William called to the children. He and Thomas escorted them up to the barn to play while the women returned to Amber’s house to begin the cycle of food preparation anew. Tanyth was given a place by the hearth, a fresh mug of hot tea, and some small tasks to keep her hands busy. She feared that she’d feel odd in their company after sharing her secret. She delighted in being wrong.
Chapter 20
Waiting
Within two days, the village was back to near normal. Tanyth moved in with Megan and her children while Harry was on the road with Frank. After some initial awkwardness, the two women soon found they liked each other’s company and fell into an easy comfort when together, even as Amber and Sadie treated Tanyth with a respectful reserve. In the meantime the quarrymen finished closing the quarry for the season and set up one of the spare houses as a kind of barracks where they could rotate the guard duties more equitably and still have a place to sleep without inconveniencing one of the households. If Jakey was a bit prickly about the lack of work that had been done, he took up a shift as guard readily enough and Tanyth thought he’d grown somewhat less concerned for the quarry as he was drawn into plans for building the inn.
As time went on, there was no repeat of the attack, nor had Andrew Birchwood and his bully boys returned to demand their tribute. Some of the villagers talked openly about their hope that it was over. Thomas was not one of them, nor was Tanyth. William was firmly convinced that the worst had not yet come.
Tanyth and Megan heard the men walk by their house and knock on Wiliam’s door just before sundown on the second day after Harvest Moon. Megan and Tanyth followed in their wake to see what new thing had happened. They found three of the younger quarrymen outside Amber and William’s back door talking earnestly to William who stood on the floor just inside. Karl Bolten, a squared off youngster with heavy arms, seemed to be the leader of the group. Tanyth looked around but didn’t see Jakey anywhere and wondered what that meant.
“It’s only been two days, Karl.” William was shaking his head. “They’ll be back and when they do, it won’t be to sprinkle a little lamp oil around.”
Karl looked at his friends who shook their heads. “Ok, William, but how long are we going to have to stay up guardin’? If I’d wanted to be a soldier, I’d have joined the King’s Own.”
“How long to you want to keep wakin’ up on the green side of the sod, Karl?” William’s voice was quiet and reasonable.
Karl looked startled at that.
William continued in his quietly reasonable voice. “As soon as we let down our guard, people will start getting’ hurt. Some might be killed. Birchwood and his boys have killed before.” He shrugged. “Out here? There’s precious little to keep them from killin’ again, except they’re cowards and won’t face a fair fight.”
Karl recovered a bit of his composure. “Well, how long then, William? A week? A month? All winter? What?”
William shrugged. “Dunno, Karl. Until they get bored and wander on to the next town, I’d guess.”
“Well, why don’t we hunt ’em down and deal with them first?” Matthew Olivet spoke from behind Karl.
William shifted his gaze to Matthew. “You mean hunt them down and kill them?” His voice was flat.
Matthew clenched his hands into fists a couple of times as he considered the words. “Well, why not, if they’re going to start killin’ us?”
“They haven’t yet, though, have they?” William asked.
“They mighta. You jes’ said so.” The burly quarryman was losing his assurance.
William stared at him for a long moment. “Are we killers then, Matthew?” His eyes turned harder than Tanyth had ever seen them before. “Are we the kind of people who’ll hunt men because we’re afraid of them? Too weak to hold what’s ours by right?”
Matthew was shaken but not ready to back down. “But you just got done sayin’ they’re gonna come back and start getting’ serious about hurtin’ people, William. You just said!” He looked for support from his cronies. “Didn’t he just say that?”
They nodded and muttered assent but Tanyth thought it wasn’t particularly enthusiastic agreement.
William crossed his arms. “And they very well might. I fully expect that they will.”
Matthew grinned feeling vindication, but William wasn’t done.
“And they might not. I could be wrong. They might have a change of heart and a sudden infusion of the All-Mother’s love and decide to become wanderin’ monks.”
Karl sniggered and Matthew looked confused. “What are you sayin’, man? Those boyos are no more gonna find religion than I am.” He realized that Tanyth was standing behind his left shoulder and turned with a gruff and slightly embarrassed smile. “No offense, mum.”
Tanyth smiled and nodded an acknowledgment, but didn’t speak.
“I don’t think so either, Matt.” William softened his stance a bit. “And if they show up here to do us hurt, they’ll find that Mama Mapleton raised no cowards.” He looked from face to face. “But if you boys can’t see the difference between self-defense and murder, we need to have a bit of a think about that.”
The word “murder” set them back.
William pressed his advantage. “They haven’t even made any demands yet. Just vague threats. If we keep our heads up and our backs covered, they may decide we’re too tough a nut to dig the meat out of and go their way.”
That logic touched something in Tanyth. Would they succeed in driving the thugs off only to have the next village down the Pike have somebody hurt, or even killed? The thought made her queasy, but she understood William’s point.
In the face of their crumbling resistance, William offered a token. “We’ll keep watch for three more days. If nothin’ else happens, then we’ll talk about it again and we can get back to normal.”
That seemed to mollify them. They looked at each other and nodded before nodding to William and tramping off between the huts.
