now go get healed. Then you can come back and keep me from falling asleep. My mother threatened dire consequences if I do.”

  The sides of Hanna’s mouth curled up slightly. “Okay.”

  Another word! Progress! If she was lucky, Hanna might say three or four more words by lunchtime.

  Valwyn sat back down as Hanna walked inside, her footsteps making no sound. She was not going to give up on Hanna, as nearly everyone else seemed to have done.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The room suddenly darkened. Petra put down the stylus and pulled aside the blue curtains covering the window in front of the desk. She was on the topmost floor of the castle, and the view to the north was magnificent. The return of bright sunshine soon forced her to hurriedly close the curtains again. Petra stretched her arms above her head, pushed back her chair, and then did a few more stretches to unkink her muscles. The room she was using was part of Siljan’s suite. It was the room where Siljan studied. (And composed surprisingly-bad poetry from what Petra could tell.) The contents of the various shelves and drawers were neat and organized, completely unlike Valwyn’s room and surprising given what Petra knew of Siljan’s personality.

  Petra’s perfect memory wasn’t helping her as much as she had hoped. It had made learning to read a simple task, but didn’t help at all with her handwriting. Only practice would improve that. The other issue was that memorization wasn’t the same as comprehension. Petra had looked through a book about the gods two days ago and could recall each page perfectly, but that wasn’t the same as reading it. At best, her memory allowed her to read somewhat faster because the text was all in her head. She could also look up new words quickly because she had memorized a dictionary. But all in all, it required time and effort, dashing her dream of quickly working her way through the entire castle library.

  As a teacher, Petra considered Sabrina to be strict but fair. And her lessons certainly weren’t monotonous. No two were identical. This morning Sabrina had tasked her with writing an essay about her adjustment to the outside world. It would help Sabrina to understand her better while also serving as handwriting practice. Yesterday, the two of them had gone to visit High Priest Oliver, and he had told them all about the history of Zardis, his former home.

  Petra set back to her task but was soon interrupted by Sabrina’s arrival. “How is it going?” she asked as she strolled into the room.

  “Okay, but I’m not done yet.” Petra turned to look at the gently-smiling woman. As always, she was well-groomed and wearing an elegant dress.

  “That’s fine. I’d rather have it done well than rushed. That was often Siljan’s problem. Anyway, that’s enough for now. It’s time for lunch. Then we are going to the confluence to learn more about the giant lizards.”

  “Really?” asked Petra as she put away the stylus and paper. “Lizards?”

  “Yes. There used to be more of them and they were used for more than just manual labor.”

  Petra smiled. “Okay. That sounds interesting.”

  “What types of people worship Lasrina?”

  Abrupt, off-topic questions were one of Sabrina’s hallmarks. Petra thought about it. The book had said that Lasrina was associated with luck and beauty. “Gamblers?” she hazarded.

  “Yes. And?”

  “I guess anyone wanting good fortune. Maybe in business or in a battle?”

  “Or in love. Yes. Who else?”

  Petra pursed her lips as she thought. “Females who are worried about their looks?”

  Sabrina laughed. “Exactly. Especially adolescent girls. But even older women sometimes. And probably some men too.” She shook her head to toss her thick dark hair. “Fortunately, neither of us have need of Lasrina’s blessings in that respect.”

  Petra burst out laughing as the woman struck a pose that was both haughty and sexy. She had been worried about being taught by “Queen Sabrina”, but had come to both like and respect her. Sabrina made learning fun.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “We’re going to a bakery, aren’t we?” asked Petra.

  Valwyn grinned in response. “Of course. Don’t you want something sweet?”

  “Yes,” replied Petra. Hanna nodded, looking very interested.

  “What was that, Hanna?” asked Valwyn. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “Yes,” said Hanna in a quiet voice. “I want a sweet roll.”

  Valwyn counted on her fingers. “Six words! Amazing!”

  Hanna frowned at her. Petra laughed and said, “She only said four words during dinner.”

  “Really?” asked Hanna, and Valwyn and Petra both laughed. Hanna pouted at them. “Stop making fun of me.”

  “Six more words,” announced Petra, causing Hanna to shake her head and frown.

  Valwyn was impressed. She still envied Petra’s perfect memory, but the girl was making good use of it to emphasize how little Hanna spoke.

  Petra suddenly brought them to a stop. “Can we look here first?” she asked eagerly.

  They were in front of A-Dora-ble Dresses, and Valwyn was not happy. “Why?” she demanded.

  Petra pointed through the window. “There’s a cute dark green dress. I want to see if they have it in my size.”

  Valwyn hardly ever wore a dress, but Petra rarely wore anything else. She was wearing a light blue cotton dress now and looked annoyingly good in it. Valwyn glanced at Hanna, and she shrugg
ed in response. “Okay,” said Valwyn, “but make it fast. Those sweet rolls aren’t getting any fresher.”

  Petra went inside, with Valwyn and Hanna following. It was the most disorganized clothing shop that she had ever seen. A tall woman clad in a tight black dress with a deep V-neck pushed through the black curtains that gave access to the back of the shop and walked toward them. Given how tall she was, Valwyn was surprised to see that she the woman was actually a half-elf.

  “Good evening, girls,” said the woman, smiling broadly. “I’m Dora. What can I help you with?”

  Petra pointed to a table to her right. “Do you have that dark green dress in my size?”

  Dora tilted her head. “I’m afraid not. You’re very short. But I can make one for you. I still have more of that fabric upstairs.”

  Petra frowned. “I’ll have to check with someone first.” She picked up the dress and examined it. Valwyn could see that it was much too large for her. “I really like it.”

  Valwyn walked up to the two of them. “Go ahead and order it, Petra. I’m sure my mother will agree to pay for it.”

  Petra’s face lit up, but Dora frowned. “I would prefer to hear that from your mother herself. My dresses aren’t cheap.”

  “How much is it?” asked Petra with a look of concern.

  “Thirty silver.”

  Petra was turning pale, and Hanna’s eyes were huge with surprise. “Okay,” said Valwyn. “We will definitely need to ask my mother first.” That’s way too expensive. She’ll never agree.

  Petra fingered the fabric and commented, “This is really a cold-weather dress.”

  Dora nodded. “Yes. I’m working on a hot-weather version. It will have short sleeves, a shorter skirt, and be made from a lighter fabric.”

  Petra pointed to the front of the dress. “Will it still have this cutout?”

  Valwyn sighed. The dress had a wide, oval-shaped cutout that was clearly designed to display the wearer’s cleavage. Petra may have been short, but she was very shapely. She’s probably planning to use it to try to snare Gabriel.