Thomas stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the doorway. He nodded to Tanyth and then crouched down so he could talk directly to William where he stood on the lower floor of the hut. “You believe that, Will? They’ll leave us alone?”
He shook his head. “We keep up the guard for three more days. They’ll strike. It’s been two days now and Dandy Andy was never the most patient of beings.” His eyes turned hard again. “If he can’t strike us, he’ll lose the confidence of his men. He can’t allow that to happen.”
Thomas grunted his agreement. “So what do we do?”
William’s face lost its hardness and he shook his head in frustration. “We wait until they move and we pray to the All-Mother that we see it coming and can protect ourselves against it.”
“And then what?” Thomas pressed.
Tanyth thought that William aged ten winters on that one question. “Then we do whatever we have to do,” he said.
Thomas must have seen it, too, because he glanced up to where Tanyth and Megan observed from the edge of the light before looking back at his friend. “It’s not gonna be pretty.”
“Yes. I know.” William looked to Tanyth. “You haven’t had any more visions, mum?”
Tanyth shook her head. “No, but when I do, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you, mum.” William nodded respectfully. “It’s all I can ask.”
Thomas stood up from his easy crouch and sighed. “Well I best go find Karl. He’s got guard duty with me ’til midnight.”
“And I better get some sleep.” William smiled. “I’ve got to relieve you.” With a nod, he closed the door again.
Thomas turned to Tanyth and Megan. “Can I walk you ladies home?” His smile was a slash of white in the dimness of the not-quite-risen moon.
Megan giggled. “If you like.”
Tanyth laughed. “All fifteen paces of it, and we’ll be grateful for your company, kind sir.”
Still he walked with them, keeping an eye roving across the shadows and alert to the sounds of the
wind in the treetops and the night birds in the forest. He stood outside until they’d closed the door and latched it behind them. From inside the door, the two women didn’t hear him leave, but Tanyth knew without a doubt that he’d gone.
Megan turned to her with eyes wide. “What do you think William meant by ’we’ll do what it takes,’ mum?”
Tanyth sighed. “Well, my dear, I think he meant we’ll do whatever we need to do to protect the people of the village.”
“Yes, mum, but that sounded ominous.” She shuddered.
Tanyth shrugged. “Well, maybe it won’t come to much. Bullies tend to back down when confronted.”
Megan looked unconvinced but nodded a half-hearted agreement.
They retired to their usual places beside the hearth. The day was winding down and both women felt it. Standing outside as the day chilled to night had left Tanyth thinking that a hot cup of chamomile tea would go nicely before she crawled into her bedroll. She started to stoke up the fire, but Megan stopped her.
“You just let me do that, mum.” Megan pressed her back into her seat by the fire. “I’ll make us a nice cup and then we can get some sleep.”
Tanyth let the younger woman fuss over her a bit and soon they were seated side by side and sipping their tea. The companionable silence was broken only by the occasional snapping of the fire and the odd snort or moan from the pile of children sleeping in the corner.
“What do you think will become of us, mum?” Megan’s voice was low and she stared into the fire with a dreamy expression.
Tanyth sipped and felt the warmth of the liquid sink down her throat. “That’s not for us to know, I think.” Her voice was equally low, barely a murmur. She, too, was raptly gazing into the play of flame above the log. “All we can do is the best we can, try to live a good life, and deal with each day that the All-Mother gives us.”
Megan sighed. “I know, mum, but with these thugs out in the dark somewhere and Harry out on the road and even the quarrymen gettin’ restless...” She paused and sipped from her mug. “Seems hard to believe we’ll be able to get an inn built in all this.”
Tanyth gave a little sideways shrug. “Well, my dear, all we can really do is try. If things don’t go exactly as planned, well, I think that’s why the All-Mother gives us tomorrow.” She turned to the younger woman and smiled gently. “Speaking of tomorrow, we should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow will be here soon.”
Megan glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and smiled in return. “True enough, mum.” She nodded at the sleeping children. “This bunch will be up looking for their breakfast before dawn.”
They drained their tea mugs and rinsed them in a bit of clean water before setting them on the hearth board to wait for morning. Tanyth slipped into her bedroll after removing only her boots while Megan banked the fire and prepared herself for sleep. In moments the two were snug in their beds, the fading light of the banked fire giving the room a sunset glow as they drifted out onto the sea of slumber.
Chapter 21
Taken
Tanyth slept soundly, untroubled by ravens or other odd dreams. If she dreamed at all, she didn’t remember as she slowly swam up from the warm depths and surfaced in the gray light of morning. She stretched in her bedroll and glanced around the cottage. The children were still sleeping, although they’d shifted position in the night and small hands and heads protruded at odd angles from beneath their blankets.
Megan’s bed was empty but her boots were gone. Tanyth felt the call of the privy herself, but stretched and stirred the fire before slipping on her boots. The bed of coals quickly ignited dry kindling and Tanyth had a small but cheery blaze going before she yielded to the inevitable. She grabbed a tunic from her pack and slipped it on for extra warmth before bracing herself for the morning chill. She slipped the latch on the door and scooted out, closing the door quickly behind her to keep as much of the warm air contained as possible.
She dashed for the privy, her boots leaving a scuffed trail in the dew sodden grass. She got there and tended to her morning business before the reality hit her. Megan wasn’t there. Tanyth’s world tilted slightly as she realized the fact. Megan wasn’t in her bed, and wasn’t in the privy. A cold chill that had nothing to do with the weather leached down her spine. She hurriedly refastened her clothing and bolted out the door. The children were in the house alone, asleep, and undefended.
She ran headlong into the chest and arms of a burly man who lifted her in a bear hug, squeezing her tightly so she couldn’t get enough breath to shout. His breath stank as he grunted from the effort of holding her tightly and lifting. He leered at her. She recognized the man she’d knocked down, one of Birchwood’s men, and she feared that the others were nearby. He started shuffling around the side of the privy and Tanyth knew she had only moments before one of his compatriots would come to help him–or she’d black out from not being able to suck in breath.
Her arms were pinned but her head and legs were free. She arched her back as if trying to pull away from his stinking breath. He chortled softly at the feeling of the squirming woman before she flexed her back in the other direction and drove her forehead into his nose. More than one overly lustful bravo had thought a small woman on her own made for an easy target. They never counted on her having her own ideas about that, nor the wiry strength and determination needed to see those ideas through. He released her and grabbed at his spurting nose and the pain centered right between his piggy little eyes. She fell to the wet ground but slipped on the grass, falling heavily on her backside. The position presented her with an ideal target. She let herself fall all the way onto her back and then brought both feet up and drove the heels of her boots into his crotch.
He was a burly man, and she was not a large woman, but bands of muscle wrapped her legs, developed while walking back and forth across the countryside for two decades. Her kick lifted him off his feet and dropped him on his back, unable to even whimper. She heard shuffling in the brush behind the privy and rolled out into the open, getting her feet under her and drawing in a lung full of air.
She bellowed “NO!” with all the power in her diaphragm. There was supposed to be a guard out there somewhere. William and one of the quarrymen were watching the grounds, but tucked away at the back of the village, Megan’s house and privy were out of the main lines of sight. The bravo on the ground managed to curl himself into a ball around his crushed dainties but could only whimper while his nose bubbled blood as he writhed.
She scrambled to her feet and headed for the iron hoop to sound the alarm, but William and Karl pelted around the edge of the hut, skidding on the dew slicked grass moments before Thomas tore out of his house, shirtless against the cold, but bow strung and drawn.
Tanyth pointed to where the sound had come from. “They’ve got Megan. I heard them in the woods there.”
William and Karl dashed into the undergrowth while Thomas covered the man on the ground and looked at Tanyth. “Are you alright, mum?”
She nodded, sucking air into her bruised lungs.
They heard the sound of William and Karl crashing through the woods but it was obvious that they found nothing. After a few minutes of thrashing about, they came back to find Thomas with a blade poised at the fallen man’s eye–holding his attention while Tanyth bound his hands behind him with his own belt. The man’s eyes were wide with pain and fear. He lay curled around his damaged groin and the small, high pitched grunting noises seemed out of place coming from a man his size.
Karl looked at the bravo and then at Tanyth as she put the finishing touches on his lashing.
“What did you do to him, mum?” Karl blurted the question, fear tinging his voice.
She stood up and dusted off her hands. She looked down at the bound man for a moment. “I think I might have broken his nose and then I kicked his worthless balls up into his chest somewhere.” Her crude words sounded oddly flat and out of place in the clear morning air, but she was in no mood for the niceties of spari
ng tender male sentimentalities. “I think they’ve got Megan.”
William focused on that. “What makes you think so, mum? A vision?”
She shook her head. “When I woke up, she wasn’t in her bed. I thought she’d probably just gone to the privy, but I had time to stoke up the fire and get it going before I came out myself. She wasn’t in there and when I came out, I ran into this thing.” She kicked him none to gently in the kidney. “He tried to take me back there into the bushes but I got loose. I could hear the others back there but I couldn’t see them.” She looked around at the staring men. “I figger he caught her the same way he caught me and they took her off with them when they ran.”
William nodded to Thomas who sheathed his knife and slipped almost silently around the privy and into the woods behind. William crouched down to the wheezing, moaning man on the ground and turned his head to one side to get a good look at his face. His eyes narrowed as he thought. “Josh, right? Josh the Cosh?”
The man managed a small, if erratic nod, but seemed unable to focus too well.
William stood up. “Well, Josh. I’m guessin’ it’ll be a long time before you go swingin’ that nightstick of yours again.” He turned to Karl. “Would you go collect Jakey? Tell him what’s happened and get the rest of the boys? When Thomas picks up their trail, we’ll be going after Megan.”
Karl nodded and hurried off toward Jakey’s house.
William turned to Tanyth. “You sure you’re alright, mum?”
She looked up at him. “Little bruised about the ribs but I’m alright, William. Thank you.” She looked around at the women and children who’d come out to see what all the commotion was. “We should get him under cover and clear this path, though.”
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